The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-01-11 00:00:00

REDUCTION OF THE NATIONAL DEBT.

Mr. J. R. Smith, M.P., aak• us (The Times) to publish the
following letter, addressed by him on this subject to the
Hight Hon. Hobert Lowe, M.P., Chancellor of the Ifs-
chequer

•
Bear Sir,—The prampect of an unusually large.
enrplus revenue for the ffurrent year, added to your
public WItIIIIIMICOS of the unexampled prosperity cif the
country, has excited will expectations of remiesions of
taxation. The brilliant surplus is scented afar off,
and claimanta are lying in watt, like besets of prey, to
pounce npen the precious carcase. Already we hear or
the movements of deputatims to the Chancellor of the
Exchequer seeking grants of public money, all, no
doubt, believed to hr 'for the most legitimate and im-
portant objects.' Public meetings hove been held,
some of which have been favoured with the pretense and
stip; int of an ex-Finance Mmister, urging the reneal of
the Income Tax. Other meetings clsim greets of public
money in aid of local taxation; while others again
contend for the repeal of such taxes as will give us 'a
free breakfast table.' There are, in fact, claimants for
three or four times the surplus at your disposal, and
you are thus placed in no enviable position, to meet the
clamour arising from this impatience of taxation. But,
notwithstanding the evidences of o ,r increasing wealth
and prosperity, as shawn by the state of the public
revenue, are there not circumstances in our present
position which give rise to grave reflections, and call
upon us to pause, are we hastily decide bow we shall
in future dispose of our surplus revenue? Mr. Glad
stone, in his recent remarkable speech, observes,—' We
live in a wealth-making age. It may surprise you to
hear, but I believe it to be true, that more wealth has,
in this little island of ours, been accumulated since the
commencement of the present century—that is, within
the lifetime of many who are still living among us—
than in all the proceeding ages from the time, say,
of Julius Ciesar ; and, again, at leastas much of wealth
within the last 20 years as within the preceding 50.'
. . . . . . . , . . .

"It is Important to inquire why it- is that we have
been able to accumulate the enormous wealth described
by Mr. Gladstone. Is it not the result of our having
hitherto enjoyed a superiority over all other countries,
by the possession of vast supplies, amomiting almost
to a monopoly, of coal and iron, without which onr
manufacturing industry and skill could never have at-
tained to its present eminence. Whether we can main-
tain this monopoly is an important question. I van-
tare to offer some facto, which lead to the conclusion
that we cannot. Already we see the dawn of a
rivalry which we must meet se best we can. According
to the sortimate of Sir Charles Lyell, the surface of
the coal formation of the United States of America
is equal to the surface of all England. Hitherto,
America has devoted herself chiefly to the develop.
ment of agriculture, but she has grodualy, with the
enormous increase of her population (which now ex-
ceeds our own, and is estimated to reach 100 millions
during the present century) turned attention to the
development of her other resources, and the progress
ehe has made in wealth is even more extraorchnary
than that of the old country. Let us ponder the fol-
lowing facts. Not a mile of railway was made in Ame-
rica until after railways in England had become an esta-
blished success ; but now America has 60,000 miles of
railway in operation, while England has only 16,000
miles in operation. When American railways were
first built they were worked with English coal, or with
wood; now they are all worked with American coal. At
the present moment, special efforts are being made id
America to develops theircord supplies, and railways are
being made in all directions to enable them to bring their
coal to ports of shipment. American coal is already
lower in price than English coal, and we have at this
moment presented to no the extraordinary spectacle of
America, in effect, ' sending coals to Newcastle,' the
English Government being low buyers of coal in
America for the supply of the foreign depets of the
Royal Navy, because coals can be bolted at a less
price in America than at Newcastle. There can be no
doubt that the same conies which have led mann.
factnrers in this country to settle down in the neigh-
bourhood of coal will equally operate in all other coun-
tries where seal exists, and those will become the
greatest manufacturing countries, as population in-
creases, where coal and iron most abound.
"Now, is that which has hitherto been the chief source
of our enormous wealth—our coal supply—approching
exhaustion? If so, ought we not, in considering how
we shall dispose of our present and any future surplus
revenue, to bear in mind that we have etill a National
Debt amounting to £800,000,000? But, at all events,
if our coal supply should yet lost for some generations,
we are now, for the first time, exposed to competition
—s oompetition, too, with an energetic and enterprising
English race; and would it not be folly, so long as our
wealth is enormously increasing, not to prepare our-
selves by timely reductions of burdens, the relief from
which wid the better enable us to meet the inevitable
competition which awaits us? It is much lobe regretted
that we have not followed the good example of our
fathers, who, in /vitriol the exhaustion arising trona long
and expensive war, and a debt of £900,000,000. in 1815,
wee's° impressed with the moral obligation of those who
contract debts to make some efforts towards diecharg-
Mg them that they resolved to set aside an annual sum
for the special reduction of the National Debt, which
was reduced in the following 15 years by £60,000.000.
Upwards of 40 years have since passed, and, notwith-
stanling in that period the nation, aceording to Mr.
Gladstone, has accumulated an incalculable amount of
wealth, it has, nevertheless, allowed the National
Debt still to amount to the enormous sum of
£800,000,000. Contrast this with the noble efforts
made by our race in America, who, since the Ist of
February. 1866, have paid off upwards of £150,000,000
sterling of their National D.bt, being at the rate of
more thon £20,000,000 per annum. The time is arrived
when we can no longer safely delay the reduction of
our National Debt. Haw this is to be best accom-
plished requires your grave consideration. If the
question be fairly placed before the nation, there can
be no doubt that it will respond, as in times past, to
any sacrifice which the interests and honour of the
country may demand.—Truly yours. JOHN BENJAMIN
Stunt. --King's-ride, Ascot, Jan. 2,"

Sir William Jenner has been elected President of
She reibologieel eenint7 ni London.