New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-15

passed the Government that handed
to it's creditor its engraved promise
to pay that creditor one honest
hard dollar should take immediate steps TO
raise the dollar and fulfill its promise. has
it done itf Has it attempted tot Has there
been any indication of an intention, nay
even of desire, to pay on the part OF the
GoveumentY In loose and wOrdy way all
narties have agreed, and in the queer rubbish
called platforms have SET ioith ''o'
understanding of it, that some 'ime-
"speediy,n they are pleased 10 say
the promises should be redeemed ana
the use of medium having value be re-
sumed. The President has said 30, the parties
have said 30, Congress and everybody have
said 40. and there has been a sort of nebu-
Ions notion that by and by we should strike
upon specie in sudden and unexpected
way, and, without feeling,it at all, be able to
pay our debts and cancel our obligations and
go right on.
But the notion has been exceedingly vague
and misty; there has been no defniteness of
plan, no theory as to the time; nothing but
a happy go-lucky sort of trust in the general
tendency of things. Mr.. Boutwell, and the
Great Minister of Finance who succeeded him
could not understand that there was any
question of conscience or honor or honesty
involved in taking up one promise
with another and buying up at q
discount with irredeemable promises Obll-
cations not due. And so we have
gone on in an utterly blind way, having
apparently no sense of the sacredness OF a
promise, and no conception of the duty OF dong
in some precise way and at some precise time
Just what we have cOvenanted and agreed TO.
And now O number of misunderstanding
politicians who believe that promises by
Government are of no moro consequence thah
promises by party-that they are made
only to be broken-cOme forward deioer-
ately and shamelessly, ana propoSo
to establish promise for performance,
to set the country going upon ROAD that
leads away from redemption and down 10
absolute ruin. To the consideration OF this
aspect of affairs and this tendency OF leglsa-
tion the conscience of the country is sum-
moned. It is q question whether or not the
Republic will speak and act the truth So long
as the country was going on smoothly and
business was prospecting, there was only the
sin of criminal negligence in putting Off the
day of redemption. The Buffers, Mortons,
and Logans propose now to enact lying into
a fixed policy, and remove all prospect of per-
Torrance from the way of loose, irresponsible,
and rredeemable promises Are we ready to
do itf
We are fighting official corruption and dis
honesty, salary grabbing. moiety grabbing, and
all the train of iniquities that follow the en-
Col
foundation and source of the greater part OF
all the dishonesty the exposure OF which has
so shocked the people is in the authorized
falsehOod beginning with "The United States
"will pay" That is the tap-roOt OF the whole
business. 1t is pernicOus example. persisted
in and followed up with no more sense OF
shame than is experienced by the Massa-
chusetts MephistOpheles when he is caught
dividing mOietes, or by self-styled Christian
statesman caught taking brides or buying
votes. The Senate and House have solemnly
enacted the doctrine that payment Is OF no
consequence, redemption matter or most
trivial importance, fulflment of promises the
last and least of considerations. Promise to
pay and promise to pay, is the rule hereafter,
until the people, spurning the demagogue's de-
fusion that they are ready to be dishonest
when they can make dollar by it, rise up
and thrust out of power the men who have
misrepresented and belied them. That day
will surely come. 1t is no farther OFT than
October. They will make short work OF
the falacies of the men who are try
ing now to dishonOr them with the
authoritative dctum that "a lie well
"stuck to is as good as the truth" There
is no intermediate process in their logic;
no foolng with words or toying with phrases;
they read the promise to pay" of the United
States and they ask when and how. That is
all. No jugglery can blot out the promise,
no evasion or equivocation hide the fact that
the promise is not, and is not intended to be
fulfilled The day of reckoning will surely
come when the people will rise up in their
majesty and rebuke the unfaithful and dis
honest servants who have undertaken in their
name to sanction organized lying.