The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1886-01-16

mower. A stand must be made somewhere
Nv the representatives of the taxpayers
or an absolute surrender OF all the none
tary interests Of the country into tneil
| hands must follow. A mere reference 70
| the past legislation OF Congress on TIM
subject proves what l say. When It wa
| first asserted, in 1888, BY the
as the time approached when ene Un1GeC ?
| states could lawfully pay Oh the 5-2O .
ner cent. bonds, and when the outstanding
PRINCIPAL of the public debt exceeded 81
500. O0O, 900, that the honor OF the coun'
trv demanded that the principal as well &c
| the interest on the bonds should be paid IN
gold or silver coin, a cry OF indignation was
raised all over the land against such q de-
mand by all honest, disinterested men,.
They were told, and told truthfully, that
! all the bonds they held had been pur'
| chased with legal-tender notes at par; that
for zach 800 In greenbacks they paid TO
the Government they had received a bond
for 500, bearing 6 per cent. interest, pay
able in gold or silver coin; that the green,
back when they exchanged it Tor the bono
was only worth SO cents on the dollar In
coin. and that it was an outrage in the face
| of the contract they had made, with the
privileges given to many OF them in addi'
| ton as National bankers to have currency
issued for them to loan out on the security
| of their bonds, equal to 80 per cent. OF the
| bonds deposited, to demand that the prln-
| cipal OF their bonds sh .uld be- paid in DIN.
| They know-everybody knew-that the
claim was false. The legal-tender notes
had and continue to have an endorsement
on their back that This note shall be re-
ceivable at it's face value for all debts, pub
lie and private, except interest on the puo-
lie debt and customs dues" so that there
could be neither doubt 0 dispute either az
to the law or the fact. No one
the impudent demand OF the ~bondholders
more emphatically than the present pre-
siding officer oil the Senate [Mr. S%herman].
He said in his letter to a friend in 1868:
DEAR s1R-I was pleased to receive your letter.
ny personal interests are the same as yours; but,
like you, 1 DO NOT INTEND TO BE INFLUENCED
BY THEM. My construction of the law 1s the re-
suit of careful examination, and l feel quite sure
an impartial court would afhrm 1t, II the case
could be tried before a court. l send you my
views as fully stated in . speech. Your idea Is
that we propose to repudiate or violated promise
when we offer to redeem the "principal' In legal
tenders.
when he refuses to take the same kind of money
he paid for the bonds: If the case is to be tested
by law, 1 am right; If 1t is to be tested by Jay
Cookies advertisement sa1sia. | ia, am T. w hof yve I ed.e n 1et
to be deferred from doing what is right by fear OF
undeserved epithets.
If, under the law, as 1t stands, the holders of
the fve-twenties can only be paid in gold, then
we are regulators if we propose to pay other:
If the ~bOndhOlders can legally demand
only the kind of money he paid, then he is a re-
and extortioner to demandm money more
than he gave. Truly yours,
JOHN SHERMAN
Every word he said was true, and re-
mains true to this day. The pledge is or
the back of every g%reenback now that it
shall be receivable, at it's face value, for