asked, as security for the repayment of any money the Government might find it necessary to borrow, to pledge the deposits received br them from the Government under the act for the distribution of the surplus revenues in 1836, the Secretary believing that a loan contracted on such a basis of security, superadding to the plighted faith of the United states that of the individual States, could hardly fail to be acceptable to capitalists. $25,000,000 Loan Act of Feb. 8, 1861. A bill was introduced February 2, 1861, authorizing a loan of $25 000,000, to bear interest not to exceed 6 per cent., and to be redeemed in not less than ten or more than twenty years. The bill became a law February 8, 1861, after earnest debates, in which, however, no opposition was manifested to the bill as a whole, but simply to details, both parties agreeing that a loan was absolutely necessary. Bonds to the amount of $18,415,00) were sold under the authority of this act at an aggregate discount of $2,019,776 10, or in average rate of $89.03 per $100. Secretary Cobb in his report before referred to, says: "The estimated balance that will be in the Treasury on June 30, 1861, is only $3,530,195.61, and leaves no margin for additional appropriations. If, therefore, the appropriations should exceed the estimates, or Congress should determine to provide within this period for the payment of any portion of the public debt, it will become necessary to make provision for ch contingencies. The idea of increasing the public debt to meet the ordinary expenses of the Government should not be entertained for a moment. If additional demands are created upon the Treasury by the legislation of the present Congress, provision must be made to meet them by such increase of tariff duties as may be required for that purpose." How the debt was increased to meet current expenses-Loan Act of March 2, 1861. A bill for the repayment of outstanding Treasury notes, to authorize a loan, and to regulate and fix the duties on imports, was introduced in the House of Representatives March 12, 1860. It was sarcastically said, in debate on the bill, that the idea of not increasing the public debt to meet current expenses was a very patriotic one, but the Administration had practically illustrated the sentiment by steadily increasing the debt to meet these expenses during every year that it had been in power. This was shown by the following table: Public debt July 1, 1857. Public debt July 1, 1858.. Public debt July 1, 1859.. In addition to this increase of the public debt, there was a rapid decrease in the amount of cash in the Treasury during the years mentioned. It was furthermore charged that this had taken place under the tariff that practically discriminated against our own people, compelling us, for every fourteen or fifteen millions of revenue collected at home, to foot a bill of a hundred millions abroad. The debate on the bill took a very wide range, including the subjects of the tariff and of protection to American industries, and often branching off to the state of the Union and the political troubles which brought on the War of the Rebellion; but the bill failed to pass both Houses at that session. It was taken up at the next meeting of Congress, and became a law March 2, 1861. CHAPTER XIX. Relative Weight of the "Solid South." PART I. Weight of the “Solid South" Politically and Commercially as Compared with the other States-Facts and Figures. Should the Democrats succeed in electing Hancock, we all know that the Solid South will rule. To convince us, it needed not the emphatic utterance of Robert Toombs, of Georgia, to a friend in Washington: "You may depend upon it, sir, that Yank' or no Tank, if elected, the old boys of the South will see that Hancock does the fair thing by them. In other words, he will run the machine to suit them, OR THEY WILL RUN THE THING THEMSELVES. They are not going to be played with any longer." Political Weight. So far as political weight is concerned, there are in the present House of Representatives 148 Democrats, of whom 81 members, or 55 per cent., are from the solid South. In the Senate there are 42 Democrats, of whom 24, or 57 per cent., are from the solid South. If the States of Delaware, Maryland and Missouri be included, the South has in the present House of Representatives 99 Democratic members, or 67 per cent., and in the Senate 30 members, or 71 per cent. In the event of the success of the Democratic party at the approaching election the solid South would cast a large majority of the Democratic votes in the Electoral College, probably at least 57 per cent. If, as is well known, the possession in a single interest of 40 per cent. of the stock of a corporation can control its operations, much more can the possession of over 50 per cent. of the political power of a party in a single interest control the policy of that party, The total population of the United States in 1870 was 38,558,371, of which the population of the States of the solid South amounted to 11,246,435, or 