Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-08-28
The Decrease of the National Debt.

NOTWITHSTANDING the outcry made by
the Democrats at the assumed increase of
the national debt under Republican man
agement, the figures show beyond ques-
tion that it is not only rapidly diminishing,
but at the same time the taxes are being
reduced
At the beginning of the fiscal year end
ing June 80, 1868, the total amount Of the
debt was $2,511, ,306, ,426. Included in this
amount are, as we showed some days since,
$15,402000 of bonds of the United States
payable. in thirty years by the Union Pa
cif1c Railroad Company, and, in default of
payment by the company, to be paid by the
Government. These bonds, however, are
q second mortgage upon the road, its roll
ling stock, and all the lands granted to it,
which may be in it's possession at the ma
turity of the bonds; and these grants for
privileges are contingent npon the pay
ment of the bonds at maturity by the COM
pany. Now, bearing this in mind, let us
revert to the figures of the debt at the be-
ginning and at the end of the last fiscal
year:
On the 1st of August, 1867, the total
debt, including these Pacific Railroad
bonds, was So Ill ,3O6,4 ,426. On August 1,
1868, the total debt, still including the Pa
ClllC IedIlOdd pOudo3 was Ff|JO~cccf3f
showing what the Democracy falsely as
sert is an increase of $12,228, ,054 in the ag-
gregate debt during that year, but on Au-
gust 1, 1867, the total amount of Pacific
Railroad bonds then issued was $15, 5,402,
600. Since that time the Pacific Railroad
has been built at speed never before
known in the history of railroad con-
struction, and now stretches its continu Gus
| line of rail 1 $50 miles west from Chicago
To aid the company in doing this, the
General Government has loaned its credit
| to the amount of S16,608.000 more, in ad-
dition to the previous 5,402 900, making
a total of $32, 100000 in all. Let us deduct
| this additional $16,808,000 from the total
| debt as it stood on August 1, 1868, and we
| find that the debt has actually decreased
S4, 579, 946 since August /, 1867.
But this is not all There was a large
| Indebtedness of the Government which
never took the form of an absolute promise
to pay in the sense belonging to the bonds,
| Treasury notes, and other national obliga-
tions The soldiers and widows of SOL
diers who had helped to preserve the Re-
public in the war which Southern Demo-
Gratis had waged against it had claims for
| bounties to large amount. A reimburse
| ment of money expended by several of the
States was demanded to the amount of
| many millions of dollars, and thousands Of
individuals, whose property had been
taken or destroyed by our armies during
the war, also made equitable claims. The
bones of Union soldiers killed in battle,
or starved to death in Southern Demo
cratic prisons, were scattered over dozen
States and they were to be gathered with
tender care and placed in National Gene
teries for the reverence of future genera
tions. All these items, though they never
appeared in any schedule of the public
debt, were regarded by the Republican
party as most sacred obligations of the
Observation-Disclosures to be paid be-
| fore all others, as, to great extent, they
have been. These items of extinguished
| debt stand thus:
Bounties -.-.t...-. S3s 600 900
Reimbursing States. ...... 10 330, 1888
| Payments for property destrOyed..... Sill 300
| For National Cemeteries. -.-.-........ 792, $50
Total. 81 ,254, ,34S
Now let us add to this the $4, ,579,946 of
4 lo,,Jad Jn1,4 o.,J -. l..-.1.