Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-11-30
Higl, Prlcc OF LivIng.

Complaint is general, that the price OF liv-
ing is very high, and this high price In a
great measure Is attributed to an infateu
currency. An inflated currency may nave
something to do with 1t; but that is by no
means the primary cause. The high price
ofliying-the hard scraping to which peo-
pie are subjected to make both ends meet
is merely the paying Of tax on an indebt-
edness that was created to maintain the
Chicago Platform and the integrity of the
Republican party. What we call an in
flated currency is the evidence of that in
debtedness and of the inability Of the Gov
ernment to pay its obligations on presenta-
tion in gold and silver. The people-es-
peeially those who voted for the Chicago
platform In 1860. and who afterwards voted
to enforce and maintain it--should not
grumble at the excessive prices they have
topay for everything now. The Negro is
free! Can not the White men find in this
circumstance compensation for being work.
ed and taxed almost to deaths When Lead
ers in the Democratic party plead for the
adoption by Congress of measures by
which the War would have been avert
ed. thew alleged that If War were suf-
fered to come upon the country in conse-
quence of the non-adoption of such meas
ures the workingmen of the country would
have to do the bulk of the fighting and
the Industrial interests would have to pay
theexpense attendant upon the War. These
allegations have been and are being verified
fully. The workingmen Of the country
were compelled to do the bulk of the fight
ing, and the politicians who allowed the
country to drift into War, as general thing
kept out of the way, and grew rich off Of
speculations aud peculations the War
opened up to them and now the industrial
interests are being oppressed by the ex-
orbitant taxes to pay debt contracted in
the prosecution of the War, which, accord
ing to the testimony Of Mr.. GREELEY, had
craftsmanship prevailed, would have been
finished up much sooner than it was, and
at a greatly reduced cost to the country, in
men and money. raa,. .r.ai
1t is out of the range of reason to sup
pose that the exemption from taxation Of
the immense amount of capital invested in
the indebtedness growing out of the en-
foreement and maintenance of the Chicago
Platform, is not calculated to additionally
increase the cost Of living; and yet we are
told that the people at the late elections
voted for such exemption-vOted to take
upon themselves the additional tax that
would be necessary to assure that exemp-
tion, as though their other taxes were not
sufficient. That tax, therefore, is put on to
each pound of butter and each dozen ofeggs
that is bought and sold-on each chicken,
duck, turkey, pig, calf COW and steer, that
is bought and sold-on each yard of dry
goods, on each pound of hardware and
groceries that is bought and sold-on each
article Of wearing apparel, from the head
to the foot, that is manufactured; on each
house that is built, sold and rented When
q majority vote for measures that bring |
down upon their shoulders such oppressive
burdens, we do not see why they should in |
dulge in grumbling. If the Chicago Plat
form-or, If the Republican party, which |
amounts to the same thing-is to be priced
above all things, and if the exemption of
the men who hold Government securities,
on which they realize most bountiful rate
of interest, is pre-eminently righteous, let
the psople patiently bear the burdens that
their maintenance impose on them. The
majority of the people are represented as
being in favor of the enforcement of a
policy on the people of the South that will,
undoubtedly, add yet more to their cost of
living. They act very much as though the
cost of living had not yet been made suffi-
ciently high for them. II they retain the
present party in power some time longer,
they may get it up to figure sufficiently
high.