29 per cent. of the whole. This undoubtedly presents that section in a much more favorable light than will the census of 1880. Of the total population of the States of the solid South, 7,067,213 were white and 4,179.222 colored. that, a very small percentage of the crop is moved Southern capital, and that, all that is taken by th North is controlled by Northern capital, while that e ported to foreign countries is controlled either b foreign or Northern capital.' Foreign commerce-Imports. Without going into details as to the political proclivities of the two races at the South, it appears to be proper to assume that the "6. The value of the imports of merchandise into th Democratic party in that section represents United States during the year ended, June 30, 188 the political sentiments of about six millions amounted to $667,953,302, of which the value importe of people, or 15 per cent. of the population of at ports south of the Potomac River amounted to $15 the country. And now let us see what rela-934,301, or 2.38 per cent. tionship the solid South bears to the commercial and industrial interests of this country. The information upon these points is embraced "7. The latest report of the Register of the Treasur in the following official communication from shows that the total revenue of the National Govern ment from customs during the year ended, June 30 the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics in re- 1879, amounted to $137,250,048, of which $2,145,545, c sponse to a letter of inquiry from Hon. Ed-1.56 per cent. was collected at ports of the Souther ward McPherson to the Secretary of the States named. Treasury: TREASURY DEPARTMENT, U. S. A., "BUREAU OF STATISTICS, Washington, D. C., August 19, 1880. "HON. JOHN SHERMAN, "Secretary of the Treasury : SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter addressed to you by Hon. Edward McPherson, under date of August 7, 1880, and referred to me for reply. "I respectfully submit the following statements in the order of the questions propounded; "The expression, the Southern States,' in each case refers to the States mentioned in Mr. McPherson's letter, viz.: Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Internal commerce. "1. The internal commerce of this country greatly exceeds in magnitude its foreign commerce. From the data furnished by Mr. H. V. Poor, the accepted authority upon railroad statistics, it appears probable that the value of the traffic upon the railroads of the country alone, counting each separate shipment, is at least twenty times as great as the value of our foreign commerce. About 90 per cent. of our internal commerce now finds the means of transportation on rail roads. Commerce on railroads. nitude of the internaf measuring the relative mag Revenues of the National Government from customs duties. Internal revenue. "11. The Census of 1870 shows that the value of the Products of mining amounted to $152,598,994, of which $4,996,052, or 34 per cent., was the product of the Southern States. "2. The only of, commerce of the Southern 12. Accork oans and circulation. 423,018 cars, of which number 31,248, or 7.4 per cent., Tonnage of vessels. "3. The total tonnage of vessels employed in the internal commerce of the United States on water lines of transportation, including the coast-wise trade on the ocean, and the inland trade on rivers and the Great Lakes, as stated by the Register of the Treasury, amounted, during the year ended June 30, 1789, to 2,678,067 tons, of which 242,548 tons, or 9 per cent., was owned in the Southern States mentioned. Foreign commerce-Exports. "4. The records of the Bureau of Statistics show that the total value of the exports of merchandise from the United States, during the year ended June 30, 1880, amounted to $835,633,595, and that the value of the exports from ports south of the Potomac River amounted to $188,629,717, or 22.57 per cent. of the total exports of merchandise from the United States. Of the total exports of the South, the value of the exports of cotton amounted to $158,184,526, or 84 per cent. of the total exports of the Southern States. 5. The cotton shipped to Northern States as well as exported from the South to foreign countries, appears to be moved chiefly by Northern capital. It is stated by the Secretary of the New York Cotton Exchange "13. The latest report of the Comptroller of the Currency shows that the total amount of circuatione 2 of State and National Banks of the 2d October, 1879, was $314,103,223, of which $23,478,426, or 7.47 per cent., was issued by banks in the Southern States. Saanks. "14. The latest report Comptroller of the Currency shows that the total deposits in savings banks in the United States during the six months ending May 31, 1878, amounted to $783,135,817, of which $2,527,423, or not quite 4-10ths of one per cent., was deposited in the banks of the Southern States. Railroads. 