The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1860-01-06

| In addition to this deficit tho gov
crnmont had to provide to meet
the burthens inherited from the
past, and to pay interest on
dchtto the amount of............. 17,405,2S5 Al
| Excess of expenses over income S30,346,4iO So
To meet this great disproportion Be-
tween expenses and income, resort has
been had to the fallacious system of bor-
rowing, and creating a debt for future
payment. Thus stands the
BORROWED Money Account.
| Cash in hand July |, 1S5S........ S6,39s,316 10
| less cash in hand July /, lS5g... 4,339,275 %
| Borrowed for cash balance. ...... S2,059,0l0 SO
| Borrowed on Treasury notes....... 9,G67, 400 90
Borrowed on loan of 1858 ......... 1S,G20,U00 90
Total borrowed money in 1859 S3O,3i6,4lO So
IF this were the account of a private in
dividual he would not have credit on
Change for single day for however
great his assets might be- they could not
stand such fnanciering during ordinary
business times. If we were engaged in
an expensive war FOR the defence of the
permanent interests of the country, which
compelled us to draw upon our future
resources for the purpose of securing those
interests, the creation Of public debt
would be pardonable (; but that in pc
Rod of profound peace the Secretary of
the Treasury should be compelled to bor-
row sum nearly equal to sixty per cent
of the public income, is reproach and
shame. We need not go into an an
alysis Of Mr.. Cobbs estimates for lS59-G0
They show the same state of affairs. The
Secretary figures up balance Of nearly
fourteen millions of. dollars which he
shows will stand to his credit in the treas
ury if-oh! that little if--Congress will
make no more appropriations and stop pay
ment on tho deficits in the Post Office and
other departments. If these deficits.
however should be paid, the cash in hand
will be cut down to about three and a
half millions for Congress to veer and
haul on. On this basis Mr.. Cobb thinks
we shall rot be short of money; but as
we take very different view Of the prob
able action of Congress from what Mr..
Cobb does, we are not at all surprised
that the President differs from him in
opinion, and opines that there will be a
deficit.
We yet entertain the hope of seeing in
the Treasury department a man who will
have the manhood to throw aside this
system of smothering the public accounts,
and who will frankly say to the country
that our system of finance is shamefully
inadequate to our requirements, and that
five continue much longer in the pres
ent system we shall incur a chronic habit
of deficit which must eventually burthen
us with increased expenditures for in
terest, and perhaps materially injure our
credit. five cannot raise sufficient rev.
enue to meet our ordinary expenses I'M
spectfully submit that either Mr.. Cobb or
the genius of Columbia should feel the
blush of shame tingling the check. Ac-
cording to the Secretary's exhibit, we
imported foreign products to the amount
of 1898, 7GS, 1870, on which we collected an
average duty of fifteen per cent, and we
exported S35G,7S9, Ago of products in the
year 1859 We should think a concern
doing such business as that ought to be
able to pay its expenses.
We need not go into Mr.. Cobbs cru
dities about commerce, nor his platitudes
and overestimates about gold from Cali
fornia. Nobody cares pin about hIs or
anyother Secretary of the Treasury's opin-
ions about trade and overtrade. All the
merchants Of the country wish to know
of the Secretary of the Treasury is how
much revenue he requires to meet the
wants of government, and how he pro-
poses to raise it. Every merchant can
at once tell how the proposed measures
will affect his own business a great deal
better than Mr.. Cobb can.
The Secretary goes ON to show that the
permanent public debt is S45, ,977 &C,
and the temporary debt on the 30th Of
June, 1859, was Sl5,046,S00 more-ma-
king total of S60,2O2,777 &C, while the
public buildings in process of erection
have been stopped and no provision has
been made for the redemption of twenty
millions of treasury notes falling due on
the S0th of June next. We do not lay
the blame of this state of things 'on Mr.
Cobb. 1t is only part of the nightmare
which the administration of Mr.. Buoh-
anan inherited from that of poor Pierce,
and which the President has honestly de-
sired to pay off by adopting healthy
policy of finance; only that Mr.. Cobb
has differed persistently from Mr.. Buch-
anan in this respect, and factious Con-
gress has done nothing at al; but pass
bills for private jobs, and thus helps to
make the matter worse.--N. Y. Herald.