Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1825-01-13
am Fe,,ow-Citizens,
I am, Feilow-Ciizens,
Yours Respectfully,
EDWARD COLSTON
IT.. o. 19ll
Richmond, Dec, 81, 1874

The FTnances-The late Annual Report, from
the T., easuryDepartment on he financial con-
dition and prospects Of the country, is beyond
doubt one of the mos. nteres ing documents
we have for several years had an opportunity
of spreading before our readers. II has tie
merit of being compreheiis We without beng
complex, and of presenting enlarged beaer-
al views so lucidly as to be lntelliS,Jle TO the
piaInest capacity
The rapid elimination oithe public debt, and
the certainty that any man uader eighty may
reasonably hope TO i've 10 see his country en-.
tirelv out of d., bt, without stn,Gg the appro,
priations for other objects CONNECTED with the
public interestare subjects u great satisfaction,
TO all who reflect, chat money IS power. and
til 1t debt and dependence arc inseparable. Ii
the government IS hereafter to be dependent,
let il be on due cultivation and Improvement
of its own resources, and not on moheyea cor
porat,ons and capitalists We haze seen to the
we're OF VIVA, disastrous gut the government
wa, once brought by being placed at the mer-
CIV If rs creditors: le, as nope that She cnndi-
ton IN winch our country was then placed
will never recur--but, 10 realize that hope,
let us extinguish our debt
The review Of the fiscal Administration of
the Government, during the Presidency OF MIR
MoNaoE. presents, facts credtabe to his Adj
minlst ratIon, and to the head OF that Depart
ment winch is charged with it. Very near one
half of the whole income OF the government
has been applied towards the reduction Of its
debt-i fact, which, IN the case OF an indVld-
ual. would be regarded as a proof of sur
prising prosperity and uncommon prudence
Duriug that period, nearly ten millions OF dol
lars have been paid to the surviving and indl-
gent officers aud soldiers of the Revolution
Shew us the government that has ever evin-
ced more substantially the genuine sort OF
gratitude-We do not mean gratitude to
courtiers, syeophants, aud tlme.servers, nor E.
ven TO successful soldiers and victorious ar
mics. but 70 those whose nerves were strung
in the contest for freedom, in their youth, and
whose old age invites SUPPORT and consolation
from those whose patrimory OF political and
religious freedom they secured by their seF'I-
ees.
The same document informs US that the a.
verage annual expenditure Of dis government,
for the last eight years, for all ordinary and
some extraordinary OBJECTS of expense, was
but 9425,900 dollars, or about dollar pee
head for each individual composing this Peo-
pie. SheV us sgain,say weas enconomicaI
government on earth, having any foreign IN
tercoucse al all, as this.
A redun ant revenue of three millions per
annnm, WITH the addition OF ten millions more
after The year 1885 an excess equal to the
whole annual amount OF the ordinary expend
ture OF the government--wiu be pbenome-
non in finance, with the exhibition OF which
no nation has ever yet been gratliied, and the
consequences Of winch are yet 20 be developed
We once before, in our history, have had SIM
liar prospect presented to the nationi but II
vanished under the influence OF an unexpec
ted change in our foreign relations. ltremains
TO be sern, whether unforeseen events MAJ
not again defeat the change Of the experiment
ofa government embarrassed as to the mannei
in uich it shall dispose of It's surplus fund
ior, alter every feasible application of them,
othn 'he constitutional powers ofthe govern
me I, it ali the estimates fall out right, ans
tue blessing Of pace is continued to US, there
Alll7ema'u, Al the year 1855, large uneA
pes.aed hai4nce IN the Treasury hlt.