The advocate., 1890-08-13
DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC.
Continued from arnt paqsl
tho dollar IN coin.

years Oi hhnkuine warfare, ana emeFBeu
from this baptism Of blood and fire and
smoke with victory perched upon her
banners and her credit unlmpaired OK
cept by the manlpulatlons Of the money
power Of Wall street. During the dark
egt days Of the rebellion II had not been
thought necessary 20 make the bonds
payable In coin 10 sustain the public
credit, Then why should il be thought
80 In time Of peace? BY this act they
added forty cents TO every dollar Of the
bonded indebtedness that was by law
payable in the l0gfm money OF the
country. In other words heg changed
tho original contract in the interest OF
the holders OF the bonds. They violated
their pledges TO the people. 1t was
passed through the House under the
previous question, without chance Of de-
bate, and on the 18th day Of March, 1869,
iustfouFteen days after General Grant
was inaugurated, It was signed by him
and became law
The vote In the House on this bill was
as follows; For the bill, republicans, 06;
democrats, l. Against the bill, republi-
cans, 10; democrats, 34
It is plain to be seen by the law and
the Interpretation given it by such men
az Stevens, Morton, Wade, Sherman and
others, that this action Of Congress was
equivalent to contract TO pay tho bond
holder more than we owed him or ever
promised to pay him when the contract
was made. by this law the government,
In effect, says:
give the soldier, the sailor, and the man who
furnished supplies and munitions Of war, nifty
cents, hut make him receipt for 100 cents ! re-
CeIVe nifty cents from the bOndhOlder, but give
him 100 cents for IL, and then exempt his 100
cents from taxation and make the soldier pay
the interest. In my supreme will, declare That
I'm order 90 sustain the "publO honor" and main
tain the "publlc credit nc the naughty dciatOn
Of, and In the interest OF "Cflninal speculatOra
and 'seCret enemies" who are commonly called
the money power compelled the soldier 10 re-
ceipt Tor twice ms much ms he received, and
gave the bOndhOder twice ~ much as no paid
for, and then, 10 make his hope still brighter,
released him from taxation and 10 make the
soldier realize that the "publlc credit Is u
priceless treasure make him pay che bond
holders taxes
The preteuse that this act would
strengthen the public credit was mere
sham. The war was over We were at
peace with all nations The government
was rapidly paying her public debt
Under the vitalizing influence Of large
circulating medium the country was
prospering as il never had before. That
our credit was good abroad was proven
by the fact that eight hundred millions
Of dollars Of our bonds were held abroad
by foreign capitalists. The soldiers and
sailors had been paid of in greenbacks.
Every state In the union was discharging
its indebtedness with the treasury notes.
The supreme court of the United States
had decided that they were constitutional
and lawful, legal tender. The bond
holders, during the darkest days Of the
republic, and at the time Of her greatest
peril, we're never promised payment IN
coin for the principal Of their bonds.
We have already seen that they have had
hard fight to get the interest made
payable IN coin. It was a plain case Of
change of contract in the interest Of the
bondholder. Now when an expansion Of
the currency is attempted, even by the
enactment Of free coinage Of silver-one
OF the metals in which the infamous law
Of 1869 provided that the bonds could be
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