Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1850-01-04
The Alleged Deficit.
Correspondence of the Baltimore SIM

Of which will be IS 900 900 in 1856 and s1s oh oNo
on the LIST of July, 1851! MIR. MEREntTH calls =
deficit produced by the extraordinary ns
the Mexican war; but his own figures nroye hin, 70
be in error. Let see:
g The public debit says Mr.. MERE
DITH, now amounts to the of S64704693 OF
By his own showing the old funded
debt, (not made by the war; the
debt Of the District assumed by
Congress- (not made by the war,
the fveper cent. loan of Sd March,
1843 (not made by the war, the
six per cent. loan of Is April,
1872 (not made by the wary a.
mount together to-. 15,749,652 4S
S48, 955, O4l %
Showing that the amount of loans necessary to de-
fray the expenses of the war, amounted only to S48
955O41 %, the interest of which is less than three
millions per annum.
But Mr.. MEREDITH prefers Jumping the matter,
and by specious argument addressed to the jury,
gets at the expenses in the following ingenious
manner. He takes the increase of the expenses of
the army proper for three years from the 1st April
1S49 1st April 1849 over those of the three wears
Immediately preceding and the expenses of the ma
w for two and half years from the 1st April I848
to LIST October lS48 and finds the joint excess equal
The increase of the public debts and
loans authorized from March 40
to March 81, lo4S.... ......... 100000 90
Difference between these sums. S14605, 62I 81
Thus, Every increase in the expenses of the War
and Navy Departments is charged to the war; and
yet, with all this it appears that the of the
country during that time, not only equal to the
ordinary expenses but furnished also S14605,62l
towards defraying the expenses of that very war
This excess, then, of Sl46O5, 62l 81 of the income
the expenditures, produced from april l, 1S48
till October 1S48, is at oncechanged into DE-
FICIT; though the interest of the whole debt is
less than three millions, and the revenue from the
tariff constantly increasing. If there is deficit is
clear that it is not the which produces it. but
the increased expenditures of the government in all
its branches These expenditures there every
son to suppose will, by the present Congress, be
trimmed down to efcit-producing standard,
while the loan demanded by MIR. MEREDITH may be
metamorphosed into small issue of Treasury notes.
bearing interest, and being not fundable just to
anticipate the revenue from customs for a new wear
The amount required will, in all probability, not
coed one-fourth the amount Mr.. MEREDITH wants to
borrow.
Mr. MEREDITH expects to raise additional revenue
by high protective tariff. How such tariff will
produce higher revenue he does not show. The
most important part of his whole argument-the pi-
vot which his whole report, with all its recon-
mendations, turns-he takes for granted! He does
not even allude to the important fact that the tariff
of 40 produced in 1874 and 1915 gradual falling
off in the revenue
Mr.. MEREDITH takes it for granted that the
try is sick and requires prescription the doctor
would not have been called in There is such play
" the who imag nes himself sick" by MOliere,
TO which is added the doctors examination by the
faculty. from which might quote did not thinkit
proper to restrain my humor. SO will merely re-
produce the chorus in rustic Latin
Virat, rirat, rirat, mile fois U,rat!
n Novms Doctor q1i tam 6ele Par4at!
The receipt from customs for the year ending June
30th, 1910, were 12S S4673S 80. Those from the
for the year ending 30th June 1850 are
estimated at S3I 0UUUO though the actual receipts
for the first quarter alone amounted to $l1 643 1913
/, ST
l. Four times that amount would be little over
forty-sx and half millions but admitting that the
receipts throughout the year are not alike there is
s no sensible ground at all to suppose that since the
|, first quarter produced eleven and half millions in
round numbers, the three remaining quarters will
only average six and half millions each There
}, has been steady increase in the revenue from
toms for the last two years estimated by Mr. MERE
rs himself at about So 600 900 year. (the differ
cnce between lS49 and 1850 but the probability is
the from the Tariff of 1916 will far exceed
II Mr. MEREDITs modest estimates and by that means,
and the economy practieed in Congress in all the de-
IT, partments of the government him the NORTH
cation of borrowing in time of peace.
One of the items of expenditures which will pro
badly be economised will be the salary of the Secre
tary Of the Interior and that of his extra cerkthe
money required for the agricultural bureau-the
sharks who pray it in the shape of claimants =.
t. gainst Mexico &c. The liberality with which Mr.
EWING reverses the decisions of Col EDWARDS may
J also require Congressional check. With such aid,
therefore the Senate and House of Representatives
ot may furnish, shall be able to make both ends
meet and preserve the credit of the country. X.