Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-07-11
REPUBLICAN NOMINATION.
FOR GOVERNOR,
SIDNEY PERHAM,
OF PARIS.
FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE

cratic papers, according to which it al
pears that laborers are heavily taxed, in
adequately paid, and the country going t
ruin. 1t undertakes to present compari
son between things as they were unde
the rule of the democracy and as they ar
under republican management, and t.
show how much better off was the coun
try and the laborer then than now. TIT
causes which have produced this state o
things are said to be the following: First
"the radicals have loaded the nation will
an enormous debt" this induces taxation,
and mot half the taxes go to pay the pub
lie debt !" secondly, 1.-THE same party have
prevented the resources of the country
from being developed by unwise and OPP
pressiye laws, and in this manner make
the north pay more than its share of the
national expenses" the third reason is
of such character that we quote the
exact words of the Register:
ssTo this must be added the fact that in 1850
we raised from three and a half to five million
bales of cotton per year, and the price of this
was added to the national wealth, distributed
among the States, and come home to each
man In the wholesome condition Of business,
low taxes and cheap prices. Now, little more
han half this amount has grown, and the
breach in the revenue must be filled from the
hard earnings of the toiler. Thus he is
plucked by two hands, and while his wages
are higher, his expenses are of such drain
ing and impoverishing character as to leave
no money in the family purse at the end of
the year."
Now the first item is that the radicals
have loaded the nation with an enormous
debt. Since this debt was the price of the
nations life, incurred in crushing rebell-
ion initiated under democratic admins
tration, led and carried on by democrats,
no patriotic citizen grudges it, and no
democrat can without blushing undertake
to shift the heavy responsibility of his
party in this matter to the shoulders OF
the republicans In the taxation occa-
stoned by this debt the laboring man was
favored as much as possible; articles Of
taxation used by the rich and their in.
comes were heavily taxed, while the nee
essa-ies Of life were lightly touched. Tt
the allegation that only half the taxes g
to pay the public debt, it is sufficient t.
say that under the two years of Genera
Grants administration which expired las,
March, the public debt was reduced $204,
754,413.09, while under President John
son the debt was increased. During the
same time the expenditures of the govern
ment were reduced 1926, 700, 94921, while
its receipts were increased by honest and
efficient collection of the revenue SS4.-
994.04974. If only half the taxes go now
to pay the public debt when it is reduced
hundred millions year, where did the
taxes 60 when Andrew johnson was
President and none of the public debt was
paid? 1t is also to be taken into account
that taxes have been largely reduced
within two years.
As to the Development of the resources
of the country, let Mr.. David Wells, the
Special Commissioner of the Revenue,
answer whether the resources of the coun-
try have been developed or not under the
rule of the republican party. In his re-
port of 1868 Mr.. Wells asserts that all
the available data tend TO establish the
following conclusions, viz - That within
the last five years more cotton spindles
have been put in operation, more iror
furnaces erected. more iron smelted, NOR,
bars rolled more steel made, more Goa
and copper mined, more lumber save,
and hewn, more houses and shops con
structed, more manufactures of differen
kinds started, and more petroleum col
lected, refined and exported, than dun
ing any equal period in the history of tn
country" In his report of 1869, MI
Wells said: 1.-THE aggregate of the crop
has been bountiful in quantity, exceller
in quality, and in excess of any recer
average; the circle of settlement has bee
SO rapidly extended that millions of acre
are now included in its area, whic
twelve months ago were an uncultivate
wilderness; the number of miles of rail
way constructed has been greater tha
that of any preceding year, and regula
daily routine of travel and traffic has TO
the first time been established thereon acros
the continent; the restoration of the Soutl
to a condition of prosperity, equal o
greater than that which prevailed antece
cedent to the war, is a work well nigh ac
complished; peace reigns in all our Dor
ders; and from the Atlantic to the Pacific
from the st. Johns to the Rio Grande
there are few who, except from physica
ailment, need hunger from scarcity O
food, or be idle for lack of some oppor
tunity for renumerative employment.
Such representation as this of the de
velopement of the resources of the countr
and its prosperity, during the period fror
1868, to 1870, agrees better with the fact
than the complaints in democratic news
papers.