The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-07-22

consideration of your own uncomforla
BILE position in this sweltering atmos
phere-by the consideration of the dis
tance many Of yea have to travel Il
your homes, and by the further fac
that you have to-day heard speech
which would render it perfectly ex
cusable in me were / to say to you, ont
and all, you have had enough for thi'
day, We may put off to another occa
sion hearing any more. g.,
But since you are disposed to hear me
l will, in a very brief space of time
present to you some facts and some
ideas that l wish you to bear in you
memories, and to consider, as American
citizens anxious to do your duty to you
country, whatever are, or have been
your past party predictions. And i
there are in this audience any gentle
men of the Republican or Radical par
ty, pray their attention as much q:
any Democrat here; for what / have tt
say, DO it of much or little value, o:
much interests them rs me, or any ont
of yeu.
THE PUBLIC DEBT.
First, then, upon the subject Of the
public debt and public taxation, oi
which you have heard this morning, in
the lucid and comprehensive remarks oi
my friend, Mr.. Pendleton. He spoke Of
them in masterly manner, but it would
be impossible for me, or any other man,
in the limits of single spcech-much
less o speech of an hour-to exhaust
this great subject. Therefore, ! wish to
call your attention to few facts in ad-
dition to those presented by him, and a
few comparisons and ideas, also, in addl-
tion to those he presented.
First-What is the amount of our
public debit 1t was lately stated in
the newspapers to be S2,5OO,0OO, 600;
what it is exactly on this day / am un-
able to say, because the Treasury De-
for some reason or another, is
particularly dilatory of late in making
its monthly statements. Perhaps it may
arise from the fact that the last month
ly statement showed an increase of the
public debt of over 50, 100000 in sim
gle month, and that common rumor
says that the next monthly statement
will show an increase of $4,000, 900.
Think of that, my friends, if you have
not become utterly bewildered by these
great sums with which your ears arc
lssailed. Nine millions of dollars in
crease of public debt in one month. a
sum sufficient to have carried on the
in the days of General
Jackson for six entire months; sum
with which he carried on this Govern
ment in all its departments for the space
of six months is simply the increase
not of the expenditure of the Govern
mcnt,-but the increase of the public
debt in the short space of n month. But
what is this debt from official docu-
mentsY All the figures l shall give
yOu will be from an official document,
from the report of tho Secretary of the
Treasury of the United States to the
Congress of the United States, and pub
lished by Congress. On November lst,
of last year,-and if it has been reduc-
cd since, it has not been to any great
degree so as to relieve the people,-the
public debt was S2,S45, 5,907 $50; in round
numbers, 81, SAC, 900, 900 was the admit
it) the admitted public
debt of the United States.
How much more debt was there 7
Why, Mr.. Thad. Stevens, frem the
Chairman of the Committee Of Ways
and Means, declared, in his place on the
Iloor of the House of Representatives,
that, taking the uuaudited debt and
adding to it the audited debt of the
the debt of the United States
was not less than S5,OOO,OOO, 900. But
suppose they passed the sponge of repu-
men who are denouucing
Mr.. Pcndleton as a rcpndiator neeause
he wants them TO pay iivo-twcnties in
the money provided for thcm-suppose
they passed the sponge of reputation
over all this unauditcd debt, and we
take the actual debt at the amount
stated, 81, 800, 900; then, my friends,
add 10 that the debts of the States, the
lebts of the counties, the debts OF the
cities, the debts of the townships and
towns, to say nothing about the debts
Jf the great corporations OF the cOun.
Try, and We, the people of the United
States, who rccellcct when Jackson is
sued his proclamation, that the Govern
nent of the United States owed not
dollar in tho world we, who remember
that full well, find that within our short
lives we have become tho most deeply
involved and most heavily taxed people
On the globe. A voice: That's true"
No wonder these gentlemen seek to
avoid this issue of taxation, ard have
now started the theory that tho only
question in the issue this year is, whc.
ther We shall have another civil war or
not, TO friehtcn-I will not say old wo.
men, / will not be so disrespcctful to
the ladies-but to frighten men, whose
hearts are so timid that an army of
women, with broom sticks, could chase
them out of the country. Laughtcr.l
Compare our public debt with that of
Great Britain, heretofore the most deep
" indebted country in the werld, and
compare our resources with hers, and see
how the thing stands. The debt of
Great Britain is four thousand million
dollars. The admitted debt of the Uni
ted States, with the State debts, the
and those l have alluded
to added, make it equal TO the debt
of Great Britain. But Great
Britain has 100000 people with
in the British Isles alone, and in India
and her Colonies, 200, ,000, 900 more, while
we have but 3l,000,00O. So that with
but 81 ,OOO, 900 of people, we owe as much
money as Great Britain, with 236, ,OOO, 900
of people.
RATE OF TAXATION.
Again, my friends, look at the rate Of
The rate of taxatiOn-I take
it from an official document, the report
of the Special Commissioner of Reve-
nue, published by Congress, ana which
q comparative table of taxa
tion in this country and Europe-the
rate Of taxation in Great Britain is
ninety cents OIL one hundred dollars;
the rate of taxation by the Federal
Government alone, for the fiscal year
1867, was 393 cents; more than three
dollars more than the taxation in what
we used to call ":ax-ridden Great Brit
ain" "Oh, but" says some one, "sure.
ly, Mr.. Thurman, you must be mistaken.
pay no s. 93 in the hundred dollars, TO
the General Government"
IL you. in ysur Darticular case, do not