Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1886-02-26
THE FOURTH sTEp
or the Conspiracy 10 Rob the Gov
ernment,

tEnMcHte
The Fourth Step In the conspiracy was
the act of March 1s, 1869, entitled IAN
act to strengthen the public credit" But
in reality II was an act for public robbery.
iouler act OF injustice was never perpe.
trated upon an innocent people. Its very
name was fraud. 1t did not ndd one lot
OF strength 10 the credit of our government.
Her bonds had been sold at n fearful dis.
coant and the holders of them were to be
benefited by ii. 1t was toll gate at
both ends OF road al which the toiling
millions had 10 pay 10 these secret enc
mica OF the government. Every law In
the financial conspiracy had been made in
the interest Of capital. Arrogant and die.
tntoral were their demands, and as Gun.
ming and deceptive as satan. And thus
they acted and progressed against labor.
The act changing the original contract
in regard to the $50 six per cent. bonds
that were payable in FIVE or twenty
years at the pleasure oi the governmental
the time OF their issue and sale they were
payable in United States note (greenhacks,)
legal tenders. Thia was too clear TO ad-
nit OF doubt. Both buyer and seller
knew the law. But when the money pow
er got possession OF the Treasury Depart
ment, which occurred in 1852, they,
through their agent who run the treasury
department, began to give out what -their
Intentions were in regard to the $50 bonds,
These officials were not servants of the
people, but secret conclave of shylocks
who notified the bankers, brokers and cap
italists-the money power In both this
country and Europe-that it was their
opinion the 20 bonds would be paid in
com. There was no warrant in the law
in fact Tor any such statement, and the
recreant Secretaries who made then; were
spies and betrayers of the people. Indeed
these Secretaries were acting with and
paving the way to rob the people by
changing the condition of the payment OF
the 20 bonds. The act of March 1S,
1869, made the 500 bonds payable in coin,
which before were payable in greenbacks.
That is the long and short of 1t. Every
man in ii was party to the conspiracy to
rob the people OF about six hundred mil
lion, (S6Oo,OO0,oO0,) by appreciatine
bonds in the hands of the creditors of the
people. Instead of helping the govern
ment it laId II heavier burden on the peo-
pie by adding a condition to the bond tina,
made it by one-quar,er larger than it was
That six hundred million dollars went tt
the bond holders ard the people was rob-
bed of just that amount.
The law authorizing the payment OF th,
bonds was this: "And such United State
notes shall be received the same as coin n
their par value in payment for any loan
thst may be hereafter negotiated by tn
Secretary OF the Treasury and be reissue,
from time to time as the exigencies Of tn
public interests may require"
: Here the money power got in its work
With these notes they could buy bonds a
par. The following clause saved the peo
pie, and but for it no one can tell the full
, extent Of the ruin:
"There shall be printed on the bacl
OF the United States notes which may
, issued under the provisions of this act th
, following words: The within is leg;
tender In payment of all debts, public an
private, and is excbangeable into Unite
! States bonds, bearing six per cent. inter
est,'" etc.
= This was another concession to the cap
). ital class, for when the government sol
/. bonds it was compelled to take greenbacl
!. at par and then the holder could get ST
y per cent. on his bonds for FIVE years, gol
j interest. But at the end of five years IAN
= any time up to twenty years. the govern
e ment could call IN the bond and pay it
y legal tender. So remember, after f,
years, and up TO twenty, at nny time a
1t the five.twenties could be called in and
: paid by the government in greenback
10 That tcas The laD in regard to the fve-tue,
a bonds. AND THEN THEY NEVER SHOUT
Il HAVE BEEN Issued. The bonds were
il demand by the great money loaners-mo
ey power 10 secure interest and to bccoii
a preferred class. This alone made
necessary to issue bonds at MI.
IL In 1868, (ihe year Of the great sell on
= the Republican platform read
'e 'fhe national honor requires tile pm
IF ment Of The public debt in the interest
good faith to all the creditors at home ,.f
abrond, not only to the letter but the slir
e OF the law under which it was crented."
The words according TO the spirit, WI
pni into the resolution by a sly agent
the money power, and while il has bee
= made to shape one of the viesl Laws IN Il
world, il was not in the campaign that f.
y. lowed construed as il is now. Bnt wha
ever might have been the intention II
: law Of the payment is what governs. I'll
o words, however, are injected as II poi.o
=. and like all the other deccprige thiags di
d concerning the bonds, have NJ last bloom
% ed into the rule by which the Repb!ca
party il governed and the hard money ei
of the Democratic party also. leeause If
's had been M h"ld'y asserted during Il
campaign oil 1868 M II was IN 1873, th
the D 20 bonds were actually payable
coin, the Republicans would have been dc
.
,! more outspoken, as follows:
y "The payment "f the public debt nf II
United States as rapidly as praclicaLl,
/" all money drawn from the people hy ta1t
e ntion, except so much as il required +,
the necessities OF the government, econonl
r ically administered, being honestly apple
To such payment and when the obligation
3 OF the government do no. expressly sta
=, upon their face or the law under whic
they were Issued does not provide that ile
shall be paid in coin, they ought TO /
~ righ, and Justice be paid in the lawfl
y money of The United States"
'e The speeches OK the most noted an
able of both Republicans and Dem ocra
go 10 show that the $40 bonds were pa
81 able in lawful money-greenbacks. Tia
eus Stevens said:
when the 5-20 bull was on its FIN
| Il. sn.,