The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-26
BRYAN AND REPUTATION.

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1
BRYAN AND REPUTATION.
| 1t is significant fact that the wholesale
scheme of national reputation involved in
the free and unlimited coinage of silver
| finds it's strongest support in States which
have repudiated or scaled down their own
| debts. That the trainers of the Chicago
| platform intended to declare in favor of
paying government bonds in debased cur
rency. and that Mr.. Bryan himself favors
that policy, there can be no doubt. He has
said many times that he heartily indorses
every sentence and every line of the plat
form. 1t not only declares in favor of the
free and unlimited coinage of silver at the
ratio of is to l, the same to be "a full legal
tender equally with gold, for all debts. pub
lie and private" but it says:
We are opposed to the policy and practice
of surrendering to the holders of the obl1-
cations of the United States the option re-
served by the law to the government of re-
deeming such obligations in either silver
coin or gold coin.
This is equivalent to demand that the
government debt shall be paid off in 5O-cent
dollars, which would, of course, be rank re-
pudiation.
Outside of the silver mining States the
Populistic, Bryanistic and free-silver senti-
ment has its main strength in the States of
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, North Caro-
lima, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana,
Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia. There
are sound-money men. and good many of
them, in all these States, but they a
minority. The chances are that Bryan will
-
cant fact that every one of them has been
guilty of reputation. The term repudia-
ton. as here used, includes the scaling
of debts. forcing creditors to compromise,
or refusing to pay bonds which, though
regularly issued, were held to be invalid.
In one or another of these senses every
one of the States named is reputation
State. Mississippi, a strong Bryan and
free-silver State, was the first State in the
Union to adopt reputation and for a long
time it had the bad distinction of being the
only one. Away back in the forties Missis
sippi refused to pay s5,00o000 worth Of bonds
which had been issued under an act of the
Legislature as the basis of a banking sys-
tenn, and in the fifties the State repudiated
81, 900 more. The first bonds were issued
in 1888 sold to Nicholas Biddle, an agent of
the old United States Bank, and by it de-
posted as security for loans in Europe. In
this way they fell into the hands of Euro
pean bankers, who paid full value for
them. In 1910 the State defaulted on the
interest. and in 1912 the Legislature repu-
dated the entire issue of $1,000 900. In 1852
the State repudiated a later issue of 81, 000,-
900 worth of bonds, and the reputation was
ratified by a popular vote. Florida has
been guilty of two acts of reputation viz:
So 100000 of bonds issued or Endorsed for
banking purposes, and 100000 of railroad
aid bonds. Including interest, the total
amount of Floridas reputation was over
$4,000, 000. By an adjustment made in 1874
Alabama repudiated bonds amounting in
principal and interest to nearly $15, 900, 000 a
large portion of which were issued in pay
ment of bank stock from 1923 to 1926. North
Carolina repudiated bonds amounting in
principal to $12, $685. 900. with several MILLIONS
of unpaid interest. Previous to the war
South Carolina had State debt amounting
to $3,S14,s6 During the war the State
tracted an additional debt of So 900 900 in aid
of secession, all of which was repudiated
After the war, through reckless financier
ing and fraudulent methods, the debt was
increased to $2S 997, COS. A large part of this
was finally repudiated. Georgia. Louisiana
and Arkansas have each repudiated State
bonds to the amount of several million dol
lars. The case of Virginia was one of the
most fragrant of all. At the beginning of
the war, in 1861, the State debt of Virginia
amounted to more than 1873, 600 900. On the
LIST of January, 1870, with accrued interest,
it amounted to more than s45 600, 900. In 1871
one-third of this was apportioned as the
share of West Virginia. although the latter
never admitted the obligation. A refund
ing act, passed by the Virginia Legislature
between the State and it's creditors that
lasted fifteen years, and ended in the pas
sage of an act by the Legislature scaling
the debt down from S51, 1O2,51 to $40 665, 1856
had to take what they could get
From this it will be seen that in ten of
the States which are expected to vote for
Mr.. Bryan reputation is no new idea.
There is a very large number of honest and
honorable men in all these States, but Pop
ulists, free-silverites and regulators are
majority. All these will vote for Bryan
knowing that he stands for national repu-
diation