East Saginaw courier., 1865-08-16

lstcncej uuu tne Quiet Is pleuHe 70
deliver property hereafter to be crea-
ted.
When an individual contracts a
debs, property, which has been accu-
mulated by working and saving, is
passed from the hands Of one man to
those Of another, and remains in ex-
istence; the total wealth Of the com
munity is not changed. On the other
hand, when a Government contracts d
war purposes, property which has been
laboriously accumulated is passed over
to the army, and consumed or destroy
ed; in this case the capital of the ma
ton is diminished to the extent of the
value annihilated. The idea that the
capital of the nation is increaed by
the transaction is absurd. n
We quote from Mr.. Cookies pam
phlet -
The Englishman who has E20000 IN three per
cent consols at his bankers, and o ly ten guineas
IN his packet and who gives assent to proposal
niade 10 him 10 go mine for coil on Vancouver 5
Island, has got E2O OOU in cash to 20 into the OPP
erati.n lie knows that positively The world
cannot be cOn;roverted. And the 81 ZOO, 200 900
OF British de1t is natiornl cash capital I. the in
dustry and commerce Of Great Britain For half
century this secmingly and nominally hugh
and buricnsome debt has seemed to vtaiize the
manufacturing and trading genius of the English
people, and as money has enabled the British to
do for that long timo tho marine carving for the
world and to make for the world cloth, iron, steel
tin and hardware; This enormous mass Of capi-
tai infused into the business Of England at the
close Of her twenty-five years war with the
French Republic aud Empire almost always Of
par with gold-accepted ms gold in MI transactions
was the source OF that p'odigous development
OF meehanele industry and accumulation of
wealth which so suddenly bore upward the Eng
lish after the battle at Waterloo to the command
Of the trade and finances Of the globe
1t is astonishing that a man with
sufficient brains to do a large broker
age business should sign his name to
such nonsense as this. England has
accumulated wealth by the efforts of
individuals to improve their condition.
Why she has outstripped other ma
tons in the race may be open to dis
cussion; for our own part we suppose
it to be attributable mainly to her
comparatively free institutions-to the
fact that her industry has beon less
trammeled than theirs by wholesome
legislation. However this may be,
there can be no doubt that it las been
done in spite of tho burden of her
national debt, and not in consequence
of it,
1t makes no material difference to
the severity of this burden, whether
the debt is held 10y native citizens or
foreigners. If farmer who owns 40
acres of land, but has no personal
property, can hire $3.50 to buy horse
and plow, he can, by the use Of that
capital, increase several fold the
amount of his crop. The man who
loans the money, though he live in
idleness on his interest, is no burden
to the community, for the employment
of his capital increases the product of
the national wealth to an extent great
er than the amount his of interest
But if the Government hires his capi-
tai and destroys it in war, then the sup
port of the capitalist in idleness is
burden upon the rest of the communi-
ty, and the payment of taxes for his
interest diminishes just that amount
the sums which they can use for their
own enjoyment.
If this war had cost the whole &c.,
600, 600, 900 Of the national wealth, it
would have been cheap price to pay
for the preservation of the national
integrity and our free Institutions
Let the men who contributed their
savings to the country i'll the hour of
its need, be paid their interest punctu-
ally every six months, and their prin-
cipal in full 10 the last dollar, but let
us make no effort to argue ourselves
into the transparent deltsion, that the
capital of the nat on can be increased
by the process of consuming or de-
stroying it in military operations. -
Scientific Amefican.