Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-04-16

CUOs
industrial taxes, and also Offset the amount
derived during the last fiscal year from the
tax on raw cotton"
And he recommends Il system which will
remove annual taxes heretofore collected as
follows:
Raw cotton. .s23 TO 900 90
Iron and manufactures Of .......... I,92OO0J 90
Cotton mannflctuies. 2jO0OU 10
wooden manufactures. 4,s0OOOi 90
All other manufactures, except liquors
ana tobacco .......,.,............. Al O2o QUO W
Total. ...S9l 5i0,OlU 0J
This will approximate system of taxa
tion which will relieve great burdens, in
crease industry, and on this subject give
satisfaction to the people.
In brief, then, on behalf of my constitu-
ents, demand
"That the Army, at the earliest practica-
BILE moment, he re1aced to the minimum re-
quircd to garrison forts and preserve the
peace on the frontiers and along the lines of
| the Pacific roads that the expenses of the
| Navy be reduced az far as can he done CON
sislently with the protection OF our COM
| nerce and the maintenance OF our reputa-
| tion MS a maritime Power; that rctrcnchmeut
| bt itlituuuttu ililb All DlhHtntS VI tue ClNll
service, and that there be no payment of
damages which were unavoidable incidents
| OF war III the rebel States.
| THE FINANCIAL Policy OF THIS DEMOCRATIC
ADMINISTRATION.
| The financial policy inaugurated by Prcsi-
dent johnson and his Secret iry of the Trca-
sury, MIR. McCulloch, and by the aid and
sanction Of the Democratic members of Con-
fi.tg
| burdens, and is nov working ruin to the
business interest Of the country. The pub
lie debt was created with gold at high
premium and war material and supplies at
more than double the prices of former years.
On the 3ist August, SG5, The legal tender
Government currency in circulation was:
United States notes. .ei8a 1863 90
FIVE per cent notes. es............... 3A 9'4 2AO 90
ConPouhd-lnterestn notes. 2lIOi 1850 90
1UIil bN'f los, VbJ Nu
In a}iiition there fractional cur
rchcy.. ZbdIl III 5D
Making totaG1vernmcnt currency ofs7lu,4s3 7cl 80
On the LIST day of February, 1868, the
legal-tender Government currency in circu-
lation was
United States notes, tgrecnbacks,l S356 oOno0O 90
Compunhdihterest hoies... 5sli5,lI0 90
Total .S4t9, ,ii5i7O 90
| In addition TO this there was
Fractional currency. s32,0S7,3ll 81
Postal currency. y...................,.. 159,1.7 90
loihi Si4 ,J9l, GUS oil
| Thus, from August 81, SG5 to February
| !, 1873, the Government currency was re-
duccd 500 092,99 Much of this reduction
was effected under the ac. Of April ~, 1866
voted for by nearly every Democrat in this
| House, and which opposed as well us was
permitted. A bill suspending the power Of
the Secretary of the Treasury further 10 CON
tract the currency finally passed both Houses
OF Congress January III, 1868, which .hc
President, though not approving, permitted
10 become Il law by retaining more than ten
days. But within the next ten month S53,-
| li5,l Of compound-interest legal-tender
notes will become due and be paid or chang
ed into other securities and cease to be mon
ey or a legal tender in payment OF debts
| (Act March ?, lSG7) Tnere will then be
outstanding less than @300, ,00O, geo Of legal
tender national currency, and the national
bank circulation is now about $500, 100000
The business OF The country demands ut least
$500, 900, 600 of paper money.
In January, 1861, the gold and silver coin
in the United States was r3sj 00o, ,O00, and
the actual bank-note circulation was $20a,-
005, 167, making a total OF Sls7 ,005, 7G7, and
with SSOO, ,000. .00B of paper money now not
more than 5000, 600, TOO would he in actual
circulation, because the money held in re-
serve by banks and in the Treasury now rX-
cce,ls @2O0,0o0 0G0. With increased prices
and national taxes more money is required
now than prior to the rebellion. Trade and
industry would be stimulated and made pro
ducive after the compound-interest notes
shall he cancelled liy u further increase If
legal tender notes 10 Supply in Part the
amount Withdrawn from circulation by the
Secretary Of the Treasury.
OBJECTIONS 10 A REDUCTION OF CURRENCY
A reduction of the currency Is obiectiona-
bic l"cause-
The conversion of lcgal-tender notes
I bearing no interest inic bonds bearing inter
est increases The burden Of taxation.
=. II diminishes the prices Of labor and
property, and thereby requires more days
work and more Of the products of industry
to pay the interest and principal Of the ma
tional debt and all other debts. taxes, and
salaries OF officers than il an adequate cur
rency is maintained and The standard of prices
preserved to which the business Of the cuun-
try has been adjusted and adapted, and which
| is now below that upon which the public debt
| was contracted.
The Secretary Of the Treasury says:
| IF the paper currency should during the
next ycarl be reduced fifty per cent and
prices of property should decline CORES
pondingly, would il follow that the real
value OF propeit, would thus decline? In
the one case the value Of the currency would
be reduced in proportion to its increase in
amount In the other the currency would
be increased in value a: il was diminished
in amount. The increase or decrease of
iippS would If tnrag tiIttr
ieryened, he the natural result Of the in
crease or decrease Of the measure OF vulu;,
while real values remained unchanged"
A decline in p 10 is not decline in cal
ues, says the Secretary But decline in
prices Affects no reduction in ih- amount of
public or private debts. 4 decline in prices
reduces the paying value of labor ana pro-
perty, and this is no small matter with 81
GOO, 000, 900 If national debt, with + fG0. uUU,-
0Oaof State, municipal, and corporate debts,
and untold millions OF individual indebted
ness, and with annual taxes, State and ma
tional, amounting to $500, 100000.
1t is sometimes said that greenbacks are
an irredeemable currency. True, the nation
cannot now pay gold. But they are re-
deemed every year, in paying taxes and are
again paid out, giving "A currency alike use
full and acceptable to the people.
pEMoCRAllO OPPOSITION TO GREENBACkS.
The Democratic party during the war OPP
posed the issue Of our .'grecnbaek" currency
declared that it would become worthless,
denied the constituionalty of the lcgal-ten-
der law, and since in Congress It's members
voted almost solid for its speedy Withdraw
nj. (G.obe, vol. 81, p. lGi4) Their Presi-
dent and Secretary of the Treasury now de-
mand that we shall continue the process of
contraction which, in its process, has sent
the premium on gold up from twenty five to
forty per cent, and produced widespread
ruin and bankruptcy already. 1t has been
recently stated
That in Massachusetts, New Hampshire.
Maine, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania mills
are being closed, workshops stripped of lheir
hands, wages reduced, and employees, when
kept, put upon half time
Capital has lain idle because business men
were alarmed and unable to embark in en-
terprises that would give employment to la
Dor and add to the wealth OF the country.
THE RulNous DEMOCRATIC POLICY OF CoNTRAo-
TloN.
Yet all the while this 'Johnson Demo-
cratic" administration has been urging con-
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