Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-11-03
The President on Finances.

President johnson has written to Thomas
Ewing very able letter upon the financial
condition of the country, in which he adds
his testimony to some startling facts often
alluded to in these columns. We cannot fail,
however, to make an extract. After stating
the dimensions of the public debt and some
of the corruptions and extravagances by
which it has so monstrously increased under
Jacobin rule, the President concludes as
follows: s. h#. .5. ..-
"Retrenchment has become an absolute
necessity, or bankruptcy must soon overtake
us, and involve the country in its paralyzing
results. If, however, wise economy be
adopted, taxes may soon be materially reduced,
not merely for the benefit of few, but in
the interest Of all. A revenue would remain
sufficient for the administration of the Govern
ment, as we'll as for such reduction of the
public debt as would in few years, relieve
the people from the millions of interest now
annually drawn from their resources. The
idea that the debt is to become permanent
should be dlscountenanced, as involving tax-
alton too heavy to be borne, and the payment
of an amount in interest every sixteen years
equal to the original sum. The gradual
liquidation of the public debt would, by
degrees, release the large capital invested in
the loan. The securities Of the Government,
which, seeking remuneration in other sources
ofincome would add to the faith of the nation,
upon which it is now great drain. This
immense burden, if permitted TO become per-
manent and increasing, must eventually be
gathered into the hands of the few, and enable
them to exert a dangerous and controlling
power in the affairs of the Government. The
Joht hao nfSo of tha
the creditors the masters of the people, It
is our boast that we have given freedom to
5000, 900 of slaves it will be then our shame
that, by their own federation of usurpation
and profigacy 40,000,000 of people have
enslayed themselves, and exchanged slave
holders for new task>masters, in the shape of
bond holders and tax-gatherers. Hence the
vital issue, whether Congress and its arbitrary
assumptions of authority, shall supersede the
supreme law of the land, whether in time of
peace the country shall be controlled by
multitude of tax-collectors and a standing
army, the one almost as numerous as the other,
and making the debt permanent burden
upon the productive industry of the people,
or whether the Constitution, with each and
all of its guarantees, shall be sacredly preserv-
ed; whether now, as in 1889 and 1916, pro-
vision shall be made for the payment of our
obligations at as early period as practicable,
so that the fruits of their labor may be enjoyed
by our citizens, rather than used to build up
and sustain moncyed monopoly at home and
abroad. The contest is not merely who shall
occupy the principal Offices in the peoples
gift, but whether the highest provisions of the
Federal Constitution shall be observed and
maintained, in order that our liberties may be
preserved, the union of the States restored,
that our Federal system may be unimpaired,
fraternal feeling may be established and our
strength may be renewed, the expenditures
diminished, that taxation may be lighteEed
and the public debt once more extinguished,
that it may not injuriously affect the life,
prosperity and morals of the nation