Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-10-25
LIy, EnpIi.hmun,. Opinion.

Sir Morton Peto, the great English rail-
road man and capitalist, nov travelling in
the United States in company with nu-
merous eminent and wealthy Englishmen,
looking for openings for the investment OF
English capital, in a speech delivered at
Meadville, Pa. on the 9th of last month,
thus speaks of the American war debt,
and the ability of our people to pay it:
You have made great sacrifices for
your country. You have expended trea-
sure and blood in support Of the great
principles Of human freedom, and l be-
iieve, deeply as we may deplore the blood
which has flowed, the result of the strug-
gle will be 10 cement a bond Of union
which no future time will ever sever. The
world says you have accumulated q mighty
debt. Well, the figures do look large;
but it NAV be some consolation TO know
that your debt is not so large as ours, the
figures being as eight hundred million
pounds sterling to six hundred million
pounds sterling. The interest at present
will be at a greater rate Of charge in your
country than u own; but such Is the
enormou extent Of your territory, and
such its rapid development, and such, l
believe, the self-relisnt attitude Of your
people, that no difficulty will arise in your
meeting the annual charge.
"Our own progress as a nation was
shown to be so great, in q recent speech
by Mr.. Gladstone, since the adoption by
US of a free trade policy, that by the show
ing Of the people themselves. in their IN
come tax and property returns, the in
crease in ten years has exceeded the total
value of our entire national debt, Let me
adopt a familiar explanation: Suppose
each American spent on his dinner n
shilling u day for a year, your people
would consume as much as the entire ma
tional debt you have incurred. Look at
the railway whose completion we are here
celebrating. Why, it has cost one-siHth
of your entire national debt, and yet 1t
has been subscribed mainly by foreign
capitalists during the period of your strug-
gle. and the receipts show It to be q high
" remunerative investment.
Again. let me refer to another fact We
paw in London on cab hire and omnibus
hire yearly. in that single city, as much as
the income and property tax Of u entire
kingdom and when l look to the enor-
nous development and rapid increase OF
the population and wealth Of your coun-
trv-when l look, for instance, at the oil
districts over which l have passed to-day.
where I saw evidences Of unexampled
wealth and prosperity on every side. and
where l saw in one place where on the LIST
of June last not a single shanty had been
erected, at the present time, on this 9Th OF
September, four hundred houses finished
and inhabited. two churches built. six
banks established, two telegraph stations,
md the extension of the Atlantic and
Great Western Railway, began only four
months since, within a month OF its COM
nIe,ion-I say, sir. when | see such facts
a. these, there is nothing in your debt
which need create anxiety. or make you
tseI that YOU have incurred responsibility
wb;cb YOU can not honorably meet. l
.ay, sir. though we can not too much de-
plore all the blood shed, and its amenta
Ole consequences, there is nothing Tor you
to deplore in your future. You have I'M!
to base your taxation equitably, fairly
and in such a transparency honest way
that every class may see that none are eS-
cepted and lone are unfairly treated. DE
true to yourselves, and the world Will no!
he slow to appreciate your position AND
do you full justice"