Year: 1868

Mr.. Jay Cooke, the Banker, has
written a letter to the Philadelphia
Inquirer, in which he shows that
there is a solemn obligation resting
upon the people of the United States
to pay the national funded debt in coin.


Mr.. Cooke, it will be remembered,
was employed by the Government as
its Agent to sell the bonds, and by
hisjudiciOus and extensive advertising,
succeeded in disposing of a great part
of the whole amount issued. He
must be regarded as good authority
on this subject, and we therefore re-
produce the leading points of his argu-
ment. They are very able, ana we
think Unanswerable:


1t should be considered a legaI fact
that the 5-2Os are payable, principal
and interest, in gold.


Because, Nothing is said to the con-
trary in the law creating the loan.


Because, The custom ofalI other ma
tioas, as we'll as our own, has always
been to pay a tnnded debt in coin
only.


Because, The debate at the time the
loan law was passed revealed distinct
ly the mind Of Congress. The chair
man Of the Committee of Ways and
Means himself distinctly stated, at the
time the bill was pending, that the
bonds were, principal and In terest,
payable in gold.


Because, A provision was inserted
in the bill for a sinking fund iB coin,
to be annually applied to the purchase.
OF payment of the bonds.


Because, The Secretaries Ofthe Treas
ury have all uniformly declared that
the bonds would be paid in gold.


Because, The bonds were sold to-
the people by the authorized agents of
the Government on the strength and
contract of this declaration.


Because, This Interpretation of the
law was accepted by the whole coun-
try. Congress, including Senator Sher-
man, stood by while the Treasury
Department was thus, year after year,
promising to pay principal and inter
est in gold, without giving a single
note of warning Of any intention to
repudiate the contract in after years.


Because, When the chairman of the
Committee Of Ways and Means, to
the retarding and sad injury of the
negotiation of the loan then going on,
rose in his seat, during one Of the
darkest periods of the war, and pro-
posed his individual motion, that
thereafter the principal and interest of
the loan should be paid in legal-ten-
der currency, his motion was speedi-
ly and promptly suppressed; but not
until it had done great damage to the
public credit-the indications unmis-
takabIy showing, that upon any other
but a gold basis it would be impossible
to sell bonds.


Because, It is a fixed and settled
legal, as well as moral, principle that
the principal is bound by all acts of
a recognized agent; and legal gentle
men and senators may as well argue
to the winds as attempt to tell the 10y
al people of this nation, who furnished
the money in exchange for these
bonds, that Congress is not bound by
the promise Of its agents. If a clerk
or agent, year after year, transacts
business openly to the satisfaction of
his principal, making sales, purchases,
and contracts in the name Of that
principal, while he looks on approx
ingly and sanctions in innumerable
cases the agents acts, they are Of
course not only morally but legally
binding upon the principal, although
the clerk or agent may not have had
written or even verbal authority to
show that his principal is bound by
what he has properly done in the
regular course Of clerkship or agency.