The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1868-07-19

Sriee. iessnSssiy, { tklak, sssss t0sstysfenf
niHisa ap1sspriaiions ovssiapfin9 NON - -
wAieA ~ slossd = III prsssst ~ insofre ~
Il, heoonso this aneoat VII ~ oness ~ nMtsax
s.e.at vAieh ovsriaps ftsn Iris ysaf u In Dsxt,
ahone is 49, anount going oyer each yeas, sna
this iron nssssslty owing 70 ths mode 81 dssfes-
nenl havs als9 mAde the ano0nt for be1nstss
- niIIlea ~ thar The CAaisnan sstinates, b.
easss iasgs pfppoftioa which y inslsdee = ens
ysss M nsssssasily = paid u TIE sn.sssg yea!
the lass soldir honssbly paid a sad the Treasury
rslisysd from further obligation IN that direction
Aadine together theee ordinary expenditures, -
I hsve aheve. ths sam totsl il foand TO be one
hunAred NJ slx million eight hundred and cieh,
teen thousand four hundred and forty seven dol
lars. II Congress can b accused 81 extraya-
eaacs the eccusation must Be made good on these
6xurss, or else abandoned, for tn. ether srsnai-
turss = have already repeatsd, lie ri.Aoat The
pale Of Congressional discretion or control.
clear estimate Of the character Of these exPendi
turos may b. eathersd By comparing them WITH
the oetlays incurred sadx ~ Last Denocresic
aAninteAestion. For exaapI~, IN 1898 the
snme class Of sxpsrses in Buehnsen's administra-
tiou wsrs over serenity million dollars in gold,
/ vhsreas the ono hundred and six million eight
hundred and eighteen thousand four hundred snd
forty -ssvsn dollars above named arc in paper 1t
must 10 observed, moreover, that in 1878 the
population Of this country was under thirty mil
ions, whereas TO- day IL il well nigh forty miions.
Adding forty per cent. premium on gold, - bring
the Expenditures Of tbs last two eras to the same
staadaxd, and NJ ind the outlays Of Buchanan
were 1t the rate Of over ninety millions IN paper
day. To this add one-third for increase Of pop
ulation, and We 6nd the Buchanan expenditures,
adjusted TO the scale Of to day, would amount to
~ hundrsa md thirty million dollars for the
name itsms that ~ Ar paying less than one hun
drsd and seven millions. And ID this calculation
I have said nothing about the increased military
and naval force Of the present day, which adds
immensely to the account in favor Of present
economy.
This calculation, stated in these general terms,
II fks mors striking and suggestive ~heh yeu
come to examine detsils. The army, for instance.
cost during ths four years of Buchanan'e admin
istraticn, by the official statement Of the Treasury
Department, which bold in my hand, the large
aggregate of $50, 307 SIS IS, making an average
of we'll nigh twenty-five millions each year in
gold. And 1t that time tho army consisted in all
of nineteen regiments, SO that each regiment cost
considerably over million each year in gold. The
6xny at present contains sixty regiments and yet
Ne whole appropriation asked for by Gen. Grant
amounts to little than thirty three millions
tribe more than half million per regiment each
year in paper. In other words the army under
the peace establishment of Democratic admins
tration Immediately preceding the cost per reg
imsnt largely more in gold than the army now
costs per regiment in paper under the peace estab
lishment - administered by Genersl Grant. The
same scale Of expenditure INDUCED in under the
standardization Of Buchanan would make our
present army cost over seventy millions in gold
hundred millions in paper; and until the latter
figure IL exceeded the Democratic psrtisans of Bu
ehanan can have no ground to charge that army
expenses ara sxIAvagAnt. When We look at the
actual amount spent for legitimate army expenses
we 80 good ground for the high compliment be-
slowed BY President johnson, when, few months
ha mn ofv rInin
jndicious economy as the direct cause Of saving
many millions TO the Treasury With General
Grants election to the Presidency and the final
psciication Of the Southern States, our army will
Ut once b reduced and the expenditures Of the
WAr Department viii be brought to point so in
considerable no longer to be felt burden to
the tax payer.
