Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1864-11-29
Treasurer,s ReRort

asubect of interest to the people, but it is especial
| ly so now, when we find ourselves not only becom.
ing poorer every day, but more heavily burdened
than ever heretofore by taxes botI State. and ma
tional
1t Will be seen that the deficit in the Treasury is
now fraction over three millions i've hundred thou
sand dollars; that the increase OF the State debt for
the last fiscal year is five millions two hundred and
sixteen thousand nine hundred and five dollars and
thirty cents; that the amount of the State debt.
leaving out OF view the stocks of certain corpora
tions belonging to the State, is twenty seven mil
lions five hundred and seventy seven thousand nine
! hundred and forty dollars and twenty cents and
that the estimated expenditures on the present
scale, for the next f seal year, amount TO eleven
millions nine hundred and sixty-two thousand eight
hundred and seyenty-two dollars and forty-eight
cents.
The State must therefore, if the operations of the
Treasury are to be continued the present scale,
raise for the ensuing fiscal year within fraction Of
the enormous sum of tUalCe millions, to meet the
existing deficit and provide for the charges On the
! Treasury How is this to be done? By taxation
Can our people bear it 1t is estimated that they
have paid or will pay, this year, forty mil
we cannot hope that less amount will be called
for next year. If we add to this State tax of
| twelve millions, and some five millions for County
taxes, we shall have the sum of from fifty to sixty
millions to be raised for 1856 81 Well may our
thoughtful and sagacious Treasurer express the ap
prehension that the value of I'LL our State securities
will be affected, and warn the Assembly, as he does,
against further increase of the State debt.
But the Governor of the State, if we may judge
from his recent message, does not seem to be much
impressed with the fear Of heavy State debt,
though he expresses the opinion = that the taxes
will have to be considerably increased for the next
fiscal year." He goes out of his way to assail the
Treasurer but he does not show that the estimates
of that officer not correct nor does he suggest
any plan, but that of direct taxation, by which pro
vision can be made for the enormous expenditures
which he insists shall be continued We venture
to say that this the first instance in the history of
the State, in which the head of the Treasury elect.
ed by joint vote of the two Houses of the Genera
| Assembly, has been aSSaled in an Executive mes
sage, his views and positions as Treasurer mSrepre
sented and perverted, and an attempt ma1e to cast
rldicule upon his suggestions which evince a
mendable desire to rerench expenses and thus light:
en- the burdens of the people. The message assumes
that there persons in the State opposed to the
running of the blockade, unless a means of ma
king money; and then holds up to the ridicule and
contempt of the public those who oppose the only
means of uttng shoes the feet OF the bareooted
soldier, unless the State make monev by it.
Now no one has ever opposed the running of the
blockade in order to supply our troops. No one
operation, though many have doubted whether this
operation was judiciOusIy conducted Every body
wants soldiers to have shoes, whether they
procured at sacrifice or not but all sensible men
want them procured at as little cost as possible
! Many believe that the blockade business has been
| reckleSSly conducted. For instance, when it came
| to the knowledge OF the public that the State
paying in England one dollar and seventy five cents
in gold for pair of shoes, and after ncurrn the
| expense and hazard of importation, selling them
for ten dollars In Confederate money to the Conted
! rate government when it took twenty dollars in
this currency to buy one in gold and when at the
! same time it was known that the Confederate gov
ernment was paying to private importers more than
four times the price for the same article which was
paid to this State, there persons who complain
| ed that the State Treasury was depleted, and our
| people unustly burthened by such blockade opera
tiOns. Our troops are in the service of the Confed
| eracy, which is bound to paw tie expenses Of the
war; to which this State contributes her full pro-
| portion in the way Of taxes. When she undertook
the business of clothing her troops under some
Executive contract not authorized by law, and never
yet by the public, many complained of the in
Justice dore the State, bu: no complained that
| she was not making money by the operation. No
one wanted to make money by it, and no would
have complained if necessary loss had resulted from
| it. The managers Of the business say it has been
source of profit. Where is the proof of this? The
| Governor, in of his messages about year ago,
recommended that two millions Of dollars be apprO
priated to support soldiers families and paid out
of the profits of blockade running Where are those
| two millions? The Public Treasurer does not
count for it. 1t is not pretended that it has gone
! into the Treasury. We have heard it alleged that
the managers have availed themselves of their posi-
tionS to make expectations and mportatOnS for their
own personal benefit; they may have prO6ted by
| the business but there is evidence in the Treas
ury or in the Treasurers Report that the State has
| made any money by,lt
The truth is the Governor assails positions never
assumed by any one, and comes to logical cOnclu-
| sion
. The State debt is large, and constantly increas-
ing. The General Assembly looked to the Treas
urer for the of this increase, as well as tOr
the best means of meeting and diminishing the
debt Certainly it was his duty, as it was his right,
to refer incidentally to the main cause to wit the
States large military establishment He refers al
| so to the expense which the State is mourning in
arreStlng ueSerters, anu says tnls expense shouIu
be met by the Confederate authorities. 1t seems
to US that these suggestions not only proper in
themselves but that the views of the Treasurer on
! these subjects are sound and sensible. There is
no just foundation for the nsinuation made by the
| Governor that the Treasurer has travelled out of
his sphere Nor is there, in his Report, the least
color for the further nsinuation that the Treasur
er's plan would allow desefters to go at large and
maltreat and plunder the people. He has simply
suggested that the States military establishment is
much larger and much more expensive than it
! Should he and that If the State should continue