The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-01-11
From fine New YORK World.

We propose, in what we have now
to say, to rest our case entirely upon
official figures. The force of this ar
ticle, so far as it may be deemed to
have any force, win result from COM
parison of the last report of Secretary
Boutwell, with the last report made
by Mr.. Buchanan's Secretary of the
Treasuary. 1t is q comparison be-
tween the expenses of the Federal
government in 1871 and It's expenses
in the year 1860.
= Before we begin, let us be indulged
in one preliminary remark. The most
damaging proofs of the corruption OF
General Grants administration do not
rest upon official statements of what
is paid into, and what is paid out of,
the national Treasury. When bribed
custom house officers conniye at
smuggling, none of the money with
which they line their pockets appears
in the national accounts. The same
remark applies to the swindles of the
national accounts. The same remark
applies to the swindfes of the inter-
nal revenue collectors, and also to the
robberies perpetrated by the mama
gers of the seandalous bonded ware
houses. In all these swindles, money
is diverted from the Treasury into the
pockets of official thieves, and the
robberies cannot be traced in the fig
ures of the Treasury Department.
The community is robbed of ten dol
lars in this way for every dollar squan-
dered by payments out of the Treasu-
Iry. Let It be understood therefore
that we are dealing only with the
lesser branch of Government corrup-
tion. a4 ,'.ras Sio'sLs,s -
- We begin by presenting the total
annual expenditures as stated in the
official documents: : -
Total in 1850 Z. 1os
The one being about six times as
great as the other 7 We concede that
this Naked, unexplained statement
would do great Injustice to. the pres
ent adnfnistration We will deal
fairly, and make all proper abate-
fnenfs, which; candor Obliges us to
confess, are very large in amount. Un-
der the head of expenditures are in
cluded the interest on the public debt,
the payments of the public debt made
within the year, and the pensions
amounting in the aggregate to an
en- orInous sum- It is right to lay
these quite Iouf of the case; but apart
from these there is no good reason
why the Federal expenses should be
very much greater now than they
were in 1860 There has, to be sure,
been an Increase of about 25- per cent
in our population; but the expenses
of government ought not to increase
IN the ratio of population. The one
President and one Vice President, the
Cabinet the Congress, the foreign mis-
.sions, with no increase of numbers ol
salaries, are as adequate as they were
in 1860. Population has increased
but there has been no corresponding
multiplication of Federal officers. But
tie Federal expenses have increased
not only to the full ratio of the popu.
lation, but are ten times greater than
the increase of population. What We
propose to compare is simply the or.
di7sa7y expenses Of the government
apart from. the burdens entaiIed by
The public debt and the pension list
We viii therefore begin by making
the necessary deductions. on these
heads There. were paid out of the
public treasury. in the years we are
comparing, the following sums under
these respective heads.
: In 1871: +,.5.'zi,5, s..,-.;r
Payments of public, debt. $3.50 735. "a
Interest on public debt 125.576,5 ,56s
Pensions ~ - ~ =. 81, .s9a
Total under these heads ......... $3.50 755, SOC
ID y In 1860 -, -, .....l-ss.5
Payments of public debt $14 ,436, ,31z
Interest on the public debt. s,IUSI4
Pensions = w. vi
Total under the three heads .5o5 .s5s
T There would be no fairness in ar
raigning the. present administration
for the great excess in this class OF
But these necessary ex-
penditures are used TO screen cores
bonding and indefensible increase in
the ordinary cost of the government
and this is the .fallacy which we have
undertaken to expose. Let us deduct
this. class of expenses, in both years,
from the total expenditures of those
years, and we can then make q fair
comparison between the ordinary
working expenses of the government
in 1871 and 1850.
z Inol87I: lsasa9 9 ob Esta sslo
Total expenditures ~ $zas. III lis
Debt. interesf and pensions !. $50 Goa
Balance $13l .42l ,5SS
In91S6e: :sg. - iaiai sd. Il isisas4
Total expenditures = = = ..,. q. ST. .462 1oa
Debt. interest, and pensions So. So ls,4O5JS5e
Balance. -......-. -..--..s $685. ,7oo14'
is1Let us here pause a moment and
look at the result thus far reached.
Having laid out of the case everything
hat fbo ord;norx- ourponk ovrarS1caos ~
administering the government. we
find that these expenses have much
more than doubled since 1850. We
now proceed to show that there is no
possible Justification for SO enormous
an increase. We have already met
and disposed of the argument or apol-
legy founded on the war, by deducting
al expenses ofthis kind, and exhibit
ing the simple, naked expenses of adj
min nistering the government. Having
taken from the champions of the adj
ininistration their. stock excuse, we
call on them to show any valid rea-
son why the ordinary expenses of the
government should have more than
doubled since 1880. Without waiting
for reasons which they are unable, and
will not attempt to give, we proceed
to demonstrate that this prodigious
increase is wasteful and needless.
First, let us compare the civil list:
Expenses ofthe civil list in fs11.. $1s 760 77s
Expenses of the civil list in 1860 ..... 6,l4s655
81 1t will be seen that the expenses OF
the civil list have been more than tre-
ebled, whereas if they had increased
only in the. ratio of population the
civil list would have been only 81, :
H6S5,SlS instead ofthe enormous sum
of Sis, ,760, ,77e. The premium on gold
will not account for the enormous diff
ference; for the premium has ayerag-
ed only about IL per cent. during the
last year, while the increase of expen-
ses. even after allowing for the growth
of population and premium on gold
have really no bearing OH a large por-
tion of The annual expenses. Mr.. Bu-
chanan received a salary of $25, 600,
and General Grant receives precisely
the same salary of $4,000 without
any increase either for growth of pop