Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1865-12-15

QUO, numbered ,VpG ,OlO Hicn. IL is pro-
posed to reduce the military establishment to
q peace footing, cemrrehending fifty thous-
and troops of all arms, organized SO as to adj
NIT of an enlargement BY filing up the ranks
to eighty-two Thousand Six hundred, if the
circumstances of the country should require
an augmentation of the arsay. The volun-
teer force has already been reduced by the
discharge from service Of over eight hundred
thousand troops, and the Department is pro-
ceeding rapidly IN the work of further reluc-
ton. The war estimates are reduced
from $516, 240, 131 to 1913, 1914, 461, which
amount, in the opinion Of the Department, is
adequate for peace establishment. The
measures of retrenchment in each Bureau
and branch of the service exhibit diligent
economy worthy Of commentator Refer
cnce is also made in the report to the ncees-
sity of providing for uniform militia sys-
TEN, and to the propriety of making suitable
provision for wounded ard disabled officers
and soldiers.
The revenue system Of the country is a
subject of vital interest to its honor and pros
perity, and should command the earnest con-
sidcration of Congress. The Secretary of
the Treasury will lay before you a full and
detailed report of the receipts and disburse-
ments of the last fiscal year, Of the first quar-
ter of the present fiscal year, of the probable
receipts and expenditures fer the other three
quarters, and the estimates for the year fol
lowing the 30th of June, 1866 ] might
content myself with a reference to that re-
port, in which you Will find all the inforina-
ton required for your deliberations and de-
cision But the paramount Importance Of
the subject SO presses itself on my own mind
that l cannot but lay before you my views Of
the measures which are required for the good
character, and, I might almost say, for the
existence of this people.--The life of q re-
public lies certainly in the energy, virtue and
intelligence of its citizens; but it is equally
true that good revenue system is the life Of
an organized government [ meet you at a
time when the nation has voluntarily burden
ed itself with debt unprecedented in our an
mails. Vast as is its amount, it fades away
into nothing when compared with the count
less blessings that will be conferred upon our
country and upon man by the preservation
of the nations life. Now, on the first occa-
sion of the meeting of Congress since the re-
turn Of peace, it is of the utmost Importance
to inaugurate just policy, which shall at
once be put in motion, and which shall com
mend itself to those who come after us for it's
continuance. We must aim at nothing less
than the complete efaeement Of the financial
evils that necessarily followed a state of civil
war. We must endeavor to apply the earli-
est remedy to the deranged state of the cur
rency, and not shrink from devising policy
which, without being oppressive to the peo-
pie, shall Immediately begin to effecta reduc
ton of the debt, and, if persisted in, dis
charge it fully within definitely fixed num-
Der Of years.
1t is our first duty to preparein earnest for
our recovery from the ever-increasing evils of
an irredeemable currency, without sudden
revulsion, and yet without untimely procras-
tination For that end, we must, each in our
respective positions, prepare the way. ! hold
it the duty of the Executive to insist upon
frugality in the expenditures and a sparing
economy is itself great national resource.
OF the banks to which authority has been
given 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 its limits are exceed
ed. We may, each one of us, counsel our
active and enterprising countrymen to be con-
stantly on their guard, to liquidate debts con-
tracted in a paper currency, and, by conduct
ing business as nearly as possible on sys-
tenn Of cash payments or short credits, to hold
themselves prepared to return to the stand
ard of gold and silver.
To aid our fellow citizens in the prudent
management of their monetary affairs, the
duty devolves on US to diminish 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 circulation,
bank and national, exceeds seven hundred
millions. The simple statement Of the fact
recommends more strongly than any words
of mine could do, the necessity Of our re-
straining this expansion. The gradual re-
duction of the currency is the measure that
Coll sdHC VIC puSlutSS VI Vic CUuI1tI y uOUl
disastrous calamities and this can be almost
imperceptibly accomplished by gradually
funding the national circulation in securities
that may be made redeemable at the pleasure
of the Government.
Our debt is doubly secure-frst in the &C
tual wealth and still greater undeveloped re-
sources of the country; and next in the
character of our institutions The most in
telligent observers 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 ola republic is
the safest Of all. Our history confirms and
establishes the theory, and is, I firmly be-
heve, destined to give it still more signal
illustration. The secret Of this superiority
springs not merely from the fact that, in a
republic, the national obligations are distrib-
uted more widely through countless numbers
in all classes of society it has it's root in the
character of our laws. Here all men contrib
ute to the public welfare and bear their fair
share Of the public burdens. During the
war, ander the impulses of patriotism, the
men of the great body of the people, without
regard to their own comparative want OF
wealth, thronged to our armies and filed 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 proportion
Of tho burden of fa va+;on ,,h;1, -, 49, -;