Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1869 — Speech of Secretary Bout well. [ARTICLE]

Speech of Secretary Bout well.

, Phuladklfhia, October 9. Secr|i«jr Boutwell delivered an address ,o * lt 'V <>f tHflMPMwiFt'Cp' Hw 4 lost f>f which was devoted to the financial question. He stated, as the entire policy of the administration in regard to the public tract, and in coin, or that wliich uv-n will receive as the equivalent to coin. He claimed that “ if none of the public debt had been paid since 1805, the hinded debt of the country would not be less than *3,300,000,000, in addition to the *356,300.000 of notes in circulation. If in these four yean, hhvd Wen "tyyfAtar, we have bee« StbmW jU/Kwenty tive or thirty-three per cent or the public debt shall We hesitate as to our course for the next four years’ If we were to pay *IOO,000,000 a year, which we can pav if the present system of taxation shall he permitted to remain, the public debt will be extinguished in less than fourteen years. If we pay *50,000,000 a year, which wc can do at a jwwoMcd taxation, the interestbearing wll be extinguished in less that t<Mity-two years.- ’And if Ave pay but *26,000,000 a year, and reduce taxation, as we may to a very large . degree, the interest-bearing debt will Im- extinguished in thirty years. The astonishment is that under these circumstances there should lie and question among any class of people as to what the pmra of the country should be; but, genOiAA/jn laying on a largerjwt nrttns debt sfx pbr cen Vinter-, cst. The events of the last six or seven months demonstrating the ability of the people of this country to pay this debt, has rendered it not only probable, but I consider it certain, unless there shall la* some disturbance of the peace of the world —unless then 1 shall be some calamity natiouapn ife |li*A*t«r-yI (consider it cer-UintWt*-we 1 refund so much of the debt as we desire to refund al a rate of interest not exceeding 4}J per cent, [applause]—thus saving to the country and to the people who pay taxes from *18,000,000 to *25,000,000 a year. You hav.e paid *56.000,000 of the public debt since the Ist of March last. Shall we, in the presence of that fact, shrink from what is before, us? . To be sure, there is taxation, id t hfi4.net griefous taxation; and rnorf titan that; it can gradually, year by vear, be diminished. The burdens, whether heavy or light, can be gradually removed from the people. I thought it might not, l^e, uniut<;rpHl[ng, although the facts' are well known, to state how far the revenues and proceeds of taxes bear heavily upon the people. During the last year, from distilled spirits and llie ‘ manufacture and traffic in distilled spirits, wine and every kind of liquors, was derived a revenue of *44,000,000 ; and from tobacco manufactured as welt as in the various' forms *23,000,000. Now here are .nearly *70,000,000, which I suppose, ip the judgment of most of us, is not necessarily heavy. Then there are about *6,000,000 ffom 'taxes on fermejjatMlq»oy.< dWcgl»oget *6,000,000 frouxCi<M»W>Qrßti<Ji; -of ■ merchandise through the country, which should be removed as soon as’ the condition of the treasury will permit. There are *6,000,000 more from sales of merchandise, *B,000,000 from incqmattu;, *34,(]0Q,000 from stamps, and 15,000,000 ’from other and smaller items, sufficient to make an aggregate of *150,000,000. This system of taxation enjbesetanaqd wy as to relieve the, burdeff or Taxation from thri rtiasft of the people. A .greater amount of the internal revenue is* derived from the luxuries of life, or from taxes on people WWM!RMbl#t<* pay, and the burden upon the laboring people of the country is, after all, verv small. But I must say that no system of taxation is desired that does not look to a IWpfflT fetation upon luxuries or accumulated property, thus rdicvf Mt Boutwell stated the reasons which con-, troled the application of the surplus futd. "Cohgress had prohiluUjd iju; iljipinutign of thp amount of gGU&K*%ful nu-tther tiny <j£qj khe fifty millions of 3 per cents, could be redeemed without- a departure law of Congress, by- which the Secretary was required to allow the volume of currency to remain as it was when he entered the office ; therefore, there remained only the couht<*tftfW<Mii«4>iWtrpiirrtifd < to:ls»ife (f perTfflMxindSafWdiuMrt price." Mr. BouflveFffoWt-ihtttAflit an’appeal t<»*the ,J workingmen to see that tno' mtftns of education are furnished to their children, so as to inculcate justice auil rule the land under the principles of virtue, guided by intelligence.