The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1878-05-31

nearly et, ,ual to the present indebted
ness of the Government, attests the re
suit in the distress, desOlatiOn, an
bankruptcy that pervades all section
of the country.
| While this conversion of the 7.3t
One-year, twO-year, and compound
! interest notes was going on, if tn
| Government had exercised its clear lie
gal right to discharge the go bond
in greenbacks or legal-tenders, the et
| fects of contraction in this direction
| would have been cOunteracted; bu
| the money power in cOnsciOusstrengtl
demanded that the "sinking-funt
| pledge" of the Government should b.
| paid in coin.
The immediate effect of these TIVE
measures was to enhance the value o
| the bonds. This enhancement of The
value of the bonds meant an mcreas,
in their purchasing power and a con
sequent diminution in theprices of the
property of the people. In one alone
of these measures, tO-wit, the coin ac
of 1869, by which the Government
subservient to the demand of the mon
ey power, pledged it's faith to the pay.
ment of its entire debt in coin, it has
been estimated that the increase III
value of the securities in the hands OF
the money power was the sum 2fSl5D,
0O0,OuO. This gain to them was a loss
of so much to the people. | feel sure
that in all of its consequences, direct
and remote, the loss has been far be-
yond this sum.
But turning a moment to the man
ner in which the redemption of the
''Sinking fund pledge" has been exc
cuted, in which we see the same sub
serViency to the money power, it is to
be remarked that Secretary Boutwell,
when he commenced in the year of
1S7O-7I to fix the amounts upon which
he would establish the l percent. as
sumed not the amount at that date,
not the amount of the Understanding
obligations of the Government created
by and under the act of 1862, but he
selected that date which showed the
highest amount of outstanding indebt-
edness at any period since 1862, to wit,
in August, 1865, when the sum was
s., 756, 81. .43. Now, in this sum was
included not only the interest-bearing
bonds and obligations of the Govern
ment issued for war purposes, but all
bonds, issued prior to the war, the Ma
w pension fund, (Which is a mythi-
cal Indebtedness certificates of gold
deposit, and for which the gold was
then in the Treasury, and the large
amount of United States currency then
outstanding.
Taking out the sums which ought
not to have been included, and aSsu-
ming that the amount of the interest
bearing obligations created by the
war, due and existing at the time, pur-
chaseS were commenced on account of
tI,n -, frr,,I NE-A1r1I ,riz- oil
81, 600, 600, 900 on which the per cent.
should have been reckOned, or, in 9TH
er rwOrds, the sinking fund would have
commenced at $50, 900, 900 per annum
in 1S70-71, instead of twenty-eight
millions. BY so doing the people
would in this year be paying from ten
to twelve millions less than they do
now. Under the assumption made
the taxpayers are crushed with un-
necessary and accumulated taxation
in order to maintain and enhance the
value of the bond. In the manage
ment of this fund for this purpose over
$500 OO0, 900 have been unnecessarily
added thereto; in other words this
amount has been unnecessarily added
to the wearisOme burdens of the peo-
pie, during these years of bankruptcy
and distress, and all at the dictate of
the money power.
But, Mr.. Speaker, why should the l
per cent. upon this false amount Of
3, 75G, 431 ,571 IS, assumed by Secretary
Boutwell,, be maintained; it Is estima-
ted, and a calculation will show cor
rectly estimated, that with a cOntinu-
ance of this rate the entire public debt
will be paid within the present centu-
ry. BY the report of the Secretary of
the Treasury it appears that out of the
taxes of the people, the sum of $780,
95i, 4j9 80 has been paid i'll excess
even of what the law requires. Again,
it is not to be overlooked in this con-
nectiOn that a large part of the exist
ing debt of the Government Is now be-
ing recOnverted at lower rates of in
terest into loans payable at long dates,
and that with this deferred date and
decreased rate of interest the debt will
be eXtinguished before its maturity;
hence it is cruel and unnecessary to
oppress this generation with a wholly
useless burden.
The process of contracting and fund
ing inaugurated, the next step in the
interest of capital is taken i'll the decla-
ration and pledge of the Government
made in 1869 that the debt of the Gov
ernment should he paid in coin. The
people had not asked this to he done
for the amount held by them by cur
rency; the taxpayer who supports the
Government, maintains its Army, Ma
w, Legislature, Judiciary, and EXec~
utiVe, had not demanded that the
bond which was lawfully payable in
currency Ito wit, the five-twenties)
should be made payable in coin. But
vet the fiat of the money power re-
9uired il and an obedient Congress and
Executive complied, again increasing
the purchasing power of the bond and
the tax-paying resources
of the country, again warning against
labor and protecting capital. No more
crushing and fatal policy of depression
to the industrial energies of a people
just emerging from struggle in which
had been destroyed from eight to ten
billions of property could not well have
Leen adopted, From the hour of its
passage to the present moment the
history of desolated homes, bankrupt
ing poverty, and increasing distress
have been daily witnessed.
But not content with these results
the money power, in the continued
possession of the controlling authori=
ties of the Government, commands
that the means of payment shall be
limited, and this command 10 Obeyed.
BY the act Of 1869, the people are de
prived of the right and privilege Of
naving according to their contract, a
portion of their debt in legal tenders
and are required to pay it in coin.
BY act of Congress in 1850, the new
bonds of the Government authorized
10 be issned ioF the DurnOse of funding.
the public debt in ), y, and / per
cent. bonds were made payableiu coin
of the United States at its then stand
ard. A. both these dates the silver
dollar, as Well as gold, sas recognized
legal coin, and silver dollars 3s Well a.
gold were legal tender in payment of
all the dues 10 the Government
About this time the German govern
ment, successful in her war AGAINST
France, demOnetiZed silver, most
probably urged thereto by the desire
to QppresS and haraSS the French peO-
pie, thai country being the principal
commercial government in the Latin
umion-a union that recognized the
bimetallic standard of gold and silver
and with the further motive that,
being creditor government, such ac-
ton would enrich her citizens. Eng
land, the great creditor country of the
world, had previously demonetized
silver; and it is a further fact to he
noted that it is in these countries
where the larger amOuntof our foreign
II Nusaf. - TrsTG nj