EXPENSES OF THE GOVERNMENT.

Economy in the government expenditures was a cardinal feature in the democratic policy, and every increase of expense was closely scrutinized by them, and brought to the test of the clearest necessity. Some increase was incident to the growing condition of the country; but every item beyond the exigencies of that growth was subjected to severe investigation and determined opposition. In the execution of this policy the expenses proper of the government—those incident to working its machinery—were, immediately after my entrance into the Senate, and after the army and other reductions of 1820 and '21 had taken effect—just about eight millions of dollars. The same expenditure up to the beginning of the year 1832—a period of about ten years—had risen to thirteen and a half millions: and, adverting to this increase in some current debate, and with a view to fix attention upon the growing evil, I stated to the Senate that these expenses had nearly doubled since I had been a member of the Senate. This statement drew a reply from the veteran chairman of the Senate's committee on finance (General Smith, of Maryland), in opposition to my statement; which, of course, drew further remarks from me. Both sets of remarks are valuable at this day—instructive in the picture they present between 1822—1832—and 1850. Gen. Smith's estimate of about ten millions instead of eight—though predicated on the wrong basis of beginning to count before the expenses of the army reduction had taken effect, and counting in the purchase of Florida, and some other items of a nature foreign to the support of government—even his estimate presents a startling point of comparison with the same expenditure of the present day; and calls for the revival of that spirit of economy which distinguished the democracy in the earlier periods of the government. Some passages from the speech of each senator (General Smith and Mr. Benton) will present this brief, but important inquiry, in its proper point of view. Gen. Smith said:

"I will now come, Mr. President, to my principal object. It is the assertion, 'that, since the year 1821, the expenses of the government had nearly doubled;' and I trust I shall be able to show that the senator from Missouri [Mr. Benton] had been under some misapprehension. The Senate are aware of the effect which such an assertion, coming from such high authority, must have upon the public mind. It certainly had its effect even upon this enlightened body. I mentioned to an honorable senator a few days since, that the average ordinary expenditure of the government for the last nine years did not exceed the sum of twelve and a half millions. But, said the senator, the expenditures have greatly increased during that period. I told him I thought they had not; and I now proceed to prove, that, with the exception of four years, viz., 1821, 1822, 1823, and 1824, the expenditures of the government have not increased. I shall endeavor to show the causes of the reduction of expenses during those years, and that they afford no criteria by which to judge of the necessary expenses of government, and that they are exceptions to the general rate of expenditures, arising from particular causes. But even they exhibit an expenditure far above the one half of the present annual ordinary expenses.

"In the year 1822, which was the period when the senator from Missouri [Mr. Benton] took his seat in the Senate, the ordinary expenses of the government amounted to the sum of $9,827,643. The expenses of the year 1823, amounted to $9,784,154. I proceed, Mr. President, to show the cause which thus reduced the ordinary expenses during these years. I speak in the presence of gentlemen, some of whom were then in the House of Representatives, and will correct me if my recollection should lead me into error. During the session of the year 1819-'20 the President asked a loan, I think, of five millions, to defray the expenses of the government, which he had deemed necessary, and for which estimates had, as usual, been laid before Congress. A loan of three millions only was granted; and, in the next session, another loan of, I think, seven millions was asked, in order to enable the Executive to meet the amount of expenses estimated for, as necessary for the year 1821. A loan of five millions was granted, and in the succeeding year another loan of five hundred thousand dollars was asked, and refused. Congress were dissatisfied that loans should be required in time of profound peace, to meet the common expenses of the nation; and they refused to grant the amount asked for in the estimates, although this amount would have been granted if there had been money in the treasury to meet them, without resorting to loans. The Committee of Ways and Means (and it was supported by the House) lessened some of the items estimated for, and refused others. No item, except such as was indispensably necessary, was granted. By the adoption of this course, the expenditures were reduced, in 1821, to $10,723,479, and to the sums already mentioned for the two years, 1822 and 1823, and the current expenses of 1824. $10,330,144. The consequence was, that the treasury was restored to a sound state, so that Congress was enabled, in the year 1825, to appropriate the full amount of the estimate. The expenditures of 1824 amounted to $15,330,144. This large expenditure is to be attributed to the payment made to Spain in that year, of $5,000,000 for the purchase of Florida. I entertained doubts whether I ought to include this sum in the expenditures; but, on full consideration, I deemed it proper to include it. It may be said that it was an extraordinary payment, and such as could not again occur. So is the payment on account of awards under the Treaty of Ghent, in 1827 and 1828, amounting to $1,188,716. Of the same character, too, are the payments made for the purchase of lands from the Indians; for the removal of the Indians; for payments to the several States for moneys advanced during the late war; and a variety of other extraordinary charges on the treasury."

