Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1858-06-25
THE EXPENDITURES OF THE GENERAL
GOVERNMENT.
Speech of HoN. JoNN SHERMAN, Of Ohio
Delivered 4. the House IF Representatives.
Mag 27, 1858.

| DeliUered in the House If Representatives.,
May 81, 1858.
The Army Appropriation bill having been
taken up for consideration in Committee Of
the Whole, Mr.. SHERMAN of Ohio spoke as
follows
Mr.. Chairman. / wish to state my rea-
sons for opposing this bill, and also the bill
authorizing the loan of S15 200, 600. 1t is
with some reluctance that | trespass upon
the tirse of the House at this period of the
session; and / will make my remarks as brief
as possible. do not know that any other
opportunity will occur, and shall therefore
embrace the present.
On the frst of July last there was sur
| plus of $l7,7lo,II4 in the Treasury, This
surplus had been reduced to the shadow Of a
shade. The Secretary of the Treasury in
December last, In message calling for an
| issue of $40 100000 of Treasury notes, told
US that in all probability but a small part if
any of the amount would be needed at an.
early day; yet. now. we have another mes
sage from that same officer, in which he tells
| Us that
.'The $4,000 900 loan of Treasury notes
authorized by the act of December %, 1857,
will be exhausted in supplying the deicien-
cies in the Treasury for the present fiscal
year.
"We shall commence the next fiscal year
! dependent entirely upon the current receipts
into the Treasury to meet all demands from
it,
So for the first year of this Administration,
we have, in addition to the current revenue,
an old balance of $l7.ooo,ooo and $2o,-
100000 of Treasury notes already expended
aud gone. We have adefciency of $37 ,ooo,-
eoe in asingie year; and We are now called
ON by the Administration for another loan of
$I5 100000. And, Sir. we are told that
! this loan will not meet the exigency-it Is
only partial remedy, u hofnopathic dose
The Secretary gives US fair notice that he
will want ferther loans during the next fiscal
year. I will call the attention of the Com
inittee to this clause of his lettar ::
: II have confined this inquiry to the two
first quarters of the next fiscal year, as Con-
gress will reassenble before the close of the
second quarter, it will be time enough then
should it become necessary, to provide for
future contingencies that cannot noU be fore
SEEM ~
Future contingencies that cannot now be
forseenp' Is the Secretary Ike Micawber,
! waiting for something to turn up!" Sir,
these furture con;iDgenci es can be foreseen.
} can demonstrate to any sensible man THAT
the Secretary Of the Treasury will be CON-
PEELED to cali on Congress for $42 ,o0a,ooo
! to supply deficiencies in the next fiscal year
70 that will have to be added SS2l.0oo, 600 te
redeem the outstanding Treasury notes and
, there will be an addition to the national deb
l of $63, 1000, 900 in two years.
Under these circumstances, loan bill il
proposed to the House, and II is not accom-
! panied by any measure cf revenue, or OF re
j. trenchment and reform. No proposition il
made 10 increase the tariff, no measure t.
: enlarge the revenue. AS the first fruits o
Y this Administrations, we embarked in
t permanent system of loans to, support TIL
:. Government.
r, | desire, for moment, to cali the after:
e ton of The Committee to a1eother rcmarka5i
: paragraph Of the Seeretary's letter. He say
e that since the meeting of Congress "the de
IS mands upon the treasury for the present fi=
j. cal year have been increased by legislatio
y to an amount not far below S Ee ,00o, ,ooo."
J Iwoald like to know by what legislatio
g we have increased the burden thrown upo
N the treasury! Has the Committee of Way
and Means introduced measures into tn
Is House aPproPriating ten million dollars n
lr called for by the Secretary of the Treasury
g If Congress has thrown an additional bu
IN den ON the Executive Departments, wou
le like to know by what law and for what pu
as pose it has been done. have no knowled:
le of any bill which has not been demands
ne and urged upon Us By the Executive. &c
,y tainly Congress has proposed noexPenditur
But the Secretary says that this has bee
done by legislation. We did pass Defit
is ency bill, and that | suppose is the legisl
ay ton referred to-. But at whose demand! !!
ly We all knew how urgently these Execuu
est officers, who now seek to charge that Co
ng gress thrown has upon the treasury an ad'
tie tional burden, begged Us topassthe Defcien
od bill. And what was the deficiency for! To CT
e' ry OH the Utah war--a purely Executive W
ng "a war made and carried on without t
he assent of Congress; improvident ar
asst war feeble in its conce ption as ie is Hlet
his to be ridiculous in its Termination. w
be great elact, and at great expense, the AdIni
sis istration gathered together an army in t
m Territory of Kansas, to overawe that peoy
and retained 1t there until period too /;
to march to Utah before coming winter.
ed With utter disregard of either policy or ece
,r. omy, the President then ordered forward
4 n gallant army, TO spend the winter in
an Rocky Mountains. He did not wait I'll
ant Congress could be consulted. Instead
tho sending Peace Commissioners TO reason W
q rebelious people, and negotiate terms
peace, he posted this army in the mounta
nat with -four at fifty dollars per barrel, and o
yea er provisions at equally enormous rates. .
NY, ter millions have been wasted. he dscove
MY for the first time, that negotiation might p
,25 vent the war. and then. with ridiculons has
our commissioners are dispatched to overtake
army. Recent advces indicate that a
the vate citizen has accomplished what the
oat ministratIan too late attempted; and thus
uce Treasury has been burdened by the usel
lies expenditure of millions of treasure by
ere unauthorized act of Executive power.
ord MIR, Chairman, now desire to submit
ere the Committee some remarks in regard
the expenditures OF our Government ant
show their increase, and where we are DIR
49,. ing to. The expenditures of the last fis
year. according to the documents which
49,. have before US, were seventy-one millit
IL; seventy-two thousand, two hundred and tt
49, teen dollars, inclusive Of payments on
= public debt, and IS .O32 ,559 dollars, exc
sive of the public debt. This is sevente
millions more than was expended for a
year during the Mexican war. have
deavored TO estimate, as nearly as [ cot
nan the expenditures for this current fiscal We
'ars and in doing 30 have taken the materials
set nished US by the Committee of Ways 1
3 of Means. / find that at the third session