The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-04

Treasury, the monthly debt statements would |
nevertheless have shown reduction. The |
net amount of the debt is reached by SUB |
tracing the money in the Treasury |
from the sum total of the bonds and green
backs; and the balance would have been
about the same if no bonds had been pur-
chased. What the country is asked to
rejoice over is the enormous amount of our
taxation. The capacous pool of administra-
i've wastefulness and extravaganza is not
only filled, but runs over. II the revenue
were less redundant, if the people were not
so pnndered by taxes, there would be less
money for the Republican officials to squan-
der; and because they collect more than
enough to gorge their rapacty, we are ex-
pected to admire them as great genluses IN
finance! Instead of praise for saving little
out of the overfowing revenues, they de-
serve censure for spending and wasting SO
much. The business of the country Is
crushed under oppressive taxation, and such
reductions as have taken place in the debt
merely attest the prodigious amount OF the
Federal taxes.
There is no good reason why money should
be taken from the pockets of the people for
the rapid extinction Of the public debt before
it falls due. Most of our enterprising bust
ness men are borrowers, and the money
which is taken in taxes could be used by them
with great advantage and profit in the prose-
cution of their undertakings, thus multi
plying the national wealth and increas-
ing the resources out. of which future
taxes are to be paid. At present we
are taxing many of our great industries out
of existence; we are impairing the national
wealth and resources out of all proportion
to the small reduction of the public debt.
Half the business men of the country would
be ruined if forced to make immediate pay
ment of their private debts, because they
need the borrowed capital which they are
using to enable them to make the money by
which they hope to extricate themselves from
their pecuniary obligations. forced pay
ment of the public debt operates in the
same manner, inasmuch as the heavy taxes
applied to that object diminish the resources
of the community for the prosecution of lucra-
tive pursuits
Great Britain, the wealthiest and finan-
cially the most intelligent nation on the
globe, does not deem it wise to make any
strained efforts to reduce the principal of her
debt AS soon as there is any surplus reve-
nue., the first thing to which British fnanciers
and statesmen turn their attention is dimi-
mutton of the public burdens by taking off
some of the taxes which produce the surplus.
They regard the growth of the national wealth
as more important than the reduction of the
public debt. Although the British debt re-
mains stationary, the credit of the British
There is no other Government which can so
readily command loan, or at so moderate a
rate of interest-a fact which might be re-
f1ected on with advantage by the declaimers
in this country who insist that the speedy eX-
tinction of the national debt is indispensable
to the maintenance of the public credit.
The Republican glorifcation over the
monthly debt statements is both foolish and
knavsh. 1t overlooks the disastrous and
| Of taya tha
| business of the country; and it is made a
convenient cover for the rascality and extra
vagance of a spendthriit party. 1t is used to
! give a deceitful and delusive impression of
| prosperity, which blinds the people to the
prodigal expenses of the Government If the
| Government costs three or four times as
much as it did before the war, the country is
expected to feel that our resources are bound
less and we can afford it, inasmuch as we
have a constant surplus to be applied
to the payment of the debt That surplus
is a trihe, and the country could well
enough stand it, if it were not for the
hundreds of millions that are annually
raised and squandered to produce this delu-
sive show of prosperity. But the country
cannot stand the enormous taxation by which
so many great industries are crippled and
crushed; and the fact that there is a surplus
over and above the prodigal expenditures of
the Government, proves that our taxes could
be largely and Immediately reduced without
injustice to the public creditors, or detrimeut
to the public credit. All that is required OF
us is to meet our obligations as they mature
and money that is not necessary for that pur-
pose had better be left in the hands of the
community to be productivity employed il
increasing the national wealth. A reduction
of the rascally tariff and the abolition of the
income tax, are among the most urgent finau
| of oi
affairs.