The Lincoln County herald., 1870-02-24
The "NaiiOnal Debt" a Fraud,


L. discussing the origin and existenes
Of the National debt, be solemnly asserted
that . vast proportion of the pub, il
debt, as stated on paper, had no exist
ence in reality, that it was o 6ction
created by unjust and scandslous legis
iation, or still more unjust and scandal.
Gus pcrversios Of the true contract; that
II was fraud fastened upon the labor Of
the nation utterly without consideration
either legal or moral; that it was a clear
and naked extortion from the wants, neces.
sities and heIPlessness Of the people and
armies, when they we're wholly at the
mercy Of capital. He had made his cal.
culatious, and made them safely. He had
underestimated the wrongs Of the people
and the enormous advantages Of the bond
holders rather than ovesestimated them.
In 1862 there were issued bonds to the
AMOUNT of $50 992, ,452, at SIX per cent !;
the average price Of gold was then 1884
in currency. At that rate, the purchasers
of the 6rst issue, over $50, ,0OO, 900, paid
for those bonds S44, ,03O, $40 in gold. If
those bonds were to be paid back IN gold,
the holders would receive SIC, 1854, ,SO1
more then they paid to the Government.
This was q bonus, Amount of bonds
sold, $50. .082, ,450; amount paid for them,
S44 ,O40,639; amout of bonus, S16,.
95l sol interest already paid on bonus,
S6, lO2 ,654 interest yet to be paid on
bonus, sl4, ,239, ,526; amount of bonus and
interest thereon, S37, ,293,981 Thus it
would be seen that on an investment of
little over $44.0OO, 900 the trafickers in
national bonds had obtained securities Of
over S37O,000,00O, rot one dollsr Of
which had left their Golfers, or even
fouad its way TO the vualts Of the treas
ury. The same system of calculation
on abe bonds issued in l863-S16O. .9S7,.
550--with gold averaging 1853, showed
that the bondholders had paid only slO1,.
$50, ,S54, and the bonus and the interest
on the bonus amounted to S13, ,002 1876 on
the transactions for the year. The result
for 1864, when gold averaged pol. VS.
as follows: Amount Of bonds issued,
1881 292,25O; amount paid for them,
Sls9 697 .936 amount of bonus, s19l,
594 6l4 interest paid on bonus, S45,-
9S2, 1OS interest to be paid on bonus,
SlS3, $3.50 1872; amount of bonus ana
interest on bonus, Sf2l ,5OS,154 A like
calculation for 1865, with gold at i43,
showed an issue of s279 TAG, 14O; bonus
and interest thereon to the amount of
1857 $40, $40. The result Of 1866, on
an issue Of S124,9l4.4O0, with .od at
l4l, was bonus and interest thereon of
S79.907,7 ,7SS. Yhe total amount paid to
the Government for the whole bonded
debt was 81 l,37l ,424,233 Who had ever
known o parallel to this in the history Of
constitutional governments And to
sustain all this injustice the people we're
taxed as no people ever were before. The
amount Of tedesal taxation was $780,
923, ,4O2; the amount of State and local
taxation was $3.50 100000, the total
amounting to S6l6, ,923, ,4O2. There was
no language, within the scope of human
tongue that could exaggerate the over.
significance of these fgnrcs In
face of all this, how should he character
ice chat policy which made free from all
tax or tribute more than one tenth of the
property of the United States? The
painting had been feeble and unworthy
OF the great theme. 1t presented sin
ister and shocking aspect to the tax
payer, it stood revealed as baicful mon.
ster, the sight of il extorted q desperate
cry for relief it could not, it would not
DO borne. But should they, therefore
attempt to build city of refuge from this
distress on shifting quicksands Of repu
diatioe2 Mighty wrongs and a CALLING
sense of extreme injustice had driven
many honest minds to embrace that doc
trine, and many more might yet follow
with the same disastrous tendency. The
issue was in the hands of the party in
power. He himself was not for repudi-
alton. Ho saw in it neither safety nor
honor. If reputation should hereafter
come to dishoDor the American name ut
home and abroad, it would be because the
dominant party persistently enabled cred.
itors and class bondholding monopolies
to violate their part Of the contract to
plunder the PEOPLE to an Undesirable ex.
tent. The doctrine on which he placed
himself, with an absolute faith in it's le.
gality, was that embodied in the noble
and upright resolution Of . recent Demo.
cratic Convention of Indiana, that the
debt should be paid in strict compliance
with the contract, che 6ve-twenty bonds
being payable IN greenbacks The Law,
now, which authorised the issue Of Ma
tioual currency, said, IN very plain and
simple words. that it is legal tender for
all debts, public aud private, except duties
on imports and interest on the pablic
debt. Therefore, if the people owed
anything else besides duties on imports
and interest on the public debt, greenback
currency was legal tender for it's payment,
that rose at once by hare statement to
full force of demonstrations.
,CELERY.- Many persons become so
much affected with nervousness, that the
least annoyance greatly agitates them,
and when they stretched ont their hands