Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1868-09-10
WHY A CHANGE is NEEDED,

Inc NNOOnai ucut ~ INV e"oht9
ak hundred millions Of dollars. Lee
surrendered on the 9sh day of April,
sls65 the National debt on that day
was twenty three hundred and sixty
seven millions.
In three years Of peace the debt has
increased two hundred and thirty
three millions.
The people have paid into the Treas
ury in those three years, fifteen hun
dred and twenty millions. In 1865,
1861, ,572, 900; in 1866, s490, ,634 900,
and in 1867, s471, 100000.
The official statements show that
In the last two months the debt has
increased sl3,258, ,593.
All of this money camo from the
earnings of the people, and should
have been applied to paying the debt;
for it is mortgage upon all OF our
property, and encumbers and oppress-
es us in our business
Every article that enters into our
daily use and consumption is taxed to
raise this money. The poor mans tea
pays twenty-five cents in gold his
sugar, four cents; his coffee, i've cents
the leather out of which his shoes are
made, the matches with which he
lights his fire, the shovel, the pick, the
plow and the harrow, all bear their
share of these taxes, and all these
increase the cost of living.
This system of taxation is more Sc
we're on the poor than the rich-for
the necessities of man (and not his
property are taxed, so that poor
man with a family of six, pays three
times as much tax as the itch man
with family of two.
In the year ending June 30, 1868,
four hundred and seventy millions of
dollars were taken from the comforts
and necessities of the daily lives of the
people, and were put into the Treasury
of the nation.
There are thirty millions Of people
in the Union, and this is more than
fourteen dollars for each man, woman
and child.
This is mainly paid in buying what
we eat, drink and wear.
About eight days work are now
required from the laboring man, to
buy barrel of -four, while in 1860
four days work would buy as good a
one. One days work now will only
buy five pounds of coffee, while in 1860
it would buy twelve pounds.
The farmer, the mechanic and the
merchant, find their profits all spent
in the increased cost Of living in the
large taxes imposed for State, county,
municipal and city purposes in the
increased cost of tools, Of clothing, of
labor hired, and of taxes upon income,
and they have nothing left.
Increase of the debt meansincreased
hours Of labor, increased taxes, and
increased privations to the mass of the
people.
The Radicals hare uasted your mon
ey, and ought 10 be turned out
The reconstruction Of the South,
with the negro above the white man,
prevents prosperity there. The enor-
nous taxes we pay go to maintain the
army and the Freedmen's Bureau in
the South for this purpose. Instead
of us paying over 100 millions each
year to do this, the South ought 10 be
put TO work TO earn 200 millions (as
they did before the war; TO help US to
pay the debt and the taxes.
Take a,Oay the army and the Bureau,
giUe the ,ohite man as good a chance as
the negro, and 1t ioiH be done
They cannot buy our iron, cotton
and woolen manufactures as long as
we persist in keeping them poor. Put
them to work to develop their resour-
ces, allow them TO aid in governing
themselves, and we viii relieve our
selves from grievous burthen.
The Radicals hare put the negro
abore the achite man, and ought TO be
turned out.
The exemption of bonds from taxa
ton is unjust and oppressive. The
poor man who owns house and lot,
has no right TO be taxed TO protect the
property and educate the children of
the rich man, who pays none, because
his property is all in U. s. bonds.
The Radicals made this system, and
defend 1t, and they ought to be turned
out.
A greenback dollar is now worth
about sixty-eight cents in gold. There
are sixteen hundred millions of 500
bonds, which the bondholders want
paid in gold, but which the law prom.
ised to pay in greenbacks. We now
pay them one hundred ard thirty mil.
lions in gold every year, and we find
this gricvous load The debt bear
ing gold interest has increased sixty
seven and half millions in the last
two months. This has added four
millions to our burthens. If the prin-
cipal Of the 5-20s be paid in gold, il
will add eight hundred million dollars
to the value Of the claim they make,
and this terrible debt will crush the
energies Of the people. They paid
greenbacks for the bonds at fifty cents
on the dollar, and the contract was,
they were to take the same in pay.
The Radicals are for paying the bond
holder in gold, and ought to be turned
out.
Reduce the enormous, useless and
corrupt expenses of the Government,
and thus dispense with taxation and
leave the money with the people.
Pay the debt as rapidly as possible
remove the curse Of negroism in the
South, and let the white man govern
himself and help us pay our debt; tax