Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-07-12

O., PROPRIETORS.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. cor.
IL One Of the planks in the Democra
ic- Confederate platform which is e.
pected to produce . profound imprel
sion on the public mind reads q
follows:
! Reform y nacsssary 10 the scale Of public q
psnse, Federal, Dtate and municipal. On
. 1edG n tsxasioa hAs swollen from go 600
|Om IN sold In lseo. 70 siSo. 100000 in chi
} Irency In le79 ous aggregate taxatlol
rom elsA in go,d n 1880. TO s1aO ,ooo. 600
curre0cy IN $50; q N one decade from lese thA
o per hsad. to more tAan Sls pr head. Since th
peace, the people have paid to their tar gatheree
more than thrice the sum OF the nasionAl det,t
and more tn tWics that sum for the Fsderu
I00vernms4 alooe. We demand . vigorous fru
ealiay u every department. and from every once
OF The Government. s,
|. Ifthose figures are intended as sta.
tistical information merely. they ar,
very Inaccurate, and il intended Il
represent the present burden of taxa
tiOn, they are quite deceptive. II
constructing platform for q great
national party, accuracy of assertion
portance mot % to b be disreearded. sr i Bu1 @
the above quoted plank PAYS little
attention 70 the element Of truth. az
we shall proceed to show.
| In the first place. Federal taxation
in 1860 Yielded the sum. according to
the Treasury reports, t56.O64. .699. Buj
this sum was wholly insufficient to
defray the expenses Of the Govern.
ment In the third year of Buchanan't
Administration, and there was added
to the debt In icans and Treasury
notes, the amount Of so, 766, ,SO0, max
ing the total receipts from revenue
and loans $76, ,04l, ,4O7 In gold. This
was for the fiscal year ending June
30th, 1860.
The expenditures for the same
year were 81, ,055, ,125, Of which g.
1z4,62O were for the interest Of the
public debt, and for pensions 81, lOO,-
0O2; leaving for ordinary expenses
about &73. On. GOO In rold.
The nonulation Of the United States
at that time was 81 .OM OOO: Il IL now
over A,OOO,O 900, or l2 per cent. greater
than then.
But this Democratic platform asserts
that the Federal taxes of'7O amounted
to $45O. 600 600. and from the way tax
alton and expenditure are mixed to.
pether in the same sentence. II is oh.
yiously the purDosc to convey the idea
that ii costs $45O. 600 600 to arunn the
Government. The actual receipts Of
the Government in 1870 were:
FROM cu.tom. f.o,in s,s. saa IA
from internal reyssse iculrencyj ..... islSse.7is
rna rrom ns;. atssSs tcx:;; ~: x:;:..."."-.. s, @2
From rom mscslsneous iassSi lis
ro.., ,...,,.. .ees "a e,a
n.'s .;ps.,,..,.o,..,, ,,,,, "~.s:s..s 80 as
1me I.sce,sa'e1us scs,us c Sosls:Gu .:s;.. VI. -,
proceeus :.. VI s:,es " surplus ,a a.n .lary a,;.
slores, p'cun un kcau, w, ou'
oe ~ NO. Mas ,.nid du.;as so' =.
az .Is shn'ss ,an,a su aa.;.,aS ~ ca, '.y' =.
which are $50. .OOO. 600 less than ASSERT
GQ In the CO010Oer0to QI0ttOrm.
The expenditures the same year
were for
rn,.re.t an N. debt ,eo,tD .,as. as5 4es
Pensions. .......... .sso. 90
Net ordinary expenditures currency lS1. .4sl .o0
Total expenditures. 9sli se7 "a
This left $S4, 600, 900, which were ap-
piled in payment of the national debt !;
but the Democratic platform careful
ly avoids stating that fact.
But why does il take the revenue Of
1870 instead Of the present year ?
Why go back six years for compari-
sons Do the trainers of that plat
form suppose people will not perceive
the trick they baye undertaken to
play? Taxes have been largely re-
duced since then, and reye9ne has
: ~ 4