The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1870-02-02
CONGRESS,
The National Debt-The Fraud in it
A SWindIe upon the PeOple-SPeeeh
OF Hon. ID. w. Voorhees, In the House
January 2Sth, 1870.


A sWindIe upon the PeOPIe-SPeech
OF Hon. ID. w. voorhees, In the House
January 2Sth, 1870.
Mr.. VOORHEES, addressed the House.
In discussing the origin and existence Of
the national debt he solemnly asserted
that a vast proportion Of the public debt,
as stated on paper, had no existence IN
reality, that it was a fiction created by
unjust and scandalous legislation, or still
more unjust and scandalous perversion of
the true contract that it was fraud fas-
tened upon the labor o. the nation utterly
without consideration, either legal or NOR
al that it was clear and naked extor-
ton from the wants, necessities and help
lessness of the people and armies when
they were wholly at the mercy of capital.
He had made his calculations, and made
them safely He had underestimated the
wrongs of the people, and the enormous
advantages of the bondholders rather than
overestimated them. In 1862 there were
issued bonds to the amount of SOC, ,992, ,452
at six per cent, the average price of gold
was then 1884 IN currency. At that rate
| the purchasers of the first issue over $50
| 100000 paid for those bonds $44, ,030,6 GAG
in gold. If those bonds were TO be paid
| back in gold the holders would receive
|
] Government. This was bonus Amount
of bonds sold, $6O,O82, ,45O, amount paid
for them, $44, ,04O639, amount of bonus,
! $l6,95l Sol interest already paid on bo-
nus, Sc, I02, ,654 interest yet to be paid
on bonus, $l4, ,239, ,526; amount of bonus
and interest thereon, $37, ,293, ,98l. Thus
it would be seen that on an investment OF
a little over $44 100000 the trafickers in
national bonds had obtained securities OF
over 1870, 100000 not one dollar of which
had left their Golfers, or even found its
way to the vaults of the treasury. The
same system of calculation on the bonds
issued in 1S6S-$l60, ,987 ,550-with gold
averaging l5S, showed that the bondhol-
ders had paid only $l0l, 500, ,S54, and the
bonus and the interest on the bonus
amounted to$13, ,OO2 736 on the transac-
tions for the year The result for 1864
when gold averaged 20l, was as follows
Amount of bonds issued, 1881 ,292, ,250
amount paid for them, $lS9,697, 1886
amount Of bonus, $l9l, ,594 ,614; interest
paid on bonus, $45, ,982, ,708; interest to be
paid on bonus, $1S3, ,930, 1892; amount Of
bonus and interest on bonus, $42l, sos, l54
a ike calculation for 1865, with gold al
l43, showed an issue of $279, ,746, 40; bo-
nus and interest thereon to the amount o.
| -
an issue of 1924, ,9l4, 400 with gold at 14l
was a bonus and interest thereon of $79-
907, ,7SS. The total amount paid to the
.Government for the whole bonded debt
was 81 81 ,424, ,233. Who had ever known
parallel to this in the history of consti,
b tutional governments? And to sustain
all this injustice the people were taxed a!
no people ever were before. The amount
of Federal taxation was 1886, ,923, ,402 the
amount Of State and local taxation wa
$3.50, 100000, the total amounting to 1915
923, ,402. There was no language within
the scope of human tongue that could ex
aggerate the overwhelming significance o
these figures In face of all this, how
should he characterize that policy whicl
made free from all tax or tribute NOR
= than one tenth of the property of tn
United States. The painting had beel
feeble and unworthy of the great theme
: 1t presented a sinister and shocking as
pect to the tax payer, 1t stood revealed a
a baleful monster, the sight of 1t extorte,
q desperate cry for relief; it could not, /
5 would not be borne. But should they
therefore, attempt to build city of refug
rom this distress on shifting quicksands c
repudiation Mighty wrongs and gallin
sense of extreme injustice had drive
uduN uOuC6L ullIlub " ELlDIdCc Illdb OOC
5 trine, and many more might yet folloI
with the same disastrous tendency. TIL
issue was in the hands of the party i
, power He himself was not for repudia
2 tion. He saw in it neither safety nor hon
or. If reputation should hereafter com
> to dishonor the American name at hom
and abroad, it would be because the dom
inant party persistently enabled creditor
and class bondholding monopoies to vic
= late their part of the contract to plunde
the people to an unbearable extent. Tn
doctrine on which he placed himself wit
an absolute faith in its legality, was tha
| embodied in the noble and upright reso
luton of a recent Democratic Conventio
of Indiana, that the debt should be pal
in strict compliance with the contract, tn
FIVE twenty bonds being payable in green
backs. The law, now, which authorize
the issue of National currency, said i
very plain and simple words that it is le
gal tender for all debts, public and pr
Yate, except duties on imports and interes
on the public debt Therefore, if the pee
= pie owed anything less besides duties o
| imports and interest on the public deb
greenback currency was legal tender fc
. It's payment that rose at once by bar
statement to a full force Of demonstration