Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1866-01-18

t,'' u"ouhl vi MS Original investment
that is, on one hundred thousand dollars.
he secured u per cent. interest in gold,
/ equivalent 10 ~ per cent. IN paper money.
And as grecnbacks fell in value, all com.
modltlcs rose in CORRESPONDING propor.
/ ton; and to purchase one million dollars
worth OF supplies for the army. it was nee
essary to expend two million dollars in green.
/ backs aud on every hundred millions con
sumcd, there was Il dead loss ofiifiy millions
to the people.
! And hence one begins dimly to under
stand how it was that an American Presi
dent in less than five years, created nearly
as large debt as the kings Of England had
! done in two hundred years.
TIE FUNDED DEBT.
The merchant or moneycd man." says
! Adam Smith, makes money By lending TO
the Government, and instead Of diminish
ing, increases his trading capital. lie con.
siders it favor, therefore, when the Ad.
ministration admits him to share in the
first subscription for Il new loan. =
And one Of the great causes for the facility
with which debts arc contracted by Govern
mcnts is that the law of usury does not an
ply against the money lender Governments
have monopoly in borrowing, the moment
j.
portion as the funds fall, do the profits of
the bond.buyer incrcaSc-the lower the
funds the greater the profits.
Thrcc-quarters Of u century have rolled
away since the death Of Adam Smith. but
had he been drawing the portrait of the
money lender Of to dly, the likeness could
not have been more perfect.
In speaking Of funding, that profound
writer says:
The practice Of funding has gradually
enfeebled every State which has adopted it.
The Italian republics seem to have begun
IT, Gcaoa aad Venice, the only trO remain
ing rhich can pretend to aa mCiepcn,icat cr.
istencc, hare both beca enJccJhdGy It," And
since the death Of Smith, both of those re.
publics have lost their independence thus
confirming the judgment Of the great econ
omist.
France, saysSmith, "languishes under
an oppressive load ofthc same kind" Ant
he lived long enough to hear the first rum
bings Of the French revolution, which in ;
great measure was produced by an oppres
sive debt, and unequti taxation The deb
was washed out; the king was bcheaded
and France with renewed life and new hope
again set out on her career among the na
tions.
rs it likely" says Smith, that in Grca
Britain alone, Il practice which has brough
weakness and dcsolation into every othe
country should prove altogether innocent!
And Great Britain to-day, with her pop
ulation of thirty million souls, has onl
thirty thousand land owners And amon
every fifteen other inhabitants, there is on
paupcr. According to the Loa,lon Lance
three hundred persons annually starve t.
death in the streets of London.
Here then, citizens, we have the warnin:
examples OF republics cnteebled, corrupted
and enslaved: Of u majestic monarchy with
its debt washed out in the blood of revolu
tion; and the most powerful kingdom o
modern times, with one land owner to every
thousand, and one pauper TO every ifteeI
inhabitants And all these evils, citizens,
were brought about by financial systems less
unjust, more wise, and less burthensome
than that which now atflicts the people of
these United States. And whatreason have
we to hope that our own country will escape
the doom Of other nations, under like cir
cumstanccs? If we look to the past, our
vision is dimmed by mist of blood; and il
to the future, we see in the dim distance,
but palaces and hovels-thc lordly rich, and
the starving poor.
CANTllE DEBT BE PAID IN THIRTY YEARS!
We are assured, citizens, by the distin-
guishcd tinanciCr at the head of the Treas
ury, that the national debt can be paid in
thirty years; and | would be glad to believe
that such an event was probable. But it is
vain to try to deceive ourselves, with deu-
/ sive hopes. To rush madly, vantonly into
debt is an achievement easily performed;
| but to pay debt Of almost an incalculahle
amount, is another matter No, citizens;
this debt will not be paid in thirty, nor in
/ three hundred years Are the expendi-
lures of the Government to cease during the
next thirty years, that we are to be able tc
apply the public revenues to the cxtinguish.
mcnt of the debt? What assurance has the
distinguished and able Secretary that We
will not be involved in another gigantic war
within the next thirty-nay, not within the
next thirty but within one year?
Why, citizens, are We not told by our wise
and patriotic President, that taking advan
tage Of the contest in which our country wa.
engaged, that
THE materials of war for the insurgen
States, were furnished in IL great measur,
from the work houses of Great Britain; anC
British ships, manned by British subjects
and prepared for receiving British arma
ments sailed from the ports Of Great Britain
to make war on American commerce, unde
shelter of commission from the insurgen
States. These ships having once escape,
from British ports, ever afterwards enterc,
them to rctit, and so to renew their depreda
! tiOns.
In two brief sentences, the President
| clearly and graphically sums up five distinct
causes ofwar against Great Britain. Hos
tilities may not come; but the causes exist
and no man can tell how soon they may cul-
inmate in open war.
Morris this our only danger-I mean fnan,
cial danger, torI, citizens, like you all, would
prefer again to see the sword unsheathed
rather than submit to national dishonor.
But, citizens, there are other causes OF
war, and consequently of financial danger,
and financial ruin. For months, the land
has been rife with threatening rumors as to
France and Mexico, and the opinion of the
distinguished Lieutenant General command
ing our armies, are heralded forth as omens
of coming war.
\ debt of three thousand millions, and
war talked of with three nations-two OF
them combining sixteen hundred ships OF
war And with all these dangers confront
ing Us, we are told that the natolal debt
can be paid within thirty years But there
is another reason, citizens, why the debt
will not be paid within that time. The
bond holders have complete control of Con,
gress, and OF all the Legislatures, save one,
whose States are represented in the Nation
al Legislatures; and the bond-owners are dc.
termincd that the debt shall not be paid. =