CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



181 



must In- fed and clothed, and supplied with 

 md munitions of war ami transportation. 

 a (I, al ct' iimney was needed; at firHt a 

 million a day; then two millions, and finally 

 thro-, Congress, driven to its wit's end to'de- 

 ie \\avs and means to procure it in Midi 

 amounts as were needed, devised in a happy 

 mom. nt of in-piration the greenback scheme, 

 winch lias accomplished such a wonderful 8UC- 

 Hnt it was in its nature a forced loan. 

 You compelled soldiers, contractors, and every 

 creditor of the Government, to accept as money, 

 and in full discharge of the debt, the promis- 

 sory notes of the Government. It was as if a 

 man deeply embarrassed, but with plenty of 

 property, should call his creditors around him 

 and say, 'Gentlemen, I owe you and haven't 

 the money to pay. Take my due-bills with my 

 blessing. When I am able to pay, I will take 

 them all up.' There was just this difference 

 in the two cases : Congress compelled the 

 cn-ditor to accept the due-bills. The citizen 

 debtor had no such power. The debtor in the 

 one case could be sued on his due-bills if not 

 paid on presentation, while the United States 

 could not be. The due-bill of the citizen was 

 a simple evidence of debt ; the greenback pos- 

 sessed the function of paying debts. 



" When the act of Congress passed creating 

 greenbacks and imparting to them the qualities 

 of money and making them a legal tender for 

 all debts public'and private, except duties on 

 imports and interest on the public debt, its 

 constitutionality was questioned all over the 

 country. It was regarded and treated as a 

 war measure necessary for the exigencies of 

 the times and justified only by th'at necessity. 

 When we looked into the Constitution for the 

 power, we found these words, and no more, 

 in the enumeration of the powers of Con- 

 gress: 



To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of 

 foreign coin. 



" We found the States prohibited from coining 

 money, emitting bills of credit, and from mak- 

 ing any thing but gold and silver coin a tender 

 in payment of debts. Thus stood the Consti- 

 tution. 



"The objectors argued that money could not 

 be coined from paper, leather, or any other 

 material than metals, and that the framers of 

 the Constitution intended from the clause I 

 have quoted, and from the context, to confer 

 upon Congress the simple power of coining 

 money from gold, silver, and copper, the only 

 metallic currency then in use in the world, and 

 that this was all the power conferred on it. 



" On the other hand, it was urged that as the 

 States were prohibited from making any thing 

 but gold and silver coin a tender in payment 

 of debts, there was in the very terms of that 

 prohibition an implication that Congress might 

 do what the States could not, that is to say, 

 make something else than coin a legal tender 

 in the payment of debts. This view, as wo 

 know, prevailed, and it is too late now to draw 



in question the constitutionality of that legisla- 

 tion on which the greenback tones rest. 



Hut the law, as originally passed, was as lost 

 as the necessities of the case allowed. Con- 

 gress had provided as to the bonds, which had 

 a long time to run, that the interest should be 

 paid semi-annually in coin, and those holding 

 greenbacks were allowed to fund them in these 

 bonds so as to compensate them for any dam- 

 age or loss in being kept out of the promised 

 coin when the Treasury could not or would not 

 redeem them upon presentation. 



" I repeat that the holder of the greenbacks 

 could at his option, at any time, convert them 

 into the time obligations of the Government 

 bearing six per cent, interest, which contained 

 explicit guarantees for the payment of both 

 principal and interest. Upon these obligations 

 the Government has never made default, but 

 scrupulously has observed its promises; and 

 we have seen, as the gratifying result of its 

 good faith, these obligations constantly rising 

 in value, until they now are, and for some time 

 past have been, worth their face in gold both 

 at home and abroad, and even command a pre- 

 mium. 



" But Congress, in an evil hour, as I think, 

 repealed that portion of the law allowing the 

 conversion of greenbacks into bonds at the op- 

 tion of the holder, the repeal to take effect after 

 the 1st of July, 1863. As at first issued there 

 was this indorsement upon them : 



This note is a legal tender for all debts public and 

 private, except duties on imports and interest on the 

 public debt, and is exchangeable for United States 

 six per cent, twenty year bonds, redeemable at the 

 pleasure of the United States alter five years. 



"The act of March 3, 1863, which destroyed 

 this option after the 1st day of July following, 

 was an act of injustice, because it was a breach 

 of the plighted faith of the United States to 

 those who had taken them in good faith, relying 

 upon this guarantee that they could at pleasure 

 exchange them for bonds. From that time forth 

 the greenbacks have been at a discount as com- 

 pared with the bonds, and must continue so un- 

 til Congress shall take measures either to all6w 

 their conversion into interest-bearing bonds or 

 compel their redemption in coin. 



"As the matter stands now, we have $366,- 

 000,000 of this legal-tender issue afloat, circu- 

 lating as money, without any power in the 

 holders to get the promised com, or to ex- 

 change them for bonds. They are dishonored 

 promises to pay, or, as my friend from Vermont 

 the other day styled them, 'engraved false- 

 hoods.' This state of things has continued for 

 ten years, and is likely to continue for ten years 

 to come unless Congress takes measures to wipe 

 away the dishonor. 



" But how shall this he done? If we count 

 the $44,000,000 United States notes retired 

 while Mr. McCnlloch was Secretary of the 

 Treasury, and until recently supposed to be 

 redeemed and canceled notes, as a part of the 

 valid greenback issue, it will require $400,000,- 



