Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-01-14

SlOJ IN gteenDtckS tlity palu 10 the govern
| ment they had received 4 bond for $780,
bearing q per cent interest, payable in gold
| or silver coin; that the greenback when
| they exchanged it for the bond, was only
worth 50 cents Oh the dollar III coin, and
that ii was an outrage in the face OF the
| contract they had made, with the privileges
given to many of them in addition as Ma
tionai bankers 10 have currency issued for
them TO loan ont on the security of their
bonds equal to 80 per cent of the bonds de-
posted, to demand that the principal of
their bonds should be paid IN coin. They
| knew-everybody knew-that the claim was
false. The legal-tender notes have and con-
tlnue 10 have an Endorsement on their back
that This note shall be receivable at its
face value for all debts publ c and private,
except interest on the public debt and Gus
tom dues" so that there could be neither
doubt nor dispute either as TO the law or the
fact. Nobody denounced the impudent de-
mand of the bondh0ldefs more alphabetically
than the present presiding oiiicer Of the
Senate (Mr. Sherman). He said in his let
ter To a friend in 1868:
DEAR SIR: was pleased to receive your
letter. My personal interests are the same
| as yours; but, like you, do not intend to be
influenced by them My construction of the
| law is the result OF careful examination, and
feel quite sure an impartial court would
affirm it, il the case could be tried before a
! court. | send you my views as fully stated
in speech. Your idea Is that we propose
to repudiate or violate a promise when we
offer to redeem the principal in legal ten
ders.
II think the bondholder violates his prom
Use when he refuses 10 take the same kind of
money he paid for the bonds. III the case is
to be tested by law, | am right; ii it is to be
tested by Jay Cookies advertisements, l am
wrong. hate reputation or anything like
1t, but we ought not TO be detained from do
ing what IS right by fear of undeserved
epthets.
IF, under the law as ii stands, the holders
of the ive-twenties can only be paid in gold
then we are regulators If we propose to pay
otherwise. Ii the bondh0ider can legally de-
| mand only the kind of money he paid, then
he is a repudiator and extortioner to demand
money more valuable than he gave. Truly
yours, JOHN SHERMAN"
Every word he said was true, and remains
true to this day. The pledge is ON the back
of every greenbaek ROW that it shall be re-
ceivable at It's face value for every debt pub
lie and private, except interest on the public
debt and customs dues. The tAen who de-
manded more were regulators OF the public
faith and credit as he truthfully and indig-
| nantly said. Mr.. Stevens, then the leader of
his party, denounced their claim still more
| fercely and threatened to abandon his party
| and JON the Democracy, even with Frank
Blair on the ticket, rather than countenance
| such an outrage on public decency.
The subsequent legislation by Congress
only proves the truth of Macaulay's obserya-
] tipil iildt IL ilfkt lUltTtSiS were
concerned in denying the truth OF the attrao-
ton OF grayitation that most obvious of phys
zeal facts would be strongly and ably dis
pnted.
1t seems to me that any set of men who
| would deny the fact that the legal-tender
note, Endorsed as it was and is which had
purchased the bonds at its face yalise, should
he received again by the bondh0der in pay
ment OF the principal of tle obligation he
| held, would not hesitate TO deny the truth of
the attraction OF gravitation.
PAYMENT OF BONDS IN COIN.
Yet these men not only denied it, but in
1859 procured the passage of an act of Con-
gress, against the vote and protest ii am hap
Ply to say OF every Democrat in both Houses.
declaring that the principal of the bonds
| should DE paid III c0ii-in gold and silver
| coin, as both are named. Legai-tenders were
| only worth 30 cents on the dollar i'll coin
| when the bonds were bought; they were
worth from CO to 20 cents when this act was
passed The act was simply legaliZed rob-
berry. The bondholders and theig attorneys
| in and ont of Congress knesy .and knew
| that no court would sustain slciI a law. The
| Endorsement could neither be erased nor
| sworn OF the back of the lega-tender note,
and nobody could plead ignorance either of
the law or OF the fact that it was To be re-
eeived at par in payment OF the principal of
all our bonds
Therefore they caused the act of July IA,
| 1870, to be passed, extending the time OF pay
ment, reducing the interest," and eXemptng
| the new bonds IN express terms from all
| taxation, State, Federal. or municipal: and
to prevent all mistake or Misrepresentation as
TO the character, quality, aud weight of the
| money IN which payment OF the new bonds
| should be made, they caused to be printed
| on each bond as part of its obligation, shat
| 1t shall be paid i'll coin of the standard value
prescribed by law on the l4th of July, IS70.n
| The present gold and silver coin are both of
the standard value prescribed by law of July
| IA, 1870, and We're then as now both full le-
| gal-tendefs for all our obligations All the
bonds that mature in 1892 and 1897, amount
ing to about III, 000, 600 900. stand to-day I'M
changed and payable as required by the act
| of 1870 The remnant of those payable now
have been changed, the interest has been
| lowered and the time extended, but the same
provisions govern them aud the same condi-
tons are written ont as part OF the contract
in all of them.
