The daily gazette., 1878-09-30
Mr.. Butler as a Bondholder


In regard TO his ownership and his ad.
yocacy of the payment of United States
securities In gold while in Congress, as
charged Dy Mr.. Endicott, the General
says:
ain regard to Endicotts discussion of
my action in Congress, / do not know
whether to be more amused with the
want OF logic of the argument or the per-
serVatlon OF statement. | do not refer
now, OF course, to his comment on nv
/ happening to own $4,000 of 1865 bo ads.
payable IN currency, principal and in
terest, which is all that a nosing news
paper correspondent could find in the
Treasury standing to my credit. But one
OF my offences, according to Endicott, is
that have been in favor of naying a
bond in gold. That is true. That was in
1870, before the decentralization of silver,
when silver was three per cent. above
gold, and then the bankers and bond
holders wanted the coupons made pay
| able in Paris and In Germany, where
| they would be payable in silver, and the
United States would be obliged to pay
three per cent. more. 1 opposed it and
| insisted that they should be in coin ac-
cording to the contract in 1863. Silver
was three per cent. above gold In 1870,
and then the bondholders wanted law
i .
| be paid in foreign co.: ;ries, so that they
might receive them thus in silver, not
in coin-silver and gold. That opposed
ana held them to their contract. Now,
silver being the cheapest, they want O
law passed to make these bonds payable
III gold, as gold is now worth the most
anu gold payments would impose the
greatest burden on the people.
| Again, Endicott seems to think that
there is something inconsistent with my
present views in the motion [ made il
Congress, which he states as follows:
And the United States solemn,
pledges its redemption of the United
States notes in coin.
True, offered that amendment, but
OF course, II was lost, because my objec
was that there should be one currenc,
for the people and one currency for tn,
bondholder. The contract in regard tt
the bond had been changed in 1869 tt
make the bonds payable in coin, and
thought the notes or greenbBcks held by
the people ought to be paid in coin, a!
welt as the bond of the CAPITALIST, and
sad, 81 certainly thought it ought to b,
done whenever we can get ready and ar,
able to do so. Is there any body her,
who is ready to do it before that?"
thank Endicott for quoting my language
The difficulty | find now is that the gov
ernment is attempting to redeem Unitet
States notes in coin before they ar,
"ready and able to do it,"
| BANK PAPER MONEY.
Endicott also thinks that he finds SOM
Inconsistency with my present tinancia
lposition, because, in 1857, said "tha
the constitutional currency of hard none
had been swept away" ""All that we hav
now is a currency of rags, shreds ant
parches. This is the cause of our presen
financial crisis," and the remedy that
then proposed was the withdrawal O
all bank notes under ten dollars, the
under twenty, and so on until all pay
ments under fifty should be made in coli
denounced the system of bank pape
money then, as l do the system of BAN
paper money now. And | quoted tn
words of Webster against an irredeema
BILE bank paper currency, as | do now
that of all the contrivances it was tn
best to make the rich ncher and the poo
poorer and give the sweat of the poo
mans brow to the rich mans profit"
reiterate that now. There was no othe
= legal tender money then thought of O
issned by the government, save gold an
silver and do prefer gold and silver t
lirredeemable bank paper money, whic
has been the cause ofall financial panic
since the country had an existence, and
desired it to be wiped out then as l d,
! sire it 10 be wiped outko But with
greenback currency, decided by I'll
Supreme Court to be constitutional, mad
legal tender and issued by the gener:
government, there is substitute for ban
paper, better and more convenient or
currency than gold and silver. take n,
ice that the hard monsy men are quotin
Webster's, Jackson's, Benton's and Ca
houn's denunciations of irredeemab
bank paper against the greenback-th
United States legal tender currenc,
These quotations are made TO delude tn
people and mislead them, whether mad
by Eudicott or by Senator ofthe Unite
States upon the stump. The latter know
better, the former probably does not.
plead guilty to the Inconsistency O
j.. not foreseeing the necessity and use
| the United States legal tender Treasur
note five years before it came. Admittin
that, | thank Heaven l have sens
enough to zee its value now, imperfec
| ly as It was made, which wrought out til
salvation of the country by paying tn
soldiers who crushed the rebellion one
whom was not Senator Hoar, of w orceI
Ter, or Endicott of wherever he may b.