The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1865-04-21
RICHMOND, WAYNE Coz, ND,
From tie Tsrre Haae A4p1ess
Our Public Debt.

Soon after the war con- mmsNs>s
siderable number of politicsas, ellai.
fng 70 belong 70 the DeinoSsahc parsy'
with the narrowness OF lntelfect aiways
&exhibited by deInagocaes more anxious
Ito become noted arneng Their followers
Ethan 20 advance the public good, com
&menced systematic narf~1e- upon our
SNational Currency, with sae nope OF
1crippling the Government u It's efforts
Ito overthrow the rebellion. Those OF
FOUR citizens who heard the petnfogger,
q 3Emerson Etheridge, speak aere, for Nc
&CIellan, during the ifhe canvass, VIII
Seve nofle~t size sinrS fontumeiy he
usoucht to throw upon currency of
Rshe country, and how he tried to appal
This hearers by exaggerated statements OF
-FOUR public debt. a si1nisar class Of men
5all over the country tried the experiment
sof breaking down the public credit, in
4this manner, but were themselves repu-
adiated by the people, and have since
81 sunk 70 the fathomless depths or public
Scontenrpt.
y We learn that Mr.. voorhees,, IN his
2speech, a few days since at Greencastle
I foreshadowed as DemocraElc policy for
the future, the one Of reputation OF
large portion of the pubic dept We
do not. however, know that he did so,
- but Judge only by report. The repudi-
alton doctrine of Jefferson Davis, in
mississippi a few years since, disgraced
Stha State for all time 10 c,me, and broke
Idown it's credit abroad We do not,
{howeyer. desire to be Understood as
&charging Mr.. Voorhees, with any desire
to initiate Jefferson Davis in this respect,
fneither do we desire to charge him and
I Ibis party, with any purpose OF attempt
Hing to exculpate the seeded States from
Spaying part of The expenses Of the
war they criminally forced upon the
{country. by q repudhtien of the debt
necessarily incurred, but simply TO re-
mind them that such policy would IN
/ tfict upon us the brafd OF national dis
shonesty and disgrace. The people, who
/ will have to bear the principal portion of
this indebtedness, viii denounee such Il
policy as meanly criminal and dishonest
This same class OF politicians TO whom
I'VE before referred, shameGully mis-
Educated by the Political Economy of
1.-THE colleges, have svelled the cry Of
danger and disaster tothe country on the
|ground of cur overwhelming debt.
The enormous increase of paper mon
|ey--the making OF Greeabacks legal
unhesitats aking On, day
Iafter day, month aftef noath, year after
|yesr, of iaads Of deb J. 4 the mind was
mot only unaccustoni6a 10 contemplate,
but its mathematical compre ehension
could not grasp-the sudden and heavy
intrusion Of a direct Tax to whose in
crease no limits could be assigned the
yastness of the war, sad the promise of
Its duration for years md years, all kin
died in the minds Of host of loyal and
disloyal throughout the country an ap-
prehension Of the total ruin of the Ma
tion. They uttered cries of distress
They published their fesrs. They moan
ed their warnings. They anchored TO
windward in Gold. Diamonds, and Farm /
Mortgages. They secretly placed away
choice bits of property for the culmina-
tion day Of national ard perhaps social
ruin. Gold went up under the slowly
rising tide OF dstrusi of the solvency of
the Government, and despair of the re-
sources of the county and the power OF
the People. The War Loans dragged.
Federal securities wentdown. The cred
it of the Government as q purchaser IN
open market declined. Greenbacks /
came to be spoken sorrowfully of by the {
loyalest of men. Rebel sympathizers
aouted at them openly, and scornfully
to them the destiny of lining
trunks. The economically miseducated
business men of the Nation shook in
their shoes, and communicated ague fits !
Of initiative dread to retired capitalists, s
journalists and politicians. The coun-
try was to be ruined
The following article which we take I
from Macauleys Fnsland, will show how ,
near men are alike in all ages and cliInes
It is a graphic picture, and shows how
stupid i the science called
Political Economy, whether expounded
or John Stuart Mill or somebody else
son the 18th December, 1892, the
House of Commons resolved itself into
4 Committee of Ways and Means. It
was proposed TO raise fl,0oo,00o by
vav Of loan the proposition was APP
proved
.'Such was the origin OF that debt
which has since become the greatest
hat ever perplexed the sagacity AMI 4
the pride Of statesmen and
At every stage in the
growth of that debt the nation has set
up that cry of anguish and despair. At
every stage in the growth OF that debt it z
las been seriously asserted by wise men 5
hat bankruptcy and ruin were at hand &
/ ct still the debt went on growing; and
,till bankruptcy and ruin were as remote 8
IS ever Then the great contest with
louis XIV was finally terminated by the 9
leace Of Utrecht, The nation owed about Z
ESQ, 600, 900; and that debt was con 1
,idered not merely by the rude multitude,
lot merely by fox hunting squires and
,offee house orators, but by acute and
thinkers, as an incUmbrance
which would permanently cripple the
,ody polluc- Nevertheless trade -four
shed, wealth increased, the nation be-
.ame richer and richer. Then came the
var of the Austrian succession, and the :
lebt rose to ESQ. 100000. Pamphlet
ers historians and orators rronouuceI T.