The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-08-29

We ask MCkinloy-WhV dld not your
party do this in the beginDing2 The de-
probation OF the greenback, you know,
and everybody knows, more than doub'
led the cost of the war; and that every
dollar of the public debt would be paid
by this time, had greenbacks been kept
at par, or nearly 30, with coin. France
carried through her expensive war, and
in addition paid Prussia an indemnity of
$l000OO,000 with an irredeemable cur
renCy, and kept 1t at par with coin sim
ply and solely by receiving it in full pay
ment of all public duesl
We ask again-why did not your party
do this, like France, and make the green.
back receivable for all government duesP
Why did your party dishonor and dis
credit the greenback, by refusing them
in payment for duties on imports, and
receive only gold therefor2 You will
say the government needed gold to pay
interest on the bonds, and that it was
necessary to make the interest on the
bonds payable in gold to make them
saleable. This is all you can say, and if
this is shown to be untrue, you have no
excuse to offer. Now, is this soP
We will let Secretary McCulloch ans
wer this-hard money, bond-loving Nc.
Culloch, the man go eager for gold ba-
sis that he recommended Congress to
adopt such a rapid and stringent system
of contraction that all government paper
would be withdrawn from circulation,
and specie resumption forced on the
people in 1869. MCCulloCh says in his
reports to Congress, message and docu-
ments 1868, page 27) that on Aug. 81,
1865, Just at the close of the war, the in
terest bearing debt consisted of seCuri
ties bearing gold interest 81 100 900, 900,
securities bearing currency interest ST.
$50 100000. From this it appears that
government securities bearing currency
interest were as readily sold as those
bearing gold interest, and much more so,
when we consider that the gold interest
was per cent (equal to s and 8 per cent
currency, and the currency was 6 and
z $40 per cent. But we will let this
Secretary speak ON this point, These
currency interest bearing securities were
what are known as compound interest
and 7 80 notes. On page 26 message
and documents 1878, he says that in
less than three months, more than $500
000 900 Ud8 subscribed and paid fOr, whilst
during the same period only $l0,000,0O0
of gold interest bearing bonds were sold,
and the Secretary says that ut proved to
be the most popular loan eUer offered TO the
people; and again, he says he "refers to
this period of his administration with
pleasure, because the success of this
"loGn was not only surprise and relief
ito him, but because it indicated the re-
sources of the country, and gave him
"the needed courage for the performance
"of the great work before him"
Thus it is placed beyond a doubt that
it was not necessary to make the interest
on bonds payable in gold. The revenue
during the war was enormous; the sum
of money received by the Treasury from
June 3Oth, 1861 to June 30th, 1865, for
revenue and bonds was the enormous
sum of $4000,000000, an average of ST.
000,000,000 a year (message and doCu-
ments 1868 8, page 297), thus neCessitat'
ing the handling by the treasury, every
year, of an amount of currency three
times as great as the whole amount of
greenbacks then in existence Now, if
greenbacks had been receivable for du.
ties, there would have been no demand
for gold, and this great demand by the
government for greenbacks would have
practically kept them at par. Bear in
mind farther, that the gold needed and
used by the government for interest on
bonds during those four years, from
June 80, 1861, to June 80, 1866, was only
$168 100000 (message and documents,
1868 8, page 237), and $6O,OOO,OOO of
that was for bonds issued prior to the is
sue of greenbacks; and here we have the
humiliating spectacle of great govern
ment first dishonoring its own paper;
then, after receiving immense revenues
of gold, going upon the market and sell
ing its gold for its own dishonored pa
per, than which a more shameful spec
tacle the world has never seen!
But not satisfied with thus dishonoring
the greenbacks, and thereby causing
their depreciation, the Republican party
caused $500, 100000 Of bank notes to be
circulated, and made them receivable By
the government for all dues except imports,
the same as greenbacks, an initiation of
the currency of 100 per cent. This infa-
tior of the currency by irredeemable
bank notes being in amount equal to the
greenback, caused depreciation 100 per
cent greater than would have occurred
had they not been issued, and being
made receivable the same as greenbacks
by the government, made the result still
more disastrous.
We ask the Major, why did your party
do all this2 The time has come when
you can no longer answer this by shout
ing "rebel" and "copperhead," " or waving
the "bloody shirt" There is ragged
shirt" waving in the country, and the
masses are demanding an account Of
your doings.
The people did not call for gold inter-
est bearing bonds, they preferred the pa
per interest securities, as we have shown,
nor did they dream of National banksl
No, the demand came not from the
people, but from the money pOWer. The
money powers crushed by the old De-
mocracy of Jackson's time, seeing its old
enemy overthrown, took advantage of
the moment, when the whole attention
and energies of the people were absorbed
in struggle for national existence, and
again captured the governmenu
This money power was very loyal these
men were Uery loyal, and their loyalty to
the government increased from day to
day in geometrical progression, as did
their wealth, from the financial policy
Of the government!
These were the men Of whom the Sec
retary of the Treasury complained to
Congress in 1864. when he said, message
and documents 1864.5, page 23S), "Hos'
'tility to the government has been as de-
ncidedly manifest in the effort that has
''been made to depreCiate the currency
20 II hoo hnan hu iha enenllL in Lhe feLd.