Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1878 — The President’s Statement of National Finances. [ARTICLE]

The President’s Statement of National Finances.

The President presented in his address at St Panl, on Thursday, a statement in a compact form of the National finances that is dearly expressed, can be easily understood, and will be accepted with gratification by the country. When the war closed in 1866 the ascertained debt and the outstanding balances due on contracts and claims were estimated at three thousand millions of dollars. So great was this debt that it appalled the boldest minds; and, while repudiation was but faintly advocated, there was a widespread doubt as to the ability of the Government to pay the debt, and some reluctance to engage in making the attempt. The President prebents the figures of the debt in those days following the close of the war, and contrasts them with those of the present day: lnterent-beariiiK debt, Augiuit, '65 *2,381,530,296 Aumutl inten-Ht thereon 160,977,(87 Intemt-bearing debt, August, 73.. 1,309.677,9(8 Interest thereon 16481,007 Reduction of principal 571,862,396 Reduction of annual interest 56,796 690 These comparative figures tfell their own striking story: Ascertained debt, August, 1866 *2,757,699,571 Total debt, August, 1878 . 2.035,580,328 Reduction of debt in thirteen years. *722,109,246 Within the last few years a great change has taken place in the ownership of this debt. It is estimated that in 1871 about 11,000,000,000 of the public debt was held abroad, on which from $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 of interest was paid and sent abroad. It is now ascertained that three-fourths of the bonds are held by our own people, and that the interest sent abroad does not exceed $15,000,000 to $18,000,000 annually. From these facts it appears that during the thirteen years the debt has been reduced over $700,000,000; the annual interest has been reduced over $55,000,000; and this interest is now paid mainly to our own people. Nor do these remarkable figures explain all that has been done. There has been a large reduction of taxes within the period since the war. The taxes are those collected from customs and from internal revenue, and they compare as follows: 1866. Revenue collected *488,273,465 1873. Reveuue collected 301,818.338 1878. Revenue collected 240,762,304 Reduction since 1866 247,621,160 Reduction since 1873 61,066,631 A comparison of expenditures will exhibit equally gratifying results: 1866. Expenditures... *357,542,676 1873. Expenditures 290,846.246 1878, Expenditures.. 236.964,326 Expenditures in "78 less than in ’66 *120,678,348 In 1866 the currency of the country compared with the currency of 1878: 1866Oreenbacks *482,757,604 National Bank notes 176,213,966 Fractional currency 26,844,742 Old demand notes 402,965 Treasury notes, compound-in-terest notes and State bank notes, estimated 100,000,000 Total *736,719,266 " Coin value at 69 cents 509,999,596 1878Greenbacks *346,681,016 00 National Bank notes 324,514.284 00 Fractional currency 16,547,768 77

Total , *687.743,168 77 Coin value at 99V4 cents 684,000,000 00 To this must be added silver coin to the amount of $60,000,000, and about $80,000,000 of gold coin, not including that held for purposes of resumption. The total increase in the coin value of our currency since 1865 is over $300,0 00,000. That is, the purchasing power of our currency has been increased to that extent. The National prosperity is instanced further by the vast increase in sum and value of American products exported and sold abroad. Exports—lß7B *680.683,798 Exports—lß6B 269,389,900 Increase *411,293,898 Increase 153 per cent. In the meantime, instead of having imports exceeding exports at an average of $110,000,000 a year, our exports for the years 1876, 1877 and 1878 exceeded our imports in the smnof $488,628,242. Nor is there anything in the condition of affairs at home or abroad to indicate anything but a constant and regular increase of the annual exports of the products of the industry of the country, as well in manufactured as in agricultural and mineral branches of American labor.

The President’s presentation of the prosperous condition of the public Treasury! the great progress in discharging the principal of the debt; the reduction of the rate of interest; the great advance in the character of the public credit; the evidence of thrift, saving and economy on the part of the people, who out of their own earnings have become the owners of the debt; tiie immense increase in the value of -the surplus products of the Nation, and the evident increase in the accumulated wealth of the whole country, was especially appropriate at a State Fair in one of the most prosperous and increasing States of the Union.—Chicago Tribune.