Middletown transcript., 1868-04-18
A Hundred Millions Wasted

1t is sheer nonsense, says the Philadel-
phid Ledger, truly. 1t is cruelty to the
laboring masses north, in the Republican
party, to waste their means in an endeavor
to epslave the Southern white men. To do
it costs the North at least one hundred
millions yearly. No man of sense believes
we need an army now. We have thou
sands upon thousands of veterans; drilled
soldiers all over the country, and in case
OF danger from abroad could raise an ARMY
four times as large as we should want to
repel invasion. 1t is, therefore folly to
keep up an army to sustain party id pow-
er that seeks to put the negro over the
white man in the South. The Democr,z
tic party will guarantee to give every man
freedom and quiet in the South without
the cost of a dollar to the government.
Away with your army and Frecdmen's
Bureau-l,t the people govern themselvey.
Every farm in Delaware has been mort
gagged by the Radical party. Let us cut
down the interest on these mortgages, at
least, if we can save it from the useless
sources mentioned below. We clip the
following from the money columns of the
Ledger, says the Drl1p re Gazette:
1t is sheer nonsense to take off taxes and
not reduce the expenditures There are
several wasteful measures now before Cons
gress. The estimated expenses of the War
Department for the year are put down at
one hundred and twenty millions The re.
quistions on the Department last month
were exceedingly heavy, fact fresh in the
face of Congress, inviting that body to
severe purging of estimates which should
be reduced thirty-three if not fifty per cent.
The estimated expenditures of the NAVY
have been brought down in even greater
proportion, and if the appropriations 20
through in that shape it is believed that no
interest of the country that that branch of
the Government is expected to serve will
suffer Talk as members may, it will re-
main as fact that every dollar of expen-
diture is dollar of taxation and something
more. The Secretary of the Treasury has
interposed objection to the bill just passed,
warning Congress against it, as calculated
to render the Treasury short of means to
meet its liabilities. Congress, needless of
this warning, have, however, passed the
bill in revised shape, and the advance
|
sens taxation, can only be maintained by
a determined demand on the part of the
taxpayers from their rep: csentativcs til
the appropriations shall be lessened. The
current revenues of the Government show
a heavy deficit in the amount as compared
with last year, and though this has occur
cd IN advance of the tax repeal, it will no
doubt hereafter be used as a reason for
restoring what has been taken off, and
perhaps, also, made an argument for the
imposition of additional taxes. There are
all sorts of leeches about the Treasury
whose movements require close watching.
As the industry ofthe country has to sup
ply the means to pay all expenditures,
those that are necessary and proper as
well as those that are not, let each voter
hold his immediate representative directly
responsible for every dollar of expenditure,
and make him feel that it is through his
agency that the charge is brought home
to the taxpayers door for payment.