The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1870-02-24
IDAHO WORLD.
SPEECH OF DANIEL VOORHEES,.

OF the most el0queub SpccCn0S w
for many years on the payment of the Nationa'
Debt, from which we take the following eA'
tracts as published in the Globe; ;,
The capitalists of this country discounted
.ba credit IF their Government in It's struggle
for Ifa more heavily, shaved its notes IN the
broL er.shons more deeply, than was ever pc
fore kno,yn under similar circumstances IN the
annals of civilized nations. They drove the
bsrdast bargain ever known between ciuzens
and the Government which protected Them
Thev traded with less conscience upon the
Ancfuating fortunes of the flag than any other
class of beings that ever drew breath oeneatn
i'm folds. Their keen.eyed cupidity kept watch
upon the imperiled standard of their country,
and the measure of their exactions was gauged
according as it was advanced full high III the
hour of victory or born back IN gloom upon
the ebbng tide of defeat. And disaster brought
them their richest banquets. The clouds that
so often filed our sky with darkness were 70
them relieved by golden lining. Speculation
hoyered over the fate OF our armies ana tat
tened like the vulture upon the unburled dead
of lost and stricken fields. Death ana the
sordid greed OF gain held high carnival together
and ministered to each others ferocious ana
insatiate lusrs and appetites from the opening
Tn the close of the dreadful conflict stand
nranared tn sustain these statements. L am
fully aware of my responsibility in making
them: but knowing as do the facts as record
ed in the archives of the Government, here
solemnly assert and shall prove that vast
praSortion of the public debt as it is stated
upon paper has no existence whatever In real
ity; that it is fiction created by unjust and
scandal0us legislation, or the still more unjust
and scandalous peryerson Of the true contract;
that it is q fraud fastened upon the iabor oil the
nation utterly without consideration either le-
gal or moral; that 1t is sheer and naked ex-
tortion from the wants, the necessities. the
helplessness of the people and the armies when
they were wholly ut the mercy OF capital. |
have made my calculations, and made them
safely. / have underestimate the wrongs oil
the people aud the enormous advantages oil the
bondholder rather than oyerestimated them.
desire those who receive my statements as
authority to feel amply secure from successful
contradiction. / wish 10 enable them 10 clal-
lenge denial everywhere, as do here
Sir. we have heard the patriotism oil the
capitalist made the eloquent theme OF eulegy
His praises have swarmed upon partisan lips
The air has been laden aud vocal with sweet
encomiums of his generous sacrifices lis
Claims 90 tbtSc W eNuNHN~"N t''
lanthropv. He comes here with the air OF q
public benefactor. He assumes loitier porl
than the heroes of the war, aud demands pay
ment for what he has done. as first mortgage
on all the chattels, lands and labor OF the ma
ton. Never since the birth of time, in To,
whole wide range OF human conduct, was {
pretension 10 virtue more false. Never was ;
base assumption more utterly crushed by th'
undeniable facts of history. That beautiful
love OF country. that sublime devotion 10 he
institutions which constitutes bulwarks oil IN
tional defense more powerful than iron, brass
or stone, was not an inmate OF his breast /
electrified all hearts but his. It enDob!cd aus
plorified all classes save that which made mer
chandise eli the eountrys woes and traiiicke'
for hundred per cent. of profit amid the roa
of cannon and deluge Of blood. The tathc
left his broken-hearted home; the sou and tn
brother, in the brightness OF youth, took hi
last farewells Of fainting kindred; the armie
were filed with ardent, hopeful lives rs zoos
for the leaden hail the bayonet, and the grave
Flesh and blood volunteered, or il the precion
ties of home and loved ones oveTmastered tn
patriotic will, the draft, the unrelentIng draft
replenished the ranks Of war and listened {
no bargains in behalf of the hcarthstones whlc
it made desolate forever.
But while the soldier stood on the outermos
brink OF danger, while he walked on the pei
iIous ridge of battle, the men of many million
parted not with one dollar with which to pa
and feed him at his post OF death until theI
remorseless terms were complied with. None
was no volunteer; nor did the fatal wheel q
conscription wrench it from the hands Of it
sordid masters. It heard the bcsceching voic
of the Government with dull, Indifferent cal
II laid still in its vaults and dens watching 10
its prey and its profits. 1t witnessed deyotio
and a sacrifice in this land more universal an
unseltish than ever before illuminated the page
of time, and its metallic heart alone RENAME
cold and urmoved under the heat Of the fer
blaze. While the armies moved on and tn
lamps of dear and valuables lives went out o
the CHASTITY field and in the hushed stiffness {
the hospital, almost like the innumerable star
fading away at dawn in the sky, the spirit {
Mamnion, the least erect of all that fell fror
Heaven crouched in the rear and pursued hi
calling and drove his fell contracts He brood
ed over his treasures until the calamities {
life, Of homes, and Of families swelled them int
twofold proportions. In the midst Of the might
throngs such as the eye Of man hath not see
in all the ages that are gone in the shadow
past, pressing forward to save the embcms an
the unity OF the Republic, he was doing ont {
them as they passed into the tempest one dolla
and 'extorting their obligations for more tina
two. .f.es
If the sons of toll and moderate means coul
afford their lives and the widowhood aud oil
phanage Of their homes for the supremacy
the Union how much more could the master