The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1880-05-06

array labor against capital, but
whenever capital becomes oppres
sive and seeks undue advantage OF
the toll and labor To which it owes
its accumulation, its votaries should
be taught that its oppression will
not be endured and that beyond its
true sphere it cannot operate. When
in the true sphere of its operation
labor and capital are necessary CO
operative agencies essential TO th.
existence of good government and
society; the one the cause, the other
he effect, which brings about anu
maintains political and social exist
ence. The great conflict of the age,
my countrymen, is the irrepressibie
struggle between toll, work and la
Dor on the one hand. which makes
the fields smile with rich harvests
and the shops ring with the music
of the hammer, which brings peace
and plenty to happy homes and
happy families, and is itself capital;
and upon the other hand, its most
abhorred enemy, idteRess, which
loats upon your streets. crowds
your railway stations with its slug
gish drones, who work not, neither
do they spin, but grow sleek from
the fat of the land and from your
toll and labor. Every man in this
country who pursues an honest
avocation, care not what 1t is. bs
it tilling the soil, hewing rock,
driving the plane, forging wrought
iron, selling merchandise, practic-
ing law or medicine, or anything
else, VINO tolls and works with an
honest purpose and hearty good
will, are a band of brothers, are
tenants in common of the good OF
the country, they are the bone and
sinew of the land, they are the men
who make states and republics,
and put them on the high road to
prosperity and plenty, and their
common enemy is the habitual
idler, whose hands know no :oil
and whose brain knows no work. l
care not whether he be the outcRst
tramp or the bloated bondholder:
whether he dress in cast-off gar
ments or kid gloves and broadcloth,
il he be not laborer for his coun
try's good he is a common enemy
There are instances, however, where
the channels of legislation have
been corrupted and employed for
the base purposes of perverting
honest toll TO the service OF an
over reaching money power. Nota-
BILE among these instances is the
history of what are known as the
500 bonds. They were issued un-
der the acts of 1862 As, and
amounted to ST., 500, 697,O 900. They
we're redeemable alter five and pay
able alter twenty years, bearing 6
per cent. interest per annum, the
interest alone payable in coin
By the act of congress of 1861
they were made payable, principd
and interest, in coin.
1t must be remembered that a
that time gold was at a premium o
so cents on the dollar; so that thu
practical operation OF this act wa
to give a bonus to every holder o
$40 bond the sum of $500 on TIL
$1,000. These bonds were bough
with greenbacks, and John Sher
man himself declared at the tim
that any person who refused t
take for them the currency will
which he bought them was a repu
diator.
The first act of General Grant
administration was to declare tina
these bonds were payable, principa
and interest, in coin. Every re
publican In the Senate and House
and not a single democrat in either
voted for the measure.
THE NATIONAL DEBT.
The national debt of the United
Ststes in 1878. which bore interest
amounted to $1,7SO,725,65O. and
bears an average interest of 81 pei
cent. England's interest bearing
debt at that time was about So, 8SS,
907, $3.50, bearing only 3 per cent.
AS before stated l should favor
the payment, as it natures, of this
debt as far as is practicable in the
currency for which it was contract
ed, but If in the division OF senti
ment in all parties on this question
this cannot be done, the debt in
my opinion, could and can success
fully be funded at 3 per cent. inter
est charge. To say that this can.
not be done is a reflection upon
our government as compared with
others, nothing like so strong as
the United States. L here give O
table of the current rates of dis
count at the principal foreign
centers.