Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1880-08-12
THE SOLDIER AND HIS VOTE.
Some Facts for Old Soldiers to Reflect
Upon.

some fact5 Tor Ola SOldiors TO Rohect
Upon.
From the (Chcagol Sentinel.
Stand up here Old Comrade; We want
quiet little talk with you.
We want to talk with you because we
heard you say the other day that you did
not know whether you would vote for
Garfield or Hancock.
Now then, before you vote for either
Of them we want to call your attention to
few things that perhaps you have not
| thought Of.
In 1861, when that son OF yours, who
| is able to cast his first vote this year, was
Just beginning TO ted lie across the floor
and crawl up on your knee, and when
that daughter Of yours, married last year,
was wee baby in your wiie's arms, you
shouldered your musket anl marched
away to Join the Union army.
That was nineteen years ago last spring.
You have grown old and wrinkled and
gray, since then. You are beginning to
grow round shouldered. You are begin
ming to think about the years to come,
and you are beginning to wonder ii you
have saved up enough to keep yourself and
| that kind, faithful wife OF yours (nOw an
old grly-haired woman) as you totter down
to the grave together,
You went into the army full of life,
energy, earnestne5s and patriotism. You
served faithfully for three years, suffering
the harhships and privatons OF soldiers
life, and enduring the dangers Of the bat.
tleield You did your soldiers duty in a
noble manly way, and though you some
times grew impatient and condemned
yourself for being fool enough" to enlist,
on the whole you were glad it, and ever
since the close Of the war you have been
proud of the fact that you were a soldier.
The government promised to give you,
and did give you thirteen dollars per
month. ut really promised to give you
| thirteen dollars per month in coin, but
for the present we are not going TO say
nythng about whether it was coin or
gleenbacks) 1t was small pay, very
small pay. In fact, it was a mean, mig.
gardly sum to pay man for risiing his
life on the battle .itll.
think of John Sherman's going into
the army and carrying musket tor SIS
per month.
Think Of August Belmont, with S,000,-
900, going into the army and enduring
the hardship5 Of camp life for Sl3 per
month!
Think of William II. Vanderbilt going
into the army and doing the ordinary
camp duty of a private soldier for Sl3 per
month!
Why, the president of the United States
gets more than four thousand dollars per
month A Congressman gets over four
hundred dollars per month.
During the three years, land how long
and tedious they were) you earned and
received from the government SiGS!
Has it ever occurred to you where that
$46S came iromH
You say the government paid it to you!
So it did, but where did the government
get it?
Do you not know that the government
| got it out Of your pocket?
Yes, out of your pocket! Every dollar
oft.
You have heard of the man who hired
his little boy to 90 tObed by giving him a
nickel, and then, after the little fellow
got to sleep, stole the nickel from him to
hire him the next night?
| Well, that is about the kind Of game
that the government played with you.
1t hired you to serve in the army for
three years by paying you S46S, and after
| paying you the money it has been taxing
you to get the identical money back again.
You have paid back to the government
more inthe shape Of taxes than the govern
ment paid you for your services.
And more than that, the money which
you have paid back has barely paid the
interest on what the government paid you.
In other words, you borrowed S4GS to
pay yourself, and you have already paid
back nearly rs much in the shape Of inter-
est money on the loan you received.
You hired yours9lfto endure the dangers
and hardships of soldiers life for Sl3
PER month, have paid it back in the shape
OF interest money, and still owe the debt
with strong probability that your child
rem will have to pay as much more inter
est money, and then 6equeath the prnci-
pal debt to your grandchildren.
| Why, you say, this is even worse than
the man who hired his little boy to 90 to
bed and then stole the nickel from him!
We think so, too!
But you ask how we can explain to you
the manner in which this nfamy has been
Accomplishment
Give us your attention and we will ex-
plain it.
While you were in the army the govern
ment borrowed $l6S to pay you. ltagreed
to pay coin interest upon the loan. In
order to get the coin it imposed tax upon
certain imported goods. The goods it
taxed consisted of sugar, tea, coffee,
woolen goods and other necessary and in
dispensable articles, articles that you had
to have in order to feed and cloth your
family.
The average amount which the govern
ment has received in coin each year for
eighteen years has been about Sl6Q,000,.
000 Now, then, there has been on an
average about SIX millions Of heads of
families in the United States since 1862,
At this rate your annual proportion of the
custom house tax has been $26,66 per
year, or $470.88 during the eighteen
years, ali of which was coin, while you
received greenbackS.
In short, you borrowed $46S to pay
yourself $l3 per month in grcenbacks, and
during the last eighteen years have paid
back $470.89 in coin, and still have the
bulk of the original debt hanging as a
burden upon your posterity!
This coin that you have paid has had a
purchasing power equal to fifty per cent,
at least, greater than the greenbacks
which you received, so that the amount
that you have paid has been equal to
Sl9.S2, or $25l,S1 more than you re-
ceived!
But, lest some Republican rap-sucker or
Democratic coupon.clipper may say to you
that you have never paid dollar Of coin
taxes into the cuatom.house, we will ex-
lplain to you how it has been done.
The New York importer of sugar, for
instance. is notified of the arrival Of car
go of sugar. Before he can take posses
sion of it he is obliged to pay an import
duty in coin. This coin of course goes into
| the United States treasury. The govern
ment uses it to pay the interest on the
bonded debt.
The importer computes the cost of his
sugar in the foreign port, adds to it the
cost OF transportation and insurance and
to that adds the import duty. Upon the
cost of his sugar, found by adding up the
above items, he fixes the rate of profit,
which Of course includes the item OF i'm
port duty. During the war he computed
the coin which he paid into the treasury at
the rate of gold, so that if he paid 81 900
of com, when gold was quoted at 200, he
put down $4,000 to the cost of his goods. J
| He then sells it 10 the western jobber or
wholesaler, who in turn sells il to the
country merchant, at whose store you