15. The total cost of railroads and their equipments in the United States, as stated by Mr. Poor, amounts to $4,166,331,921, of which the cost of the railroads and equipments, of the States referred to, amounts to $556,274,979, or 13.35 per cent. "I am unable to state, with any degree of precision, what proportion of the capital stock, mortgage bonds, or other forms of indebtedness of Southern railroads is held in the Northern States, but from the best information it amounts to a large sum. Education. "16. From the latest report of the Commissioner of Education, it appears that the total income for public schools in all the States and Territories amounted to $86,978.101, of which the income for public schools in the Southern States amounted to $8,536,797, or 9.8 per cent. The course of internal commerce. "17. In his 17th inquiry Mr. McPherson asks for the relative magnitude of the east and west trade currents over railroads north of the Ohio River, and of the commerce of the Mississippi River. "In answer to this question I submit the following: "The great trunk lines of railway extending west from Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, now constitute the principal channels of the internal commerce of this country. Over each one of these trunk lines there flows a commerce much larger and more valuable than that which ever floated upon the Mississippi River. Commerce flows in upon these trunk lines, on subordinate and tributary lines, from the North, from the South, and from the West. The ton nage of merchandise shipped east across the Mississippi River, over railroad bridges north of St. Louis, is twelve times as great as the tonnage shipped down the river to that city. At St. Louis the eastward movement of commerce now largely exceeds the southward movement. Twenty-five years ago the commerce of St. Louis was carried on entirely by river, but the record of the St. Louis Merchants' Exchange shows that, of the total tonnage of freights received and shipped during the year 1879, there were 6,948,794 tons moved by rail, and only 1,366,115 tons by river. "A few years ago a railroad bridge was constructed across the Mississippi River at St. Louis, and to-day that bridge is a far more important avenue of commerce than is the river which flows beneath it. With its double track it has a capacity for traffic ten times as great as ever floated upon the Mississippi River. During the year 1875 the tonnage to and from the East at St. Louis by rail amounted to 2,930,855 tons, while the tonnage to and from the South by river amounted to only 692,520 tons. During the same year the southern movement by rail amounted to 1,952,098 tons. "Grain shipped from St. Louis to Liverpool via any one of the four Atlantic ports-Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore-or via New Orleans, is about 920 miles nearer to its destination when it reaches Balti more, and still nearer when it reaches Philadelphia, New York or Boston, and about 652 miles farther from its destination when it reaches New Orleans. Thus it happens that Baltimore and New Orleans are to-day sharp competitors for the trade of the great Northwest. Change in the course of trade." "18. In his 18th inquiry Mr. McPherson asks for a brief statement as to the change in the course of the commerce described on pages 86 to 96 of my last report on the Internal Commerce of the United States. "In answer to this question I submit the following reply: An important change has, within a few years, taken place in the course of the commerce of the States and parts of States situated South of the Ohio River, and South of the State of Missouri, viz: Kentucky, Tennessee, Western Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. Twenty-five years ago the chief commercial entrepôts of the States mentioned were Mobile, New Orleans, and Galveston. but to-day this trade is dominated by the cities of Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis. The commercial front of those States has been changed from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of this great interior east-and-west current of trade over railroads. The aggregate population of the three interior cities is nearly three times as great as the aggregate population of the three Gulf Cities. Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis have secured a large proportion of the trade of the States referred to, with respect to the sale of breadstuffs and provisions, dry goods, groceries, hats, caps, clothing, and manufactured goods of every description. "In return, there is being shipped to those cities a large proportion of the surplus products of the South. During the present cotton year about 1,000,000 bales of cotton have been shipped overland by rail, the greater part passing through these cities. This is one of the direct results of the establishment of the great east-and-west current of trade over the trunk railroad lines north of the Ohio River, and of the fact that Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis now enjoy This table exhibits not only the fact that the "solid South" has a very small share in the commercial, industrial, financial, and