The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-04-18
when shall we Pay our Debt.

Ana tne anSelS III heafen' Vi PeaSet "iS
MARCH SSrm. NJ. B. NJ.
when Shall we Pay our Debt.
From the NelO York Times.
The burdens of taxation are hard on
the people and hard on industry. Nc
business man can pass q day without
proaning under them, and no man
whatever, except the rich, can live
without suffering severely from them.
The compleXity of the taxes, ns well as
their magnitude, troubles us all. There
is hardly anything that escapes taxes
and on nearly the half of all things
they are levied twice or thrice, or hall
dozen times, under variety of forms
and upon the most remarkable pre-
texts. '4a 4-r s-
The patience with which the country
has borne them is now severely tried.
1t has been sustained heretofore by
considerations of necessity and of hon
or. The people thenselves-we may
almost say as II body-were the owners
of the Government securities, and con-
seuuently interested in sustaining the
Government credit ut the highest point;
and no one could fail to see that to eff
feet this, the revenues of the Govern
ment must be large as we'll as steady.
Our national pride, too, has worked
greatly in aid of the Government in this
matter. We were bound to show an
incredulous world that our debt and
credit had n broad and solid basis; that
we could pay the highest taxes in the
world as well as wage its greatest war
and that our financial honor should not
be tarniShed, aS our enemies Sneerlng-
ly asserted it certainly would be. Then,
again, it was universally felt that in
settling the affairs and closing the ac-
counts of n great war, the Government
II fFFNV lnDV
all that il possibly could without ire
parably damaging public interests.
But now we are in the second year OF
peace. Our Government, in all its de-
partments is, or should be, on the per-
manent peace basis. On no hand, or in
no quarter, are extraordinary expenses
called for. Our estimate of revenues
for this year should be no higher than
that for next year, or for the years OF
peace which we trust are to follow; and
our burdens of taxation no weightier
now than then. We have the adyan-
tage of definite estimates as to- the
amount that will be needed, as well ms
the amount that can be raised, and the
sources that will produce it. we can
say-so much for actual admlnlstra-
ton, and so much for interest. we can
say-so mnch for the army and navy;
so much for State and Interior ex-
DenSeS. We can also sny-so much
from Customs and so much from Inter-
nal Revenue. And, setting the one
against the other, we can say-so much
surplus or so much deficiency. Inc
country is now sufficiently settled aftef
the perturbations of the war, and It's
material interests are in n sufficiently
healthy working order, to enable us to
make such estimates with as much ac-
curacy as it can be done in ordinary
times in, the financial operations of any
nation. iEsg l $50 AAN}
And as the taxpayers arc continual-
ly making these cstimnteS-or ratheri
as Secretary McCulloch takes the trou-
Bile to do it monthly for their enlighten-
ment-the public are constantly KEPT
informed of the fact that the receipts oi
the Government from taxation very
greatly exceed the actual necessities OF
The Government, and that it Is intended
to apply the surplus thus raised TO re-
duce the volumn of the national debt.
In his late speech on the Loan Bill,
Senator Sherman used these words: ~
..Dnring the next year the estimated eX-
uendItures OF the Government are stated al
SlSO, 100. These estimates have been reduced
somewhat by the bills sent TO us by the HOUSE
Of Representatives, and IL is scarcely possible
that the expenditures during the neSt yea
can reach SIS ,O0O on tho present DaSls.-
We have a current revenue now OF nearly y
the gold receipts tluting the first tbree-quar-
feTs or the wear was SliOOO0,OOO, and Tor TINS
quarter will not Iall below In -
Tnrinv the current year not less than SS2O,'
OI0O0O so that Including the profits realized
on the sale OF surplus gold We have an income
0f moi iess Than 500 O60 900 this yenr, and somt
authorities place 1t higher. Ihus IL Is evi
dent that we have S9OO,00J,OOO more income
this year tina than we VIII haNe "a Z
There have thus been extracted from
the country by the Government during
n sinUle venr. two hundred milllondol-
lars IN ore than the eGovernment required
to paw its way. This, too, during the
wear in which the derangement OF In
dustry and business and of the curTen,
CIV has had the most damaging effect
upon business men, and laboring men
and ali men and all interests. Is it ju'
dicious, under these circumstances, tc
continue our present enormous rates o
taxation? To take philosophical view
of the matter as regards, the past, W.
NAV say we think it we'll that suct
revenues have been raised and sucl
| taxation patiently borne, for one year
| n has shown what we can do and bear
It has made US perfect through suffer
! ing. It has established public conf
! dence in the Government credit; anC
| given mankind faith in our nationa
| honor. Aside from these moral aspect!
! ofthe case, it has doubtlessdo done vast ant
1ncalculaDle QamaSe 10 OuE maAS1ta q
\ interests; but the moral aspects in thi
case have palpably overridden all TEN
porary material considerations
Is it wise, however, to continue
Ito tax the people and injure in
| ddstry merely for the purpose o
attempting at this time to pay OH til,
huge debt contracted during the war
we have no thought of permitting thu
debt to become a permanent thing IL
our urgoyernmentalec economY. We nav
no idea of permitting the fact that I
/ must be paid to be lost sight OF. w
have no notion of ceasing entirely II
the labor of reducing it. But wouIdl
not be well, after what we have porn
| and mplished In the late e1hausttni
military struggle. TO ask of the conntr;
.. little less than to plunge at once viii
its entire energies into an equally se3
llbansting and altogether needless imam
cis1 struggle? Would it not be well z
sSiye is The people and the public Interest
q neriod Of rest, or ut least to Lighter
4 isomewhat their burdens. when II IS ey
iidently feasible to do so2 Ut Will tax
mutt a limited time for the country 70 9.re e
4 eain IT'S former prosperity, ana for gu
4 Industrial interests TO reach q point 1Qlng =
\ development far beyond anything y
our past experience. And the neilsuL s'lallr
lof taxatfonf that is now affecting 70 en-
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