St. Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1845-1863, 1862-07-24
The Fate OF the Laboring Class.

No true patriot can contemplate the
future of our country without the most
poignant feelings Of sorrow and shame
SORROW that the wealth-producing clas-
scs are to be burdencd with taxes that
shall eat out their substance and shame
that this great and prosperous land should
have sunk, in about one year, to the
low condition it now occupies. No rca-
sonaLle man expects to see US escape
from the present war with less debt than
$4,000. .0G0.000 The public lands will
all be absorbed in Homestead bills or
in bounties to soldiers, and there will be
no revenue from that source. The only
resource left to provide for this debt will
be taxation. The interest on two thous-
and millions of dollars will be, at six
per cent. Per annum, just equal to the
interest upon the pnhlie d~l,. Of Great
Briiais, Which is three per cent.
upon four thousand millions Of dol
lars 1t will thus be seen that two
years of "Rcpubican" party manage
ment have loaded US down with the
Same burdens which now enslaves TIE
producing class,s of England. There
must come $l2O. .0OO.O every year
from the pockets of the producing clas-
ses to pay the interest on our public debt.
In other words, there u.ust be sold each
and every year. Sl2O, 100000 worth OF
the products of labor to 60 into the pock-
ct of the capitalists. 1t is the high rate
Of interest in this country which. more
than any other one cause, is making the
poor poorer and the rich richer.
Look at the frightful sum Of money
which in the course of fifty years. this
interest on our public debt would take
from the working men Of this country
The simple interest in fifty years will
amount to sir thousand millions Of dk
lars, or three times the principal. Blu
this is not all the 100. 900. 900 annual
ly taken from labor is reloaned each
year, and at compound interest, which
is the true way to compute it, woult
amount to o sum almo-t bryonc
the power of figures. No nation raj
stand this absorption of the product.
of labor by capital without the mas
ses being reduced by poverty aue
beggary. The public dett of England
has been hundr"d Years accumulating
aud the interest upon it is only three
per cent. and yet her wisest statesmen
have found il one of the most Difficult
of all questions to handle. If the inter
est on her public deb. had been six in
stead of three per cent, the nation coule
not have endured the burden. 1t is tn,
high rate of interest which eats on
the substance of the people and make.
everybody in debt. The simple reason
is. because the money absorbs more o
the products of labor than it ought Il
do, and hence it accumulatcs iu ,hs hauG
Ut those who pofscss it, and as it &C
cumulates it keeps on absorbing the pro
ducts OF labor in compound ratio.
The public debt of Great Britain pro
duced revolution there 1t de>troyct
the small farmers of yeomany. tue ,iller
of the soil being always the first to fee
the oppression Of taxation, because th'
percentage of their profits are less thar
in any other business. The small farm
were absorbed by large landed prcprietors
and the children Of the farmers driven t.
| to the towns to become factory slaves
Property gradually concentrated in th.
hands OF u few. as under the workings of
high taxation, it must always continue t
do. Does any one suppose that this conn
| try will DC an exception to this inevitabl.
law? 1t were madness to suppose So
Indced We shall 60 down the hill of pov
erty with much greater rapiiity than the,
have across the water: for here the inter
est on our public debt will take JUS, dou
bic Of the proceeds Of lahor to pay its in
terest Where it takes one bushel O
wheat in England from the farmer. here i
will take two. Where the laborer give
one days work there he n.ust give two here
and so on through sli the ra,nifcatiou o
| business
| Blu, when We add to the $12O. 900. 90,