National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1878-02-27

4. weS not the first fifteen hundred nil
lions of bonds issued payable, principal and
interest, in legal-tendcrs?
8. Did not the refusal of the Government,
when 1t created legal-tcnder notes, to re-
ceive them for payment of duties, by this
act creating special need and demand for
gold coin, tend to keepup the value Of gold
8. If yes, then did not the Government
by this act discriminate against its own Sc
curities, so that to this cause Is partly due
the fact that its bonds were purchased in
gold for from forty to sixty per cent. dis
count?
I. In the subsequent issues of bonds, has
not the promise to pay the interest in coin,
and the subsequent promise TO pay the prin-
cipal in com, largely increased the value of
the bonds TO the original purchasers, and
couespondngly increased the burden of
debt to be paid by the United States?
8. Have not an The changes that have taken
place in the various issues of bonds been
such as were well calculated to increase the
value of the money to be received by the
bond-holder, and consequently to increase
the cost of payment to the debtor-that is,
to the tax-paying pcoplcP
o. Has there been o single act Of legisla-
ton In regard to these bonds looking to the
interest of the people who are to pay them,
except the nominal decrease in the rate Of
interest?
TO- Is it not true that the apparent de-
crease in this nominal rate of interest is
more than countcrbalanced by the increased
value of the medium in which ii is paid That
h, are not six five, or four and half per cent.
interest, paid in gold, more difficult for the
debtor to pay, and of more purchasing power
to the receiver than was seven per cent in
legal tenders in 1864, '65, and 90?
II. Is it not also true that great part OF
the increase in the value of the bonds and lc-
gal tender currency of the United States,
as measured by gold and by their purchasing
power. has been due to the successful efforts
of the Union people of the United States.
who fought so long and sacrificed so much
to sustain their Government? And is it not
apparently unjust that the result Of those
bitter sacrifices should be TO add a double
burden to their debts?
H. To recapitulatc The bonds, because
the nation was in distress and needed
money. were made attractive to purchasers
by being exempted from local taxation
They were, however, made payable, princi-
pal and interest, in Northumberland IL, in
grcenbacks. All legislation so far has looked
in renewing the bonds, to the increase OF
their value to the bond holder. The obi.
cations of the debtor have been adroitly in
creased, while the original advantages OF
the bOnd-holder have been all retained
The only exception to this is q decrease II
rate of annual intcrest-morc than made
up to the bond-holder. First. BY lcngthen
ing the term of his bond. Second. BY tn,
increased value of the medium in which
the interest is paid and the principal is to BE-
paid
H. In addition to this persistent legisla
tion-plainly inspired in the interest of III,
bond-holder, never in single instance by
any care for the interests of the x-payin!
people-the action of the Executive ha
been rs persistently against the people
When Mr. boutwell,. paid one hundred
millions of bonds not due, he laid upon tn
shoulders of people whose resources la,
,, been so terribly taxed by war, and who's
industries had been so artiiicialY stimu
lated, both by the demand for war supple
and by vitiated currency given them b.
war government; burden, whose tCrribl
weight is told in the story Of the last iiv
years of disastrous ruin.
II. Why should all the changes lcgislatc,
into the contract be in favor Of the bond
holder? Ii would have seemed the part q
prudence for the hond-hollcr, whose bond
u had so rapidly appreciated through the tina
victories of the ctiZcn-soldicry, to hav
- volunteered, after peace came, to have Il,
uumcd his share in the local expenses {
preserving law and order, and Of maxim
needed improvements, in the cOmmunit
where he lived. 1t would have locke
; filirCr.
Did any bond-hOldcr initiate any propC
:, sitOn looking to such Il step? No.
seems rs if they wished TO reillustrate IL
v old classic aphorism: guns Deus rM pcrde
priWs d'mcUtnt-"Whom the gods would IL
stroy they first make mad"
- In the midst OF commercial disaster IN
widespread ruin-at n time when enforce
idlencss paralysis One-fourth of the worl
" ing population Of the land, when cOrpOr
tons and individuals sink into hclple
bankruptcy. and every week sees the la
paying power Of the people pcrceptibl
> lessencd-is the bOnd-holder through Il
" Eastern press, and in the halls of Congress
;, heard offering to rclinquish, in spirit
patriotism, some of the hard conditions in
u posed under the stern duress Of war? A
= no. The trial scene of the DOge's palace
re-enacted The scales are there the read
: knife is whetted; the bond is claimed
Very well. Let those who claim the boz
u, remember that he who appeals to it mu
bIde its terms, and they who seek by lyiI
=" words to substitute conditions to their Ov
advantage, are in peril OF that just iud
mcnt which declares the forfeiture of Il
VI bond! 1t i'll becomes those who have pc
" sistcntly ialsitied iterating and retcatil
the statement that the bonds must be pa
T." in gold" to denounce any.
~ The people may be ignorant of polite
~ economy, but they can read English. TIL
IT. have heard, too, of the story of the viii