The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1868-10-13
Average Expenditure Yearly Since
the War Over S460,OOO,O0O.
A DEFICIT OF $l54,OOO,OOO.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
TO COME.
$SO.OOO.OOO Given to Man.
ufacturerss
Agriculturists to Pay 1t,
from the New York Herald

ness" this month. We use the language
Of the Washington telegram as to the
''small Increases" but the correspondent
says 1T may possibly reach t,oo million .fue
hundred thousand dollars IS at the
rate Of thirty millions a gear. This does
not strike us as small increase. We
should not be surprised, however, if the
sum named were to be below the figure
when the official statement is published
1t is said that this increase is owing prin-
cipally to the unusually heavy expendi-
lures of the War Department in carrying
out the Radical measures of reconstruc-
ton. We learn, at the same time, that
the receipts from internal revenue are
surprisingly small, and that the cash in
the Treasury has been pretty well reduc-
ed.
This is anything but fattering pros
pect to our national finances. 4
How could it be otherwise? The eX-
penditures Of the Government continue
to be enormous. They are war expend-
itures in amount, though the country is
at peace, and has been for more than
three years past. The heaviestis for the
War Department in carrying out the re-
construction measures of Congress. 1t
would bejbetter to say, however, that this
uaSt erpense has been for keeping the
South IN a disorganized and distracted
condition, for that is achat this so-called
reconstruction amounts to. Then the
enormous appropriations by Congress
for all sorts of schemes, bounties, Freed
mems Bureau, and private enterprises
must soon drain the Treasury dry when
the income is falling Off. The stupen-
dous frauds in the internal revenue, and
the decentralization of that department
through the dead lock between Commits
sioner Rollins and Mr.. McCulloch and
the President, threaten to reduce the in
come from that source far below the es-
Inmates. A hundred millions of taxation
were taken off for the benefit of few
New England and other manufacturers,
while the expenditures and appropria-
tions remained on the largest scale. We
see this extraordinary anamoly in the
condition of the country, that while the
crops are most abundant and general
prosperity prevails, the debt is being in
creased and the Treasury approaching
bankruptcy.
REMARKS.
Mr.. MeCulloch made a public state
ment when Congress had under conside-
ration the party electioneering bill of the
Jacobins, to take off taxes from manu-
facturers, as follows:
"Should the bill referred to become a
law, think it may be fairly estimated
that the total revenues for the next fiscal
year will fall from hundred to hundred
and twenty millions below the estimates
made in my last annual report. 1t is
exceedingly desirable that taxes should
be reduced, and / should hail with pleas
ure the proposed reduction if felt as
sured that it would be accomplished with
corresponding reduction of expendi-
lures. 1 am free to say that l am great
ly apprehensive that such reduction OF
expenditures will not be made, and that
the revenues of the country for the next
fiscal year, if the bill now before the Sen
ate, or in the hands of your committee,
should become law, will be>insufficient
to meet the interest on the public debt
and the current expenses OF the Govern
ment."
"But this warning" says the report of
Mr.. Delmar, "was Intellectual. The bill
it alluded to was passed on the 31st of
March, 1868; and the public service in
stead of being cut down, was increased
by the creation of new functions and the
appointment of additional officers In a
word, the amount of service to be per-
formed, whether actual or nominal, is
more than it was last year, ,ard it is there
fore vain to look for any reduction for
the present"
The consequence, as states the same
report, sis, if the Treasury endeavors to
meet it's current expenditures this year
Ito say nothing of matured claims de-
ferred, or of the Post Office deficiency
it will show deficit of $154, ,339, ,202 %
at the end of the year, to be obtained
from increased taxes or loans.'''
Mr.. Delmar's report of the financial
condition, published yesterday, show the
expenditures for the last three years, as
follows:
For 1866. Az, ,103 62
For 1S66-7................ .392 ,444, 291 "a
For 1S67-S.. ............... 414,913,604 19
The expenditures for the last fiscal year
were not actual war expenditures, but
were those made in time of profound
peace, and in the third year after the war,
and when its great Incidental expenses
had ceased. This statement also shows
that our expenditures are increasing, hav-
ing been S22 22,469,312 S5 greater during
the last fiscal year than.t the year prece-
ding. The greatest mistake in former
unauthorized statements was, in omitting
from expenditures authorized the sum OF
S144,778,472 25, being unexpended bal
ances of former appropriations.
The expenditures specially authorized
for the current fiscal year will be S4S2,-
059,202 %, thus showing an increase oi
expenditure in the current fiscal year en-.
ding SOth June, 1869, the fourth year af.
ter the war, Of $37 1858 04, as com
pared with the year preceding. Here,
too, we find balances outstanding of old