In the face of these facts it is simply alb
surd, for anybody to assert that they are pay
| able i'll gold alone, or that the taxpayers of
the country are under any obligation express
| or implied, either to demonetize or stop the
coinage of the silver dollar, which is of the
standard value required by the act of July
IA, 1870, or to increase its weight to thirty,
forty, or any other numbers of grains, be-
cause England, TO whom we have ignomini-
ouSly surrendered the carrying trade of this
country and the world, with her 200 900 of
serfs in India and elsewhere, and Germany,
after extorting $1,000. 000 900 of gold from
France have combined in the interest of
their money-changers to deprecate silver or
put up the market price OF gold 20 per cent.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL UNIT OF VALUE.
IL the gold mines of California and Aus
tralia had continued to produce abundantly
and the Comstock lode and the Leadvlle
mines had not produced silver, SD that the
market value of the two metals as bullion in
London had been reversed. the argument
coulu be made quite as plausiby that the sill
| dollar tln constitutional tinit nf
value IN 1870, which the bondh0lders have
right to demand. There is not an outstand-
ing obligation of the United States, nor of
any State, municipality, corporation, or in
diyidual which cannot be legally and honor
ably discharged by the payment of the pres
ent standard silver dollar. What right has
Congress to deprive the debtor of that right
by adding more silver to the coin than he
that he cannot obtain it? 1t is as palpabIe
violation OF a contract to- increase the obliga-
ton OF the debtor as it Is to impair OF reduce
the standard value of the coin which the
creditor stipulated in his contract should be
paid to him. When Congress has once coin
ed money and regulated the value thereof,
ana contracts are based upon it, the right to
pay according to its terms cannot rightfully
or justly be taken from the people, and SEN
ators and representatives who deprive them
OF that right Will have unpleasant explana-
tons to make to the men whose burdens are
| increased by their vote. IL is simply an at
tempt TO repeal the legislation of 1863 and
the same pretenses are made now that were
made then. An honest dollar for the labor
ing man was then, as now, held up as the
patriotic object of those who repudated the
greenback, as higher wages to labor is claim
ed to be the prime object of all the patriotic
combinations of monopoliSts and machine
owners, who tax us all 46 per cent under the
present protective tariff and yet hire the
cheapest pauper labor they can import 1t
is the wolf guarding the lamb. the spider the
fly, and the hawk the sparrow
| / propose to test this question in the light
of the facts furnished us by our Treasury Of
ficials. We are, of course, as good Judges of
the value of the facts they furnish aud as
competent to draw correct conclusions from
them as they are. The last report from the
Treasury Bureau of Statistics relative to our
foreign commerce for the fiscal year 1885.
proves that there is no such condition either
IN our trade or exports OF metals whether of
coin or bullion, rs 10 render it necessary to
strike down orr silver coinage. 1t shows
tpage y that our total exports for 1885 were
S526, 5s2 9i6. and for 1884. STA, e64. S52. while
our total imports for 1885 were S517. So, 329.
and for 1854, SGG7 691 Gg3
1t viii thus b. seen that while the value
OF our exports in 1885 exceeded those of
1874, our imports were more than $50. O00.-
| o01 less. The same report shows that for
1885 our exports of gold were IS, All, Sl2. and
| for 1884 S5i, 0Sl ,957, or over $50 0C0 900 less
for the last fiscal year than for the wear be-
| fore. Our exports OF silver for 1855 were
So 30, 633, and for 1884 SIS 051, 426. or near
~ SS,000,0o0 more last year than the wear
before, while our imports of gold last year
Il a 49,