New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-14

4 voter In Maine. who wishes To be IN the
night on financial questions, has an idea that
he i, cutting down four cords of wood in
order to ct one for himself. lie thinks that
the bondholdcls originally insisted on being
paid in silver OF certain -ht and iincncss
buf nov do not want il. and induce Secretary
Sherman to sore no T2oo,OOO,OOO IN the
Treasury. The bonds, hc thinks, ouclli 10 be
paid in grccnhlcks IL tacy fall due for the
holders would prefer giccnbachS to silver, and
the Government could print notes rs long rs
holders OF bonds would take them in prefer
cnco TO the silver stipulated.
The voter has been deceived. If he viii 20
ont this week and cut four cords Of wood
from his farm he will find tl1t he has The
whole of j, himself, and is not obliged to pay
three cords. or one cord, OF single stick of
il. To auyboiy. Whether he cuts the wood or
let. it alon-. he will have t. pay taxes on his
property. just as other men do wao have prop
crty which Government protects
1t !, no. true ihaf ANY class Of Government
bonds was ever issued under such contract
q" that they were to be paid in SILVER of Ger
''tiln weight and linencss." II the voter will
require his informant to produce the act of
I tlEf'~f dViUbll/iH- futI III iH"tit va hNitli0'
or any bond beaiiug on it >uch stipulation.
he Will find that he has been deceived. No
such bond ever existed. and no such act was
ever passed. What did occur is this: The
United States needing to borrow money, is
sued bonds promising to pay dol ars IN United
States coin, and at that time, a. for years prcyi-
ou,ly, silver dollars were not IN circulation. 1t
was the necessary and universal understanding
that gold dollars were TO be pad. because no
other coin dollars were in use, or could by
any possibility be collected in sufficient guam
tity 10 pay even Il small fraction OF the loans.
Many years later, silver having deprecated,
misguided or dishonest men proposed to coin
a great quantity of silver dollars, Imagining
that in some way, by means OF such dcprcci-
atcd coins, people who had debts 10 pay could
manage 10 rob their creditors. They forgot
that nobody could get those SJ-ccnt dollars
out of the Treasury without paying it the
value of a gold dollar for each OF them.
As no one wanted to pay that price,
the silver coined has accumulated III
the Treasury. For the Government to
use thcs, coins in paying back money which,
when 1t was borrowed the Government ex-
pected to pay and the lenders expected to
have paid in gold. would be an act of pal
pabc dishonesty. The voter in Maine, we pre-
sumo. does not wan, to rob his ncighbor, who
bought United States bonds upon the facts
then existing.
Neither is it true that Secretary Sherman
has on hand, or ut any time has had,
5000, 600 600 in silver. The standard silver
dollars, which form the only part Of the sill
yer on hand that could lawfully be used in
payment OF debts, amounted August l to
SIG, ,791. Congress has made it lawful,
but cannot make it honorable, to use these
CONS i'll payment of bonds
We are paving off from $5,0OO,000 to
$1O.G00,000 Of 6 per cent bonds each month
from the surplus revenues Of the Government.
AT greater or less rate these bonds have been
bought in as fast rs there was money III tho
Treasury why A! Because, had the sum been
kept in the Treasury until the bonds
fell due. disastrous scarcity of cur
rcncy would have resulted. In order
to avoid locking up several hundred mil
lions unnecessarily, the present Administration
has paid of the debt rs fast as it could by
buying the bonds, and meanwhile has taken
ADVANTAGE of the improved credit of the cOun-
FRY 10 substitute / per cent for > and per
cent bonds to a very large amount. The lat
ter is the operation of refunding, which the
voter of Maine wants to stop. His trouble Is
that he does not understand that the debt is
now being paid off us fast is possible. and at
the same time refmding Is cutting down the
rate OF interest on the remainder unpaid.
The voter of Maine thinks it would be well
to destroy the public credit by compelling
creditors to receive either deprecated silver
or deprecated notes Tor their bonds For,