my friends,
Times are hard; money is scarce; taxes are high, and private debts push us. What shall we do? Why, hear a few facts, stubborn facts, and then take a bit of advice.
In the year 1637, our good forefathers declared an offensiv war against the Pequot Indians. Their troops were ninety men. Weathersfield was ordered to furnish a hog for this army, Windsor a ram goat, and Hartford a hogshead of beer, and four or five gallons of strong water.[41]
This was ancient simplicity! Let us make a little estimation of the expenses annually incurred in Connecticut. (I say incurred, for we can contract debts, though we cannot pay them.)
I will just make a distinction between necessary and unnecessary expenses.
| Necessary. | Unnecessary. | ||
| £. | £. | £. | |
| Governor's Salary, | 300 | 300 | |
| Lieutenant governor's, | 100 | 100 | |
| Upper house, attendance and travel, 60 days a year, at 10l. a day, | 600 | 600 | |
| Lower house, attendance and travel, 170 members, at 6s. a day, 60 days, | 3,060 | 1,530 | 1,530 |
| Five judges of the Superior Court, at 24s. a day, suppose 150 days, | 900 | 900 | |
| Forty judges of Inferior Courts, at 9s. a day, suppose 40 days, | 720 | 720 | |
| Six thousand actions in the year, the legal expense of each, suppose 3l. | 18,000 | 1,000 | 17,000 |
| Gratuities to 120 lawyers, suppose 50l. each, | 6,000 | 1,000 | 5,000 |
| Two hundred clergymen, at 100l. each, | 20,000 | 20,000 | |
| Five hundred schools, at 20l. a year, | 10,000 | 10,000 | |
| Support of poor, | 10,000 | 10,000 | |
| Bridges and other town expenses, | 10,000 | 10,000 | |
| Contingencies and articles not enumerated, | 10,000 | 10,000 | |
| £.89,680 | £.66,150 | £.23,530 |
Now comes RUM, my friends.
| £. | |
| 400,000 gallons of rum, at 4s. a gallon, | 80,000 |
| Allow for rum drank, on which excise is not paid, 50,000 gallons, at 4s. | 10,000 |
| £.90,000 |
Ninety nine hundredths unnecessary.
This is a fact: Deny it if you can, good folks. Now, say not a word about taxes, judges, lawyers, courts, and women's extravagance. Your government, your courts, your lawyers, your clergymen, your schools, and your poor, do not all cost you so much as one paltry article, which does you little or no good, but is as destructiv of your lives as fire and brimstone.