Idaho semi-weekly world. (Idaho City, Boise County, Idaho Territory) 1867-1868, 1867-06-22
OUR FINANCIAL PROSPECTS.

We hear from Washington that the Score
thry of the Treasury expresses the opinion
very freely, that no further reduction of the
public debt need be expected at present :; in
deed the chances are that the debt will be in
creased within4the next three months
We fear we are approaching the end of the
agreeable delusi0n we have been nursing In
regard to our debt and taxes So much has
been said of the exhaustless resources of our
country-our people have submitted so grace
fully to the taxes imposed upon them, and the
actual reduction of the debt from month to
month has been so considerable that we be-
gan to look. upon the whole thing as bagatelle.
1t has been. assumed that the debt was to be
paid within twenty or thirty years at furthest,
and that too, without special effort or special
harcshlps IN any, quarter All this was posi-
BILE only when business in every department
was Furnishing labor was abundant
and well reWarded,-while everybody was get
ting rich ana could afford to pay heavy taxes.
All this begins already to be reversed. The
tide is turning Business Is dull-prices are
so eXOrbitant that labor, which commands. the
highest wages, can scarcely earn a living the
profits of all branches of industry have fallen
off, and everybody begins to feel comparatively
poor. Evidences of this are seen in every, di-
rection There is nothing like the expenditure
among business men, or in society and private
life, that was witnessed year ago. The Park
is no longer crowded with snowy equipages
Costly dinners, extravagant displays of wealth
at evening parties, lavish expenditures for lux
ury in dress no longer characterize our fash
ionable circles. All this is apparent and indi-
Gates Enthusiastically a very different state of
things from what.has existed hitherto since the
war. Men no longer look upon taxation as
trlt1e. They feel it as burden, growing heav.
Ter and heavier, instead of lighter, everyday
The return OF incomes in this city will not be
Ofae-hGf what it was last year; and the same
thing is said to be true throughout the country
The action Of Congress at the last session only
tended to make things worse. It was utterly
impossible to get the attention of the majority
to the finances as a subject of paramount inn
pOrtance., Political projects absorbed their at
tention. Nearly half the aggregate income tax
was deliberately thrown away. Instead 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 @ dollar of aid was given to
repair the Mississippi levees, though that meas
ure alone would have yielded millions through
the sugar tax The culture of cotton was tax
ed. Capital in the South was loaded with ex-
actions and disabilities which it was utterly
unable to bear. The lessons of experience
and common sense were deliberately sacrificed,
nseyerY. direction, to political passion or per-
sonal interest. The adjustment Of duties on |
foreign Imports was made in utter disregard |
of its relations to the revenue, and became a
Venal and disgraceful scramble among special
Interests for government favor and protection.
All these acts are just now beginning to bear
their natural fruits. The revenue is falling off
heavily; progress in redeeming the public debit
mast be suspended, taxation begins to be felt |
by all classes as a burden-and there is every
prospect thatall these evils will grow worse /
instead Of being relieved and removed. Enor |
nous claims, still unidpidated, remain to be
added to the aggregate of the public debt, and
there is at least an even chance that the taxa
ton Of the industry of the country must be i'm |
creased rather than diminished, to meet the
exactions of the impending future.
These things prove the absolute necessity of |
greater economy in the management of our
and greater wisdom in the adoptionI
Of plans for developing cur resources and ALE
waiting the burden of taxation Whether we
may reasonably hope for these aids is a matter.
Of doubt; but it is very certain that without
them, the country will plunge deeper and deep
ar into trouble and confusions-N. Z. Times
s4 srAssaf