Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-08-19

she pays at the rate of less than one-half
the interest that we do-three thousand
millions of dollars lit requires reflection,
calculation, comparison. to realize theAfu
extent of it's vast accumulation. 1t is 20
far beyond all ordinary sor- possible range
of individual, or even associated private
business, that the mind tails to comprehend
it as an abstraction. Standing in the de-
partment of.pubIic faffairsIit can only be
measured BY some kindred subject
which either controls, seFris controlled
by it.. Let US, then, look atitfor moment
In relation to The primary thing which it
represents, or, rather thai which it rests
upon and binds, and will in the end con-
troll, as security for It's Repayment, and we
can then form some adequate conception of
its vast and, startling significance. The
official public statistics of the eountry for
1850. the year preceding the war, and cer--
taln1y when the country was at'its highest
pitch of wealth apd,prosperity, show that
the aggregate value of the entire real es-
tate. lands and town lots and buildings,
in the whole Unite6b States. North and
South, was the sum of $6,925. 195 353, or
swichin fraction of seven Thousand mil
Lions ofsdollars.s 1T therefore appears, ac-
cordlng to the last census rsport that
of 1.-THE debts of the several States. and
all other forms of valid public
liability, equal perhaps, TO thousand mil
lions of dollars more amounts nearly to
One-nalf OF the value OF the real property
in the whole United Statesi Excluding
-Kentnekys Maryland and Delaware from
the Southern situation, (althongh II we
look at the pointed legislation of thesJuly
Congress, just closed, we may well put
these three States in the category of the
seeding States, for committee Is even
now in session to put them under the ban
of like despotism,) the Southern States
represented. ia $780, about the sum of
$2,000,000,000 of this valuation, or nearly
one-third of the 5whole-yalae- ef-zall. the
real estate of the Union. In the present
inflated condition of the circulating medi-
um of the country, real estate in the North
has undoubtedly advanced in price, though
not in real value, since 1860. But if both
money and properly wereEreduced to their
real intrinsic value, or what is the
same thing, if the currency was re-
duced, either by law or commercial
crisis, to its real value measured by the
gold standard, iJFwonld; drag down with
sit the value of property also; so that we
should find as one of the results of the
war, and in connection with the financial
bearings of debt and taxation, that til ,
real estate OF the country had in fact ac-
tually decreased in value since 1S60! Now,
this immense public,debt,a although it is
not now in process of payment as to its
capital, is. already pressing down the peo-
pie, even in the present plethoric condition
of the currency. with a weight Of taxa
u
face of the earth, to raise the, means, to pay
its accruing interest. No public debt of the
world has commanded the eXhorbitaht rate
OF interest we are now paying on ours. That
interest," in round numbers, amounts to
| nearlythe SUN of $200.000:000E Eper an
/ mum; an amount which woulds-haye' car
ried on the government in all its expenses
ordinary aud extraordinary, for fifteen
| years, under the administrations of Johu
! Quincy Adams and Gen.. Jackson. The
amount of revenue raised by taxes, either
direct or indirect, to pay this semi-annuaI
interest, and for the other wants Of the
| government, amounted, during the fiscal
year just ended, to the enormous sum. of
| $55S, 100000. 1t is perfect madness to sun
| pose that any government on earth, wheth-
er free or despotie, of equal resources, can
1 long stand such am annual drain upon its
| powers. The people must hayesretreneh-
ment and reform, radical and Immediate, or
misery and ruin must be their portion. At
| this rate of, reducing the property of the
country to revenue, for it will approximate
| that process whenever the crisis shall
come, wonldTeqnire period of less than
ten years to absorb the entire real estate
Il of the North. Will the American people
ever wake up to just appreciation of these
startling facts? IF they do, and can -6ii-
vest, themselves of the maddening iHfiu-
{ ences of party hatred and vengeance. (for
the war itself was a naked political cues
Southern States to the fostering influences
of tue U nion and consequently to the pros
, perity which belongs TO renewed life and
] vigor in all the channels of industry, trade
and commerce, from which,, in other days.
J so much of the public revenues of the gov
ernment were obtained, be the surest
J means of relief from aburdensnow almost
, too grieVousa to bear. at once suggest the
. remedy for the evils of this most unnatu-
raj separation? The problem is certainly
: very plain and simple one. The amount
of brain sufficient to make a sdemagogue
can fully comprehend it. But charlatans
) instead of statesmen now rule the great af-
: fairs of the people, and the people them
selves must suffer the consequences until
they shall hurl them from power. A full
/ conception of all that the people of the
I South are suffeIiag, and all that we al e To-
r sing, from the present condition of things,
ought to impel every thinking honest man
g in the country to crush out, fby'his vote
and influence, the miserable and destruc-
7 tive policy of these Radical Republicans
SO long as that policy shall be pursued to-
wards the Southern people, they will be,
as they now are, a charge upon the public
Golfers OF tae nation instead of fcontributors
: Its effect, upon the single article of cot
ton, to say nothing of the other great sta
t pie products of rice, sugar and tobacco, is
! almost incredulous. The statistics OF
} 1860 further show that the product of that
| year was as follows: Alabama, 997, 81;
/ bales; Arkansas, 367, ,4S5 Florida. 63 322
! Georgia, 76l, SAG; /; Louisiana, 722, 2lS; Soutf
/ Carolina, 353 Alb; Mississippi, /, 195,62l
North Carolina, 1854 Tennessee. 227,.
! 450; Texas, 405, 100. Total, 8, ,1S2,205. Thi
i crop of cotton, at 20 cents per pound
h which is a low estimate, would be wort
& the sum of $51S, 100000. The amount nov
: produced, since the war, and even unde
the stimulation of Northern men as grow
: ers. is about 100000 bales-a falling offo
0Onl ln- Il, L =
n in value of $37S, 900; SO that in tn
e single article of cotton we lose in actus
: revenue to Tighten the burden of taxation
n at the present rate leviediupon the 1a ma
S terial, the enormous sum of S54 205,750 pc
n annum; while at the same time we ar
r compelled to pay out of our own pocket
{ $35, 100000 year to govern the Southern
: people by the bayonet and the negro bal
e lot, instead of administering the Constitu
r tion and laws through the instrumentalit
r of courts and the white mans ballot. Blu
J. still more: even the tax now levied upo
e raw cotton, as against the planting pro
) ducer, does not necessarily go into tn
8 treasury of the United States as unQualifiS(
j revenue; for if you will look into this law
! made by Yankees for the benefit of Yan
e kee cotton mill nabobs, you will tiud that
Q upon certain conditions of transportation
# to special markets, these lords of the spin
IS die are entitled to receive the amount G
O tax thus levied and paid, as a 1dfGobacI
n upon the manufactured article, in h
lt hands. This is the kind of class 1egisla
/ tion that Republican Congress are treat
F., ing the people to. Ii is in this spirit tina
e almost all our Federal laws are maze.
20 was in this spirit that four hundred mil
Il lions of dollars in the lands of the peopl
G and government bonds postponed both TO
e security and payment for the benefit q
e favored creditors, have been voted /
l. gigantic railroad schemes, a large numbe
,e of the speculators and shareholders |
20 which Won will find tn have some mvste