Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-07-13
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The treasury.

-s.a The Treasury. fsbs OFF
To the Editor of the Boston Courier: o.
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury,
shows terrible state of vacuity In the purse
department. The means Of carrying on this
war have to be created. The projects Of the
Secretary for this end are not Of that clear and
vigorous and sklful character which are calcu-
lated to attract the confidence OF financial cir
cles, or secure the approbation OF the thought
full. According to the estimates Of the various
branches of service, he requires TO raise $Sle,-
5l9, ,59l for the fiscal year commencing on the
Let Of July, 1861. The present tariff has during
the last quarter yielded at the rate OF $22,OOU,-
900 per annum. Mr.. Chase proposes to raise
by taxation $50, 900 600, and to borrow $22O-
000, ,000 q This is In the proportion OF borrowing
three dollars for every one dollar raised by
taxation We doubt II the credit oil any counii
trv on earth II equal to such task. 1t is GER
tain that there 10 no example 10 be found In bis.
tory, where q nation has been able 70 borrow 10
that proportion to its taxation for the purpose
of military expenditure, not even when carry
ing on defensive warfare, where the whole
country was united against an invasion. In our
own war with Great Britain, in 1917, the pro-
portion of money raised by taxation to that bor-
rowed, was as one dollar 10 every two which
was obtained by loan, and even at this proper
tion, much of It. was taken at 60 to %, which,,
reduced TO specie value would show that the
loan was not equal In fact to two dollars for
every dollar raised by taxes.
The war Of the Revolution does not assist
Mr.. Chsse's theory, although cited by him.
The loans Of France, Holland and Spain, and
the expense of the armies and aeets OF France
were subsidies granted us by foreign nations,
having no reference to the financial question Of
the capacity of q nation to stand taxation or TO
borrow money In reference to Its means OF pay
ment. When these are charged to their proper
account, or when any one year OF the revolution
is taken by itself, the fallacy Of Mr.. Chase's IL
lustraton will instantly appear. We may ask
II he anticipates the like discounts on his paper
that the continental money unedrwent, when
two or three thousand dollars were given for
pair of boots! We do not refer to the allitera'
tive and sportiye call of the President for four
hundred thousand men and four hundred mil
lions of dollars. No sane man can do otherwise
than laugh at the etravagance that demands
for the uses of the Government an amount 80
nearly equal TO the value Of the total exports OF
the United States for 1860, viz: ~ ,-
le60-Amount Of exports. $500, ,l22 296
ls6l-Loans and taxes asked BY Mr. Lincoln 4oOOoONOo
Leaving balance for the peOple....-.. $l39,2oe
We may be pardoned for adverting to the
fact, that of these exports Of 1850, there was:
Cotton. ......."....".."....... slgl ,soo, , ,sss
ls5s-Tobacco and Rlce'' ss@l,loo
. sQIs,Os7,74l
So that, reduced to the States now acknowl.
edping the Union Mr.. Lincoln's call Is for
double the value Of the whole exports in ls6O,
or an amount equal to two whole years. exports
of the North.
To return to the Secretary,-on no just prln-
ciples Of finance can he hope TO raise money by
loan In greater proportion than we have indi-
Gated. He proposes to collect $60,0OO,O0O by
taxation: this we take as basis of our compu-
tation. His power to borrow money must have
some relation to the currency Of the country.
The basis of his estimates Is evidently specie
basis; for he neither recommends q suspension
of paving debts in gold and silver by the Gov
ernment, nor suggests the influences OF de-
precisted currency on his loans and revenue.
He proposes one hundred millions Of stock to be
taken bp the people, and eighty millions to be
taken from the people by taxation. What pro-
portion will this bear to the currency of the
country3 The last annual report of the Treas
ury Department gives for 1860, In all the banks
of the Northern or non-slaveholding States,
Bank notes or circulation. ........Sl25.e 10000
Based upon specie "'''''''"''' T''V'o,sVV
STA, 100000
The Secretary proposes to raise from these peo-
Die $3.50, ,OOO, 600, or just SO 600, 600 more than
all the bank notes In circulation and all the
specie In the vaults of the banks. IS al
Having thus measured the whole specie basis
and currency of the country, and taken meas
urea 10 absorb the whole, the Secretary passes
on to his bonded debt of Sl0O 600, 600, which he
homes to induce capitalists at home and abroad
to take. We apprehend that when the capital
lists draw on their deposits in the banks TO take
this loan with, the circulation notes that the
people are expected to pay In, will fall with the
retiring specie, until one loan or the other must
end IN a total failure. The banks must sus-
pend to enable the capitalists to take the bond
loan, or the capitalists must avoid the bond loan
to enable the people TO take the exchequer bills
in sums Of $50 and upward, with the "interests
for specified periods engraved on the backs. !"
We will mot be unfair 60 the Secretary. lie
proposes that s3l6, ,5l9 ,56l shall, during the
coming year, bs diverted from the usual chan
nels OF business for the use Of the Government.
The currency based on specie 10 Sl25, 900. 600.
Can the banks sustain the present line Of dis
counts and lend anything7 or can nearly three
times the whole amount of the currency eff the
North be loaned to the Government by its hold.
ers2 .s ts
The tax on the bank bills suggested by Mr..
Chase, will unquestionably tend to drive them
out Of circulation, to give place to his excheq.
uer bills; but any depreciation Of currency below
specie, or any material increase of circulation,
viii practically lower the tariff and force the
specie at once out of the country, compelling
the banks TO the most stringent measures to
protect their capital from annihilation. If the
business aud imports OF the North are TO revive,
chen Mr.. Chase cannot have the capital Of the
merchants, their trade will require It. He may
raise taxes, but this source Of loans is cut of.
II trade is dull the merchants may loan him
their money, but the receipts from customs will
be cut Of. Mr.. Chase's difficulty Is that he has
no plan, no policy-heIdrifts without rudder.
His estimates are based on a specie currency;
his measures for loans are calculated to destroy
that basis and prevent the accomplishment Of
his designs. We shall take an carly occasion
to chow similar inoompatlbllities In the part Of
HE scheme that refers to faEation. TIP,
The seizure OF tho Steamer st. Mich.
- inOl0e. pti'A,sl ehS WI
A sassenger who was on board the steamer
ST. Nicholas when she was seized has furnished
the ST, Mary's (Md J Beacon with the following