The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-07-08
FRIDAY MORNING


Tha, the Yankee newspapers hahi'nally,
undcrsta,e the sum total of their debt can
not be doubted. And yet, many of them
make il oat much larger than the official
statements admit. In our opinion, 1t does
not fall, OF this day, one cent below five
thousand millons OF dollars, and any man,
who will take the trouble to estimate The
cost of 100000 of soldiers under arms
per diem, for three years, and OF six hundred
vessels OF war. for the same period, and will
at the same time take into consideration ING
enormous waste that his occurred IN every
department, from the capidity OF con'rac-
tors, will arrive at the same conclusion
The Yankees have been carrying on TINS
gigantic war for three years, without LAY
ing A cent of money. II is the most ire
mepdous exneriment ever made upon pop
Mar crcauli,y. and it has succeeded in way
which It is amazing to think OF. The ironi-
cal eulcgy of Pope upon paper money IS
constantly recurring to the memory:
a. slest paper credit, last and best supply.
That Iends corruption tighter wtrgs To fly,
Gold. ;mp'd by thee can Compass hardest
Ihings,
Tan pocket States caa fetch and carry
ktpgs,
A sinrie leaf shall wait An army DER
cr ship of Senatcs To some distant shore"
We have heard the Yankee resources
spoken of as marvellous, and the sums ex-
pended IN this war cited as proof of their
inexhaustihle character. We do not zee
that this affords any proof whatever Their
Government has not spent dollar, and does
not mean 10 do IL. 1t has promised TO pay
hereafter, at some convenient time, some four
or five thousand millions, and that time will
never come. The operations of Chase have
been praised as indicative Ct great financial
ability. They struck us in that light at
first, but upon examining them further they
do not seem to deserve that praise
His plan is the simplest In the world. II Is
that adopted by every sharper and loafer
who has some credit and no money. He
simply got everything on credit, and gave
due bill which he never intended to pay
If he had made any provision for settling
when payday came, we should give him
more credit; bat he made none whatever
His expedient of buying gold at high price,
TO throw into market at low rate, is sim
ply the expedient of the swindler, who, 10
raise ready money, which he must have, buys
goods at an enormous valuation on credit,
ia B.oad street, an sells them out by auc-
ton for clsh, in Main street. Everybody
sees that such operations must end in ruin,
and such have been the character of Chase's
operations.
The manner IN which the Yankees have
thus far carried on this war Is the greatest
nj hop aT11y "a
count. Great Britain, at time when Great
Britain and Ireland numbered only sixtec1
millions of inhabitants, and when gold and
silver were threa times as valuable rs they |
are now, carried on war which cost her |
more than one thousand Elk hundred mil |
lions OF pounds sterling; but then she was !
twenty Elk years spending this money (about |
eight thousand millions of dollars. 1t was |
the most tremendous test ever applied to a |
nations resources. But she did not under |
take to carry on the war entirely on credit |
Had she done so she would have been COM |
PEELED to desist after months trial She |
raised, on the contrary, more than eleven |
hundred millions by taxes, aud filled the |
gap between expenditure and supply by |
loans. But the Yankees have not touched |
their resources, if they really have any, and |
we suppose, even after the loss of our trade, |
they have 'onse. They went 'dltosether upon |
credit. They paid nothing, made no pro |
vision to pay anythisg, and never intended
to do it, Glasses great forte lay in bis ca
pacity to keep up the deception as long as
he did, and even there, when we remember
what sort of people he was dealing with,
how easily they are humbugged, and how
eagerly they desire TO be SO, we must abate
much of our admiration.