Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-08-29
The ''Faiher, Friend, and Guar
diam Of the Greenback.

He n diueE. EIeuus anu UNtftE-
dian Of the Greenback."
The "greenback'' originated in 1862
as purely Republican measure, sug'
gested by a Republican Secretary OF
the Treasury, passed by Republican
Congress, approved by Republican
President, as means whereby long
and bloody war, brought on by the
attempts of the rebel wing OF the Dem
ocratic party to rule or ruin this Onion
Of States, might end in a triumph of
union and freedom. The first bill au-
thOriZing the issue of legal tender notes
passed the House February 6, 1862
yeas, Sc Republicans and Democrats;
nays, % Republicans and 80 Democrats;
among whom were S. s. Cox, Holman
aud Voorhees,, of Indiana, and Wall
landigham and Pendleton, of OhiO,and
most of those, who are yet living, have
at this late this duy suddenly become
the friends and supporters of the
greenbacks! In the Senate the b',l
was passed by an affirmative vote of
80, of whom % were Republicans
only three Republicans voting
against it. The opposition Of the De-
mOcracy then was intended to help the
rebellion and cripple the Union Treasu-
ry. The pretended love for il nOlC IS
only bait thrown out to catch the
Greenback-LaDor vote.
The Democratic opposition to the
greenback drove it into the United
States Supreme Court, where it wss
met by the opposition of Justices
Chase, Nelson, Clifford, Grier, aud
Field, who decided that the Legal
tender act sis inconsistent with the
spirit of the Constitution, and that it is
prohibited by the Constitution" while
the Republican Judges-Miller, Davis
and SWayne-di-senItd, and held the
decided opini,n that Congress "acted
within the scope OF lt5 authority" anu
declared, in their opinion, 1.-THE law TO
be constitutional" This is known as
the legal tender decision in the famous
case of Hepburn vs.. Griswold in 1869.
1t was not made by full court Sub
IsequentIy, with full bench, in the
Case of Knox vs.. Davis, the Supreme
Court made what is known as the le-
gal tender decision of IS7I--the Re-
publican Justices forming d majority
of the court-holdiug the legal tender
'acts of Congress constitutional as ap'
piled to contracts made either before
or after their passage" thus overl uling
the decision of 1869, while the Demo
cratic JusticeS-Chase, Nelson, Clifford,
and Field-dissented.
Besides opposing the Republican
greenback in Congress by speech and
vote, and condemning it in toe United
States Court as unconstitutional, Demo
cratic leaders have ked and worked
against it down to the inception of The
Green back Labor Imitation movement.
And now the Democracy not only
claim to be in favor of the greenback,
but go So far as to lead the people to
believe that the Republican party are
opposed to their further Use as money.
and are about 10 retire and cancel the
entire greenback circulation. Said
Judge Thurman, in his key note speech,
few da., ago:
When the currency part of the TOhio Dem
ocraticl platform is carefully scrutinized, it
will be found that its principal fe itule is the
proposed substitution of greenbacks for ma
tional bank notes. think that | do them no
injustice when l say that the leaders of the
Republican party are in favor of directly tue
OpDOaite course-that is to say, they O0uLd re-
tire all the greeEbGcks. in order that their pla-
ces might be filled with national bank notes.
When Judge Thurman made the
statement to Hamilton audience that
the leaders of the Republican party
"would retire all the greenbacks," he
knew that he was imposing upon them
by stating what was direatly opposite
to the truth, as we shall show. On the
18th OF April last, Mr.. Fort, RepuO-
lican member of the House of Repre-
sentatives, presented bill, whicn
passed both Houses, and is now law
in force, that in future legal tender
notes, when received into the Treasury
''shall not be Cancelled, retired or de
but they shall be reissued and
paid out again and keptin circulation"
This Thurman we'll knew, and his po-I
5ition now is new dodge, and fair
specimen of Democratic consistency.
Under the suddenly inspired love for
the greenback, it need not surprise any
one to hear Thurman, Ewing, CaIy,
VOORHEES, and their party claim next
that the greenback is the very best of
all kinds of money, reaching this con-
clusion by the speciOuS argument that
"for money nothing is better than golH;
but greenbacks are better than nothing;
therefore greenbacks are better hGn
QO[d" But even then the fact still re-
mains, and cannot be disputed, that
the Republican party is the 'father,
friend, and defender of the greenback.
that the party has by wise and { 5o-
nomical legislation raised the purcha-
sing value or power of the greenhack
and the national bank-note up to an
with gold, and propose, with
gold and silver and paper, interchange
able at pleasure, to give to the people
a monetary system equal for all pur-
poses to the best in the world.
GEN. GARFIELD opened the Repub'