The weekly union record., 1864-12-17
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the debt Incurred By the Government in prose
cutting The war. It's facts ard figures com
pletey upset the calculations Of these wiseacres.
and are worthy Of attentive perusal.
Mr.. Benjamin, the rebel Secretary Of tie
Treasury, as well as most Of those at the North
who sympathize with him, seem to take great
comfort in TIE fact that our public debt is now
half as large as that Of England, while the an
nual Interest OF i, is the same. The conclusion
which they draw from this circumstance inva-
riably is that the burden which England finds
50 heavy will certainly overwheln Us.
In all iaferences Of this kind about our faaa.
cial situation, however, it is constantly over
looked that England came out Of the war with
Napoleon ia 1915 with her debt and her annual
burden almost exactly What they now are Il
has not been reduced above eight millions steF-
ling, while the other expenses of Government
have enormously increased. And yet in 1873
her population was only about half Of that Of
the free States, and has increased at ratio
which only doubles it once in forty years, while
ours doubles once in twenty-five years, without
counting The Increase derived from immigration.
So that our capacity 10 pay of q debt increases
with more than twice the rapidity OF that of
England. 10 other words, il We had numbered,
as England did only about II 600. 900 in 1915,
our population IN 1910 would have been
24,O0O,000, and in l865 about 50000,000,
while that Of England in 1868 will only be
about 30,O00.000.
Nor is this all. It is safe 10 say that in
1915 all the best land in Engand was already
under cultiyajon and consequently what has
since been brought under cultivation has
yielded a steadily decreasing return to a stead
lily Increasing amount Of labor. Here, on the
contrary, the extent Of virgin soil of the highest
fertility. still untouched, may be said TO be, for
all practical purposes, unlimited, and it is on
this that large portion of cur increase of
population is every year set to work; so that
not only is our own increase CT population twice
as rapid as that Of Great Britain, bat its labor
is at least twice as productive. This is shown
by the difference in the interest paid on capital,
which is nearly twice as great here as in
England, which would rot De tie case if the
use of it were not twice as profitable.
So that our situation, far from resembling
that Of Great Britain a: the close Of the great
French war, is more than twice as favorable.
We have the same amount of money to pay
yearly, but we have population of twice the
size to pay IT, increasing with twice the rapid
Ity, Oh soil of which bound.ess area is still
untouched And yet England has gone on
steadily growing in numbers and wealth, and
with credit not only unimpaired, bat which,
during the whole Of the last fifty years, has
stood higher in the money markets of the
wcrld than that Of any other nation. She has
held this position and acquired this confidence.
without half the advantages that we enjoy,
solely by the rigid determination of the Gov
ernmen. and the people to meet their engage.
ments faithfully aud punctually. and by entire
freedom from Copperheads and CoppeIheadism.
We need hardly say that it is twice as easy for
US to be honest as for her, and il We fail to p y
our debts, it will be because we are twice as
great knaves
When Benjamin writes circulars to his agents
abroad for tie purpose of depTecating the
national credit, be does so because he believes
that this Will be potent means of paralyzing
eur cxertious in the field, and bringing the war
to a termination ruinous to the North Bat in
doing this, he is simply following the example
set him by nearly all The Copperhaal organs at
the North. There is not ore Of them that
does not labor zealously to prepare the way FIR
recognition By famiiarizing the public mind
with the idea that oar debt can never be paid;
and Of course nothing will ever contribute more
to National bankruptcy than general feeling
of despair about The possibility Of meeting the
public liabilities. We therefore warn all pa
triotic Americans against attempts on the
public credit here rs well as 10 Dixie Articles
ou this subject in the Copperh2ad newspapers
are simply the counterpart OF Berj4min's circa
lar, and are ATTENDED to help the same cause
and effect the same ends
WELL AyswgRED.-The Metropolitan Rec
ord, Catholic paper which was repudatcd by
Bishop Hughes long before his death, makes a
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