Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-07-22

forced TO give the highest credit 10 the Re
publican party Perfection is not to be
expected in anything devised by human
wisdom. Faults Will be found in the best
arranged system. Faithless men will
creep into power despite the greatest care
to exclude them. This has been the expe-
ricnce of the world since the beginning of
time and will no doubt continue to be-
The human, and not the divine, must be
the standard of all governmental action
when we come to pass judgment upon it.
Judged by this standard the party now
holding power has had an equal record
tor honesty and official integrity.
No just comparison can be instituted
between the transactions of the Republic
can party and the parties which have hith-
erto administered the Government. Its
responsibilities have been of such magni-
tude, its field of labor SO extensive, its
history SO crowded with great events, that
its fourteen years of power far outweigh in
importance the seventy one years which
preceded them. 1t seems like idle boast
ing to say that the Republican party
through its administration Of public at
fairs has borne responsibilities greater
than all the Administrations from 1889 to
1861.
Yet such is the fact, as the official
records 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 rcyenue'
We shall see
The net ordinary revenue of the Gov
eminent from March t. 1899, to June 30,
1860, was, according to the official reports
of the Treasury Department, 81 ,oO6,3
G5O53.
This is large amount but it covers :
period OF seventy one years.
From 1860 to June 30, 1874, the period
lacking about nine months, for which the
Republican party stands responsible, the
net ordinary revenue of the Government
was $4, 437, 49,, 165 -, or more than double
the net revenue OF the preceding seventy
one years Yet the extraordinary expenses
necessary to put down the Shareholders
rebellion crowded this vast amount Of rev.
enuc into the short space of fourteen years.
Let US examine the list of expenditures
and see how that account stands:
The net ordinary expenditures Of the
Government, March 4, 1889, to June 30,
1860, were S1,13l, 734G1372 From June
30, 1860, to June 30, 1914, aperiod Of four
teen years, the net ordinary expenditures
were So, Ago, S07 ,922,S4, or more than three
times the expenditures Of the preceding
scventy-one years
The gross receipts and expenditures
Of the Government, which include the
loan transactions, show still greater con-
trast.
The gross receipts from March 4, 1889.
to June 30, 1860 were s., $50, 2SS, 9i0.j5.
From June 80, 1860, 10 June 30 1874, they
were $l2, III, 045 ,092.94 or more than five
times the total receipts of the previous
sevcnty-Onc years.
The total gross expenditures from
March 4, 1889. to June 30, 1850, were
80, $50, 644,4l5lS. From June 30 1860, to
juno 30, 1874, they were $l1 $50, 104, 442.-
"a, or more than five times the total gross
expenditures of the previous sevcnty-onc
years.
Yet, with these immense receipts and
expenditures, made necessary by the sup
preston of the Democratic Shareholders
rebellion, the records show Il degree of
official integrity without a parallel in the
history of Governments. Vice President
Wilson, in 1872, in referring TO this sub
ject, said:
During the war we paid through the
Paymaster's department of the army more
than Il 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
n ,'iar.cr 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 Gen, Spinner
entered upon his Office of Treasurer Of the
United States, $4,000 600, eco have passed
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 500.
900 .000, eco have gone through the Office.
There has been collected under Gen
Grants Administration, in three years,
nearly 81 POO, 600 o00-nearlY 500 900 ,0oo
a year; there has been paid out nearly
81 ,00U, 600 0O0-making about 50, 100, GOO.
600. We have lost ont of this immense
sum, in all the departments of the Govern,
ment, 81 $50, 000-less than fifteenth
part of per ccnium!
I'VE have paid out during these three
wears sJ0, 100000 in pensions, and we
have had five dcialcationS, all of them sol
diers, and four of them shed their blood
for the country. But the Government has
not lost a dollar, for the sgents made
good their accounts, or their bondsnen
did il for them
These remarks are as applicable to-day
as when they were uttered. The same
honesty and economy which characterized
the Presidents first term have distin-
guishcd in even greater degree the first
half of his second term.
A very careful calculation Of losses sus-
tanned was embodied in an official letter
from the Secretary of the Treasury in 1872.
As equal honesty has been practiced in all
Tie drnnrfrncnts since the date of this let