Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-06-11

+ ers say: -. -
t sItwilibe observed that the sum of s22o,.
j SO of the Union Loan of 1865 has been re-
.Idlced. This has been done without the
5payment of premium, and the Commis-
ttioners are prepared to continue nIu the re-
Ehave been redeemed. Il t-Ig1pI. sl1i
fsThe 'act making appropriations for the
! wear 1857 and the first quarter of the year
f1S6S.' passed April 16, 1867, authorizes the
Auditor of State, upon the written request
of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund,
other funds in the State Treasury unappro-
Epriated, or not required for, tlIeppurposes
Temporarily to transfer to the Sinking Fund
for which they have been appropriated,
that the same may be applied to the reduce
tion of the Public Debt Of the State. 'Un-
fder this authority, transfers from the fol-
lowing funds have been made: - ~o,r,,,
kGeneral Revenue. $11s.44 90
Common School: ..'...' 1855 SS
T Total amount transferred. 100000 90
Z ssThe amount thus transferred was applied
to the payment of the principal of the
Union Loan of 1866, and the interest saved
to the State thereby will be paid into the
Estate Treasury. to the credit of the Cen
Ieral Revenue Fund"
1.-Two hu ndred and twenty thousand one
hundred and thirty-six dollars of the
Union loan of 1865 has been reduced" and
t"this has been done without payment of
premium" Such is the boast of the Fund
i commissioners, and for, which they expect
to receive the merit of swell done. good
and faithful servants" But how was this
reduction effected? By taking, in defiance
Iof constitutional law, S113,4l4 from the
General Revenue Fund-$10,000 from the
Civil Fund and $76,5s6 from the School
Fund of the States robbing these funds to
make a show of reducing the State debt.
Against this plan of stealing from one
fund to pay another, the Constitution of
the State is clear and explicit. Section 5
Eof Article IL says: TCTrgf - 9-r q
'sNo tax shall be levied, except in pursu-
ance of law, and every law imposing tax,
shall state, distinctly, the object of the
tsame, to sotich only tt shall apply"
The law imposing tax for General Rev.
enue, Canal and School purposes, did dis
tinctly state, as required by the Constitu-
tion, that it was for these objects, and no
one grumbled thereat, but instead of using
the money thus raised for the purpose and
those only for which the tax was raised,
| the money was diverted from its legitimate
| and constitutional purpose--literally stolen,
for it was wrongfully taken-in order to
make show of paying off small portion
of the State debt. RI ftEtflf
We have no objection to paying off a
portion of the State Indebtedness, but we
wish it to be done without violating the
Constitution. The seventy-six thousand
dollars, thus taken from the School Fund,
was raised becauseit was necessary toschool
the children of the State, and because it
was needed, it was cheerfully paid, but
none who thus paid their School tax, ever
supposed it was to be used to pay portion
OF the floating Indebtedness of the State.
This system of robbing Peter to pay Paul,
has been going on. for some time, and
10 ught to be checked. During the first ses-
sion of the Legislature which organized in
April last after passing the Negro Suffrage
Resolution, the Finance Committee of the
extraordinary session by the Auditor of
State, to meet an emergency which, if the
Auditor and his colleagues in the Fund
Board were not the greatest blockheads that
ever attempted to manage the Finances ofa
State, must have known was sure to hap
pen. Drafts were presented at the Treasu-
ry in payment of a portion of the State
debt, past due, and which must be paid,
and there We're no funds to meet them.
The State was in danger of hay-
ing her paper protested, and her credit
thereby placed among the dishonored
and repudiating States. The Constitution
makes it the imperative duty of the Fund
Commissioners, Immediately before each
regular session of the General Assembly.
fund required for the public debt, and it is
made the duty OF the Legislature to make
all necessary provisions for raising the
amount by taxation. Neither the Aboli-
tion Fund Board or the Abolition Legisla-
ture did their duty, and thus the credit
of the State has been placed in imminent
peril. Animportant election, for Governor
and members of the Legislature, was ap-
preaching, the people were harassed to pay
their taxes, already large beyond preced-
9 ice, and the Legislature, upon whom the
duty devolved, found that they had proba-
bly, made appropriations so large for other
purposes, that they dared not make those
necessary to save the credit of the State
without fear that the still larger taxes
might elect Democratic Governor and re-
turn majority of Democrats to the next
Legislature. And the fact that the taxes
were not increased, as Democrats charged,
from the excessive appropriations for un-
necessary objects, they must necessarily
be, was much used in the campaign that
elected Gen. Cox Governor of Ohio. and
returned the Negro Suffrage majority to
the last Legislature. <,.s rr-. 2 .r-r ~ e /
Previous to this, and during the war, a
fund had been created for the relief of the
widows and the orphans OF soldiers who
had fallen in, or were then serving in the
army. To meet the exigency and to save
the State from having her paper dis
honored and her credit injured, this fund
bv law which was hurried through the
LEGISLATURE was seized and eight hundred
thousand dollars of fund, sacred to the
noblest charity that ever State bestowed
was allowed, in direct violation of the
Constitution, to be taken from the Trea-
surv to pay the debt of the State. This
might have been done by temporary
loan which would have been perfectly
Constitutional; but that would have, pro-
yoked an inquiry or comment upon the
causes which led the State officials and the
preceding Legislature to fail to meet the
emergency, which the Fund Commission
ers knew must arise when in January
1865, this debt became due. and hence,
afraid to meet the wrath of their constitu-