Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1870 — Speech of Vice-President Colfax. [ARTICLE]

Speech of Vice-President Colfax.

At Booth Bond, lad., on the 10th, VltoPnaMent Oolfkx delivered a very able and •xhaastiv* speech on the political brass of the day, Sou which we < Atrsct aafollow*: . IU After atating the p'edges madaby the Republican party to the country, he proeeeda to show how thoroughly and hon•■By thoae promlaes hare been ao far fulfilled. Concerning Democratic extmvaganoe, aa compared with Republican eoonotny, he ear*: We are told by our political opponents that tlh Democratic pirtf mult be Ttr stored to pbtrer In order to hare retrenchment and reform In every branch of the Government, and to haveluatico and protection ft*r all citizens. We have two Illustrations of the results of Democratic rule, and Its effect In achieving theac desirable enda. Mr. Buchanan’s administrawith its Immense Democratic majority, Its undisguised corruptions, 1U flagrant expenditures, its oppressive and increasing taxation, its numberless and unpunished murders and outrages, is the other Illustration. In these two, behol4,.the enhßTtaimnwn to whioh our opponent* In the last Democratic administration we have their model of national rule. Com 39>f5^araW l stei not yet doe, of but $39,000,000, yet by the 1, 1859, had increased to $41,000,000. Another year passes by, and on July 1, 1359, the debt (and all this increase was in time of peace) had swollen to $58,000,000. Another year increased it to $85,000,000, and when our last Democratic President surrendered the White House to his successor, he gave with it a debt of nearly $70,000,000 aa a legacy, and a shattered credit that had been paying at tka rate of twelve per cent, interest per year for small loans to pay current expenses. The expenditures, too, of that administration, at gold rates, and before the enh&ncerneit of pflees of supplies, labor, etc., caused by the war, were, during its four years, $83,000 000, $83,000 000. $77,000,000, and $85,000,000, respectively, an average of $82,000,000 per yeari Deducting $14,00 0,000 as the average appropriation then for postal service (from $3,600,000 to $6,000,000 of which were paid out of 4he Treasury, and the rest paid by postages), $9750,000 per year as the average of interest on the public debt if created, and sl,000,000 yearly for pensions and exjtenses of Pension Office, and it leaves an average of over $64,000000 in gold fotCbe ordinary current expenses of adminiireering a Government for a population averaging during his term about 29,000,000 of people, or about two dollars and a quarter apiece ingM. Let us now look at the appropriations for the service of the present fiscal year, exclusive of sb» interest on the -national debt, made Vy -a Repwbltoan Congress lor a Republican administration, and a population of over 40,000,000. They are as follows: Lecislstlvc, Executive, and Judtctal J 37.551.594 60 Deficiency.... 4.443.962.13 Comenltr and Dtyknnstto.;..SA.. V l.ftas-WT(m Poet Office 9fi,928,fti»3 03 Amy 2!i,3a0,rm.39 Kortaflcaiior.a. 1.21U.Y5P.0U River* And harbors 3,995,000.00 Pensions...' 30/00,0 71 (10 Military Academy 814;S‘«90 Navy 18.ft9s/oft M Indians : fi.fW.ssl 30 Saudry eivlk expenditure* 13,383/73.64 Supreme ntal deSciency, 1871.... *. 1,9*9,(150.75 Miscellaneous Hem 5................ -8,151,163.13 Total... $157,851,131.64 Polio wing the deductions I have male from Mi Buchanan’s Democratic expenses, we have fitAtatake off the $30,000,090 for pensions, stud $422,000 expenses of Pension Office, a direct result of the war against the nation, which, I need scarcely say, was not inaugurated by Republicans Next the Post Office appropriation* which I aeducted-from the Democratic expenditures, but which, as the department informed us recently, will be almost, if not entirely, reimbursed this year by postages. No River and Harbor bill was passed under Buchanan’s administration, and, in any Mr comparison, that too, must be deducted. The Internal Revenue system was a necessity growing out of the war and its debt, and its total appropriations, including printing of Treasury notes, is $8,335,000. The Patent Office, until within a year or so, paid its own expenses out of its receipts, without appropriation by Congress. Now, as the constitution doubtless intended, it 3 receipts go into the Treasury, and $560,000 were appropriated out of these receipts for its expenses, an fterh unknown under theold system. Baying nothing of other “deficiencies” in the six and a half millions to be found in the above list, $885,000 were appropriated to pay up balances of reconstruction expenses, growing, of course, out Of the war. For the present census $1,800,000 were appropriated for this purpose, which helped to swell that year’s aggregate to $85,000,000. - As I have averagPiTull his expenditures amongst four years, making but $250,000 per year for the census service of 1860, averaging the presebt census appropriation for General Grant’s term would make but $300,000 properly chargeable to each year, in the contrast between the two administrations. For the maintenance and improvement of our National Cemeteries, mainly in the Bouth where our dead soldiers are buried, $300,000 were appropriated by the law of July 15,1870, certainly a war item. The appropriations adjudged against the United States by international commissions—s47s,ooo to the Hudson’s Bay Company in full for a vastly larger claim pending since the Oregon treaty, and $57,000 to the foreign Government of Peru in the Mcmtaubah case, are not items of “current, ordinary, annual expenses,” nor was General Grant responsible for either of them. The three millions appropriated for Poet Offices in New York ana Boston, and the Mint building al Saa Francisco, were forced on the country by the utter inadequacy of the present buildings, and are to r permanent structures, not to be annually renewed or paj,d for. And so slso were the $1,976,000 fpprepriated for new buildings, or improvements on those already built, for Custom Hants, Postal, asfd Revenue offices at the State Capitols and larger cities, such as Si Chpriestqq, Mobile, Baniniqrt, llachiiKmd, Savannah, and Petersburg, in the Boutn; and Chicago, Cairo,. St Paul, Portland, Des Moines, Bangor, a^dOntaht, Deducting these items, as not properly included icii the “current, ordinary, annual expends of administering the government," but without deducting the millions of deficiencies in above list of appropriations, more properly chargeable to the lxst fitcal year than this, and there is left out eighty fliUions of dollars for over forty muluma of people, an average of bu* $2 each in paper, and at our present prices, as compared with the $2.25 each in f Sid and at the low prices ruling before s war, which was the coat of our last . Democratic administration. Other deduction* might properly havebeen made, socks* $300,0C0 for the coast survey of Alaska, $70,000 for the one and a half yeses’/alary of the nine sew Circuit Judge*, rendered necessary, in the opinion of all parties, by the vsst increaoe of finpcMK Court business—s3o,ooo far the ship canal survey at Tehuantepec—ssls,000 foMbtogSjT from the4a*t administra Am of the Garlics claim-—sloo,ooo exof theJfteasury^ abandoned property, cotton, etc.—a m'l-

