The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-01-19
Saturday. January 10. 1878.
VOORHEES, ON FINANCE
Etracts from His Speech in The
United States Senate
Jan. IS, 1875.
Silver as Legal Tender

The act of Feb. 25, 1862, is the beginning
of our bonded debt. The precious metals
were found to be unequal to the emergency
of war. Specie payments we're abandoned
as soon as the hour of trial came, and gold
and silver covered in the rear while the
legal tender went to the front with the
flag, and stayed there. was among those
who doubted our right to issue 1t, but ex
perience has shown it to be the best
money. all things considered, that ever
circulated on American soil. By this act
of February, 1862, and by similar legisla
ton at subsequent periods, every bond is
sued by the government which did not on
its face stipulate for payment III coin, was
made payable, in the express words of the
law, in legaltender notes. The simple,
explicit, and at the same time compre-
hensive enactment guaranteed to the
American people the right to pay three.
fourths of their national debt In national
currency. 1t was the law OF the contract
when all the fve-twenty bonds, amounting
to over fifteen hundred millions, were pur-
chased from the government by the bond
holders, and paid for in this currency at
par, when it was quoted at from 40 to 60
per cent. below par in coin. Every one
understood the law to be as l have stated
it at the time of its passage. In fact, the
great struggle then was whether even the
interest on the bonds / have mentioned
should be paid in coin. That feature of
the law was attached here in the senate as
an amendment, and when the act thus
amended was returned to the house, a
violent conflict at once arose. Both MIR.
Spalding, of New York, and Mr.. Stevens,
of Pennsylvania, the leading members of
the committee on ways and means, and
one its chairman, contended in stern and
determined language that even the pay
meut of interest in coin was an odlous and
unjust discrimination 10 favor or the bond
holder and against the soldier, the sailor,
and the citizen, who were compelled to
receive the legal tender currency greatly
deprecated by this very discrimination,
No one, by single word, In that entire
debate made the slightest pretense or IN
timation that the principal OF the bonds
was PAYABLE in coin. During the seven
eventful years that followed there is not a
platform of either political party in any
state which makes such an assertion, In
many states, and notably in Ohio, the
dominant party in 1868 expressed it's de
Tberate conviction that, according to the
laws under which the FIVE. twenty bond;
were issued, said bonds should be paid il
the currency of the country which may bC
legal tenders when the government shall
be prepared to redeem such bonds" Or
this doctrine the present chief magistrate
aud his secretary took their stand onl!
nine years ago. Mr.. Sherman wrote OF
March 20, 1865: Il think the bondholdel
violates his promise when he refuses Il
take the same kind of money he paid fo
the bonds" When it is remem bered tina
THE BoNDHoLDER NEVER PAID A DOLLAF
IN COIN FOR A BOND OF ANY
DESCRIPTION,
but purchased them all with goverumeu
currency, which the government itself ha
deprecated by refusing to take it for Gus
toms dues and interest, the full meaning {
this letter becomes very plain and yer
forcibe By the light here thrown upo
the subject we may see the exact beginniu
OF reputation, and behold the furtive an
raven0us movements of the actual II
pudiators as they hurry up and down II
precincts of Legislation during the last nil
years. 10 less than ten months after tn
letter was written the Hon. John Shermi
procured the passage of the act Of Marc
1863, for the payment Of all the bonds
coin, thereby establishing an open repudi
ton of u solemn and binding contract, al
fastening an extortion of not less than Fl
hundred millions of dollars on the Stage
ing industries of the country as the spec
iative profits of the operation. In Il
whole financial history of the civiIiz
world no parallel can be found to Il
audaciOus deed of broken faith, delibera
treachery 70 the people, and national di
honesty. Senator Morton, in 1869 point
out in the plainest and most expi
manner four distinct acts Of congress und
which the people had acquired vest
right TO pay the 500 bonds in legal-tend
notes. He has passed away; his voice
silent; but his accusation hurled agair
criminal wrong doing survives. Five hu
dred millions made by the great operate
and five hundred millions lost TO t
ploughman and the mechanic, who have
all to pay. And yet the authors, the
stigators.. the abettors of this crime a
the participators in its proceeds fill the
with railing on the subject Of repudiati,
and point their fingers. stained with plu
der, at the honest men as regulators.
THE NEXT STEP
In the symstematic violation of it's obliG
tons to its own citizens by the Amerio
Government was taken 10 the enactmC
OF the law of July H. 1870, known as
act Tor refunding the national debt I
motive which prompted this legislation
never yet been fully exposed, 1t was,
tact, the offspring of an apprehension
naming in certain minds even aft
the act of March, 1869, that the work
reDudlatlng the contract for the PAYNE
OF the fve-twenty bonds might not be gu
complete and final. This act of July
1870. was brought in as a supplemental
that Of March, 1869, and 10 aid of It's ia
assertion that our whole bonded debt '
payable 10 coin. By a sort OF moral foi
cry on the American people, the refund
act provides for the issue of new bonds
the amount OF fifteen hundred millions
dollars, with an agreement for coin d
ment written on their face, and then fur
er provides that these new coin bonds 81
be substituted for the original 20 bond
hrst, false construction Of the contr,
ana next direct change of its ,oost V
terms. The bondholders were for the ii
being content but they did not remain
moment longer than new opportuu
presented itself tor another encroachm
uTon the industries ~ the country.
both acts the bonds were payable 10 C
\here Mr.. Voorhees, quoted John s.
uIan aud other authorities.) The ma
fact conironts Us at every step that
pledge, however high, solemn or bindir
law and morals, has been strong enouQ
compel the authors of our legislation
obey It, The silver dollar came to us
the birth Of our Government. Here
voorhees, eulogiZed the silver dollar
enactment OF the demonetizing law of
IL l&TR Vlatalv nn.n