The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1878-02-14

InUu9bTtes Ol the country rs lno pocu
J. l4tive prof of the operation. In The
9 whole tinsnciAl history of the civilizeC
= world no parallel can be found 10 thu
S audacious deed of broken faith, deliber
ate treschery to the people, and nstions
8 dishonesty. 1t stands out by itself
l towering high above all common
= frauds and dwarfing them in compare
r son with its own vast proportions. Il
will bear the names of those who enact
ed il to distant generations amidst the
grosns, IL curses, and the lamentations
of those who toll on the land and on the
sea; and more deeply engraven than
any other name will be forever found
that of the Secretary of the Treasury as
the author of what he himself said con-
stituted the twc-fold crime of repudis-
ton and extortion. Do state the case
too strongly2 Does any Senator think
that 1 am not justified in the language
L use or in the conclusion l state .? Ii
so. L pray him to recall the uttersnces
of my lamented and distinguished pre-
decessor in this body. When this mon
strous act of reputation was on its pas
sage here in March, 1869, Senator Nor
ton poin ed out in the plsinest aud most
explicit manner four distinct acts of
Congress under which the people had
acquired a vested right to pay the $40
bonds IN legal tender notes, and which
| were to be broken and set aside by the
mesaure then under discussion. Among
other things he said:
"And now PROFOUND the question
1t is either intended by this bill to make
new contract or it Is not. Ii it is in
tended to make new contract, l pro-
test against it. We should do foul in
justice to the government and the peo-
| pie of the United States after we have
| sold these bonds on an average for not
more than sixty cents on the dollar now
&c make new contract for the benefit
of the holders"
Again he says:
at gives to those laws construction
that L do not believe In and that have
shown is contrAdicted by at least four
acts of Congress"
And again Senator Morton exclaimed
with that power of stat ement which al
ways SO greatly characterized him:
'Sir, it is understood, 1 believe, that
the passage of bill of this kind would |
have the effrct in Europe, where our
financial questions are not we'll under |
stood, to increase the demand, and that |
will enable the great opeI ators to sell |
the bonds they have on hand at profit |
1t is in the nature of q brokers' opera
ton 1t is a ball movement intended |
to put up the price of bonds for the in
terest of parties dealing in them. This
great interest is laundering at the doors
of Congress, and has for many months
aud by every means attempted to drive
US into legislation for the purpose of
making money for the great operators
That is what it means and nothing else"
These are words of intense and over
whelmIng force. Where in the whole
range of debate can be found a more re-
voting picture of bad faith inspired by
base cupIdity than is here portrayed by
the greatest party leader perhaps ever
known in the American Congress He
has passed away, his voice is silent, and
he rests sfter LIES ftf al fever, but this
accusation hurled against criminal
wroug-loing survives, and will cos
tinue to survive so long IS it remains to
be dstermIned who have Sepudisted the
sacred obligations and the phghted
faith of the American Republic. In far
distant times generations now unborn,
while examining the sources of the bur
dens that have descended to them, will
read the charge made in this pres
ence by the late Senator from In1iana,
that a combination of stock jobbers as
destitute of conscience as pirates, and
inspired alone by greed for money, sue
cessfully Numbered at these doors, and
finally drove this government into the
most stupendous act of bad faith and
legaliz I'd robbery ever practiced upon
any people since the dawn of history. =.
Five hundred millions made by the
great operators, and five hundred mil !
lions lost TO the plowmAn and the me-
chanic, who have it all to pay
And yet the authors, the instigstors, 3
The abettors of this crime, and the par {
.icipators in Its proceeds, fill the air !
with railing on the snbject OF repudia- i
ion, and point their fingers, stained c
with plumber, at honest men, as repudi- I
ators, because they believe that a con G
.ract for the benefit of the people should 8
be held as sacred AS one for the benefit q
# the bondholder. Sir, torbear4nce on t
his point has ceased to be n virtue. a
Those who have 1T all times labored TO q
Keep the faith of the government with L
he citizens and the creditors alike, can
lot submit any logger To insult added l'C
~ y, W nOuC0 | v
, national plumber. In some countries d
nc habit prevails of building a cAirn, q v
,ile of stones, to mark the spot where s
ome tragic event has happened. So
ct American taxpayer, whenever the f
.ct of March, 1869, is cited, each cast q Il
tone upon it to mark the place in il
American history where rspudiAtion be-
IAN, and where the rights of the people n
we're mercilessly and treacherously y
laughtered. /,
The next step in the systematic viola- il
ion of its obligations TO its own citi- C
ems by the American government, was "
AIKEN in the enactment of the law of a
Tuly IA, 1870, known as the act for re- b
unding the national debt The motive
which prompted this legislation has n
ever yet been fully exposed. 1t has al I
Ways been held up in the innocent guise L
f an attempt SO reduce the rate of inter- p
st. 1t was in fact, however, the of Il
pring of an apprehension remaining in a
erlain minds, even alter the act of q
March, 1869. tina. the work of repudi- q
ting the contract for the payment of tt
no 20 bonds might not be complete
md Fl lAl These bonds were out u
and although the law of their ID
nay lnb"l hHu Iueb booh AopooiONf 1os &c
heir holders feared that the people d
night sooner or later in turn repeal the
sithless act of March, 1869, aod declare i
gain for the payment OF those original y
'Onds according to the original con- i
ract. u
Therefore this act of July IA. 1870,
allied the refunding act, WAS brought l
n as supplement tai TO that of March, !
500, and in aid OF its false assertit n /,
hat our whole bonded debt WAS pay s.
N the American people the refunds
ng act provides for the issue of new II
,onds TO the amount of 81, SOC. 900, 900
rith an arraemAnt for coin nAVmant eI