Year: 1871

CRACN.


, Now comes the third trial. Is the
; party in any better position now? Is
| it in such position that it can afford
to take possession of the Government?
{ Here is the vast debt pressing upon
, the people; here is pension list equal
to the whole expense of the Govern
ment at the time when General
, Jackson assumed the Presidency.


Simply to pay the pensions to the
widows and orphans, and to the SOL
. dier or sailor who were MANNED or
otherwise crippled IN the war, is equal
. to the whole expense of the country


less than forty years ago. That is to
be paid, and it is TO be paid if that
party is in power, by taxes levied and


maintained on purpose to pay more


than one hundred million dollars per


annum on interest to the creditors


of the country, and thirty million
dollars more to the pensioners, who
are, in my judgment, the first credi-


tors of the country. Now the Demo-


cratic party if it should come into


power must assume these liabilities,


must pay the debt or repudiate it.


And reputation is a very simple pro-


cess. You have only to take off taxes;
: that is all. You need not resolve


that the debt is not to be paid; you


have simply to take off this and the


other tax, and soon the payment Of


interest stops; and so with the pen


sions. The Government must live,


and the salaries of its officers must be
paid its army must be paid, and its


navy kept efficient; and If you insist


on reducing and repeating taxes, the


debt must go by the board. Now,


does any man see in the present atti-


tude of the Democratic party, or the
daily utterances of its speakers and


leaders, any disposition to impose or


maintain taxes in order to uphold


the credit and fulfill the obligations


of the nation? do not see it. Mr..
Andrew Johnson declared that when


he had paid the interest on the debt


sixteen and a half years that this


would be the end of it: that is, when


the interest amounted to the principal


of the debt there would be no more


to pay. Iapprehend that if you have


heard any Democratic speaker in this


canvass, and heard him patiently to


to the end, though he may not in so


many words advocate a repudiation
of the debt, yet you could easily dis


Germ that the drift of the discourse


pointed tawards reputation; towards |


the repeal and reduction Of the taxes |
| till its payment could no longer be |


made. If the Democratic party comes |
into power it would, of course, stop |


paying the principal of the debt. |
From the beginning of the debt that |


party, and some others not of that |
party, am sorry to say, have been |
hot tHar- aa11 fcfa h
pclicy of the Republican party in /
don't they stop paying the debt? they 4
ask. Why don't tRey reduce the


taxes so that we may simply pay the


interest on the debt? That. is the


everlasting clamor. Now the Repub-


licans in the policy they have adopted


are simply maintaining the traditions


Of the Government; they are follow


ing in that shiny track that was made


for them by Washington, and Hamil


ton, and Jefferson, and all the fathers


of the great Republic. It is no new


policy. Whenever we had Federal


Government we began to pay our


debIs, and began with a determina-


ton that that process should be con-


tinued till the last dollar was wiped


out; and but for our complications in


the great wars of France and England, L
in the early years OF this century. /
every dollar of Indebtedness would


have been paid off within forty years


Of the close Of the war; and as ii was,


though we were driven into another
war with Great Britain, and incurred


fresh and a large debt, yet before
that war had been twenty years end


ed we had paid every dollar of the
principal of the national debt. We
have established policy contrary to
the European policy, the American
policy which says when you get out
OF the war commence paying off the
debt that the war has made.


I have seen letters from Mr.. Glad
stone. the British Prime Minister, in :
which he says: You Americans have
set us Europeans a splendid example. !
We go to war and incur debt; we !
return to peace and pay interest on
our debt; you have shown us the true
path. trust you will inspire us and c
impel US to follow your example in I
paying off our debts on the return of e
peace"
WHAT IS TO BEDoNE WITH THE DEBT? !


The Republican party pledged itself,
Congress pledged itself during the l
war, that, whatever debt we incurred,
not less than one per cent. of the
principal should be paid every year
till the debt was ended. We stand
under solemn national obligation to
pay the debt, and keep on paying it s
till there is no more to pay. =


The Democratic party, as a body, q
opposes the policy, and grumbles at n
the idea that we are paying of one f
hundred millions per annum of the !,
national debt. believe that in the q
of that policy is the only =
against repudiatioR While =
we were incurring the debt we heard q
every eroaker hostile to the Govern h
ment saying, "You will never pay a
that debt; you will never pay it." L /,
well remember feeble, timid men a
coming to me and saying, "Do you o
think 1t is safe to invest in Govern q
ment bonds?" mo, sir" 1 said: 4
nothing is safe in Government Il
bonds ?" mo, sir" I said: "nothiug n
is safe in times like these. But can T
comfort you with this assurance. that n
if the Government goes, everything a
goes, and wonld not give a cent for /,
your property, and if the rebels tri- &
umph. your property will be worth
but little" Many men know who -.
held property, invested in the debt. >
1 know some who sold property az Y
less than half its present value on :,
purpose to lend the money to the y
and they did not lend =
it at the rate of fifty or sixty cents on :
the dollar, but they loaned in gold the a .,
full amount for which they took y
bonds. I say, then, so long as we 4 :,
continue to pay; so long as you and II
feel that as we are going on L
we will wipe out the debt, the Z.
debt need not drag us down. Z
No child is going to be hungry i
for. our paying the national debt. ~ y
We have already paid $500, 200, 900, II u
yet we have gone on building houses, ~ ~
furnaces, railroads; we have swept ~
put into the prairies spreading over "
he continent, uniting it with lines of
ron all the same as though we did -
not owe any debt. We have gone
IN paying the debt and at the same ~
lime enlarging and extending all the 10
Industries and all the activities of the v
nation. Suppose you stop paying the "
laht than Won ha Ol