Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-30


! through Canadian channels, to such
/ precarious markets rs they could find
on the other siie of the Atlantic
Sach were the achieyem snJs of our
diPlom4cy, during those years of Dem
ocratic supremacy.
CHEAP GOVERNMENT.
The story Of our home lie wouli be
sadder still, if anything sIdder could
be.
1t has been loudly Wanted that those
were cheap administrations. Conplre |
with the expenditures OF these times
they were cheap, veay cheap. Com
pared with their worth to the country
they were probably the most proaiEate
the worll ever saw. They cost the
people froa fifty to seventy-fye mil
lions every annum. Those millions
maintained for us the empty pageant
we callei Government 1t was tie
most worthless pageant that con-, BE-
contriveI 1t was not even SNOWY; it
was vulgar 1t had Ill the features of
government, but without its faculties.
There were the three regular orGlnS--
.e gislative. executive, Judicial. There
was a constant succession Of Congress,
cs. Presidents, AMI courts. The coarts
of course were useful in hearing and
d3termining private controversies Bat
what is there to show from the labors
of the political departments 1t seem
ed to be the sole end, if not the sole
aim, Of Government TO collect money
enough yearly to pig Use t. 1t did not
always succee | in d1ing that, as many
loan bills enacteI in times of profound
peace still bear witness. lnlcal. th 1T
party was peculiarly embarrassed in
the collection Of revenue. 1t dared not
levy tax except on the i'm
portation OF foreign commodity
and it always dreaded to tax the
importation of foreign commodity lest
it might unwittlngIy promote some do
nestle industry, No we'll educated
Democrat could tolerate such result.
SO, deficient revenues were, from time
to time, aided by loans Such was the
case in lS41, 1912, and 1916.
The first act, passed at the first SEES
sion of the Thirty fifth Congress, au-
thorized the issue of Treasury notes and
almost the last act Of the same session
authorized loan. In June, 17G0, a
further loan Of twenty-one millions was
authorized, and on the Sth Of February,
1861, an appeal was made to the marGet
for twenty live millions more
Through all those years Congress as
SembleI annuity. The Ing sessions
were extended over periods Of seven,
eight, and nine months Bat, lons or
short, the sessions pro luce little in the
way Of legislation beyond the tax AM
appropriation hills. The talk endured
for months; the work was accomplish
ed il weeks
The first session Of the Thrty-se ,oul
! Congress was prolonged until the ) LIST Of
Augu't. The acts passed embrace one
hundred and forty-four pages Of the
statutes. All but the first thirty-seyen
pages are covered by acts approved oa
the last tpo days ofthc session. E.ricr
administrations had plpntei he Ma
tional Capital, had framed the La ling
! features Of our land system, hai d,lj-
Gated liberal portions Of oar public do
main to the cau5eof popnIare iucltion,
AMI hal commenced the Cumberi mi
road and other works of internal ian
provement. When, after nearly thirty
years Of misrGl", you drove the Demo
cratic party from power the Cum0eriani
roal was still uniinishe |. aud the party
/ h ~ been educated t. believe that the
/ National Government hti no constitu-
: tIonll power to complete such work.
That singular faith Iii | not prevent
the party from en'erjn3 "poa sach wyrJl.
but, seemingly, only from camp eiag
them They did not refrain from max
! ing appropri IS 0ns, even for improving
rivers and harbors Sometimes such
! appropriations We're made regularly AN /
sometimes ire nl,rIy Apparently they
were seruplIous only misrepresentation
should be made at such times, in sach
> 'tiiS, al III oHCi pa juSGS as "OIt /
promote commerce least AMI party in
! terests most. On the approaches to
Wilmington, \. c., appropriations were
made at various times, amounting 20
more than $500, 600. Wilmington
has swellel from population of seven
Thousand in 1850 to thirteen thousand
in 1870. On the Red river in Louis
lana there was expended at different
times more than five hundred thousand
dollars. That river washes eight cnun-
/ ties in the State of Louisiana. Those
eight counties had popuiatio" in lo40
of fifty-four thousand in 1870 Of one
hundred and six thousand On the
harbor of Chicago. which is the gate
way to the Northwest the home Of
millions, they dolei out appropriations
amounting TO S2l7,000. On the har
Dor of Milwaukee they appropriated
in 1874 $40, 200 Eight years later
they resumed the work, apparently
with the determination Of completing
it. Fifteen thousand dollars were ap-
propriated that year, The year fol
lowing they appropriated the munii-
cent sam of S163 Of, AMI thin rested
from that labor, Congress votel other
appropriations for similar works, which
encountered the Executive vety; and
Democratic Representatives, finding