Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-03-26
THE FUNDING BILL AND THE
VETO.

10y last SGSSlOu Oh congress constr
tutes one of the brightest pages in
ne record of the democratic party.
The veto of that great measure of
relief to the taxpayers of the coun-
Try by Mr.. Hayes, at the dietation
of a few insolent New York national
banks, is n OF the most inexcus-
able and indefensible acts of his
crooked and unprecedented admin
lstration. AS its advent was marked
by a fraudulent disregard of the
peoples will, it was meet, perhaps,
that its exit should have been sig
nalized by acontemptuous disregard
of the peoples rights.
The funding of the outstanding
government bonds bearing 5 to 6
per cent. interest into a 8 per cent.
bond, as provided in the bill, would
have resulted in a saving of between
fourteen and fifteen million dollars
annually to the Taxpayers of the
country, and if accepted, of which
no reasonable doubt can be enter
tanned, would have been a testimo-
NAL to u national credit of which
our people would have been Justly
proud. 1t was agraver responsibility
for any president to assume to
silence, as Mr.. Hayes did, the voice
of fifty millions of people, as ex-
pressed through their representa-
tives, and thwart an effort on their
part to Tighten the burdens of taxa
tion, and this, too, at the command
of the national banks, the creatures
of congress. The national banks
were created mainly for the purpose
of furnishing a good market for the
securities of the government. This
was the leading argument made for
their creation. 1t was upon this
ground that their cOnstitutionality
and eXpediency Were based. Ii Is
safe to assume that without this
argument in favor of their creation
they would never have been estab-
lished. But no sooner does congress
attempt to reduce the rate of inter-
est on the national debt and to lift
from the shoulders of the tOiling
millions some of the burdens of tax
alton, than certain national banks,
grown rich on the privileges granted
them by the government, seek to
bulldOse congress by a threat to
withdraw their circulation, contract
the currency and produce a panic.
There can be no doubt that these
banks formed "A deliberate cOnspir-
acy to produce a panic, and did by
their arrogant and infamous at
tempt entail great pecuniary loss in
many quarters. But to the eternal
honor of a democratic congress be
it said, they stood by the rights of
their constituents and refused to be
driven from their position by the
~insolent attitude of these corpora
tiOns. Failing to deter the repre-
sentatives of the people, the banks
turned to Mr.. Hayes, who did not
represent the people, but a majority
of the Z by 8 commission. They
found in him a ready and willing
instrument, and the law-passed in
the interest of the whole country,
for the relief of the whole people,
and doing no injustice to the banks
or anyone else-fell before the stroke
of an arbitrary veto.
The fifth section of the funding
bill, about which these banks made
such an cutlery, contained no pro-
vision whatever that would have
worked injustice to the banks. But
Mr. Carlisle, of Kentucky, the
author of that section, immediately
after the house had ]concurred in the
senate amendments, introduced a
supplemental bill Obviating all
legitimate and iHegitimate objec-
tions, which passed the house and
could easily have passed the senate;
but the president, without waiting
to see whether this supplemental
bill would pass the senate, in hot
haste sent to the house the message
he had in advance prepared, or
which the banks had prepared for
him, vetoing the original bill. Mr..
Hayes could easily have waited to
e whether that supplemental bill
would pass the senate. There was
no danger of the original bill be-
coming a law in case the supple
mental bill failed to pass the senate,
for all he had to do was to simply
withhold his signature from the
original bill, and that of itself would
have killed it, as it went to him
only two or three days before the
adjournment of congress. He could
easily have waited, without risking
anything, to see whether the sup
Elemental bill would pass both
houses. If it did, he could then
have signed both, and thus secured
the great boon of a 3 per cent. bond
TO the country; if the supplemental
bill for any cause failed to pass the
senate, the original bill. for lack of
his signature, would have failed.
So, even from his own standpoint,
taken on his own ground, the veto
was nothing short of an outrage
upon the tax-paying millions of the
country.
we feel proud of the record of the
democratic party on this great ques-
ton, aud we trust if congress is
called in extra session, that every
democratic member will stand
firmly by the rights of the people
and never consent, under any cir
cumstanees, to the passage of any
funding bill that does not contain,
substantially, the provisions of the
fifth section.