The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-03-13
From the New York Citizen of Saturday.
A Talk with the President

From the New York Citizen of Saturday.
IA Talk with the President
mr.. johnson on the Tendency % Reps
diate the National Debt.
v-' WASHINGTON, March G..
"And now, apart from the directly po
|litical," continued the President, "what
is the main issue looming up in the i'm.
mediate futurei What issue is closely
lforeshadowed to be the Aaron's roo
which must swallow up all minor ques
tionsi 1t is the great financial issue
the issue of the national debt; whether
it shall be paid or repudiatedf This
!. issue has fibres extending into the pock
ct of every citizen, for wh' rever mar
has. q dollar, or can earn a dollar, the
Government is compelled to 60 for its
portion of his substance, and with the
vast machinery under its control, the
money is fetched.
"There were four millions of slaves
lin the Southern States before tho rebel
lion, representing a capital of three, OF
possibly four billions of dollars; bullet
us call it three billions, or three thou,
sand millions, as you may please. These
erty, men put their savings into pur-
chasing or raising them, and they repre-
sented as property whatever were the
surplus profits of their labor, after due
allowance for food, clothing, medicine,
and interest on the capital invested.
"0n this property in slaves gradually
grew up that slave oligarchy or aristoc-
racy, against which the leaders of the
anti-slavery party 80 successfully thun-
dered dnring the twelve years preced-
ing the rebellion; and after the first
mad plunge into rebellion the fate OF
that aristocracy was sealed. 1t is now
thing of the past. With its virtues
for it had virtues, courage, and hos
pitality eminently-and with its crimes
of pride and lawless revolution, it has
entered into history, and is thing OF
the past.
"But what do we indi The aristoc-
racy based on three thousand millions
of property in slaves South of Mason
and Dixen's line has disappeared; but
an aristocracy, based on over two
thousand five hundred millions of ma
tional securities, has arisen in the North
ern States; to assume that political con-
troll which the consolidation of great
financial with political interests former
ly gave to the slave oligarchy of the
lately rebel States. Tho aristocracy
based on negro property disappears at
the Southern end of the line, but only
to reappear in an oligarchy of bonds
and national securities in the States
which suppressed the rebellion.
ave have all read history, and is it
not certain that of all aristOcracies, that
of mere wealth is the most Odious, ra-
pacious, and tyrannicali 1t goes for the
last dollar the poor and helpless have
got; and with such vast machine as
this Government under its control that
dollar will be fetched. 1t is an aris-
tocracy that can see in the people only
a prev for extortiOn. 1t has no polite
al or military relations with them, such
as the old feudal system created between
liece lord and vassal; it has no intimate
social and domestic ties, and no such
strong bond of self-interest with the
people as existed of necessity between
the extinct shareholders of our country
and their slaves. To an aristocracy ex-
listing on the annual interest ofanatiOn-
al debt, the people are only of value in
proportion to their docility and power
of patiently bleeding golden blood un-
der the x-gathercrs thumb-screw.
ITO the people the national debt is a
thing of debt, to be paid; but to the ar
istcracy of bonds and national securi-
ties, it is q property of more than two
| al
which revenue of one hundred and
eighty millions year is to be received
into their pockets. So we now find
that an aristocracy of the South, based
on three thousand millions of dollars in
ncgroes-who were productive class
has disappeared; and their place in the
control of the country is assumed by
an aristocracy based on nearly three
thousand millions of national debt-a
thing which is not producing anything,
but which goes OH steadily every year,
and must 90 on for all time until the
debt is paid, absorbing and taxing at
the rate of six or seven per cent. year
for every hundred dollar bond that is
represented in this aggregation.
"Now, 1 aul not speaking of this to
do anything but, deprecate the fearful
issue which the madness of partizan
hatred and the blindness of our new
national debt aristocraey to their own
true interests is fast forcing upon the
country. But it is not clear that the
people, who have to pay one hundred
and eighty millions of dollars a year to
this consolidated moneyed oligarchy,
must. sooner or later, commence asking
each other, 'How much was actually
loaned to our Government during the
civil war by these bondholders, who
now claim that we owe them nearly
three thousand millions of dollarsV You
know what the popular answer must
bel dare not say the right answer
Less than half the amount they claim,
1 for gold ranged Mt an average OF one
hundred premium while this debt was
being incurred
"Just think of the annual tax of one
hundred and eighty millions for pay.
ment of interest on our national debt
This Government we have, with its enor-
nous machinery, is pretty hefty busi-
ness in itself, costing more per capita to
the people than the Government OF En-
gland, which we always heretofore re-
garded as the most tax-devOuring on
earth. But over and beyond the ex-
penses Of this Government proper, as it
should stand in the scale OF peace nc
about sixty millions a year, we have, IN
the one hundred and eighty millions OF
interest paid yearly oh our national
debt, enough to support three such gov
ernments as this, with all their vast ma
chinery and disbursements! We have
not only, under the present system, one
Government for the people to support,
but, over and beyond this, we have to
raise, by taxation from the people, suffi-
cisnt to support three similar establish
mentsevery year!
"All property is based upon and can
only be sustained by law; and it is for q
return to law and the guide of fixed con-
stitutional principles that my whole
course has been contending. But so
short sighted is this aristocracy of bonds
and paper eurrency-this Plutocracy OF
the national debt-that my efforts in
behalf of their true interests (Which are
certainly involved in the maintenance
of law and the Constitution) have been
layarvwhere encountered, and almost