The error of this statement was in the basis of the calculation, and in the inclusion of items which did not belong to the expenses proper of the government, and in beginning to count before the year of reduction—the whole of which, in a period of ten years made an excess of twenty-two millions above the ordinary expenses. I answered thus:

"Mr. Benton rose in reply to the senator from Maryland. Mr. B. said that a remark of his, in a former debate, seemed to have been the occasion of the elaborate financial statements which the senator from Maryland had just gone through. Mr. B. said he had made the remark, in debate; it was a general one, and not to be treated as an account stated by an accounting officer. His remark was, that the public expenditure had nearly doubled since he had been a member of the Senate. Neither the words used, nor the mode of the expression, implied the accuracy of an account; it was a remark to signify a great and inordinate increase in a comparatively short time. He had not come to the Senate this day with the least expectation of being called to justify that remark, or to hear a long arraignment of it argued; but he was ready at all times to justify, and he would quickly do it. Mr. B. said that when he made the remark, he had no statement of accounts in his eye, but he had two great and broad facts before him, which all the figures and calculations upon earth, and all the compound and comparative statements of arithmeticians, could not shake or alter; which were—first, that when he came into the Senate the machinery of this government was worked for between eight and nine millions of dollars; and, secondly, the actual payments for the last year, in the President's message, were about fourteen millions and three-quarters. The sum estimated for the future expenditures, by the Secretary of the Treasury, was thirteen and a half millions; but fifteen millions were recommended by him to be levied to meet increased expenditures. Mr. B. said these were two great facts which he had in his eye, and which he would justify. He would produce no proofs as to the second of his facts, because the President's message and the Secretary's report were so recently sent in, and so universally reprinted, that every person could recollect, or turn to their contents, and verify his statement upon their own examination or recollection. He would verify his first statement only by proofs, and for that purpose would refer to the detailed statements of the public expenditures, compiled by Van Zandt and Watterston, and for which he had just sent to the room of the Secretary of the Senate. Mr. B. would take the years 1822-'3; for he was not simple enough to take the years before the reduction of the army, when he was looking for the lowest expenditure. Four thousand men were disbanded, and had remained disbanded ever since; they were disbanded since he came into the Senate; he would therefore date from that reduction. This would bring him to the years 1822-'3, when you, sir (the Vice-President), was Secretary of War. What was the whole expenditure of the government for each of those years? It stood thus:

1822,$17,676,592 63
1823,15,314,171 00

"These two sums include every head of expenditure—they include public debt, revolutionary and invalid pensions; three heads of temporary expenditure. The payments on account of the public debt in those two years, were—

In 1822,$7,848,919 12
1823,5,530,016 41

"Deduct these two sums from the total expenditure of the years to which they refer, and you will have—

For 1822,$9,727,673 41
1823,9,784,155 59

"The pensions for those years were—

Revolutionary.Invalid.Aggregate.
1822,$1,642,590 94$305,608 46$1,947,199 40
1823,1,449,097 04331,491 481,730,588 52

"Now, deduct these pensions from the years to which they refer, and you will have just about $8,000,000 as the expense of working the machinery of government at the period which I had in my eye. But the pensions have not yet totally ceased; they are much diminished since 1822, 1823, and in a few years must cease. The revolutionary pensioners must now average seventy years of age; their stipends will soon cease. I hold myself well justified, then, in saying, as I did, that the expenditures of the government have nearly doubled in my time. The remark had no reference to administrations. There was nothing comparative in it; nothing intended to put up, or put down, any body. The burdens of the people is the only thing I wish to put down. My service in the Senate has extended under three administrations, and my periods of calculation extend to all three. My opinion now is, that the machinery of this government, after the payment of the public debt, should be worked for ten millions or less, and two millions more for extraordinaries; in all twelve millions; but this is a point for future discussion. My present object is to show a great increase in a short time; and to show that, not to affect individuals, but to show the necessity of practising what we all profess—economy. I am against keeping up a revenue, after the debt and pensions are paid, as large, or nearly as large, as the expenditure was in 1822, 1823, with these items included. I am for throwing down my load, when I get to the end of my journey. I am for throwing off the burden of the debt, when I get to the end of the debt. The burden of the debt is the taxes levied on account of it. I am for abolishing these taxes; and this is the great question upon which parties now go to trial before the American people. One word more, and I am done for the present. The senator for Maryland, to make up a goodly average for 1822, and 1823, adds the expenditure of 1824, which includes, besides sixteen millions and a half for the public debt, and a million and a half for pensions, the sum of five millions for the purchase of Florida. Sir, he must deduct twenty-two millions from that computation; and that deduction will bring his average for those years to agree very closely with my statement."

1822,$17,676,592 63
1823,15,314,171 00
In 1822,$7,848,919 12
1823,5,530,016 41
For 1822,$9,727,673 41
1823,9,784,155 59
Revolutionary.Invalid.Aggregate.
1822,$1,642,590 94$305,608 46$1,947,199 40
1823,1,449,097 04331,491 481,730,588 52

It was something at the time this inquiry took place to know which was right—General Smith, or myself. Two millions, more or less, per annum in the public expenditures, was then something—a thing to be talked about, and accounted for, among the economical men of that day. It seems to be nothing now, when the increases are many millions per annum—when personal and job legislation have become the frequent practice—when contracts are legislated to adventurers and speculators—when the halls of Congress have come to be considered the proper place to lay the foundations, or to repair the dilapidations of millionary fortunes: and when the public fisc, and the national domain may consider themselves fortunate sometimes in getting off with a loss of two millions in a single operation.