lion and a quarter for strengthening our fortifications at the most Important points —the increaee in Indian appropriations from two or three millions to six, from the constantly increasing pressprs of the settlements end the absolute necessity tu feeding the destitute, whose hunting grounds have been destroyed by railroad* or emigration, and the many mil ions cf increase in our army expenses, from the two thousand miles of frontier aid greater population it has to protect, and the increase in the pay of the soldier since 1864, to $lO per menth, with proportionate increase in pay of officers, due to the increased cost of living. lam glad, however, to state that the reduction, in the number of e Ulcers and soldiers now going on by law, will reduce our army expenses some’ four millions after this year. I have not made these latter deductions in the contrast I have drawn pf the cxrmses of the two administrations, because wished to include in that only the indisputable ; but adding these, as could justly be done, to the others, it would reduce the national expenses, properly chargcab]e to the present administration, to $1.75 each-ln paper, or about $1 50 in gold, for our forty millions of people, as compared with the $2.25 each in gold, in far cheaper times, or the last administration the Democratic party favored this nation with. I doubt whether the people will rush to their arms this fall, or embrace thcirrandidat.es, or seek to moor their ship of State in such a haven of Democratic reform 1

I have not been aUe to obtain the aggregate amount of expenditures of the Democracy ruled city of New York for a later fiscal year than 1807. Bui, in that ypsr, the cost of governing the one million of people in that city, including pay of officers, police, interest on debt, and State .taxes, but without any army or navy, or pew ten list, or Indians (except the Tammany chiefs) to provide for, was $23,230,;295, not quite twenty-fonr millions of dollars. I trust, if these chiefs are ever to obtain power, they will not expect to pay out. for governing forty millions'of people, at the anno proportion it costs them to govern or, e million in New York city, which would aggregate nine hundred and axty millions per year. But, without charging that they woul*', I submit that before they cm expect the people to credit their pledges of retrenchment and reform, they should give.us some specimens of its working In that overwhelmingly Democratic etty of rtfeirs. IVhen Mr. Dawes left Washington la t March to speak fin New Hampshire, President said to" him, “Tell* the people of New Hampshire that, during my administration, there shall be no ascending scale of public, exranditurcs, but wherever and whenever .the closest scrutiny abaft dilclosct the possibility of cutting off a dollar it shall be done.” ..Our President, though maligned by those Opposed to you, and by those who did not love him through the war, and do not love him yet, when elevated hy a great people to a chief magistracy of the ration, has redeemed that pledge to the letter. Let the following figures of government expenses show how it has been done. For the*fl«cal yesr ending June 30,1868. (President Johnson’s last full year.) $377,000,000. For the year ending June 80,1869, (eight months Johnson and four months Giant), $341,000,000. For tho year ending June SO, 1870, (all Grant’s), $292,000,000. All these include interest on tho public debt. Appropriations fer year ending June 80, 1871, $158,030,000. Add interest on reduced debt, whioh last year was $128,000,000, but will not now reach $118,000,000 for the year. Total $276,000,000, or one hundred millions less than Johnson’s last fall year. This retrenchment can be shown even more clearly by the following official figures from the Treasury Department: Total expenditures, not including interest, sot 18 montli3, tmm 6.pt. 1,1867, lOjMarch 1, 1869 (Johnson’s) $328 765.659 ; frflin March L 1869, to Sept. 1,1870 (Grant's), $245 912,629. Decrease of expenditure *, $82,853,060. During Johnson’s last 18 months, he paid of interest on our debt $211,221,916. . During. Grant’s first 18 months, he paid of interest $193 421.155 Reduction of interest, sl7 800 561. Total dccr- ate in 13 months, $100,■653,621.

While we denounced, in our national phtiorm, every proposition that savored of repudiation, direct cr indirect, vre declared also, a 3 already stated, that the rate of interest on our debt should be reduced whenever it could bo hbkofra* ly done. But for the constant denunciation ol the bonds and bondholders, the threats by many of oar leading opponents that our obligations should be scaled down to what we receive t for them id our hours of emergency, when Democratic National Conventions were resolving that the war was a failure and Democratic national leaders were predicting that our currency and our bonds would both become equally worthless and the other threats that they should be heavily taxed or wiped out with a sponge, Congress could long since have funded our debt at a lower rate cf interest, and thus been enabled largely to reduce its burdens on the people. But with a powerful party, struggling for (national ascendency, and with such declarations in their mouths, our credit improved more 6lowly than if we could hare shown a united people, as jealous of our national honor and our national obligations as are all the people of Great Brßaiq, of. all parties, in regard to their debt. And thus, since the war, as during the war, our opponents have proved themselves a terribly expensive organization to the nation. Lest I may be charged with stating this point too strongly, I quote, as one ot the many proofs of its correctness that could be given, the following editorial remarks of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the leading organ of the Democratic party of Ohio, and, indeed, jjf the Northwest, printed only last June.: “ The Democracy ot Ohio are now divided, and only divided upon the point whether any portion of the drtu should ha paid at all. A large and perhaps a controlling e.c ion cf the party,' lute and in the Wert, aie for open and urcl-Rnisea repudiation Another division adheres to the old views, and favore the payment with greenbacks worth w hat they wrerewbtn the debt was taken. The diversity of sentiment was such that It was not thought advisable to make any distinct declaration ai tbla lime.” And this; paper did not misrepresent the ffeelings ot, a large portion of the Ohio Democracy. I quote further the following resolution adopted unanimously in the same. nmnth of this very year lay the Mercer County, Ohio, Democratic Convention: “71<solv*l, That the so-called war debt is. a fraud and a swindle, and was created under fa be pretences and in violaUpii of the consthudon; we are. therefore, nneompromis'.iiL'ly In favor of icpedialing the whole of the bunded war debt of the Uniaud (states.” **** * * . * The platform cf ISG3 pledged the Republicaujorganfaation to a-t 1 radical reform of the shameful corruptions" of the last administration, and that taxation should be equalized and reduced as rapidly as the national faith would permit. This was no idle pledge on which to obtain power, but has been redeemed to the letter In this connection, allow me to read the following charge against the administration from an editorial of the Indianapolis fkntinel of August 13, the leading paper of the Democratic paity in this State. It says : -“ From Jand 89,1?89, to June $•)„' IS7*>, we have the first clear fiscal year of the Grant administration. And how doss the tax levied npon the people that year compare with the Ui levied rtnrfnc the year, handed down by Andrew Johnaon :■ I,ook ai tno official statement ot government levies just put forth by Mr. Boutwcll: 19G9-TO (Grant).:,. .V.. ti J4r5,«81,372 1803-09(.J0hna0n)...,. 370,943,747 , txceev of Grant *37,887,023 Thru th« government levied up an the people

