The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1876-08-31
SPEECH OF HON. OHARLKS FOSTER,
OFOHIO,
in the House OrRepFeseHIaIIVes, AOn-
qaY, AUgust 1I.ISTG.

4
on the Senate amendments TO the India
appropriation bill
Mr. Foster said
Mr.. SPEAKER Ny purpose in az
dressing the House at this time is [
show what has been done by th
House 10 the line Of economy and re
form. So much has been falsel
claimed by the democratic side as
render a fair statement necessary.
The minority Of the Committee Ol
Appropriations, supported by til
minority of the House, entered upol
their duties with the full determine
tiOn of aiding the majority in makiDl
every possiblereduction and postpone
meDt in the expenditures. We full
realized end appreciated the demsn'
Of the county lor economy, and werI
therefore prepared 70 join hands will
any party in Congress to provid
proper measures Of economy tina
would not cripple the Government Ol
cause friction in the workings o. th'
Government machinery.
While the people of the country
have rightly demanded economy a.
the hands OF their representatives
they do not ask nor will they lODI
permit the real functions Of govern
ment IT, be impaired or weakened
either at home or abroad.
Since the elimination Of expendI
lures ia 1856 8 steady, prudent, and
entirely safe reduction in the expense!
Of the Government, year by year, has
been the policy o. the Republican
party. The precedent thus set should
have been maintained until the ex
penditures had reached their lowest
possible limit.
We were willing to admit that in
the reduction OF salaries and the mum.
Der of employees an opposition House
could be more thorough than one In
accord with the administration. We,
therefore, recognizing this fact, de-
termined to obtain all that might be
possible from 1t. We believed that
reductions and postponements might
sSfely be made sggregating q sum OF
from fifteen to twenty millions OF dol
lars. We now believe, after having
/ thoroughly examined the subject, that
reductions and postponements of ex-
penditures for the present fiscal year
could properly be made to the full eX-
tent OF $20,000,e0 without seriously
impsiring the administration of the
Government. We have not sbeen
able to agree in many instances with
the bills as reported, and have tried to
indicate our objections by amend
ments in the House.
For myself, I believe that the APP
preparations as proposed by the
House would have, in many cases,
caused serious en- mbarrassment to the
Government and that the appropria-
tiOns as finally agreed upon will
s~~o to DO supplemented by
increased appropriations when
we meet next session. In faet
am coTroborated in this state
ment by the chairman of the COM
mittee himself, who, in order to carry
his point when all other arguments
failed him, has repeatedly stated on
this floor that If the amount OF apprO-
priatiOns then pending was not suffi-
cient we would be here next session
when "A further appropriation might
be made If it was found necessary.
He has suggested to officers charged
with the administration of the Gov
ernment, when refusing to appropriate
the sum they deemed absolutely nee
essary, that it would be made night
next session. I make the prediction
now that further appropriations ag-
gregating millions of dollars will he
made at the next session to defrAy
the expenses Of the Government for
the present fiscal year.
FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE TREAS
URY,
No great financial embarrassment
OF the Government was or is impend-
ing to in any degree warrant the
postponement and Withholding OF
any needful or necessary appropris-
ton.
On the scale Of expenditures of the
past two years our revenues have
been ample for the discharge OF
every liability of the Govern
ment, including the sinking fund, es
the following letter from Assistant
Secretary Conant fully diseloses
TREASURY Opt, July 21, 1876.
My DEAR SIR I'm compliance
with your verbal request / have the
honor to inform you that
/ The amount required for the
sinking fund for the fiscal year -,
ending June 80, 1875, was-.--..-..S5l, ,Usb 04o "
/ During that year per cent. 5.2O
for from cash in the Treasury
TO the amount tof....,.......-...-. z5sl1V,4OO "
i In addition to which, under the
| provisions of the specie-re-
| sumption act Of January, 1870,
/ SG2&, 30 in legal-tenders were
retired, making a total redemp-
tion of the debt on sluking-
of.............. d9nu -oOo-n- ~~--s ..-- agsSsO o.
The estimated amount TO be APP
Rsd t6e scal Go !as year sis is7s Rss. -~ 2ssas2
Cn this account G per cent sd
| bonds were redeemed and paid
for in gold to the amount Off, lS,4iiO5J U
fractional currency was redeem
ed and applied to the account,
under the provisions of law to .,
the extent Ol'---.---.-.--...-.-.-.- fiOo-il4- u
| Legal-tender notes amounting
to So &c., ,296 were also retired
during the year.
These several items aggregate
the sum dlsOO0,4So U
It will be observed from the above
statements that, during the fisca
year 1875, the redemption on the
sinking-fund account was 1902, 265 in
excess OF the ampunt required, bu
that during the fiscal year 1876 they
did not reach the amount necessary
by the sum of $685., 1851.
1 will aid that during the last fiscal
year (1ST6) the principal Of the Ger
tificates of Indebtedness Of 1870. Is
sued under the act OF july. 1870, beAr'
ing interest at the rate of per cent,
amounting to S67S, 600, matured ant
were paid out of the current revenue
of The Government. II this were Il
be taken into the account as l pei
cent. payment of the principal on the
pnbIi5 debt for sinking-fund purposes
then the sinking fund during the pas
two wears would more than have beer
provided for.
Very truly yours,
CHAS. F. CONANT.
Hon. CHAS. FOSTER,
House Of Representatives, Washing
ton, d. c.
Since the commencement Of Presi
dent Grants administration NOR
than $500, 100000 of the public deb
has been paid, thus more than doub
ling the requirements Of the sinking
fund.
II q reduction of expenses to Tia
amount Of forty millions had obtaine
}, as proposed by our Democrats
e friends, the surplus Of revenue owe
expenditures would have been SIS
g COO. 900 for the current year.
We have the authority of the pre-
ent Secretary of the Treasury tbs
the revenues for the fiscal year en'
ing June 80, 1877, may be safely e
timated as follows:
Customs 090g
II lnbernal reNenu Uu
lSOO
Total, l,--.-......--..-..........-... %, 900, &
Expenditures for the year IS76.-... 25S, ,UOO,O
ID surplus..--;--...--,.--.,.-.. 5000
q Add proposed reduction by the
c, Democratic House 40O00,C
Surplus for year ending June
10 s lS77, Il reduction had been
made ....-.--....s-.--..s--s--- aasoee ,
I ask our Democratic friends VIII
ig they propose to do With TINS lar
or surplus I? Was the purpose the ere
n II tion Of fund TO aid Governor I1ld'
be to resume specie payments at
earlier date than 1879? / would lil