524 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



But this is not all the scrip we have in circulation. 

 There is the "White Dog," issued to pay arrearages and 

 repairs on the Wabash Canal above Lafayette. This is 

 payable in canal land belonging to that part of the canal. 



Then there is the "Blue Dog," issued to pay for the 

 construction now going on of the canal between Lafayette 

 and Terre Haute. 



Then we have the "Blue Pups," issued by the contrac- 

 tors "to make change" — i.e. to make change scarce. 



A large litter of these dogs and pups are dropt upon 

 the public every year, and it is upon the extension of 

 this same canal to the Ohio River that the grant of a 

 large quantity of the refuse land of the Vincennes Land 

 District was made by Congress last winter, and upon the 

 credit of which the creditors of the State are very mod- 

 estly asked to lend us a little more money, which if we 

 fail to get, I suppose the present Loco-Foco Legislature 

 will stand god-father to another litter of pups, under 

 some new color, to distinguish them from the older ones 

 of the same prolific mother. 



And the idea is held out that if the State can borrow 

 a little more money she will be able to pay the old debt. 

 Well, this is not a very "new way to pay old debts," that 

 is certain. 



You know that I belong, so far as politics are con- 

 cerned, to the debt-paying party, and that it is almost as 

 unpopular for me to say that the debt never will be paid, 

 as to say that we never intend or mean to pay it. But I 

 have lost all hope of living to see any serious effort even 

 made to pay it. And I say it is not honest to hold out the 

 idea and false hope to our unfortunate bondholders that 

 they have any hope of ever getting their pay. 



I say we ought to speak out manfully and tell them 

 fairly that a majority of the inhabitants of Indiana are 

 not disposed to make any attempt to pay, and if you will 

 just divide the sum total of the debt among the adult 

 males, you will readily perceive that the amount per 



