The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1865-12-15

Z L ilt TcNHDuG SNSlEIfl vi liltGOuUlIy Is
a subject Eof vital interest to its honor
and prosperity, and should command
the earnest consideration of Congress.
The Secretary of the Treasury will lay
before you full and detailed report of
the receipts and disbursements of the
last fiscal year, of the first quarter Of
the present fiscal year, Of the probable
receipts and expenditures for the other
three quarters, and the estimates for
the year following the 30th of June,
1865. / might content myself with a
reference to that report, in which you
will find all the information required
for your deliberations and decision.
But the paramount importance of the
subject so presses itself on my own
mind, that | cannot but lay before you
my views Of the measures which are
required for the good character, and, |
might almost say, for the existence of
this people. The life Of a republic lies
certainly in the energy, virtue, and in
telligence of itscitizens; butit is equal
~ true that good revenue system is
the life of an organized government.
/ meet you at time when the nation
has voluntarily burdened itself with a
as Is its mount, it fades away into no
thing when compared with the count
less blessings that will Je conferred up
on our country and upon man by the
preservationof of thenation's life Now,
on the first occasion of the meeting of
Congress since the return of peace, it is
of the utmost importance to inaugu-
rate just policy, which shall at once
be put In motion, and which shall com
mend itself to those who come after us
for its continuance. We must aim at
nothing less than the complete efface-
ment OF the financial evils that neces-
sarily followed a state of civil war.
We mnst endeavor to apply the earli-
est remedy to the deranged state of the
currency, and not shrink from devising
a policy which without being oppress-
i've to the people, shall Immediately be-
gin to effect a reduction of the debt,
and, # persisted in, discharge it fully
within a definitely fixed number of
years.
1t is our first duty to prepare in ear
nest for our recovery from the ever
increasing evils of an irredeemable
currency, without a sudden reyulsion,
and yet without untimely procrastina-
ton. For that end, we must, each in
our respective positions, prepare the
way. ! hold it the duty of the Execu-
tive to insist upon frugality in the eX-
penditures and a sparing economy is
itself a great resource. OF the
banks to which authority has been Civ
EN- to issue notes secured by bonds of
the United States we may require the
greatest moderation and prudence, and
the law must be rigidly enforced when
is limits are exceeded. We may, each
one of us, counsel our active and enter
priSing c0untrymen to be constantly on
their guard, to iquidate debts contrac-
ted in paper currency, and, by con-
Quoting business as nearly as possible
on system of cash payments or short
credits, to hold themselves prepared to
return to the standard of gold and sill
yer. To aid our felloW-citizens in the
prudent management of their mOneta-
ry affairs, the duty dev0lVes on us tOdi-
minish by law the amount of paper
money now in circulation. Five years
ago the bank-note circulation of the
country amounted to not much more
than two hundred millions; now the
bank and national, exceeds
seven hundred millions. The simple
statementOf the fact recommends more
strongly than any words of mine could
do, the necessity of our restraining this
expansion. The gradual reduction of
the currency is the only measure that
can save the business of the country
from disastrous caIamities; and this
can be almost imperceptibly accom-
plished by gradually funding the ma
tiOnal circulation in securities that NAV
be made redeemable at the pleasure of
the Government.
Our debt is doubly secure-first in
the actual wealth and still greater un-
developed resources of the country;
and next in the character Of our insti- e.
tutiOns. The most intelligent obser-
vers among political economists have
not failed to remark, that the public
debt of country is safe in proportion
as its people are free; that the debt of
q republic is the safest of all. Our his
tory confirms and establishes the theO-
ry, and is, l firmly believe, destined to
give it q still more signal illustration.
The secret of this superiority springs
not merely from the fact that in are
public the national obligations are dis
more widely through countless
numbers in all classes of society; it has
Its root in the character of our laws.
Here all men contribute to the public
welfare, and bear their fair share of the
public burdens. During the war, I'M
der the impulses Of patriotism, the
men Of the great body Of the people,
without regard to their own compara-
tive want of wealth, thronged to our
armies and filled our fleets of war, and
held themselves ready to offer their.
lives for the public good. Now, in
their turn, the property and income of
the country should bear their Just pro-
portion of the burden of taxation, while
in our impOSt system, through means
of which increased vitality IS inciden-
tally impaired to all the industrial in
terests Of the nation, the duties shall
be so adjusted as to fall most heavily
on articles of luxury, leaving the nee
essaries of life as free from taxation as
the absolute wants of the Government,
economically administered, will justify.
No favored CIasS should demand free
dom from assessment, and the taxes
should be SO distributed as not to fall
unduly on the poor, but rather on the
accumulated wealth of the country.
We should look at the national debt
just as it is-not as national blessing,
but as heavy burden on the industry
of the country, to be discharged with
out unnecessary delay.
1t is estimated by the Secretary of the
Treasury that the expenditures for the
fiscal year ending the Both of June, 1866,
will exceed the receipts S112, ,194 ,947. 1t
is gratifying. however. to state that ii