New-York tribune., 1878-10-26
ARE GPrEyBlcGFRS REPrDLIr0RSp


Some members of the Grecnback party Grc
offended because .hcy are often styled rcpu-
diat1rs by these WHO discuss their doctrines.
These adhcrentS Of that party protest that
they do nor mean to rcpEdiare any honest OBJ
legation of the Government. But their leaders
do. They make those leaders influential by
votes sustaining them. Nor Is the purpose
secret. IN campaign documents circulated all
over the country hy local Greeahack commit
tees or clubs, and by order Of the National
Grecnback Committee the intention is bluntly
avowcd. again and again, TO rcpudiaje sacred
Obligations Of the Nation either III one way
or in another. For example, document thus
circulated. AMI issued from " Headquarters Of
" the National GIeenback party" declaTcs-sec
Meat FOR Men,' page 10:
We mean that the dcbt of the Uaitad states shall be
paid in lrccnhccks, and right here inform You from
the Western rr.irc.. yhat God lives, II this
question settled by Ia-o il the Law tncn does not
declare that the bonds >Gdli bc pald In GrcenDacas cN
actIy as the soldiers OF the UHild state, paid IN
erecuhac money. snail never again as, for sch or
i,, Of money hut WILL from thar hour strike for the
rcpud,aion ot every bonded obligation OF the Goye,u
Ment ana tlus W.pc OHt from existence every United
States bond, and their holders shall have nothing. Pat
TIL. in your pipc aud make the most OF IT, ours i
absolute Government! l. j. Government Ot the pe0-
ple and by the r. rrol il slal. De a G the
peorc. or It shaI be smashed uto many fragments
that each separate state wiil in comparison, be COM
pIete world.
Let il be granted that this sort Of talk is
an abomination to some wCll-meaning per-
sons VINO have been drawn into the Green
bacl, movement Yet do they not know that
it expresses bluntly but truly the prevailing
IL, lt,.i hav-
decent citizens to iutrust with any share of
power whatever party which selects for Its
leaders or managers, or even tolcrates among
it's members, those who utter such Infamous
demandsl Or d il possible that any are de-
ccivcd by the phrases used and think that. by
virtue of the "If' the demand fails short of
absolute repudiationi
The United States, unable to preserve its
existence otherwise, borrowed money during
the var, in part by sales of its bonds, and in
part by issue of its notes promising to repay
money on demand. As 4 condition Of both
loans. in order to induce people to take the
notes or to buy the bonds, it sOcmnly
pledged its faith by formal Act of Con-
grcss that notes should not be issued ia
excess of certain sum. For experience
had taught, in this cOuntry la ITS early days
in France during the Revolution, and in many
other lands, that II government issues notes
beyond Il moderate limit, the mpOsSibIlity of
redeenng them makes reputation inevitable
Only because the amount OF the issue was
TINS restricted by solemn pledge, which it
would be direct rcpudiatiOn to break, were the
people willing to pay money for bonds and to
take the notes for iron, powder, food, cloth
ing, and the pay of the brave boys at the
front.
Now the Greenbacll party demands, FIRST
that grcenbacks shall be paid for bonds That
is an infamous Republication of the pledge
respecting the amount of notes TO be issued
for il would require more than four times that
amount to clear off the bonded debt But,
second, it is an infamous rcpudiatiOn of the
contract expressed on the face of all bonds now
outstanding, which stipulate that payment
shall be made in coin. The other bonds, upon
which this precise stipulation, though implied
was not in terms expressed and authorized by
law, have all been retired. And thud, in
case the Nation refuses to perpetrate this
double act of crime, the Greenback party de-
clareS that it "will from that hour strike for
the rcpudiatGn of every bonded obligation
"Of the Government and thus wipe out from
"existence every United States bond, and
"their holders shall have nothing Could
words be palmer or more infamOusf And yet
there are found members OF the Greenbaek