New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-09-29
DELMAR THE DULEFUL.

refutatlOn OF the adage tnaJ hSuice VIII NV
"lep which modern figure mongers have been
able to exhibit, should give his days and nights
to the study of Mr.. Alexander Delmar. The
appointment of this person to the place pre-
viously SO well filled by DR.. VIM. Elder was
Joke. His conduct in Office has furnished no
end of Jokes. One-half the work OF the Treas
ury Department, as to his Bureau, has been
10 suppress his follies; and finally Congress, to
relieve Mr.. McCulloch from this continual in
te,rnption to his more important duties, sup
pressed DIR. Delmar. After the LIST OF January
the places that know him now are
to know him no more forever, and MI
Commissioner Wells is to discharge the duties
of his office. In the last agOnles OF Its oiiiciai
dissolution the expiring joke still fllckers In
the socket. Mr.. Delmar has been the standing
butt of the Treasury Department, the laugh
ing-stock of the clerks, and the marvel OF men
who supposed sense prerequisite Tor oihci@
position. Nothing in his public life has so
become him as his leaving of it; his last days
are his most wonderful days, and even the
pamphlet which reached the climax OF nausea
ting McCulloch himself into suppressing it,
must give way to this last and most absurd OF
the Delmar doings.
Certain merchants who seem anxious for an
account of our financial condition that shall
lower the National credit, appeal to Mr. Del
mar as the fitting man to produce it, lie
promptly responds, and furnishes forth three
columns of figures that darken knowledge and
nsinuate falsehoods most beautifully. Let lis
look at q few of the more glazing misstate-
ments:
|. Mr.. Delmars object is to show that under
Republican management the Treasury is be-
coming bankrupt; that taxes have been
reduced for campaign purposes only, at the
expense of an inevitable deficiency OF
a hundred and fifty millions at the
end of the year, to be made up by future in
creased taxation. He accordingly seeks to mani
pulate the figures so as to show large expendi-
lures and small receipts. His first remarkable
achievement in this line is the estimate that
for the current fiscal year the receipts from
Customs will be only one hundred and fifty
millions. Now, the receipts from Customs last
year are given by Mr.. Delmar himself at
S1G4, 800 To make out his case, he only
askA to believe that they must this year be
trifc of fourteen-and-a-half millions less.
The Chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means in an elaborate discussion of this sub
iect before the House, said: at is difficult
"to imagine a contingency which shall,
for the present, reduce tho Customs
receipts below one hundred and sixty-fige
millions But man has been found who is
equal to this feat of the imagination. His
name is Alexander Delmar.
III. We are next informed that the receipts
from Internal Revenue for the ensuing year
will be only hundred and twenty mil
lions. Last year, with all the stealing of Mr..
Johnsons revenue agents, they were a hundred
and ninety three millions. We have improved
the law, and made more rigid provisions
against the stealing of the Democratic tax-gather-
ers; we mean, next March, to turn out the
thieves and put in honest men. Yet Mr.. Del
mar expects us TO believe that we shall thus Sc
cure for the Government the bagatelle OF sew
enty-one millions less than the thieves left it.
The Chairman Of the Ways and Means Com
mittee, being responsible TO the House and the
country for the accuracy of his estimates, in
matter wholly within his hands, declared his
belief that, under the amended law which he
proposed, the receipts would be S2lO5OO,OOO.
He was not able to carry through all his
amendments; but his very lowest estimate,
avowedly based upon possible failure to col
lect any more of the whisky and tobacco taxes
for 1869 than for 1868. was $1G4,OOO,000. Mr..
Delmar has more faith in Mr.. Johnson's thieves
than this. lie ciphers down the taxes that
may be expected to escape their clutches
Jorfy-hco millions below this figure.
III. On the receipts from the sales Of public
lands Mr.. Delmar is quite moderate. The re-
ceipts last year were S1,94S,715. Neither the
Commissioner of the Land Office, the Secretary
OF the Treasury, nor the Chairman of Ways and
Means, dreams that they will be any less next
year, and so Mr.. Delmar only cuts them down
ohe-fourth. In the same way, the direct tax
having only amounted to about two millions
last year, Mr.. Delmar moderately restraints him
self to modest reduction to million and a
half
". But it is on the miscellaneous receipts
that Mr.. Delmar comes out again in all his
glory In the last fiscal year these were within
few thousands of forty-seven millions. This
year our financial oracle thinks they will be
five millions He gives absolutely no
explanation of this enormous falling off which
he pretends to anticipate. Perhaps, however
W, can aid him. A large part of the miscella-
neous receipts has been derived from the pre-
mum on the sales of gold. This item has
been wholly left out. The result is blunder
(oc swindle-and such is tho composite char
ader of this remarkable financial light that we
an in constant doubt as to how much Of him
is blunder and how much swindle)-the result
is blunder of only Jtorty-two millions
V. The entire expenditures Of the Govern
nnnt for the last fiscal year were S37O,339,O73
There is no page or porter about the Treasury
rtpaor,t ioranrnnt lnh not To lnnu thnt