Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-04-26

1st March, 1872, three years, was S299,91O,-
52S. These figures look SO large, and, in
fact, are SO large, that the adherents of the
administration dwell on them with fond
affection, and ask the country if it would
turn out President who is paying the debt
and reducing the taxes at the same time at
such an enormous rate? As an answer to
this, ex-Commissioner Wells, in letter to
the Nation, goes back four years and re-
produces part of speech made by Mr..
Boutwell,, then member of Congress, on
the 21st of July. 1868. This speech was
made while Andrew johnson was Presi-
Dent, and Hugh McCulloch Secretary of
the Treasury, and is so interesting state
ment Of the great reduction of the debt
under johnson, that we copy the portion
quoted by the ex-Commissioner. Mr..
| Boutwell, said:
81 wish to call the attention of the House
! to fact deduced by careful examination of
statistics obtained from the Assistant Secre-
! taIy Of the Treasury Department, showing
that during the last three years we have.
with our resources aud the revenue of this
| country, secured a large diminutiOn of the
! public debt. l confess that, after the care
| fjil examination had made, felt compel
| led to review it, and see whether there was
not some mistake in the premises or in the
calculation, so astonishing is the evidence
thus furnished of the ability of the people
of the country to liquidate the public debt.
From the 1st day Of April, 1865, to the lst
of January, 1868, two years and nine
months, We have paid out of the public
treasury 81, 552, 100000 of money. Upon
careful analysis of the expenditures of the
Government during these two years and
nine months, find that the expenses of a
peace establishment, excluding interest,
premiums and bounties, upon the basis of
the year 1866 aud 1867, when the expenses
of the Government were $50, 0000 more
than they are to be the present year,
amounted to S4S5, 100000; showing that
we paid over and above those expenses
! l,0G6 100000. On the LIST day of
| April, 1865, the public debt, liquidated and
ascertained, was $3.50, 100000, and the
! s., 0G6000,000 which we paid between the
! LIST of April, 1865, and the LIST Of January,
| 1868, would have been added to the public
| debt as proper expenses of the war, if we
had not out Of the public revenue from
| day TO day, liquidated it. In the face of
this great fact, that in two years and nine
months, by extraordinary taxation and eX-
traordinary efforts to be sure, we paid 81,
0j6,000,O00 of the public debt, are We to
assume that hereafter the people of this
country are not annually to make consider
cradle payments of thu debt of the cOun-
try? almost One-third of the entire debt of
the country has been paid IN t,gO gears and
nine mouths and [ am not willing to stand
on the assumption that we shall not make
large payments in each year hereafter"
This conclusive testimony from Mr.. Bout
well, adds the Republican, to the admirable
Management Of the national finances under
Johnson's administration IS all the more
valuable on account Of Mr.. Boutwell's pre-
sent pains to conceal what johnson did,
and tx the public attention upon what
Grant is doing. ThaI the statements made
in the above extract are true is proved by
the official report of Secretary McCulloch
for 1868, by speech made by Edward At
kinson bS9ore the Massachusetts Republican
Convention, Sept. 9, 1865, and by the then
special commissioner of revenue, in num-
Der Of documents published and extensively
circulated by the National Republican Com
mittee. Secretary McCulloch stated in his
report of December, 1868, that within a
period Of three years and seven months
from April l, 1865, the sum of $500, 43l ,l25
was paid on debts which were actually due
at the close of the war; and for bOunties
which, like the pay Of the army, were part
of the expenses of the war; and that, in
addition to this there was paid on the regu- !
lar debt a sufficient sum to increase the |
total payment On account of the national
indebt edness $470, 256, $50; and but for the
advances made to the Pacific Railroad !
CS42, 199, 000) and for the Alaska purchase !
(S7.200,0G0), the amount would have been !
S5I9,G5O,G5O. The discrepancy between
the figures given by Mr.. Boutwell, in his
speech and those given by Secretary Nc
Culloch in his report, is accounted for by |
the fact that the former included in his esti- |
mate the interest and pensions for three |
years and seven months, while the latter |
omitted them from his. The interest and |
pensions for the time alluded to amounted |
to about S50O,OOOOOO, and if added to
Secretary McCulloch's figures would aug
ment them TO $l,lS5, 431, 125. Comment
ing on these facts, the ex-Commissioner
asks:
'In view of these facts, what becomes Of
the claim so continually put forth in the
pablicp ess, and SO ostentatiously embodied
in the resolutions Of political conventions
that the administration of Gen. Grant is
especially entitled to the confidence and sup
port Of the country for its course in refer
ence to the reduction Of the public debt;
and that its experience in respect to this
matter is without parallel in history. The
figures and testimony above given demon
strate beyond question that all such claims
and averments are simply untrue; and it
would further seem to stand to reason, that
if the fact of having paid $299,649, 1852 Of
debt in the three years from March l, 1869
to March /, 1872, constitute a special debt
of gratitude from the people to the existing
the measure Of gratitude
due to Andrew Johnson's administration,
which actually reduced the national debt in
three years and seven months by the sum
Of at least sac, 236, 900, ought to be on the
same principle at least double.
'If however, it be said that the john
S, IN administration had more to pay with
than the Grant administration, and, there
fore was able for such reason to make
better showing, the answer simply is, that
both adminstT ations have had exactly what |
Congress permitted them TO have, and each |
of them has used its surplus in paying the
debt in the same manner. Orif it be said |
that taxation has been reduced to greater |
extent under the Grant administration than |
under that of johnson, the ayerment is