Marty rS3.ono.non Bor* dnrta«4l>» flnt fiscal y**r of Ursnt'a afimlrtstrailcn Ufiawaa 'ertod dlrirf the 'sat areal year of J°tjWpnn% acmlnlrtrallon. -Tala la a ladncuon of taxaflmi With t vangeaaes!" on (y partially revenue finafr xfie nßhful’wlecWroß of the laws by President Grant’s officers (as four months, and the best four months for ‘revenue, of “Is6B 9,” were under Grant, and not under Johnson), it ieen unwitting testimony to their fidelity, from the lips of an enemy. Remember that thero was no increase of any taxation,lnternal or external, during tijeeo two years. The same taxes, (except, indeed, one or two reductions instead of enlargements) and the same laws existed in tie first fiscal year of President Grant aa in the last fiscal year ol President Johnson. But during Johnson’s administration, the whisky ring reigned almost supreme; and. manufactured whisky, marked “ tax paid,” was sold at less than the tax, saying nothing ol the cost of manufacturing. Corruption stalked unabashed through every avenue of the public service, and the Treasury was robbed by men kept in office for partisan purposes only. When a faithful Commiisiooer urged removals of suspected officials, bis appeals were almost always In vain. And, when these thieves were detected and convicted, Presidential pardons, ip a large majority of cases, were ready fir them. From this demoralization, peculation and -plunder, which so naturally followed the recreancy of their chief, General Grant rescued and regenerated our revenue service, and what, under Johnson, went into the pockets of thieves, went, under Grant, into the Treasury, enabling taxation to be reduced. The whisky ring became powerlets. Officers who were suspected or inefficient, were removed; and if the new appointees failed to prove their fitness for responsible trusts, tiny had also to give place to others. And* Immediately the revenues improved. Every subordinate felt that his position depended on his fidelity. Every taxpayer realized that what he peid went into the Treasury, and that bis dishonest competitor, by his side, could no longer escape his share of the public burdens. And the same Internal Revenue Jaws, -honestly administered, without fear orravor, ikcT same taxes iaithfully collected, brought millions more per month into tho Treasury, for which the /Sentinel now attacks the administration. 2 In the Customs service also (the tarill) there has been increased efficiency. Fraudulent systems of undervalued invoices have been broken up. Smuggling has been delected and arrested. And the same .Tariff laws thus yielded millions more per quarter to the Treasury under President Grant than under President Johnson. . Look at the following official statement of the increase of receipts during the first eighteen months of President Grant’s administration (from March 1869, to Sept. 1870), as compared wiih the last eighteen months of President Johnson's adroinist -ation (from September, 1807, to March, 1869): incross.! In Intccnal Rover no receipt*.. $58,943 910 liicretu-o in Cm tom* receipts 41751.431 Increase la sale receipt*...' 1,8111,616 $57.831,5C0 decrease—ls~-Mise3llananna-receipts, premium on aurp.us gold ecln, etc. 10,621,701

