Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-12-13

Inc Tlcn anu populouS Fhlley VI IllC Noii-
90 is being opened to commerce by a socie-
ty called the International African Asso-
citation, of which the King of the BelganS
is the president, and citizen of the United
States the chief executive officer Large
tracts of territory have been ceded to the
association by native chiefs, roads have
been opened, steamboats, placed on the river,
and the nuclei of States established at
twenty-five stations under one flag, which
offers freedom to commerce and prohibits
the slave trade. The objects of the society
are philanthropic. 1t does not aim at per-
manent political control, but seeks the neu-
trality of the Valley. The United States
cannot be Indifferent to this work nor to
the interests of their citizens involved in it.
1t may become advisable to cooperate with
right of trade and residence in the Congo
Valley free from the interference or politi-
cal control of any one nation.
have alluded in my previous messages to
the injurious and veNatious restrictions suf-
fered by our trade in the Spanish West
Indies Brazil, whose natural outlet for
it's great national staple, coffee, is in and
through the United States imposes a heavy
import duty upon that product. Our petro.
leum exports are hampered in Turkey and
in other Eastern ports by restrictions as to
storage and by Onerous taxation. For these
mischiefs adequate relief is not always at-
forded by reciprocity treaties like that with
Hawaii, or that lately negotiated with Mex
leo and now awaiting the action of the Sen
ate. Is it not advisable to provide some
measure of equitable retaliation in our re-
latiOnS with governments which discrlml-
nate against our own? If, for example, the
Executive were empowered to apply to
Spanish vessels and cargOes from Cuba and
Puerto Rico the same rules of treatment and
scale of penalties for technical faults which
are applied to our vessels and cargoes in the
Antilles, a resort to that course might not be
barren of good results.
The report of the secretary of the treasury
shows that the ordinary revenues from all
sources for the fiscal year ended June 80,
1888, amounted to $39S, 297, ,581. For the
same period the ordinary expenditures were
1865, ,4OS, 1877, leaving a surplus revenue OF
S132, ,S79, ,444, which, with the amount drawn
from the cash balance in the treasury, ($l,-
$780, ,312,) making S134, 1886, was applied to
the redemption Of bonds.
The revenue for the present fiscal year,
actual and estimated, derived from all
sources, is $247 ,033,0 ,0S2; and the actual and
estimated ordinary expense for the same
period are $3.50, ,057, ,909. With the estimated
amount of S45 ,S16, ,741 due the sinking fund,
a. DdldllCC WOullt lclC III
amounting to $50, ,1S3, ,25S.
If the revenue for the fiscal year, which
will end on June 80, 1885, be estimated upon
the basis of existing laws, the secretary is OF
the opinion that for that year the receipts
will exceed by S60,O00,OOO the ordinary ex-
penditures, including the amount devoted
to the sinking fund.
Hitherto the surplus, rapidly as it has
accumulated, has been devoted to the re-
duction of the national debt. AS a result
the only bonds now outstanding, which are
redeemable at the pleasure of the Govern
ment, are the 8 per cents, amounting to
1905, ,0OO,0OO. The t! per cents, amounting
to $3.50, 100000, and the S73 100000 4 per
respectively. If the surplus shall hereafter
be as large as the treasury estimates now in
dicate, the 3 per cent. bonds may all be re-
deemed at least four years before any OF the
A. per cents. can be called in. The latter, at
the same rate of accumulation of surplus, can
be paid at maturity, and the money requis-
ite for the redemption Of the per cents.
will be in the treasury many years before
those obligations become payable. There
are cogent reasons, however, why the ma
| tiOnal Indebtedness should not be thus rap
idly extinguished. Chief among them is
the fact that only by excessive taxation is
such rapidity attainable.
In a communication to the Congress at its
| last session | recommended that all excise
taxes be abolished, except those relating to
distilled spirits, and that substantial reduc-
| tiOnS be also made in the revenues from
customs. a statute has since been enacted
| by which the annual tax and tariff receipts
fthe Government have been cutdOwn to the
extent least fifty or sixty million dollars.
While l have no doubt that still further re-
ductions may be wisely made, / do notadvise
the adoption at this session of any measures
, for large diminution of the national reve-
nues. The results of the legislation of the
last session of the Congress have not us yet
become sufficiently apparent to justify any
radical revision or sweeping notifications
of existing laws. In the interval which
must elapSe before the effects of the Act of
March 3, 1888, can be definitely ascertained,
portion at least of the surplus revenues
may be wisely applied to the lOng-neglected
duty Of rehabilitating our navy, and provid-
| ing coast defences for the protection of our
harborS.
Immediately associated with the financial
subject just discussed is the important ques-
ton what legislation is needed regarding
the national currency. The aggregate
amount of bonds now on deposit in the
treasury to support the National bank cir
100000 Of this amount consists of 3 per cent.
bonds which, as already stated, are payable
at the pleasure of the Government, and are
likely to be called in in less than four years,
unless meantime the surplus revenues shall
be diminished. The probable result of such
an extensive retirement of the securities
which are the basis of the National bank
circulation, would be such Il contraction OF
the volume of the currency as to produce
grave commercial embarrassments. How
can this danger be Obviated? The most
effcctual plan, and one whose adoption at
the earliest practicable opportunity shall
heartily approve, has already been indi-
Gated. Ifthe revenues of the next four years
shall be kept substantially commensurate
with the expenses, the volume of circula-
ton will not be likely to suffer any mate
rial disturbance. Buff, on the other hand,
! there shall be a great delay in reducing
| taxation, it will become necessary either to
substitute some other form of currency in
place of the national bank notes, or to make
| important changes in the laws by which
their circulation is now controlled. In my
| Judgment the latter course is far preferable.
I commend to your attention the very in
teresting and thoughtful suggestions upon
this subject which appear in the secretary's
report.
The objections which he urges against the
acceptance of any other securities than the
obligations of the Government itself as a
foundation for national bank circulation,
seem to me insuperable. For averting the
threatened contraction, two courses have
been suggested, either of which is probably
feasible One is the issuance of new bonds
having many years to run, bearing low
rate of interest and eXchangeable upon spec
flied terms for those now outstanding. The
other course, which commends itself to my