The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1870-02-04


from loyal motives is without foundation.
Tho same motive prompted tho English
man to buy them that actuatcd the Wall
street swindlcr whom he purchased. Who
will claim that the Englishman purchased
bonds because he loved this Government?
lie was as loyal whom was he fitting out
the piraticaI Tallahassee and Alabama as
when he bought the bonds. They were
all purchased on speculation. If these
bondholders had ncycr received . cent
from Government their patriotism would
have been fully paid. They have no
patriotism. We should not tax the SOL
diers and sailors who fought, nor their
widows and orphans, on the pittance left
TO them after their great bereavement,
to pay those unjust debts. Let US wipe
them out.
It Is not unjust to rcpudiate these
bonds, because tho holders have, in q
largo majority of cases, received more
money in gold from the Government, in
the shape Of interest, than they originally
invested in the purchase of the bonds,
including interest on the Investment
TO illustrate: Seven years ago a Wall
street capitalist purchased Government
bond calling for $1,000; for this he
gave to the Government forty per cent,
or S400. During these seven years he
has received interest regularly at six per
cent. per annum on 81 900, the face Of
the bond, payable every six months
Compound interest on 81 900 at six per
cent. will in soycn years amount to
s5l2 Sc in gold, which would be s7GS 81
in currency. lie has been exempted
from all local and municipal taxes, which
at reasonable rate saves him two and
half per cent. per annum, and which in
the time mentioned amounts on the face
Of the bond to SITS. Franklin said that
a penny saved is as good as penny
earned. Add these items together, and
they amount to s6S7 So in gold. or, in
currency, s943,SI. Now, compound in
tercst on S400, the amount invested,
amounts TO s201 45 in gold, or, in cur
rcncy, 1902 II, which, added to the
800, equals s60l 40 in gold, or 702 IL
in currency, leaving difference in favor
of the bondholder over the man who IN
vests his money honestly Of $50 II in
gold. or 1921 CT in currency. If VIC
deduct from this two and one half per
cent. for taxation, it still leaves SCI IL
in gold, or s179 67 in currency, in favor
of the bondholder. Is there ANYTHING
wrong or unjust in repudiating such q
debt? The people have paid the bonds
and arc entitled to have them cancelled
just as much as person Is entitled to
have his promissory note cancelled when
he pays it up in full with interest. 1t is
gross injustice TO grind the Iaborcr, the
merchant, the mechanic, the widow aud
the crippled soldier to the earth to pay
these bonds o second time, and this too
for the sole purpose Of keeping up a
bioated and insolcnt bondholding and
banking aristocracy.
/ am in favor of rcpudiating thia bond
holding debt because it Is sapping the
very foundations of tho Government, and
to an alarming extent has controlled the
action of the past few Congresses. It has
been the cause, in my opinion, to great
degree, of that system of Legislation which
a thwarting Of the Legitimate
powers of the Supreme Court of tho
United States, and Of tho general ten
dency to the Capitalization of the rowers
Of Government in what Is now By my
Radical friends called "the Government
namely Congress, which again by somc is
called trump concern" Without
charging corruption or venalify on any
member Of tho present Congress, may
be allowed tosrepeat what tho great head
and front Of Radicalism, "the noblest
Roman of them all" the late Mr.. Ste.
vens, said in letter to a friend, "that
no honest man could come to Congress
and make any money; but that il was
passing strange that some men who we're
hardly ably to pay their necessary ex-
pcnses at home would come to Congress
and in few years be worth millions of
dollars" If this oyershadowing debt
were wiped out, / do not think that any
member of the present Congress would
be likely to be tempted.
/ am in favor of wiping out this bonded
debt, because on it the national bank
currency is based; and when it is wiped
out the notes Of the Government will. for
q time, until we can come back to the
constitutional currency at least, take the
place of these national bank notes. This
would increase tho volume of currency
one.tenth and no more. It's we'll known
that between the gold interest received
on about S342 ,476,000 of bonds depos-
tied by bankers rs collateral security for
about $500, 900, 900 of circulation issued
by the Government to them, and the
shrcwd and cunning manipulation of the
currency SO received, the national bank
ers manage TO make from twenty-four to
thirty-seyen per cent. on their bonds in
currency. This amounts to SI00,0O0,-
900, and doubles the investment in q
little over three years, all at the expense
of labor, and entirely all inuring to the
bcncfit of capital. The Comptroller Of
the Treasury says in his annual report
delivered to this House on the 9th inst,
hat the national banks loan the people
STO0, ,000, 900 annually. Interest on this
amount at six per cent. would be $42,-
000, 900. Deduct $1,000,000 from that
sum as interest paid to depositOrs, and
it would leave S41, 100000 clear. /
know of national banks advertising that
they pay ten pcr cont. on deposits for six
months, and they make enormous profits
on those deposits. Some have declared
thirty-seven per cent. annually. They
receive at least twelve per cent. clear
profit, which would be S84, 900, 900 each
year. Some Of them declare dividends
of thirty-seyen per cent. on their capital.
Some gentlemen have said that the ma