New-York tribune., 1874-03-09

II bHtlc ~ UO III pONpihh'O'
expenditures, AZ Mr.. Garfield assures us, how
is his Committee able to report bills, a:
it promises TO do, cutting down The appro
priations over thirty million dollars from
last years fgures9 Mr.. Dawes exposed
tho manner in which money was
wasted in the Pension Bureau and in the
maintenance Of Custom-hOuses simply to fur
nish sinecure offices as rewards for political
services. Mr.. Garfield himself exposes the
abuses in the Treasury Department growing
out of tho permanent appropriation of one pei
cent for reprinting igrecnbacks, bonds, and
fractional currency, and the combined rush to
get appropriations for public buildings. The
columns of Indians, POst-Ollice, Navy,
and Miscellaneous speak for them
selves. How such leeches as Jayne
and SanbOrn have been fastened on the
Treasury we do not need to explain here. 1t
is known to all that they have sucked well
and have dropped off filled to the last degree
of distension. OF petty larceny, of landaulets,
of privates in the army detailed as servants,
cooks, and stable-boys in the establishments
of high public functionaries, wo will not
speak
H. Nor can we say anything about Mr.. Gar
fields treatment of the high-handed proceed
ings of the Secretary Of the Treasury in manu-
featuring and issuing greenbacks without au-
thority of law On this point neither Mr.. Gar
field nor Mr.. Dawes has anything to offer, either
as condemnation or apology. They talk of the
Treasury, and compute deficiencies or sur
pluses, on tho assumption that not a dollar of
legal tender has been issued in excess Of the
1856, 100000! They feel instinctlvely that this
is q business in winch they are not expected
TO NEEDLE.
III. In conclusion, we have to say that Mr..
Garfield, like MIR. Richardson, trusts TO luck
to provide for the future wants of tho Treas
ury Mr.. Garfield gives an important position
in his speech to an inquiry how deficits occur"
He reviews the viclssitudes of tie Treasury in
1S3S-43, and in 1857-6l, and comes back from
those instructive periods in our cOuntry's
history without apprehending an iOta of their
significance Those deficits, he says, Oc-
CURED on account of legislation which
crippled the revenues, and have been over
come only by replacing the taxes which had
been removed We should expect, then, TO see
him advocating increased taxation, but he does
nothing of the kind. But the truth of the
matter is that the deficits in question had far
other causes. Their chief cause was the pros
traton of the customs revenue produced by
pancs and the dullness of trade by which they
were followed A second cause was the mon
strous Overestimates of revenue made by Secre
tariesof the Treasury who had no comprehension
of the ebb and flow of business in the years fol-
lowing panic. A third cause was the avidity
with whics the majority in Congress accepted
these overestimates, their anxiety to give ev-
erything COuiemr dc rose, and their inability to
muster up sufficient courage to face the ques-
ton of tax.nion. Take, for instance, the four
years of Buchanan's Administration. The fol-
lowing table contains the estimates of customs
revenue made by the Secretary of the Treas
ury when Congress met. as compared with the
sefucl rpceinES.