Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-07-21

Joint chorus Of exultaiIon over What
they would hnvc ue believe, and per.
haps believe themselves, 60 bo the OK.
tiwordinary eucocse OF the new prcsi
dent and Secretary OF the Treasury IN
reducing the public debt We are
willing to conccde 90 Che new admin.
istration all the credit IL may deserve
in this respect; but before Ginning In
with the chorus, we must look into
particulars and see whether the praise
rests on solid foundation.
Let us try to ascertain whether the
failure Of General Grant TO retain the
public confidence in other particulars
il n.oncd for by the claim here set up
in relation 10 the public debt. IL il
shall appear that the reduction has
proceeded from causes over which
neither Grant nor his Secretary OF the
Treasury has exerted any control, no
credit is due TO either of them, even If
we should find the amount of reduc.
ton 10 be considerable But it is
really small, almost pitiful, in com.
parison with hereduolion which those
same journals have great many times
asserted took place during the first
three years Of President Johnson's
administration. When, in the Presi-
dental canvass, last year, Demo-
Gratis pointed TO the fact that over
81 900, 100000 had been received into
the Treasury in the three years and
half since the close of the war, and
demanded to know what had become
of so enormous an amount of money,
Mr. Atkinson, of Massachusetts, with
the assistance of Commissioner Wells,
furnished reply which was echoed
and reverberated on every Republican
stump and in every Republican news
paper until the close of the canvass
Mr. Atkinson's speech, and the dill
gent use the Republicans made OF it,
were too noted feature Of the Presi-
dentinl canvass for anybody TO have
forgotten it, He asserted, and at
tempted to prove by an array Of fig
ures and statistics, that, in the three
years and seven months following the
close Of the war, the public debt had
been reduced more than $500, 900 900,
or at the rate of more than two hun
drcd million OF dollars per annum-an
assertion which was indorsed and de-
icnded by every Republican news
paper in the United States. How
ridiculous it is for these papers TO cry
up General Grant and Secretary Bout
we'll TO the skies for reductions which
Boutwell, himself estimates at only
fifty millions for the fiscal year At
this rate, il would require sixteen
years TO accomplish as much as was
done in three years and half under
President johnson. And as the Re
publicans awarded Mr.. johnson no
credit for his magnificent exhibit, how
can they have the face 10 claim any
for General Grant in consequence of
the more recent and much smaller
dimnution Of the debty
We will not dwell on Mr.. Atkinson's
electioneering extravaganza. We have
referred 20 il only to expose the reck-
less inconsistency and folly Of Gen.
Grants eulogists. Let US proceed from
exploded fetiOns 10 facts.
The public debt is, doubtless just at
present, 10 process Of reduction. We
are willingto admit that this reduction
may reach the fifty millions expected
by Mr. Boutwell, in the course of the
fiscal year 1t can easily be shown
that resources for this purpose are
furnished by means with which Grant
and Boutwell, have had no more to do
than with the ebb and flow OF the
tides
] In the first place, the revenae from
imports, in the fiscal year just ended,
is largely in excess Of the revenue from
the same source in the preceding year.
For the year ending June 80, 1865,
the amount Of duties was sl64, 600 900 I;
for the year just closed they amount
TO Sls2. 900, ,000--an excess ofSlS, ,OO0,-
600. Nobody preteDds that the cus-
toms revenue is more faithfully colIec-
ted under the new administration
than it was before. The increase is
due to heavier importations of foreign
goods. II is absurd to bespatter Gen.
Grant with praise for the larger orders
sent abroad by our importing MGR
chants.
Last year, s23,649,l57 we're paid
out Of the Treasury in additional
bounties TO soldiers. The Secretary
Of War (Gon. Schofeld) recommended,
in bis December report, that no further
cIaims of this kind should be con
sidered after the 4th Of March. Gen.
Grant and his administration have
had nothing TO do with the closing up
OF this source OF expenditure.
Last year, there was paid 10 Russia,
for the Alaska purchase, 1900, 600 in
gold, equivalent to Sl0.000,OO0 in
currency. Mr.. Boutwell, has no paw
ment Of this kind to provide for.
The Freedmen's Bureau, having
served its purpose in the Southern
elections, was discontinued by Con-
gress before Gen. Grant came into
power--a saving Of about 81, ,000, 900 a
year The disooRtinuance of military
governments in seven Of the ten South
ern States has done away with the
necessity fora great number Of soldiers,
bat no official document gives the
annual saving on this head
Last year, bonds were supplied to
the Pacific Railroad amounting TO s24,-
$4,000. The road was just on the
point Of completion when Gen Grant
came into Office, and this source of
expense is about TO be stopped. The
resources added or released, which VIC
have here enumerated, foot up $50 far
as they can be asccrtaiacd from official
documents) a. follows:
Additional custom dutics sls oc0 900
Cessation Of extra bountics ...... ~ 0oo 600
AatA s..s-ssss 1,VNNNON
ffeedment 1000 0nO
Disconiinuancc Of military government
In seven States (unknown) ............
Pacific Railroad Bonds ............... p. 900 900
a" 's+s''i's'ss's''ss sss.sssss ssssss.Hf NNNNVu