The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1880-01-22


money voters may 60 back upon them
at the next election, is matter of sad
| regret, and the fact that there are
many not like Mr.. Bayard IS but an
other proof that the. country is still
vastly controlled by this very corrup-
tiOD that has become quite supreme.
Our condition is wofuiiy, wretchedly
changed; official purity is rare and its
place has been usurped by low dema-
gogism, the very worst type of un,
truthfulness, aud place and power has
become the legitimate property of the
depravei and false. A passage from
the columns OF one of the greatest and
most widely read papers in the United
States suffices to show how fer these
people have departed from original
principles upon one subject, and paral-
lei sentiment has kept pace with this
one upon almost all othsr questions af-
fecting the government, and the con-
sequent safety and liberty of the peo-
pie. The New York Herald utters
this wonderful sentence:
Ii Gen. Grant were once firmly seat
ed in imperial authority he would
treat all his subjects with imperial
Justice, and the South would at last
have the fair play which they do not
expect from a political party founded
on hostility to their section.
The STATESMAN follows this aues-
ton in this connection just so far to
present more forcibly the character of
Mr.. Bayard, who, with his joint reso-
luton now before Congress. and his
many other public acts, seeks to change
the course OF even,s, and to revive
principles calculated to protect and
not to destroy republican government,
Hence he would shield the mssses
against dangerous exactIons in favor of
limited classes, that have obtained en-
tire control of the federal government.
Mr.. BaYard's resolution sirikes direct
ly at the question, whether congress
possesses the power to make a
government debt a legal tender for
private debts, a power which states
men must deny, and to which the
spirit OF our law is opposed. Such
power was never dreamed of by J,ffer-
son or Madison or Hamilton, and o
proposition to enforce it would have
met with unqualified opposition from
jackson and Calhoun, or Webster and
Clay. If Congress have the power tC
enforce this quality in paper money in
private transactions, it also possesses
the power to increase the amount OF
legal tender in circulation, and to thus
reduce the value of paper money un.
til the purchasing quality of the psper
dollar may be destroyed, while it would
thus impair the obligations OF con-
tracts. Such a result would be attended
with untold calamity to much of the
creditor class, and would produce cri
sis by the withdrawal of all money from
investment, the equal of which ha
not been known in any financial crasl
that has convulsed the country. Sup
pose France or England, being
debtor by millions to the Rothschilds
were to declare that q legal tende
piece of paper, subject to any advers'
legislation sDd simply bearing tn,
stamp of the government, should b.
the tender in payment of vast sums o
borrowed coin, thereafter France o.
England might forever go into tn,
money markets of the world beggln,
hopelessly for loans. So it is with tn,
government of the United States il
this matter of legal tender, affecting
private debts. So long as the green
back, under heavy pressure, has ad
RANGED in value, there has been no In
Justice done, but let its value decline
and who asserts that 1t may not, and I
j widespread Injustice, which voulC
be averted by the adoption OF Mr.
Bayard's resolution, would follow
Most of the corporations of the coun
try, in an effort to prosecute jnterns
improvements, so beneficial to al
classes, resort to the sale Of bonds
Some of these securities are golC
bonds, some legal tender bonds, anC
the present sensitiveness Of the msrke
shows that investors are seeking thu
former instead of the latter. The bar
contemplation of contingencies ere
ates doubt, and just at this time, wheI
the whole country is clothing itself il
prosperity, there should be moth
ing presented to interfere in tn,
least with advancing fortune. Their
should be confidence on al
sides, for it is the lack of coDfidenc,
which produces firancial distress. Ev,
cry year there is more money in tn.
world, and so long as governments and
communities and individuals act so a
to preserve confidence, prosperit,
smiles and the poor have work and
wages. When it is destroyed, even in
one quarter, it spreads like dis
ease, and the whole body be
comes involved The issue that
Mr.. Bayard presents is vital one. II
rises above the level of all Others, and
concerns net only the preservation OF
property, but the compensation of ls-
Dor. Il affects the value of estates Of
the rich transmitted 10 pOsterity, and