Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-01-08
=. JANUARY s 1866

and dollars, he secured u per cent. interest
in gold, equivalent to 90 per cent. In paper
money. .ff....,r
And as greenbacks fell in value, all COM
moditles rose in a corresponding proper
tion; and to purchase one million dollars
worth of supplies for the army, 1t was nee
essary to expend two million dollars In
5greenbacks; and on every hundred millions
consumed, there was a dead loss of fifty
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 a debt as the kings OF England had
done in two hundred years.
| THE FUNDED DEBT. .,.t.-
! :The merchant or moneyed man, says
the Government, and instead of diminish
ing, increases his trading capital. Hecon-,
siders il as favor, therefore, when the
Administration admits him to share in
the first subscription tor q new loan. =
,"And one of the great causes for the faelli-
ty with which debtsare contracted By Cow
ieInments Is that the law OF usury does not
apply against the money lender. Govern
ments have a monopoly in borrowing, the
moment the funds fall below par" Be-
cause in proportion as the funds fall, do
the profits of the bond-buyer increase-the
lower the funds the greater the profits.
Three-quarters Of century have rolled
away since the death of Adam Smith. but
had he been drawing the portrait OF the
money lender OF o-day, the likeness could
not have been more perfect. o. P. ...I ..ri....
In speaking OF funding, that profound
writer says: ..tr. ....r
"The practice of funding has gradually
enteebled every State which has adopted
it. The Italian republics seem to have be-
gun it. Genoa and Venice, the only t,co re-
naming tchtch can pretend TO an independent
existence, hare both been eyeebled byit." And
since the death of Smith, both of those
republics have sttheir independence, thus
confirming the Judgment of the great econ
omist. ...-fI .a.r ..a,.
"France," says Smith, ''languishes under
an oppressive load of the same kind" And
he lived long enough to hear the first rum
blings of the French revolution, which In
a great measure was produced by an OPP
pressive debt. and unequal taxation. The
debt was washed out; the king was behead-
ed, and France with renewed life and new
hope, again set out on her career among
the nations.
SIS it likely" says Smith, shat in Great
Britain alone. practice which has brought
weakness and desolation into every other
country should prove altogether innocent!"
And Great Britain to-day, with her pop
ulatOn of thirty million souls, has only
thirty thousand land owners! And among
every fifteen of her inhabitants, there is
one pauper! According to the London Ian
Get three hundred persons annually starve
to death in the streets of London.
| Here then, citizens, we have the warning
examples of republics enfeebled, corrupted
and enslaved: OF majestic monarchy with
its debt washed out in the blood of revolu-
tion; and the most powerful kingdom of
modern times, with one land owner to every
thousand, and one pauper to every fifteen
inhabitants! And all these evils, citiz.ns,
were brought about by financial systems
less unjust, more wise, and less burthen-
some than that which now aff1icts the peo-
pie of these United States. And what rea-
son have we to hope that our own country
will escape the doom of other nations, un-
der like circumstances? If we look to the
past, our vision is dimmed by a mist of
blood; and If to the future, we see in the
dim distance, but palaces and hovels-the
lordly rich, and the starving poor! -
CAN THE DEBT BE PAID IN THIRTY YEARS ?'1
We are assured, citizens, by the distin-
| guished financier 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 1t is
vain to try to deceive ourselves, with delu-
sive hopes. To rush madly, wantonly into
debt is an achievement easily performed;
but to pay debt of almost an incalculabe
amount, is another matter. No, citizens;
this debt will not he 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 to apply the public revenues to the ex-
tinguishment of the debt? What assurance
has the distinguished and able Secretary
that we will not be involved in another gi-
gantic war, within the next thirty-nay,
not within the next thirty, but within cne
year? .. ......,il.s st ...'
| Why, citizens, are we rot told by our wise
and patriotic President, that taking advan-
tage of the contest in which our country
was engaged, that '.- -, ..i-
'",The materials of war for the insurgent
! States, were furnished in a.great measure
from the work-houses of Great Britain;
and British ships, manned by British SUBJ
jects, and prepared for receiving British
armaments sailed from the ports of Great
Britain to make war on American COM
meree, under shelter OF commission
| from the insurgent States. These ships
having once escaped from British ports,
ever afterwards entered them to refit, and
so to renew their depredations." wv HN
| In. two brief sentences, the President
clearly and graphically sums up five dis
tinct causes of war against Great Britain.
Hostiities may not come; but che causes
Eexist, and no man can tell how soon they
may culminate in'open war. q loi .li"it
| Ner Is this our only, danger1-I mean,
financial danger, for /. citizens, like you all,
would prefer again to see the sword uh-
lsheathed rather than submit, to national
But, citizens, there are other causes of
war, and consequently of financial dagger
and financial ruin. For months, the land
has been rife with threatening fumors as to
| France and Mexico, and the opinion Of the
ldistinguished Lieutenant General COM
manding our armies, are iheralded forth as
omens Of coming war. ;sagit1r8s sai h,
l. a, debt of three thousend millions, and
war talked of with three nations--two of
them combining sixteen hundred ships Of
warl And withall these dangers confront-
ing us, we are told that e,-nstiVnal debt
can be paid within thirty yearsF But there
is another reasoA citizens, why the debt
will not be pads within that time. The
! bond-holders have complete control Of
Congress, and of all the Legislatures, save
one, whose States are represented in the
| National Legislature; and the bond-ownerS
are determined that the debt shall not be
paid. Why? Because they own the debt;
and it is secured by mortgage on your
property, and they receive usury In gold,
which you are forced to pay; and they de-
sire that their children and your children
shall occupy the relation of -bond-owner
and bOnd-men.