The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-01-02
The Payment Of thc Government
Bonds and 1Ile silver Question.

The Payment of Ihc Government
Bonds and the silver Question.
One of the very best speeches in the
Senate upon the payment of the govern
ment bonds and the silver question was
delivered on the 18th of December by
Senator Hereford, of West Virginia.
Mr.. Hereford's speech will be found on
the first page of our present issue, and
the reader who wishes to be thoroughly
informed upon the most absorbing public
topic of the day will not fail to read it
attentively. He will find unquestionable
| evidence furnished in the declarations OF
such leading anti silver champions as
Prof. Sumner, of Yale College, and Sem
ator Dawes, of Massachusetts,, that the
contest over the question of remonetizing
silver and paying the government bonds,
either in gold or silver or both at the op-
ton of the people, is between the Indebted
landowners and laboring masses on the
one hand, and the favored, untaxed
bondholders and capitalists on the other.
The champions of the latter do not hest
tate to admit the fact. The former asks
no special legislation-no exclusive privi-
lege-but justice, pure and exact.
The assumption Of President Hayes in
his message designed to prop up venal
legislation in the interest of the bond
holders, that they expected to be paid in
gold exclusively, is shown to be utterly
preposterous and unfounded. They knew
directly the reverse. The bonds did not
cost them originally exceeding fifty cents
on the dollar. Pending the legislation
on the subject of their payment Mr..
Thadeus Stevens, the great Republican
commoner, now no more, and Chairman
of the Committee Of Ways and Means,
who reported the bills that were passed
repeatedly, declared that they were paya-
BILE in greenbacks, not in coin exclusively,
much less gold only; and the legalten-
ders themselves bear this endorsement as
solemn pledge Of the government to every
holder: "This note is legal-tender at
" its face value for all debts public and
private, except duties on imports and
" the interest" mot principal Of the public
debt" A letter of Hon. John Sherman,
to Mr.. Hayes, Secretary of the Treasu-
ry, and the inspirer if not author of his
financial policy, is SO clear and emphatic
upon this point that it will bear repro
duction. 1t is dated March goth, 1868:
DEAR SIR: was pleased to receive your
letter. My personal interests are the same
as yours, but, like you, do not intend 10 be
Influenced by them My construction OF the
law is the result OF careful examination,
and | feel quite sure an impartial court
would confirm it. if the case could be tried !
before "a court. / send you my views as |
fully stated in speech. Your idea IS that
zoe propose to repadiate or Ui0late a promise |
1ohen zoe offer to redeem the ''prtnctpat IN legal
tenders.
Think the bondholder vto1ates his promise |
a0ke1a he refuses TO take the kind OF money
he paid for the bonds. If the case is to be |
tested by Jay Cookies advertisements, | am
wrong. L hate reputation or anything |
like it, but zoe ought not TO be deferred from
doing aoltdt is right bg fear Of andeserUed cpl
IL
holders of the tive-tWentieS can only be
paid in gold, then we are regulators if we
propose to pay otherwise, If the b0ndhOtder
,an legally demand only the kind Of money he
7Gid, then he is a repudidt0r aud ertortt0Rer TO
tenaqllG money more UdLudbLe than he gaze.
john SHERMAN.
In 1869 and 10 laws were enacted by
Congress under pretence of strengthen
ng the public credit" by which it is
claimed that the contract between the
government creditors and the people
we're changed, and that the pledge was
made to pay the Indebtedness in "coinj"
put it was not until the fraudulent leg
station of 1873 disseminating the coin
Ige of the silver dollar and prohibiting
liver as legal tender Except for So or
esq that the discovery was made that
he bondholders had right to be paid
My in gold, the value of which has
'een enhanced in their interest by de-
nonetizing silver and repudiating the
onditions upon which the greenbacks
'ere issued-viz: that they should be
egal tender for all debts public and
rivate except customs dues and interest
n the public debt. A more monstrous
1justice was never practiced npon any
eople than this whole system of Re
ublican laundering which is sought to l
e perpetrated by the Administration
nd the tools and agents of the bond G
olders, and the struggle to relieve the
ountry from its blighting effects will be
ing and desperate.
he Congressional Election I'm +
1873. :.