Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1868-08-28


NOTWITHSTANDING the outcry made by
the Democrats at the assumed increase OF
the national debt under Republican man
agement, the figures show beyond q ques-
tion that 1t is not only rapidly diminishing,
but at the same time the taxes are being
reduced. .r
At the beginning of the fiscal year end
ing June 30, 1868, the total amount of the
debt was $2,511 ,306,4 ,496. Included In this
amount are, as we showed some days since,
$15,409, 900 of Bonds of the United States
payable in thirty years by the Union Pa.
cifc Railroad Company, and, in default of
payment by the company, to be paid by the
Government These bonds, however, are
a second mortgage upon the road, its roll
ling stock, and all the lands granted to 1t,
which may be in its possession at the ma.
turity of the bonds and these grants for
privileges are contingent upon the pay
ment Of the bonds at maturity by the com
pany. Now, bearing this In mind, let us
revert to the figures of the debt at the be.
ginning and at the end of the last fiscal
year;
On the 1st Of August, 1857, the total
debt including these Pacific Railroad
bonds, was $2,5l1 ,306,426 On August /,
1858, the total debt, still including the Pa
cific Railroad bonds, was $2 593, ,634, ,4S0,
showing what the Democracy falsely as
sert is an increase of $12,22S,054 in the ag.
gregate debt during that year, but on Au
gust l, 1867, the total amount of Pacific
Railroad bonds then issued was $15,402,-
600. Since that time the Pacific Railroad
has been built at a speed never before
known in the history of railroad con.
struction, and now stretches its continu Gus
line of rail 1880 miles west from Chicago.
To aid the company in doing this, the
General Government has loaned its credit
to the amount of SIC, $685. 900 more, in ad-
dition to the previous $15,402 600, making
a total of $32, 100000 In all. Let us deduct
this additional 16,S09,000 from the total
debt as it stood on August 1, 1868, and we
find that the debt has actually decreased
$3.50, 946 since August 1, 1867.
But this is not all. There was a large
Indebtedness of the Government which
never took the form of On absolute promise
to pay in the sense belonging to the bonds,
Treasury notes, and other national obliga-
tions. The soldiers and widows of sol
diers who had helped to preserve the Re
public in the war which Southern Demo-
| Gratis had waged against it had claims for
| bounties to large amount. A reimburse
ment of money expended by several of the
States was demanded to the amount of
many millions of dollars, and thousands of
individuals, whose property had been
taken or destroyed by our armies during
1 the war, also made equitable claims. The
bones of Union soldiers killed in battle,
or starved to death in Southern Demo-
cratic prisons, were scattered over dozen
States and they were to be gathered with
tender care and placed in National Gene
teries for the reverence of future genera
tions. All these items, though they never
appeared in any schedule of the public
debt, were regarded by the Republican
party as most sacred obligations of the
obligations to be paid be-
fore all others, as, to great extent, they
have been. These items of extinguished
debt stand thus;
Bounties ..,..............,.. S3s, 600, ,0Og
Payments for property destroyed..... Bill, 300
For National Cemete ries.............. 92,s6t
Total tal......................... 54294, ,9R
Now let us add to this the $4,579, ,946 o
reduction Oft bonded debt, and we have
the total reduction of the debt, viz.
$5S,S14,29 -...... ...
1t should be observed that in this table
none of the expenditures for the Freed
mems Bureau, and none of the expenses
of reconstruction have been included
both extraordinary expenses of over
twenty millions of dollars, which will not
have to be incurred again. Looking at
this account, and considering the financial
difficulties with which they have had to
contend, what honest man can say that the
Republican party and the Republican
Congress have not done great and noble
work during the past year?
Is it not apparent that, instead of being
on the road to financial ruin, we are or
the road to the grandest financial success
ever achieved by any nation, and that the
only thing that can cheat us out of il
would be the success of the Reputation
schemes of the Democratic party CHI
cdqO Tribune, 1871.