Evening star., 1933-07-02
I the eternal truths


promise has been repudiated, and the
bonds which we thus issued are to be
payable in paper or some medium Of
less value than gold.
There Is constitution that Is older
than the Constitution of 1887. 1t has
greater sanctity than the Constitution
of 1887. This older constitution was
handed down from Mount Sinai. One
of its great limitations upon human &C
tion was the statement in four words:
Thou shalt not steal" To provide as
to pre-existing debts that man can be
obliged to take paper money, when he
contracted that his obligation should
be paid in gold, is just as much theft
pro tanto as it would be for the United
States to say that when diamonds were
a subject Of sale the seller could de-
liver in common pebbles from the sea
shore. simply because Congress by its
fiat declared pebbles to be the equiva-
lent Of diamonds.
Points TO War Debts.
A great ponderable OF this question
is this: eff there be one question as
to which the ma jority of the House OF
would not subservient-
ly follow the President it would be, I
believe, In the matter Of the cancel
lation of the war debts. If the Presi-
dent, before adjournment, had sent q
message to the Congress and asked 1t
to sponge out the obligations that other
countries gave to us and which we
loaned to them in good faith. 1t would
have met with defeat. The majority
of the House hitherto have followed
the White House.
When I discussed the matter on the
floor Of the House Of Representatives
I stated that the moment the Govern
ment entered upon this policy Of re-
pudiation we made improbable the re-
payment to us by European nations Of
their just obligations. Within "a hours
after the passage Of our reputation
statute the British chancellor Of the
exchequer intimated that England
would not pay the interest installment
due June Is. To save its face, Great
Britain has now paid about one-tenth
of such installment in silver and calls
it a token payment" but the only
thing that it betokens is the fact that
England will now join the other ma
tions-except honest Finland-in re-
fusing to pay its obligations to the
United States, which are in a peculiar
sense debts of honor.
AS England has always prided itself
upon its respect for an obligation,
believe its unprecedented action Is
largely Influenced by the fact that the
United States preceded Great Britain
on the path of reputation when it
decided that its bonds, payable in gold
and held to a substantial extent by
English investors, were payable by the
United States in any form of depre-
ciated currency. which may, within a
few years. be of little value.
If we thus repudiate our solemn OBJ
legations. can we criticize England or
any foreign nation for SO doing? To
paraphrase Shylock's words, The vii
lainy we teach them. they will execute,
and it will go hard, but they will better
our instruction"
There is another consideration far
more important. We can survive the
failure of these European nations to
pay us what they owe us. But there is
one thing that we might not conceivably
survive, and that is the destruction o.
our good name. The last solicitation
of bond offering was on April % last,
and that happened to be the natal
anniversary of the greatest poet the
world has ever known. Shakespeare
said something as applicable to nations
as to individuals, and peculiarly appli-
cable to the United States.
Quotes Shakespeare.
He said:
Good name in man and woman, dear
my lord,
Is the immediate jewel Of their soul:
Who steals my purse steals trash it's
something, nothing;
Twas mine, It's his, and has been slave
to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good
name
Robs me of that which not enriches
him
And makes me poor indeed
And this nation, when it adopts this
gigantic policy of repudiation-con-
ceding its sovereign power to repudiate
its obligations-will never again occupy
hitherto occupied of being one nation
that held its honor too high to repudi-
ate its solemn promises, and whose word
was as good as its bond.
One of the proponents of this mon
strous policy in the House of Repre-
sentatives characterized this repudia-
ton of our obligations as new
Declaration of independence" The
analogy is an unhappy one, for that
which gave lasting value to the great
Declaration was Mr. Jefferson's broad
affirmation in the Preamble, that no
nation could escape its responsibility at
the bar of history and that its every
action much be guided by "a decent
respect for the opinions of mankind" J."
Thus he proclaimed in words of i'm
mortal beauty that there was a great
conscience of civilization, which would
Judge the acts of every nation.
I appreciate that in the matter now
under discussion the decent respect to
the opinions of mankind has at the
moment less importance, for if we are
repudiating our obligations we are
simply following the course that has
been adopted by nearly every nation,
some under the pressure of dire neces-
sity, and some without any such justi-
f1cation.
Civilization is now In state of moral
bankruptcy. It would have been a
proud thing If the United States could
have been the one great Nation which
IN critical period Of the worlds his
tory held its head high in the matter
of paying its obligations. Such salts
faction has been denied U.S. and q fu-
ture generation Of Americans will be
ashamed of this and other policies of
dishonor. No temporary advantage can
outweigh our loss of honor and self
respect.
Sees Lasting Injury.
We often speak of our Navy as being
cur first line of defense, but I believe
the greatest strength Of the United
States against possible foreign enc
mics has hitherto been our unimpaired
credit. No nation would lightly chal-
lenge us to the tournament of war as
long as this credit was unimpaired, for
apart from our boundless natural re-
sources, we could make any possible
enemy pause long before attacking us,
while our ability to borrow was un-
diminished
The credit of the United States has
suffered a lasting injury. and this is
the waste of our greatest asset. 1t
might be justified on the plea of dire
necessity if the vaults of the Treasury
were denuded of gold. Such Is the JUS
tification Of other nations which, with
little gold in their vaults, have no other
course than to repudiate their obliga-
tions to pay in gold. But our Nation
has y1aarlv ona-half NJ the u,Orlds< Cn1fl