The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1869-07-27
The National Debt-How the People
are Deceived by Treasury Figures.

Mr. ALEXANDER DELMAR, an able
statcian, for long time employed in
the Treasury Department at Washing
ton, has written letter to the Secretary
of the Treasury on the subject of the
fraud attempted to be palmed off on the
people, by q pretended reduction of the
national debt, when in reality it is in.
creasing in amount, in which he says:
The last public debt statement con-
tains summary of the amount of pub.
lie debt, less cash and Sinking Fund in
the Treasury This summary is neither
required by law nor warranted by the
truth, and it must inevitably lead to
wrong conclusions.
The cash in the Treasury is not an
available resource for the payment of
the written debt, unless, indeed, the
Government has no other indebtness TO
hQuidate, which is not the case On
| the contrary, there is outstanding at the
present time probably much larger
amount of debt than the cash balance
amounts to, for which neither bonds,
certificates nor paper money have been
given; but which is, nevertheless, Just
rs msch portion of the public debt as
is a five-twenty bond or a Treasury
note. Moreover, if am not mistaken,
some of this cash in the Treasury-a
small portion, it is true-is Trust Funds,
and does not belong to the United States
at all.
Nor is it shown whether the s, ,S67 ,2S2
of Sinking Fund bonds and accrued in
terest, counted as part of the amount
IN the Treasury" was previously in
cluded In the body of the statement.
Ii 1t was not, ITS inclusion in the
amount in the Treasury" would de-
serve very harsh name; even if it was,
1t Is no more correctly to be accounted
as part of the amount in the Treas
ury" than is the value of the Treasury
building, or any other property, other
than money, belonging to the Govern
ment.
The Treasury Department appears to
labor under the delusion that the
monthly statement of the public debt
called for by law, is to be a balance
sheet of the National finances, which
shall exhibit on the one side the public
debt, diminished by construction tC
mean the written debt, and on the other
the public resources, distorted as vel
as diminished by construction to NEAR
all the cash in the Treasury, no matter
to whom it belongs, as well as tht
Sinking Fund bonds, whether the same
are first counted as part of the debt oI
not Surely it needs but to call atten
tion to such extraordinary improprietie;
to cause them to be remedied.
Again, the amount of the public debt
less accrued interest (which formerly
was not counted as part of the debt
and should, therefore, be omitted il
making antecedent comparisons i:
stated at s.. ~, 1888. But from this
amount is omitted S5S, ,63S 800, the sun
of the bonds issued to the various Pa
cifc railroads.
1t is not only quite obvious that these
bonds form portion of the public debt
and that there is, therefore, no sound
reason for their omission fror, this state
ment; but as they were included in al
the statements issued by your predeces
sors in Office, no correct comparison car
be made of the progress of the public
debt unless the sum Of these bonds II
either emitted from all, or included
3 in all.
Finally, the statement contains com
Iparlson of the puhlic debt on the lat O