The Placer herald., 1864-04-16
THE NATIONAL DEBT,

IftE NAIlONAL DEBT.
The debt of this nation, when this hor-
ribe war is over, will not be less than
s4,OOO,O0O, ,0O0 and labor, not capital, mind
you, but labor alone, will have to pay it.
When the lying Administration papers tell
you that wealth, or capital will take care
OF the six per cent, which will roll up its
frghtful millions every twelve months; when
the brazen faced political charatan mounts
the rostrum and proclaims to you that the
people will not break under enormous tax,
alton, for 'we" are so rich in resources that
"we" could carry twice $4,000 900 900. tell
this mountebauk he lies; or if he does not
lie, he is ignorant upon the subject of
national taxation, of national debt AS a
Congo African My hard working friend,
want your ear and your attention, for you
and |, who belong to the bone and sinew,
and muscle, OF this nation, are the capital
creators; to us alone is consigned the task
of finding the means which must he forth.
coming to meet the huge claims called
interest and taxes.
This load of debt will not be less than
four thousand millions, and must be carried
by the working portion of the 2O,0OOOOO
of the North Amy statesman thatsupposes
that the South, whatever may be the result
of the war, can be made to work out any
thing more than her own debt is a fool
Our debt must be paid by the North, if paid
at all. But let US see who are to pay it,
Agriculture, mining and manufactures alone
must pay the debt. But how many people
are engaged in these three important bran
ches9
In 1860, there were employed in the
entire North and West, in agriculture,
l,55l ,293 hands. In manufactures sO7, 1926
total of producers 2,35S,423. | will add
for miscellaneous labor, not embodied in this
tota that labor which finds employment in
building, fabricaing, etc. not embraced
under the head of manufactures, say in the
entire North and West 100000, making
in round numbers, 4,500, 900 persons, whose
task it is 20 create the wealth of the country,
without which this debit or its interest even,
can never be paid. Now, the facts are, that
the bodies Of these 100000 producers of
the North are mortgaged for the payment of
the war debt, whatever it may be. If we
call the debt Sd 100000, 900, and to-day it
is three quarters Of that sum, we shall not
be far out of the way and You and my
toiling brother, are in this grand aggregate
of mor'gaged millions destined to sweat out
our proportion Of the debt if it is paid at all.
How do you and | stand, my friend?-
Divide 81 900, 100000 into 100000 parts
and we carry near 1889 each 1t is our task,
as working men, to see that 6 per cent on
$3.50, besides preparing for other taxes, is
saved from the surp pus of our yearly toll, to
go into the pockets of the lazy non-produc>
ers, who will finally contrive to stand as
Government creditors, carrying the war debt
of s4,0O0,O 100000. Ale You satisfied to pay
s54 per year besides your general tax, as
long as you live, to sustain the credit of an
unconstitutional aud infamous war loan?-
Do you desire to burden your children with
a tax of s54 per head all their lives, in
addition to the taxes they will otherwise have
to pay9 These taxes labor and labor done,
will have to carry, spite of the sophistry of
the demayogue. who tells you that the rich
men are the sufferers. The interest must
be worked out; the principal, if it is ever
paid, must be worked out. You and |, my
agricultural friend, must part, either directly
or indirectly, with S54 war debt interest per
year. Besides our ordinary taxes, this sum
also must be taken from the results of onr
toll. Our children, and our chidren's chill
cren must be hewers Of wood and drawers
of water to the men who are supporting this
war, for vast fortunes are being made in
prosecuting it, and these fortunes will be
invested in the great war loan, and their
chi1lron will ,naIyo our oblIrop cmont ont
in big drops of blood, the cent per cent
which impoverished one portion of the coun-
try to benefit another.
A national debt is one of the most terrible
curses which ever visited people. Look at
England. See her busy millions, and their
abject poverty. They are crushed to the
earth by the power Of interest or taxes
Let us suppose this war debt to draw interest
for only eighty years. Let us thoroughly
understand that the interest must be created
by labor, and then follow it out In twenty
years this interest will be equal to the
principal. Allowing that the interest is five
per cent, we pay on S4,oOO,OOO,OoO $780,
100000 per year. In eight years we shall
have paid on the war debt alone the sum of
$4,000, 600, 900 in interest, more than all
the wealth which the North has created in
the past eighty years, by at least SIS 100000.
900. But this is not all. What, in the
meantime, is to become of the Government
requirements, the civil, military and naval
expenses, at least $2oo,ooo,oOo more per
year? How are we to meet these! In eighty
years these items will also reach an aggregate
of $4,000, 100000 and the gross expendi
lures of the nation, at the most economical
reduction which peace establishment would
permit, cannot in eighty years come to less
than $4,000, 100000, and not the reduction
of a single dollar of The war debt.
Day Book.