The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-08-13

PURPOSES OF THE ACT OF FEBRTARY
1862.
Second Snch nn examination would
have. shown that tlI" act Of February,
| 1862. tie first or fhr legal tender acts.
and the most Important of the loan acts.
which authorized rl;r i>Sue of $50, 600,
| O0O Of legal f"Iid.r notes, and also $500,
| O0O, Glb of iiy" twenty bonds. expressly
stated tlI;ri the pmrp"S'' for which These
bonds were issued WAS to enable the
Secretary of the Treasury to fund the
treasury notes taITrady isSuedD and the
floating debt Of tle United States, and
that the Secretary twas authorized 10
dispose of tl' bonds AT tine market value
thereof, for coin or for any Treasury
notes issued under amy former act of
Congress, or for the United States notes
hat might h.. issued under this act "
Is it suppOs;tble that Congress intends
to provide for funding the floating debt
and Treasury notes in these $500, 600, 900
Of bonds Which at the expiration Of five
We ,rs might b" called in and paid in the
$50, O0G, 900 of notes which, with the
floating debt and Treasury notes, were
thus Ia be funded.
WHY ONLY THE INTEREST WAS TO BIZ
PAID IN COIN.
Third Such an examination would
have shown that the legal tender notes
were regarded H. u forced lOan-tempo-
rary only, and only justified hy those
who advocated tin ir Issue as II war meas
urr la fact, that the issue of legal
tenders WAS limited nt first Ia 800, 600. .
000, and subsequently TO Si00, 600, 0nO,
and that they were intended tO b' only
temporary issue, shows why it was
that provision WIS only mahe for the
payment of the interest in coin. There
was not, | apprchend, II single member
of Congress who did not expect that,
before the expiration of five years from
the date of the first iive-twCnties, the
legal tender notes would be paid or
funded The Secretary of the Treasury
in his report of 1857 used the following
language:
1t is not said (im tlI,. lesaltendeT acts
that they dhe legal tender notes. shall
not be receivable for the principal of
bonds for the very obvious reason that
they were expected to be but IL Tempo
rary circulation. a provision that these
notes-intended only to meet n tempo
rary emergency should not DE received
for the payment of the principal of bonds
which were not rcdeeInable for five
years, would have been quite likely to
have prevented their issue. The public
Judgment had not then been perverted
10y AN irredeenI;lble currency, and n
proposition that indicated a long contin-
ned departure from the specie standard
would have found few supporters i'll
Congress or among the people
LEGAL TENDER NOTFS As CIRCULATING
MRDIUM.
80 one can. | think, read the debates
in Congress upon the legaltender acts
without coming to the conclusion that
if any apprehension had been expressed
or felt that these notes would have con
tinued to be II circulating medium for
five years the authority TO issue them
would not have been granted. The
Secretary of :h" Treasury concluded his
thorough dis4usSi"n Of this question in
ths ceIort referred Ia tif his conclusions
have been Iefutcd never seen the refu-
tation) in the following words, which
trust may be pardOned for quoting.
In opposition 10 al such eXpedients
fo1 paying, or rather for getting rid of
the public debit, is the upright, world
hOnOrrd, economical policy Of paying
every obligation Of the government ne
cnrding la the understanding with which
it was created; the policy of appreciat-
ing the paper dollar until it shall repre-
sent dollar in coin; or giving stability
to business and assurance to enterprise,
and viping from the country the re-
proach that rests upon it by reason of
the low price Of It's seagriIies in the
great ninfis al Tie world. That this is
the policy \ hidh will be sustained by
the people and their representatives., the
Secretary has tie fullest confidence
There may hereafter be nations which,
ignoring their honorary obligations, may
look only to their own statUteS for the
measure OF their liabilities. If there
shall be singh nations, the republic of
the United States will not lie ioupd
among them. It has essentially suffered
10y the aetn,d rfBudfIIiun OF s9ne of
the States, and the virtual reputation
of others; IT is still suffering from the
same cause, although more than n quar-
ter of :, century has elapsed since this
stigma was fixed upon American credit.
1t is suffering also from the Tact that
Massachusetts and California alone. of
all the States, have continued to pay
the interest Oh their bonds in coin. But
although it has suffered, and is still suf-
fering. from tlle bad faith and lalga COON
omy of some ot it, mpn:bers. its own Il
nancial honor j. Uflsuiiisd: 1t has com
mittpd the mistake of making Us inenH-
yertlhln PROMISES II Iesa! tender, but 1t
has never taken advantage of its own
legislation 10 lessen in the hands OF the
holders the value of its securities, or
violate its eng'lgeiHents iy foYert rspGdi-
at,oR,
How THE FIVR-TN ENTIIIS ARR PAAABLh.
In conclusion would ask, i 1t was true
as was stated in one Of the rrsGlat,nns OF
the State i,-mner.ltie Convention of
Ohio one yeag ago, that the five twenty
bonds ''ware by he Irtter and spirit OF
tile law, and by tie general understand
ing of the community, payable in legal
tender notes, " how happened it that by
the community these lnnds were never
considered of less valne than the Il per
cent. honds iss!ivd under the act of March
>. 1863. or of comparatively less value
than the ) per cent. issued under the act
of March 3, 1864, both of which acts
nrovided that the bonds issued under
them should he payarte IN eoihl isnot
the fact that The six per cents. OF March
3 1S63. have not n higher reputation
than the other bonds of the same class
issued under acts, aud that the ave per
cent. Of aiareh /, 1854, have never pos.
sessed In the market "A value correspond
ing with that Of the tive-twenties, con
elusive that it was not the understand
ing of the community that the last nam
ed bonds were payable in legal-tendel
notes. Would it not have been wiser
and more patriotic on the part of that
convention if, instead of denouncing
Congress for pledging, by the act ol