GREENBACKS AND BONDS. 551 



sitions: First, that they favored centralization; second, 

 that they are in violation of the public faith of the nation, 

 in that they propose to pay the public debt in " manufac- 

 tured money," as the gentleman styles it. I call his 

 attention to the resolutions themselves in response to that 

 There is not one word in these resolutions looking to a 

 violation of the public faith or to the payment of the pub- 

 lic debt, in anything not strictly in accordance with the 

 contract. That is the language of the resolutions, that 

 the bonds shall be paid as rapidly as possible and accord- 

 ing to the terms of the contract. We all understand very 

 well what the gentleman means when he raises the cry, 

 that the public faith is about to be endangered. He means 

 that it is a violation of the public faith to pay the public 

 debt in silver dollars of 412^ grains. That is what the 

 gentleman means. The resolutions propose to pay the 

 bonded debt in silver dollars, if the bondholders prefer 

 coin. Every man of sense, in all this broad land, knows 

 that the holders of these bonds do not want them paid in 

 either, gold, silver, or greenbacks. They simply want 

 them to be funded perpetually and be exempted from the 

 burdens of the State. 



I say here and now that the national Greenback party 

 is opposed to the violation of the public faith, and is 

 squarely opposed to the repudiation of any portion of the 

 public debt. [Applause.] We are in favor of the pay- 

 ment of the debt according to the contract, and we are the 

 only party that desires ever to pay it. And while we are 

 in favor of that, we are determined that the moneyed inter- 

 ests of the country shall not repudiate again those features 

 in the contract which are in favor of the people. We say 

 that the bondholder having specified in the law that he 

 would receive the silver dollar of 412^ grains in payment 

 for his bond, in all good faith he should be held to the strict 



