The great falling off in the assessed valuation of real estate in the Southern States as indicated in the table given, is due, not so much to the destruction which attended the war, as it is to the bitter political prejudices held since its close by the property-owners of the South against Northern capitalists, especially those who favor the Republican party. These prejudices have been so marked, that Northern men, with money to invest, have sought other and safer channels for their investments. Had the South laid aside its political hatred to the Republican party, and extended a cordial welcome to Northern men; skill, industry and wealth would have poured into its States, and ere this, restored to it the prosperity which it lost by the rebellion. Numerically, Republicanism has been stronger in certain Southern States than Democracy, but the latter has controlled the property and moneyed interest, and thus checked the growth which would otherwise have followed the ascendancy of Republicanism. No political party, however pure, can of itself restore prosperity to a people who combine the money power against it. A cordial relation must exist between the party in power and the business elements with which it has to deal, before true prosperity can be attained, and if the South had long since recognized this truth, to-day her real estate would have shown as large an increase in value as that of other sections. In order to show the increase in the assessed valuation of real estate in those States where the Republican party has had the active sympathy of business men and property owners, we present the following table, collated from the last census: e as those had and Ting PACIFIC STATES. Total Grand total * Assessed valuation of real estate in 1870, $14,594,722. The above table indicates an aggregate increase in the assessed valuation of real estate in the Eastern, Middle, Western and Pacific States, during the first decade of Republican rule, of $3,128,501,392, while the Southern States, during the same period, show a decrease in the assessed valuation of real estate, amounting to $365,111,106. The question may be asked, why has not the Republican party advanced the material interests of those States in the South where it has had control? The answer is, because it has met the organized opposition of the intelligent, wealthy and business elements of those States. Its control has been the control of a majority, cut off by deep-rooted prejudice from the sympathy and support of an influential minority. Thus, insurmountable obstacles have been placed in its way. Its efforts to build up have been met by counter efforts to tear down, and this conflict carried on through a series of years, has borne its natural results, the paralyzation of industry and the stoppage of growth. At the North, active party opposition against a State administration ceases when the ballot announces the people's choice. At the South the opposition of Democracy is intensified by the elevation of Republican officials. The choice of the people is disregarded, the minority refuse to cheerfully submit to the decree of the ballot box, and thus the administration of government lacks that cooperation of effort on the part of all classes essential to a complete development of State interests. If one-half the talent and energy shown by Southern Democracy in obstructing the administration of Republican governments had been used to assist officials in exercising their legitimate functions, the close of the last decade would have revealed an increase instead of decrease in Southern wealth. The South has many natural advantages, which, if properly used, would make it an attractive field for enterprise and wealth. Its climate, mineral resources, water-power, agricultural privileges, fine harbors and magnificent rivers, ought to have largely increased its population and trebled its wealth in ten years. Why has it failed to advance? Why has it fallen behind? The reason may be found in the narrow political prejudices which have created a policy of exclusiveness that has shut her gates against the enterprising men of the world. In still clinging to a political party that once led them to the brink of ruin, the property owners of the South are committing an act of suicidal folly. By ignoring the party of freedom and progress, which has advanced by its wisdom and energy other sections of the country, the South is putting off the day of prosperity. If she would keep pace with the North, she must imitate the political freedom which the latter enjoys, and break down, of her own accord, those barriers which pride and prejudice have raised against the principles of Republicanism. By the adoption of these principles the South will close the present decade with a degree of prosperity beyond her hopes. The surplus wealth of the North will pour in upon her; hardy immigrants will possess her now idle lands; mills and factories will line her water-courses; shipping will crowd her seaports; and she will become what nature seems to have intended her to be-the very garden spot of America. To bury her prejudices, turn her back on complish it; the revenues and expenditure Democracy, and welcome Republicanism, of the nation during its struggle for existwould be to her the beginning of a glorious ence. era. A careful estimate, made in 1872, of the FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE GOVERN- expenses incurred for the fiscal year ending MENT. June 30, 1871, showed that the expenditures interest, premiums, claims, collection of the growing out of the war-such as pensions, internal revenue, additional cost of army and sion of disturbances in the Southern Statesnavy, payments for illegal captures, suppresamounted to $214,642,081.03. This amount, deducted from the total expenditures of the Nation, $292,177,188.25, left $77,535,107.22 as the ordinary expenses of the Government Reduced to a The financial operations of the Government since 1861, illustrate in a marked degree the wonderful resources of the nation, and the integrity of the party that has been responsible for the administration of public affairs. The armed rebellion of eleven States which confronted the Republican party when it assumed control, necessitated extraordinary expenses on the part of the Government, and for 1871 on a peace basis. to meet these expenses, the collection of ex-gold basis-the average price of gold during traordinary revenues. There was no alter- 1871 being 112.3-it was $69,042,838.13. native but heavy expenditures and great sac- The expenditures of the Nation for the year rifices, or universal bankruptcy and national ended June 30, 1860, were $61,402,408.64. extinction. True, the full force of the ter- The population of the United States January rible strain to be borne was unknown in 1, 1860, was 31,030,750. 