production and consumption. 41 
penny expended in this direction, the public will secure its dollar 
in return, the economic considerations are on the side of the out¬ 
lay. This brings us to the consideration of that part of the sub- 
ect embraced under the head of 
VALUATION AND TAXATION. 
By valuation, is not meant that of the annual assessments, nor 
shall I confine taxation to the mere legal exactions of tithes. Aided 
by public documents and such array of statistical information as 
I could command, I have endeavored to tabularize the entire 
actual wealth of the country by states, compared with the sum of 
taxation on the basis of that wealth—dividing taxation into vol¬ 
untary and involuntary, or such taxes on our resources as the law 
imposes and such as we voluntary impose, for certain general 
nonproductive purposes. Of course, every dollar a man pays out 
is a tax on his resources. I do not intend to include under the 
head of involuntary taxes all that a man expends, but only such 
as are general, although personal, and may be viewed in the 
light of public expenses, such as building and maintaining rail¬ 
ways, sustaining insurance companies, etc. It is some consolation 
to be able at a glance to see just how much the whole people 
own, how much they owe, collectively as well as individually. 
The footings under the column of figures representing the number 
of inhabitants only require eight Arabic figures, yet it cost mil¬ 
lions to obtain the information, so easily expressed. So the fol¬ 
lowing tables are simple, yet it has taken weeks of labor to tab¬ 
ulate them for convenience and use. 
The table herewith prepared will show in detail, by states, the 
integral sums that make up the totals here presented. The last 
census report places the 
Assessed valuation of all property in the United States at .. $11,267,133,735 
Real valuation at. . 26,971, 665 864 
To which I have added 10 per cent., making it. 29,746,273,183 
From which sum I deduct the state and municipal indebt¬ 
edness, adding 100 per cent, for individual debts, and it 
leaves a total valuation of property of. 26,802, 676,621 
Thus showing that all the public and individual debts of 
the nation (if my estimate of private debts be correct), ex¬ 
clusive of the national debt, is but about 10 per cent, of 
the value officially reported three years ago. 
The national debt subtracted, leaves about. 24,500,000,000 
