Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-01-16
OUR FINERClAL CONDITION.
The Views Of Secretary Of the Treasury
Boutwell,.

Mr.. Boutwell,, Secretary of the Treas
ury, in a lecture delivered in Wash
ington on Monday, thus reviews the
present financial condition OF the Gov
ernment. He said our present condi-
ton Is peculiar. The revenue is large,
and after the payment of the ordinary
expenses, pensions end interest, we
have a surplus Of SiGG, G,0O0,O 900 annu-
ally for the reduction of the principal
Of the debt. The treasury is free from
embarrassment. We have no Occa-
sion IL borrow a dollar f1F any pur-
pose whatever. Provision can be
easily made for the payment Of the
1910 bonds, amounting to Si9, 100000,
in 1874, when they will be first re-
deemable, or they may bo postponed
for thirty years more, as public inter-
est may require. The amount OF S2S,-
300, 600 due in 1881 can be paid at
maturity.
For the present we are safe, at least
in financial affairs. The proposition
for q neg loan has one purpose, and
one purpose Oniy-tka reduction Of the
interest account. If this cannot be
accomplished, we have no occasion TO
inteFcede in the markets Of the world.
Our power TO place a new loan at a
low rate of interest, is, in my opinion,
wholly dependent upon the mayni-
tude of our surplus revenue. Nothing
but a menace Of payment Will induce
holders of 6 per cent. bonds to Surren-
der them Snd adopt a bond bearing a
lower rate of interest. Ii you reduce
the rate of interest so that it is barely
equal to meet the necessary expenses
and occupy the interest, holders of
90 bonds viii resOlutely resist every
effort to induce them to accept lower
interest.
Our new interest account, excluding
Pacific Railroad bonds, is $l2j, 900, GOO.
The Government has already bought
90,G00, 600 oftheir own bonds, interest
on which is paid to the TTsasurer,
leaving the actual interest at about
$l20, ,0O0, ,OU0. 4 reduction Of the in
terest account $4,000, ,0000 year will
enable Us, If we choose, to make this
the basis of a sinking fund to pay the
principal OF the interest-bearing debt
in 80 years. II we reduce the revenue
to the necessary expenses of the Gov
ernment and the amount needed to
pay the interest at The present rate,
that IS TO say, IA saving Of SiS,OG0,0,U
annually in the amount Of interest,
will, in - years, with accumulated
interest, be equal to the bonded debt
of the United States.
Ought there then, IN the presence Of
such possible advantage, to be any
doubts as to the wisdom of maintain
ing the revenue at higher rates for one
or two or even three years il neceS-
Sary? With q large revenue for three
years theresult is surely accomplished
in one way or the other; and if the
public accept the ReW bond at lower
rate, the question is settled in favor Of
the government, and if they decline
the opportunity, The revenues viii
liquidate the principal of the debt
and the interest will disappear pro-
DOrtionatcly. In either case the
country succeeds.
II, however, We at once reduce rev
enues till they are sufficient for or1i-
nary expenses, pensions and Interest
on the debt, and public creditors shall
consequently, refuse TO receive new
bond, at lower rate of interest,
what will be the condition OF the
country? Thirty-five years hence it
will have paid 81 200, 1000, 900 of inter
est upon the public debt, and the en-
tire principal will then be unpaid.
Again, ] say it is not sufficient for a
nation that it is politically independ-
ent of foreign or hostile powers. 1t is
not sufficient that the people are all
citizens; that they are free and equal,
or even that political power is in their
hands. To all these must be added
national financial Independence. This
America has not. This she cannot
have, until she diminishes perceptihly
her public debt, and renders its pay
ment certain within a generation.
/ dare not cite examples, but the
nations are many that are crippled in
their policy and retarded in the de-
velopm6nt Of their industrial pursuits
by the magnitude OF their debts.
These examples should be q warning
to US. The public debt is the only Sc
rious result Of the war OF any consid-
erabie magnitude now remaining, bat
it is a result so serious rs TO demand
some present sacrifice for future pub
lie good. They are sacrifices, how
ever, which do not interfere with the
general prosperity Of the countryi nor
il the exigenOy SO exact as TO leave US
without opportunity OF retrieving,
from time TO time, those interests
which are most heavily burdened,
On one hand, by courage and manful
acceptance temporarily of burden,
considerable no doubt, but not insu-.
perable, we secure permanent pros
perity and financial independence Of
the country; on the other hand, II we
shrink from our task of duty, may
not say, of mastering these Difficult
ties, at once we increase the aggregate
of taxation, and leave to another gen
Grafton completion of work which
should have been done exclusively hy
our own?