Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-09-23
THE DEMOCRATIC NORTHWEST THURSDAY SEPTEMBER Q3 1886

Senate, at the last session, that the
Government lad not n vessel which
could either fight or swim. He was
pretty nearly right"
PUBLIC LANDS RESTORED.
at has seemed to The Enquirer. Mr.
Carlisle, that one of the greatest reforms
| inaugurated since the Democrats came
into power in the House of Representa-
tives was the restoration to the people
of lands stolen by railroad corpora
tions."
Saving commitment on your word
stolen, you are right. Since the be-
ginning of the Forty-eighth Congress
laws have been passed forfeiting and
restoring to the public domain Sc, ,4S2,
24O acres of land previously granted to
railroad companies and to States for
railroad purposes i'm some few cases.
All the acts providing for the forfei-
lures of these lands provide expressly
that they shall be restored to the public
domain and shall be held for the bene-
fit of actual settlers only under the
homestead law. The territory embrac-
ed by these forfeitures is 7S,878 square
miles-more than twice as large as the
State of Kentucky. In addition to this
the Democratic House of Representa-
tives at the last session passed bills for
feiting 3,S43, ,094 acres, which the Senate
has not yet concurred in. There are al
so on the calendar of the House, with
favorable repors from committees, bills
forfeiting 1S,067, PA acres more, which
will be passed at the next session. The
area covered by all those bills is 159,
40S square miles, and most of it pretty
good land"
The Enquirer than asked Mr.. Car
Isle if he was willing to talk little on
THE TARIFF,
To which he responded, laughingly,
that as his train for Winchester was
about due, it hardly seemed worth
while to enter upon topic which
might exhaust life time.
"But there are two or three questions
that I must insist upon. Is there any
hope of the Democratic party, as par
ty, getting consistently and unitedly to
work for revenue reform?"
"In my opinion there is a reasonable
prospect that the Democratic party will
become substantially united upon that
question. OF couse it is not probable
that all the members of the Democratic
party will come to think precisely alike
about it, but for practical purposes be-
lieve that the course ofevents, in a rea-
sonably short time, will bring us sub
stantially together. There are now on
ly about $40, ,000,0 900 of the public debt
which the Government has right to
pay at its face, and nearly all the bonds
representing that Indebtedness are held
by the National Banks. In less than
two years this Indebtedness will be fully
discharged, and no other bonds mature
until 1891, when $3.50, 900, 600 of four and
a half per cents will be payable. Dur
ing the interval between the payment
of the three per cents now outstanding
and the maturity of the four and one
half per cents, unless the revenue is re-
duced or is used to purchase the obliga-
tions of the Government at a high
premium, an enormous surplus must ac-
cumulate in the Treasury-such an
amount aslwould paralyze the business
of the country if boarded and left out of
the channels of trade. I am very strong
ly of the opinion, therefore, that when
the debt which is now payable has
been fully discharged, if not before that
time, the people of the country will de-
mand reduction of the revenue.'
"Ah, yes; but several distinguished
gentlemen, whom l will not mention,
want this reduction made on whisky
pay tobacco"
"It will never he so DONE" replied
Mr.. Carlisle, with great solemnity.
"Never. The reduction will come upon
the tariff, and not upon internal reven-
ue, for it is plain to my mind that no
political party of this country can af-
ford to take the position that whisky
and tobacco and beer shall be free while
tax remains upon the peoples cloth
ing and implements of trade. People
wont's stand it.
"And to show the nearness of
THIS IMPENDING CHANCE"
Mr.. Carlisle continued, "let me relter-
ate point which your paper has al
ready had the.sagacity to call attention
to. It taking up these bonds held by
the banks, less than $40, 900, 900, the Gov
ernment has really to pay in money on
ly 10 per cent. of their face value-the
margin above the circulation allowed to
the banks upon them. So you see how
quickly our surplus revenue will eat up
the only portion of the public debt that
we can take up for many years, and
how soon we shall be forced to take ac-
tion upon the millions gathering in the
Treasury"
At this point, just as the talk was be-
coming most interesting, the ladies en-
tered the room and broke up the game
in row.