Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-03-12

Shall this Generation Pay the Ma
tiOnal Debit
The N. Y. Times discusses this question
at length stating that the war will leave
Us national debt of about three thousand
millions. The point is =
"Shall the republic be relieved of this
great burden by the people now on the
stage, OF shall the bulk of 1t be devolved
upon succeeding generations Z"
According to the Treasury Department,
the maintenance of the present ta1es and
other sources of notwithstanding that
the advance in population and wealth from
1860 will be. at least at the same average
rate as in the decade before the rebellion,
will discharge the national debt, principal
and interest, in two dacades from this
time. 1t is held that though this view be,
correct, the end IN view does n0s Justify
any such strain upon this ganasation. The
national credit, nor . future national pros
perity requires It, while e is held equity
forbids that generation which has al.
ready boSne go ouch in carrying through
war for the benefit of all coming genera,
stops, should assume every remaining bur-
dem simply that our successors nay have
no incumberance. The true policy Of the
Nation is hold TO DO tue eAampIe following
the Revolutionary War and the War of
1925, the debt of the last being paid
off in 1919, when, as now, internal and di-
rect taxes are pressed until 1890, amount.
ing, at the very least, to two hundred mil.
lions annually.
"Suoh an imposition" it is eaid, twill,
indeed, extinguish the national debt, but
it will be as unprecedented as it is extra.
ordinary. 1t is true that the amount of
the debt left by this war amounts to about
fifteen per cent. of the present wealth of
the loyal States, while that left by the last
war with EDgland was only about seven
per cent. of the estimated property Of all
the people at that time. But, this differ
euce is too small to afford any reason for
such an immense difference in direct taxa.
tion. If it was just and wise then to rely
upon other means almost solely for the ex-
ttpquishment of the debt, which was eff.
fected in twenty years. 1t cannot be less
so now, even if it should require a much
longer period to accomplish the end.
The present system OF revenue bears
very hard not only upon the comforts but
upon the necessaries Of life. A man with
less income than six hundred dollars
may, indeed, escape the income tax, but
there Is not man in the country 30 Door
as not to use articles which have to paw
an excise Nobody can wear a shirt, or q
coat, or hat, or pair of shoes; can wash
himself with soap or shelter himself With
an umbrella, or sleep on bedstead, or
take medicine when he Is sick; can burn
gas or candle; can advertise for q stu.
alton; can buy shovel to dig with, or
a mug to drink from can mustard his
meat of salt his potato; cen put coal into
his CRATE, or hinge upon his door, or glass
into bis window, without having to pay
something 10 the shape of excise. The
items siDgly may amount to little, but in
the aggregate they trench severely upon
slender means. ALI the necessaries of life
should be relieved from such burdens.
We should ,hAVe no excIseLax upon any
article of manufacture orsof. food. Our
revenue from that source should be de.
rived, as it almost entirely is in England
from tobacco and beverages, and other ar
ticles that any man may abstain from If he
pleaees. This, of course, will materially
diminish the two hundred millions now re-.
allied from internal taxation. Yet enough
would be left to form, when combined with
the receipts from the tariff and the public
lauds' a very considerable sinking fund for
the national debt, after paying the interest
and the current expenses of the govern
ment. II still larger sinking fund IL
deemed desirable, it could be obtained, al
foreign expense, by an export duty upon
cotton, tobacco, and other staples OF the
reconstructed Union. which Europe musl
have, whether we tax them or. not.