The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-12-31

rotary of the Treasury when he states propo-
sitions of law like this. do not know re-
spectacle court in the United States that has
ever yet held that the debts created between
persons in this country, where we have gold
coin, silver coin. and greenback notes which
are legal-tender, and contracted in view OF
legal presumption that they were not to be
paid N that kind of currency, but that they
were TO be paid in national-bank notes.
There is such a thing in this country q
final settlement of judicial questions, and
when the Supreme Court has settled ques-
ton purely judicial in its charter think it is
right and proper let that question rest
where they have left it. My right under the
Constitution to pay my creditor debt IN
paper currency can only be upheld or denied
by the Judgment of a court, when an act Of
| Congress declares that 1 have such right
| Neither the executive nor legislative depart
ments can adjudge this question. This right
! to demand gold silver coin in payment
| of debts due me, in which firmly believe, Is
an individual right-a right as personal 70
| myself as the right to have my person or papefS
or property protected from unlawful arrest or
seizure destruction. 1t is u right of the
same class as those named. 1t is in no sense
political privilege, and Congress has no
power to deny it OF TO treat IT as political
| privilege.
A question is said to be pending in a case
now before the Supreme Court with reference
to the constitutionality of our reissued legal
tender paper currency, and is thought best by
| some not to risk that eminent tribunal on this
! question, but to treat it political question
which Congress may decide AT once by an act
| depriving that currency of its legal-tsnder
| quality.
must deny the power of Congress to do
! such a thing so as to prevent any man from
| paying a debt existing the time of the pas
sage of such act in legal-tender notes if he
| had the constitutional right so to pay ii when
| the debt was created. II a debtor ever had the
right under the Constitution to pay his debt
| in legal-tender paper, Congress cannot take
/ fro hat rlsTht
| debt so long that currency is in circulation
Ii Congress do this it can well declare
that gold and silver shall not be legal tender
! for debts already existing, and do not belleVe
| ii has that power. To do that would be to
| deprive man of his property or his rights
| by a mere legislative declaration, which Is
| not "by due course of law. If Congress can
| declare that no gold and silver coins and no
paper money shall be legal tender II can put
stop to all payment or collection of debts.
| If any description of money Is made legal
| tender by act of Congress, and ii the act Is
constitutional it must necessarily follow that
| Congress cannot pass aretroactlve law which
| will operate to prevent any debtor from pay
| ing his debt, contracted before its passage, in
| that description of money if he can get it.
| But the resolution of the honorable Senator
| from Delaware destroys the legal-fender
| quality of our greenback currency from and
after the passage of this resolution, and
makes no reservation of the right of debtors
10 pay their debts then existing in that sort of
money.
l may safely assume, as | believe, that the
private Indebtedness of the people of this
country, and of our numerous corporations,
private, public, and municipal, and of the
States, is more than four times greater IN
amount than all the gold and silver coin and
all the paper money now in existence in the
United States; and this resolution attempts
to destroy the right of all these debtors to pay
| their debts in money that was legal tender
when they were created. 1t Is urged, however,
by the friends of this measure, that because
our legal-tender notes redeemahle now in
coin, that their characterization will not affect
their value. Yet l cannot understand why, if
this be so, should find it necessary, a
measure of relief to the country, to convert
greenbaeks from a legal-tender currency into
a currency through which legal-tender money
may be obtained. Ii no other change than
greenbacks we are contrOverting here over
mere abstractiOn-a question of constitutional
law that the Supreme Court should decide and
must decide, and that is not brought into
Congress by the pressure Of any public
necessity. Without attempting to forecast
what may be the effect of such a measure upon
our newly dawning prosperity, or to predict
the evils that will follow such harsh legsla
ton, cannot justly refrain from declaring
it my belief that a more serious breach of |
public faith could not be enacted into law. |
All of this vast mass of Indebtedness that |
was contracted since the war was based upon
the solemn pledge of the Government that the |
creditor should be compelled to receive pay
ment in United States legal notes |
or after the maturity of the debt.
To deprive this currency of its legal-tender
quality, and yet leave it in circulation as
money, as is proposed in the resolution, is to |
destroy an important element of its value and |
to cancel the promise of the Government |
printed on every bill, that it Should be legal |
tender in payment of debts, while they remain
in the pockets of the people. | cannot con- !
ceive of worse treatment than this. They
must stand as they are or be redeemed. The
laws under which this currency created |
g oc1f-
ty so created is regarded by some great jurists |
as ustifying its issue under the constitutional |
power TO declare war and to raise and support |
the Army and Navy. l may not be convinced, |
as l am not indeed that the power thus derived |
is sufficient to support the act imputing to |
paper money legal-tender quality.
1t would be better to amend the Constitution |
and define and make specific the power to
create legal-tender paper money, and confne !
the power TO fixed limits, than 10 rest it upon |
the uncertain event of war or other urgent |
necessity. | am afraid, if this is a war power.
and cannot be exercised In time of peace, that |
some of our inflationistS mi ght even be willing
to force the country into some foreign or
domestic with view to an increase of
legal tenders and the restoration of financial |
prosperity, as they view it. 1t might even be |
better to have the unlimited power of imitation |
in the keeping of the national banks. that now |
possess it under our laws up to the amount of |
our entire bonded debt, if they choose to use |
it, rather than risk to justify the |
expansion of legal-tender currency.
But that question has been authoritatively |
decided by the Supreme Court, which has the |
right to follow its reasoning and that is the |
only tribunal that can finally decide this |
question, which, as question of law, can only |
affect two classes of people, the debtors and |
creditors.
If there was ever an occasion when the |
necessity of the rule stare decisis more |
obvious than in all others, it is in this case !
These decisions of the Supreme Court affirming |
the constltutlonalty of these laws have be- |
come all-pervading laws of property, and |
have entered into and controlled every trans
action in which there is special contract |
for paymen mt of q debt in coin in some COM
modify, that it may be said with absolute |
certainty that almost the entire existing vol
ume of Indebtedness amsng the people was |
contracted with direct reference to the legal
tender quality of greenbacks.
Because some of us differ in opinion with |
the Supreme Court on these subjects it is pro-
posed to destroy their jurisdiction to enforce /
their decision in cases now pending in that |
court and in all that may come before it, and |
by joint resolutions TO revise their judgment /
declaring the law as it stood originally to be |
constitutional | have endeavored to show |
that the resolution of the honorable Senator I
can never constitutionally reach It's purpose
1t will die of the same EFmity that it proposes
to cure. Is will perish under the guarantees |
of the Constitution that provide due course |
of law, to be administered in the courts, for |
the protection of citizens in their pera9nal I
rights with reference to their rights of prop |
erty and indebtedness. The statutes upon |
WWhiieH inns currency reses are SUN uhrePeAledi
and their constitutionality has been settled by /
a judicial decree. If there have been any |
essential changes in these laws let the Supreme |
Court decide whether they are constitutional |
eDactments. If we declare them unconstitu-
tional we only set the opinion of one Congress !
against another, against many others indeed |
that have directed the reissue of this money, |
and it is sur plain duty in such conflicts of |
opinion 10 submit the question to the arbitra-
ment of the Supreme Court.
l wish to call the attention of the Senate for /
very few minutes to the statutes on this |
subject, first the act of 1862 which originally |
ordained and established the greenback sys-
tenn. In the first section 1t is provided
And such United States notes shall |
be received the same coin, at their par |
value, in payment for any loans that may
be hereafter sold or negotiated by the Secre- !
tary of the Treasury, and may be reissued |
from time to time as the exigencies of the pub
lie interest shall require.
Every single rreenback act that was passed