The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1891-06-27
lhr present Standard value.

''"'' 'h''i u dSiInSt D'IHp paIu II
coins of II different standard value: hui
not less clearly did 1t insure to tn,
people of the United States the priv
leg" of paving, AT their option, in an,
of such coins. II the new language
holds the United States vigorously
To pay in such coins, not less rigorous
ly does il hold the owners of the bonds
I" accept them.
The United States owes no debt
either contracted or payable in Europe,
although It's bonds, payable at home.
are largely held there. 1t has created
no foreign debt since the revolutionary
war. All its debts and bonds are paw
able III this country and in dollars.
The law gives no advantage to the
creditors of the United States who live
III foreign countries over creditors who
reside i'll this country. They occupy
exactly the same position, equitably
and legally. Many attempts have been
made to induce congress to authorize
the issue of bonds payable in foreign
countries and in foreign money, but
such attempts have never succeeded,
except in the single instance of one
small loan, Omitted States Statutes,
vol. II, p. 260,) which was authorized
but never negotiated. Europeans and
all Others who purchase United States
bonds do so voluntarily, and exclusive
" for their own profit and advantage,
and not for the profit or advantage of
the United States. They purchase
them with full knowledge of the
laws which authorize their issue and
specifically set forth their terms. The
laws are open to the examination of all,
and no one has the right to plead
ignorance of them as reason for per-
verting in his interest their plain mean-
ing. No bond has ever been issued
without having printed on its face II
reference to the law authorizing it,
together with substantial statement
of lis terms. 1t Is incredible that any
bonds have been purchased without II
full knowledge of their terms on the
part of the purchaser; and, be that as
ii may. the United States, in dealing
with its debts, must be governed strict
ly by the laws authorizing them.
These laws were intended not less scru-
pulously to protect the rights of the
nation than the rights of the bondhold-
er, and no safeguard of the interests of
the nation can be lost because il was
overlooked by careless creditors.
The legal right of the United States
TO pay its bonds in gold or silver, at its
option, is so clear that no serious de-
Mai of il is made The claim that they
should be paid only in gold is placed
on vague and shadowy grounds. So
far lis it is possible to apprchend these
grounds, they are, that when these
bonds were issued silver was out of use
as- money; that the larger part of
those held abroad at the present time
are held in countries which do not
recognize silver as money: that when
ever coin has been paid for these bonds,
it has been gold coin and not silver
coin: and that the purchasers expected
10 be paid in gold; and that on account
of these considerations both equity and
honor demand that they should be
paid. The truth is, that gold has been
aS much out of ordinary use in this
country rs silver during the whole pc
Rod covered by the negotiation and sale
of these bonds, and that Germany,
where the earliest and largest purchas-
es of them were made, did not recog-
nize gold rs money until December,
1871, and has now quite AS much silver
as gold in its circulation. Down to
1898 the coin purchasers of the bonds
did not forget that they had an option
between silver and gold money, nor
did they faIl to exercise that option by
selecting gold, which was the cheaper
of the two metals, as their medium of
purchase, nor should the government
now forget that il has the same option,
and that it would be worse than weak
ness not to exercise II by selecting the
cheaper of the tw metals rs the medium
of payment. Those who purchased bonds
with gold when it was the cheaper metal.
could have expected to be paid in gold
only so long aS it continued to be the
cheaper metal. If they have been dis
appointed in what has since happened,
it is in the fact that silver has become
the cheaper metal. They always knew
that the United States had the same
option of paying in the cheaper metal
which they themselves exercised in
purchasing. They may be somewhat
disappointed to find that this option
cannot be taken away by any legislation
subsequent to the dates OF the contracts
which they hold, and that the step
from coin to gold is more difficult
one to take than the step from curren-
cy to coin, for which the congressional
resolution of March IL, 1869, seems to
have been Sutficient.-Report of Silver
Commission.
INGALLS, on REPl'BLICANISM.