Year: 1871




ury, and his subordinate officers


prominent men in both Houses O.


Congress, and the financial agents O


the Government through whom the


bonds were sold, without exception


so far as l know, represented tha


the principal of these bonds woul(


be paid in gold. That this was th'


understanding of those who bough


the bonds need scarcely be added


But it is said this question should


be settled by reference to the Ian


guage of the bond itself. / hav,


certainly no objection to this. Gen


eral McCook says, in his speech a


Ashtabula, that it can not be neces


sary for him to prove that, both by


the law of their issue, and upor


their very face, the principal of the


Five-Twenty Bonds is payable in


greenbacks. / rather think some


proof upon this point was needed


This is the very question in dispute


The greenbacks contain upon their


face promise to pay so many dol


lars. But what are dollars? Ger


tainly, not greenbacks! These dc


not even claim to be dollars.


If you read them, you will find


that they are only other promises to


pay dollars. To attempt to liquid


ate one promise to pay by substitu-


ting in its place another promise 10


pay is the same as if the Treasurer
of the United States should meet a
creditor of the Government, who


has thousand dollar bond, and
should propose to pay him for it by
giving him another piece of paper
with precisely the same words and
letters printed upon it. The bond
holder, then, is not paid in dollars
when he is paid in greenbacks. But
if greenbacks are not dollars, what
are dollars? We need not look far
for an answer to this question. The
highest legislative body of the land,
beginning with year 1892, has, by
repeated enactments, declared the
dollar to be a certain amount of
silver. This authoritative defini-
tion of the word has, for nearly
eight years, been accepted, both at
home and abroad; and there is no.
where to be found in our national
legislation a word which is inconsis-
tent with it.


1t is true that the greenbacks are
alegal tender for the payment of a
common debt. But let us look back
for a moment at the circumstance un-
der which this was determined upon
When the legal tender act was pass
ed it was understood to be only a
temporary arrangement, and was
justified only upon the ground of
its absolute necessity. Under
this system, with the aid of econ
omy and good management, the rapid
payment of the public debt, and
careful observance of the limita-
tions imposed by law upon the ex-
pansion of the currency, on the part
of the government, we have done
very well.


And in spite of all the burdens
laid upon us by the war, the Ameri-
can people are, to-day, a prosperous
people, and have a fair prospect, at
no distant time, of reaching specie
payments. But now comes the
Democratic party, and proposes an
indefinite expansion of our curren-
cy, to be employed in paying the
$50 bonds at par. The Democrat
ic leaders formerly proposed to Is
sue an amount of Treasury notes
equal to the whole of public debt.
Precisely how far they would go in
that direction now, 1 do not know.
l only know that they demand
very large expansion. Let us sup
pose that they would only double the
amount of paper currency; what
would be the effect of this? l as
sumo that the seven hundred mil
lions of currency which we now
have is just about what the business
of the country demands. 1t was
urged in the Forty-first Congress,
that the Southern and Western
States require more currency, and
TO meet this demand the Secretary
Of the Treasury was authorized by
law to issue fifty-five millions more
Of greenbacks, and while issuing
these, to call in and cancel a CORES
ponding amount of the three per
cent. certificates. l learn from re-
cent financial statements that
only about nineteen million of
these certificates have yet been can
celled, showing that only about that
Of additional currency has
yet been called for during the thir-
teen months which have elapsed
since the law was passed. 1t is evi-
lent, therefore, that we have about
Ill the currency which the business
Of the country will absob. This be-
ing the case, were the volume of
currency at once doubled, were it
increased from seven hundred mil
lions to fourteen hundred millions,
to the well established
laws laid down by the political econ
Dmists, it would depreciate to one
half its value. But let us be mod
crate in our estimate. Let us sup
pose that it would sink to seventy
i've per cent. only, of its present
value; on whom would this loss fall?
Would it all fall upon the bondhold-
ers2 So the Democratic leaders
would have us think. But this
would, by no means be the case.
The principal part of it would be
borne by the people. Every labor
ing man who has any greenbacks in
his pocket, or hopes to have any;
every laboring man who expects to
be paid wages at the end of the
week, or the end of the month |
every man who has a little money
in bank, or has anything
lue him on 4 note; every farmer
who expects to be paid, by and by, |
tOr his wool, or his cheese, or his |
grain; every manufacturer who
would collect what is due him for
MS wares, will find, that this infia-
ion of the currency, which has been
'esorted to, professedly, in his in
crest, and to punish bondholders,
has robbed him of twenty-five per
cent. of all that he has. What a |
,pectable we have herei A party, |