Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-10-01

LhClC NClC III
1865, accounts passed for payment-and
over due-to the extent of ovel one hun.
dred and twenty millions of dollars
while ali the available cash funds, coin
and currency, which the government
could then command was less, all told,
than seventeen millions OF dollars.
r ..o,{ OUR CREDIT Low. 81. g.,
/ Treasury vouchers, issued for supplies
! toiIiie army and navy, were being sold
( with difficulty by their holders at from
ten to twenty per cent. discount; thepay
Of the army itself was land had foF
months been largely in arrears. HoFatio
| Seymour and other rici, Democrats were
then refusing, as they bad always refused
I'd subscribe for or to hold the bonds OF
/ tie United States. In short, the Treas
1 ufy was so near to absolute bankruptcy
! that the old officials, to whom almost
;albne these facts were known, dreaded
| tile collapse which they feared might
/ cdme at any day. '.q-J Iyiii ~ .-i-;H
But fortunately the system of internal
1 revenue, the establishments of which had
been only too long delayed, was 6egin-
ming to prove effective, aud the receipts
from this source and from the renewal
Of subscriptions to the I $40 loan tided
4 the Treasury over most critical period.
Il AG s~IuCNlldOlt+ ISSulJ WAS llOhCNSI, I,
! that large, payments, the, liability for
! which actually existed, during The time,
/ atld which We're properly part and parcel
Of the expenses Of active war, Were car
! Hed over into the year succeeding the
| var, and were then largely paid from the
enormous receipts OF reVenueof that year.
--'- BACK PAY OF TROOPS. . T.
I 4 This liability fol. back pay. for the pay
tof the troops to the date oI,their possible
discharge for their, Transportation, and
/ for the settlement of contracts, formed q
part of the deb.s OF the United States on
| fhe 1st OF April or on the lst of August,
ls65, as much as if il had all been settled
and the bonds issued and entered upon
the books OF the Treasury Department..
These disbursements, under the direc-
fion of the War Department, from the
lst of April, 1865, to the 10th of June,
1856; period of only fifteen months,
were as follows: a
April to June So IT, 81
Jaly 70 September 80, lS65............ I65,
October to December 81 lSo5........-. g. I22.54I
January l, 1866 10 June 81, lsG5....-- $685., ,923
Totai. 546,G7S
1 During the same period the expendi-
lures made the direction OF the Navy
department were as follows:
April i. 1865, TO December 81, 1866 5. 5SS44, $50
Jan uary i, 1865, to June 80, lSGB- - Il ,l8i ,35l
~ Total 1918
q 1t thus appears that the disbursements
made under the direction OF the Army
and Navy Departments during the
Fifteen months inImediately succeeding
April l, 1865, the mon nth! vim which the
rebel armies sufrendered.u amounted to
STA, sos ,S5l. p. 90 Lf4H-1 aa
WE owED THIS IN APRIL, 1865.
1t is estimated that very large pro
portion of this sum, not less than S400,
O0U, 900, was on account iof-eXpenseS in
Cured and accounts rendered from three
to twelvs months prior to the termina-
ton OF active hostiiities, and which had
been allowed by the Treasury to remain.
unliquidated, simply by reason of great
financial enbarrassmentS.s az. l4t'it.
The remainder is made up mainly of
the following items: $ Rsts 'ip '9 .t.' q
pay of the Army Is months S206 600 900
and Quartsrnlaster's De-
q paftment Tor subsistence and trans I, iti i
Medieai and fP HSspifai pgsy90S gs90S
Arrears ofpay ofdiselarged ordeceas- -S \
ed soldiers Ii lS9Oo
Prize money paid by Navy Depart,..... 3S75,O62
IL 1t is therefore not only, legitimate, but !
strictly in accordance with the facts, to
assume that this large expenditure of !
nearly eight hundred millions of dollars |
from April |, 1865, to June 80 1866, was
ia every sense war expenditure, and |
that it was u liability on the 1st of
August, 1865, the date On which our debt |
appeared TO be at its maximum by the |
Treasury books, as much rs if 37l0n
or $40 bonds had been issued and en-,
tered upon1he ledger; and this eXpen- |
diture is to be measured and estimated /
by the same standards as those by which !
the expenditures of the active war are |
adjudged to have been necessary and un- |
avoidable on the one hand, or qnneeeS-.
sary and inexpedient on the other.
nd ..;sU This Is NOT ALI. 1iya3y 1
But the liability which existed at that
date was even more. There were the
debts which humanity and honor alike
have inlposea upon the country, and +
which Congress las recognized aud paid. I
We were then liable for pensions, for the I
IF bountfes, for further ar
rears of pay of deceased soldiers, for the +
claims of States, for the property of loyal
men destroyed, for additional prize mon
ey, for the reconstruction of the rebel
lious States, for the care of the freedmen
and for the burial of the dead.
81 The amount of these liabilities which +
have been recognized and paid, and
which are otiHcluded in the previous
statement, is follows: 80. III.
Pensions acknowledgements. S62, $685. .955
49SS2S59
Prize money l,6i2O99
tures - -. -. .... 1880, ,lSs
Claims of loyal men IL Ill 800
Freedmen's Bureau 56I7 900
including all eXpen-<-.,. t.--... i
ses OF reconstruction hdnationaf - -
cemeteries, estimated @-!A.-... ,i S,OOO,9OO
q, M 80. sl45,9l2,49l 7
Add to this the expense of the army
and navy for 10 months, as previ- !
ousy stated. IA, ,s65 SOL
And We have a total of........ s92O, 1899
And in this total we have the sum to y -
be added to the debt as it stood up II
on the books of the Treasury, April l.,
i 1ooo zoooooon
Making the aggregate So 2S7 7ss 800
yhichiwas the actual maximum of the
var debt, being the expenses of the war
1et paid as they were incurred. I
= THE. DEBT THEN AND NOW.
}, Bear in Mid that these figures are all
,fiicial, carefully prepared for me by
Hon. David A. Wells, in order that |
night defend the credit of the United
states against all comers. .a
$3.50 WHAT Is OUR DEBT NOW? (,
June 30. 1865, it was. 9 81 81 900 900
But IN this amount there were in
cluded S26 900 900 of bonds loaned \,
to the Pacific Railroad, and to be .,L ,
paid by them m.-.-.r.--....--.........- 2b,0OOOOO
y Net debt 81 ,IS5, ,oOo, 600
We HAVE PAID OFF Ss02, 73333 800. -
The present debt, deducted from the :
maximum debt in 1865, proves the actual =,
,ayment during three years of quasi !
,eace, of $500, 1885, 800, or about one quar-
er of our entire war liability.
Our net debt is a listle more at this ,
late, owinglto the Alaska purchase, the :
urther advance of bonds to the Pacific
III IL. .! t;.. t tI.... ,.. \