The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-14
SPIRIT OF TEE PRESS.
Editorial Opinions OF the Leading Journals
UpOu Current TOpIcs-COmpiled Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph.
LEGAL TENDER-THE SUPREME
COURT DECISION.

From the N. T. Times
The recent opinion of the majority Of the
Supreme Court stands in direct hostility to
the uniform tenor of that great series Of acts
and measures which were required to de-
stroy the Rebellion. Singularly enough, it is
the decision of an unfriendly court of State
which stood on the brink Of disloyalty which
has been affirmed, and in effect the numerous
decisions made in support of the act through
out the North are reversed.
Although the present Chief Justice, who
rendered the decision, was not the author of
the measure which he now aids to destroy,
he yet, as Secretary of the Treasury, was the
strenuous advocate of its passage, without
whose powerful cooperation it could not have
become law. Mr.. Spaulding, who was
Chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means of the House of Representatives, and
the author of the bill, expressed to Mr..
Seward the embarrassment he felt from the
want of support on the part of Mr.. Chase, and
the latter, after stating in a letter to Mr..
Spaulding that he came to it reluctantly, de-
olared that he had done SO firmly and
thoroughly. From an examination OF
the Congressional reports for February,
1862, it will appear that it was owing
to the urgency of Mr.. Chase, in the
form of letters, that the bill was suddenly
taken from the Committee of Ways and
Means and ordered to a vote, after two
hours discussion. cit is very important, he
wrote, ''that the bill should go through
to-day, and through the Senate this week"
The situation of the Treasury required this
extraordinary haste. The measure became q
law at his solicitation; he put it into imme-
diate execution, and requested, at q later
period, that the amount of legal-tender issues
should be increased. 1t was through his
direct fundamentally that issues were au-
thorized under five dollars; it was Mr.. Chase
who did more than any other to flood the
country with them, ornamented with his own
efigy; and now, on o change of scene, he
decides that what he then did under the
solemnity of his official oath was unconstitu-
tional and void.
The grave circumstances of that extraor-
dinary time can scarcely be forgotten. The
State banks on the 31st of December, 1861,
had very generally suspended specie pay
ments. At meeting of their principal
managers in New York, it was announced to
Mr.. Chase, on the part of Mr.. Gallatin, that
they could take no more of the bonds of the
United States; that they were only agents
for placing public loans and that what they
had on hand could not be disposed of, as
there were no takers either here or abroad
The attitude of foreign countries at the time
was generally not of friendly character and
the issue presented to our Government was
whether, as the public funds were wholly
exhausted and the associated banks
had declared their inability to furnish addi-
tionM funds, we should resort to the policy
of forced circulation or abandon the war.
The letters of MIR. Chase clearly show that
we had reached this point in the struggle,
and it would appear from his present views
that at such juncture Congress had no
other duty but submission. If these views
had then prevailed the rebellion would have
been successful, probably to the extent of
imposing its own authority over the entire
Union.
The argument in favor of the constitu-
tionality of the Legal-tender acs lies, as it
were, in q nutshell. The power to conduct
war carries with it the right to employ all
necessary and proper means for achieving
success. The policy of Great Britain in
making the bills of the Bank of England in
effect legal-tender during the wars with
Napoleon was resorted to from dire necessity.
The precious metals were being exported to
the continent partly through the instrumen-
tality of emissaries of Napoleon, and that
proud and opulent nation was compelled to
set the example which we followed. 1t may
be assumed that no nation which has per-
mitted an extensive resort to paper money
during peace can conduct war of great mag.
nitude on the basis of the precious metals
Such had been our situation as to preceding
Issues of paper; and inasmuch as the wal
power reaches to the height of the emer-
which Mr.. Chase supported. This policy
being a means to the end, and Congress
which is the judge of the fact, having pro
nounced it to be necessary and proper" i
clearly became lawful, because not prohibited
by the Constitution.
In bestowing the power to raise and sup
port armies, the means are not expressed, ant
in raising the means the situation must be re
garded. Mr.. Chase, as Secretary of the Trea
sury, was the best judge at the time; h.
urged that the legal-tender measure wa
necessary and proper, and he induced Con
gress to unite in declaring this fact. Tn
sole question which the court had to con
slider, in view of the pressure of uniform
decisions made from the origin of the Gov
ernment, was therefore this whether tn
measure was reasonably conducive to the enc
in view, and was unprohibited. There is nc
pretense that it was prohibited, and it is clear
from the experience of England and of thi
country, that, as a means, 1t is efhcaciouS
What would be the situation if we wer
obliged to-day to conduct new war with thi
decision staring us in the face?
The effect of the decision, if allowed
stand, upon the future of the country, if
shall unfortunately be involved in war, wi
constitute its worst feature. The Suprem
Court of the United States strips the natio
of one of its means of warfare and defense
and it should be the policy of the Cover
ment to restore this essential power at th
first opportunity. 1t was great oversight
leave the country exposed TO this danger,
the neglect to appoint proper judges, const
tuted as the court evidently was. Thel
should be no mistake about the complexio
Of those now nominated. Judge Chase,