Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-09-06
BOUrwELL,s UNRELIARILITY,


The statement of the public debt by the
Secretary CT the Treasury shows reduc-
ton last month of SIC, 1861 35; with ba.-
auoe of S73, S19,S17 in coin in the Treasury.
This statement is as likely mere guess
work as not. 1t is foregone conclusion
that each statement until after the Presi-
dental election will show large reduction
in the debt. But why make at the same
ilgle the damaging admission that over
seventy three millions Of coin are boarded
in the Treasury, while the country is in
need of all the money it can procure, and a
clique in New York is able to put gold
up or down at pleasure? This
misery Filing of the Government money
chests has been favorite policy with Sec
Rotary Boutwell, from the beginning of his
official career. What he does with the gold
In the treasury vaults passes comprehen-
sion. 1t can hardly afford him much pleas
ure to contemplate it, for he is not at his
post long enough at any one time for more
than passing glance. But what assur-
ance have the people that there is as much
gold in the treasury as is claimed by Mr..
Boutwell,? His statements of the public
debt have been shown to be full of errors,
and wholly unreliable. MI. David A.
Wells riddles some of bis statements as fol-
lows:
81 am in receipt of your note of the 21st
August, asking, what did Mr.. Dawes mean
By saying in his speech at Utica, that the
johnson administration only reduced the
debt Sl9 000N had not observed that Mr..
Dawes made any such statement; but SEN
ator Conkling, in his recent speech at the
Cooper Institute of New York, did so aver;
and in SO doing stated what was not only
grossly incorrect, but what, moreover, could
not have admitted of misstatement, if the
speaker had ever given the subject even the
mos, superficial investigation.
"To prove this / will refer you to the last
report Q6Tl) of the Secretary of the Urea
suIy, pages ii and IL, where the principal
ofthe acknowledged or funded public debt
of the United States is stated with the ut
most clearness as it existed on the 1st of
July in each year from 1913 to 1871 inclu-
sive. By this table it appears that the prin-
cipal of the public debt on the LIST July, 1866,
was S2,773, 236, 173; and on the LIST July,
1868, S2,6Il, 6S7 ,85l, thus showing reduc-
ton in Johnson's first two years alone of
Sl6l, 548,322. At the close of the next ifs
cal year (l660) eight months Of which were
under johnson, and four under Grant, the
principal of the debt bad been further re-
duced to $2,58S, 453,213.
But this method of stating the payments
made on the public debt under the admin
istration of Andrew johnson tells but a
very small part of the actual truth; and
this Mr.. Conkling, if he had ever read the
reports of the Secretary of the Treasury
since 1865 must have known as we'll as any
one, for after the Presidential election, in
November, 1868, when this whole subject
had passed out of the domain of political
discussion, Secretary McCulloch, and,
also Gen. Schofeld, then Secretary
Of War, for the purpose of establishing the
Sruth, published full details of the
amount Of payments made up to Novem-
Der, 1868, out of current receipts for debts
already due az the close of the war, and
not funded. and also for bOunties; all Of
which, if not then and thus paid, would to
an equivalent extent have augmented the
funded debt. Secretary McCulloch's state
ment may be found in his report as Secre-
tary of the Treasury, December, 1869, and
Gen. SchOfeld's in the form of letter, in
answer to a resolution of the House of Re-
representatives., Dec. y, 1869. But these
statements it is demonstrated, beyond the
possibility of cavil, and by a method
so clear, .'that be who runs may read"
that between the first day of april,
1865, and the 1st day of November, 1865
period Of three years and seven months
there was paid out of the treasury of the
United States, under the administration of
Andrew johnson, on account Of the public
Indebtedness, the large sum Of S47O,256,-
65O.42; and In addition thereto, S42, 1874 900
on account Of advances to the Pacific rail-
roads, aud S7,2G0,00O or account of the pur-
chase of Alaska; the whole making an ag-
gregate OF S5l9, $50, $50. (see Report Secre-
tary of the Treasury, December, 1868, P.
piX-XM.)
II have thus answered your question as
clearly and concisely as l am able. l have
been particular also to give the specific au-
thorities for my figures, so that he who yet
doubts may readily investigate for himself.
And yet there can be little doubt that the
"thirteen million reduction" will continue
to be stock political argument for the
whole Of the present campaign"