Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-08-22
AUGUST %, 1868.

{ J.
1868, $47l.300,O00; Appleton's reports fol-
1867, S561,302, 900. In each case the gol(
collected at the custom house is estimated
at 40 per cent OF this amount. the rev.
enue from the tariff reached $725, ,5S4 900
Inc expenditure, of the Government has
been scarcely less than this enormous sum;
for If you will look at the public debt OF
the 3Ist of August, 1866 yon will find thai
it amounted to $2,770695,971, and if you
look at the last monthly report, made Aug
ust 1, 1853, it Is stated to be $2633 589,75
showing decrease of only $137, ,107,2l5. =
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue
tells. US the value of all the real and per.
sonal property in the United States In 1860
Y the lands, farms, houses, town lots, money
stocks, bonds, and railroads. steamboat.
I -0SS. ''''
% II the products of three years of peace
have made up for theravages of four years
OF war, then the taxation for three y ears
has amounted to much more than one
eighth of all the. property In the country
/ while the U taxation Of Great Britain
amounted to less than oue-thirtieth part Of
her property IL the. taxes for this yeai
were raised upon each individual equally
# would amount In the United States to
$3f 25 to each, wilhelm France the taxation
tor the same y ear would amount to $22 tC
the Individual, and in Austria to less than
ZIG, The public debt, II assessed upon
each Individual, would amount to $74 rs
and che public debt of France to $50, ant
OF Prussia TO- $l2.l s,q B sbasd. 10 G9t000
4 81 These figures startle you. Our. friends
/ may qdote back at US that this same Com
/ missioner Of Internal Revenue In his letter
to Mr.. WILSON, dated July 10, 1858, In
which he says the public debt has been re-
thereby $4,000, 1000 have been annually
saved But If you will examine the fig.
/ ures closely you will find that the aggre.
gate of the debt has been reduced only
I $150,000000, and that of this amount S7l,.
666, 421, have been deducted from the legal.
tender notes which bore no interest; the
residue is made1up of money In the treas
-ury which pays no interest. ri,6 .f s-ob
Place side by side with this statement the
/ fact that the debt which bears interest, in
b. amount has been increased $602, l59 1872 and
that the interest upon that amount has been
( increased $15,000,000, and you will know
exactly how much your burdens have been
relieved.
, estimated surplus of receipts over expen-
ditures, for the year ending July, 1860,
would be $34749,737. What has become OF
it? Where has it gone? Has it been ap-
piled to the public debtp Unfortunately
for Republican tinant iering, L hold in my
hand a list of the deficiency bill, passed
during the last part of the last session OF
Congress, and find that at least twenty
one millions of the thirty-four were ex-
pended in that way. Pardon me; will
not weary you further with these details.
could recite them to you for an hour yet.
but the amount OF it all is, we owe the
debt-the $4,000, ,000,000-the iquidated
l.. debt, and how much more lam not Yankee
enough to guess. We are taxed over $780,
n.ar 49, U< y %L .-.n
$240000,000 year; and, if we add our
State taxes to our Federal, we are taxed
$500 0000, 900 year-siX per cent. of all the
value of all the property in the United
States, and at least thirty per cent. OF all
the annual earnings of the capital and Ia
Dor, combined, of the country. In strong
contrast with this, let me state to you that
the entire expenditure of the four years of
Mr.. Buchanan's administration was $685.
100000, and that the expenditures of the
War Department, under Mr.. Polk, in
eluding the Mexican War, were $90,000,-
000.aa cf-s -. 80. a-asvs. lsa7-. u
We owe debt equal to onesixth OF all
our property, and we exempt one-siXth of
all our capital from taxation. While we
were incurring this debt, we expanded this
currency. Now, that we begin to oithink of
paying the debt, we contract the currency.
If a neighbor of yours should voluntarily
buy property when prices were very high,
and then voluntarily sell the same when
prices were very low, in order to pay,
would you not think him fool? That is
just exactly what we are doing. You know
it affects the country just as it affects you.
Why not? Your skies are as bright, your
breezes as pure, your men are as strong,
and women as thrifty as of former days.
Why, then, Is it that the wall of distress
goes up from your State, and that poverty
stalks through homes where plenty and
luxury were always known before? Why
is it that labor is put on half work or halt
every article which goes into their
construction is taxed to the
uttermost, and d--you are undersold
by the British Colonies. You can
not employ labor, because labor is COM
PEELED to pay these taxes, and the bones
and pay taxes, and be neither fed nor
clothed. You cannot carry our Western
produce to other countries, because when
we have paid our labor, and taxes, and
transportation, there is nothing left to send
abroad. You cannot carry Southern pro-
duce because, under Radical reconstruc-
tion, farms have been destroyed and labor
systems have been deranged. Three mil
lions of negroes have been suddenly con-
verted into SO many politicians; cotton and
rice and sugar have ceased to be staples; a
garden has been turned into a desert. A
liberal system is the life of your commerce,
as it is the hope OF our industry. Yet the
tariff must be kept high to pay the interest
on the public debt and the daily expenses
required by the Republican policy; and
while it skins the rich alluvion from our
fertile valleys to make the sterile rocks and
barren coast of Massachusetts, to smile with
plenty, it destroys your shipping and pal
sizes your industry that her manufactures
may be protected.--
have stated to you that the last official
report of the Secretary of the Treasury
shows the debt to be over S2,600,0OO, 00O.-
OF this amount S1,5S3.1100OO were in five
twenty bonds. maintain that these bonds
are payable in legal tender notes. The law
under which they were issued expressly
says that the legal tenders are payable for
every debt due from the United States, ex-
cept interest on the public debt. The bonds
say they are payable in legal tender notes;
Senator Sherman says so; Senator Morton
says so; Thaddeus Stevens said so; the
funding bill says 80, and the great council
Of the Democratic party, which met in New
York, said so.
A year ago, when Iasserted this doctrine,
/ had opposition enough to Justify an argu-
ment but now have not. don't know
how it is with you Republicans of Maine,
but In Ohio and Indiana the people are so
anxious to get on with the theory that they
threaten to push me off my own platform.
A year ago the leading men of the Repub-
lican party called US Copperheads and trait
ors now they say the theory is true, but
that it is altogether impracticable. 1 say
it is not at all impracticable. Pay these
bonds as they become due. Save the inter-
est; save the premium on gold.
The National Banks have out circula-
tion of S300000,000, secured by United
States bonds. OF course you understand
very well their plan of operation. Three
men conclude to 60 into the banking busi-
ness, and, having the necessary capital-in
reenbacks-purchase 100000 worth of
bonds. They deposit these bonds in the
Treasury, where they draw their six per
cent. interest. They get ninety per cent.
i,, a /