St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-24
FACTS AGAINST FANCIES.

We recently had occasion to note
the difference between the editor of
an evening contemporary and the sec
retary of the treasury, that, in matters
pertaining to national finance, the
secretary had ITO know what he was
talking about, but the editor did not.
| The editor continues to enjoy his
| freedom from the thraldom to mere
| facts and careers eXuberantly over
| historical fields made unreal by his
powerful Imagination. Thus freed
| from the obligations that editors
should owe to their readers, if not
to their own consciences, this later
Don Quixote ventures on a compari-
son between Democratic and Repub-
lican administrations much, we need
not add, to the discredit of the former.
'In 1851" he says, "the Democrats,
then being in full control of congress
and the executive, started out on
hunt for tariff for revenue only, and
the Southern Democrats, then being
in control of the party, forced it to
enact such a tariff law. Under that
law i'm 1858, there was an excess of eX-
penditures over revenue of $27 ,539,9 ,904,
with the bonds of the government
selling with an interest stated ait II
b ct1 hoUi11o de-
scribed a lobster as ''a red fish that
swan backward" Cuvier commented
that, except that the lobster was not
red, was not fish and did not swim,
the definition was very accurate. EX-
cept that there was an eXceS of eX-
penditures-and as to that the amount
is inaccurate-there is not a single
fact stated in all that sentence. The
period is not so remote nor is access
to it's hitory so difficult as to excuse
this deliberate substitution of romance
for fact 1t may be worth while, not
for the purpose of refutation, nor for
the informa ton of the evening con-
temporary, but to supply some inter
esting facts not generally known, to
sweep away the litter of fiction thus
defacing an editorial page with
statement of historical facts.
In 1857 the congress was not Gin
full control" of the Democrats. The
house was controlled by the oppo-
nents of the Democrats, medley of
Knownothings, Wings, Free Soilers
and Republicans, who elected Banks,
once a Democrat, then a Knownoth-
ing, and later Republican, as speak
er after a nine-weeks contest. The
Democrats did mot start out on a
hunt for a revenue tariff" they did
that in 1885, and found one so Satis-
factory that, in 1857, it was produce
ing surplus revenue that was trou-
blesome. The proposition to repeat
the experiment Of 1897, and divide the
surplus among the states, was reject
ed, and the sensible one of reducing !
taxes adopted, a precedent that the
Fifty-first congres failed to follow.
"The Southern Democrats" did not
force" the party to enact the reduc-
ton of that year. There was little
opposition to it from any source ex-
cept Pennsylvania, always with its
feet in the trough, and of it's delega-
ton three voted for it. Galusha A
Grow, who, this sapient editor says,
''has forgotten more about political
economy than Grover will learn in the |
balance of his life,' was member of |
the house, but, between his favor for
the measure and his desire to not OPP
pose the majority of the delegation,
did not vote at all. 1t is quite true
that he has since forgotten some good
political economy.
The bonds of the United States did
not bear II per cent interest. In 1858 |
which the interest charge was 81 ,652,-
055 The panic of 1857, the result of |
"wild-catting" in all directions, land |
booms, paper cities, banking and |
speculation, resulted, as panics always |
do, in sharp falling off of revenue |
from customs. The receipts in 1886 |
were over S3O,OOO,O 900; in 1888 they |
Shrank to S1S. 900, ,O0O In 1856 they |
were over $64, 900; in 1858 they were
$42,OO0,0O0 In 1872 they were over |
$212, 100000; in 1874 they had fallen to
$160,O0O,OOO. The deficit of 1858 was
made up of the 10 per cent reduction
lin taxes made in 1857; a loss of $22,-
100000 in customs and shrinkage of
over $4,000, 900 in sales of public lands,
all the result of the diminished pur-
chasing power of the people. The def