Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1840-08-10
STATE EXPENDITURES.

The loco foco papers have of late affected to
believe that there is something entirely out of the
way l., our State expenses. The Patriot, for in
stance, hns made great deal Of noise, and arcu
sed us Of little shyneSs on this score aud Mr..
Van Ness. with his accustomed boldncss OF asser-
ton, has boosted that the Wings dare mol exhibit
to the people the true state Of this matter. All
this, however, is but mere noise and the sole oh
icct Of il is to divert the attention of the people,
if possible, from the national governments. Van
Ness and his undersrnppers cannot deny that the
men in power have falsfed all their pledges doub
led the national expenses, and Iaviscd large sums
of the public money in useless and unloise erpcndi
lures; nor they defend them. Hence it is TINT
they endeavor to raise gieat smoke about State
expenses, hoping thus to conceal the misconduct
OF the federal administration. We are ready to
meat them on this point, and 10 go into the most
searching examination. The truth is, Vermoni
pos seSSrs government iCiich is mol mig as DEM
OCRATIC, but has been as ECONOMICALLY
ADMINISTERED, as any State gorernm nj IN
the Union. The locos mny say what they please
they may scrulinize as closely MS they please 4;
but to this conclusion must they come at last We
say then, give the people light Ibis subject ex-
pose the conduct of orr national government ;
bring ont the expenses Of ou' state government
scrntnze them both, compire them both, and
then begin the work of REFORM wherever it is
needed. We mean what we say and we intend
To show our sincerity in this respect, rs well as
the ialsehood OF the nsinuatiOns of our opponents
by showing the FACTS AS THEY ARE.
The following table embraces
l. The State expenses from 1928 to 1889 inclu-
sive, excluding payments Tor the State house, pay
ments to the safety fund, and payments of money
borrowed and interest. We exclude tie stnte
house because it is entirely an extraordinary ex.
penditure, and moreover was mt incurred under
Wing administration Wm 4. Palmer, Lebbe
us Edgerton, and T.. d. Barber hll locos,) happen
ed to he tile heads of the parry then in power in
Vermont. The other items are excluded for the
reason that they stand in the same relation to stat,
expenses us do the indemnilies, trust funds, and
payments on the public debt to national expenses
H. The proportion Vermont has borne of tho
national expenses in the same period, exclndine
payments of indeInnilies, trust funds and on tb,
public debt. These are excluded, because all nav
mens Of like nature are excluded from the s,at
expenses As to this part of the table we woul,
explain: the sources Of national revenue are tn
public lands and duties on articles consumed h.
the people. To the lands Vermont has nm equa
interest with her sister states, and in the conslinp
ton of articles from which revenue is raised, he
peope bear an equal proportion with the rest o
the country We assume then, that Vernon
bears her proportion Of The burdens OF the nation
al expenses. But how do we get N that proper
ton? Simply thus divide the expenditures 4
any gwen year hy the population Of the Union il
1880 viz: II, s66,020 This will show the pro
portion of each individual. Multiply this by tn
population OF Vermont in 1880, (28O6G5) an
we find the proportion Of Vermont. In this pro
cess we have excluded fractions, and therefore til
pronoriion Vermont has horne Of the Naiioni
expenses has actually been considerably more tina
that here set down.
Expenses of the Proportion horne b
State of Vermont, eX- Vermont in the eN