The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-09-30

'hC PeoP'S Oou ooNC uOuCy Ill UuyiuS Iuelr
store goods, and make money in selling their
produce at better price. 1t will also save
our moral and pecuniary credit, which is of
more Importance than money. 1t was a
remark of Napoleon the First, and wise
remark of that sagacious man, that a State
could better afford to lose men than to lose
its honor. And we may we'll say that
Minnesota can better afford to lose money
than lose her honor. We could outgrow
poverty in few years, but the stain of dis.
honor we could never outgrow. Milton
said that a State ought to be as "one
mighty growth and stature of an honest
man, as big and compact in virtue as in
body" We ought to conduct the finances
OF the State just as such an honest man
would. l believe the policy of the Demo-
cratic party on this question is the one
which will best save our credit and soonest
give us railroads. 1t is one, moreover. that
will avoid the damages and despair which
our opponents are foreboding, because it
proposes seasonable action. 1t is best calcu.
lated to avoid taxation. Now wish here
to say that this question ought not to be
made party question. The people adopted
the loan measure without distinction of
party, and they ought to stand by it without
distinction of party, without equivocation,
without quibblng. There was small fac
ton which made war upon the measure in
an unfair manner from the start. 1t cried
down our State bonds after they were issued.
1t had control of leading Republican pa
per, which persistently assailed and wounded
the credit of the State, as noxious worm
gnaws and girdles the sturdy tree. That
faction has gained strength. Its cry of tax
elton has been taken up by hundreds of
tongues now preaching republicanism. 1t
seems, indeed, to have brought the whole
Republican party upon its own side; and,
therefore, as the Republican platform, in
this respect, is ambiguous and equivocal,
there is ground of suspicion and distrust.
There is margin in that platform wide
enough for the Republicans to march on
to reputation. 1t is as non. committa as
was the Delphic oracle. And yet the plat
form is not half so suspicious as the language
of Republican speakers, when they address
the people on the subject. They say that
the Democrats, if they provide for the liza.
bilties of the State, will bring distress and
ruin upon the people by taxation; but if
they can have their way, the people will
grow fat and keep all their money. This is
substantially what they say. Perhaps it
does not mean reputation. But one thing
it does mean. It discloses a time-serving
policy, and an appeal to the selfshness of
men. 1t is a policy got up expressly to
oo+ob xotoc and docorpoc 10 oountono,.o
and support from the enterprising and pub
lie spirited people of Minnesota.
Now, as great cry has been raised all at
once, for party effect, of the extravaganza
of the Democratic party, it may be we'll to
refresh the recollection Of some persons as
to the actual policy of the party. One of
the resolutions of the Democracy, adopted
by the Cincinnati Convention, was "that
it is the duty of every branch of the govern
ment to enforce and practice the most rigid
economy in conducting our public affairs,
and that no more revenue might be raised
than is necessary to defray the necessary ex-
penses of the government, and for the
gradual but certain extinction of the public
debt" This was no new doctrine with our
party. Mr.. Guthrie, the Secretary of the
Treasury under Gen. Pierce, had urged
the reduction of the revenue in order
to avoid extravagant and wasteful appro-
priations by Congress. In his annual re.
port, for 1856, he said: ECONOMY is a
legislative as we'll as an administration vir-
tue, which it is easy to commend and pre-
scribe rules for, but which it is difficult to
observe, with an overlooking treasury and
strong outside pressure )" and again, in a
subsequent part of his report, he says
" Under conviction that we were collect
ing, under the existing tariff, more revenue,
than a present economical administration
of the government, and wise and prudent
outlay for the future, made necessary or
called for, and also under the conviction
that an overlooking treasury would induce
wasteful and extravagant expenditures,
of the tariff of 1856, and re.
ductiOn of the revenue from customs, was
in my first report on the finances,
and renewed in both my subsequent reports,
and is now again repeated, with, if possible,
a frmer conviction of its necessity and pro
priety, and for the same reasons, and others
that could be named"
Acting in compliance with these states
manlike suggestions, Congress, in 1857, re-
duced the tariff. The revenue was dimin-
ished. For instance, the receipts from GUS
toms for the fiscal year ending June 3Oth,
1856, were $64,022, S63.5O, while the re-
ceipts for the year ending June 3Oth, 1858,
1.-THE first year of the new tariff of 1857
fell to Sal ,7S9,62O96. The receipts would
have been greater for the year ending in
1858, had it not been for the revulsion in
business. The reduction of the receipts in.
to the treasury has already had whole
some effect in checking extravaganza.
Let it be remembered also that the indie
pendent or SubTreasury System was a
measure of reform in the custody of the
public money, instituted by the Democracy.
1t has been successfully vindicated in its
saving results. 1t prevented the public
money in the hands of collectors or other
agents of the government from being depos-
tied in private banks; and it also provided
that failure on the part of public officer
10 nav over or produce the moneys entrusted
to his keeping should be taken to be prima
acia evidence Of elnbezzlement.
Such are some of the great and perma-
nent measures brought forward by the De-
nocracy to promote economy.
1t will do no harm for our opponents,
while they deal in indiscriminate charges of
to rememberthat example is
better instructor than precept. They had
IN opportunity to set good example when
hey had the organization OF the House of
of the United States, Mr..