The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-10-06
NEW SERIES. Vol, 2, MOO


Millions, fourteen thousand, seven hundred
and thirty-eight dollars and nine cents,
($6,Ol4,7SS o9,) was for city, town, county,
and other LOCAL purposes. This local tax
which amounts to about two-thrds Of the
whole sum, was levied by county, township ,
school district and city oficres. No person
then can justly charge the State officers with
this sum. They have nothing to do with it.
1t never goes into their hands, never goes
into the State Treasury and Of course is en-
tirely beyond their charge and control. We
have thus disposed of two-thirds of the
whole sum levied, and no charge of extriv-
agahce can be made to stand against the
State administration.
What becomes Of the remaining $3,077,-
COL Al! By reference again 10 the table il
will be seen that 81 1887 ,OS7 SO, Of this is
for school purposes, which is paid into and
retained by the County Treasury, and from
thence distributed directly to the townships.
State officers cannot certainly be charged
with this. They had nothing to do in max.
ing the law, which compels its assessment
If tbs law is wrong they are not to blame
for it; if right, then there is no blame attri.
butable to our party. Deducting the amount
raised for school purposes, we have only
$l,690,5l3 As, remaining. OF this sum,
81 ,083, ,662 AZ, is FOR INTEREST AND PRIN.
crPAL ON THE PUBLIC DEBT.
This debt was created many years ago,
and the Wing party is mainly responsible
therefor. 1t originally amounted to about
800, 900 900, but in process of time it has
been reduced to about $l4,OCo,OoO. The
constitution of the State, requires that the
interest and part of the principal shall be
paid each year. This must be done or the
Constitution violated and the debt in the end
repudiated. 1t is however contendedby Mr..
Chase and his political friends, that ae,U
bonds may be issued having longer time
to runA the time of payment in this manner
put off, and thus the burthen of payment be
imposed upon future generations. This it
seems to us, is dangerous policy. A public
debt is never a public blessing. Besides
this, it in the end will only increase our bur.
thens; for the interest TO be paid on the debt,
will in less than seventeen years, amount to
sun equal to the principal at the present
time. In this manner we would pay the
debt twice over. A man Of prudence will
never put off the payment of money after il
becomes due, simply because he can do SC
by paying the interest. The system of re-
newing notes without in any way decreas-
ing the principal, is poor way of getting
out of debt. 1t leads to bankruptcy with in
dividuals and the causes that lead to insol
vency with men, will lead to insolvency and
reputation with States. We believe the
voters of Ohio are in favor of paying off the
public debt aoao. They are anxious to get
rid of the burthen; and the surest way to dis
pose of the difficulty is to pay it. The poll
cy ofthe Democratic administration has ey-
er been, to reduce the public debt each year,
until the whole is finally disposed Of. This
is unquestonably the proper course.
We have now disposed Of all save the sum
of $6O6,85O SO. This amount is exhausted
in defroying the current expenses of the
State government, including pay of public
officers, benevolent institutions, New State
House. New Lunatic ASYLUM, &C., &c,
THE CURRENT EXPENSES OF THE
STATE GOVERN MENT AMOUNT TO
ONLY ABOUT ONE-FIFTEENTH OF
THE WHOLE TAX LEVIED for the year
1854. IF this were equally divided among
the people Of Ohio it would amount to about
tseenty.four cents for each individual Of the
State to pay. h.a
Wherever amounts have been stated in
the foregoing, the amounts levied have been
given, instead Of the sums actually collected
Of the last mentioned $606,S50 9S, only
1855 500 6s was actually collected and
paid into the State Treasury. We deem il
but proper to make comparison here as to
this fund in 1850, under Gov. FORD ant
Auditor WooDs, and in 1854, under Demo.
cratic authority.
In 1850 the General Revenue of the
StAe was fa $397 ,999 Z:
Add fees Of Associate Judges paid by
| counties, s...r i- .r3..-a 24,424 81
Total, u a6 $4ss,4a4 9;
Deduct amt. paid benevolent LgitBl ssv .FS
6. Tax collected at Colun.
bus and paid counties, 2s,406 - $57,156 j
Amt paid for ordinary revenue, $365, 1858 L
h In 1864 the same fund stands as follows:
General Revenue collected, S565,sO6 g
Deduct amt. paid Benevolent institutions,
New State House Il Revised Statutes. s67 ,720 o
Amt paid for same purposes as in 1850, be.
ing for ordinary revenue, including bal- w
ance in the Treasury. is $29s ,086 6
leaving $67, 181 AZ less for the same pufpos
es inals54 than in 1850, besides leaving
some tho ousands OF dollars in the Treasury
From this it can beseen that the ordinar,
expenses ofthe State Government, in 1850
under Wing rule, were sIxTY-sEvEN THOU
SAND ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-oNE DoLLAR'
AND FoRrY-Two CENTS MORE than in 1851
fundSS the rule of a Democratic administra-
tion. The State has also been enabled t
reduce it's levy for the year 1856 to $464,
600. N AZ
We have thus disposed of the question o
public expenditures SO far as the State off
GERS are concerned. Our fellow citizens cal