Year: 1868

cd. Look at every monthly report Of
the Secretary Of the Treasury, you will
find that every month the debt which
bears no interest at all, or which bears


interest 10 currency, Il converted as rap
idly as possible into the bonds which pay
interest in gold. Aud Why is this? +
there too much currency in the country
Il there a plethora Of money! Isspecu-
lalion rife ? No one will dare affirm 80
much, aud yet this work of contraction
still goes on, the value Is coined for the
bondholder out of the sweat aud tears
the blood aud bones and muscles Ct the
laboFing man.


UNITED STATES BONDS.


And when VIC ask the the reason, We
arc answered by the declaration Of the
Republican Convention, at Chicrgo, that
the bondsmen must be paid IN gold, ac-
eordiug TO the spirit aud letter Of the
contract; b. declaration Of It's Presl.
dent that the debt Of the bondholde- Is
Us sacred as the grave Of the soldier.


/ deny that it is according either to the
spirit or the letter Of the contract under
which the iye-twenty bonds were sold -
| say that neither the spirit nor the letter
Of the law under which those bonds were
issued, nor good faith, nor good morals,
nor exact justice TO the bondholder, re-
quire that they should be paid in gold.
They are payable in lcgal-teuder, aud in
this opinion | am sustainded By the reso-
luton Of the Democratic Convention in
New York, which declares that where
the obligations Of the Government do not
expressly state upon their face--or the
!aw under which they were issued does
not provide-that they shall be paid in
coin, they ought in right and justice to
be paid in the lawful money of tho United
States.


When the legal-tender act was passed,
the private Indebtedness of the country
amounted to very large sum. 1t was
contracted to be paid in gold,s but was in
Tact discharged in paper. The public ne
cessity was alleged TO be sufficient reason
Tor this wholesale confscation. Is there
no public necessity now TO demand the
payment of the bonds in the money which
was paid for them


The policy of the Republican party is
to pay all these bonds in gold to convert
all the currency now outstanding, and
all the Indebtedness of the United States
into these bonds; to pay interest in gold
for this enormous amount, whatever il
may be. aud to extend the time within
which the bonds shall be paid. In the
meantime tho. bonds shall be exempt from
taxation, and the interest is to be paid
semi-annually, in gold. What the amount
of Indebtedness undor that system can
finally be shown to be, can not say; 81
500 ,0000 900 we know it is now. Less
than that it certainly will not be. The
interest upon that sum viii be S150,000,-
900 in gold, aud this amount is to be
drawn annually from the people of the
country, during all your lives, and the
lives of your youngest children, in order to
carry out the dogmas of the Republican
party.


The Democratic party upon this ques-
ton has given forth no uncertain sound.
It declares that the debt shall not be extend
cd, butmust paid as rapidly as possible;
all the money collected from the people
shall not be squandred on freedmen's bu-
reaus and standing armies, but shall be
applied to the payment of this and of the
reduction of the interest 1t declares that
the $40 bonds shall be paid in legal-ten-
der, and until they be paid, they shall be
subjected to the same rate of taxation as
all other property. It declares there
shall be one currency for the Government
and the people; for the laborer and the
office holder; the pensioner and the sol
dier; the freedmen and the bondholder


And how soon isit practicable topay this
debt Z Three hundred and thirty millions
of bonds are held in the Treasury Depart
ment as security for the National Bank
circulation. Redeem them the very in.
stant you have the option to do so, with
legal-tender notes, and let them supply
the place of the bank paper. This meas
ure alone, with very little imitation of the
currency and without any addition TO the
taxation, will reduce the debt and save
the twenty millions of dollars, in gold,
annually, which are now paid as bonus
to National Banks.


Five hundred millions 600, 900, ,000)
of the first issues of fve-twenties are al
ready, or will be this year payable at
the option of the Government. Redeem
these, also, in legal tender notes. Where
will these notes come from Ask
some friend. Stop this contraction at the