Year: 1868

/
is not true as the Republican party
say that the Democratic party was
the cause of the Public Debt, it may
still be true and the Republican party
not much mistaken after all Make your
issue fairly, and face the evidence if


you dare. Say if you please, that the


Democratic party is not responsible
for the Public Debt; and / will join
issue with you at once, and 60 before
a jury of the country on the facts.


Yea, / will tender another issue, to
wit: That you, C. L. Valandigham,
by reason of your discouraging volun-
tary enlistments in the army, caused
the Government to pay immense sums
of money as bounty to men who would
otherwise have gone in for the one hun
dred dollar bounty, instead of waiting


for the three hundred dollar bounty;
and thereby You became responsible
for so much of the Public Debt as you


could contrive to bring upon the coun-


try. "I mosque tandem a6utsre Cdta-


line 71atientia nostra q1amdin etiana


faror iste t,res nos elxdet. How far


wilt thou o Cataline, abuse our pa


tience? How long wilt thy madness


elude our justics?" You say Jay


Cooke recently published pamphlet


with the title, GA Public Debta Pub


lie Blessing" Now suppose he did;


do you charge the Republican party


with his monarchical maxim We say


in our natural platform: ave denounce


all forms of Reputation as a National


crime; and National honor requires


the payment of the public indebted


ness in the uttermest good faith to an


creditors, at home and abroad, not


only according to the letter but the


spirit of the law under which it vas
contracted.


''The National Debt contracted as it


has been for the preservation of the


Union for all time to come, should be


extended over a fair period for re-


demption and it is the duty of Con-


gress to reduce the rate of interest
thereon whenever it can honestly be
done.


That the best policy to diminish our
burden OF debt is to so improve our


credit that capitalists will seek to loan


us money at lower rates ofinterest than


we now pay. and must continue to
pay so long as reputation, partial or
total, open or covert, is threatened or
suspected"


Now, my brother Democrat, you
declare for equal taxation ''for every
species of property, according to its
real value, including government bonds
and ether public securities.n Do you
mean this ? Do you mean to tax the
farmer on all his property of what
soever kind, the mechanics and every
other individual in the community
upon his--to pay the public debt
Now no tax is collected by the general
government, except upon the articles
of luxury and superfluity. They pay


taxes for State purposes, but not to
support the general government. II


you mean what you say. and had ths


power, the famer must pay and so
must every other citizen, a tax to the
general government. on property now
only taxed for State purposes. Again,
you say zone currency for the gov
ernment and one for the people, the
laborer and the office holder, the pen
sioner and the soldier, the producer
and the land holder'' Now Mr.. Val
landigham, both you and your plat
form recognize the fact, that part of
our public debt is payable in COIN
You declare for but one currency, If
you must have coin to pay $3.50, ,O00,-
900, and intend to have but one cur.
rency and are going to pay the rest of
the debt at all, you must pay it in coin,
for you will have nothing else to pay
with. But this is only deducted from
your bad logic, and / will not hold you
TO the absurdity. for you argue in
favor ofpaying 81, 800, 900, 600 of the
debt with legal tender. / know you
are hard monied man, and have not
much confidence in the sincerity of
your legal tender argument. Let US
look at it. You say in your st. Louis
speech with the double eagle still in
your handy "there is a part of public
legislation that they (meaning the Re-
publican party must not complain of.
For example they made the legal ten
der money against our votes (meaning
Democratic votes,) we all stand re-
eordedhgainst'it; we did not think, and
do not think now, that it is constitu-
tienal, but they said it was, and they
obliged the people to take it. Now
sir, are you going to pay the public,
debt, and the pensioners, and the off
ice holders2 and the producers with un-
constitutional money? No, sir! You
do not mean this; you mean if you had
the power to take up the tiye-twenty
bonds with a currency which you say
is unconstitutional in your opinion, in
that of your party, and when the
notes are to be paid with which you
pay the debt, your party being sup
posed to be in power, would simply
declare the notes unconstitutional, and
thus repudiate the debt. Whether
this be a greenback or grayback theory,
| leave it with you, sir, to decide. You
seek by comparison with other ad-
ministrations to fasten the charge OF
extravaganza upon the Republicans.
You are grossly inaccurate in some OF
your figures. EHlogizing Mr.. Polk's
administration, you say it cost the
country $9O,OOO,OO0. Twill refsr yop
for correction to page los OF the
American almanac, for the year 1855,
where you will find comparative
statement of the expenditures of the
United States for years, exclusive OF
payments ON account OF the public
debt, and from trust funds, fractions
excluded. By this authority the ex.
penses of Mr.. Poik's administration
were sl46, ,924, ,4O2. This was simply
the ordinary'expenses of four years
term. You will find on the same page
that from 1889 to 1892 inclusive, the
expenses of the Government were but
S3,797, ,493. 1t would be Just as fair
to compare the latter period with Mr..
Polk's administration, or that of Mr..
Pierce's, which cost the government
sI94, ,647 ,6lO, as to compare the peri,
od of Mr.. Polk's with that of Mr..
,Johnson's. This kind of argument
would involve you in great difficulty.
If the absurd mode eofreasoning adopt
ed by you were admissible, Mr. Folks
administration was certainly excusable
for spending more money than the one


b;ob ,~xo,oda1 ;t Inv halt a canfurv