The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1870-10-14
PAYING THE DEBT.

The Radical papers and leaders are loud
prating of how much of the National
Blessing" they have already paid how
they are reducing its mountainous
bulk, and how soon it will all be wiped
out. Why strive, then, to fund the larger
part of it into bonds running twenty and
thirty years2
Senator Thurman, in his Cincinnati
speech, maintained, and, we think, quite
conclusively, that they neither desire or
intend TO pay it of for, said he
They mean it to be perpetual as the
debt Of England is perpetual. Pay it ofl
Why, what would become of their entire
system Of National Banks, were it paid
Off That system wholly rests upon the
public debt. 1t is the debt that consti-
tutes the security for its circulation, with
out which it would not enjoy public con-
fdence for an hour. Remove that security,
by a payment Of the debt, and the whole
fabric would tumble to pieces in ninety
days. Now, will those who rule the Rad
ical party give up these banks2 Have
they the power to do it, if they would p
Look at the House of Representatives.
There are in that house, according to q
statement of a leading Radical, not less
than seventy stockholders in National
Banks-nearly one-third of the whole
House. Have they any power there2 If
you doubt 1t. hear what your own Senator,
Mr.. Sherman, Chairman Of the Finance
Committee, said in the Senate on the 18th
Of last July. A funding bill had passed
the Senate, requiring, among other things,
that the banks, instead of the six per cent
Government bonds they now own, and
which are held as security for their circu-
latIon, should take other bonds bearing a
lower rate of interest. 1t did not require
them to exchange the former for the latter,
but left them free to sell the former, pock-
ct the premium they bear, and with the
residue of the proceeds buy the new bonds.
1t was a perfectly fair requirement, as I
then thought, and still think, and SO
thought a majority of the Senate, not
withstanding a strenuous opposition on
the part CT the banks. But it was other
wise in the House. Nothing could induce
that body to agree to the proposition, and,
after two conference committees had sat
upon it, it was given up. Reporting the
result of the conference to the Senate, Mr.,
Sherman said
al do not see how we can go before the
pGODlS Ol lut Oulltu oldLGS anu ASK llGm
to lend US gold at par for our bonds when
we refuse to require agencies of our own
creation to take them; when we ever re-
refuse to require old banks, which have
made on the average from fifteen to TWEEN
ty per cent. annually upon the fran,
chise derived from the United States, tC
aid US to this extent 10 funding the public
debt. But, SIR, The rOte of The HOus,
shoes the pOl0erS of the National Banks
II is so great, at least IN The House, tha
IN order TO secure a Funding BIZ I0e hGvt
been compelled 10 abandon oil provision;
IN regard to the National Banks"
The power of the National Bank.
which was so strong then, is sought to be
made more powerful in the new Congress
to be chosen now in a few weeks. Smith
Radical member from the Sixth Ohio Dis,
trict, and President of the Bank at Hills
bory, has been re-nominated. Potwin
another Bank President, has been put IL
nomination in the GAINESVILLE district. o
course he will not probably defeat Gen
Morgan, but his selection serves to show
what Senator Sherman at one time 81
strongly deprecated, the power of tn,
Banks in the House of Representatives
a power whose vital interest is in tn.
strongest a~ntagonism with the payment o
the debt. The fact Is the radical Bank
and b~ondhOlder leaders look upon a ma.
tional Debt as a National Blessing" The
party leaders and the party policy is to
continue the debt to make high taxes.