Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1864-08-12
70 THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED
STATES.

A~tc4A- u
terest at a rate not exceeding seven and three
tenths per centum, redeemable after three years
from date, and to exchange the same for lawful
money The Secretary is further authorized to
convert the same into honds bearing interest at a
rate not exceeding six per centum, payable in
coin In pursuance Of the authority thus confer
red, / now offer to the people Of the United
States Treasury notes as described in my adver-
tisement dated July 25, 1854.
The circumstances under which this loan is ask
led, and your aid invoked though differing widely
from the existing state of affairs three years ago,
are such as afford equal encouragement and secur-
ity Time, while proving that the strhggle for
national unity was to exceed in duration and Sc
verify our worst anticipations, has tested the ma
tional strength, and developed the national re-
sources, to an extent alike unexpected and re-
markable, exciting equal astonishment at home
and abroad. Three years of war have burdened
you with a debt which, but three years since,
would have seemed beyond your ability to meet.
Yet the accumulated wealth and productive ener-
gies Of the nation have proged to be so vast that
it has been borne with comparative ease, and
peaceful future would hardly feel its weight. As
price paid for national existence, and the pres
ervation of free Institutions it does not deserve
| moments consideration
Thus far the war has been supported and CARR
ed on as it only could have been, by people re-
solved. at whatever cost Of blood ard treasure, to
transmit, unimpaired, to posterity, the system of
free government bequeathed to them by the great
men who framed it. This deliberate and patriotic
resolve has developed power surprising even to
themselves 1t has shown that in less than cen
tury nation has arisen, unsurpassed in vigbr,
ndexhustless inresources, abletoconduet, through
a series of years, war on It's most gigantic scale,
and finding itself, when near its close, almost I'M
! impaired in all the material elements Of power
1t has, at the present moment, great armies in the
field, facing an enemy apparently approaching
period of utter exhaustion, but still struggling
with force the greater and more desperate as it
sees the near approach of final and fatai con-
summation. Such, in my deliberate judgment IS
The present condition of the greatc6ntest for eiy
liberty in which you are now engeged.
| Up to the present moment you have readily
and cheerfuIy afforded the means necessary 20
support your government in this protracted strtg-
1 gle It is yosr war. You proclaimed it, and you
have sustained it against traitors everywhere with
/ a patriotic devotion unsurpassed in the world S
history.
The securities offered are such as should com
been made to shake public faith in our natioffal
/ credit. both at home and abroad. As yet we have
asked no foreign aid Calm and s6T reliant, our
own means have thus far proved adequate to our
wants They are yet ample to meet those OF the
present and the future 1t still for p&tri-
otic people to furnish the needful supply. The
brave men who are fighting our battles by land
and sea must be fed and clothed. munitions ci war
of all kinds must be furnished or the war must end
IN defeat and disgrace This is not the time for
any lover of bis country to inquire as to the state
of the money market, or ask whether he can SO
invest his surplus capital as to yield him larger
return. No return. and no profit, can be desira-
Bile if followed BY national dissolution, national
disgrace. Present profit, falus acquired is but
the precursor Of future and speedy destruction =
No investment can be so suTely profitable as that
which tends to insure the national existence.
/ am encouraged in the BELIEF chat by the re-
cent legislation of Congress our finances may soon
be placed upon sounder and more stable footing
The present deranged condition 6f the currency
I Is lInDuLdDit. Ia SISdb dCSACS1 ~
arising from the withdrawal Of necessary checks,
often inevitable in time of war, when expendi-
lures must largely exceed any possible supply of
coin. The opportunities thus presented to ac-
ouire sudden wealth have led to vicious speeula-
ton, consequent increase of prices and violent
huctuation. The remedy is to be found only in
controlling the necessity which begets the evil
Hitherto we have felt the need of more extensive
and vigorous taxation. Severe comment has been
made upon what seemed to many an undue
timidity and tardiness of action, on the part Of
Congress, in this regard | deem it but just to
say that very great misapprehension has existed,
and perhaps still exists, upon this point. Legis-
lators, like all others, have much to learn in a
new condition of affairs An entirely new system
was to be devised, and that system must necessa-
riiy be the growth Of time and experience. 1t is
not strange that first efforts should have proved
imperfect and inadequate To lay heavy burdens
on great and patriotic people in such manner
as to be equal and as to occasion the least amount
of suffering or annoyance, requires time and eau
ton, and vast labor; and, with all these, experi-
enee is needful to test the value of the system
and correct Its errors. Such has been the work
which Congress was called upon to perform.
am happy to say that daily results are proving
the Internal Revenue act to exceed in efficiency
the most sanguine expectations of its authors. In
: the month of June, 1863, it yielded about foul
and one half millions Of dollars, while the CORE
: spending month of this year returned about ff
: teen millions, under the same law. Under the
{ new law, which went into operation on the frs
! ! day of the present month, the Treasury not un
' frequently receives one million in day. As TIM
: and experience enable the officers employed il
Z collecting the revenue to enforce the stringen
{ provisions of the new lazy, trust that q million
per day viii be found the tule and not the excep
/ ton. Still, much space is undoubtedly left fo
improvement in the law, and its administrator
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