Net increase on all receipt* $37,218,765 Which has paid off just that much debt, of course, and relieved the taxpayerspermanently of five millions Interest per year. Making all allowances for increase of business, does not this prove that the administration has been a- faithful guardian ol the public interests committed to bis charge ? The beneficent results of this increased revenue flowing from increased efficiency and honesty in the public service, has been KH by the people in more ways than one. While nothing was paid on the debt during Mr. Johnson’s last year, the reduction under President Grant has been constant and gratifyingly large. Without any increase of ibe public burdens, he has paid off over $169,500,000 of our bonded and over-due debt, in the first 18 months of his administration; and has permanently reduced the annual interest, to be paid to our creditors, nearly $9,000,000 per year. Up to this date, the bonds he has purchased with our surplus revenue have been stamped and kept as ts sinking fund. But the lasi Congress ordered, as a fairer way, that they should all be destroyed, now and hereafter, as purchased, so that they should no longer be in existence, even in a cancelled form. With this healthy condition of our •finances, Congress felt that a large reduction of taxation was not inconsistent with the maintenance of our credit. And accordingly a bill was passed reducing our Internal taxation at the rate of over fiftyfive millions per year, and on tariff taxation about twenty-five millions—in ail #ighty millions per year, striking off at one blow, one fifth of all our remaining taxation of all kinds. These reductions in our, internal tax system have been of the most sweeping character. * * * We have about four hundred millions of dollars of greenbacks and fractional currency. When President Grant was inaugurated, gold was at a premium of 133; so that these four hundred millions of paper dollars, In the pockets of the people, were worth about-three hundred millions in gold. Before the European war broke out, gold had declined here, in consequence of our improved national credit, to 110; making these four hundred millions of greenbacks and fractional currency worth to the people over three hundred and sixty millions in gold. And this addition to their value, and their purchasing power, rendering the people who hold them and use them as currency that much better off, is fairly to be credited to the administration. The national expenditures have also been largely and steadily decreasing from the day President Grant took the oath of office. The year ending July, 1869 (partly Johnson’*4»n»an4partiyGrwßt’s), they were $56,000,000 less than the previous year. The year ending July, 1870, they were $29,009,000 less than la 1889. And the present year, ending July next, they will be from $15,000,000 to $16,000 000 less than the fiscal year just closed. And here I must not emit this Democratic tea timeny from the special dispatch to the Cincinnati Enquirer, dated Washington, June 30, ltj69, which proves, out of the mouth of an enemy, how promptly this administration commenced the work of reducing the expenses of the government :

“The fiscal year closed *o-day, and all oftha old appropriations expired. To-morrow the. Government goes forward on reduced appropriations. Toe result Is that several hundred officials were to day removed. Nearly two hundred were in tlia Treasury, and fifty were in the War Department, bo far, nearly six hundred removals have been made tom the Treasury Department." And this retrenching work has been steadily pushed forward ever since in every department-of the government. Internal revenue officials are being reduced ; and when the recent reduction takes effect, their number is to be still further lessened, districts to be consolidated, and the expenses of that branch of service largely curtailed. I will not stop to make a balance sheet; but an administration that, without any increase of taxation, can increase the receipts of cur National Treasury under the Tariff and Tax laws, over eighty millions in Us first eighteen months over the amount cnlkcUd by its predecessor, in its last eighteen months—can pay oft in the same time one hundred and seventy millions of our national de"bt—can strike off, at one blew, ; eighty million* Of burdensome taxation—can reduce our national

IT ■ ll : ; expenditures one hundred million In.the first eighteen months or this administration—and can make the currency, in the pockets of the people, wotth sixty milions more than when it entered on its duitto—deserves the confidence of the people whose Interests it has eo faithfully served—and can bear philosophically the unjust and bitter criticisms to which it has been subjected by its enemies. What grander results coula the ipoat exacting have demanded of the administration?