Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-09-16

i ed for that purposeTD
/ Alas ! poor Yoriek. The NatioDa
| Banks have been bitterly complainins
| that we not only made them nav fo1
| their own notes, but that we made
! them pay ten times the cost Tht
| truth is that we make them. nav. mo-
as part of their internal taxes. but
for the very purpose Of paying this ex
pense, one per cent. annually on the
amount of their circulation or three
million of dollars per year so that il
this way the National Banks have
paid into the Treasury four times the
cost of preparing all the bonds and
notes issued by the United States since
the war commenced and this goes to
swell the general revenue and lessen
your taxes. Now, did General Nor.
gan know this fact
But now comes a terrible sensation.
Three hundred and forty internal rev
enue defaulters. He says, s'when ]
tell YOU that there have been three
hundred forty defaulters among the
collectors of internal revenue. YOU
look surprised, and ask one another
why have not we been told of this be-
iOre.' For the simple reason. nv
friends, because the facts had been
concealed, and had to be dug out.s'-
Now this is an interesting picture
three hundred and forty defauIters.
rascals, thieves, and as MANY more
rascals.in the Treasury Department,
including Secretary boutwell,, Com
missioner DeIano, Comptroller Taylor,
and such like, covering up, hiding, and
comes our friend, Gen. Morgan, the
virtuous, the incorruptfble miner into
rascality, digging up, yes, digging up
this mass of corruption. Yes, dug it
up; I, General Morgan. And to
strengthen his assertion he gives
names and among them Frank Soule
and Sheridan Shook, familiar names
whisky ring-gOod Democrats.
Now while you. look surprised. lean
hardly imagine how McCulloch and
Rollins, Boutwell, and Delano, STAN
berry, Evarts and Hoar looked, if ever
they read this. they are honorable
men, bound to pFeYent rascaIitv, and
don't like to be shook in the same bag
with Sheridan Shook. And what must
be the feeling ofthe $40 collectors. in
cluding nearly 6EeEy man who form
erly held that Office. They are brand
ed as deeply as General Morgan can
brand them. What is the basis of this
wholesale charger It is true that
during the close of Johnson's admin
istratiOn the Internal Revenue service
became demoralized. I am not here
as the defender of the collectors Hub
bell ought to be that. Several of the
leading officers openly used their of
fees to promote the policy of Andrew
johnson. Most of these named by
Morgan are shining lights of this fac
tiOn. Some few, perhaps ten in all,
became defaulters.
The rest are not now and never were
so. Under the revenue laws all as
sessments, of whatever character,
whether legal or Illegal, whether ex-
cessive or not, are charged on the
books Of the Treasury to the collector.
He can only acquit himself by paying
over the amount in money, or in the
official settlement of his account.
showing what could be collected. His
mere current vouchers, though sworn
to, are not sufficient. They are receiv-
ed as his statement Ofcurrent account,
but they are not audited until his ac-
count can be examined by auditors
and mptrollers, and passed through
all the machinery provided to settle
accounts. Now the simple eXplana-
tion of the matter that General Nor
gan dug into is that the accounts in
the treasury showed to the debt ofthese
collectors large balances of uncOllected
and uncoIlectabIe assessments, which
in nine cases out often were turned OY-
er to theirsuccessOrs, or were insolvent.
The vouchers to settle these accounts
may be, and no doubt are, on file, and
o.
be adjusted as1d7 raid Now, it is just
as cruel and hard to call these men
rasoals and defaulters, as it would be
to call yOu a rascal because a merchant
had you charged with an account that
you had paid. In the same Way anv
disbursing officer of the army, any
paymaster, quartermaster or captain,
might be arraigned as a defaulter, if
his property accounts were not vet
closed. I can not but think that Gen.
Morgan has, in his wholesale slander
of public officers, merely for a polite
al sensation, done injustice to himself
and character for fairness and candor
NEW ENGLAND.
The balance of Gen. Morgan's speech
is the old arraignment of New Eng
land. It contains some truths and
many errors. 1t is true that Massa-
chusetts is careful of her local inter
est. It is true she stuck to her fishing
bounties until a Republican Congress
repealed them. It is true she has a
ready facility to gather up old claims
and get them paid. General Morgan
is very unfortunate in citing this as
an instance of Massachusetts, greedi-
ness. According to his own showing,
two of these claims were paid by DEM
ocratic Congresses, and the only oppO-
sition to the last in the Senate was
made by Republican Senators. It was
a claim for interest for advances made
to the United States during the war
of 1872, and it was settled on the pre-
else rule applied to every other State.
I thought the rule wrong one, but
not a single Democratic Senator agreed
with me, and but few Repu ublicans.-
General Morgan is now rather late in
coming to the rescue. 1t passed the
HOuse of Representative several
times. They did not hear from him
there. Why did he not there bring
out the opposition of Gen. Strong to
blue lights of Connecticut, the only
Democratic New England State ?
But it is not true that Massachus-
etts is unlike any other State in at
tending to her local interests. Ohio
protects her local interests with as
much industry and ability as any 9TH
er state, and perhaps may say is not
less influential in the Government of
the nation than any other State. It is
not true that the Tariff or Revenue
laws in any respect favor the interest
of New England to the detriment of
other States, or that her voice is more
potent than other sections. This is
the stale residuum of old politics,
when there were no powers but South
Carolina and Massachusetts. He for
gets it was near forty years since Web
ster and Hayne debated all this. Nc
longer need the mighty West with its
increasing power, whine about the in
luence of other sections. She has but
TO stretch forth her hand to take, to
dictate, and to govern. Gen. Morgan
and 1 are both Western men, and
ought not to gFumble when we have
the power in our own hands. The en-
pire of this nation rests now firm in
the Mississippi valley.
Again-He says we in Ohio have tt
pay more than our own share of taxes
because in Ohio there is collected SIG.
0S2, 497 internal taxes, and nearly ali
on whisky. If this reasoning be true
then we pay scarce any custom duties
New York pays nearly all. His rea
soning is fallacious. Moreover, con
sumers of whisky pay the duty, anC
all the States and all the section.
share in the payment of the taxes K
the precise extent they consume the
articles taxed. Consumption depend,
upon the distribution Of wealth anC
population, and increases precisely al
wealth and population increase.
Now, fellow citizens, 1 have gon,
over this speech without any wish t,
evade any point made, with nothinl
but hearty kindness for General Nor
gan, and l submit to you if this is al
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