The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-31

or this sum there has beer nearly eight hun
dred millions spent on the army and navy, and
for military PURPOSES. This Is nearly one. thi rd
OF the national debt. This was spentin time Of
peace"
Mr.. Blaine showed, from official records,
that the actual expenses of both army and
navy for the past three years of comparative
peace have been but SIZE, 000,0 in all; aud
that the army costs less in gold as a whole,
and far less even in currency, per regiment,
than it cost under the last Democratic admin
istration-that Of Mr.. Buchanan.
But the example of Mr. Seymour having
been SO widely followed and wild assertions OF
extravaganza in the Government having been
circulated everywhere, the full and authorita-
tive summary given by Mr.. Wells, which we
print elsewhere, is most timely and valuable.
For example, the Democratic papers and
speakers have so often said that the country
is increasing its debt, that possibly somebody
may almost believe it. Only last week
Democratic organ insisted not for the first
time, that the Republicans, during three
years of peace, "have expended over and
above 81, 500, OO00 600 raised in the way of reve-
nue., nearly S90O,000,000 raised in the way of
loans.n
The fact is that not one dollar has been
"raised in the way of loans" for the expenses
of the Government in time of peace. On the
contrary, the ordinary revenues of the Gov
eTnment, though by no means amounting to
81 SOC, 000, 900 in all, have paid all these
expenses, besides the interest on the war
debt, and have reduced the principal of the
debt $3.50, 100000 And Mr.. Wells shows
that in the fiscal year just ended the revenues
yielded q surplus above all expenditures Of
S34, 749, TIT.
Again the expenses of the War and Navy
Departments are not only continually exag-
gerated by certain Democrats, but they daily
assert that these expenses are constantly in
creasing. Mr.. Wells shows conclusively that
both are rapidly diminishing in annual cost;
and that, apart from the extraordinary ex-
pendtures which are the direct results of the
war, they have now ceased to be, in any sense,
a burden upon the country. Their cost sinks
into insignifcance beside the military and
naval budgets of any other great nation in
Christendom.
The World says
"The expenses OF these two departments in
1867 we've over SI4 600 more than In 1866, and
from all accounts the tnct ease of 1868 will be
double that sum. Again we ask, Where does
all this money go2 All efforts in Congress 10
reduce the expense have proven futile"
The fact is that the expenses of these two
departments, apart from bounties to the
soldiers of the war, are constantly decreasing;
and that the efforts of Congress to reduce
them have formed a part of the work done at
the session just closed. The increase for 1868
will not be $S8000 ,000;- but the decrease in
the ordinary expenses of these two depart
The favorite charges against Congress have
been founded upon the Freedmen's Bureau and
the Reconstruction acts. Before the actual
cost of the Bureau in question was officially
known, many of the Democratic papers formed
a habit OF denouncing 1t as the chief item of
national expenditure; and some of them have
not given up the habit yet. Now that the
total outlay for 1T from its organization to
the beginning of the present month is known
to have been $5, ,6l7, 900, it is to be hoped
that it will no longer be represented as swal-
lowing up all the revenues of the nation, and
threatening the treasury with bankruptcy.
In view OF the number of lives saved by its
ministries and the amount of distress among
democratic citizens of the Southern States
relieved or prevented by it, any criticism
upon this Bureau may be disregarded which
does not show how the same good could have
been obtained at smaller cost.
The whole letter of Mr.. Wells deserves care
ful study not only in its bearings upon the
partisan calumnies which it refutes, but as
| giving expression to that noble tribute to the
economy and honesty of Republican form OF
| government which lies in the figures of our
national ledger for the last three years. No
| other government has ever closed up the
| accounts of great war so cheaply and salts
| factorily. No other government has ever, in
| recognizing society and restoring civil order
| through region devastated and unsettled by
| war, made so little waste and incurred so little
| just reproach. The whole process has been
disturbed and delayed by dissension in the
| government itself, and the purity and moral
| power of its administration have been seri-
ously injured, especially during the last year,
| by factious resistance to its policy on the part
of the President himself. Yet, under all diff
| culties, much has been accomplished; far
| more than could reasonably have been hoped
| for, had these difficulties been foreseen; and
| the American people will not fail to anticipate
the final verdict of history by giving large
credit for it to the purity, economy, and zeal
of the Republican Congress which has chiefly
| controlled the Government.