National Republican., 1877-11-15
,,,,,i.,,tiiN NOVEMBER Is. ,s7
Government Obligati i,ns.

oVlHh'lbHs SN'iN"
whether taken by persons in their indi-
yidunl capacity or In their character Of pub
liz Ssicers. But how far public officer is
capable of giving construction to public
law that shall be binding upon a nation is
quite another affair. We are told by the
gold kings that we must not rcmonetize
silver because Mr.. Secretary SHERMAN. af-
ter consultation with the President and
Cabinet, wrote the following letter to Mr..
70. FRENCH, or some other New York gen
tleman, who inquired last summer whether
the new four per cent. bonds were payable,
pr,ncipa, and interest, in gold:
The Government cxarts in exchange for
tbcsc, bonds payment at their fnce in such
gold coin, aud II II not TO be anticipated that
any future legislation Of Congress or any Ac-
tion Of any department Of the Government
would sanction or tolerate redemption Of the
principal Of these bonds, or payment of inter.
est thereon in coin of less value than the coins
authorized by law at the time OF the issue OF
said bonds, being the coin eXacted by the
Government In exchange fr the same. The
essential eemcnts Of Government faith in pre-
serving equality IN value between a coinage
In which the Government receives and that in
which II rays these bonds, will lie sacredly OBJ
served by the Government anil people of the
United States. whatever may be the system o!
coinage which the general policy Of the nation
may nj any time adopt. This principle is i'm
pressed upon the text Of the law of July IA,
1870, under which four per ccntum bonds are
issued, aud requires, in the opinion of the Ex-
ecutive Department of the Government, the
redemption Of these bonds and payment of
theh interest in coin OF equal value with that
which the Government receives upon their
issuc
We are not prepared to say that this is
not very proper letter provided all the
assertions and assumptions in It's premises
are correct But what in the world this
has to do with the validity and propriety
Of the silver bill rs il passed the House and
went to the Stnate, we are at a loss to per-
seive. As that bill is very brief, we will re-
produce II here In order to prevent nll mis-
conception in the matter. The text Of the
bill is As follows:
A bill to authorize the free coinage of the
standard silver dollar. aud 10 restore its legal
tender character.
Be il enacted. DC, That ther" shall I've coined
Mt the sevt ral mints Of the United STATES sil
yer dollars Of the weight Of four hundred aud
twelve and one half grains troy, Of STANDARD
1857, on which shall be devices and supencrp
tions provided by said act; which coin. to.
gether with all silver dollars heretofore
coined by the United States. of like weight
and fnencss. shall ie legal tender at theiI
nominal value, for sll debts aud dues, publ,
md private, ercept rhsre otherwise p'Oridei b,
ooHtract; and any owner of silver bullion
may deposit the same at any United state,
coinage mint or ASSAY -Ohrr, to lie coined int
such dollars for his Lcnefi, upon the sam,
terms and conditions H gold bullion is dc
posted foI coinage under existing law.
SEr. 2. All acts and parts Of uCts imrnnSistrn
with the provisions of this act are hereby re
pealed.
The Phrase italiciscd in the bill prevents
the four per cents, OF the interest thereon
from being paid in silver coin IL there is IN.
contract binding us to Iay them in gold
If there is no such contract, then the prin
cipal and interest may lie paid in Lawful
coin or according to the tenor of the bond
The presumption is that there is no contrac
or the gold kings would not be so anxiou
on the subject, Their nervousness in til
presence OF the provision we have italicize
above in the bill is tantamount to contes
sion that they know that the letter of th
Secretary Is not contr rict.
But these money kings threaten the peo
pie that their bonds will come home from
Europe and that the credit of the Govern
ment will sink below par il silver is made
legal tender. They also say that the say
ings banks of the country will bc iniure,
by the fall OF the bonds in which their dc
posits are largely invested. Ii it were tru
that the savings banks were possesse,
largely of United States honds fewer q
them would have failed lately. If til
bonds come home from Europe the peopl
will withdraw their savings from III
banks and invest them directly Il
the four per c,nt Government bond,
upon which they can realize any mt
ment without notice, and on which, whl
they hold them, they have to pay no take.
The harlfsted lahoring classes have no,
about one thousand millions in the saving
banks, which transferred from them l.
Government four per cents returned from II,
rope would, of course, neccsSiiatG the wind
ing up of the savings hanks, because of III
loss Of their occupation. We have no idc
but what the drl"tSiiurs could stand thj
transfer, il il should become uccessi.I
quite rs easily ~ could the banks On Il,
whole, we think it will be found that Il,
best thing that the bankers can do will \
to accept the double standard.