Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-02-24
TAs L egal.Tenler Declsisu.

The United States Supreme Court hAo
decided that IN act making NM prosliass
to pay 20 many dollars legal payment Of
debts previously contracted, y not con-
dstent with the spirit OF the Constituticn,
and that It y prohibited By the Constitu-
don. Debts, therefore, contracted pre-
vious to February 21th, 1862, are 70 be
raid In con, whether coin W. stipulated
or not; for Congress had no power to
make ereenbacku legal tender Tor dshts
crested before the pa6IAee q tho law ~
which the legal tender quality Of green
backs W. oa1ah1iGhed. The quo0dCn
whether or not debts contracted sincs
February 80. 1854, are also b b paid IN
coin, = not settled b. the present decision
Of the court. OF those which originated
previous 70 the pasaAge Of tho Legal
Tender ct, and which are still unPaid, the
creditors may require payment n coin.
In cases where for such debts greennacks
have been accepted n payment. creditors
cannot require IN additional payment-as.
for inatance, the diGefonco q the value Of
greenbacks q the time Of tho payment
and the real price Of gold. Reception Of
payment liberates debtors entirely No
nsri RepsRieen.
The Supreme Court Of the United States
has decided that legal-tendef notes are not
Q legal tender in the payment Of debts
contracted prior to the S5th Of February,
1869. That u the dscision, and that Il 81
there IL Of Il, and that de6dOn u now the
law of the land. W.
It Il but natural to inquire how ar this
decision II likely to embarrass the public
and affect the business Of the country.
NJ n II - NJ ~ARU 3vvA.
portance in any light. It places no man.
CORPORATION, OF municipality in any worse
condition than he would have been had
the Legal Tender oct never been passed.
It changes neither the letter nor spirit of
any contract. It Win apply to State,
municipal, railroad, savings bank, and
other stocks, bonds, liabilities, and debts
contracted prior to 1859 and not since dis
charged. These have been greatly re-
duced during the last eight years, and re-
duced, too, by the payment Of deprecated
currency for coin obligationA Except
Massachusetts, no State In the country
adhered to specie payments throughout
the war. Illinois has discharged half her
debt since 1852, but paid half that sum
(sterline bonds) in coin. The debt of all
the New England States, except Msssa-
chusetts, in 1881, was less than t75O, 900,
which has since been paid but these
States now owe war debts amounting to
perhaps $1,000, 900. In 1851 New York
owed 81, 100000 fl coin, Of which
$4,000, 600 has been paid in paper.
New Jersey owed no old debt.
Pennsylvanis has reduced her ante-war
debt to &l0, OO0, 900. Ohio owes 110, 000,-
GOO, Indiana about 42,OOo, 900, Michigan
81 500, O00 Maryland, Kentucky, Kansas,
Minnesota, and Iowa owe nothing, and
Wisconsin next to nothing. Missouri
owes perhaps $12,000,0 900 of ante-war
debt. Including the ante-war debt Of the
seeding States tlp whole debt Of all the
States to which tliis decision can apply
win not exceed 800, 0OO,O 900. For this
debt all tkeee States received coin, and
the decision simply requires them to pay
coin in return on al that they have not
already discharged with paper. These
States have, during the last eight years,
paid about $50, 000, 600 of their coin obi
cations, and the interest on all of them,
In paper. That payment stands good In
all cases where protest was not made, and
the decision merely prevents the avoiding
of original contracta They al stand pre-
cisely where they stood before. The rail-
road debts contracted prior to 1862 do
not exceed 800, OOO, 900, and these, in
many instances, are subject to reductions
by the issue, since 1888, of new bonds, In
renewal, or in exchange for outstanding
obligations. But even In this case, put.
ting It ct the worst, the confederation Of
all the debts was gold.
The savings bankA in 1861, owed per-
haps 500, O0O, 900; this they received in
coin, and perhaps nine-tenths of it they
have paid back 70 their depositors In de-
preciated paper. There can be but little
commercial paper eight years old, and,
consequently, little to be effected BY this
decision
The remaining cases are those Of private
mortgages made before 1859. Those hav.
ing more than eight years to run win fall
due, and are to be paid In coin but the
mortgsgors have had no reason to com.
plain. For eight years they have paid
interest In paper instead OF gold, and, ct
most, could have had no expectation that
specie payments would be much longer
deferred. They can we'll afford to pay
the principal in coin now, and, consider
ing the value Of the currency In which
they hsve paid the Interest, the advantage
Will still Be on their side Upon the
whole. the decidon affects such . compAra-
lively small proportion Of the indebted.
ness Of the country that it, effects viii
hardly be felt. They are, In fact, hardly
perceptibleiin the quotations Of the Stock
Exchange to-day. - Oicdgo zti6uns,
III. IL.
Western Pa1e0to,
The following Western patents were 10
sued nom the United States Pstent Once
for the week ending February 9, 1870. -