The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-07-02
From the New York Wsekly Times
THE OHIO REPUDIATONISTS.

The Ohio Democrats have definitely
declared in favor Of repudiating ali
pledges of the Government to pay it,
long overdue demand notes. This We
re-ard as a national misfortune. W.
had hoped that the efforts of some Of
the more intelligent Democrats to iG-
duce the party 10 acquiesce in resump-
ton would be successful. We should
rejoice TO see the question OF the nation
al credit taken ont Of the arena oi parti-
san politics. We should be- glad 70
know that the great majority OF all par
ties, whatever they might believe about
C.ig"r matters, were united Cn he doe
trime Of honestly paving every debt to
the last dollar.
That such a condition OF public senti-
ment should be an incaiculable benefit
to the country no sensible man need h-
told. But the Democratic leaders in
Ohio are determined that it shall not be-
brought about If lhcy can helpir Their
convention last week declared that the
paper currency had been contracted 10
the injury of the country; that this policy
should be abandoned; that the currency
be increased until it i equal to the
wants of trade" 10y which they mean
indefinitely; that resumption b" left 10
come OF itself: that national bank notes
h.. withdrawn. and legal tenders substi
tuted: that part of the import duties
(which the law pledges in gold to the
payment, principal and interest, OF the
public debt. } bc collected ia paper; that
the national bank system he eXtin-
gIi.hed, and State banks of deposit
and discount only be the only ones al
lowed
That these are to be the decisive issues
in Ohio this Fall is evident from the
way in which they are treated by the
Democratic speakers. At the ratilica-
tion meeting on Thursday evening Ewing
and Pendleton, the inilatiOnist leaders,
paraded them at great length, and poor
Senator Thurman was compelled TO
come upOn the platform and, by talkin"
evasive nonsense and preaching the du-
ty of ''harmony," give cOuntenancc to
ideas which he must abhoT. 1t would
be difficult to imagine any political pro-
gramme more thoroughly opposed to the
interests of the country, and in itself
more dishonest, than that which tho
Democrats of Ohio have announced. II
country is in need of more paper curren-
cy; yet every fact bearing on that qucs-
tion points in the opposite direction.
More currency is not wanted in the East,
for it is accommodating by the million
here. week after week, and those who
have it cannot lend nearly all of it, even
at the lowest rates. Now, when man
is offered money at n low rate, and will
not take it, il is because he does not
want it: and n business community is
precisely the same as Il single man in
that regard. Nor is more currency
wanted in the West. 1t is a "drug" in
Chicago. at unprecedentedly low rates:
and though il is beginning to be asked
for n little in anticipation of new crops
To be moved, there l. still n great deal
more than any one can proiitably use.
However, when the west was given the
choice of adding To its circulation or
surrendering "A portion of it, it did the
latter and not the former. Why. If
the country is suffering from confrac
tion. why do the banks in the suffering
section 90 OH contracting! Mr. PendIr-
ton SAYS it is because the threat of forced
resumption in 1879 has paraIyzed all en-
terprise. But the West would not take
currency when il was Offered before the
nIedge of resumption in 1879 was given.
In continuing to decline currency and
to surrender n part o, what it has. it is
only pursuing the line adopted long be
fore the 'threat" of resumption was
made.
Obviously the project of rcpudiating
the promise to pay the grrrmbacks in
1879, and Of flooding the country with
more, is not demanded by any real or
apparent need of the people IL should
be remembered that it would be- as dis
honorable as it would be unnecessary
and reckless. Ii seems incredible that
the fact that the legal tender notes are
nothing more nor less than Il debt should
be so completely ignored by any consid-
cradle number of persons i'll the country
as the Democratic Ohio platform shows
that it is. Originally these notes were
promises to pay, the tiIne being left un-
certain. by the act of last session the
time was fixed. That act becomes a
part of the obligation of each note. Ii
possesses exactly the same authority as
the original note, and it is rs binding on
the Government and on the people.
But the Ohio Democrats coolly propose
to throw it to the winds This is of il
piece with their doctrine concerning the
law of 1863, which promised that the
bonds should be paid in gold. Such Il
promise ought never To have been re
quired. The bonds could be- paid in
nothing else. But the Ohio Democrats
declared last year that this promise was
an iniquity, and Mr.. Pendleton is still
denouncing it. Doubtless the Earty
which would repudiate one pledge would
repudiate another. There is no safety
from lis dishonesty If it once got the
power. 1t has already partially sue
ceedcd i'll that. In it fully accompliShcs
its purpose, no one can say that it did
not proclaim its own baSeurSs before
hand. Its triumph would Re "a very great
disgrace to Ohio and to the country.
IF Governor Allen labor, under tile
with which hc is credited,
that has acceptance of Il denomination on
an imitation platform is likely to better
his chances for the Presidency, he IS like
ly to escape from the dclGSion briGrc a
long time elapses. The Troy Press,
which is strongly enough Democratic Ia
be taken as a fair representative Of the
sentiment of its party ia that SECTION oG
the country, tells him: ''it is by no
means certain that he wants to be Pres
ident, but If he does, his acceptance Of
n denomination, under the present cir
has greatly injured il not
destroyed his chances. The great mass
of the voters of the Union will not favor
m imitation candidate. That is a pretty
well determined fact. and, therefore,
Governor Alien must be regarded as
having counted hilnsalf out OF the race.
Dalliance with imitation VII prove fatal !
TO the Presidential prospects % every |
aspirant, whether he be Democrat OF |
and hence it is quite unlikely |
hat Ohio will furnish the next Chief |
Magistrate of the United States"
THE New York Times of Saturday pub |
ishes an important summary of the con
lition of the crops in Mississippi, Lonisi-
ina, Florida, Texas and Kansas, With
he exception of a few counties in the
after State, which have suffered from
lie grasShoppers, the reports are i'll
very instance Of IA very encouraging
character. Cotton Is everywhere report