Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-07-24


paying the national debt in violation of the
public faith. and the balance as legal ten
der upon all contracts and debts between pri-
waite citizens. 1t is strange that honest men
should proclaim such Il dogma and not he
able to see that the only effect would be to
destroy the value of this currency, and to
compel citizens 20 resort to barter, and final
~, with or without law to coin again This
is the extremity OF greenbackism in Ohio.
Again, they say. eve are infexibly OPP
posed to the issue BY the government of in
,crest-bearing bonds of any description for
any purpose whatever
II this dogma hai been adopted hy the 90,
eminent, il would have been utterly helpless
during the recent war-without ere lit. with
ont the power to borrow money, without the
power To conduct the operations OF war, or To
carry on foreign trade. The power to borrow
money Is Indispensable to every government
of civilized man. Barbarians may live with
cut trade or contracts or debts but country
that had nores sources except to issue paper mon
ey under dogma number one, and dcnicdthe
power to contract debts under dogma number
TWO, would he IL weak rs rope of sand, and.
under these conaitions, our government would
relapse into anarchy or despotism
They also say:
The misunderstanding system should be
Immediately abolished"
This only differs from the Maine platform
in that it demands that the national banks
shall he immediately abolished. They viii
not wait year or IL day. Without warning
they will compel the collection of all the
notes held by the banks, and prccipitate ruin
upon every business man ar n.au liza turcr in
the country.
They further say:
ave demand the immediate calling in and
ma nf' all rif,.J IN, nj
lcgal-tender money"
This is still more monstrous. when it is re-
mcmbercd that no debt of the United States
is now due or rcdecmnblc that this Admin
istratiOn has rcdcemt d all the bonds that have
maturcd hy the issue OF per cent. bonds. in
the way | have already stated The next
bonds that are redeemable are those known
as the long bonds of 1881, issued before the
legal-tcndcr act was passed, and the } per
cent. bonds issued under the rcfunding act
all of which are expressly payable in coin
1t will be seen that this dogma demands
that we should violate the express stipulation
of the contract, not only a> to the time when
the bonds shall be paid, but is to the manner
in which they shall he paid. There was at
one time an honest dispute ~ to the terms
and conditions upon which the fyc-twcnty
bonds W Jud be paid.
PAYMENT OF BONDS IN GRErNnArks.
have been arragned recently in your city
for inconsistency because ten years ago. in u
letter to DR. Mann, insisted that nv fair
construction of the loan acts under which the
fvc-twenty bonds were issued they were pav-
able in greenhacks. So did contend and
so say now; but | also insisted that we
were bound by law and public policy. after
the war was over To a lvancc these notes to
par in COIN and that we could not take adj
vantage of our own wrong in poStponing the
redemption of United States notes in order
TO pay our bonds in deprecated and dishon-
ored paper money; and this principle wa
the basis of the act to strengthen the public
credit, passed March. 1869 Wen, we have
at last redeemed our pledge to the notchold-
er. and we have now paid these very i've
twenty bonds in United States notes with a
far greater saving than if we had paid them
in greenbacks ten years ago, and with il f.
ntely greater advantage to the public credit
There is now no public debt about which
any question exists as to the terms and con
dtion, upon which it must be paid and vet
it is proposed to violate these conditions by
the wholesale, and place the United States
of America in far worse position of dishonor
and reputation than Mississippi or Louisi-
ana, or Egypt or Turkey.
| Is it possible to 20 farther in the road of
dishonor than is proposed in these platforms?
and yet the democrats of the State of Maine
members of the old powerful organization
! which for half century controlled the des-
| TIMES of the government, are asked at the
| end of great war to support and maintain
dogmas which strike at the public honor. the
| public faith. and all the cherished principles
and aims of that party in its palmy days
| You are now expected to adopt the crazy
| dogma of extreme opinions, ut war with
everything that was said by Jefferson, or
Madison, or Jackson, or any Of vcur time
| honored leaders. / know that it is against
the judgment, against the instincts. of old
fashioned democrats to train under such Il
! banner, and appeal to them noS to come to
| the rescue of their cOuntry-not to be carried
! by party name or u party badge II the dis
honor of their country and the shame of their
| children.
| have sometimes thought that the demo-
| Gratis of the Northern States have been led
through devious paths enough by the rebels
| of the South in their effort to destroy the
| government, and in their later movements to
sap and mine all the great powers of the ma
tional government; but these cxtrcm. green
hackers, as they are called. ask YOU now to
follow them in voyage more dangerous, up
| on dogmas that cannot meet the plain com
mon sense and reason of patriotic citizens,
such as compose the great body of the dem.
ocratic party.
One of the members of Congress from the
! State of Maine. the Hon. &. W. Ladd. i re-
ported to have paid his attention to me- in a
speech in this city, in the following language
"Mr. Sherman has sold one hundred and
ninety millions of four per cent. bonds in one
! day to bloodsuckers who were choking the
country, and he shout be impeachcd.'
BY this act. in single day. the Treasury
Department saved to the people of the United
States the sum of 81 ,900,OO0. The "blood-
suckers" to whom he refers are those who
| purchased the forty millions of ten-dollar
refunding certificates, who formed in long
lines In front of eight hun lred post-ofccs in
the United States each demanding the sum
| of one hundred dollars or less of those Ger
| tifcates in exchange for United States notes.
and the purchasers of Slj0,000,0O0 United
States bonds taken by banks to be sold again
to citizens and corporations throughout the
United States and in Europe, bearing the
! lowest rate of interest at which the United
States has ever been able to negotiate its Sc