The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1865-12-15
out interest to Congress and to tax

PAYERS.
The national debt, deducting mon
eys in the Treasury, was, on the 31s'
Of October, 1865, S2,740, ,S64.750 =
Without attempting nice calcula
tion of the amount it may reach wher
all our liabilities shall be accurately
ascertaincd, it seems safe to estimate
it on the lst of July, 1866 at three
thousand millions of dollars. Tho
exact amount of existing indebted
ness yet unsettled, and the further
amount that may accrue in the inter
val, are not now capable OF exact cs
timation, and the revenue of the same
period can be only approximately
calculated. bat it will he safe to rs
sumo that the debt will not exceed
the sum named
The annual interest upon three
thousand millions, ii funded at five
and half per cent per dinaDi, would
he one hundred and sixty.iive mil.
lions, but it funded at five per cent.
it would be one hundred and fifty
millions.
Now, il two hundred millions pei
annum should he applied, in hall
yearly payments OF one hundred mil
lions each, in payment Of the nccru
ing interest and in reduction of the
principal funded at the higher rate
of five and half per cent, the debt
would be entirely paid in thirty two
years. At five per cent. per annum.
it would be extinguishcd by the like
application of one hundred millions
every six months, in little over
twenty eight years.
At the higher rate the sum applied
in the first year in reduction OF the
princi pal of the debt would he thirty
five millions of dollars: in the last or
thirty second year, when the interest
would bc diminished to a little over
nine millions, about one hundred and
ninety one millions of the uniform
annual payment would 20 to the re.
duction of the principal.
On the assumption that the debt
may be funded at five per cent fifty
millions would be applicable to the
reduction of the principal in the first
year, and in the twenty. eighth or
last year Of the pcriod-the interest
falling to less than eight millions
one hundred and ninety two millions
Of the annual payment would go to
the principal.
The annual interest accruing upon
seventeen hundred and twenty five
ndiious Of the debt on the 3lst OF
October last averages 6.62 per cent.
\ part of this sum is now due. an.
other portion will be payable next
year, and the balance will be due or
payable at the option Of Govern
mcnt, in 1867 and 1868. II these
seventeen hundred and twenty. five
millions shall be funded or convert.
ed into D per cents, by the year
1869, the average interest Oft the whole
debt will be 5.l95 per cent. N the
year 1871, if the debt then maturing
should be funded at the same rate,
the n. cragc interest would be reduc-
ed to 5 ID, and in 1881 to ) per cent,
excepting in bonds Tor fifty millions
to he advanced in aid of the Pacific
Railroad at g per cent, which will
have thirty years to run from their
respective dates. The interest of
these bonds, added to the supposed
the average raaG'3l tns elfht WS95kSe WS95kSe'
D 3 of one per cent. until the whole
should be discharged.
In these calculations of the aver
age rate of interest upon the funded
debt, the ont standing United States
notes and fractional currency are
embraced. Whatever amount OF
these -four hundred and lifyy.four
millions may eventually he funded at
> per cent. per annum, will proper
tionally reduce the average rates OF
interest upon the whole debt
by the terms and conditions oI
some portion OF the debt, the interest
on the whole cannot be reduced t.
exactly five per cent, unless money
may he borrowed, at some stage oI
The process, at trillc below five pei
cent. a bonus of one. tenth of on,
per cent, pail by the bidders of liv,
per cent. loans, would more than
cover the excess, the probability o
which fully warrants the calculation
submitted as to the payment Of thu
fatal debt at this rate.
1t must be observed, also, that the
assumed principal OF the debt il
July. 1866, must undergo some dim
mutton before the funding in 1867
1868 and 1869 begins. If only on
hundred millions shall be paid OF
these three years, the principal, thus
reduced TO twenty nine hundred mil
lions, would be eXtinguished by the
process already stated in twenty.
years, ii funded Mt five and one hal
per cent, in something less than
twenty seven years. And, it is wei
worthy OF attention, that one hun
drcd millions less principal, at tn,
commencement OF the process o
the payment, will save four hundred
millions, in round numbers in The
end, il the rate is five and one hal
per cent, and three hundred million,
1t five per cent
1t has been estimated by one who
has made this subject n study, thai
the products of agriculture, manu-
features, mining, mechanic arts, com
merce, fisheries, and forests. in 1850
were 2o.9 per cent. OF the value o
the real and personal property Of the
United States. A similar calcula
uon makes the products Of 1860
OH 4 nnr nnnt of Ihn ,vAnlIh OF liz