The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1875-09-23
NISCNESTGG, TENNESSEE,
ThnrHGuy, s,cpt. ;s:s, G-7l5.

The great incubus on American IN
duslry is Our bonded debl Federal and
State, The Treasury Department Of
tac United States, IN pursuance OF
Acts Of Congress-, pay $ Of the interest
ON the former and the principal when
it natures; and every man or woman
in this broad country who uses tobac
co, whisky, coffee, matches, etc, con.
tributes to the payment OF our immense
bonded debt. All Of the bonds Of the
United States, except the J2Os, were
payable in coin, and Congress passed
an Act in 1869 providing for TIC P"y-
mcnL Of these also in coin, thus PntllhP
tcll heavier Jurlhcns on the toIIiHS
masses, who were already grunlI"S
under their heavy load,) and pGlLIng
,lovsauds Of dollars into the pockets
NJ rro holders oltlG 3 ~ bonds, This
was class legislation, and therefore
null aud void. Congress undertook to
and did change JIe original contract,
simply because the majority were paId
to do it by Tic holders Of these bonds
A more corrupt Act was never passed
by any deliberate body processing 10
be lcgislating for Il great and Il Tree
people. it was simply robb'n9 Tie IA
boriu~ men Of that much money and
handing it over to the bondhoidcrs'
Now, &c say in all sober carncsLncss,
that these bonds have drawn interest
long enough. They were purchased, II
large quantity Of them, over ten years
ago, at about so cents on the dollar,
and those who have been clipping
their gold coupons for ten years have
realized a sufficient fortune on their IN.
vcslmGnt to afford to surrender the
bonds and take .hcir face value in Ic-
gal tender notes. Thus our great ma.
lional debt can be paid, and the bank
Iupt South can spring forward with
renewed energy and fresh hopes Of a
prosperous future. IL this cannot be
done, then God hG!p the poor day Ia.
borcrs Of the whole country, for fur.
thcr contraction Of the currency means
poverty, degradation, and yePaaiat'o~
Yes, before the hardy sons of toll will
submit longer TO the shacklcs prepared
for them by the insatia'cd gold monB
CTS and bondhoIdcra, they will rise
en- mosse and throw of this terrible
suNocatjng incubus and once more he
free.
The tyranny Of monopolists and cap
ilallst5 will result, # not checked and
crushed out Of existence, in the over
throw Of our republican form Of gov
eminent, and we believe the great ma
jority Of the voters Of this country have
arrived Mt this conclusion, Congress
cnacls bankrupt laws for the benefit OF
men who are able TO pay the lawyers,
registers, assigncos, clerks fees, DC,
and why not enact u law BY which the
public creditor shall be compelled to
meet an impoverished government on
compromising grounds2 We apply
these suggestions TO creditors of our
State as well rs the Federal govern
mcnt.
The last Congress passed an Act
comforting large discretionary powers
on the Secretary Of the Treasury in the
matter Of issuing bonds TO place on
the market, to raise gold with which to
redeem grconbacks, and thus contract
the currency. Secretary Bristow has
recently been exercising that discrc
t%ionaiy power-iSsuiug large quantl
ties of bondB-and The effect has been
just the reverse Of that expected by
him and predicted by the friends ofthc
Act when it was pending before Con
grcss, Gold has appreciated in value,
and paper currency deprecated in the
same rutio about 4 per cent. since he
commenced to issue more bonds. The
friends Of the contraction theory said
that the more the currency is contract
ed the more valuable it becomes, aud
they propose to continue the contrac-
ton of its volume until it will come
down to par with gold.
T gold continues to rise AZ it has
during the last few weeks, how long
will it take to make a paper dollar
worth as much as II dollar in gold Z
Never! Because tho paper dollar is
deprecated by every attempt to hoard
up more gold by tic issuance of more
bonds. Tor monled men (goId brokers
know that the larger our bonded debt
the more impossible it will be to pay il
and instead of contraction of the cur.
reney, We see and know that the exc.
cution Of that Act of Congress operates
as an imitation measure, and we wish
the Secretary would continue to issue
bonds until the whole country is flood