Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-08-10
FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE.
The National Debt--Its EHeCt--
The Necessity for RetrenCh-
IDent and Reform tOOb-
tain Rcliet--The People must
Unite In an effort TO Secure IL
lItrom the II in DeaIcr.l !

From the III in Dealcr.l
In what follows we propose to direct pub
lie attention to few stubborn Facts. too i'm
portant to be safely disrcgardcd, and too
palpablc to be any longer concealed. They
stand related to the financial condition of
our country, and therefore, concern every
man, woman and child of this and of the
next ten generations. People generally en-
tcrtain "A vague idea that, by some process or
other, our rulers have, in the management
of our affairs, contrived to run the nation
into debt, but being unable to grasp the
vast aggregate of its Indebtedness, they in
dugc the almost criminal halucnation that
the ariul but shallow teachings Of }. Cooke
may, III some way, turn out to be true, and
that by some sort of hocus pocus, an cnor
nous national debt may be transformed into
an enormous, if not an eternal, national
blessing The common, or, as Mr.. Lincoln
would have said, the "plain people e''-thc .
toilcrs, the producers, the farmers, the me-
chancS, and other laboring mcn-amuscd by .
iallacious appearances OF prosperity, and
enchanted 10y the glittcrng schemes design |
cd and cunningly calculated to deceive and
ruin them, seldom trouble themselves to
look at the facts of the case, unwisely fiat .
tcrng themselves that those who have been
foolish enough, and wicked enough, to
plunge nation like ours into hopeless bank
ruptcy, in the short space of four years and
six months, will have wisdom and honesty
enough to diviso ways and means for paying
off the debt, without material injury to the
people! How far the following facts may
gotowards dissipating such groundlcss hopes,
we are, Of course, unable to tell but our
duty is plain before us, nevertheless.
The public debt, according to the highest
financial authority, is not a dollar less than
81 600, 600, 600, about one half of which is
now funded, and drawing interest. But the
public should remember, that the whole of
it will soon be funded and drawing interest
when the interest account will be increased
from $l2j, ,O0O, GOO, what it now is, to $3.50
OO0, 900. This sum is to come into the an
nual expenses Of the government, for which
appropriations must be made by the next
Congress, without providing Il farthing for
the principal!
The official figures show the expenses of
the government for the year ending June
80, without calculating any thing for the OK
pcnses of the army and navy, to have been
as follows:
Civil and miscellaneous services. S2G, ,2S2, ,322 %
Foreign l3D, ,SIl.66
department of the interior. 76l5,iI0,S
Total 35OS7, $685. ~
And for collecting taxes at least 25o0OOoO
Making total of.................S3lOOSG OSG ,GGG,7i
For the year ending June 50, 1860, the
expenses Of the navy department were Sll, ;,
5l3, ljO,l9, and of the war department,
SIG, IO9, 167, lO-in all S21 S22, 2l1 %. We
have an immense number of vessels in the
navy to be cared for, and an immense quaint
l; ity of ordnance, quartcrmaSter and medical
stores to be looked after, which, were the
"a army aud navy reduced to just the a@gre-
- gate strength before the war, with only such
additions as may be necessary to provide
care for the increased property and material,
would probably make the expenses three
: times as great as in 1860 or nearly S15,
600, 600. But under the most favorable
circumstances, there will be something of an
a increase outside of this, probably enough to
vo swell the total expenses to $500, 900, 600
y Then there will be at least $50, ,000, 600 in
or pensions, making the total expenses Of the
m government about S460, 100000
ws Probably, says the authority from which
ut we quote, there is no American but looks
en- forward to the day when the debt will b,
lin paid, and Il proposition should meet genera
or favor to provide n sinking fund of pei
till cent. which would wipe out the debt in one
he hundred years. This sinking fund woulC
ill amount to $40, 900, 900, and swell the gran,
ry total to $500, ,00O, 600 per annum.
ut The internal revenue, it is now estimated
Sc, will not yield over $3.50, 600, 900, and th
,rs Gus oms perhaps not to exceed $50, 600, ,0OO
ov making the total revenues of the govern
or ment S339, 900 OOO or $40, 200, 600 les
on than the expenses, deficiency which mus
CIV by met by almost doubling existing taxa
ire ton. This estimate, too, is upon the sup
lrs position of an immediate reduction of th
rid army and navy to an absolute peace footing
IL How much heavier the burden will be if t
IA =, ., a.
ID. grand military and naval establishment,
ION network of provost marshals over the coun
let try and bureaus for the freedmen and othe
ate philanthropc measures now under advise
ld mcnt, is for the people, who are to pay TIN
)ut taxes, to determine for themselves.
IAN There are other facts which challenge tn
les attention of all considcrate mon, and anon,
lily others the following: The Six llundre
fit Million Loan, authorized by the Act Of Cor
,av gress of March 3, 1868, has now all bee
lint taken, converted, it is true, into basis fc
md bank issues, but shielded by Congression;
the enactment from all liability to taxation, an
ms. with other mllllOnS, Withdrawn from TN
aid source whence the means must come to pa
,ri- the interest on the national debt. This lin
ice its Secretary Mccullough in the sphere 9
en- his financial operations, and compels him t
ant resort to all manner of eXpedients, to rails
the money for the paying of the soldiers {
rry the army, and meeting the other ncceSsar
her liabilities Of the Government. Certificate
or of indebtedness are issued, to take the plaC
1ed of grccnbacks and he cannot come into tn
nm market to borrow another dollar, until Con
axe grcss meets and authorizes II new Loan; an
ear it is estimated, that by the middle Of d.
, to cembor ncXt-thc earliest moment when r.
ood lief can be expected will be at lea
big Three Hundred Millions of unpaid rcquis
up tions-in other words that tie e.rceSS Of n
us, laJiiaicS fthe Treasury oreraH its ardiiab
hat resources WW reach that amount!
csh- 1t is well observed by an able and c
teemcd cotemporary that, lit is mortii
ing illustration of the unwisdom that pr
sides over the most weightty affairs, und
the regime of the Republican party, tn
me the provision which was made for mcetn
the public engagements under the expect
" ton Of continued war, prove insuilicier
any notwithstanding the sudden return of fpcac
,out The act authorizing the loan for the yc
4 Al,