The Public Debt

It might socm to a casual obsorvcr that thoro coulcl be ao gradations in idiocy ; that whon onoc an utter abeenoe of iutelleotual faculties sbould be shown to oiist it could make Iittle difiérenos how many ruys of light sbould thereafter bo abstraoted. ïliis is not so j and tho proof is that tho Grant organs, both thoso which aro really cditod and tbo30 which run themwilves, keep nsanely ropoatin!? trom month to inonth that "Grant is roduciug tho public debt," that " tho administration is paying the dobt with unprooodented rapidity," and u dozen other parrot phrasea that grow more moaningiess the oftener we hear them. The lack of iutolligence contained in tho assnmption that Grsnt or bis adininistration waa er is paying the public debt is manifest idiocy, but the ropetition of suoh a statornent in tho face of íaots and figures denotes a state of mental darkness, comparod to whieh simple imbccilhy is a mag nificont intelioctual endowment. Neithcr Grant nor his administration has any more to do ivith paying the public debt than tho humblest citizen in tho land who pays a cent of tax. They who furniah the money are those who pay tho debt, and who also pay Grant and hls adininistration for carrying tho money to tlie nation's creditors. Tho proposition thiit the hands aro to bo orodited with tho work of tho head, or the servant with the work of the tnaster, is too absurd for argument. If these periodical trumpeters of Grant's praises for whut ho has no hand in doing wish to ronder him a real scrñoe let. them- instend of proclaiming th.it hehas paid $5,000,000 of tho debt in tho last month- show wliy it is that ho hus net pnid 10,00;) of it with the money which the people havo givon him for that purpose. They wilífind thcir hands quite full enough for tho noxt month in proving that ho and hig ulnnnistration have faithfully collected that which is duo to tho peoplo and honesÜy used it. This is one of tho labors for which thoy aro cmployed and paid by the peeplo, and the poople will bc bettor satisfied to flnd thern doing it than to hear of them junketing at watering places, stumping' the country to keep themsolves in office, and demanding applause becauso thpy have devoted auy portion of tho public monoy to public purposes. And the people havo all the botter to 11 littlo Imowledgo on this subject, becauso the rato at which the dobt is now being oxtinguished, instead of jvlymg peculiar virtuo or honesty in Grant or his administration, implies a oonspiououa lack of both. We have shown beforeupon as g-oocl authority as that of Mr. Boutwell hiinself, that the average rcduotion of the public debt ander Grant hiis been #,'3,000,000 per month less tliBn it was under Andrew Johnson, notwithstanding tho faot that tho necessary exponaos of tho gOTernmcnt under tho lattcr were iav greater thaa they now aro, or at least ought to be. An ounco of suoh a fací as thisis worth i ton of tho thoory that placidly hymes Grant's praises for doing illy and inefBoiently what his employers havo a right to havo done well a:iu