The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-05-21

pa ORR FINANCIAL PROsrEGTs.-We
hear from Washington that the secre-
tary of the Treasury expresses the opin-
ion very freely, that no further redue-
ton OF the public debt need be expected
at present; indeed, the chances are
that the debt will be iaereased within
the next three months. =
We fear that we are approaching the
end of the agreeable delusion we have
been nursing in regard to our debt and
taxes. So much has been said of the
exhaustless energies Of our country
our people have submitted so graceful
" to the taxes imposed upon them, aud
the actual reduction Of the debt from
month to mouth has been 80 considera-
bIe,' that we began to look upon the
Whole thing as bagatelle. 1t has been
assumed that the debt was to be paid
within twenty or thirty years ut the
fnrthest, and that, too, without special
effoit or special hardship i'll any omar
ter. All this was possible only when
business in every department was Hour
ishing,-while labor vas abundant and
we'll rewarded, -while everybody was
getting rich, aud could afford 10 pay
heavy take.
Ali this begins already to he reversed.
The tide is turning. business is dull
prices are so exOrbitant that labor,
which command enormous wages, can
scarcely earn living, the profits OF oil
branches Of industry have fallen of,
and everybody begins to feel compare
lively poor. Evidences of this are seen
i'm every direction. There is nothing
like the expenditure among business
men, or i'm society and private life, that
was witnessed a year ago. The Park is
no longer crowded with snowy equip
ages. Costly dinners, extravaganza dis
plays of wealth at evening parties, Law
! ish expenditures for luxury i'll dress no
longer characterize Onr fashionable cir
cles. All this is apparent and indicates
Enthusiastically q very different state OF
things from what has existed hitherto
since the war. Men no longer look uren
taxation as q triile. They feel it as a
burden, instead of lighter, every day.
The return of incomes in this city will
not be ope-haG what it was last year;
and the same thing is said to he true
throughout the country.
The action of Congress ut the last
session tended to make things worse.
1t was utterly impossible tO'get the at
tention of the majority to the finances
as II subject of paramount Importance.
Political subjects absorbed their atten-
ton. Nearly halfthc aggregate income
tax was deliberately thrown away. In
stead of aiding and fostering Southern
industry, so as to augment Southern
ability to pay its share of taxation,
everything done tended to depress and
! crush it. Not a dollar of aid was given
to repair the Southern leyees, though
that measure alone would have yielded
millions through the sugar tax. The
culture of colt Oh was taxed. Capital in
the South was loaded with exactions
aud disa5ilisies which it was utterly
unable to bear. The lessons of expert
enee and common sense were deliber-
ately sacrificed in every direction, to
political passion or personal interest.
The adinatJnent of duties on foreign
imports was made in utter disregard OF
its relations to the revenue, and be-
came venal and disgraceful scramble
among special interests for government
favor and protection. go
All these acts are just now BEGINNING
to bear their natural fruits. The rev.
enue is falling off rapidly; progress in
redeemiug the public debt must be sus,
pended. taxation begins to be felt by all
classes as heavy burden-and there
is every prospect That all these evils
will grow worse and worse, instead OF
being .elieved and removed. Enormous
claims, still naliquidated, remain to be
added to the aggregate Of the public
debt. and there is at least an even
chance that the taxation Of the indus.
try of the country must be Increased
rather than diminished, to meet the eX-
actions of the impending future.
These things prove the absolute ne
cessity of greater economy in the man.
agement of our finances, and greater
wisdom in the adoption of plans for de-
welcoming our resources and alternating
the burden of taxation. Whether we
may reasonably hope for these aids is
matter of doubt: but it is very CERTAIN
that without them, the country will
plunge deeper and deeper into trouble