00,000 on
manufactures. These concessions were much needed, for the producers
of cotton were crippled by the condition of their States, and
manufacturers found that prices did not justify the payment of these
war charges.

In his annual message to Congress in December, 1868, President Johnson
argued "that the holders of our securities have already received upon
their bonds a larger amount than their original investments, measured
by the gold standard. Upon this statement of fact it would seem but
just and equitable that the six per cent interest now paid by the
Government should be applied to the reduction of the principal, in
semi-annual installments, which in sixteen years and eight months would
liquidate the entire National debt." This bold and shameless advocacy
of repudiation was less mischievous than it would have been if Mr.
Johnson had held a longer lease of power, and if the people had not in
the Presidential election pronounced so clear and positive a verdict
in favor of the maintenance of the National credit. The Senate deemed
it worth while to put on record a resolution condemning this part of
Mr. Johnson's message. Mr. Hendricks of Indiana moved a substitute
indorsing the statement in the message, and closing with the words of
the Democratic National Convention in favor of paying the bonds in
_lawful_ money. Only seven senators supported his substitute, while
forty-five opposed it; and President Johnson's proposal for repudiation
was, by the action of the Senate, "utterly disapproved and condemned,"
--_ayes_ 43, _noes_ 6. In the House of Representatives a similar
resolution was passed by a vote of 155 _ayes_ to 6 _noes_, 60 not
voting. No Democratic member in that body seemed willing to assume
the objectionable position taken by Mr. Hendricks in the Senate, and a
declaration "that all forms of repudiation are odious to the American
people" was adopted without a division.

The financial achievement of the National Government herein reviewed,
for the four years following the war, may be briefly summarized. The
National debt was reduced by the sum of nearly $300,000,000, while at
the same time the Government reduced its revenue to the amount of
$140,000,000 per annum by the repeal of a long series of internal
taxes. During this period more than $35,000,000 had been paid from the
Treasury towards the construction of the Union and Central Pacific
Railroads, and $7,200,000 was paid to the Russian Gove