The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-01-26
THREE PER CENT. BONDS.
speech of Senator Plumb, JAN
nary IL, 1882.
sherman critIeiscd-The National Debt
Must AZ. Paid

StOl VI Nh NlCW6 Az 'liNfoNAtCA wv
measure, in which our senator took
occasion to puncture some of the iheo
ries of the ex-secretary of the treasury,
and now senator from Ohio. Senator
Plumb spoke with his usual earnest
ness, and his ringing sentences in favor
of paying the debt and saving interest
will meet with hearty response from
his constituents. His speech shows a
thorough knO~ledge of the financial az
fairs of the government. Weregret that
we have not room for the speech entire.
but must confne ourselves to extract
ing what we consider the most salient
points of the argument:
The senate, as in committee of the
whole, resumed the consideration OF the
bill Is No. 46) u provide for the issue
of 3 per cent. bonds.
The president pro Leap0re. The ques-
tion Is on the reserved amendment of
the committee on finance, Ia which an
amendment was proposed by the sena-
tor from New Jersey, Mr.. Mcpherson.
Mr.. Plumb-Mr. President, / offer
the following substitute for the amend
ment which / proposed to this bill some
days ago:
Provided, That re secretary OF the TIRE rs.
ury shall use ali or the fund nov held in the
treasury for the redemption OF United states
Lotes In excess o. slC0 600 900 in the redemp-
ton OF the bonds OF the Uaited States draw
ing 81 per cent. interest; such redemption to
be made in not less than three installments,
and the said sum q sl0o. Ooo 900 SO lett 10 the
except In the redemption OF United states
notes
Mr.. President, give notice that be-
fore a final vote is reached on this bill
shall propose TO amend It in two other
particulars, by providing that in case of
the liquidation Of national bank notes,
or any other process whereby the
amount of national bank notes outstand-
Ing is diminished, the secretary of the
treasury shall be required to issue an
equivalent amount OF United States
notes; and also that the secretary of the
treasury, for the purpose OF retiring the
public debt on which the government
now has the option, shall pay as fast as
the money is received into the treasury
for that purpose or which may be used
for that purpose in discharge of that
debt, and he shall also, as far as may be
consistent with safety, anticipate in any
calls he may make for the payment of
the public debt the receipts of public
moneys into the treasury.
Those who supported the per cent.
bill of last year are now accused by the
senator from Ohio with having caused
the interpretation Of the presidential veto
by reason of that bill containing the
provision requiring said circulation 10
be based on the new bonds. The sena-
tor from Missouri exhibited to the SEN
ate on yesterday the record Of the sena-
tor from Ohio on q similar question
when the act of 1870 was under consid-
Grafton, and only call attention TO 1t
now TO emphasize what the senator from
Missouri so we'll said. While the Car
Isle amendment, which the senator from
Ohio so much berates now, only attach
ad conditions TO currency yet 10 be is
sued, his own proposition made in 1870
was TO compel the banks to sell the
bonds they had on hand, and on which
their circulation was based, and take
the new bonds in lieu thereof. This
was retroactive legislation, harsh, and
only to be justified in an extreme case.
The Carlisle amendment only dealt
with future issues of the currency, and
imposed no onerous conditions on the
banks. II sought to make q market for
Q portion of the bonds provided for in
the bill by making them the basis of new
circulation. II was justiflable upon eV-
cry ground of principle and policy.
But the senator says that It will not do
now to go even q short distance in the
direction he travelled in 1870, because
circumstances have so changed that
most everybody wants the bonds, and
no compulsiOn is necessary in placing
them.
Then / ask who is to be hurt? Compel
ing the banks To take a bond everybody
wants is no hardship, certainly.
The voto of the bill last year was with
out adequate cause and wicked. The
justification of that act by the senator
from Ohio is fully met by the exposure
of his own action in 1870. We are now
asked to take his dictum as to the effect
andoperation ofthis bill and acquiesce in
his unsupported statement that the 8 per
cent. bonds provided for in the bill of
last year could not have been negotia-
ted, and we are accused of having in its
passage assailad the financial interests
of the country. In this aspect of the
case it is proper and pertinent to show
that the senator from Ohio has not al
was been in spired and has made some
very serions mistakes of judgment.
may say that have conversed with
scores of bankers since the defeat of the
bill of last year by the Presidential
veto, and have yet 10 find one who did
not regret il and who did not express an
opinion to the effect that the bonds
would have readily sold, and that the
failure of the bill which was universal
ly attributed to the action Of the banks
had done much to arouse public opinion
against them, which would result in
driving out of exlstance the national sys-
tenn. This was especially true OF q
prominent banker from a large city in
the senator's own state, who stated that
on the spur of the moment he in con-
nection with about a dozen others
had telegraphed 10 President
Hayes asking him to veto the
bill. He was now satisfied that
great error had been committed, and
regretted very much his own hasty
action in the premises. An i'm
preston was created by publications in
the newspapers that the hill attacked
circulation already issued. And much
of the action had was predicated upon
that idea. 1t was even stated at the
time that General Grant had written to
President Hayes asking him TO veto the
bill. Whatever the influences were
which induced the veto, the effect was
most injurious and not TO be condoned
or overlooked on account of the present
action of the senator from Ohio, largely
responsible as he was for the veto, in
now favoring a per cent. bill.
Senator Plumb next notices Shtrman's
inconsistency in regard to the matter of
interest on bonds, and commissions
paid to bankers and others for selling
them.
Now, Mr.. President, we are asked 10
believe upon the unsupported state
ment of the senator from Ohio, as CON-
pared with his statement of year ago,
that these three per cent. bonds can now
be floated at par; and TO punctuate that
l will call attention to his statement of
yesterday in reply to the senator from
New Jersey:
wish to make q little clearer that point,
and perhaps In speaking OF these matters !
am sometimes not clear enough IN explain
Der Cent. payable In ave years and a per
cent. bond due in 1907 would make the per
the c0%pn.atIons made By the O Nest skfilcS
men, and the per cent. At par. II I per
cent. bond was in the market at ll95E, that
cribed in the Dill At par. It so happened that
never from the time OF the veto until now,
has the per cent bond ever reached that
That is true literally, that never have
4 per cent. bon0s of the United States
reached 1191<; yesterday they were
quoted in the New York market at
iI71S; and yet in defiance of this dec
laration Of the secretary year ago, in
spite Of the declaration of the now SEN
ator from Ohio, the late secretary, on
yesterday, we are asked to believe that |
without a commission q per cent bond |
can be floated at par. Mr.. President, |
believe 3 per cent. bond will float at |
par, Notwithstanding the declaration of |
the senator from Ohio yesterday that the |
bond which We proposed could not |
float at par because the four per cents |
were not selling at rate which nettcd /
the purchaser only per cent interest. |
l believe 1t for reasons which stated and /
which will not repeat now at length,
In the first place while
4 per cent. bonds were selling at ia /
when the bill OF last year was under
--sa---...-- - -. a = - -