The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-11
Our National Finances.

The last monthly statement Of the national
debt, with the operations of the Treasury De-
partment throughout October, has now been
for several days before the public. The only
general comment it has provoked relates to
the prospect or probability OF Mr.. McCulloch's
stepping in TO ''relieve the money Market
after the fashion that the late Nicholas Biddle
contTived to render so Odious.
Now, we do not know nor care whether the
Secretary of the Treasury will or will not do
any thing to help those who have sold stocks
that they do not own, or those who have
bought stocks that they do not expect nor
desire to hold, but we hope and trust he has
resolved to do nothing in the premises, which
is the right thing to do, SO far as it goes.
What ,Ce would like to learn of the Secretary
is, How long does he propose to keep one hun
dred millions OF coin idle and useless in the
Treasury, when he might we'll spare sixty
millions of it to buy up interest bearing debt,
and thus save the country three or four mil
lions per annum And TO this question we
can get no answer, even by irresponsible
rumor from Washington.
We owe a great national debt which bears
q high rate of interest. Our bonds sell far
below their true value, in part because they
are superabundant. Were their volume sem
sibly reduced they would command better
prices. Had Mr.. McCullooh, two or three
years ago, employed fifty millions of gold in
buying up such interest bearing obligations of
the Treasury as could be bought to the best
advantages he would thereby have improved
the national credit, while saving some ten
millions which he has since paid as interest
on the bonds he might have thus cancelled.
Nay, more, he would have saved the country
at least ten millions more in the price of the
bonds which have meantime been sent to
Europe, ana sold for much less than they are
worth-sold so cheap because 80 many were
pressing on the market. The country ia not
less than twenty millions of dollars poorer,
while its bonds are worth considerably less,
than If Mr.. McCulloch had psrsstently pur-
sued the policy of paying off interest bearing
debt with every dollar that was not needed in
the current fiscal operations of the Treasury.
Why this vast bulk of useless gold has been
| and still is kept in the Treasury, when it
| might have been used to reduce the public
| burdens and eXalt the public credit, we have
never been permitted to understand. Ii Mr..
McCuloch were a gold gambler, or the secret
! partner of gold gamblers, all would be plain.
| Presuming him an honest and faithful servant
! of the public, his policy is marvel in our
| eyes. So much gold piled up in three or four
| vaults is perpetual and fearful tenn ptation to
its oustodians and to burglars. Every dollar
| thus boarded is boarded at risk; whereas all
risk would be averted by converting it into
| Government bonds at ourrent rates and then
burning the bonds. How long must the coun-
try continue 70 suffer a loss OF 500 per
| day through Mr.. McCulloch's refusal to do
what is so obviously and plainly the right
thing
Looking at his last exhibit we observe with
out surprise that his wrong doing is aggra-
waited. Here is the proof
| Gold in reasury....... S96 S0l Sl7 SI03iG 9Sj
Five'LWenty bonds....l 50i sSS,60o 6O2 BIZ, 700
Increase ofgod~S6 5l6, l37 Do bonds.S7 425, $50
| Thus the Secretary has increased his vast
! NJ plin nv at limo
that he has issued ST. 425, $50 of new fve-ta en-
ties--the market value of the two amounts
being nearly the same. Had he bought up and
! paid of 500 600 600 of nterest-bearing debt,
instead OF issuing seven millions of new bonds,
we are confident that the Government credit
would have been essentially strengthened,
while the burden of the public debt would
have been sensibly reduced. . .a .,
Can it be that policy so manifestly hostile
to the public interest will much longer be per.
| sisted in D.?
The President and the Revenue FraEds.
From the N. y Herald. ..u .-.u..s..
Several days ago a number of fiilavit;
were placed before President Johnson, pur
porting to give history OF some OF the fraudu
lent transactions in the whisky business il
this city, and charging completely upon seve
raj prominent United States officials here aud
| at Washington. These statements were in
measure er-paHe and were to be regarded in
much the same light as presentment to 9
grand jury. They bore upon their face ev
dence OF truthfulness, having been made under
oath; and while it would have been wrong tC
condemn the parties implicated until they had
been afforded an opportunity to be heard In
their own defense, q case was made out strong
enough to demand their trial upon the charges
preferred against them There appears to bt
a practical difficulty, however, in the way o
the investigation. Many OF the persons em
braced in the indictment are GoVeTnment Off
GERS, through whom the inquiry would have
to be prosecuted If the proceedings were 70 b(
conducted in the customary formal manner
and one of the main features of the charges We
understand to be that these very individuals
obstruct investigation aud use their oficia
positions to embarrass the prosecution anG
defeat the ends Of justice. ,
II is very certain that enormous frauds have
been perpetated against the Government, by
which over hundred million dollars hav,
been diverted from the national treasury into
the pockets of individuals directly or Judi
rectly interested in the whisky business Thi
is well-established fact. 1T is equally Ger
tain that none of the principal parties en-
gagged in these nefarious transactions have
been brought to justice, and that whenever
prosecution has been attempted it has beer
Obstructed by the very persons who ought Il
be the foremost to protect the interests oil
the Government. Buckley commenced an in
vestigatiOn in this city some weeks ago. and
at the outset he was met by opposition from
Government officials. His authority wa
called in question, and il was seon discovered
that he had the whole Revenue Department to
fight as we'll as the suspected criminals agains
whom his proceedings were directed. A simi
lar case has recently occurred in Richmond
nanrn Nwlan I,l,w 7 L