The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1847-10-01
Stale Fimnnccs Agaiu.

OuI helgnoOr seems 10 be sOrely dis.
turbed by tie statements we have recent.
ly made in relation to our State Finances.
10 break The force Of lhe facts which we
stated, the Statesman indulgesi in its usu.
al mode of argument-abusing the Fed.
eralists"-apd 10 help a lame conclusion
it copies from the Mansfield Shield ana
Banner.
We propose to notice the defence
which is thus put forth. We will no
stop 10 answerthe rigmarole ofthe States
man and It's aid about federal abuse
or The "falsehoods which wonld make
Beelzebub blush The inquiry is, are
the facts which we stated true?
We said that "lhe party obtained power
in 1886, when the State debt was.YesS than
fire and a half millioas, and were turned
out in 1915, leaving the debt nearly
t9enty mALions." Is tits statement de-
niedl No. The Statesman takes good
care not 10 deny these facts, which every
intelligent man knows but too well. But
as our neighbor may have lost the docu-
mcnts," we will refer him TO Auditor
Bryan's report of 9Th December. 1896,
pages A aud 5, by which it appears that
the Domestic debt of the State for School
Funds borrowed. was then $3.50, 664 so;
aud to Auditor Brough's report of State
liabilities, Doc. AT, February Is, 1915,
which shows that the Foreign debt of
the State in December, 1886, was Si,-
$50, 900, making the total debt of the
State in december, 1886, only S5,476, 664,
so 1t is shown by the same document
that the State debt, Foreign and Domes-
tic, was. on the 18th February, 1915,
Sl9,2S9,4l2 03! Additional claims and
contracts which had not been recorded in
the Auditors books. swelIed the amount
Of the State debt in lS45 to the sum we
staied-nearly tceaty millions.
W. said the deficit in the State Reven-
ues for seven years, from 1886, was one
million eighthundred aud thirty.sixthous-
and nine hundred and seyenty-twO dol
lars. Is this fact deniedl 1t is not.
But our opponents attempt TO evade
the force of the facts which we have sta
ted. by special pleading. They say that
the State did not bOrrOa0 money Il pay
the interest, and that no stocks had been
sold for the payment of the interest on
the Public debt.
1t may be true that tie State neither
borrowed money nor sold stocks to pay
the interest; but the question is, were the
revenues of the State, provided for the
purpose, sufficient to pay the INTEREST,"
Did the Locofoco financiers, whose duty
it was to provide a sufficient revenue to
pay the interest, do 500 We charge that
there was a deficit in the ~revenues Of
81, 1886. 1872, in seven years. We prove
this fact by reference to the documents.
Our opponents to usetheir own language,
''dare not deny it,"
The deficit in the interest account ac-
cumulated from year to year. The mon
ey received from the sale of the school
lands, aud for the canal lands of the
the State, instead of being applied to the
payment of the principal of the debt,
was Siezed upon for the payment of the
interest.
The total amount of the school and
trust funds loaned TO the Stale were, in
December, 1886, S956,664 so. as we
have stated. In February. lS45, they
amounted to 81, 425, O92 81. Thus we
have from 1886 to 1915, the sum of S46S,
427 81 applied to the payment of inter-
est by which the State debt was in fact
increased 10 this amount.
The facts stand upon record that the
principal of our debt was increased by
the Locofocos, subsequent to the year
1886. from five aud a half millions to
nearly twenty millions, and that part Of
the sum was to supply the deficit of ST.
S36, 972 in the interest fund which had
accumulated from year to year.
We call the attention of the people of
the State to these facts, which we have
taken from the records; and with conf
dence in their honest and just decision,
we ask them to say whether these men
are worthy to be again trusted with the
government of the State-whether they
are prepared to bring back the days OF
peculotion and the reckless sq%uandering
Of the public funds which marked their
course. We know hat the verdict will
be such as an honest and intelligent peo-
pie should give.-O. State Journal