Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-10-16

A..0 ff-lTt caTf f77!I 90 s1ciiO4 esq 1a4-
Buchanan's administration for all purposes,
including the army and navy! U1
BUCaANAN's EXPENSES. .I7'A-
Again The address sets down the ex-
penses- of the last wear of Mr.. Buchanan's |
administration at SIG, 81 600. This. is in
correct. The official reports show that the |
expenses for the fiscal year ending Both |
June, 1861. were only S62.537, III, exclusive
of principal and interest on the public |
debt. During the year previous, ending |
307h June, 1860, they. were $66.01O1l2. |
Everybody remembers how these expenses |
were denounced as extravagant in the po-
litical canvass of 1s60.J They formed the
chief plank in the Chicago platform of that
year. Yet now the expenses under the
single head of 'scivil and miscellaneous"
excluding entirely the army and navy,
equal almost the entire expenses under
buchanan 1aaf1o ..slEeH rCl usiiGl g1l
cane. e-s EXECUTIVE EXPENSES. 9yai-
Take the item ofexpenditures on account
of the executive" During the two last
years of Buchanan's administration, the
total expenses on account of the executive
was $3,709,l6l, or an average of $l,S54,550
per annum. The expenses on account of
executive for the year ending Both June, |
1857, were s9,e03, 101. The average expen-
previous to 1861 were $l,SS3,510 per an
mum. Assuming the expenses of the year
1S67-S to be the same as those of the year
previous the average expenses for the
seven years since 1861 will be S., ,432, ,6A per
-annum, being three tinsss the average ex-
penditures of the eight years previous
And so we find it IL every branch of the
Government, whether directly or remotely
connected with war expenses or not.
Look at the Congressional expenses, tor
instance. During the eight years of Pierce
| and Buchanan's administrations with al
| full Senate and House, the expenses aver
aged S25S0,430 per annum. During the
| last seven years we have had fractional
Houses-ten States not being represented
yet the expenses of Congress have aver
aged 50, 296 .S39 per annum; an increase of
one third, Notwithstanding the diminished
representation, and the large savings grow
ing out of the Government printing estab
lishment. These comparisons might be
/ continued with the same, and, indeed, more
marked results; but it is not necessary to
pursue them further. They all concur in
establishing the fact: that with unlimited
supplies OF legal tender,7 called money
manufactured to order, general inditfer-
ence TO economy or expense, has pervaded
the party in control OF the appropriations
and expenditures; whilst in the excitement
| and turmoil of war, and agitation, subse-
quently these important matters have been
| in-a great degree overlooked, or concealed
from public view. t75' p- el4@
/ IlH 9 REcAPIrULATIoN. 5s-la -
i have now examined the leading points
contained in this address, A recapitula-
tion is presented in which it is attempted
to be shown that the maximum OF the pub
lie debt on 1st august, 1866, was $3,2S7,-
1888 329, and a statement of the different
forms in which the debt existed. Practi-
a M Qt n n0rtanop Y.
cept as statistical fact, whether the pub
lie debt was the amount claimed at this par
ticuldr period or not. We know what 1t is
no,o. We know how much money hes been
collected from the people and expended
during the last seven years. These two
amounts comprise the sum total of eX-
y penses of the Government during four
years of war and three and half years OF
quasi war. The financial exhibit for the last
seven years presents the following result:
Collected from the people by internal
taxes, duties on imports. &C.. Sc 457 57o942
All this has been expended, except S1O7,-
641, ,971, reported in the Treasury on 1st
September, 1868. - ~ '
The particular sources from which this
vast revenue was collected, are as follows
From miscellaneous receipts. 25s O7o. .244 s5
From duties on Imports. .-...--' Ss434 sl5 d
| :
OF which 1924, ,9l5 was in guild. The
. miscellaneous receipts include premiums
, on sales of gold not needed for payment oil
interest, proceeds of sales of public lands
captured and connscated property, g.
This sum of receipts represents only the
moneys actually paid into the Treasury
Commissioner Wells is authority for saying
p that mot more than one-half of the assess
ed internal revenue ever reaches the
, Treasury" II ti'5J -i--t li' - "a
Now, if to this revenue collected and ex-
pendedwe add the increase of pu blic debt, we
shall have clear view of the operations OF
the.last seven and half years, viz:
Coeotions from duties. taxes Be-. % 4s7 57o94s S?
Increase of public debt...:.. ... e.444746 5s5 OC
:. Total 81 gia 3 II ,5a7 s.
Less money in Treasury. Ist Sep y -.ll7i -
Balance. .s4. .se4 s75. .056 s.
The total expenditures during the
eight years o. Pierces and Bu- =
cnanaa's administrations were-... 500 1885, AL 81
.. ---
Excess. ,3O4 4S9. ia 90
Assuming, therefore, that had it not been
for the war the expenditures the last seven
, years of Republican ADMINISTRATION would
not have exec eded those of hetwo preced-
) ing Democratic administrations which were
denounced as eXtravagant and corrupt we
hnd the excess of expenditures chargeable
to the war, or increased extravaganza, to
2 be 81, ,304, 131, 115.
This is simple statement not complca-
ted with collateral circumstances or details,
which cannot be denied or evaded. The
fact of the collection and expenditure OF
the money is shown by the highest Off
cial authority. The fact of the Increase oi
the debt is known and admitted by all.
10 properly appreciate the magnitude oil
these expenditures, it is only necessary to
contrast them with the previous history OF
the country. From the formation of the
Gov ernment till 1861, a period of seventy
! years, the entire collections were only
81, ,S03 642 259, and in that period we had
war with Great Britain, on sea and land,
for nearly three years; war with Mexico,
> in which our armies operated on foreign
/ soil, for nearly two years, and numerou:
wars with powerful Indian tribes.
In the face of these astonishing figures
T and facts, the author OF this address de-
: clareS: -rE.q . ..
Il challenge any one to deny that this
exhibit proves that the finances OF the
country have been managed by the Repub
: lican party with success never before
I known in the history of the world.''
If to make expenditures without prece.
! dent, to create a debt in the short space OF
, seven years equal in magnitude to the debts
> of other nations, the growth of centuries