Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-09-28
Teen months were SO. .OOO. 600.

I teen months were S245, 900, 900.
That makes a reduction Of SS2, ,0OO,-
| 900 in the ordinary expenses Of the
Government in eighteen months.
/ Let US look at the interest account.
During the last eighteen months of
| Johnson's administration the interest
| paid amounted to S211, 900, 600. Dur
/ ing the first IS months of Grants adj
hiinistration he paid only Sl9S, ,0O0, 900,
because he was reducing the debt all
/ the time, and therefore he paid less
/ interest. And when you add these
/ together, the reduction of expendi-
lures and the reduction Of interest,
/ the reduction in these first eighteen
months Of Grants administration was
| 500, ,653, 600 over the last eighteen
months of JOhnson's administration.
We promised you in 1858 that If you
would elect the Republican ticket we
would increase your revenue without
adding to your burdens, and we have
done II to the amount of SS7, ,O00, 900.
And we have reduced your expendt-
tures by economy and retrenehment
| 500. .OO0. 900. You would not have be-
/ Iieyed we could doit. 1 would scarce
/ ly have believed it myself But it is
because you have an honest man at
the White House.
General Grant don't make very long
speeches. He don't make as long
speeches as my friend General Cum
/ back or as the Vice President does.
But he made short speech last March
to Mr.. Dawes when he was going to
address the people of New Hampshire,
and these are the words of this brief,
emphatic speech Of General Grants:
''Tell the people of New Hampshire,
that during my administration there
shall be no ascending scale of public
expenditures, but Whereverand when
ever the closest scrutiny shall disclose
the possibility of cutting Off dollar,
| it shall be done" Don't you like that
sort of a pledge? Amt you rejoieed
that the confidence you repOsed in
him has been so signally verified in
his acts during these eighteen months
Of this Union administration? Mr..
Colfax here called for three cheers for
General Grant, which were given
with a will.
REDUCTION OF THE PUBLIC DEBT.
This is not all. By this economy
not only has your CREDIT been elevR-
ted and improved, but you have stead
lily been paying off your national debt,
and the official tables show you that
during these eighteen months Gener-
al Grant has paid S169, 500, 900 of your
bonded and overdue debt, without
adding one solitary dollar to your bur-
dens, only by faithfully collecting
your revenue, and by retrenchment
and faithfully applying your revenue,
and then with the surplus lifting this
burden Of debt from your shoulders
and releasing you from over S, 900, 900
of interest per year. And during the
first week OF this present month he
paid off s., 900, 900 more Of your debt,
took up the bonds and cancelled them.
Now this SIZE, 100000 he has paidup to
the present time is one-tenth Of your
entire bonded debt wiped off by homes
ty, by integrity and economy. Ought
not that administration to be sustain
ed, and ought not men who bear its
standard in this campaign, like Mr..
Pritchard here, to be sustained?
APPRECIATION OF THE CURRENCY.
But that is not all, though you Will
think this is enough to justify an
approval of the administration
When General Grant came into the
administration of your government
affairs, you had S4O0, ,00O. 900 of green
backs and fractional currency. There
was about 1856, ,OOO, 900 Of greenbacks
and $40, 900, 900 of fractional currency.
There has been no curtailment during
these eighteen months, and the same
amount still remains among the peO-
pie. When Grant came in gold was
at a premium of 1873, and therefore
you will find a greenbaek dollar,
when Gen. Grant was inaugurated,
was worth Just seventy-five cents,
and the four hundred millions of
greenbacks and fractional currency
were, therefore, worth three hundred
million dollars in gold. They were
in your pockets. You farmers, you
merchants, you mechanics, you labor
ing men, had these greenbaeks and
this fractional currency, and they
were worth three hundred million
dollars in gold. When the European
war broke out, by retrenchment, by
economy, by paying of yeur debt, by
increasing your receipts, by honest
collections, gold has gone steadily
down to ITO. I need not tell you that
that Europeon war, the most wicked,
causeless and cruel war thatShas ever
been known in the history of the
world, Waged by one man, a despOt
who had broken down a republic,
trampling upon his broken oaths and
plunging into war for which there
was no Just provOcatiOn, to strengthen
his dynasty, and increase the prospect
of his son sitting on the throne Of
France, the Fatherland, arising from
the North Sea to the Bavarian alps
to resist this invasion and this wicked !
war-When that war broke out it
deranged the money markets Of the
world, Just as our war did. The great |
monetary demands of the belliger- |
ents, needing millions and hundreds |
Of millions of dollars, caused a de- |
rangement of the money markets of
the world. The bonds Of the United |
States went down. Even the con- |
soils of England went down, because |
everybody in France and in Germany |
were seeking to realize money on !
their investments to furnish their |
countries. And so gold went up to /
l23. We are not responsible for that, /
and it is down again now to about ll3, |
because our credit and solvency have |
been so well proved.
But when the war broke out gold |
had gone down steadily to ITO, and it |
is nearly down there again to-day. |
What was the result? These four
hundred millions Of greenbacks and /
fractional currency in the pockets Of
the people of America became worth, /
in gold, S362, 10000 S62,0O0,O0 in
gold more than they were when Grant |
became President. Is not that worth /
your approval?
REDUCTION OF TAXATION.
That is not all. We found that, /
with all this, we could reduce taxa
tion-iargely. Instead of continuing
to pay Off this debt, at this rapid rate, |
we wanted the next generation to .
help, for this debt was incurred for /
their sakes as well as our own. So /
we passed in Congress bill reducing /
your internal and your external taxa
ton, your internal revenue taxes and
your tariff duties, throwing of fifty
five millions of internal revenue
taxes, and twenty-five millions Of
tariff duties, striking of at one blow
eighty millions Of taxes, one-fOCrth
of ali the remaining taxes resting on
the people Of the United States.
Now 1 want to ask you If an admin
istratiOn that in eighteen months,
without any increase of taxation, can
increase your receipts over eighty
millions Of dollars over the previous
can reduce your ex-
penditure one hundred millions, can