The comparison in regard TO naval expenditures
at the two periods have named are equally sug.
gestive aud striking. For the four years Of Blu
csanan's administration the navy, by the .fieial
1scord. cost ffty>two million six hundred ard
forty-h thousand nine hundred and ninety eight
dollars and eighty nine cents---showinG aver
ago Of more than thirteen millions per annum in
gold coin. With much larger navy, and with
the disadvantage of paper money ard high prices.
our appropriations this year are trife under
eighteen millions Taking the difference in the
sire Of the navy at the two periods and the dis.
parity between gold and paper. and VIC should ne
of expenditure, in appropriating we'll nigh forty
millions for tho years service. These facts
certainly suggestive and instructive.
In our Post Office expenditures, compared
with those Of the Democratic regime, the differ
ence IL, If anything. more striking than in the
relative expenses Of the army and navy. Be-
| sides using up all the postal receipts, the Post
Offce Department for the three last years Of Bu-
ohanan's administration made drafts the Treas
ury to the amount of over five millions year in
one year running up TO nearly seven millions.
During the hole tims the Republicans have been
in power, the drafts on the Treasury for the snp-
port Of the postal service have NOT averaged two
millions Of dollars per annum. and with this mod
crate expenditure We have been enahe' T. carry
ON the immense mail service IN tAe ietsfr.f OF The
continent and to the shores of the Pacific through
all our remote territories and Fparsely peop|ed
sections, and have also been able to maintain
superb line Of mail steamers from San Francisco
to Hong Kong and from New York to Rio Janeiro,
none Of which extraordinary enterprises and e.
penlitures were levied on the department during
Buchanan . administration.
These comparisons might be quite indefinitely
continued. exhibiting in each item the same re-
suit, and demonstrating with mathematical GER
tanty that when We take into account ihe vast iu-
crease OF population and the rapid aud unpreee-
dented development Of our country during the
time the Republican party has been in power,
and when We take into further account the fact
that We have been all the while subjected as
csssty Of the war to the disadvantage of high
prices resulting from paper money: taking, say.
these facts into account, assert aud defy contra
diction that large MS our expenditures have neces
sarily been. they have yet been or scale of econ
omy and fidelity quite unknown during the last
Democratic administration that afflicted the
try. And assert further, and call both poiti-
cal friend and foe to the witness stand in support
Of my declaration, that whenever and wherever
General Grant, has been able to control govern
mental expenditure, economy integrity. fidelity,
and rigid retrenchment and reduction have been
the unvarying result.
Consider further, Mr.. Chairman, that while the
Republican PARTY has been providing the means
for these expenditures they have been at the same
time effecting immense reductions in the public
debt and continually and largely reducing taxa
ton. Within the three years that have elapsed
since the war closed and the army was mustered
out, We have reduced the public debt between two
and three hundred million dollars, and at each se.-
sion Of Congress, while this reduction of the debt
WAS going on, We have TAKEN off millions upon
millions of taxation from the productive industry
Of the nation At the first session of the Thirty
ninth Congress, the first that convened after the
close Of the war, taxes were removed that had the
preceding year yielded . revenue Of sixty million
dollars and at the second session of the same Con
gross forty one millions more Of taxes wero
promptly repealed. The Fortieth Congress has
not been behind the Thirty ninth in this respect,
for We hsve already repealed taxes that last year
gave ne revenue of ninety millions. And to day
the taxes Of the Federal Government are so wisely
adjusted, and collected from such few sources
that no man feels them burdensome, oppressive or
sxacting. Demagognes may misrep,esent ard
pertisana may arsail, but the people know and feel
that to dav the taxes levied by the Federal Gov
srnment are not an oppression to the individual
and not hindrance to the development Of the in
dnstfial resources Of the land.
~ L. ~