The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1868-09-24
KENosHA WISCONSIN, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER "A, 1868.
The National Debt one-fourth paid Al.
100. 81 raadv.

/ ' ready.
Il There is a great deal Of mis-statemel
and misapprehension among the peopl
with regard to the condition of our n;
tioilal Debt, and the progress alread
made towards its payment. The erro
arises from the manner in which the See
rotary Of the Treasury makes his month";
statements, which have misled the pee
pie by several hundred millions, as to tn
extent of the war debt, or the rapIdit
with which it las been reduced Tn
monthly statements only show the amour
# bonds ard notes outstanding at the enc
If each thirty days They omit gigin;
ohe monthly receipts and disbursements
orthe amount Of war claims presented anC
audited for payment. For example, TWEEN
j 6y millions OF war claims may be paid il
a certain month, not by issuing bonds, bu
with surplus revenue from taxation /; ye
the country will not be credited with hav
! ing paid cent of war debt 1t is only
when bonds have been issued or redeemed
that the monthly statement exhibits an in
crease or decrease of the debt. 1.-THE Sec
rotary had charged the Treasury with all
che claims against the government which
have been allowed and paid by bonds
notes or taxes, the national debt would
stand $3,287, 733,229, and the payments
thereon, up to July 1, 1868, 802,000,000,
reducing the debt at that date to less than
$2,5O0,0O0,0O0, not including the bonds
| loaned to the Pacific railways thus prov
| ing that the debt has actually been re-
duced by the proceeds of taxation $780,
600, 900 instead of $250,000,000, as is gen
orally claimed
The sum of the debt is usually named
from its maximum amount as stated Aug.
l, 1865. The 2,758 millions of debt re-
ported in the Treasury Statement of Aug
II, 1865, only represented the amount then
ascertained, audited and entered upon the
books and for which bonds and green
backs had been issued. But there were
still heavy war liabilities outstanding,
which had not been settled, but have since
then been allowed and paid off from the
proceeds of taxation. These debts were
III the form Of claims for back pay and
Dounties due the armyand navy; TOR rail-
road, steamboat and ocean transportation;
for army and navy stores and supplies !;
for unsettled claims of contractors; Tor
Comm issary and Quartermaster's Depart
ment subsistence !; for Medical and Hos
pital Department; for horses, mules wag-
ons, tools, oats and hay for cannon, small
arms, ammunition, accoutrements and
clothing for claims of loyal States for
war expenditures fer claims for proper
ty of loyal people destroyed; for'support
of starving people in the South, both white
and black for bounties of 500 each TO
100000 veteran soldiers who had preyl-
ously received no Federal bounty, and
numerous other claims arising out OF the
war, all of which were just and valid and
had to be paid, and must, therefore, be
included as part OF the national DEBT
and expense Of putting down the gle {
Democratic rebellion, 8saa3 s .4.l.a. FL
Hon. Edward Atkinson, of Boston, de-
liyered a speech before the Massachusetts
state Republican Convention, Sept. l0th,
ia which he went over the entire matter
Of the National finances, item by item,
rith official data from tine office OF Hon |
David A. Wells, Special Commissioner OF
the Reyenue. Afr' Atkinson is regarded
in New England as high authority on
financial and statistical subjects, and he
challenges any fair OF honest retutatlon OF
the figures he presents He shows from
the official Treasury statements that the
actual indebtedness of the nation, audit
ed and unaudited, on Aug. /, 1965,was So
2S7, 733, 229; that it was, on July /, 1868,
81, 4S5 900, 000-eXclusive OF PACING ran
road bonds-being an actual reduction, as
aforesaid, of 1902 900 900. He shows that
the government received from April l,
1865 to July l, 1868, a period OF three
years and three months, from taxation,
sale of military stores and vessels and pre-
MUM on gold, the sum of $1,540,059, 593.
Out of this money there were paid on ar
my and navy account $774,S65,S51. And
there were paid for bounties, prize moo
pensions, reimbursipg .:-.S... .,ta,o-. losses
TO loyal men, support OF the starving poor
OF the rebel States etc, the further sum
OF $145,912,401. These two sums must be
added to the national debt as it stood
April 1, 1865. q The audited debt on that
day was $2,360,953,077. The account
then stands thus: .- lfI oests..f
Audited debt, April /, 1865. 80, 1886, 955, OFT
Debt since audited. ........... We, nc, 252
Total national debt. SO, 2s7, 733, 800
Total national debt Sept.1, 1868 2,535, sl4 ,3I5
Me- $752, 11s,9l6
Credit for Alaska and Pacific .fas4
5a - - -
Total debt'paid .....,..... 1874 1872. 81
The debt has not only been reduced by
nearly 800 millions from its maximum
point in the summer of 1866, but Con-
gress in the meanwhile has three several
times repealed taxation, amounting in
the aggregate to nearly two hundred mil
lions per annum, and has so readjusted
internal taxation that it no longer bears
oppressively upon industry-indeed, 1t is
now scarcely felt by any one. All this
mighty work has been achieved in the
short period of three years and five
months, and it has been done in the face
Of the combined and persistent opposition
of the President and his office holders, he
Copperheads Of the North, the rebels Of
the South and the democratic wlllskey
ring, 7 who all united to thwart the Re
publican party, nullify the acts of Con-
gress, squander the revenues, defeat the
collection of taxes, and prevent the or
ganization of State Governments IN the
South, republican in form, as required by
the Constitution.
WALkING ON WATER.-An interesting
experiment was recently made at Hayre,
rance An American named Stoner,
DIR SGD in al "a late costume OF his own
invention, and accompanied by friend
similarly attired, jumped into the sea
from steamer and moved about in the
water in an erect attitude, the waite I
only up to the breast. He and his friend
ate and drank provisions, which they
nad taking with them IN tin hox, they
ired off pistols hoisted fag upon the
box, lay down upon the water, and pre-
formed various other feats, apparently
as much at their case as If they mad been
| On dry land After an hour, Dir. Stoner