Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-09-25
DELAWARE, oHIO. FRIDAY, sEpTEMBER Is. Ieee.

the receipts from this source and from
the renewal of subscriptions to the
/ z $40 loan tided the Treasury over a
most critical period.
4 The inevitable result was, however,
that large payments, the liability for
which actually existed during the
time, and which were properly part
and parcel of the expenses of active
var, we're carried over into the year
succeeding the war, and were then
largely paid from the enormous re-
ceipts of revenue Of that year.
BACK par OF TROOPS.
This liability for back pay; for the
pay Of the troops TO the date of their
/ possible diseharge-for their transpor-
tatiOn, and for the settlement of con
/ tracts, formed part Of the debt of the
United States on the first of April or
on the first of August, 1865, as much
as if it had all been settled and the
bonds issued and entered upon the
books of the Treasury Department.
| These disbursements, under the diTec-
| tion of the War Department; from the
1st of April, 1865, to the Both of June,
1866, period of only fifteen months,
were as follows:
/ April to June 80 1866. 1856 81
July to September so, 1865 ....... 165J J369, ,237
! October to December 81, 1S65..... IS, ,l22,54l
January j 1885, to June 30, 1885,. 50yS57ss2S
Total Is m5htfis. :..... s...l. s688l54s,0 ,07s
During the same period the expen-
dituFes made under the direction OF
the Navy Department were as follows
April 1, 1855, to December 81, 1865 IS S47 Ss9
January /, 1866, to June 80, 1856 H. 46l ,SS4
Total IS tnohtts s.....,.s......s.s76 ,778
It thus appears that the disburse-
meuts made under the direction Ofthe
Army and Navy Departments during
the fifteen months Immediately sue
ceeding April 1, 1865, the month in
which the rebel armies surrended,
amounted to $774 ,863 ,851
WE OWED THIS IN APRIL, 1865.
1t is estimated that very large pro-
potion of this sum, not less than
$400 ,000, 600, was on account of e1pen-
ses incurred and accounts rendered
from three to twelve months prior to
the termination of active hostilities,
and which had been allowed by the
Treasury to remain unliquidated, sim
ply by reason of great financial embar-
rassments.
The remainder is made up mainly of
the following items
Fay. of the army Is months. s2O6 OOO, 900
COTduiSSary and GbuartermaSter'S
Department for subsistence and
transportation about. .....-.....44 60,000,O00 |
Medical and Hospital Department H,3S,00O |
Arrears of pay of discharged or de-
ceased soldiers .-.-... .-...-... l6,1S9,000 |
Bounties -......... 1O,429,oOO
Prize money paid by Navy De-
tits therefore not only legitimate,
but strictly in accordance with the
facts, to assume that thiG large expen-
diture of nearly eight hundred mil
lion dollars from April l, 1865, to !
June 80, 1866, was in every sense a war |
expenditure, and that it was a liability |
on the first Of August, 1866, the date |
on which cur debt appeared to be at |
its maximum by the Treasury books, |
as much as if z $40 notes or $40 |
bonds had been issued and entered !
upon the ledger and this eXpendi- |
ture is to be measured and estimated |
by the same standards as those by |
which the expenditures of the active |
war are adjudged to have been neces-
sary and unavoidable on the one hand, |
or unnecessary and inexpedient on the |
other.
THIS Is NOT ALL.
But the liability which existed at |
that date was even more. There were |
the debts which humanity and honor |
alike have imposed upon the country, |
and which Congress has recognized !
and paid. We were then liable for !
pensions, for the equalization of boun-
ties, for further arrears of pay of de-
ceased soldiers; for the claims of
states, for the property of loyal men
destroyed, for ad dditional prize monsy, |
fer the reconstruction of the rebel |
lious states, for the care of the freed |
men, and for the burial of the dead
The amount of those liabilities |
which ha1e been recogsized and paid, |
and which are not included in the pre- |
vious statement, is as follows:
PENSIONS. SoS W ,595
8ounCles '-'.''. ''.-.-..''' 4SSo5,6
Prize money -....'r- s...-... -.-..-.s l64z,055 /
Reimbursing states for war expen-
ditureS- II y330, ,lSS |
Claims Of loyal men ........ IL Ill 800 |
Freedman's Bureau -, -. $4,000 |
Miscellaneous, including all ex-
penses of reconstruction and ma
Gional cemeteries, esttmated..... 100000 |
EsI45 45,sI2.4Of |
Add to this the expenses of the
army and navy for 10 months,
as previously stated, ,-......-.... n, ,S65. .85l |
And we have total Of ..........s s92O, rs ,252
And in this total we have the
sum to be added to the debt
it stood upon the books of the
Treasury; April ], 1855. 1866 955 OF
Making the aggregate PSI, rs, ,s29
which was the actual maximum of the
war debt, being the expenses of the |
war not paid as they were incurred.
THE DEBT THEN AND NOW.
Bear in mind that these figures are
all official, carefully prepared for me
by Hon. David A. Wells, in order that
I might defend the credit of the Uni
ted States against all comers.
WHAT IS OUR DEBT NOW?
At the end of the fiscal year en-
ding June 30, 1868, it was ....,.$2 5ll 900 900
But in this amount there were
included S26, 100000, of bonds
loaned to the Pacific Railroad.
and to be paid by them.......-. 26,O00,O 900
Net debit. -. ............. s,2,485, ,OOO, 900
WE HAVE PAID OFF 1902 ,733 329.