The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1865-08-31
RICHMOND. WAYNE CO., lND
The Result of the Heavy National Debt

During the late debate in the British
Parliament a member stated that IN I'm
gland and Wales alone there were NIL
lion of paupers, and five hundred 'hous
and more on the verge OF pauPeiisn
The heavy national debt and the high
taxes necessary TO meet the interest
upon it were assigned rs the cause
This paragraph the Indianapolis Semi
mel criticises very sharply. and we 'hlnA
in that criticism misapprehends ana mis-
represents the arguments Q. A,
Cookies pamphlet. Mr. Cooke uio ho'
argue that national delt was oiessihs,
he treated the debt as fact, an eVii
which had been brought upon the peopie
bv the insane actions of the demoeratc
friends of the ltor of tile Sent'aef III
the South and he sought the means 10
make the evil of debt as light as possibIe
to extract blessings ont of adversely IL
is very unfair to wrest a paragraph, from
Mr.. Cookies pamphlet, from the text ana
/ context We are told that men do the
same with the scriptures to their own
destruction Certainly the democrats
South and North have "wrested ana
misrepresented the loyal people ior
long time. and many of them have paid
/ the penelty.
We do not accept any part OF the
.Sentiaeys criticism except the last para
GRAPH: Rigid economy in puullc eS-
nenditurcs so that the burdens OF taxa
ton may be lessened.
There are two sides of this pauper
question at least. the subject may be
viewed from different stand points
Some writers assert that there was
such thing as pauperism as 1t IS now III
I Great Britain until after the Reformation.
Before that event the monasteries ato
other religious houses, were numerous
in every county, these took care OF the
moor. furnished labor. and took care of
them when sick and intirm. When these
religious houses were overturned, and
their lands and houses given 10 the
nohles. the revenue derived which had
before been disbursed in the several
counties, were squandered in London or
in foreign countries. leaving the indig-
ent to suffer. To remedy this evil,
poor rates and poor houses were estab-
| lished.
This was long before there was any
large public debt in England, and pauper-
ism is as unfairly charged to the Refor-
nation bv the class of writers we have
quoted as it is to the public debt by the
editor of the Sentinel. Pauperlsm IS the
natural product of evil legislation. Had
the property of the church been divided
on the old Roman plan, seven acres only
to each man, instead of to already rich
nobles here would have been no pauper-
ism in England.
The English attribute pauperism anA
crime to the absence of cheap common
schools, and to the ignorance of the
people In the very elaborate examina-
tions which took place in England in
hn II of a
of the House of Commons on the subject
/ of pauperism and crimes, all the facts
) disclosed and opinions expressed, tended
to show that the amount of poverty and
crime depended almost wholly on the
character and habits acquired by the
Young. Scotland has fewer paupers
compared with Ireland, though the latter
t is more fruitful and more easily cultiva-
) ted. The pauperism Of England Is at
tributable to the reckless and improvi-
dent habits of its laboring poor. How
, does it happen that Great Britain in
! creases so rapidly in health in spite OF
her enormous debt and large and increas-
ing numbers of paupers? Such load
; of public debt and so much pauperism,
? if it be true, that the first produces the
second, ought to have sunk her finan
cially lower than Spain. Where then Is
! less debt and more pauperism
That large public debt is an evil, {
= great evil we freely admit, but that II
; will retard the progress of the young
y giant Republic of the West we dom
believe. The rapid increase of popula
d ton. the millions of acres OF petroleum
:. wealth which are only beginning to bt
> developed, the mineral regicn scarcel,
: vet opened. the great increase Of manu-
: factures insureS its early payment, anC
s that it will not be a disastrous burden OF
r the people Great Britain has abounde,
II in croakers For further information
;, on the subject of the public debt o
q England. we refer the Sentinel to the ex
$ tract from McCauley's history. to b
:, fourd elsewhere in this paper.--Hadiso
IL Courier
q -,