Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1879-01-09
THE MAIN QUESTION.
Now How Shall the Bonds BE Paid

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From the Tere Haute Express.
We have received letters from h. Wad-
dill, Hills Grove Illinois, from Jos. Wolf,
Boulder, Colorado, and from one or two
others, criticizing the position of The Ex-
press upon the payment OF the bonded
debt. As this part Of our platform secms
to have been misunderstood, we have rt-
written it so clearly that itcnnnot bear any
double Interpretation, or confuse any one.
This Is the position of The Express;
IAN bonds to be paid promptly accord
ing to the original contract. and then no
more bonds forever"
The public bonded debt is Of two class
es according to the Stipulaions of the law
under which it was incurred:
|. About 81 100000, 900, or that por.
tion represented by the 80 bonds, was
made payable by the terms of the law and
the original contract, in any kind # mon
cy that might be legal tender at the time
1t became due and payable. This law has
never been repealed, and even if it had
been, the repeating act would have no
binding force, as it would have been in Vi
oIatlOn Of that clause of the constitution
which declares that congress shall pass no
Ro" tac'o law, or law impliring the va.
| idit, # contracts.
TIE Express takes the ground that not
onI! Il the outstanding j-20s are payable
IN { Hnbacks, but that all the !. 4i ,, and
| pei sent. bonds outstanding. into which
j-2O- have been refunded since ESQ, are
also payable in any money that may be
legal tender at the time Of payment
1t takes the ground that the Funding
act of July II, $50, authorizing the sccrc-
tary to call in the j-20 bonds payable in
money, and issue in their stead bonds pay
able in ''cSiH' money only, was in viola
ton Of the constitution, na>mucn as it
| impaired the validity of prior contract
between the people and their creditors
without the consent of the former, incrcds-
ing materially mt the time the value of tine
creditors security, and in like ratio ag-
gravating the burdens Of the debtor.
2. There Is another class of outstand-
ing bonds, amounting to about S2GD,0OO,
OOO known as the lO-i0'. which are by the
terms of the law, and the original con-
tract payable in "coin.
At the time these bonds weIc authorized
coin meant gold coin, or silver dollars of
the present standard weight and mcnesa
and this silver dollar was the unit of val.
ne.
The Express fayor' paying these bonds
in silver for two reasons, /. Because the
government agreed to pay them in com
when it hypothccated them, and the
creditors agreed to accept them. , II the
government had it's choice to nav in
either of the three kinds of legal tender,
it is the debtors option to pay in thn
cheapest kind.
Our correspondents propose to pay these
bonds in GrccnbackS. We propose to pay
them IN silver, because the contract gives
us the right to do so. Now let us test the
wisdom and the policy Of the two modes
Of payment.
Mr., Waddill proposes to count out
$3.50, ,000,0OO of grcrnbacks and pay the
1910 bonds. Hold, a moment. Take
S2}O,OO0,0O), ofthcsc grcrnhacks and in
vest that amount in silver bnlion With
greenbacks. you can buy 4l2l, grains of
standard silver for 80 cents.
With S23O, 100000 of grccnbacks you
can buy sufficient silver bullion to make
26O,OOO,OOO Of silver standard dollars.
Take these and pay off the lOAO coin
bonds, and save S;iu,ODO, ,OOOot grrrnhacks.
This is right for the contract allows it,
We understand Our correspondents to
take the position of Mr. W. NJ. PomToy, .
upon the question Of paving bonds in
grrrnbacks, An extract from the Cnrin- .
natl Commercial the strongest hard mon |.
ey newspaper in the west, shows the full /
satisfaction Of the huilionist@ with the
position occupied by Mr. Pomcroy. \
CORRESPONDENT writes to the Commercial /.
as t5llows
"MIcmGNY CITY. lND,, Dee. 2l, ISIS. I
"IO Nc Editor Of The Commercials: /
I'm answer to your questions PROFOUND. |
ell to the 'GIeenback gentlemen, would |
state for your information that every true .
Grecnbuckcr insists that the grrenback |
dollar must hca legal tender for the pay
mcnt of all debts, and by the government .
issued, protected and received rs absolute
money at pat with gold.
This is Brick Pomeroy'S platform, |
and | never heard . genuine Greenbackcr
dissent from 1t, Yours, truly,
III. Il. HARRIs.'
To this The Commercial responds as fol.
lows:
Nov, if the genuine Grecnbacker knew
enough to know that the only way to keep
paper money ut par in gold Is to limit ITS
issue 50 that it may be convertible irto
gold on demand, the knowledge would he
available in this case. We have no abid-
ing objection to the treasury note, but we
believe the quality of lawful money should
never be disdssOciatcd from intrinsic value.
If the treasury note is convertible on de-
mand, 1t is none the better to the holder
for being lawful money. The quality is,
therefore, superiluous, and we hold it to
be dangerous and representing the most
perilous exercise of power by the general
government. Wemay remark that Mr..
Pomeroy ought to be entirely satisfied with
the present financial situation. The green.
back is as good as gold, and will after the
lst Of January be receivable for customs,
and if the bondhOlder wants coin, he will
not gain any advantage from it. Let us
have peace.
The bond holders are perfectly satisfied
with those who want to pay them green
back money lat par with gold" They
want nothing better than that. We op.
pose the payment of bonds in gold, or in
greenbacks ''at par with gold, so long as
the government has the option Of paying
in silver, which is cheaper than either.
The Vaccinations of the Money Power
have advanced the purchasing bower Of
gold "a per cent. in five years, and we op.
pose the payment Of any Of the govern
and we are opposed to forcing greenbacks
to par with the tickle commodity, whether
the scheme is proposed by the bankers and
a =. n,