Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-09-25
THE NATIONAL DEBT.
Decrease of $500, 10000 in Three
4 Z - Years. EC

Republican State Convention, by Edward
Atkinson, of Boston, a gentleman who is
. an authority on financial matters:
cs GENTLEMEN In short address, I pro.
pose to justify, not to defend, the fiscal
policy OF the Republican party. AS the
honored Chairman of our State Central
Committee has well said, its fiscal record
needs no defense it is record of which
we may well be proud
In speaking to you / shall pass rapidly
over the details, but you will find all my
statements verified in detail in the printed
reports.
If there is any merit in the following
analysis of the expenditures of the last
three years, can only claim the plan and
method upon which it is placed before
you. All the data have beenafurnished
me by the Hon. David A. Wells. l long
since perceived that the statement COM
monty accepted as that of the maximum
debt of the United States was not one
which covered the liabilities of the Gov
ernment on the lst of August, 1865, by
many millions of dollars.
i~- THE DEBT IN 1865.
] knew this from the fact that the man
ufacturing interpretations, with which
tlu ypctl COHItCtCu, utlSi dI blldb CloJc
several millions of dollars of claims upon
the Government through the contractors
to- whom we had sold the material for the
tents and clothing for the army, for which
they had then had no settlement. These
accounts were afterwards allowed and we
took our pay in 30 notes, most of which
we sold to the various savings banks of
Massachusetts,, from whom we had bor-
a n I1c n n
work and furnish the goods
These notes were, of course, converted
into $50 bonds by the savings banks, and
now form portion of the debt which the
Democratic party propose to repudiate by
issuing greenbacks, or, in other words,
substituting failed paper bearing no interest
for debt not yet due, the avowed purpose
of the Southern wing of the party, who,
at least, may claim the need of praise for
their bold avowal, being to render the
greenback valueless, and then repudiate it.
In this scheme they are led by George
III. Pendleton, and covertly supported by
Horatio Seymour, it being now asserted
by his supporters that he has retracted his
previous views, and that there is a sub
stantial agreement between himself and
Pendleton as to what should be the fiscal
policy of the country.
HIS STATEMENTS ARE OFFICIAL.
i have said that / have been able to
make the statements which are included
in this address by the aid of my friend,
David A. Wells, Special Commissioner of
the Revenue, to whom applied in order
that / might have the force of an official
statement to prove my position. Of the
value of his official statement you are well
aware. No man stands higher in the con-
tidence of the people, and no man de-
serves that confidence more.
With a single eye to the truth, he gives
to his work the force of an enthusiasm
rarely to be found, and hence the power
and value of every document that comes
from his hand.
For the use [ have made of the figures
which he has given me in answer to my
questions, | alone am responsible, and /
desire that he shall have the credit of the
facts here stated, and l invite the blame of
those who will charge me with perverting
them to party purposes. ..
The Democratic party fears the truth,
and will make this charge. | trust this
may not long be so. The name of Demo
crat, in its true significance, is one which
/ honor and cherish, and hope the day is
not far distant when it shall no longer be
prostituted to the purposes of a party
which denies every principle indicated by
its name, and which has been the party of
despotism. and oppression ever since I
came to mans estate; party which now
rests its chance on the ignorance of it's fol-
lowers, and proposes to inaugurate war,
fraud and violence, under the lead of Sey-
mour and Blair.
We demand peace and an honest admin
istration, and under the wise control of
Gen. Grant these we will have
i. CONFIRMED BY MIR. BOUTWELL,.
| also desire to say that did not fully
'ealize the great importance or the force
)f the statement of the real maximum
iebt of the United States, at given date,
until read the speech of Hon. George s.
Boutwell, upon the funding bill, in which
speech is q compact statement substantial
iy agreeing with the exhibit l am about to
make. @
The condition of active war terminated
with the surrender of the rebel armies in
April, 1865, but the condition of passive
war did not then cease, nor will it cease
until every citizen of the Southern
States shall be safe under the protection of
loyal State governments, elected by the
ballots of all freemen or freedmen-free
not only from the chains of slavery, but
from the fear of violence or fraud by
which they are now intimidated. q
~ WHAT DID WE OWE IN 1865? "a .
The ascertained debt of the United
States on the 1st day of April, 1865, as en-
tered upon the books of the Treasury De-
partment, amounted to $2,366, ,955, OFT.
-Four months later. on the 1st of August,
1865, the debt represented ON the books
amounted to $2,757, ,6S9,571 and the latter
sum has been assumed of late to have
been the maximum debt of the country at
any one time.
But such was very far from being the
case These figures represent only the
amount of debt actually entered upon the
books of the Treasury Department, but
there existed at that time liability for a
very large sum not then entered, but for
which the Government-was bound as much
rs if the bonds had been issued. a liabil-
lty since recognized and since paid.
At that time the Democratic party lead
ers asserted what they now find it conven-
ent to forget, viz. that the burden of
iebt imposed upon the country by the
war was three or four thousand million
lollars, and for once they were right; the
rue liability of the L nited States, caused
oy the war which the Democratic party
II the South had waged upon the Gov
srnment, amounted in the year 1865 to the
sum of SS,2S7, ,733 1923; and since that
late the Republican party has paid over
sSO0,000,u00, or one quarter of the prin-
ipal OF the entire debt, besides paying
he interest. e
t4f HOW 1T WAS REDUCED
In proof of this statement, let us now
saUsavr - n - 4 bictnrrr Az ~