Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1864-08-13
To the Pcop,e or.he Uni,cd states.

| ing seven and three-tenths per centum, re-.
dcCmable after three years from date, and to
exchange the same for lawful money. The
Secretary is further authorized to convert
the same into bonds, bearing interest at
rate not exceeding six per centum, payable
in coin. In pursuance of the authority thus
conferred, now offer to the people of the
United States Treasury notes rs described
in my advertisement dated July 25, 1864.
The circumstances under which this loan
is asked for, and your aid invoked, though
differing widely from the existing state of
affairs three years ago, are such as to afford
equal encouragement and security. Time,
while proving that the struggle for national
unity was to exceed in duration and severi-
ty our worst anticipations, has tested the
national strength, as remarkable, exciting
equal aStouishment ut home and abroad
Three years ofwar have burdened you with
debt which, but three years since, would
have seemed beyond your ability to meet.
Yet the accumulated wealth and productive
energies of the nation have proved to DC 50
vast that it has been borne with compara-
tive ease, anda peaceful future would hard
/ " feel its weight. As o price paid for ma
uOual existence, and the preservation of free
institutions, it does not deserve moments
consideration.
Thus far the war has been supported and
| carried on, as it only could have been, by
| people resolved, at whatever cost of blood
and treasure, to transmit, uuimpaired, to
| poSterity, the system of free government be-
| QuCathed 10 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 century a nation has arisen, un-
/ N Y in ra-
! sources, able to conduct, through series OF
/ years, war on its most gigantic scale, and
! finding itself, when near its close, almost
unimpaircd in all the material elements of
/ power 1t has, at the present moment, great
armies in :ho field, facing an enemy appa-
/ rently approaching a period ofutter exhaus-
/ tion, but still struggling with force the
! greater and more desperate as it secs, and
because it sees, the near approach of final
! and fatal Consummation. Such, in my de-
| hborate Judgment, is the present condition
/ of the great contest for civil liberty in which
, YOU are engaged.
| Up to the present moment you have read
| lily and chcerfully afforded the means ncces-
Sary TO support your government in this pro-
tracted struggle. 1t is your war. You pro-
claimed it, and you have sustained it against
traitors everywhere, with a patriotic devo-
tion unsurpassed in the worlds history.
The securities offered are such as should
command your ready confidence. Much
effort has been made to shake public faith
in our national credit, both at home and
abroad, As yet we have asked no foreign
aid. Calm and seltreliant, our own means
have thus far proved adequate to our wants.
They are yet ample to meet those of the pre-
sent and the future. 1t still remains for a
patriotic people to furnish the neeGful sup
ply. The brave men who are lighting our
battles by land and sea must be fed and
clothed, munitions of 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 his country TO inquire as to the state
Of the money market, or ask whether he can
: 81 invest his surplus capital as to the yield
him larger return. No return, and no pro-
fit, can bo desirable, if followed by national
dissolution, or national disgrace. Presen,
profit, thus acquired, is but the precursor Of
future and speedy destruction. No invest
mcnt can be so surely profitable as that
? which tends to insure the national existence
, am encouraged in the belief that by the
recent legislation of Congress our finance.
may soon bc placed upon sounder ant
more stable footing, The present derangel
, condition Of the currency is imputable, il
q
the withdrawal of necessary checks, offer
> inevitable in time of war, when expcndi
lures must largely exceed any possible sup
ply OF coin. The opportunities thus present
cd to acquire sudden wealth have led tC
Q vicious speculation, q consequent increase
in prices, and violent iluCtuation. The re
, medy is to bc found only in controlling the
necessity which begcts the evil. Hitherto
We have felt the need of more extensive anC
5 vigorous taxation. Severe comment haj
, been made upon what seemed to many al
. undue timidty and tar0iness of action, OF
the part of Congress, in this regard. l deem
II but just To say that very great misappre
henSion has existed, and perhaps still exists
upon this point. Legislators, like all others
have much to learn in new condition o
affairs. An entirely new system was to b,
Z, devised, and that system must necessaril,
he the growth OF time and experience II
5 is not strange that first efforts should have
\ proved imperfect and inadequate. To lay
heavy burdens on great and patriotic peo
pie IN such manner US to be equal, and as
to occasion the least amount of suffering OF
annoyance, requires time and caution, and
| vast labor; and with all these, experience
| is neediul TO test the value of the system
and correct its errors. Such has been the
: perform. l am happy TO say that daily re
I suits are proving the Internal Revenue Act
10 exceed in efficiency the most sanguinC
. expectations of its authors. In the month
of June, 1868, il yie,d about four aud one
half millions of dollars, while the cores
pondiug month Of this year returned about
fifteen millions, undcrthe same law. Under
the new law, which went into operation on
, the first day Of the present month, the Trea
sury not uutTequently receives one million
in u day, As time and experience enable
2 the officers employed in collecting the re
, venue TO enforce the stringent provisions o
the new law, trust that million per da,
will be found the rule and not the eXcep
tion. Still, much space is undoubtedly len
) for improvement in the law, aud in its al
, miulstTation, as greater amount OF neecs
s1yy information IS acquired. The proper
sources OF revenue, and the most electiy,
modes OF obtaining Il, are best developed
{ in the execution OF existing laws Aud
/ have caused measures 10 be Initiated whicl
will, il is believed, enable Congress So I,
improve and enlarge the system as, wher
taken in connection with the revenue iron
customs, and other sources, 10 afford al
/ ample aud secure basis for the national ere