The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-09-02
PARTIES AND sTEAL1Nas,

The Hon. John U. New, eX-IreaSurer OL Iuo
United States, and ex-Assistant Secretary OF
the Treasury, ought to be good authority IN
matters relating to national finances. MI.
New, in his Blaine organ, states that 'the he
publican party has paid over a thousand mill
ions of the war debt" We did not know that
either of the political parties had paid any
part of the public debt. We had supposed
that the peoples servants had gathered taxes
from the people irrespective of party, and That
all payments on the public debt had been made
out of the proceeds of such taxes.
Thanks to Mr.. New, we can now dismiss all
these heresies and do full i~usticeto the 6. O.P.
Even though it has stolen the public lands,
stolen public money on q magnificent scale,
and squandered as much as it has stolen, 1T
has paid fmore than a thousand millions" OF
the national debt. Still there are Democrats
who will not believe Mr.. New, and will insist
that they have been helping to pay it.-Wash-
ington Post (Dem.1
By exactly the same course of reasoning
remarkable enough, it must be confessed
that makes Democrats sharers in the credit OF
the payment of the more than one thousand
millions Of debt, put on us, it may be re-
marked, by the Democratic party, now
constituting the solid South, the same
Democrats are sharers in the shame
that ''many millions" have been s~quandered
and stolen, if we may believe the Post. Let
us see, however, how the stealings compare
now with the good old days Of Democratic
honesty. During the administration Of Polk
$4.09 were stolen out of every 81, 600 collected
o~l J..1,.zo5 TIoloa Tou1or ond Eill-5
more it ran to $4.19. Under Pierce it was
So .56, and under Buchanan 1881. When
Buchanan left the executive chair and
handed over the affairs of government, the
Democratic party had already ~inaugurated
civil war. With an increased opportunity for
official r~ascality and dishonesty, the immense
sums involved were handled with such
~consummate skill and scrupulous honesty
that but seventy-six cents out of each
81, 900 was lost during Lincoln's administra-
ton. The Republican machinery continued
to run SO smoothly under johnson that the
loss on each ST., 900 was brought down to fifty
cents. Grant brought the average down more
than so per cent, showing a loss of but
t~wenty-four cents. During the first two years
Of the administration of President Eayes-
the latest data at hand-the finances of the
government were so admirably managed, the
collections and disbursements were SO con
scientiously made, that, incredible as it may
seem, the loss on each 81, 900 was but eight
tenths of a mill This is equivalent
to a loss of one cent in $12, 500. Do you un-
derstandY And what does this exhibit show
for Republican ways Of '~'squandering and
stealing the public fundsY The difference
between Republican honesty, under Hayes,
and Democratic honesty, under Buchanan, is
in favor Of the former by the loss of less than
a cent in each 500 600 to nearly $40 under the
former. Reduced to a mathematical demon
s~tration, Republican honesty is 400, 900 per
cent. better than the Democratic article. The
Democratic paper that undertakes a discussion
Of finances makes a great mistake.