The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1865-11-04

The QUESTION Of the ways and meansto TO meet
he acquisitions of the State Government, in
he present Impoverished condition Of our
people, is Of serious consideration, and will !
ask the wisdom Of the Legislature. One plan
proposed must meet with favor. Whether it
be possible, in the prescHt state Of capital or
credit, to raise the necessary fund III bonds TO
be issued by the State, as suggested by the
Governor, is not altogether certain. Nc have
little capital at home to invest in such sccuri-
ties, and it is questionable whether, under
present circumstances, they will attract it
from abroad; but, if it be possible, there IL
every reason to commend it.
The policy of using the capital Or credit OF
the State for private objects is vicious and OBJ
jectionable; and the idleness and vice encour-
aged and engendered in Rome and Athens by
this policy, were scarcely compensated by the
advantages to citizens for such expenditure;
but between the use Of such an agency to the
dissipation of 4 people, and their relief from
the pressure of immediate and temporary dis
tress, there is wide distinction; and the act,
case, may be meritorious in the other.
Nor do we assent to the proposition that the
burthen of debt is, necessarily, IN evil to the
State. If there be States in competition, the
one the most heavily taxed is, necessarily, at
a disadvantage. AL else being equal, there
will be the tendency in men and business to
seek the one in which there is the slightest
pressure in the way of charges. But without
this-and there are few States in such equal
and competitive conditions-the public debt
is not necessarily Of disadvantage. 1t Itexpands
the capital Of n country. Of England much
of the capital is in government securities. 1t
widens the basis of support for population
thousands there are living on the interest Of
the public debt, who might not find the room
to live in any department of pursuit. 1t fur
nishes capital most necessary to the develop
ment of enterprise, and form of capital most
suited in its character of investment, and TO the
wants of manufacturing and commercial
community. It is conservative of the organi-
zation and existence Of the state, for it charges
men with direct and positive interest in their
preservation. IL lS not inconsistent Win the
attainment of individual wealth-for, notwith-
standing their extraordinary taxation, larger
fortunes are made in England than in any
other country. 1t is not inconsistent with u
high average ofindividual well-being-for, in
no country in the world have the same relative
number of people the same securities for sub
sistence and comfort; and hence, therefore,
while we would not encourage the contraction
of public debt for the advantages simply to
result from it, we would not hesitate to accept
| it as the condition to attainment of any other
meritorious object. And if in this way the
State can realize the fund to meet it's wants,
and spare the people the grievous pressure of
taxation in the present exhausted state of their
resources, and in doing so shall throw into
business the additional capital to result from
such an operation, we think the result must be
salutary; and that this is, as we have said, o
consideration to commend it.