New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-24
lSpe 'ial Core $50, dence OF the Republican.
NOTES FROM THE CAPITAL.
WASHINGTON, Septe mber lS. Is,


WASHINGTON, Septe mber Is, 1876.
The National Republican, this morning
publishes letter, written by Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury Conant, in reply
to some verbal inquiries made by Senator
CragIn. With all the data before him, Mr..
Conant has conclusively shown that Mr.
Tilden, with many other Democratic organs,
has wiilfully misrepresented the admins.
tration and purposely sought to deceive
the public to advance his partisan interests
in bis charges of waste, improv;dence. cor
| rup'ion. multiplication Of needless offices,
"iEeticiency, peculati IN, fraud and NAL
versation of the public funds, from the
highest places of power to the lowest"
made from time to time during the present
campaign. or that he was grossly ignorant
of matters of the greatest public interest to
every American citizen.
Mr.. Conant says that from the books of
the department it appears that from the
first day of March, 1869, to the thirtieth
day of June, 1876, the public debt has been
reduced S426, ,023, 9l5 02, and that the annual
interest charge on the debt during that
time has been diminished $3l ,285, ,28l.
From August 81, 1865 when the debt was
at its highest point, to March l, 1862 the
| reduction is given at $3.50. .96s.33l AZ; total
reduction to June last, $656. .992, ,246 A; ex-
pend1tures of the government have de-
creased from $500 809,4 ,4l6 SO in 1866 to
$25s, 459,797 80 in 1876, with a progressive
decrease each year, with the ei,gle excep-
tion of 1873; average annual reduction,
23,S49, ,965 AZ; expenditures of 1876 less
than those of lS66-67, $262, ,3i9 GIG &c,
while there has been an increase for pen
sions and Indians of SIS, 81 ,536 o. The
increase IN the above. two items comes from
increased allowances to disabled soldiers,
and from the cost of suppressipg frequent
Indian outbreaks and from increased
gratuities to sone of the tribes. Increaee
in the amount of civil and miscellaneous
expenditures $25,9Ol, ,ii2 q. The itemized
account OF these expenditures are, in part,
as follows: Postage in lieu of franking
privilege, 81, $50, 100 36; refund of proceeds
of captured and aband oned property,
| nues, principally from reopening mail routes
and postoffices in the South, $4517 $40 SO;
Centennial Exposition, 1876, 81, 1896, ,337 OG:
congressional expenses from increased num-
Der of members, $1,is7,7si IS; increased
cost of courts, chiefly from those established
in the late insurrectionary States, sI,755,-
ls9 40; increased cost of printing notes,
mostly to replace the old and mutilated
issues, 81 054 l47 o.; increased cost of col.
lectlpg customs revenue, chiefly due to re-
opening Southern ports, and the abolition
Of the moiety system. sl.3S4 400 AZ; in
creased debentures on drawbacks, strict
ly speaking not an expenditure, the amount
being merely return to importers of
money previously paid by them as duties,
the return OF which they are entitled to
upon the reexportation Of the merchandise.
50 l635 SOB 73; increased cost for ghthouse
service, chiefly along the Southern coast,
81 ,324, ,433 95; increased expenditures for
public works, $4,4S3155 81. In reply to
the specific charge that during eleven years
of peace there have bsea collected through
Federal taxation thirteen times the amount
Of the legal tender notes, and that four
times their amount have been squandered
in useless expense, it is shown that the
amount of legal tender notes outstanding is
1869, GIG 22S; thirteen times this amount,
$4,805, ,049 1854, is the allie ged amount of tax
atian; and four times the amount of the
legal tender notes, 81, AIS i76, Gle, is the al
legged amount squandered. But during that
time there has been received from taxation,
in fact only $3,SO9, ~, ,765 Il, which is
1895 327 l5s 90 less than the amount al
legged.
OF the money collected by the govern
ment during the past eleven years, there
have been paid, as follows: For interest on
the public debt, 1885, ,3i4 Si5 81; for re-
demption of the public debt, 5000 992 ,2i6 A;
for pensions, $296, ,229. .s65 s6; for payment
of war claims, bounties, premiums on loans,
as against the premiums received, as far as
ascertained by a careful examination of
the books OF the department, S6O5. .25S,
407 80; total, 81, ,S93, S25, 365 33; leaving for
payment of all expenses of the government
for eleven years-army, navy, Congress,
civil list, Indians, foreign irtercourse-in-
cluding the purchase of Alaska, the largely
multiplied expense in handling the debt,
collecting the revenue, ETC., only 81 POS, $685.
436 OIL, which is less BY $40 9.658, AS SO than
the alleged amount squandered.
AS to keeping within its income, the gov
ernment is shown to have met the expenses
of the war, and all other current obliga-
tions, and to have had surplus total in
come over expenses, during the eleven
years, of 1924, 165, l26 10. Taxes reduced
since the war, according to estimate of
finance report Of 1872, $309, ,35O,17l.
A detailed statement of the loss of each
administration from the first to the present
one is given, and it appears that the ratio of
loss per $1,000 on the amount involved has
been less during President Grants admins
tration than during that of any of his pre-
decessors from defaulting officers. 1t is also
shown that while-prior to 1s6l-the aver
age loss per $1,000 on amount involved was
S. II; since that it has only been ffty-seven |
cents. The present condition of the credit |
of the country is unparalleled, its bonds |
selling above par in the principal CONNER
cial centres of the world. 1t is also shown !
that for the eleven years Immediately pre-
ceding 1850 the average annual expenses of |
the government we're increased eigh ty-nine |
per cent, as compared with the eleven years
succeeding that date.
One of the most severe storms visited this |