Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-09-04
These itemg are as follow

Total, .................. .S225, ,3l8, $40
Now the question is. can this expen-
diture be avoided? How would Sey-
mour's letter help us ? The payment
of interest of the public debt and of
pensions are the highest obligations,
which must be continued until the
debt is paid, and until the last of the
great army of heroes who saved our
country by their perils and sacrifices
have paid the debt of nature. Thank
God the public faith to them, and to
the widows and orphans of those who
are dead, is now safely written In the
Constitution itself, by the adoption of
the Fourteenth amendment, unless that
amendment is itself overthroWn by
revolutionary violence. The bounties
provided by existing law will all be
paid this year. The only disputed
i.ems of last years expenditures are
the Reconstrnction expenses and the
Freedmen's Bureau, and for these
alone, the Republican party may be
held responsible.
The ordinary expenses of the Gov
ernment for the last fiscal year were as
follows:
Civil list Legislative and e7zeeu ..2 600 o,o ~
Navy Department. -. 25,775,5O2 70
War Department .......-.. 56,7l3,4l0 90
Engineer Bureau (rtvers & har-
bOrs. rs....-....--.-..--..--.- ..-... 6,l3zb2O 90
Total I............. .sl46, ,281, ,879 81
So that the general expenditure of
the receipts of the last year may DC
stated as follows:
Interest of the public debt. ...-sI4I. .635, ,551
Principal of the public debt paid. 34,749,777
Bounties, oGi1i pensions and other war -.
claims ...-....--. ...... .--...-.... SS,6S3,29l
Making Embellishments S4O6, 300 900
Now, fellow citizens, I am not here
to contend that portion of the $l46,
100000 expended for ordinary purpo-
ses last year might not have been saved
by a more economical administration.
The long struggle between Congress
and the President-the unusual de-
mand for public Improvement at the
close of the war-the vast increase of
the expense of our Indian service
these, and other causes, no doubt, will
account for some of this expenditure /;
but I know from my connection with
appropriations by Congress- that no
party can be justly charged with the
responsibility. l cannot recall a single
item of appropriation except for the
Freedmen S Bureau and Reconstruct
ton, that was not supported by all
parties both in the Senate and House.
The Finance Committee had contin-
ual struggle against appropriations for
local improvement-for rivers and har-
bors-for fortifcations-for levees and
railroads, and especially against in
creased pay to officers and employees ;
and these propositions, when carried
were carried by the votes of Democrats
and Republicans alike. 1t is due to
truth to say that the Congress elected
in 1864 caught the general spirit of Ella
ton universal among the people, caused
by paper money and the lifting Of the
burden of a great war, and appropria-
ted money for objects that might
well have been postponed.
can also say that this error, as er.
ror [ thought it, has been nobly re-
paired by the men in the present Con-
gress by adopting measures that will
secure very large reduction In public
expenditures. The numerous schemes
for extra pay, both for the army ar
the civil employees, have been resisted
under a. pressure you can. scarcely con-
ceive of. This is a saving of many
millions. The Freedmen's Bure ),
whose bcuificent influence in organic
ing schools aud labor in The South, Is
worth several times what it cost, will
expire on the first of January next
and its duties will be discharged b.
the loyal State Governments in the
South Claims for property destroyed
! In the war. have been settled as far as
! they ought to be. There have Eeeu
large reductions in the appropriations
| for every branch of the publieuseryice
In the civil list-embracing the ex-
/ peudiiures for the executive, legisla
/ tive and judiciary foreign Intercourse
| the territories, collection of the reve
] nues, District of Columbia, public
/ lands, mints, lighthouses, coast survey
! post offices, and multitude of Other
/ objects, the reduction has been from
S53 900, 900 to $50, 200, 900. A new pol
icy has been adopted with the Indians
Once the owners Of this vast continent
they are now hemmed in at the base o.
the Rocky Mountains, and by the re
morseleas progress of our civilization
are compelled to rob and kill, or starve
/ Pressed on all sides, and the subject O.
numbefless wrongs, they appeal to ouI
sympathy, but sagages, still they retail
late upon the innocent, upon womeI
and children, and have left us no poll
cy but to cheat them and to kill them
We are now to gather them upon res
ervations under the care of the army
and to lead them, if possible, into th,
habits of civilization. The Navy De
partment, which, under See'y Welles
has been the fountain of extravaganza
is greatly limited, and all the militar!
appropriations for the War Depart
ment have been reduced to $93, 900, 600
Thus, under the vigorous action o