The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-29
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL oPIEIoEs oP THE LEADING SoURNALs
UPON oURRBFT ToPICs--CoMPILRD EVERY
DAY FOR TBB EVENING TELEGRAPH.
The National Finances.

people, and has borrow ed eighthundred mil
Lions more"
Remarks bg the Tribune.
II simple, Naked barefaced, lneXcusable
falsehood could transform the American people
into Copperheads, it were idle to hope to make
head against those who do not hesitate to make
such shamefully false assertions as those above
quoted. But we have faith in the might Of
truth, and will adduce some facts that ought
To make the authors of such statements blush
for their audaoity.
The amount of the national debt on the 1st
of August, 1865 (three years ago., after de-
Quoting the cash in the treasury, was over
81, 75TO00,000.
The amount OF that debt is now certainly
not over 81, ,517, 900, 600; so that the debt has
been reduced in the last three years not less
than S24O, 900, 900.
What means, then, the naked lie that the
Government has borrowed $500, 100000 in
these yearsf
1t means, we presume, that very large
portion Of the national debt existed, three
years ago, in the shape of certificates of ma
fional indebtedness and other Treasury due
bills which have since been funded into regu-
lar loans. Most certainly, the Secretary of the
Treasury reported, August 2, 1865, that the
total debt over and above the money in the
Treasury, was S2,757, 253, 275, and that the
annual interest accruing thereon was $l39, ,262,-
46S. Will any one pretend that either debt or
The Secretary reported the amount Of legal
tenders then in circulation (including COM
pound interest notes) at $685., 1856 269 This
has been reduced nearly $500, ,000000; and
not mainly by destroying plain legal tenders,
but by redeeming and canceling the
5000, 200, 900 of notes which, while they were
legal-tenders, were drawing compound in
ferest.
Including back interest on these notes, the
Treasury must have paid over $40O 600, 900
for interest on the National Debt within these
two years, beside paying and some cancelling
S24O, 1000, 600 OF principal Here are six hun
dred and forty millions of the fifteen hun
dred millions said to have been raised by
taxes within these three years required and
used to pay principal and interest of the ma
tional debt.
Nor is this all. Three years ago we had not
nearly finished mastering out and paying off
our volunteer armies who had put down the
Rebellion. This proceeding required immense
sums. Mr.. Blaine recently ascertained from
the Treasury Department that, within the six
months that Immediately followed General
Lees surrender (not four of which had passed
on the I'd of August, 1869 six hundred and
twenty-five millions Of dollars were disbursed
in paying off the army and navy, including
their muster-out bou mites. 1t was this that
absorbed most of the Seven-thirty loan,
whereof $3.50, 900 was rapidly taken for
the purpose.
But not merely have large sums been re-
quired since August 2, 1865, to pay off our
volunteers. State after State has presented
claims against the Union for the expense of
raising and equipping troops for the war, and
millions on millions have been allowed them.
All these have sweled the expenditures,
while hardly one State claim remains unad-
justed and unpaid.
Mr. Blaine states the appropriations for the
carrying on of the Government Exclusive OF
Public DebO for the ensuing fiscal year as fol-
lows
Executive, Legislative, and Judi
cial, embracing all Department
salaries and expenses 81, ,4SO, 900 90
For the Army 33 0Sl 0l3 10
For the Navy H. 500 0OO 00
West Point Military Academy y..... 3O2 900 OU
Consular and Diplomatic service" l,206 4S4 90
Post Ofice Departmen t............... 500 900 00
Indian Bureau Treaties, etc. 100000 OC
Rivers and Harbors.................. 4,700 00) OC
Collecting the revenue: :......".."." 1900 900 sc
Sundry civil expenditures con-
nected with the various Depart
ments 0.UzO wv w
Miscellaneous expenses of all kinds,
including cost of certain public
buildings throughout the coun-
try, expenses of reconstruc t4on,
expenses Of closing up Freedmen's M. ~
different appropI iations ......... 1850, 900 90
Making total SlS Az 10
Equal to less than $4,000. 900 in coin.
of course, this does not include the
pI,AUU,OUO III BOlu just pdlu 10 huSSlh LOT
Alaska nor the postage which our people pay
for carrying their letters at two or three cents
piece; and why should it Nay: why should
the 81, 700, 900 appropriated to the improve
ment OF certain rivers and harbors be charged
in this account Every dollar so expended is
permanent addition to the national wealth.
The cost Of collecting the revenue is too
great, but is being rapidly reduced, in conse-
quence OF the repeal OF nearly half our inter-
nal taxes by the present Congress. We hope
to see it reduced within the year to Sc, 600 900.
General Howard is a soldier and Chris
tian, whose word was never questioned. See
ing it asserted in speech by the Hon. B. NJ.
Boyer, of Pennsylvania, that he (Howard)
had estimated the cost of the Freedmen s
Bureau for one year at $ll, 6S4, 450, he felt
constrained to rebuke the lie. Not only had
he made no such estimate, but the total dis
bursements of that Bureau up to the first day
of this year, were less than six millions of dol
lars; and the entire expense, including medical
and commissary stores, and the pay of the
army officers detailed to serve in this field,
falls considerably below ten millions of dol,
lars. "And," adds General Howard, "a large
part Of these expenditures were for the benefit
of Southern whites, reduced to poverty by
the Rebellion
When shall we see these facts and figures
going the rounds of the COpperhead journals
Progress Of the Presidential Campaign
From The ~ Y Herald.
Thus far the Presidential campaign has beer
remarkably fiat. Most of the leaders seem Il
be immured at the watering places or laid uI
with the Vapors, Although the Rem blican NJ