Page images
PDF
EPUB

things in this country for so many years, nobody knows much upon the question of Finance-not even those most familiar with it." After citing in support of this extraordinary assertion, an instance of disagreement between two leading financiers upon the legal-tender question, he continued: "Now, sir, with all this it is rather a difficult thing for lawyers and farmers and men not accustomed to all these things, like financial gentlemen, to tell precisely what to do; and I am obliged after all to draw upon the very shallow fountain of my own intelligence and my own study to endeavor to come to right conclusions, although I acknowledge myself very much indebted to many gentlemen for the aid they have afforded me, of which, perhaps, I am making a very poor exhibition." And again: "I would say further, that with reference to all these matters of detail merely, I am very much more inclined to trust the judgment of the Secretary of the Treasury than my own. It is a matter that he has studied."

Here is a Senator who has confessed himself inexperienced in the details of Finance, and more inclined to trust Mr. Chase's judgment than his own, chosen to succeed Mr. Chase in office, under the singular hallucination that the substitution would prove beneficial. Was it not folly to expect that the National Finances would be properly managed by a man known to be favorable to the very measures which had just proven inadequate to the state of affairs, and who had publicly admitted that he possessed less financial ability than his predecessor in office?

And here we at once come upon a crying source of evil and bad administration-the appointment to offices of a technical nature, of men not qualified by previcus training to fill them. Here is an amiable gentleman, a person of undoubted talent, a distinguished lawyer, an eminent Senator, a man who in many ways had rendered his name famous, and who, because in all previous positions he had acted well his part, is suddenly transplanted from his sphere of usefulness to one of an entirely different nature, filled with difficulties which the very character of his previous occupations make it impossible for him to overcome. Because a man has been a successful merchant, is no good reason why he should be apapointed an Admiral in the Navy. Because another has been

distinguished as a physician, is no reason why he should be assigned to the office of Secretary of War. And because a third has become illustrious at the bar is equally no better reason why he should be entrusted with the care of the National Finances. Leave these persons to themselves to win their own way to preferment, in their own professions, by their own efforts, and all would be right; but let Government interfere, and upon the score of availability or popularity, appoint a shop-keeper to sail a ship, a doctor to lead armies, or a lawyer to conduct Finances, and whatever may be the merits of these persons in their own proper spheres, no good can be expected to result from it.

EXPENDITURES. On the 1st of July, 1864, the public debt was $1,740,690,489; on the 1st of July, 1865, it is placed at $2,223,064,677; on the 1st of July, 1866, it will be $2,645,320,682. This is equal to estimating the Deficit of this year at $482,374,188, and that of next year at $422,256,005. How the Secretary arrives at these conclusions defies the scrutiny of any one but an expert. No sooner does one commence to apply the rules of common arithmetic to the sums in the Report than he is met by Certificates of Indebtedness classed among resources, or by other amounts prefixed by some such phrase as "allowances for unexpended balances from above," which are not at all to be found "above" or in any other proper place in the Report, but are arbitrarily set down here and there seemingly for no other purpose than to make the Report utterly unintelligible.

The actual expenditures of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1864, are stated to have been $865,234,088, as follows:

[blocks in formation]

The actual expenditures for the first quarter of the fiscal year 1865, are stated to have been as follows:

[blocks in formation]

Total, exclusive of principal of public debt, $353,061,861

[blocks in formation]

Total, exclusive of principal of public debt, $895,729,135

As the Secretary deducts $350,000,000 for "probable unexpended appropriations" from the total estimate for the year (of $1,245,729,135), without informing us what portions of the deduction are applicable to each separate Department, we are actually without definite estimates for the year 1865.

For the year ending June 30, 1866, the estimated expenditures are given as follows:

[blocks in formation]

Let us now arrange the estimates of expenditures in tabular form, and compare them with former years:

[blocks in formation]

1865.

1866.

[blocks in formation]

895,729,135

No definite particulars of expenditures are estimated for this year. 33,082,097 14,196,050 531,758,191 112,219,667 127,000,000

818,256,005

A glance at these figures is sufficient to reveal the fact that the estimates for 1865, whatever the particulars may be, are much too low. An increase of thirty millions over the expenditures of 1864 does not fairly represent the increase of interest and the advanced prices of war supplies arising from a depreciated and fluctuating currency. And if 1865 is underestimated, what must we think of 1866, which is made to sum up much less? Here, from being possessed of the particular estimates, we are enabled to see where the error lies. Manifestly in the War Department, which appears to be estimated some three hundred millions under the mark. This almost leads to the conclusion that the Secretary looks to an early cessation of hostilities; but, besides distinctly avowing his intention in the Report to estimate upon the existing state of affairs, the estimates of 1866 for the other departments of Government are plainly based upon the expectation of a continuation of the war.*

Having now finished with the Creditor side of the national balance-sheet, let us turn to the Debtor side.

RECEIPTS.-The actual receipts of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 2, 1864, are stated to have been $265,961,761, as follows:

Customs,
Lands,

$102,316,153
588,333

*No better proof exists that the Secretary's estimates of expenditures are too low, than is furnished by the statement of debt issued by the department on the 31st of October last. At that date the public debt was $2,054,615,415; and yet Mr. Fessenden estimates it in his Report as only destined to be $2,223,004,667 on the 1st of July next, which amounts to an allowance of $168,389,252 for the Deficit of eight months! Another cause for believing the estimates of expenditures to be too low is, that there are doubtless large sums hanging over unpaid at the close of the fiscal year. These sums are not mentioned; but they must of course be met.

[blocks in formation]

The actual receipts for the first quarter of the fiscal year 1865 are stated to have been as follows:

[blocks in formation]

Taking these actual receipts of the first quarter as a basis of calculation, the estimated receipts for the three remaining quarters are:

[blocks in formation]

*Captured and abandoned property,.

Premium on gold shipped from San Francisco to London,

...$ 2,146,715

Sales of prizes due to captors,..

[blocks in formation]

2,799,921

4,088,111

5,809,287

16,498,975

12,451,898

3,716,542

$47,511,448

« PreviousContinue »