The daily gazette., 1876-08-03
From the Journal OF Comeric

From the Journal OF Comeric'
The PROPOSED REPUDiATIoN.- The
proposition 10 pay the bonded debt of
fol n of repudiation, The veteran
leader of the Republicans, the well
known Thurlow Weed, seems just now
to be among the foremost in this bad
service. The first public hint at any
form of reputation, as applied to the
debt of the United States, came from
the came party. Its author was Hon.
Thaddeus Stevens, the leader of the
House of Representatives, who stood
up in his place nCongress and proposed
that the whole of the bonded debt
should be Cancelled or considered pay
able in the greenback currency. He
insisted that this was good enough for
the public creditors, and that it was
all the people were pledged to pay.
We took strong ground against the
proposition, and Mr.. Stevens and his
project were put dow mainly by the
conservative influence arrayed against
him, not a few of the radicals joining
with him in the effort to glorify the
Igreenback as currency equal to gold,
and quite sufficient as means of pay
ment to redeem the pligbted faith of
the people.
Now Mr.. Weed leads off in the same
direction, repudiating, as we shall
show, the most solemn pledges made
to the public creditors. 1t has been
understood from the outset that the
bonded debt of the United States is
payable in gold coin. Mr. Weed
must be sadly ignorant OF the subject
upon which he writes at such length
not to know that after there arose any
|question on the subject, this pledge
was carefully inserted in the bonds
that were issued. When the second
decision of the Supreme Court, revers-
ing the sound law contained in the
first opinion expressed by larger
maj iority of the judges, was announced
there was at once fresh trouble in
negotiating the bonds. The Court had
at first decided. five to three, that a
debt contracted IN one currency must
be paid in that particular currency, or
its full equivalent, although the con-
tract contained no stipulation to this
effect. One of the five judges resigned,
and the three dissenters, being rein-
forced by two new appointments. gave
a rehearing to the repudiators, and by
a vote of five to four reversed the
| Judgment thus solemnly pronounced,
| which should have stood for all time j:
! The new doctrine in the later opinion
limits the obligation to pay in the old
currency to those cases where this is
| expressly stipulated for in the contract.
If the borrower had received gold and
promised to return gold, he could be
held to his bargaln; but if he had re-
ceived gold and merely promised to
pay so many dollars, he could pay in
greenbacks, since Congress had made
these legal tender
This opinion, we say, at once crea-
| ted widespread distrust in regard to
| American securities. Even the prom
Use in the bonds to pay them in the
gold coin of the United States was not
deemed sufficient. 1t is true that this
must be redeemed in gold, but, under
the latter ruling of the Court, any
quantity of gold made a legal tender
| for dollar by act of Congress would
be sufficient. The capitalists of Eur
rope might lend to the United States
five hundred millions at the rate of
twenty five and eight tenths grains of
standard gold to the dollar, and before
the day of payment came, Congress
might enact that twenty gains should
be legal tender for dollar. This
new coin, by the principles of the
ruling decision, would be a legal ten
der of any outstanding debt payable in
gold where there YVES no further Sip
ulation.
To meet this new ditfio ulty the old
plates were laid eside and new promi>
ses were engraved, stipulating not
only to pay the debt in gold coin, but
in gold coin of the United States of the
present weight and fineness.
This is therefore in the way of Mr..
Weeds new game of reputation. The
later issues of these bonds not only
promise to pay in gold coin, but in
gold coin weighing GIG grains to the
double eagle, and this to be nine tenths
pure gold. His sophistry about the
right to pay in silver because the old
silver dollar of 412a grains, although
out of circulation was not taken out
of the list of legal tenders until 1873