New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-12-04
Amount overpsid per Mr. Boutwell,. 80: $Is, s62 32l
{Ne,o York World.

4NeO xOTE VOTM.
There is another way of stating the &C.
count, which the World singularly over
looks. The bonds we're purchased with the
surplus gold obtained from duties, at a CEN
siderable discount. In May. 1869. 5-2Os. ex-
interest, were worth, in Europe and the
United States, in American gold, about 81
per cent. They gradually advanced tSS y6ia
per cent in July, 1870. when, urs,,cr The in.
fluence of the commencement Of the Franco
German war, they decI..ned to 81, and then
gradually advancrod to sc, and then again
fell of to ." ~, under prospect Of the Russis.n
imb1oglio with England and other powers.
As that war cloud is passing away, they are
again advancing in value.
Taking the period stated by the World,
between March, 1869, and July, 1870, the
average price paid by the Secretary Of the
Treasury for fve-twenty bonds was just
about ninety-One per cent IL gold, exclusive
Of accrued interest.
The account, therefore: stands as follows:
Bonds purchased. ~ soz oSo
Amount paid for same. lls,UB,0os
Discount on NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 81, a94,04l
Excluding fractions, the bonds were pur
chased for twelve millions of dollars less
than their face. 1t appears, then, that, in
stedd of the Secretary paying nearly nine
teen millions Of premium for the bonds, he
purchased them at discount Of twelve
millions.
The Worlds error consists in calculating
the price paid for the bonds in irredeemable,
tiuctuating shinplaster notes. called green
backs. These notes have no fixed, standard
or reliable value, but are worth only what
| the New York brokers choose to give for
them. and that sum varies half dozen
times day. The greenback notes draw no
interest, are inconvertible into bonds,
and irredeemable, and have no certain or
| reliable value. Hence they are neees-
| sarily of less value than fvetwenty bonds;
and, if the Secretary OF the Treasury under
takes to exchange these deprecated notes
for bonds, he can not expect to make an
even SWAP" but must pay more or less
| .'boot;" that is he must give more than
! $IO0 Of notes for 500 Of bonds What the
World calls premium on the bonds is
nothing but discount, or inferiOrity in the
! value Of the greenback, as compared with
| the bond, which is itself at discount when
measured by the only true standard OF
| values-gold.
| The World contends that the government
| has lost nearly Sl9,000,000 in the purchase
| Of $l32, O00. 900 Of bonds. How can that be,
| seeing that it gave but $3.50 100000 OF gold
| for them
If it had advertised for the purchase of
| bonds, to be paid for in gold, they would
| course pursued was to advertise for the sale
! Of gold to the highest bidders, payable in
| fiuctuating notes, and then advertise to buy
bonds with these very notes. The policy or
| reason of this circumlocution we never
F! could comprehend; it is one Of the Boutwell,
! liam mysteries. There is, necessarily, some
| loss il this roundabout way of doing bust
ness. 1t will take more gold, in the long
run, to thus buy bonds than by the simple
common sense mode of purchasing them di-
rectly from the lowest bidders for gold.
| But the point we make on the World is, that
| it willfully orignorantly misleads its readers
| in alleging that 'the Secretary of the Treas
ury has paid SIS, So, 32l more for the bonds
than was promised by the people OF the
| United States" We have shown that they
actually paid trelte millions less than was
| promised"
| Perhaps the World accepts the dishonest
and repudiating proposition of Pendleton
| and Pomeroy, that the government has a
| legal right to manufacture irredeemable,
| inconvertible notes, and force the public
creditors to accept them in payment OF
| bonds.
| We trust it has not fallen to that position.
| If it will go back to the law that originated
greenbacks and fve-twenty bonds it will
discover that the former were made con-
vertible into the latter at the pleasure Of the
holder. Let this provision Of the law be re-
enacted. and then where will be the ''pre-
mium!' Can the government wilfully de-
preciate and debase its own notes, and rem
der them inconvertible, and then rightfuily
thrust them on the holders of its bonds in
payment. We pause for an answer
1 Chic110 Tribune