educational interests of the country, but that that share is very much less than the proportion which its population bears to the total population of the country, and in almost every case is even less than the proportion which its white population alone bears to the total population of the country. The foregoing comparison is based upon the census of 1870, and it is impossible that an honest census for 1880 shall exhibit a condition of affairs relatively more favorable to the solid South. A few additional comparative figures. Only 7.4 per cent, of the number of freight States are employed on the railroads of the cars employed on the railroads of the United States of the solid South," ie, the States. which actually seceded, including Kentucky. This represents not only the share of the "solid South" in the internal commerce of the country, but it also represents the relative importance of the South with respect to agriculture, mining, and manufactures, since the freights transported on railroads are the products of these great industries. Owing to the fact that the South has the best exportable product of the country-cotton-she is able to export 22 per cent. of the total exports of the country, but this crop is chiefly moved by Northern and by foreign capital. Although a sufficient number of ships arrive at ports of the "solid South" to carry away 22 per cent. of the exports of the country (almost all of it cotton), yet owing to the inertness of that section with respect to commercial enterprise, it appears that of the total imports into the United States amounting to $667,950,887, those ships brought to her ports imports to the amount of only $15,934,391, or 21 per cent. of the imports into the country. Only 1.6 per cent. of the revenues of the National Government from customs, are collected at ports of the "solid South," and of the internal revenues of the United States suppression of the Republican vote in all the "solid Southern" states, collected in the "solid South," 95 per cent. is increasing out of all proportions their respecrealized from whiskey and tobacco. A very large proportion of the capital stock, are palpable. They are borne upon the very tive and aggregate populations. The frauds mortgage, bonds and other forms of indebted-face of the returns thus far public, and all apness of the Southern railroads is held in Northern States. The commercial ascendency of the North is clearly indicated by the fact that the principal currents of the internal commerce of the United States are over railroads extending from the Atlantic seaboard to and beyond the Mississippi River. PART II. The "Solid Southern” Census of 1880-The Conspiracy of the Rebel Brigadiers to Increase the Political Power of the South, to Subjugate the North and West by Bulldozed Census Returns from the South. plications up to Sept. 9 to the Census Bureau for a verified statement of the census returns The figures given by a "solid Southern " But the New Orleans Democrat, a rebel organ, as early as the 15th of August, 1880, published what it described as the "census returns, official, and estimated, from all the States and all but four of the Territories Alaska, New Mexico, Washington, and Wyoming."-as follows: Alabama. Arkansas. California. Connecticut.. Kentucky. STATES. Massachusetts.... Nebraska. The great struggle of the Democratic leaders of the South has been and is one for political power for the control of all the departments of the National Government as a means of taxing the majority and wealth of the nation for the indemnity of the rebel States and their people for losses incurred through their rebellion against the Constitution and the Union. Supported by the Democracy North, the success of the rebel Maryland With the Ku Brigadiers has been great. Klux and White Leagues they have suppressed all opposition in the South-have recaptured all the ex-rebel States, and in the exultant language of a noted Confederate organ (the Okolona, Miss., Southern States) have 'captured the National Capitol "-have captured both Houses of Congress. But the probable results of the new census of 1880 filled them with terror. Reasoning from the facts and results, the comparative increase and decrease North and South in all the elements of population and wealth in previous censuses, and from the known condition of the Southern States under Confederate rule, it was confidently expected that the results of the new census would reduce even their present representation in the House, and proportionally their power in the Electoral Colleges. A result so disastrous to them the rebel Brigadiers determined to defeat. They ac- Arizona.. cordingly made This census the focus of a new conspiracy to maintain, and even to increase, their present power in the House and Electoral College. Having through violence and fraud, by the .......... 1880. 1,150,000 1870. 996,992 452,549 122,015 North Carolina. New Hampshire... Ohio Oregon. Rhode Island... Tennessee. .... Vermont.. Total. Dakota... District of Columbia. Total... 