The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-05

RETRENCHMENT-DU OFCONGREsS.
Prom ne Tfnss
One Of the most important questions which will
come before the ncNt Congress and the new
Administration, VIII be the question of National
Retrcnchment For the first three years of the
war, the nation has conducted the struggle on the
principle Of immense outlays Of money and men.
to accomplish great results speedily. By the
peuring forth Of life aud means in profuslon
unknown in history we have acquired q domain
from the rebellion whose importance to US could
never be estimated In money, and we have gone
far toward crushing an outbreak which, under a
different system ef attacks, mght have lasted a
generation.
But we have now reached new turn in the
struggle. The COnfedericy, as Lieutenant Conc
raj Grant says, lis only she'll and though we
nave not yetthorOnghIy cracked il, General ShCr-
nan is rapidly proceeding with the effort Im-
mtnse lcyiCs Of new troops are no LONGER 90
necessary 70 US. What VIC need now more are
compact. highly-di,cip mcl armies Of reasonable
dimensions. Shcrman's Georgia army, at this
moment, does no probably number over fifty
thousand OF all arms, and may he less And vet
hundred Thousand new lCyiCs could do nothing
against It, and, in all probability, IL viii We. have
the honOr OF giving the CDup dc grHrC to the Re
benon. There will be. 10 the future discharged
veterans enough "a the cOuatry TO form new
armies, which, though small, will be most formi-
Generals have had more men than they could
fairly manage.
But however this may be, It is certain that the
time has arrived for a strict national rctrench-
ment. We are spending at a fric0f1l rate. Our
taxes are stretched almost to the entity. Tue
gold. bearing loans will soon conj8 an end, from
the limit fixed by the gold returned in duties
New loans will be placed and readily taken, bat
they cannCt meet probably UnC-half of our daily
expenditure. Production itSeif-the measure Of
our wealtb-is already feeling the eiFsct of tho
loss Of labor, and has dim ni'hed in the most
important cereals about seven per cont. during
the last year instead of increasing, Rs
we had hoped 1t would do. II Is true that
the most remarkable and fortunate develop
ment of our mineral resources ducng the
last three years, in the produce of the mines of
Colorado and Nevada, and the sudden discovery
OF petro cum in immense quantities, give us much
hope for the future. Still we are spending on
gigantic scale. There is limit even to the
power of thi" nation in bearing public debt.
II should always be borne in mind that national
bankruptcy is among the things possible. o the
crushing of the Rebellion there can be no doubt
but II may be gained through the destruction of
the public credit. Bankruptcy in the free States
would be a calamity, Of which in all the material
evils OF this war we have never yet experienced
even the resem blBncC.
We do not dwell on this ASPECT for the sake of
alarming the public mind, but TO impress on
those who will influence the approaching Con-
gress the vast Importance Of reducing expenses.
We are convinced that the main departments of
Ehe Government have been managed with honesty
as all admit they have been with great energy
but in vast Administration such as is ours
IN this war, with million men in the field
with immense nayies, and the whole surplus
or the richest country en- the globe piled up
to the command OF the Government, with en-
ployees without number, with purchases for
millions continually being made and contracts
on scale not witnessed since Napoleon's wars
we may reasonably suppose that there must be
here and there waste and leakage, and dishonest
servants, and causless expenditure, and extra
Vagance, and useless outlay. Not the purest and
most vrtuous Administration in the world could
6nsiTely prevent all this. IT is to this that Con-
gressiona investigation should DC turned, and
here the remedies for our financial evils must be
applied more than to the legislation on gold and
the regulation Of the currency.
The problem is simple. We are spending
perhaps four times our income. We have but
two paths out of the dificulty-to borrow from
the future or to reduce our expenses. The latter
we believe, can now be done with safety. We
must have compacter armies reduce our navy;
cut off that large number of private vessels under
commission which are forever entaing expenses
and doing nothing; draw in useless garrisons;
cut Oft the thousands OF now superiuous officers,
and those drawing pay but performing no service
The various Government charities to white refs.
gees and black freed people should all be rgidly
stricken off.
We believe a thorough ard patient nvestiga-
tion and effort would stop up innumerable leaks
over the whole country. The time has come for
the most thorough revision of our war expenses
That the Government is cheated great deal by
contracts we doubt, for, according to our obser-
walton, the contractors Jobs with the Government
have not been, generally, very profitable enter
prises TO their undertakers. But what we fear IS
that the Government expenditure Is on too large
a scale for our means, and must, in some way or
other, be reduced, the whole nation will plunge
into the abyss of bankruptcy. We invoke the
early consideration of this vital subject by our
legislators and public men.