The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-04-12

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business topics, the following astound.
ing assertions; and what is to be es-
pecially to be lanentS1, these asser-
tions have been copied by the small
fry journals, as truths too sacred to
he hidden Speaking cf taxation and
the c.i.-, % zip out be great public
3-sa = rapidly as pO5sible, this COM
-. real so.on SAYS:
"Iaarspid eaneeilajion Of our OBJ
.-.<a---l:=. - .ar trJal Jang a cause OF
a..I5ety- Is Indeed 8 signal blessirsc
.C le5 oot checked or prosperity, ns:
r~s.-.t +" by to car progress, during
l.c --.ls w-ol me country was strug-
Cling opJ Of a condition of general
and profound prostration. It will nea
prove hindrance nor an obstacle 10
our more rapid advancement, now that
We have reached state of marked
thrift and well being. We can hss
ter afford to pay ten dollars now than
one six years ago; YET" this condition
has been nearly reversed, and we are
required to pay less by one hundred
millions annually, and have thirteea
millions more people to help pay it.
There was far less grumbling then,
and far more unanimitY about getting
rid of our obligations. The country
is rich and able to pay. So serious d
burden should be got rid of without
delay, and the nation placed in con-
dition of entire financial responsibility
as soon as practicable. Complaints
of the kind we have been reviewing,
come with bad grace from sources
which have been enriched while the
process of liquidation has been going
on. They are groundless and urged
for sinister purposes, and covered with
a glaze of transparent sophistry."
1t would be impossible to find an
other instance, in all stupid newspa-
perdom, of more groveling ignorance,
or wider and broader perversion of
truth. In the first place, as an Offset
to this flourish of newspaper block
headism, besides the tacts which We
shall allude to, we here introduce
the opinion of the New York Evening
Post, a journal that is strongly inclinz
ed to palliate all the, destructive acts
and enactments of the dominantparty
as any partizan paper in the country;
but the Post is an honest, high toned
and able issue, barring its ''negro
equality" heresies, and on purely COM
mercial topics, one of the clearest
headed ofits party. Itsays: "Wero
there no other record Of our great
civil war, the figures of our national
census would show beyond dispute;
war to be one of the greatest calami:
ties that ever befell people" The
Post then goes on to show the effect
this war had upon the growth of the
nation in population: "From 1910
to 1850 the increase was 35.87 per
cent; from 1850 to 1860 it was 35.-
80 per. cent. keeping up within a
slight fraction the ratio of Increase
but from 1860 to 1870 it was only
81 IS per cent, or a falling off: in the
percentage of growth OF nearly one
half" ...r. .[..-i
The population of a nation is its
so-.ea d real wealth. IF the increase
Of growth OF people is yearly lessen:
Cd, the ras.o Of the prosperity of the
nation tAaa people mpese, is equal
" .ys.aacI also, Euel is the case of
tHz T-a't ted States It mis- moment
Tao n.au ot the lo1rnal that declares
tHa roerle Of the [ aited States better
able, individuality, to pay yeten dollars
to-uay than one dollar six years ago,
writes himself or itself down as falsi-
fer or igneramus. Six years ago the
great commercial and business ma
oh;nery of the country, which the war
put in motion in the twenty Northern
States, had not ceased to move
High wages, plenty to do, good pro6tS5
rapid consumption, rapid waste, gross
extravaganza, luxurious expenditure
all were rampant. Taxes had not
begun to pres $. The shoulders Of the
nation were not CALLED and chafed:-
We were in the morning of our labor.
Tho back-load we to-day struggle
under has just been assumed. We
were unused to the burdens of proai4
gate and wasting administration, and
a national debt. The MONDAY had
not been reached. Alas it now has;
and we reel and stagger under load
we did not realize tie weight ,ot them
And what are the commercial and
financial facts which give the lie to
the assertions we have quoted aboye
touching "our growing prosperity p
The years '6S. '69 and 10 lraved been
the least prosperous of any, save one.
since 1857. The books of the Com
mereial Agencies of the country, and
which report the yearly failures, shQw
this. Not only do. the statistics :re-
ferred. to make it plain, but the returns
of the revenue departments of the en-
tire country IL 1870. prove that no
preceding year, siRce taxation has
been fastened upon the nation, has
equaIIed it in commercial disaster
Over-taxation lrusso crippled national
resources, that the entire people arc
PROSTATE with adversely. From all
portions cf the country, from every
State in the Union, come walls OF
"hGrl times; no money; cruel texae-
tions en the part CT the government
Every man with eyes to see and ears
to hear realizes this; and most espec-
tally to the great cotton interest of the
North it is painfully apparent to-day !.
yet in the face Of all This evidence So
patent, ta the world, Il journal claiming
position and influence declares ''thero,
a!a no grounds for national complaint.
eur prosperity has net received any
chcc the country is rich, and the
rapid cancellation OF our obligations.
(taxed ia pay off the the big debit is
signal blessing !" 1t is unnccessa-
ry to say this journal referred to, aud
ell which echo its monstrous lies, be-
long to. the dominant party. &: