New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-12-08
n.. FEssENDEN,s REPORT.

report of fiscal agent than Of Minister OF
Finance, but the probability is that Mr.
FesSenden conceives il to be his duty simply
to present facts and figures, rather than TO Sug-
gest remedies for existing evils or inconven-
fences, or to propose plans for the management
of the finances Of the country. The figures he
gives, however, are generally accepted MS e1-
ceedingly satisfactory. So much mlorepreSen'-
alton has been made, especially during the late
canvass, in regard TO the public debt that inc
public are relieved to learn that Il amounts not
TO three or four thousand millions, but to only
S1,7iO, $50, 40 40; that the interest on this for
the current years. S9l, s1O,2l5 IS; that the por-
ton payable in coin is $56,000,000; that the
daily expenditure is estimated at S2,25o,OV
day: that the revenue from taxation and other
sources is estimated az S4l9, 5l2,3o9, OF which
so, RI ,O9l comes from the customs, S2i9,562,
so from internal revenue, and S?i,O20,I7
from miscellaneous sources" The Secretary
estimates that it will be necessary TO borrow
during the year 5000, 727,5o3. Fifty millions
of this, he thinks, may be raised by additional
taxation. Deducting this, and the Ss',-
353, $40 of the public debt TO be retired during
the year, and the increase Of the national debt
will amount in July next to only SiS2, 3'4 lSS.
OF his recommendation for increased taxation
we have already spoken in commenting or the
Presidents Message. He especially urges
tax on leaf tobacco. and on sales, and that the
income tax be collected without exemption, as
the law as it now stands opens the door to fraud.
He does not favor increased customs duties. A
high tariff has already had the effect Of decreasing
the revenue, but it has stimulated domestic
manufactures, which he thinks more than coun-
terbalances the decrease from the duties on
foreign goods. In this opinion we believe there
will be very general concurrence, and that we
had better look for revenue from the INCREASED
taxation, and prosperity in the Development OF
our own industry, than to receipts from customs
on foreign productions. He believes that sys-
tenn Of taxation can be inaugurated that will
give US an annual revenue of three hundred
millions.
On the question of the premium on gold,
about which the public is most anxious, md
most DESTROYS of information and Of a remedy,
the report, We are sorry to say, is less instruct
i've. The Secretary thinks that the exorbtant
price Of the precious metal is due very much to
speculation, and combinations for that purpose
he proposes TO punish by law. That we suffer
! from such speculation is unquestonably true,
but, as he Justly remarks, $50 long as there re-
mains a large and increasing necessity for IT,
! (gold's) use, and limited supply, it will COM
mand price commensurate with the necessity
and the difficulty of obtaining it," This neces-
sity arises from the demand for gold to pay
duties, the interest on the public debt, and foreign
exchange The duties and the gold-bearing in
terest "are so far identical that one is dependent
on the other" These disposed Of, there then re-
mains the question of foreign exchange, which
the Secretary does not propose to discuss"
it seems to us. with all due Difference, that be-
ing the only question left for discussion, it is
precisely the point on which the public would
have been glad to be enlightened by Minister
Of Finance, and in which he might have
found that extraordinary demand for gold
on which speculation feeds. The Sec
Rotary of the Treasury, the head OF
that Bureau in possession Of all the facts touch
! ing our foreign commerce, could give US
information upon that trade which, though
vastly inferior, relatively, to our domestic com.
mcrce, is of especial interest at this moment.
All that We buy Of foreign nations must be paid
for in produce merchandise, or coin. Our
grecnbscks do not circulate abroad, and
features, Or Injuries from the Continent,
We must pay for them in gold or its
equivalent. The sellers demand of us infexi-
bly, the surplus of our SOIL or the price they
bring in gold at our Town doors. If they
carry these goods for US both ways. as unfortu-
nately is now the case, the carrying trade hav-
ing pretty much passed out Of our own hands,
the transportation, both ways, must also be
paid in geld. The country would be glad to
know what influence this state Of things ex-
ercises on our condition, and if it be true, az
many thinking men believe, that it is
running rs constantly in debt to foreign
countries, keeping the balance of trs!e con.
stantly against US. creating demand for gold,
with its consequent speculation, that importing
merchants may provide, through the bills Of
exchange, for their obligations abroad, then we
want to know the remedy. If We are hasten
ing to an inevitable crisis in our financial affairs,
which can only be warded off by universal
economy in or abstinence from the use Of for
eign products, and by the stimulant which
would necessarily follow to domestic industry,