The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1858-06-10

next fiscal year without any money, or
with only an Insignificant sum in the
Treasury. The annual expenditures of
this Administration exceed the expen-
ditures of the last Administration, ex-
elusive of the public debt, more than
twenty million dollars. The last Ad-
ministration added fifteen million dol
lars to the average annual expenses of
the country, and the present Admins
tration adds twenty million dollars an
nually over the last Administration,
which the whole country believed to
be an extravagant Administration.
We all remember that when Con-
gress assembled in December last the
Secretary of the Treasury, in his annu-
al report, estimated that the receipts
during this year about closing would
equal the demand upon the Treasury /;
that it would be about seventy-fve mil
lion dollars, and that he would have q
balance in the Treasury the 1st day of
July next of four hundred and sixty
two thousand dollars. The Secretary,
however, thought that Congress ought
to grant him the power to issue twenty
million dollars of notes in anticipation
of the revenue not that the Treasury
notes would be wanted this year, but
he wished the authority to issue these
notes in anticipation of the revenue
which would accrue during the present
year. The President of the United
States in his message endorsed this de-
mand of the Secretary of the Treasury.
On the 18th of December last, the
Secretary wrote a letter to the Com
mittee of Ways and Means, asking for
authority to issue twenty millions of
dollars of Treasury notes; and in this
letter, written several days after his
annual report was made, the Secretary,
while asking for authority to issue
twenty millions of dollars of Treasury
notes, said:
"Though the amount of twenty mil
lions of dollars will not, in all probabil-
ity, be needed at an early day, if at all,
yet it is deemed best that the Depart
ment be authorized to issue them and
keep out that sum, should it be required
by the public service"
He would not want these Treasury
Notes at an early day, if he wanted
them at all That was on the 18th of
December. The bill was promptly re-
ported; and Congress entered upon its
discussion. Within the period of seven
or eight days, that bill was carried
through Congress-, and, although the
Secretary had told us he did not want
to issue these notes Immediately, if at
all, within seven days we were pressed
to hurry that bill through Congress,
because the Government was becoming
: bankrupt; and, within ten days after
the Secretary Of the Treasury wrote
that letter, the Government of the
: United States was unable to meet its
obligations; drafts drawn by its Army
officers upon the Treasury remained
unpaid; : and the Members of Congress
who desired to go home and see their
families, and spend Christmas with
them, could not obtain the money to
do so, because the Treasury was ex.
hausted, and this within ten days after
the Secretary of the Treasury had asked
for twenty millions Of dollars, and told
T us that he did not want it very soon, il
he should want it at all. What fore.
J sight! What wonderful sagacity
; What an exhibition of craftsmanship
, was this!
The Secretary of the Treasury, in
his annual report after asking for au
} thority to issue twenty millions Of
dollars of Treasury notes in anticipation
of the accruing revenue, estimated that
the receipts for the residue of the year
would be equal to the demand for the
| year; and that we would have bal
ance IN the Treasury, on the lst of July
, of $780, 900. Now, the Secretary comes
here, on the 10th of May, with report
asking for loan of fifteen millions Of
, dollars to meet the expenditures of the
, first two quarters of the next fiscal year
He says in this report that the revenue
has not equaled his estimate by ter
! million dollars, and that Congress has
: appropriated ten million dollars beyond
, his estimates. There was not, take
: it, man in the Senate or the country
: familiar with the condition of the
, country, and the financial condition Of
the Government, who did not know
: that the Secretary of the Treasury had
: over-estimated the receipts by at least
ten million dollars. 1t was declared on
, this floor, and on the floor of the other
f House, that the estimates were all over
| drawn by from ten to twelve million
dollars. think it now turns out to be
about twelve million dollars. Now the
, Secretary undertakes to put the respon.
sibility on Congress of having appro.
: priated ten million dollars more than
| was asked for by the Departments
We all know that the Deficiency bill
t which passed here, was an Admins.
, tration measure; that it came here by
| the sanction of the Executive that il
, was assumed and carried through as
, an Administration measure, and the
Executive Department should share its
, full and equal responsibility for its pas
, sage. l do not like, Mr.. President,
, this attempt of the Secretary Of the
, Treasury to shirk the responsibility,
and to throw the blame upon Congress
, for having thrust upon him an .expend-
iture Of ten million dollars unasked. 1t
was not in the regular estimates, it is
fr,,o .buf II vvoo ocEad for. ;< u,oe A.