New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-04-27

thing and has been o. much as ten per cent
That difference is clear gain to the country.
And there is no faint of reputation in it, 1t
is the case of debtor who owes note pay
able next year, but who gets discount from
its face by paying it this year.
But then there is a Sinking Fund. Certainly;
what of it7 The country has bought up Two
Hundred Millions of its indebtedness, and
placed part of the obligations thus redeemed
in a Sinking Fund. Who now owns those
obligationsl The United States. But they
draw interest Yes; but who receives 1t I
The United States. Every dollar thus paid by
the Treasury is paid to the Treasury; every
bond in the Sinking Fund has been bought
from individuals and now belongs to the
country and if every bond ever issued by our
Government were this day in the Sinking
Fund, we should owe exactly nothing. No
bond in the Sinking Fund can ever again be
debt of the United States unless it should
again be sold and its price paid into the Urea
sury.
Now, we set no great value on Sinking
Funds. We should not seriously object to
dispensing with them altogether. But let us
first distinctly comprehend them:
Suppose our Government owed Twenty-Five
Hundred Millions, wherein the annual Inter-
est was One Hundred and Forty Millions. 1t
raises by taxation One Hundred and Fifty
Millions, whereof Ten Millions remain after
paying interest With this sum, it buys Ten
Millions of its bonds. If it simply cancels
these and goes on paying off Ten Millions per
annum, it may now reduce taxation to the ex-
;,to
debt so paid off. 1t will thus take two humid
red and fifty years to pay off its debt; during
which long period it is likely to incur new
debts, perhaps larger than the old. But let it
put the Ten Millions redeemed into Sinking
Fund, and continue to pay interest as though
they were still outstanding adding Ten Millions
next year and doing the same by them, and its
debt will be paid off, without increase
of taxation, in less than half the time required
in the absence Of Sinking Fund, which Is
simply device for accelerating the payment
of q debt without increase OF public DUR
dens. If Congress shall choose to abolish it,,
very well but blame not the Secretary OF the
Treasury, who has simply obeyed and executed
the law. At all events, the Sixty eight Mil
lions of redeemed bonds placed in the Sinking
Fund by Mr. b. are due to nobody else than
the United States, by whom they were Issued.
The Herald proceeds to argue that taxation
has not been reduced from the fact that the
Revenue continued large up to the LIST oil
January last! Considering that most OF the
reductions of 1870 only took effect on that
day. this would seem rather weak invention.
Enough that we all do know that large
portion of the Internal Taxes ceased on that
day to be collected because they had been
abolished, while hundreds of Imports, pre-
viously taxed, were made entirely free of
duty, while on others, and among them Tea,
Coffee, Cocoa, Sugar, Molasses, Pig Iron,
Opium, &C., &C., the duties were reduced
from 20 to GO per cent. The Revenue for the
calendar year 1871 will doubtless be consider
ably less than was that of 1870, precisely
because Of these additions and reductions
Enough said. We entreat the anti-Repub-
lican press to keep harping on the Finances.
Great good cannot fail to result.