The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-10-26
NaTI0NAL DEBT.

the commonwealth. That q young mah ebooW
ed with enterprise and intelligence may DO vel
with borrowed capital both for himself and tht
community y here that capital is TO be used is al
1 EVERYDAY occurrence. so common, indeed, that j,
lis hardly q question that trade and commerct
would soon come to a stand.stil where such ia
cilities were not within the reach Of the young
and the energetic Debt. moreover, Is neces
| sary element in all modern commerce, and with
cut it in all its various aud complex ramifications
| of the credit system, trade would soon be reduc.
ed to its first and simplest form OF barter OF one
necessary of life for another. II this is true OF
the commerce of high state of civilization, and
! it is SO sell evident not to need further illus
trstion, il is certainly as true OF nations. Debt
may, in gwen emergency, be the simplest meth
| cd of obtaining the means OF conducting its ai.
fairs, and then, SO far from being drawback
upon its prosperity, may be the most favorable
method Of developing it,
Such is our position at this moment No ma
tion in the world that has reached so high point
Of wealth and prosperity has been SO lightly tax.
ed, or has enjoyed all the advantages of 30 ben
eficcnt and, protective a Government at 80 small
Ia cost az our own The indirect taxation Of the
Federal Government we have been hardly con-
scious OF, and the direct taxation Of the state
and town has been so little of burden that it
has hardly been taken into account in the calcu.
lation of the yearly expenditures of the individ-
ual citizen, except, perhaps, in two or three OF
the largest cities. With this state of things,
wealth has been so generally and equally diffusrd
and the prosperity Of the country has been so
unexampled, while, Mt the same time, Govern
ment has been cheap and firm in the confidence
aud affection of the people, that there has been
no necessity of onerous taxation, and the accu-
mutation Of money in the Government Golfers to
providc>for any sudden and unexpected emer-
gency. When such an emergency should arise,
the Government felt that it could count upon
the aid Of prosperous people, and prosperous
people would be prompt to extend all neediul
assistance to Government it loved, and on
whose protection they were sure they could rely.
Such is the condition Of this country at this mo-
ment. A sudden and unexpected crisis in our
national affairs has arisen. The Government
finds itself without means, because its hand has
rested lightly upon the people, and the people
hasten to pour out their accumulated capital for
the assistance of Government in whose char
acter aud strength they have the most implicit
confidence. 4 very small taxation upon the
wealth of the country, for the last ten or twenty
years, had it been allowed to accumulate, would
have covered the whole estimated national debt
which the Government is about to incur. 1t
comes now, not in the shape OF a tax, but az q
loan which is rot consumed, but is an addition
to the active capital of the country.
Itis an addition to the active capital of the coun-
try in several ways The Government asks for
aid without hesitation, because it knows it may
appeal to the patriotism and the confidence of
the people, and because it can afford to ask for
it, not as gilt, but as loan for which it is abun
dantlg able to pay a remunerat:g interest An
immediate use is thus found for capital which
might other wise, in a time OF Gonbt aud distress,
lia u is uiv IN Il
whatever other demands there may be for it.
The loan thus assuped by the Government is not
SO much money absorbed and consumed or laid
away unused, but it flows out in the thousand
new channels created in time of war, giving
rise to various branches OF production and man
utactuIe, and imparting new energy to enterprise
aud industry. There is jp this if not cnmpen
saton, at least mitigation of the inevitable
evils of war, and the loss OF the steady flow of
trade and conmerte in peaceful channels IL is,
beside, loar Of capitol, not for the payment of
accumulated interest old loans, is often the
case In older countries overburdened with ra-
tonal debts, but of capital put Immediately to
an active and productive use.
The question, however, remains whether the
United States can afford to incur SO large debt
as 100000, ,00O. II is not likely that the debt
will exceed this sum, and perhaps may not reach
it, for the heaviest expense of war is in the first
outlay, and that beng made, war may be carried
on at a decreased expenditure. But debts whe-
ther of men nations, have to be eventually
discharged, and sometimes, in the one case as in
the other, when too heavy TO be otherwise man
aged, by paying the great debt of nature. Can
the United States pay that which it is about to
incur without adding to it, ana without its own
dissnIutonf-the only way, Adam Smith said
three quarters of a century ago, in which the
| great powers OF Europe could discharge tie en-
ormous liabilities they had gradually nccumula-
ted We need at least have no apprehension
that any such fait awaits us, whether it does
them or not. The public debt of Great Britain,
a century ago, was nearly seven hundred nil
! lions of dollars or two hundred millions of dol
lars more than we now propose TO create; and
with this enormous debt constantly increasing
| till it has reached an almost iabu Gus amount
| Great Britain has steadily grown for the last
| hundred gears, till it has become the most pros
porous and the most powerful nation the ~or d
| has ever known Nor does she yet show any
| signs of decay. We may initiate her in hel
growth and prosperity, without laying up fear
| so far as her experience teaches us, that ma
tional debt will retard our progress. But We
| have not her tie ptation to increase our national
burdens by wars to add To our territory in ever.
quarter of the glopc, or wars at home to pre-
|
! Our debt is made for a specific purpose--tt
maintain our national existence and crush re
| bellion. That done, as 1t surely will be- we havt
only TO repay the coat of doing it t, those wht
l advanced the means, and who have feaped ;
| certtin advantage from it already, while they
| added at the same time to the wealth oi th,
country. Our public lands alone will go far to
ward discharge Of this Indebtedness, aHt
shoui.i the abolition of slavery follow natu
ral result of the war, new and very extensv,
area is to be opened TO free labor and a vau
| thereby given to an immense extent Of lard tha
hitherto has bean almost worthless. With
favorable result to the war, excessive stimu
lus will be given to the productive energy of tn
country, and few years OF continued taxation
whether direct or indirect would discharge tn
debt, without its being felt as burden upon tn
people. In all the material sources of wealt
no nation is richer than our own-in land
1 bursting with fatness, in climate various enoug
for all the productions needed by man. in terri
tory of immense extent trayersed by navigabl
rivers, and watered by inland seas, in mines Q
gold, of-siiver, of iron, of lead, and of coal am
above all with an energetic and industrious pee
pie, VIII, even out OF ice ard granite alone ca
make state wealthy and great In the Yves,
ern States alone within ten years To- 900 mile
of railroad have been built at a cost of $500
600, 600, and this is but single item in the il
dustrial results of energy of people duiin
period when three of its ten Years we're year
OF great depression and reverses There nee
be little fear that such a people will be repres,
ed or dishearteBed by theexistence of nations
debt Of $500, ,n00, 900, or feel the weight OF
burden which they viii carry amcst without
knowing it. or hesitate to accept their indiyidus
share OF any wise measure for its discharge.
The increasing prosperity Of the country,
the renewed development which will be given /
all its resources, aud in the awakened energ
which must come with the consciousness tbs
we have passed through the ordeal of our u,
tional trial, and come out without the smell
fire upon our garments, will make it an easy tas
for to discharge the obligations We have il
curred.-N. Y. Independent
, The GREAT EXPEDITION KNOWN AT THE Sour
!. The Mobile Register has letter from Pens
, cola, under date OF the 10Th ult., which says:
I'VE have reports Of several expeditions
the South. Let them como. Their tombs Al
open"
t The Memphis Appeal says:-"The rumors r
, lating to the attempted raid by Lincoln hor,
OF $4,000 yauti,ls upon our Southern coast a
not wishou. plausibilty. That the expedite