The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1870-02-11

bonded debt is Justice, because it has
Ialready been paid. Ii it ID revolution
then / am revolutionist. England
boasts of thereyolution of 1GS8-Amer.
len boasts OF the Revolution of 177G
and both governments owo whatever
of freedom and liberty they possess tc
those revolutions. Labor has tho POW.
er and moral right to thus revolution.
ize; it can be done without bloodshed
This debt can DO repudiated; labor
can be relieved of It's unjust burden
of taxation; capital can DO made tc
bear its proportion of the taxes through
the means of the ballot, box, and by
electing TO oflico men who viii
regard the rights of labor as be
ing as sacred as the rightp of capital
The rights of labor arc more sacred
fur more 10 be regarded and legislatet
for than tho rights of capital; for from
laborcomos everything we have; every
thing which, under Gods blessing
makes people prosperous and hap
Ipy.
Labor has tho votes. Why no
throw aside party preiudices and us'
these votes Mt tho right time and foi
the rightl Capitalists look sharply af
tor their interests, and their whole
study is how to make the most out o
their money, how TO enhance their In
tcrosts. Why does not labor do th'
same? If the capitalists had tho same
numerical power Mt the ballot-box they
would double tho principal and inter
est of their bonds ut Will; they woult
extend their privileges OF exemption
from taxation to NIL forms of propert,
they own or possess, and thus trans
fer oil the burdens of taxation iron
themselves to labor. What gcnsibl,
man doubts this ? Has a Shylock an,
consciencel Sixty per cent. Of the cos
of their bonds represent shave" fort,
Iper cent, money. Are they not n
clamorous for the "shayo" part ~ fo
the other7 If they could extort fron
labor $500 for ono would not they d'
Iso? Why. then, will labor not dcfent
itself at the ballot-box and elect mel
TO Office, 10 Congress, II you please
who viii lcgislato on tho principa
enunciated by jeremy Bentham, "th'
Igreatest good TO tho greatest number; :
or, rs Jefferson advised, "Lct th'
Government take caro- of the poor ant
tho rich will take caro- of thomsclves2' ?
If the voter, the labofer, the tax-pny
or, will stop and think what the bond
holders arc doing, and what the,
would do in addition If they had thl
power, il is possible that they would
not DO long in excluding from seats OF
this floor every man who il a bond
holder or banker.
But gentlemen here arc loud-spokeI
against reputation when it touches
tho bondholder or national banker
Have not some, gentlemen, member
of tho present Congress, voted IN /
Congress for The so-called legal-tendeI
Inct, which authorized and legalized th,
repudiation of private debts and con
tracts? The courts aro full of case,
whore persons who Ind loaned gold OF
q contract to receive gold III paymen
wero forced to take greenbacks wortl
forty cents ON the dollar. How mucl
moro honorable ordishonorablc woul'
it bo to refuse to pay the principal an'
interest of these bonds, and especial,
so when the bondholdera have alread
been fully paid, and overpaid, a.
have already before remarked?
/ The bonds ought to be repudiate,
because the capitalists knew when the,
bought them that while the war laste'
Ipriccs would be high, people would b
} apparently getting rich, the taxes, on
ormous as they were, would be pai,
for while, long enough for them t
lget back their principal, with interes
in gold, which they hayo moro thai
received, and that when tho peopl
] "got through burying their dead,
when time should heal TO some cxten
/ the wounds mndo by tho war, whei
tho fictitious values of property woul
lpass away, and tho people would re
!, Ipudiate tho debt, as oil nations IN,
lpeoplos have ever donc with such na
tional debts, their bonds might b
Z worth something.
! In this view of the case they bough
}, the bonds simply as business trans
, action. Not ono in fifty of ther
bought bonds from motives of patriot
: lism. Not single one of them woul
have bought q bond il no had bee
compelled to pay 81 900 in gold for
!, bond calling for 81 900, if principl
and interest had not both been payG
!, bic in gold. 1t was their interest t
} sIprolong the war and their principle I
}, bleed the Government. They did ii
s the purchase of the bonds, and Tia
lnational banking system growing OF
Vi their issue, were simply sharp bus
} mess transactions.
RI After the revolutionary war the sam
: reasons were urged by capitalists fl
} tho payment of the continental none,
namely, that it was lent to the Go,
7 ernment from patriotic motives; the
NOW call it ''loyalty." The people
| then, as now, knew tho assertion to
0 untrue, and repudiated the whole deb
l In Benton's Debates, volume l, pae
el193, we find distinguished membt
of Congress from New Hampshir,
0 Mr.. Livermore, used the followin
7 language:
ell money lcnt in this deprecated and dcprecia
ing paper can hardly be said to be lent from
spirit Of patriotism it was u mere speculation
0 lpublic securities. They hoped by putting the
] money into tho loan-otIico, though in deprocat
3 state, to receive hard money for It by and by.
flatter myself ihis prediction viii never bc efce
/ Cd"
i After being tho chief instruments
| depreciating the currency and distress
s ing the Government by withholdin
r their money until they could invest
n at rates rlinous to the people and I'll
I'll country thav md fhnil. frianda no