Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1869-10-28

revenue. VI nh the neAIDS cdlcu1Htcs,
!, to injure public credit and TO render
i tnxation unnecessarily odious, there
4 IS nothing more efficient than to en-
trust the collection Of the revenues
]! to dishonest men, who, having ex-
acted from the Taxpayers what was
due the Government, appropriated
it to themselves. 1t cannot happen
in a country SO vast Rs this that ho2f
est men can alwaEsyke secured, butai
know that the President Of the Uni
ted States desires more than anything
else that nobody shall he put in Office
or retain any Office unless, in the
performance Of his duties, he acts
according to the laws. You have
paid $50, 900, 900 Of the public debt
since the last Of March last. Shall
we, in the presence of that fact,
shrink from what is before US? To
be sure there Is taxation, but it is not
grievous taxation, and more than
that it can be gradually, year by year,
diminished. The burdens, whether
heavy or light, can be gradually re-
moved from the people. l thought
it might not be uninteresting, al
though the facts are very well known,
to state how far the revenues and
proceeds Of taxation bear heavily
upon the people. During the last
year from distilled spirits and the
manufacture and traffic in distilltd
spirits, wine, and every kind Of liq-
uOrs, was derived revenue OF $A,-
COG, 900; from tobacco manufactured
as well as in the various forms, $685.
DOC. 900 more. Here are nearly $780,
100000, which, suppose, in the
judgment Of most of us, is not unnec-
essarily heavy. Then about sc, OOO, 600
from taxes on fermented liquors; we
get &C, 600, 900 from transportation Of
merchandise through the country,
which should be removed as soon as
the condition Of the public Treasury
will permit. There are SG,0O0,000
more from the sales OF merchandise
and 50, 0OO, 900 more from the income
tax, s3i coo, 600 from stamps and 49,
DOC, 900 from other and smaller, items,
sufficient to make an aggregate Of
sl5s ,OOO, 900. Thissystem oftaxatiOn
can he changed so as to relieve the
burden of taxation from the mass Of
the people. A greater amount of
the internal revenue is deriyed either
from the luxuries of life or from taxes
on people who are able to pay, and
the burden upon the laboring people
il, after all, very small, But l must
say that no system Of taxation is de-
sired that does not look to a larger
taxation upon Iuxuries or upon accu-
muIated property, thus relieving the
labor and the ordinary business of
life to as large a degree as possible.
| desire TO call your attention to the
manner Of the application of the rev.
enues Of the country to the payment
Of the public debt. The public debt
Of the country presents Itself IN three
forms, bonds issued by Government,
payable at a fixed time in the future,
and bearing interest, most of them
at six per cent, and small proper
ton OF them ut Ave per cent; the
currency Of the country known rs
grecnbacks used for circulation, and
issued by Government with interest:
and outstanding $5O,COO,O00 of three
per cent. certificates, with interest
and principal, which are payable on
demand and in currency. When the
Secretary of the Treasury found him
self in possession of FIVE, ten or fifteen
millions Of surplus funds he would
appropriate it to the payment of one
or the other of these forms Of indebt-
edness. by the law of Congress he
was prohibited from diminishing the
amount of greenbacks below three
hundred and fifty-six millions. That
was the amount issued when he came
into the Treasury Department, and
that amount has under the law been
continued substantially the saine.
Therefore, he could not, without vio-
luting the law, redeem and cancel
the circulating medium Of the colln-'
try, whatever his opinion might be.
Then there are Atty millions Of three
per cents. held by the banks. They
answer, to a certain extent, the Office
Of currency. They were heldclosely
by the banks, and would not be CIV
en- upexcepton some sortof pressure.
The Secretary of the Treasury did
not avail himself Of the liberty to
employ this pressure, even If it were
injhis power to do so; but, moreover,
he felt that 1t was to some extent a
departure from the law Of Congress
by which he was required tn allow
the volume Of currency to remain as
it was when he entered office. There
fore there seemed only the course
which has been pursued: to purchase
six per cent. bonds at the market
price. And this ia 4 statement not
by WAy Of EXPLANATION. hut n state.