Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1870-03-03
9aldieal.
Campaign of 1870 Opened.
Speech OF Senator Morton.

helQ at luUIduopoIAos
ary 22d, Senator Morton delivered the
following able speech:
FELLOW Cr.1zzNS-In response to an
invitation nom many friends, ana III
obedience to my own wishes, have
returned home 10 meet the Republicans
of Indiana in council, and | shall begin
what | have to say tonight by snort
review of the financial condition OF the
State.
FINANCIAL AFFAIRS OF the sfATE.
On the the first day of July, 1S49, the
the debt of the State, as reported by the
Auditor, stood rs follows:
Outstanding bonds not surrendered
under Butler BILL 81, rs, ,OOe; five per
cent. State Stocks issued under But
Ter Bill, - 81, ,66e 600; o-and hall per
cent. stocks Issued under " Butter Bill,
81 ,s56, ,207 80, making total OF the DoIu-
ed or foreign debt SS,044, ,207 %. To TINS
should be added the amount OF tne 90 90
mestic debt, October 81, ls4S, p Szi2, 10 ,ooo'
| making the entire debt SS,zo9,.o' oo.
On the first of January, 1857, at the
close of Governor Wright's admlnlstra-
tiop. the domestic debt had been extln-
guished. and the bonded or foreign deot
was 81, ,772 81, showing reduction OF
the State debt during Governor WrlSnts
/
administration of $487 ,52o 80.
| This amount of reduction in seven
yea,s, during period Of general pros
perity and profound peace, was very
small. but il was much better than what
| roIlowed under the administrator si
| Governors Willard and Hammond. AT
the close ef their administration, Janu-
aiv, 1861 AS shown by the report OF Au-
dior John w. Dodd, the amount o. the
Gebt was $40, ,1T9, ,267 90, having oeea ain IN
{; creased during thefou years Hug, o5o,-
O9. And thus the Repupllcah Aoih,nis nis
tratiop commenced in January, 1901,
| with q debt of $40, lI9, 26' w as an Inner
| itapce from the Democratic party.
! In order to raise money 30 prosecute
the war the state issued during the
Summer of 1861 two millions of War
| Loan bonds, and during the same sum-
mer Congress levied direct tax on the
state of S9O4, ,S75 33, which, added othe
War Loan, made an Indebtedness oil
81 9O4 .S7s SO, incurred on account OF the
| war The National direct tax W: as
symed and settled by the Republic can
state administration, without suffering
| it to be laid upon the people.
l1 will be seen that the end of the MS
cal wear i'm 1862 found the State with a
debt of Si3. .GS4 ,0Sl IL, old and new. Inc Inc
report o. the Auditor for the year 1903
shows the State debt now to be as lol-
lows: Old bonds not surrendered uhoer
the Butler Bill, )" $I95, ,O9e, nVe per cent.
stocks, 81 ,6S6,956 80; Two ana nan per
cent. stocks, 81, 740 13; war lean bonus,
S90I O0). Showing an aggregate of for
eirn bonded debt of $2.0l0,6S9 46. Sond
to the School Fund, So, ,55l ,3l6 Is; uni
versity bond, S63, ,5S3 Making the total
debt, foreign and domestic, So, ,655, ,59e 81;
showing the amount of the debt paid OF
since the first of November, 1862, to be
| 81 ABS. .ISs. The bond to the School Fund
of Sd, SOL ,3lS Is, the State owes TO her-
| self. and is never to be paid-the obliga-
ton amounting to this: that the State
| will senfi annually, for the support OF
common schools, pay sum equal TO the
interest on this bond, at the rate OF SIX
/ per cent. per annum; but, as IN the ao-
sence of this arrangement the state
| would have to raise like amount ior
the support of common schools, the IN
debtedness is only nominal, ana not
real, SO that the whole debt which t2e
State is now liable to pay amounts only
to 81 lO4, ,2Si 4S, for the discharge of
which [ am informed that Governor
Baker expects the funds to be in the
State Treasury within the next eighteen
months, or by the ist OF July, 1871.
This result of Republican adminIstra-
ton within the last nine years is highly
! gratifying, and gives assurance for the
fidelity and ability of the administration
of the Republican party in the future
What / have stated, however, does
not include all that has been accom-
piished in the last nine years. Ihe
Northern Prison debt has been paid ana
the prison completed: the Hospital fof
the Insane has been greatly enlarged
and improved; the Soldiers Home, the
Normal School building, the building
for the Supreme Court and State officers
and House of Refuge, have been erected
and paid for, and appropriation made
and paid out, or for which the money is
in the treasury, for the State University,
Female Reformatory, and enlargement
fh,,a {.1sticute for the Deaf and Dumb,
at an aggregate cost of S79S, III 6i.
fall this does not make the contrast
between the Republican and Democrat
ic administrations sufficiently striking,
many other things might be referred to
and among them the Lass item ofDemo-
cratic State final ciering N Investing
$3.50. 900 of the School Fund in gold
: gambling house in New York, a part OF
t which was curiously reported as "sus-
pended cash, :" the officer, however, re,
Z 1uSlD9 10 COllOIIu w GAAO boA~A A)NiAiO
cratic practice of giving his note for the
balance when he went out.
And as an evidence of the general
/ prosperity, patriotism and devotion o.
The peopIe Of ofIndiana, as shown by re,
/ ports made to the Adjutant General by
the various County Auditors, it may De
stated that the counties, cities, town
i ships and towns paid from money rals
] ed bv self-imposed taxation for relief o
soldiers and soldiers families, for boun
| ties and for miscellaneous military pur
poses, $40, ,25S $40, all (which has beer
paid, and nothing is left behind but the
| memory of the good deeds that were
done.
And it may further be said that dur
! ing these nine years the general man
agement of our afftirs in relation to ed
J ucation, to the courts, to the system o
. taxation, and the general manner o
conducting the public business, ha:
been vastly improved. Especially has
the common school system been eleva
ted from its previous unOrganized ant
}, imperfect condition, until it is nov
second to none outside of New England
$ and is rapidly growing better from Yea
: to year. And as an evidence of the in
terest which our people take in thei
! schools, the State disbursed last year fo
school purposes the sum of 81 1890 81
and now has larger school iund thai
any other State in the Union.
Before leaving the subject of State Fl
] nances it may not be improper to refe
to question which is looming up, an'
about which there are some ominOu
, signs. There is reason to believe tina
the State will be urged to assume th
payment of the stocks, which, by tn
>, terms of the Butler Bill, or the arrange
y ment with the creditors of the State, il
u y 1916, were to be paid entirely out of tn