The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-06-27
WHAT WAS PENDLET0NIsM :


in the presidential campaign Of 1868 mus
, have poor memories indeed if they have for
gotten what was then understood to be th'
: financial scheme of the Hon. Geo. H. Pcndle
ton and since known as Pendlctonism. Ie
the Chicago Times is afflicted with such I
memory, or want of memory, otherwise i
could give no definition like the following Of
Pendletonism:
Pendletonism was no such mild scheme OF
Reputation as it supposes, What Pcndeton
and his followers proposed was to pay the
DriaciDnl of all the . 20 bonds in greenbacks
and to issue enough greenbaCks for that pur
pose with the least possible delay. That is
thew proposed to issue some fifteen hundred
millions of government due.bills in exchange
for an equal amount of 5.20's This they
called paying" the bonds according to agree
ment Some of the more stupid ones in the
crowd really supposed il would be paying"
but the originators and chief advocates OF
the scheme knew better. They knew perfect
w well that to issue greenbaCks in such enor-
Inous quantities would render them nearly
worthless, and preclude the possibility of
redeemng them, except perhaps by issuing
post notes in exchange for them, at the rate,
say of one dollar for every ten dollars in
grcenbacks. Ia plain English, Pendletonism
was scheme tor the reputation of at lcasl
nine-tenths of that part of the public debt
which existed in the form of 5 30 bonds.
Such a statement is very untru,hful and
dishonest. In 1868 there were, we believe,
about $6OO,000,000 of greenbacks in circula-
ton and $3O0000,000 of national bank bills.
The greenbacks were worth about 81 cents
on the dollar, while the people were paying
6 per cent. interest in gold NEARLY nine per
cent in greenbacks) on bonds most of which
had been bought with grecnbacks worth less
than forty cents on the dollar. Mr.. Pendle-
tons famous letter simply proposed to with
draw the $300000,000 national bank circula,
ton and replace it with greenbacks, using
the $300,000,000 of greenbacks the govern.
ment would issue for that purpose in taking
up $50 bonds at their face value in green
breach of faith with the bondholders, as the
$50 bonds were on their face and by the law
under which they were issued payable in
grccnbacks; and it would not be unjust, be-
CduSC SlCCuudS Ild't ~IItSNS dlllSNidlNp ~
to % per cent in value since the bonds had
been purchased by the holders, and as he
opposcd any fUHter ittation IF the calre"cN
the grccnbacbs would continue to appreciate
in value, Sd that, before all the 5-20's were re-
deemed, lcgalenders would be worth their
face in gold.
This is all there was of Pcndietonism. 1t
is gross falsehood to say that Pendleton, or
any western democratic convention that ia
vored his nomination for the presidency, pro.
posed to increase the amount of paper money
then IN circulation by one dollar, though
they opposed anything like violent contract
ton, maintaining that justice TO the debtor
classes required that the process OF apprecl.
alton of the currency and return to specie
payment should be slow.
But while Pcndletonism, in this view of il,
in 1868, was just and could be honorably de-
Tended, the Schenck bill of 1860, by soemnly
pledging the government to redeem all its
whether bonds or greenbacks,
promptly IN gold, put very different phase
upon it. After that pledge, any proposal, like
that OF the late Indiana and Illinois conven
ions, to increase the issue of irredeemable
paper and delay the return to specie payment,
becomes black reputation simply--no more
and no less