Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-07-19
trAr FROM THE RECORD.

tween the transactions of the republican
party and the parties which have hitherto
administered the government. Its respon-
sibiities have been of such magnitude, its
field of labor so extensive. its history 50
crowded with great events that its fourteen
wears of power far outweigh in importance
the seventy one years which preceded
them 1t seems like idle Boosting to say
that the republican party through the adj
ministration of public affairs has borne
responsibilities greater than all the admin
istrations from 1889 TO 1861.
Yet such is the fact, as the official re-
cords clearly indicate. Let US examine
these records, and by the comparison Of
figures obtain few valuable facts.
How stands the record on the question
of revenue?
We shall see.
The net ordinary revenue of the govern
ment from March 4. 1889. to June 80,
1860, was. &C :ordlng to the official reports
of the Treasury Department, 81 1906, 354,-
65O.53.
This is large amount. but it covers a
period Of seventy-one years.
From 1860 to June 80, 1874, the period,
lacking about nine months, for which the
republican party stands responsible, the
| net ordinay revenue Of the government
WAS 81, 437. 1877 .765, u, or more than dou-
BILE the net revenue Of the preceding sew
ty.one years. Yet the extraordinary ex-
penses necessary to put down the slave
holders rebellion crowded this vast
amount of revenue into the short space of
fourteen years.
Let us examine the list of expenditures
and see how that account stands:
The net ordinary expenses of the Gov
eminent, March 4, 1889, to June 80, 1860,
were S1,731, 734.673.72. From June 80,
1860. to June 80, 1874, a period Of four
teen years, the net ordinary expenditures
were Sc, AGE. 1897 1922 "a, or more than three
times the expenditures of the preceding
seventy-one years.
| LUG SioSS iSNC'PtS ""'' va
the government. which include the loan
transactions. show still greater contrast.
The gross receipts from March A. 1889,
TO June 80, 1860. were S2,18O, 288. 970.55,
From June so, 1860, to June 80, 1874,
they were S12, ,O45, 092.94, or more
than five times the total receipts of the
| ,rovioua Sayaptv-one vaarc
The total gross expenditures from March
4, 1889, to June 80, 1860, were %. $50, 044,'
Ais 18. From June 80, 1860, to June 80,
1874, they were $l1,965, 794, 442.24, or
more than five times the total gross expen-
ditures of the previous seventyone years.
Yet, with these immense receipts and ex-
penditures, made necessary by the sup
preston of the democratic shareholders
rebellion, the records show n degree of
official integrity without parallel in the
history of governments. Vice President
Wilson. 10 1872. in referring to this sub
lject. said:
during the war we paid through the
Paymaster's Department Of the Army more
than thousand million dollars. That
money was paid sometimes when troops
were on their march, sometimes when
they were under fire. and we lost less than
quarter of million dollars. Never in
the history Of the human family was there
any higher evidence of integrity. In the
war of 1912, in paying out the little money
we paid during that war, we lost about
two million dollars. Since General Spin
n1r entered upon his Office of Treasurer
of the United States, $50. 000. 900 900 have
passed through his office, counted by
from three to four hundred men and
women. We have lost between fifty and
sixty thousand dollars in these eleven
years, while $55. 900. 600, 900 have gone
through the office.
There has been collected under General
Grants administration, in three years,
nearly twelve hundred million dollars
nearly four hundred millions year; there
has been paid out nearly thousand mil
lion dollars-making about twenty one
hundred million dollars. We have lost
out of this immense sum. in all the de-
partments of the Government, a million
and quarter-less than fifteenth part of
one per centum!
We have paid out. during these three
years, ninety million dollars, in pensions.
and we have had five detalca,ions, all CT
them soldiers, and four Of them shed their
blood for the country. But the Govern
ment has not lost dollar, for the agents
made good their accounts. or their bonds
men did 1t for them"
These remarks are as applicable to-day
as when they were uttered.
A very careful calculation Of losses sps-
tanned was embodied in an official letter
from the Secretary of the Treasury, in
1872. AS equal honesty has been prac-
ticed in all the departments since the date
of this letter it may be safely taken as a
basis for present calculations. Accord
ing to this letter, the per cent. of losses to
the Government in the collection of inter-
nal revenue since March 3, 1862 was less
than one.fiitieth of one per cent. of the
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