Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1867-01-30
The Finances and the Financial History Of
the United States.

With this title Dr. CHAs BARON
DE Hook, Imperial Privy Councillor of
State of Austria, has written very
valuable work, just published by l.
g. Gotta, at Stuttgardt. The spirit
in which it was conceived, and the
scope and aim of this q Financial His
tory of our country, may be best
known from its preface, which we
translate entire:
It was in the Fail of the wear
1862, that l selected the finances Of
the United States as the subject Of
my studies. | was induced to it ny
the wonderful aspect which thew be
gan to present. 4 people which for
nearly half century was favored TO
forget that there once was taxation of
internal commerce IN support Of the
Central Government, and whose ma
tlonal debt was always small, and re-
Peatedly seemed to pass away entire
~, inspired by the love of country and
the rights Of mankind, took upon it.
self the numerous and. in their rate
as well as in their manner Of collec-
ton. the most burdensome taxes. and
a State debt which, increasing by
many hundreds Of millions every wear.
promised shortly to approach tie
debt which wealthy England had piled
mp through centuries. And. what IS
still more, the taxes were borne will
lngl y the loans, furnished mostly by
the country itself, and in. the midst Of
long and four bloody years unsuc-
cessful civil war, the prosperity Of
the people grew IN an unparalleled
degree.
[ could not pursue my work unin-
terruptedly, and it had to be post
poned on account of the protracted
negotiations for the commercial and
customs treaty, which | concluded for
Austria with the German Customs
Union on the 18th of A pril, 1865 ::
but as often as | returned to It. and
with every new progress I made, /
recognized the more fully its general
and permanent interest. The inan-
cial history Of the Union in the past
was on account Of the complete prac-
teal wisdom It evidenced Of tba 80.
entific questions it solved, and Of its
close connection with the political
history and the great party contests
Of the country, Of high Importance !;
and the events of the present teach
and Instinct Inv the ;n,,nars;t,- or ~
efforts of the -oplo. b. the Anal ,.;c.
tory of freedom and Justice. and above
all. by the miraculouslv quick and
quict return from a state of war IL
that of peace. from JottomIess deficit
TO an uncoumonlv bioh sprn1,Ie If 70.
ceipts over expcnditures Armies
and navies. such as had novnr been
known. vanished rs nv tba ,vcrl oc =
sorcerer; the Generals Of yesterday
became the day after peaccahle men.
and only the graves strewn over the
country, the passions of the victors
and Of the defeated, the traces of
waste and destruction. and. above all
five millions of now citizens who
therefore. had been counted amoro
the elattvIs hy the slde of Iaboring
cattle, gave proof OF the striics. the
s0Ierihgs, and the events OF civil war,
Ot great Importance to me was also
the analogy of affairs IN the United
States with those of my country
(Austria.) There as here, was con
test between unity and disruption,
Federal and State prerogatives; as an
aid III the contest, an irrcdeemaJlc
paper currency and high oppressive
taxes, and it IS worth while to inquire
what were the means employed in
America to secure the triumph Of the
Union. Of higher degree Of cultiva-
ton, Of freedom, and of the increasing
prosperity Of the people, while such
results could not be achieved IN Aus
ira.
Finally. thorough exposition of
the financial condition Of the country
nav serve another purpose. Affairs in
Europe assume from dav to dav a sad
der and more threatening aspert. the
stream Of emigration to the pacifed
free and powerfully GROWING United
States will soon be higher than it was.
even in the last decade. and VIII take