Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-12-25
THE RUTLAND HERALD.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1878.
DECREASING REVENUES.

great deal of ink is being used just
now to explain why it is that the reyo-
nnes of the government have fallen off
.a largely within the past few weeks.
The gold gamblers of Wall street, who
desire to derange business as much as
possible, by sendingthe price of gold up
higher, so that a few unprincipled men
can gather up wealth at the expense OF
the rest of the community, cry out Yo-
clferously that this decrease of revenue
Is perfectly unaccountable, and that it
is strange that such catastrophy should
happen Just at this time, when the gov
arnment = in such dire necessity tor
money. The disappointed politicians,
who have failed in all attempts to or
ganfze discomfort into success, are sure
that the whole thing results from mis-
management on the part of the admin
istration, and that if Grant could have
been defeated last year, there would
now have been q constant flow of shek-
els from every custom house into the
strong vaults of Mr. Spinner. Others
who are too timid to carry their investi-
cations farther than to guess at the re-
suits of national bankruptcy or increased
taxation. seem to think that there is
some monstrous combination at work,
TO drive some such bargain with Secre-
tary Richardson as Baron Reuter- i'm
posed upon the Shah of Persia.
There is an active sympathy between
the public revenues and the business
prosperity of the country. A shrinkage
In values and business must cause a cor
responding shrinkage in revenues, mas
much as the revenue of the government
is solely a tax on business, and must be
paid by purchasers and consumers
Those goods that are manufactured at
home and are taxed in some direct
or indirect way, together with GER
tain transactions of the people, like
drawing money from bank, are
taxed by a stamp or other
wise. This is internal revenue, and has
been reduced ut nearly every Congress
since the close of the war, until it is
now comparatively very small. The
sale Of the public lands the income of
the post office department, and other
sources form all the income of the gov
ernment, except that derived from inn
posts. The customs or duties on inn
ported goods, now form much the larg-
rst net income that Uncle Sam has. The
public lands now sell very slow Lii
censes and stamps are nearly obsolete.
The post Office never paid running ex-
penses, and our internal revenue cannot
be relied upon for but very small net
income This has fallen off some. but
not so much as the custom house reVe-
nues.
The revenue from customs is in fixed
proportions to the amount of goods we
buy from foreign nations. 1t has al.
ways been regarded as a sign of weakness
for any nation to buy more goods than
she sold, as the balance Of trade against
her drains her of gold coin and i'm
poYerishs the people. No people car
continually paying out money without
are in the same situation of the mar
who said he could have got rich if he
had not had so many little incomes go
ing out all the while. For months back
the people have been congratulating
themselves upon the decreased imports
of the country The HERALD has re-
peatedly called attention to this fact a:
healthy indication of the times al
tending to show that we were becoming
more independent and self-supporting
but also were retaining in the country fol
its legitimate business purposes tht
specie that would otherwise be sent ac
cross the ocean to pay for what we were
importing from the other nations. w
noted these facts with pleasure and nov
rejoice at the prospect of continuance
Of very light imports.
Any one can easily see that if we stoI
buying foreign goods we must stop col
lecting custom duties. An dd Ualoren
duty on a million dollars of imports, i,
only one-tenth of what it would be OF
ten millions OF the same goods. W.
commenced the last season with markets
heavily stocked with goods, CONSEQUENT
ly they had to be sold in place OF i'm
porting more. Other reasons undoubt
edly combined, such as an increase o,
manufactures in the United States, t,
keep out goods from other countries
and when the panic struck US we had 70
months been importing very small lines
Of course the stringency of the none,
market reduced the sources of these rev
enues still more. Hard times have bee
threatening US and our people have econ
omised their expenses and bought onl
what they must have, and the decreas
of revenue has been perfectly natura
and easily explained and accounted for
and there is no mystery about it. Their
IS no cause to suspect mismanagemen
from the fact that the treasury is shor
and none need to be afraid to investigate
We hail this decrease as favorabl
omen and hope it will forward the da
when all present schemes for raisin
revenue shall be abolished and direc
taxation take the place of the cumbeI
some machinery we now have to brin
money to the treasury.