Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-07-25
Public Debt, Liability, and Expenditures
SPEECH
hon. c. l. VALLANDIGHiM
OF OHIO,
I'm the House of Representatives,
JUNE 3Oth, 1862.
lConculed

And these constitute the very priesthood of
that accursed Trinity OF WAR, TAXATION,
and EMANCIPATION, before whose cruel
shrine the gentleman from Maine Mr.. Pike
bows down in idolatrous worship; a Trinity
compared with which Juggernaut is mefcitul
and the Glnges humane; Trinity upon whose
bloody and consuming altar the fdirest country
and the noblest structure of government the
world ever saw is offered up day by day as a
slcrifce.*
i proceed now, sir, TO the question of the
actual indebtedness and Liabilities to-day. On
the 4st OF March, 1861, the public debt was
S72,2S9,27S 68. On the 2oth of January,
1862, that debt, according to the statement of
the Treasury Department, as produced here
BY the gentlemen from New York. Mr.. Spaul-
ding, amounted to the sum OF $500. 164, ,613 "a.
On the 29th OF May, 1862, according TO the
letter of the Secretary of Treasury, the debt
was Si9l ,445.9S4 IL. Deducting the S90-
s67,S2S 6S of debt TO July l, 1861, there re-
mains the sum of S4O0,57S,l55 43 as the
amount OF debt incurred during the present
fiscal year ending to-day (June 30ih). Thus,
the increase from January %, 1862, TO May
20, lS62-a period of three months-is shown,
not by onjecture, but bv the record, TO have
been SlSi,6Sl,3s0 az, being at the rate OF
Sol ,56O,45 month, and S2,052,000 day,
or very nearly the exact sum estimated in
January and February, in debate here and in
the Senate, as the average daily expenditure.
And now, sir, as TO the satement or letter
of the Secretary OF the Treasury, sub nitted
on the 4th OF June, as sort OF colicil TO the
speech OF the gentleman from Massachusetts,,
| have word TO say. On the Sth of January
| offered resolution calling on the Secretrry
OF the Treasury for a statement of the floating
debt II was adopted; and after three weeks
incubation, he hatched out the following an
swer:
''I transmitted without deiay copies of this
resolution TO the heads of other Execu i've De-
patmcnts, and required them to furnish me such
staementsas would enable me TO furnish the in
formation desired. As soon as the necessary in
! formation shall Be received, the result will be
Transmitted 10 the House"
Well sir, inasmuch "a the result has never
been transmitted 10 this House. l have a right
to assume that the necessary information has
never been Obtained In that assumption
am fully sustained by the declaration OF the
Secretary of the Treasury, on the 3lst of Nav
two days after tins statement was made out
to the chairman of the Finance Committee
in the Senate. l read from the official report
OF the debates in that body:
"Mr. Fe>sendcn-The Secretary of the Treas
ury speaks simply of what appears on the books
of his Office. know il from his own mou-h, for
askci this question, How much is our ind, bt-
edncss Z He gave me the amount. Said l.
How much is the uniqudated floating debt q
IL replied. Hoe sLo IL 1 kHorS hare no means
Of tel ing.'"
Such. sir, was the declaration of the Secre-
: tary of the Treasury, in reference 10 the
floating debt as late as the last of May; and il
Is TO be construed as part OF his letter to thi.
House.
But this statement is not the public debt te
|, July /, 1862. Thirty-two DAYS expenditure
Q must be added to it. which, at the rate of Army
: and Navy expenditures above, would make
2 500, 79l 900. or assuming the entire daily ex
penditnre az S2.000.000 in round numbers
e then s64 100000, or an aggregate Of S555.
4i59S4 IL.
Again. this s,a'ement purports TO be what i
n Is not" the public deb" to May 20, 1862
II is only the funded and liquidated debt, tha
for which the Government has executed IL
paper in due form of law II is that which
IN the language of the Senator from Maine
!. appears on the books of the Treasury, and M
more.
Again. it does not include what was in pro
. cess OF liquidation, which the Secretary o
the Treasury estimated, as stated in the Sen