Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1868-09-18

ers are heightened by the coets OF il.inB
made by the direct and ipd.-ect exactlons
of Government. Our people are narsssso
by the heavy and frequent demands on t1o
tax.gatheref." Mr.. Pendloton asks at Ban
gor "Why is IL that your taxes consume
such an enormous amount Of your yearly
supplyp The lesser orators OF the party
repeat the assertion and the question.
"We are taxed" they say, beyond pre-
cedent. If we did but know II, we are
the most oppressed and tax-ridden people
In the world" And having exhausted
epithets in describing taxation, having
made the most astounding misrepresent-
ations of the expenses of the Government
and carefully refrained from proposing
any financial policy except that OF Jeremy
Diddler, they propose a r@secea ior tne
national suffering in the election Oh Sey-
mour and Blair.
Now the national debt Is undoubtedly
large, and the burden upon the taxpayers
is heavy. Yet, In proportion TO the ma
| honal resources, 1t Is much smaller tnan
the present debt of France, and is not
third of that of England in 1915. But IN
| considering debt and relief from II SEN
| sibe men look first at its csigin, In order
to determine whether those who admins
ter the Government be justly charged with
a responsibility for the debt; and, second
~, az bllC CnhIbCleT Ol tnOSt WIN uShouh~O
it as u means of bringing themselves into
power and at the general policy that they
| advocate. Pursuing this course, we ind
that our debt of $4,000, 100000 Is the price
| of our continued national existence, which
is the guarantee of our individual welfare
The debt is the cost of defending the
| Government against the bloody and des-
peate and prolonged assault OF those who
now aspire to control II. To subdue Mr..
| Wade Hampton and hislegion, for instance,
| probably cost the Government more than
a million of dollars. In the Democratic
| Convention, which protested 50 patheti-
cally against the enormity of taxation,
there were scores OF ex-rebel officers, both
civil and military, who we're individually
| Chargeable with several millions of the
| debt. To suppress their insurrection the
debt was incurred. Twenty five hundred
millions of dollars is the price of the Union
that we have maintained, of the cancer Of
slavery that we have cut out, of the COM
manding position and vast influence among
nations that we have won, of the funda-
mental principles of free government
that we have vindicated and are vindicat-
ing This is the origin of the dobt, and 1t
can not be forgotten.
! is the Republican party Justly respon-
sible for ity The rebellion was plotted
under II Democratic President. Its chiefs
were Democratic Cabinet officers, Demo-
cratic Senators, Democratic Governors and
Judges. 1t was sustained in arms by
Democrats; Democrats did their utmost
to paralyZe the Government in the contest.
The Democratic Convention declared the
efforts Of the Government futile, and dc:
manded surrender to the rebellion. And
now that at this vast cost the rebellion,
waged by the arms and prolonged by the
sympathy solely of adherents and leaders
of the Democratic party, has been sub
| dued, those leaders step forward, denounce
the debt which they compelled the country
to incur, and demand the control of the
Government which they coEld not over
throw.
What, then, are the promises under
which the demand is made? Are they
such as reasonably to justify the expecta-
ton of return of that public confidence
without which prosperity and relief from
taxation will be indefinitely postponedY
The policy announced by the Democratic
party by which to pacify the country and
cement the Union is revolution and repu-
diation. II is distinctly declared by the
candidates and the leaders that the present
organizations of the Southern States are
void and the most unqualified assertion
that they ought to be at once forcibly
overthrown by the President secured for
the candidate who made it an enthusiastic
nomination. This policy, which the
trainers of the platform ardently agreed to
carry out to the end, can be carried out
only by involving the States concerned in
anarchy. Congress and the decision of
the Supreme Court will sustain one of the
governments; the Democratic. President
will support the other. In the nature of
things compromise will be impossible.
The difference will be referred to force.
Is another civil war the way to relieve tax
alton?
The other point of the proposed Demo
cratic policy is reputation. The public
decentralization that would follow is in
calculable. 1t would be poison at the
i very sources of the national life. 1t would
properly make this country a despised
outcast among nations. We should be
society of swindlers, and the whole glory
of our victory over the rebellion would be
fatally tarnished by our voluntary dis
honor. The rebel chiefs would have the
eXultatiOn ofbeholding the disgrace of the
people whom they could not defeat. To
them the satisfaction would be the same.
They are indifferent whether they humili-
ate us by arms or by art But the moral
character of every public question is its
really essential part But the industrial
ruin, like the public decentralization, coDse-
quent upon reputation is inconceivable.
Already the actual loss to the country from
the mere suspicion Of possible intention
to repudiate may be estimated at millions
of dollars. Such a suspicion is shock to
the public credit which is felt through the
whole system, and every dollar which is
thus lost is taken from the resources with
which the pressure of the debt is to be re-
lieved. In public as in private affairs,
honesty is the best policy. The man who
to relieve present necessity becomes a
thief must not hope to be received among
honorable men. But man whom honor
able men despise can hardly make an
honest living. Is national dishonesty the
way permanently to relieve taxation?
The whole matter comes then to this
that the party whose rebellion against the
Government caused the debt, now, as a
means of obtaining control of the Govern
ment, denounce the taxation necessary to
pay it. According to the Democratic ora
cles the Republican party is three times
guilty first, ofnot submitting to rebellion /;
second, of suppressing it by arms third,
Of wishing honestly to foot the bill Of ex-
penses. "Heavy and frequent demands OF
the tax gathererT ENORMOUS amount "
of taxation shout Messrs. Seymour, Pen
dleton, Vallandigham, Wade Hampton,
and their friends. Mr.. Hampton, if you
had not taken up arms against Govern
ment that never injuredyou; Mr.. Seymour
and Mr.. Pendleton, if you had never patted
Mr.. Hampton upon the back, the taxes
would neither have been frequent nor enor-
nous, and your names would not be those
of willing witnesses of their country's de-
struction.-Harpers Weekly
No
EB- A story has been circulated through
the COpperhead press to the effect that
RobertT Lincoln, Esq, of Chicago, son
of the martyred President, was heartily
for Gaunsour and Rlairn Tho folIo,.,;,,s.