New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1878-09-21

business Of lhe country, 4 general col
lapse Of credit, of payment and Of busi-
ness seemed inevitable, in which faith in
the ability Of the government wouid heTe
been destroyed, the rebellion would have
tFiumphed, the States have been LEFT divid-
ed, aud the people impoverished. The ma
tional government would have paEished,
and, with it, the Constitution which We
are now called upon 10 construe with such
nice and critical accuracy. That the legal
tender act prevented these disastrous re-
suits, and that the tender clause Was
necessary to prevent them, entertain no
doubt" IS Wall, 633.) Mr.. Justice
Strong, who delivered the final opinion Of
the majority, presented forcibly the same
view, and among other things said: ''Plain-
ly to this inquiry a consideration OF the
time ,chen and the circumstances in which
the government then stood, is important.
It is not to be denied that sctA may be
adapted to the exercise of lawful power
and appropriate to it in seasons of ext
gency, which would be inappropriate OF
other times" az Wall, p. 540) And
Mr.. Justice Bradley declares that the
power in question is So power not to be
resorted to except on extraordinary and
pressing occasions, such as war or other
public exigencies of great gravity and i'm
portance." az WALL, 500
1t is entirely clear that the legal tender
cases settle nothing except that Congress
had the power to issue legal tender notes
in the midst of the war and when the life
of the nation was to be saved thereby,
and even this was decided by only bare
majority of the court. Who will be bold
enough to say that an act Of Congress,
passed in time of peace, justified by no
exigency or emergency, making the ma
| tional government the banker for the
people and providing for indefinite issues
of paper currency to circulate as money
and be legal tender would be sustained
At all events, such an experiment would
be exceedingly dangerous, and should not
be adopted, even though its success might
promise to be blessing, much less when
success would be disaster scarcely less
ruinous than failure.
3. To adopt this policy would be
shameful and disgraceful reputation o
an express promise made by the nation (
its creditors. The promise refer to i
embodied in the act of Congress of JuH'
80, 1864, entitled can act to provide way
and means for the support of the govern
menk" This act provided for the issu'
and sale of bonds of the United States il
order to raise money to carry on the war
1t was of the utmost importance tina
capitalists should be induced 10 subscrib'
for these bonds. It was at that time fore
seen that Congress might be urged t
issue large quantities of greenback notes
and thus impair the nations credit AM
interfere with the payment Of the bond
about to he issued. To reassure capital
lists upon this subject and to induce then
to come forward and loan us money IL
that time of dire need and extremity, tn
following solemn promise was made b
the United States and embodied in tn
act have referred to:
ssNor shall the total amount of Unite
States notes issued or to be issued ever ca
coed four hundred millions of dollars, an
such additional sum, not to exceed fift
millions of dollars, as may. be temperate
required for redemption of temporar
loans" Q3 Stat at Large, p. 2l9l
Largely by the means of this pledge "
succeeded in selling our bonds and
raising money to carry on the war for ii
} suppression of the rebellion. The govern
: ment may have polcer to repudiate tn
} promise, but / am sure that no honel
} man can say upon his conscience that
ought to be done. No nation can affor
to disregard its plighted faith. Good fait
in a nation is its very life blood, withol
which its very existence must cease.
) is essential to credit and credit is essenti
to existence. The Republican party
: Iowa and of the Union will, I am sur
. say with one voice, let our government
: true and faithful in keeping all its pledg
s in letter and in spirit.