Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-07-11
Sauna Facts for Taxpayers.

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Radical hands? If Grant and Colfas
are elected, they are pledged to carry
ont the Radical policy. And this, even
If there was no other evil connected with
it, is expensive enough to pauperizs the
country. Pecuniary ruin stares in the
face all but officeholders, and the scala
ways who cannot be worsted. The
government must be taken out OF the
hands of these men, who promise
economy, but never practice it, except
as Butler did with the spoons. Let the
following, which is taken from the Mil
waukie wis News, be candldiy con.
sidered:
A circular just issued by Capt. Ward,
as President of the National Manufac-
turers' Association, gives some facts
vouched for by q committee of the asse-
citation mentioned, of which committee
Captain Ward is the chairman. All the
members of the committee are Republic
cans, and no man will question the cred
Utility of their testimony, as far as 1t
tells against the party to which the mem
hers of the committee belong. The facts
given are worthy of more than passing
notice. 1t il important that the tax.
payers of the United States should realize
them. To render them more conspicu-
Gus, therefore, we repeat them in para
graphs, using substantially the same
language employed by the committee:
The enormous estimates for public ex-
peuditures to which the country became
accustomed during the war, have been
kept up in many departments solely to
avoid discharging vast hosts OF Official
idlers.
The estimatesof 1868, for the merely
miscellaneous expenses of the govern
ment were FIVE and third times as great
as the actual expenses of 1860.
There are now Al 900 officials required
by the Executive Department alone to
execute the acts of Congress, whose az
gregate salaries annually amount to over
thirty one million dollars--these officials
being paid from $1,000 to $4,000 year
each.
The entire expense Of the officials who
performed similar duties in the last year
of Mr.. Buchanan's administration
amounted to only five million dollars
less than one-sixth the amount now paid.
About sixty million dollars are lost to
the government annually By the failure
to collect the whisky tax.
About fifteen million dollars are lost
to the government annually by frauds in
the collection Of the tobacco tax.
About fifteen million dollars are squan.
dered on iunketing expeditions at sea
aud elsewhere for the entertainment of
navy officers.
By reducing the army to 1900 men
the people might save twenty million
dollars every year.
The Indian Bureau is source Of vast
needless waste and expense.
TIE Freedmen's Bureau, which Con-
gress has just voted to extend another
year, "has done its work, and should be
abolished-the sooner the better"
There are twenty United States judi
cial districts, maintained by Congress at
a cost Of four hundred thousand dollars,
in which the WHOLE alogn, Of business
transacted does not equal the cost of
maintaining them.
The official estimates for the expendi-
lures Of the war department and civil
service, equal nearly to two hundred mil
lioR dollars for the present year.
The West and South now have less
bank currency than before the war, while
the Eastern and Middle 9tstes now have
two hundred million dollars more than
they had before the war.
Such are the facts certified to by Cap
tain Ward. In addition to these, the tel
egraphic dispatches of yesterday inform
us that the National debt increased
nearly ten million dollars during the
month Of May.