The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-17

The above total, tn nerefore prese 8 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 a large
portion of this stupendous sum is in gold.
About $547, 200, 600 of it was received in duties
on imported goods; and if we reckon the pre-
MUM at 40 it will amount to S2l9, 800, 900,
SO that the total revenues of the Government
since the close of the war reach the amazing
sum of more than ST, 75S, 900, 900 in lawful
money, or nearly threefourths of the public
debt.
The fact that such deluge of revenue has
been poured into the Treasury since the close
of the war, naturally leads to the inquiry what
has been done with it. Before pursuing this
inquiry, let us pause moment to ask what
use the common sense of the taxpayers would
naturally expect and demand should be made
OF so prodigious revenue. The expectation
would of course be, that it would have gone to
diminish the public debt. Unsophisticated
common sense can reconcile itself to no
other disposal of revenue so enormous.
But when we turn to the reports and state
ments of the Secretary of the Treasury-the
highest authority on such subjects-we fnd
that the public debt has been reduced
only some 100000, 900. In his annual
report for 1866, that officer stated that the
public debt reached its highest point on the
31st of August, 1865, when its amount, less
the cash in the Treasury, was 81, 757, 803, 6S6.
On the 1st of September, 1863 as we learn
from the official statement of the same autho-
rity, the amount of the public debt less the
cash in the Treasury was 81, 535, 6l4 3l3. The
total diminution of the debt is, therefore, only
1922 1S9, 1873 out of an income amounting to
81, 540, 658, ,5S3, although large part of this
income was in gold and not dollar of gold
has been paid to diminish the public debt. 1t
appears therefore 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
80 damaged the public credit that the premium
on gold has been increased 20 per cent. since
1865.
In the face of so enormous and so indspu.
table revenue, it is no wonder that the Re-
publican party feels pressed by the persistent
demand OF the country to know what has be-
come OF so much money. Mr.. Edward Atkin-
son, with the assistance of his hackers, has
invented fiction, never thought of till last
week, which makes the maximum debt six or
seven hundred millions greater than the
Secretary of the Treasury reported it to be
when at the highest point, and accounts for
the disappearance of SO much revenue by say
ing that more than eight hundred millions of
it have gone to extinguish the principal of the
| debt. A fiction which is in such Aagrant con-
/ fct with the official statements of the Score
tary of the Treasury, is ridiculous. II it be
| true, why was it reserved for Mr.. Edward
| Atkinson to discover and announce it last
week. Ii it be true, as Mr.. Atkinson pre-
tends, that one-fOurth of the public debt has
been eXtinguished since the close of the war,
why has the public credit been steadily
depreciating, as is attested by the constant
rise in the premium on gold This last ques-
ton involves an argument to which there car
be no valid answer. H. as Mr.. Atkinson pre-.
tends, the expenses of the Government have
been less since the war than in Mr.. Bu
chanan's time, aud if more than eight hun
dred millions of the public debt have beer
paid, the necessary consequence would have
been great improvement in the credit of the
Government. If any citizen gets confused by
sophistica, dishonest figures, here is test by
which he can easily satisfy himself of thei
talsity. Under good management, the credit
OF the Government should have steadily i'm
proved from the close OF the war forward Tn,
premium on gold, instead of constantly rising
should have constantly fallen. If eight hun
dred millions OF the public debt had beef
! really paid, and the Government had REALLY
cost less since the war than it did under Presi
dent Buchanan, the premium on gold, instea
OF having gone up twenty per cent, woul
have gone down at least twenty per cent, an
the credit of the Government would be by thi
time so for established that we should b
on the eve of resumipg specie payments.
Among the halfdozen conclusive refutation
! of Mr.. Atkinson's foolish and impudent pre-
lenses, this is perhaps the shortest. They ar
utterly inconsistent with the sinking credit {
) the Government, in consequence of which tn
= premium on gold has nearly doubled since th
= close of the war. The credit of the Govern
Q ment is regulated by the same principles o
|. that Of merchant, III q mans notes are sci