Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-09-08
A MIRROR FOR THE RADICAL
RRAGGARTS.

Deen very neaVy TeQuCIlOn III INC PuSiiS
debt, and an invidious comparison has at
each recurring period been instituted be-
tween the administration of Mr.. johnson
and Gen. Grant on this score. The peo-
pie are more heavily taxed now than
they were under Mr.. Johnson's admins
tration, and it is natural to expect that a
larger reduction has been made in the
public debt than Mr.. Johnson's Secretary
Of the Treasury was able to do, yet ac-
cordlDg to Radical authority this has not
been done. There was levied and coll
lected from the people nearly $3S, 900, 600
more in the first year of Grants admin
istration than in the last year of john
sons, yet the reduction in the public
debt, as stated by Mr.. Boutwell, himself,
has not been near so great under the
Grant administration as that of johnson.
Still the Radical journals raise chorus
of shouts as each monthly statement is
made public, and call upon every body to
/
General Grant, who is steadily reduc-
ing the public debt The September |
statement shows reduction of $1S, 1922
1926 for the month of August; that OF
August, 81, G34, 1913 for July; and that OF
July, 800, 203, 772 for June; and we are
told that since the 4th of March, 1859,
the beginning of Grants administration,
there has been an aggregate reduction
i amounting to 1859, 543, 600. Having
nothing else to boast of in behalf of
| Grants administration, says the New
York World, they absurdly boast of this,
and intend to make it the central topic of
their electioneering addresses in the ap-
| preaching canvass We shall easily clip
the wings and strip off the ruffiing feath-
ers of these vainglorious braggarts. We
shall show by Republican testimony, and
by the statements of Mr.. Boutwell, him
self, that where Grant paid hundreds of
dollars, johnson, his, traduced. predeces-
sor, paid thousands. lie there is
any merit in such debt-paying, Grant
must hide his diminished head in the
presence of Andrew johnson. The World
has copy of the noted speech of Mr..
Edward Atkinson, of Massachusetts, cir
culated by the Radicals of that State as a
campaign document in 1868. At the head
of the speech stands this statement, or
summary contents, in large staring type:
Debt of the United States J..
| Aug. 1, lo65.................. %, Zod, '5o,5ZS
June 30, 186S............... 2.4o5, OOO-OoO
Reduction. $500, 733 329
| The speech, a long one, delivered be-
fore the Massachusetts Republican State
Convention, is made up of statistics and
reasoning to show the correctness of this
statement. Mr. Atkinson says in
one of his Introductory paragraphs
describing the sources of his
information, 81 also desire to say
that did not fully realize the great inn
portance or the force of the statement of
the real maximum of the debt of the
United States, at given date until read
the speech of Hon. George S. Boutwell,
upon the funding bill, in which speech is
| compact statement substantially agreeing
With the exhibit l am about to make. ,
Mr.. Boutwell, is therefore the original au
thority for the statements by which his
own vaunted feats are totally eclipsed and
his Boosting put TO shame. We present
from the Congressional Globe the fol-
lowing extract from the speech referred to
by Mr.. Atkinson, delivered by Mr.. Bout
well in the House of Representatives, July
q, 1868: rr.
| 81 wish TO call the attention of the
House to fact deduced by careful ex-
animation of statistics obtained from the
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury,
showing that with our resources and the
revenue of this country we have secured
a large diminution of the public debt. l
confess that, after the careful examination
bad made, 1 felt compelled to review
it to see if there was not some mistake in
the premises or in the calculation, so as
tonishing Is the evidence thus furnished
of the ability of the people of the coun,
try to hquidate the public debt. From
the first day of April, 1865, to the first
day of January, 1868, we have paid out
of the public treasury 81, 552, 900 of mon
ey. Upon careful analysis of the ex-
penditures of the government during
those two years and nine months. [
find that the expenses of a peace
establishment, including interest, pen
sious, and bounties, upon the basis of
the year 1865 and 1867, when the ex-
penses of the Government were $40, O00,-
900 than they are to be the present year,
amounted to 1886, 900, 900, Snoring that
are paid OUer and above these expenses,
81, 066, 900, 900. On the first day of April,
| 1865, the public debt liquidated a d ascer-
tanned was 81, 1856, 100000, and the ST.
O66, 600, 600 which we paid between the
fist day of April 1865, and the first day
of January, 1868, would have been added
to the public debt as proper expenses of
the war if we had not ont of the public
revenue from day to day iquidated it. If
we add to the 81, $50, OO0,000 of public
debt on the first OF April, 1865, what we
paid for war expenses, including interest
on the war debt, pensions and
bounties, between the first Of April, 1866,
and the LIST of January, 1868, the public
debt, if we haG not paid war expenses
out of the ordinary revenue, would have
amounted to s., 432, 900, 600. In the face
of this great fact that in two years and
nine months, by extraordinary taxation
and extraordinary efforts to be sure, we
paid 81, 066, 900, 900 of the public debt,
are we to assume that the people of this
country are not annually to make consid-
cradle payments of the public debt of the
country Almost 1le-thjrd of the pub
lie debt Of the country has been paid
IN ttOO gears and nine months"
1t appears, then, by comparison of
Mr. Boutwel's speech in 1868 with his
recent statement on the 1st of
September, that the payments IN
der President Grant are mere