1861, but the party in power never weighed January 1, 1871, was 38,911,616. The population the value of the Union in the scale of dol- would make the expenditures per capita in This lars and cents. Its preservation was cheap 1860, $1.98, and in 1871, $1.77. If we acat any price of treasure or blood. It was cept the result of this calculation as a fair priceless, not only to the generation which average of the ordinary expenses of adminundertook its salvation, but to the countless istration, or those which exclude the extraorgenerations which were to follow. Its de- dinary expenditures growing out of, and justly fence and preservation were sacred duties, chargeable to the rebellion, we shall have for which no loyal citizen could overlook. Free- the fourteen years prior to June 30, 1874, dom, humanity, intelligence, all depended $966,599,733.82 ordinary expenses, instead upon the issue; and with its successful ter- of $6,465,897,922.84, the actual amount remination, each of these elements of human quired for those extraordinary expenditures civilization became more e deeply rooted in growing out of the war. The difference beAmerican soil. tween the two items, represents the financial Union, and to resist the fatal doctrine of sacrifice made by the nation to defend the State Rights as preached by Calhoun, fought for by the Southe n Confederacy, and practically maintained by the Democratic party of to-day. We have already shown the material prosperity which the Union has developed. This far outweighs the money expenditures made necessary by four years of war. The compensation for the bloodshed cannot be found in dollars and cents. The elevation of the The following table shows the net revenue human race, the extinction of human bond-of the Government from 1789 to 1860, and age, the erection of free States throughout the world, and the future preservation of hundreds of thousands of lives which would be sacrificed in the defence of separate nationalities are among the legitimate fruits which will spring up from the graves of the Union defenders. The value of the work being conceded, let us look at the means made necessary to ac from 1862 to 1874; also, the net expenditures of the Government during the same periods: NET REVENUE OF THE GOVERNMENT, INCLUDING PREMIUMS AND INTEREST RECEIVED. From March 4, 1789, to June 30, 1860 Total......... $1,806,354,650.53 4,437,187,765.12 $6,243,542,415.65 NET EXPENDITURES, INCLUDING PAYMENTS FOR to 1860, or more than six and a half times as PREMIUMS AND INTEREST. From March 4, 1789, to Total much as the entire amount of interest paid by the Government for seventy-one years. $1,731,734,673.72 The pension payments, also directly chargeable to the rebellion, show that $262,814,830.28 have been paid out, or more than three times the entire pension payments of the Government for the seventy-one years prior to 1860. 6,465,897,922.84 $8,197,632,596.56 ITEMS OF EXPENDITURE. From March 4, 1789, to June 30, 1860. War Navy ........ Indians. Pensions ........ Miscellaneous* Premiums.. Interest.............. Net expenditures......... If a party is to be judged by the weight $552,534,462.79 of its responsibilities, then the Republican 347,733,0 3.83 party in its administration of public affairs 84,091,969.79 cannot fail to invoke the favorable judgment 79,713,465.20 465,237,077.08 of impartial minds. It has borne a strain 5,834,626.94 which laid upon weaker shoulders, might 196,590,068.09 well have destroyed a Government. The magnitude of its labors can only be meas1,731.734,673.72 ured by their priceless results, and these From June 30, 1860, to June 30, 1874. . will grow in value as generation follows gen $3,534,163,574.37 eration. 563,626,987.74 If the expenditures shown are without 67,657,496.77 262,814,830.28 parallel in our history, so the means em672,854, 238.57 ployed, the honesty and energy displayed, 59,738,167.73 the statesmanship which created the systems 1,305,042,627.38 necessary to carry the Government through the most active period of its existence, must 6,465,897,922.84 be regarded as without parallel in the history of nations. $8,197,632,596.56 The wisdom and sagacity which developed the internal revenue system, and our present currency system, should entitle the Republican party to the gratitude of the country. The first made possible the immense revenues necessary to prosecute the war to a successful issue. The latter made the payment of the taxes uniform throughout the country, provided a safe currency of equal value in all the States, protected in The tables submitted show, at a glance, the extraordinary expenditures directly due to the rebellion. The work required of the army and the magnitude of military operations, can only be realized by a comparison of the expenditures. The army expenditures for the years 1862, '63, '64, and 1865, amounted to $2,713,569,422.83, or nearly five times as much as the entire army ex-dustry, by removing its earnings from the penses of the Government from 1789 to 1860, a period of seventy-one years. The army expenditures of a single year, 1835-the close of the war-were $1,030,690,400.06, or within a fraction of $3,000,000 for every day in the year. The nation has been required to pay for the item of interest alone during the past fourteen years, $1,305,042, 627.38, as against 196,590,068.09, the amount paid from 1789, possibility of loss through State bank failures, and commanded the active support of the moneyed interests of the States by making the security of those interests dependent upon the integrity and credit of the nation. The present system of internal revenue was created to meet the wants growing out of an emergency. Through its operation those wants were supplied promptly, regularly, and without shock or injury to the busSo efficiently was *Includes Civil Service Foreign Relations, Lightiness of the country. house and Public Buildings xenditures, and the the system organized, so equalized were the cost of collecting the Internal revenues. |