The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1868-10-02


Total. 81, $40, o5s $50
The above total, therefore, represents the
the exact amount which the Treasury of
the United States has received from sources
other than loans since the close of the
war.
The reader will please notice that large
part of this stupendous sum is in gold.-
About $547, 100000 of it was received in
duties on imported goods; and if we reck-
on the premium at 40, it will amount to
$21S, 100000, SO that the total revenues of
the Government, since the close of the war,
reach the amazing sum gilmore than 81 1853
100000 in lawful money, or nearly three
fourths of the public debt. Ell RE -.71
The fact that such deluge of revenue
has been poured into the Treasury since the
close of the war, naturally leads to the in
curry what has been done with it. Before
pursuing this inquiry, let us pause mo-
ment to ask what use the common sense of
the taxpayersw would naturally expect and
demand should be made of SO prodigious
a revenue. Interpretation would of course
be, that it would have gone to diminish
the public debt. Unsophisticated common
sense can reconcile itself to no other dispo-
sal of revenue so enormous. But when
we turn to the reports and statements OF
the Secretary of the Treasury-the highest
authority on such subjective find that the
public debt has been reduced only some
$220,000,O00. In his annual report for
1866, that officer stated the public. debt
reached its highest point on the 31st of
August, 1866, when its amount, less the
cash in the Treasury was $2,757, sos, ESQ.,
On the 1st of September, 1868, as we learn
from the official statement of the same au-
thority, the amount Of the public debt less
the cash in the Treasury was So, 535, 614, 313.
The total diminution of the debt is, there
fore, only 1929, 1898 out of an income
amounting to $1,540, sos, 5S3, although q
large part of this income was in gold, and
not dollar of gold has been paid to di-
minish the public debt. 1t appears there
fore that between thirteen and fourteen
hundred million dollars have been spent
since the close of the war; by the party
whose extravaganza and mismanagement
have so damaged the public credit that the
premium on gold has been increased 90 per
cent. since 1865. B
In the face of so enormous and so indis-
putable revenue, it is no wonder that the
Republican party feels pressed by the per-
sistent demand of the country to know
what has become of so much money Mr..
Edward Atkinson, with the assistance of
his hackers, has invented fiction, never
thought of till last week, which makes the
maximum debt six or seven hundred mil
| lions greater than the Secretary of the Treas
ury reported it to be when at the highest
point, and accounts for the disappearance
of such revenue by saying that more than
eight hundred millions oft have gone to
eXtinguish the principal of the debt. A
| fiction which is in such fragrant conflict
with the official statements ofthe Secretary
of the Treasury, is ridiculous lift be true
why was it reserved for Mr.. Edward Atkin,
son to discover and announce it last week
| If it be true, as Mr.. Atkinson pretends, that
one-fourth of the public debt has been ex-
! tinguished since the close of the war, why
has the public credit been steadily depre-
ciating, as is attested by the constant rise
in the premium on gold4 This last ques-
ton involves an argument to which there
can be no valid answer If, as Mr.. Atkin.
son pretends, the expenses of the Govern.
ment have been less since the war than in
Mr., Buchanan's time, and if more than
eight hundred millions of the public debt
have been paid, the necessary consequence
would have been great improvement in
the credit of the government. Ifany citi-
zen gets confused by sophistical, dishonest
figures, here is test by which hecan easily
satisfy himselfo of their falsity. Under good
management, the credit of the Government
should have steadily improved from the
close of the war forward.
The premium on gold, instead of con-
stantly rising should have stantly fallen
Height hundred millions of the public debt
had been really paid, and the Government
had really cost less since the war than il
did under President Buchanan, the premi
UNI on gold, instead of having gone UP
twenty per cent. would have gone down al
least twenty per cent, and the credit Of the
Government would be by this time SO fal
re-established that we should be on the eve
of resulning specie payments. ~
| Among the half dozen conclusive refuta'
tions Of Mr. AtEinson's foolish, impudent
pretences, this is perhaps the shortest -
They are utterly inconsistent with the sink
ing credit ofthe government, in consequence
of which the premium on gold has nearly
doubled since the close of the war. The
credit of the Government. is regulated b,
the same principles as that of a merchant
If mans notes are selling at discount