The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1878-01-24
The BOndhODder's AsaOrDey-EA.
mund,s Plea.


Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, offered Oh
Monday, under the form of an amendment,
series OF resolutions on the silver question
The resolutions in the way they are prepar
ed, as well as in their substance. read very
much like the special pleas by which vii
lage attorneys make pretense of earning .
lee IN case where their clients have no le-
gal or moral defense. The resolutions wer,
printed in the Tribune Yesterday, and ar,
chiefly remarkable for their unwarranieo
assumptions, suggestions in which the truth
is artfully suppressed and the falsehood art
fully insinuated, and for conclusions Of Law
and OF fact wholly irreconcilable with in
telligence, honesty. OF justice. We repro
duce portion OF these resolutions as fol-
lows:
WHEREAS, 1t appears from the record o
the Mint that the total coinage Of the silve
dollar has been g 0i ,s3S anu
WHEREAS, The silver dollar Of the United
states has been long absolutely obsolete a.
any substantial part of the money of the
country, and that which had been 30 coined
almost entirely converted into other form,
of metal and did not exist at the time of
making any OF the existing loans OF til,
United states, or those from which the exist
ing loans had been refunded; and
WHEREAS, BY the provisions of the Coin
age act of 1873, passed on the l2th of Feb uar,
Of that year, and of the Revised Statutes en-
acted on the first day OF that year, all provis-
ions of the law authorizing the coinage, OF
such silver dollar were repealed; and
WHEREAS, Since the passage of said last
mentioned acts, gold coin, which, by reason
OF these premises, has been the only existing
lawful com, tender, and standard of valu.
for all paN ment> above the sum of %, As 1,
had been the only one in fact for many years
before; and the United states has borrowed
in gold coin from the people 81 this country
the sum OF not less than $50! 81, 20 al "A rat.,
Of interest lower than that OF any loan ever
before made by the Oovernmrnt and payable
in coin and
WHEREAS, The holders of all Government
securities have right TO expect that how
ever much the United States may change its
laws, so AS, IN fact, TO affect their interests
iavorably, il will never evade or repeal IA
vorable legislation either for the purpose or
with the effect TO make money al the ex-
pense of its creditors /; and
WHEREAS, Differing from the transaction
Of affairs between private persons, the public
creditors have no means of enforcing the pay
ment of their loans, il Is a duty OF the high
st Obligation on the part of the United
states To pay its debts in such a manner as to
meet the just expectations of its creditors.
and TO refrain from taking advantage Of the
cheapness OF silver by reyiving other obsolete.
coins, or obsolete OF repealed cDipage-Iays i'm
order 10 provide for payments in silver.
The fact is carfully suppressed that the
United States before, at the time, and long
after, the creation OF all its Indebtedness
had, as the legally-established policy Of
the nation, reserved to the people and the
Government that all debts, pubic or pri-
vate, were payable, at the option Of tie Gorei n
ment, in gold or silver coin. All the debts.
public aud private, in the United States wer.
contracted subject TO that reservation, and
that the Government might in the e1eicise
of this right, coin gold and silver, or either,
at its pleasure might discontinue the coin
age of either and resume il at any time.
without in the remotest degree changing or
destroying. releasing, or surrendering. or
weakening its right to pay principal and in
terest, or either of them, in whichever coin
il might from time to time think proper to
adopt. The Government might In 1877
prohibit the further coinage OF
gold and order nothing but
silver coined, and vet ten wears hence
resume the coinage of gold and paw debts
with it as before. All this in no way i'm
pairs the contract, which is, that the debt
shall be paid either in gold or silver coin.
the choice being with the debtor. The
creditors demand is limited to the right 10
be paid, If not in one coin, then in the other.
but the option is not with him, but il with
the debtor The abolition Of the silver
coinage in 1878 in no way altered the
contract, nor will the restoration of the s;I.
yer coinage now change the contract. be-
cause the contract Is that payment shall he
made in whichever coin the debtor NAV -
lect.
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