The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1851-08-21
SPEECH OF
HON. CHARLES Il. BUCKALEW.

SPEECh OF
HON. CHARLES Il. BUCKALEW.
Delivered in the Court House, Bloomsburg,
Monday evening. august llh, 1851, upon
the Sinking Find Of 1919, and the Staue
act Of lS47.
THE SINKING FUND.
GrsrLEmES -
Were we 10 Judge from this pretenslons
advanced, by Gov. Johnston and bis friends,
we would conclude that in fs49, shortly af-
ter his election. he had projected plan for
The payment Of the state deb, such as had
never before been conceived by the wit or
wisdom of man, had induced the Lesisla-
,ure 10 sanction it in the form in which II
now stands upon the statGte book, and had
subsequently managed it with such fidelity
and skill that the .most salutary consequent
ces, with reference lie The finances of the
state, had been the resnlt. Johnston him.
self, u,on the occasion OF his recent re-nom-
inati,n at Lancaster, sounded loudly the
trumpet of eelf praise upon this subject, and
distinctly invited the attention OF the people
10 himself, as public benefactor.
In view Of these self laudations, so arro-
pan,ly made, and since SO perslnacously re-
beated. i, is both amusing and instructive 10
exarnine the undeniable facts in the case.
fhe sinking fund plan was neither invent
ed by William F. Johnston, nor projected by
him for enactment by tho Legislature OF
Pennsylvania. 1t originated an age ago,
and with statesman as superior in ilitel-
feet ard requirements 10 Johnston, as the
latter is superior, in those respects, TO the
humblest boot-black IN the land. The ma
,erial, the radi portions of the act of 1919,
consist Of ihe first three sections; and they
are simply the sinking fund system Of Pin
the youngcr, Introduced into the Enslish
Parliament in i7s6 fcf tho ruspase 66f nroyi.
ding mode for paying the national dsbt Of
England. In 1856, Lord Norln had gone ouloi
bower, and the debts created by the Revola-
,ionary war, and the French and Indian war
which preceded it, began 10 press hardly up
on the English treasury. new admin's'ra.
non, avowing reform as the object, brought
forward the plan Of sinking fund and secur-
ed its euactmen'. The debt upon which ii
was 10 operate amounted in f7s6 to two
hurdred and fifty seven millions of pounds
sterling; but with the sinking fund in fall
operation ii grew rapidly. (during the unjust
wars waged against France 10 impose upon
her form Of government which she had re-
iec,ed,) until in 1910 il amounted TO
eight hundred and eleven millioI.s Of pounds
sterling, or nsa: four Thousand millions Of
dollars, aud that immense and massive debt
is unpaid 10 this day. It is TO be hoped,
Il al no similar result, To- wit, the increase OF
our debt, will follow upon our adoption OF
Pitts sinking fund in Pennsylvania.
You perceive, gentlemen, that our sinking
fund was not an original conception in 1919
that il was then two Thirds oil century old,
older in fac, than our present national gov
ernmen, founded in 1888, and that it was All
importation from England, the country from
whence we derive the great body OF our
laws and mahy of our political ideas and
arrangements.
But this is not all. II was projected in Penn
sylvania and introduced INTO the Legislature
long before Johnston was thought OF for Gov
ernor. Repeated recommendations were
made by Gov. Porter and Gov. Skunk TO the
Legislature in relation to providing revenue
to meet the permanent Indebtedness OF The
state, as we'll as its current outlays, and a
series of measures were adopted looking to
this end, so that before the decease OF Gov
Skunk not only had the state credit been lift
ed up and placed on firm basis, and large
amounts Of debts been paid off by cancel
ling relief notes, paying domestic creditors
and otherwise, but the solid foundation had
been laid for commencing the payment ol
the permanent loans of the commonwealth
And in l846, two years before Johnston was
elected Governor-Col Bigler nsrodueed into
the Senate, Of which he was then member
a bill to create SINKING FUND, for the gradu'
al extinguisImeni OF the State Debt. All the
same session Mr.. Bunell of Westmoreland
who is now the Democrat candidate fo
Judge in his District and then the chairman o.
the committee ofWays & Means in the Houss
in,roducedla similar bill in that body, and
succeeded in passing il in an amended form
In The Senate il was reported from the Fl
nance Committee by Col. Bigler and par
OF the bill! was finally passed, and became O
law. Under the provisions Of this act alone,
two thrds Of all the money that has been
paid on the state debt s,nce Johnston be
came Governor, is raised, as shall have oc.
casion presently 10 shew. Those portions
Of the Bigler and Burell project Of 1916, re.
lifting 10 the sinking fund, which were no
passed, were then opposed as premature in
the existing condition of the treasury, relie
notes and other membranes, then in the
process Of payment, still constituting hea'