Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-07-25

Secretary OF the treasury declared he did not
know, and had no means of telling. Have we
no means OF conjecture? Let US see.
Ga the 2sth day of January last, the gen.
tleman from New York Mr.. Spauldingl said:
There are now over one hundred million dol
lars Of accrued Indebtedness, in different forms,
that should be paid at an early day. Coagres-
sionai Globe, p. 523.
On the 9th of February the chairman of
the Committee of Ways and Means said:
There is now floating debt, audited and un-
audi.ed. of at least one hundred and eighty mil
lion dollars"
And the gentleman from New York, Mr.
Roscoe Conklng.1 on the same day. estimated
it az s2o0,o00,O0o. l need here but barely
to allude to the declaration OF the Senator
from Iowa, Mr.. Grimes on the 3lst of May
"That there was none of us who knew any,
thing about it, and that man could sompu e it.
Sir, this floating or unliqudated debt is
made up of all the liabilities or obligations OF
every kind against the Government, for which
it has not executed its public Government
paper I'm some form other. Ii is In the
ture o. book account, but very much broader.
And just here let me say that with quite as
much fairness and honesty might some mer-
chant doing an immense and widely extended
business undertake, when charged with i'm
lending bankruptcy, to prove his solyency and
show the amount OF his Indebtedness by pro-
ducing memorandum OF promsSory notes Is
sued or bonds executed by him, as the Secre-
tary of the Treasury to palm off upon the
country table or statement OF the funded
debt as full or fair exhibit of the indebted
ness and Liabilities of the Government.
The floating debt includes the unsettled ac-
counts for the pay ami subsistence of the Army
and Navy, for arms ordnance, ammunition,
military stores, medical stores, transportation,
and whatever else enters in o the province of
the Paymaster General or the Quirtermaster
General So, too, il includes, all the unsettled
accounts of the Navy Department. Depart
ment having the care OF Nivy OF some fif-
teen hundred vessels, or more, from the largest
aud noblest steam frigate down to the humblest
transport; one half, or more, of them hired at
from fify dollars to seven hundred and fifty
dollars day; and covering a sea and river
coast OF nearly four thousand miles in extent.
Sir, the Secretary does not pretend 10 in
clude any part of these liabilities in his state
ment and yet, in two months, for the Army
and Navy alone, they would amount to Sl13,-
10000. But if only the pay and subsistence
accounts were in the rear, the amount would
be S34, 1892. Bat the two months not in
cluded, were the months of March and ADril,
In which large part of the army of the Ms
sissippi valley was transported southwark in.o
Kentucky and Tennessee, and the entire army
of the Potomac was carried by an immense
fleet OF transports-and these are still in the
service-from opposite Washington to the pc
ninsula between the York and James rivers
Now, it does seem TO me that fix a most
moderate estimate should be glad, as tax
payer and citizen OF the United States, to
find that have over-estmated it-when / as
sumo the floating debt to be Sl40.000,000, oil
half way between the estimate in January o
the gentleman from New York Mr.. Spauld
ing and that of the chairman OF the Commit
tee of Ways and Means
Again, the statement of the Secretary o.
the Treasury does not include the balance due
to the 5 ates for advances. We have alread
appropriated S25 900 900 for that purpo e, anC
accounts TO the extent of Sl5,000,000 have
| been presented at the Treasury Depar ment
and it is there estimated that the sum tota
will reach from twenty to twenty-five millor
dollars Estimating it at S22,000,000, ant
deducting the S7,5Oo,000 already paid, there
remain Sl4,500,0O0 yet to be paid.
Again, it does not include bounties alread,
/ due, and for the payment of which a bill ap
propriating S5,O2S,000 has passed this House
and is now in the Senate; nor does it include
pensions already due, not less than "a 900 ,00'
In amount.
Again, it does not include the unpaid inter
terest on the public debt up to July /, 1862
the amount of which am only able 10 con
lecture from the estimates OF the Secretary c
the Treasury, and the appropriations. As
suming these as tests, place tat sl4,OO0,00
Again, it does not include the liability in
Cured by the passage of the Pacific rairoa
BILL estimated by the gentleman from Penn
sylvania Mr.. Campbell] at S64 800 900. No
does it include the Liability assumed by til
enlistment act of July, 1861, for bountie
$50, ,000 These, indeed, are not yet pay
:. able; but the liability is absolute, and mu:
continually increase with new enlistments.
Sir, may say nothing here of the cost a
sumed by the pledge given by Congress an
the Executive, to pay for the slaves of 10y;
: items in the border slave States, equal,
: the rate fixed for the District OF Colunlb a, a
, average of $500 for each slave, TO 81 200, 900
900. / pass it wholly BY in the reckonin,
because, in my deliberate judgment, the Stat,
and the people, North and Sonth-for I'll
, West | speak confidently-will indignant
i ltputidtt duu DoeH anu 1
authors.
Again, this statement does not include CLAIM
for damages-actual, not speculative; for pro-
erty OF loyal citizens taken and DESTROYED
Federal authority. OF course it would be bl
the merest conjecture to estimate the amoun
but assuming the lowest conceivable limit,
: put it down at S50,0O0,0 900.
) Again, it does not include the expenses
: collecting the internal tax. By the act
I August, 1861, the States that should assun
the collection of the direct tax were allowe
Z fifteen per cent. Ii would be fair in my jud
ment. TO set down the cost of collection. und
the bill we have just passed, at twenty %
cent; but that may allow no possible roo
r for eavil. estimate it at only ten per cent
: which. assuming the amount of tax collects
|. under both tax bills to be Sll3.925,00 n
? estimate of the gentleman from Vermont NJ
IS Morrill,, would give the sum Of Sll 1892 90
And now, sir, so far further as this stat
ment is to be regarded. and for that purpo
J. it was put forth as test OF expenditure
!. these items also must be added:
/. Receipts from customs. lands, and 9th
o ordinary sources, estimated BY the Secreta
Q of the Treasury in December at S36.s0:
Y Isl "a, but which he has shown in his lett
:. Of fha r1th of lime IN this HouSe IN ba