Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1848-03-01

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lands for the payment Of the interest and
the redemption Of the principal Of the
public debt. Does any gentleman sup
pose that we can avail ourselves of any
thing from that source TO meet the accru-
ing interest for several years! 4 slight
examination Of the subject must dissipate
all such hopes. Before the war common
ced-when the country was on the peace
establishment. and when its commercial,
manufacturing, and agricultural interests,
were all prosperous, only between two
and three millions year were received
from the public lands. If the receipts
should continue as large after the war as
they were before. can we expect to pay an
interest amounting TO six millions of dol
lars from this source! But let me inquire.
what revenue are we likely to derive from
the public lands hereafter! The last Con-
cress, after plcdging the proceeds Of the
| of the public lands to the redemption
public debt. voted away sixteen millions Of
acres as a bounty to the soldiers engaged
| in the war | make no objection to the
bounty thus granted. 1t received my APP
/ probation and nv vote. | was entirely
wiling to accord TO the brave men who
perilled their lives in this war. and TO the
| families of those who persisted in its pros
ccution, the bounty which they merlted.-
But | do object seriously to the con-
duct Of that Congress in providing no 9TH
err means to meet the payment Of the debt
they were creating. protest against this
mode of deluding the country into the be-
lief that a fund has been provided to meet
the interest on the public debt, when that
fund is already disspated, and can amount
to nothing The number of claims tor
| bounty land. which will exist under the act
| of the last Congress, if the additional for
ces now asked for by the Executive shall
! be called into the field, will not be short
of one hundred thousand. These will
draw sixteen millions of acres of land,
which, at the minimum price ofthe Govern
ment, will amount to twenty millions OF
dollars Assuming that the sales of pub
| lie lands will reach three millions ofdo.lars
a year. it will require nearly seven years
| to absorb these warrants, and during that
period our revenue from that source must
be almost entirely cut off.
How. then, | would ask again. are " c
to meet this rapidly accommodating interest
There is but one way in my opinion, and
that is, by a resort to direct taxation; and
to this we are rapidly approximating If
this war is to be continued, direct taxation
cannot be avoided. We have already
reached crisis which appeals strongly to
the patriotism of those who brought the
wa, upon the country-those who stand
by the Administration, and defend its poll
CIV and its measures-tO assume the re-
sponsbility which their own measures
have created, and impose upon the peo-
pie the burdens necessary to meet the
enormous expenditures which the prosecu-
ton Of the war requires. DO gentlemen
suppose that war can be continued year
after year, with no other object than to
CRAFTY the ambitious desi gns ofour rulers,
upon credit and loans alone, without pro-
vidng the means Of meeting even the in
terest of the debt thus created! And lift
could be, is it just, is it honest. or honora-
BILE, to impose upon the generation to sue
coed us, heavy amount Of public debt
, while we meanly shrink from taxing our
selves! If we create a national debt. we
ought to provide the means of its extin-
guishment. This has always been regar-
ded as of the utmost importance to the
credit of nation. Twill beg leave to call
the attention of the House to a short ex-
tract from the first report of the Secretary
Of the Treasury. under the administration
of Washington. in which this principle is
recommended and enforced:
Incorporating n fundan,en fal marlin in the
system of public credit Of the United States, tina,
the creation of debt should ai,rays be aceon,pani-
ed ,ri:h the means Of Grtingushment; that this is
the true secret for rendering public credit inmOr
tai; and that it is difficult to conceive situation
in which there may not be an adherence to the
MAXIM
The principle here laid down is one
which should never be lost sight of. II
this war be continued. and the credit OF
!, the Government shall be alone looked to
to raise the means necessary to its prose-
cution. it requires no prophet to foretell
that the stocks of the Government will be
hawked through the money ma,ts Of the
country at depreciation. while purch as
ers will be extremely difficult to find.
have thus attempted. Mr.. Speaker. to
show what will he the probable amount OF
our public debt at the end of the next fis-
cal wear. The amount ut which | have
| placed it | am sensible is low. and believe
greatly below VIVA, it will be. But if il
shall be no more. it is sufficiently large
to call the serious attention of the country
to the subject. 1t will fall but little. if any.
short Of the highest point of our public
debt at any time since the adoption of the
Constitution. The public debt on the 3Oth
{ September. 1915: after the close of the
late war with Great Britain. was S119.635.-
55S. 46. This was the largest amount our
public debt has ever reached. OF this
sum, the debt created by the late war with
Great Britain was $50. 5OO.O73.5O. The
residue was the debt existing before the
commencement Of the war.
Gentlemen on the other side Of the
= House Soo,,, ~ ho fonI of %h n
Mexican war to the war of1S12. There is
at least one striking difference between
the course pursued by the friends and sup
porters of the two wars. The friends OF
the last war. in Congress. were willing to
meet the crisis like men. They did not
rely upon public credit alone to raise the
means to prosecute it. but appealed to
; their constituents to pay the taxes neces-