217,353 705,606 330,551 "Full official figures will these"-Strange figuring! The Democrat adds: * * * * not change | The solid South gains in aggregate representation over all the other States. Hence, the Democrat closes its issue of Aug. 15 with the exultant declaration: * "The grand total of States and Territories given above is 49,866,142. The territories not yet reported will bring the aggregate for the whole country up to 50,200,000. The increase, for the decade is 11,700,000, or a fraction over 30 per cent. Full official figures will not materially change those here presented, although a slight increase may be shown, especially in the States of Alabama, Georgia, Iowa and Missouri. The sixteen Southern States show a total population of 18,595,007, an increase of 4,717,408, and a gain of nearly 34 per cent. The aggregate population of the twenty-two Northern and Western States is 30.707,137, an increase of 6,422,407, or 26 per cent." A grand and very natural result. The "solid Southern States, stagnant from the pestilence and their turbulent condition, expelling thousands from within their limits, because neither life nor property is safe; repelling all immigration; discouraging the investment of capital; repressing and degrading industry; yet, increase in population 34 per cent!-while the population of the Northern and Western States, the great depots of immense European immigration of the last ten years, the great centres of capital and marts of commerce and multiplied industries, increase only 26 per cent.! The false census figures intended to serve a double purpose. "Far from losing Congressmen by the next apportionment, as has been the hope and calculation of the Republican press and politicians, the South will increase her representation in the lower House. This section now has 106 Representatives. If the apportionment is raised to 170,000, as is probable, the next House will contain just 290 members from the States, or 3 less than there Of these 109 will come from are in the present House. the South. The net gain for this section, therefore, will be 6 members. The New England, Middle and older Western States will lose largely, while the new West will gain members, together with the South. The only Southern States that will lose in representation are Alabama and Tennessee." That is, the whole increase, and the only increase, as between the two sections, will be with the Confederate States. Crowing over the bulldozed increase of representation under the Fifteenth Amendment. declares: Republican Congress, the South, thanks to the fifteenth Hancock President of the United States in November." But the Democrat, in a previous issue-that of July 20, 1880-unwillingly exposes a cause besides that of gambling for political power, for this disproportionate increase. The South, its amiable and law abiding populations, had been "slandered" before the world. It had The ultimate object of the conspiracy to been accused, and it might have added convicted a thousand times, of appalling social and political crimes which unsettled all the elements or conditions of growth-which indeed rendered any marked growth either in population or wealth, absolutely impossible. It asks: "How could a State increase in population, where the laboring class were lynched and burned and run off, as the bloody shirters' were wont to declare; how could the South be improving in wealth and industry when all manner of crimes went unpunished ?" Truly, how could it? Hence, to demonstrate such charges false, and even unfounded, as simply the malignant lying" of the loyal conquerers of the confederacy, it was necessary to fabricate such lying census results as the above. subjugate the North. numerous conspiracies at the South since reHere we have the grand object of all the construction-to recapture the control of the Southern States-to seize upon their political organizations by the violent suppression of the Republican vote, and thus, through a solid South," aided by the Northern Democracy, to subjugate the North and Westto tax its wealth and industries as a means of indemnifying the Confederate populations for losses in the rebellion, and to degrade their intelligent majorities into "hewers of wood and drawers of water" for the service of the rebel Brigadiers. Here also is the purpose of this fraudulent census. CHAPTER XX. National Political Platforms, 1880. PART I. The Republican party, in National Convention assembled, at the end of twenty years since the Federal Government was first committed to its charge, submits to the people of the United States this brief report of its administration: It suppressed a rebellion which had armed nearly a million of men to subvert the National authority [applause]; it reconstructed the Union of the States with freedom instead of slavery as its corner stone [applause]; it transformed 4,000,000 human beings from the likeness of things" to the rank of citizens [applause]; it relieved Congress from the infamous work of hunting fugitive slaves, and 66 |
