The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1862-04-11
The War Debt of the United States

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The public debt Of the United States at
the end of the fiscal year June 1862
will be about S750,000,000. So said Mr..
Fessenden, chairman of the Senate FL
nance committee in his able speech on the
treasury note bill. The average interest
on fhis debt is trihe more than six per
oept but say S45 900 900 per annpm. 1t
is estimated BY the same eminent Sena-
tor, that the budget for all expenses,
aside from the increase of army and navy,
and interest on the public debt, will be
about SS0,00O000 per annum. A way is
thus provided for the disbursement of
Sll5,O0O,O 0W annually, without counting
for the enlargement of our military and
naval establishments, which, for year or
two at least, cannot be less than S50,000,-
600 per annum greater than they were be-
| fore the breaking out of the rebellion.
In point of fact, the House has just
sent to the Senate naval appropriation
bill of S60000,000. 1t is safe to say that
the demands on the treasury TO be met
by taxation, direct and indirect. will not
be less than Sl6j, 900 600 per annum. If
we take into account the losses to be en-
tailed by the issue of the government
shinplasters, in the expulsion Of gold.
and the increased cost of everything the
government has to buy this sum will be
much larger. The tyros who thought to
obtain Sl50,00O,000 without interest, by
the issue Of treasury notes, have already
found five per cent shaved on their issue
before they are out of the paper mill and
the engraver's shop. And it may be pre-
dicted with as much confidence as the
next eclipse, that no victories by landor
sea can stay the rush of our specie to Eu
rope, or long prevent the steady deprecia-
ton of the notes, if the mad scheme is
persisted in.
The most formidable problem for our
political rulers to deal with is, how to
raise Sl65, 600, 900 per annum. Borrowing
and "kiting' have their limit. The limit
to borrowing is always reached sooner by
a resort to kiting than in any other way.
When it is proposed to raise Sl6j, 100000
by taxation in one form and another, we
know just where we stand. One hundred
and sixty-tive millions of dollars are u
concrete substance, provided they be not
paper dollars which may be handled by
the four rules of arithmetic, distributed
by the census tables. and apportioned to
States, counties and individuals. The sum
to be raised and paid into the Federal
| treasury by New York every year-wiA be
S2I, 344042 05; by PENNSYLVANIA, Sl5, 1885,
035; by Ohio, Sl2,S69,94; by Indiana,
81 ,430, 1850; by Illinois, S9,4l4, 64l.50,
and other States in the same cheerful ra-
ito.
Our committee of ways and means may
conceal these items ever so deity; the
money may come through channels the
most invisible and inscrutable.-tbe sums
are so enormous, as compared with any
former experience of the American peo-
pie, that the taxation will not only be
felt, but it will grind us all pretty fine be-
fore we finish paying the first assessment.
When we add to these aggregates all the
State and municipal taxes required ar
nually, when we reflect that the Federal
tax is from four TO six times greater for
each State, than their usual assessments
heretofore, we can Judge whether it can
be raised by any other process than prac-
teal confiscation.
Perhaps New England, New York,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey may go
through such tax bill with the breath
of life remaining IN tnem, but there is
not another State, loyal or dsloyal, that
can 20 half way through. know that
WIFI ~ Itu'lhl lNIih taN - Jaw W tilp
State and county taxes in Wisconsin, To-
wa, Minnesota, Kansas, and Missouri, the
tax gather will, in a vast number of cases,
have to take the land itself; and ! be-
lieve that a similar result will follow in
many parts of Ohio, Indiana. and Michi-
gan And yet the land tax is small
part of the proposed revenue bill.
Gen. Joseph Johnston.
The following article from the Rich
mond Dispatch, does justice to this dis
| tinguished officer:
GEN. loHNsTON.-The mastery move
ment of Gen. Johnston in falling back
from the Manassas line has disconnected
the enemy as profoundly as his move
ment last summer from llarper's Ferry
to Winchester, which everybody de-
nounced at the time, and which with
characteristic composure, the veteran
warrior left them to denounce till eX-
planned by results at Manassas which
sienced every tongue and converted the
croakings OF the faultfnders into shouts
of applause. The New York Evening
Post considers that the late retreat is the
most mastery military movement OF the
war. But profound is the dsappoint-
ment which it has brought upon the en-
envy. Mcclellan has been outwitted just
as Scott was before him. He had pre-
pared grand plan for taking the posi-
ton of Johnston at Manassas in the rear,
but an eagle eye was watching and antic-
mating his movements, and when his adj
vance guard was actually crossing gap
in the Blue Ridge at Snickersvi,le, for
the purpose of executing the projected
movement, Johnston, vino had been pre-
pairing for it for weeks, had successfully
! removed the whole of his immense ar
mnment and stores, and was bringing his
last man out of the trap which McClel-
Ian had laid for his destruction.
The Army OF the Potomac is, by this
mastery movement, IN more secure
and stronger position than ever before,
and has now reason for confidence in
this great General, who, as strategst,
has successfully bailied the best plans of
Scott and Mcclellan, and as soldieri is
one of the best and bravest of modern
times. We know that he cares as little
for popular applause as for popular CEN
sure, and is one of those rare men who
perform their duty with all the powers
God has given them, and are supremely
Indifferent to the roc popai, whether it
chant halleluiahs or deal in curses. For
this we honor and contide in him all the
more He has given repeated proof since
the war commenced OF signal military
abilities, and he has never said nor done
one foolish thing to mar his great repa-
tation.
gsy- The papers are calling upon the
people TO bring snrward their Brass to be
moulded into Cannon. Lawyers and