The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-10-24
BAD FINANCIAL LECiSLAflCN."

Cnol Oo VI tilG OitoIlDdCh duVOCdUe
in regard to the swindling ''Coin act
of 1850 are fully sustained by tn
paper (which shines for ALL" W.
looked at the title page of the pape
twice to satisfy ourselves that w
were not reading one Of our Green
back exchanges. The Sun is a yer,
bitter upholder Of the hard none,
faith, but is shrewd enough not t,
argue wholly against the facts. Dur
ing the silver discussion it admitted
that under the law it would be Just t,
pay The bonds in silver dollars O
4l2 - grains each, and bused its op
position % the silver bill on tn,
ground of expediency. MI. Dana ha
very large constituency of intelli
gent readers, and he has to be very
careful i'll defending the specie re
sumption fallacy. He does not care
to be rated as a shallow reasoner after
winning the reputation Of being the
ablesJ journalist in the United States
The same arguments which appear
III this Sun article to show how out
rageously The people have been swim
died ire II It new to the readers of the
Union, but we will quote the main
points in order to emphasize what we
have said. Says the Sun:
Undoubtedly the whole financial
legislation and the executive admin
istration were in the interest of what
is called the money power and the
bondhOldcr. The $50 bonds, by the
terms Of the law authorizing their
issue, were payable in greenbacks,
and We're sold on an average at sixty
cents on the dollar The interest
only was payable IN gold. When the
proposition Was first mOOted to raise
these bonds to the gold standard
Thaddeus Stevens declared in the
House Of representatives:
81 would vote for no such swindle
upon the taxpayers of this country. |
would vote for no such speculations in
favor of the large bondholders. the
mllllonalres who took advantage of
our folly III granting them coin pay
mentS OF interest.
And John Sherman, in his letter of
March -, 1868, went still further.
He wrote:
" our idea is that we propose to
repudiatc OF violate a promise when
we offer to redeem the principal in
regal tenders. | hate repudia-
ton, or anything like it, but we ought
not to be deferred from doing what is
right by fear Of undeserved epithets. .
If the bondholder can legally de.
mand only the kind Of money he paid,
then he IS Il repudiator and extor-
toner to demand money more valua-
Die than he gave.
The sun then proceeds to show that
in Il few months after these emphatic
declarations were made hy the re-
spectlye chairman of the Senate and
House Finance Committees, congress
passed an "act to strengthen the pub
he credit, ana this was the first bill
slgne by Grant rs President "The
law provided that the currency in.
debtedness Of the country should be
payable III coin. and it added nearly
five hundred millions to the public
debt. which went into the pockets of
the bondhOlders, and had to be added
10 the then existing buIdenS on the
taxpayers.
mat act was an iniquity which no
plausible pretcnces have paliated. and
1T was driven through the House
without debate, under the gag of the
previous question, which served to
confirm the tellef that il ring of cap
ltallSts stood behind the bill. who
knew that such a scheme would not
bear discussion. The Senate finished
the work quickly, and the patriots
who proSpered by Addition, Division
ana Silence Went on their way reioic-
ing. Ten days after the passage of
TINS law proposition was offered in
the House to tax the bonds. which
the Republicans defeated by a unani-
nous vote on the record.
The sun next proceeds to demon
strate that the above act of iniquity
was followed by others. II SAYS:
MI. Boutwell, at that time was see
rotary of the treasury and he became
possessed of the false idea that the
people who had borne the hrunt of
the civil wan and had made the great
est sacrifices 10 preserve the Union.
should also pay of the enormous debt
which had necessarily been piled up
III four years of desperate strife. To
carry out this policy. ii was ndiSpen
sable that taxation on imports and by
internal revenue should be kept up to
the highest point. Hence the pres
sure was constantly applied, not only
to meet The redemption OF bonds
twenty years before thep became due.
but indirectly TO support great mo-
nopolieS. protected by ring tariff
from which the greater part Of the
puhIc revenue was eNtorted.
Besides these oppressive taxes. the
reports OF the treasury show that il
cost nearly q hundred millions Of dol
lars To give effect 10 Mr.. Bcutwell's
scheme OF reducing the pabIic debt
from The close OF the war forward.
Here are the official figures:
Prom.'u.s laid on bonds extin-
%NiSAeG ...-.-. ...-. $500, ~, j. O. IS
RNl enSeS IL ,ho pub.le loans s.. ~. IT, s.
Rounding OF ilse asst. -. -. 5,tSl Si9 81
Total 100. -...-. 1853. -. : rs ~ e
All tins vas expenditure was made
in she interest ot hcndhollers, who.
under the law creating the debt,
have ia legal claim whatever "a re-
ee.ve adollIr in gold or silver. The
exchange from legal tenders to coin
WIS the result OF procured legislation.
I01Seul-AntIy nuEs only fhs .fsy. hun.