ay the war debt; there were others who advocated payment in
greenbacks, or the substitution of a note not bearing interest for a
bond that bore interest; and there were yet others who denied the
validity of the existing obligations. All these classes, whether they
were dishonest or only misled, were alike rebuked in his inaugural
address. These were his words: "A great debt has been contracted
in securing to us and to our posterity the Union. The payment of this
debt, principal and interest, as well as the return to a specie basis,
as soon as it can be accomplished without material detriment to the
debtor class, or to the country at large, must be provided for. . . .
To protect the national honor, every dollar of Government indebtedness
should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the
contract. . . .

"Let it be understood that no repudiator of one farthing of our public
debt will be trusted in public place, and it will go far toward
strengthening a credit which ought to be the best in the world, and
will ultimately enable us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less
interest than we now pay."

In the same address he asserted the ability of the country to pay the
debt within the period of twenty-five years, and he also declared his
purpose to secure a faithful collection of the public revenues. At
the close of his administration of eight years one fifth part of the
public debt had been paid, and if the system of taxation that existed
in 1869 had been continued the debt would have been extinguished in
less than a quarter of a century from the year 1869. In his
administration, however, the crisis was passed. The ability and the
disposition of the country were made so conspicuous that all honest
doubts were removed, and the repudiators were shamed into silence.
The redemption of the debt by the purchase of bonds in the open market
strengthened the public credit, and laid a foundation for the
resumption of specie payments.

General Grant's inaugural address was followed by the passage of the
act of March 18, 1869, entitled "An act to strengthen the public
credit." This act was a pledge to the world that the debts of the
United States, unless there were in the obligations express
stipulations to the contrary, would be paid in coin.

In accordance with the report of the Secretary of the Treasury,
President Grant, in his annual message of December, 1869, recommended
the passage of an act auth