The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-06-03
AHERIcAH FINANCE.
Is.er..tInEDsbate IN the EnEIishRar
uament--WiII the Policy OF tht
U1IteI4 states Lendto ProgpaFifyf

evening Of the 10th ult-, during debate
onthe EngIiSh national debt, Mr.. Laing
said It seemed to him that there exist
ed desire to do something sensational
In the way Of finance. c'Hear, hear"
and laugh.j Last yesran excuse was
offered by the apPrehsnded exhaustion
Of coal, an apprehension that seemed to
have gone OF in smoke. A laugh.l
This year the example of the United
statesof America was put forward con-
spieuously. He admitted as much rs
any man the energy with which the
enormous war establishment Of that
country had been reduced in few
mouths to peace footing, and still
more the spirit which made such are
duction possible. Nothing could be
more Memorable than the way in which
American o6dcers had subsidized into
simple citizens, earning an honest live
llhood by peaceful pursuits, instead Of
trying to keep up large armies, and fer
ment revolutions, with view of main
tanning their own influence, as was TOO
often the case in Southern America.
Bot, in looking at the example OF
America, the House must b on its
guard against false companions. In
the inst place, America has adopted an
incouTaTtibla currency, which was
heavily depressed, and no man or ma
ton could be said to be really paying
its debts as long as the currency stood
At Is or 30 per cent. discount. Then,
again, nobody could doubt that the Gus
toms revenue was levied not so much
with YeiW TO the amount Ii yielded as
fer the purposes Of protection. Any
proposals. for reduction would be OPP
posed by the whole manufacturing in
terests ofthe North and East. In iDan-
cial questions they must never jump |
too hastily to Conclusions The saying |
ofthe Grecian sage, that no one could !
be accounted happy before his death, |
was applicable TO all financial expert |
ments, and we had not seen the last of
such experiments in the United States |
yet The last accounts showed that
under this stimulus of ineonYertibIe
paper currency, the cost of living had
Increased to such an extent that the
working classes were combining to get
q higher rate ofWaRes. And what was
the consequences? That important
branches of industry were deserving the
United States. (Hear, heaE.)
OF course, 1t by no means followed,
that with its fertile soil its mineral
wealth, and the energetic character of
its people, America was about to re-
lapse into poverty: but UiLGL bLOles had
certainly been struck at many 6rdaches of
national iEOitEStTy. Take such a branch
as ShGpbItiEdiR1. Before the war, Amer
icr was one Of the foremost countries IN
the world in the art of shipbuilding.
and SO important 70 her in mercantile
and in u national sense. But ship-
building had been 70 a0TedG extent dTire4I
0SPGy By those high TGtes. Did the ex-
tinetiOn of portion of their national
debt repay them for the loss of a trade
forming SO material an element in their
mercantile and maritime greatness?
He thought not. (Hear, hear.l II was
by no means clear that the policy
adopted by the United States Of keep
ing up these excessive taxes since the
conclusion Of The war, would condncs
/ to the ultimate prosperity Of the ma
| ton as much a the more sober and
moderate eourss taken by this country
AZ the Close of the great war in 1915.
| (HeAr, hear.
Mr. Gladstone-In answer TO nv hon.
I orable friend, who so emphatIcallya asks
us to reject this motion, would say 1t
is not neW-fangled, but old-hnHled
! It Is the proposition Of the Chancellor OF
| the Exchequer, and, though 1 am not
I in his confidence, though I am not In
any intimate relations with him as 70
this measure, It seems rather hard that
the right honorable gentleman should
be accused Of doing EomethInG. sensa-
tonal merely because have been SO
unfortunate as TO wound my honorable
friend by reference 70 America. I
viii not question how far my honora-
bic friend may be justified in imputing
to me desire to do something sensa-
tiOnal as the basis of action which 1
took last year as a Minister Of the
Crown. My honorable friend Is GER
tainly not the most charitable or the
NEST complimentary In his supposi-
ton. L shall by-and-by inquire how
\ far there are palpable and probable ap-
l pearances to justly these suggestions.
But nothing can be more unjust than
I to ascribe to the Chancellor OF the Ex-
| ehequer a sensational desire to COPY the
United States, merely because / said
that the United States were making a
great effort To pay on their national
debt. 55li'I !. -
Ny honorable friend understands the
Affairs OF the United States great deal
better than the people themselves, and
has, therefore, shown that they have
4 gone altogether abroad In their course,
and that they would have acted more
1 iA41e4I II kA1by uhU dDOll9QeQ All fLle89
taxes and made NO effort Whatever To
nednce the amount of the debt. he
4 may be right In that opinion, but the
probabilities are rather against him.
itHsaE, hear.) There Is PRESUMPTION
that with regard to the management of
1 their domestic ahairA, the people of the
4 United States W0nld be as competent
Judges of the policy they ought TO pur-
| sue as.We are. But when he says there
L TRrE 81.
citing the example Of the United States
because Of their deprecated, currency,
he must recolleet that we began to pay
/ on our national debt with q deprecated
currency, a state OF things which existed
long after the close of the war. (Hear
4 heaF.l ,f1is = rlzs-. .4sf a.y-l.s
II Does my honorable friend mean the
House to understand that custom du-
4 ties are the principal sources ofsAmeri-
can revenne2 he must know that the
i principal source Of American revenue
q "a an inland revenue OF an elaborate,
and I admit, in some cases, of q most
yexatious character: But / did not al
lude tolthe financial affairs OF that
country with The object which my hon
orRble friend observations mightllea
the House to suppose. Ny reference
to- America waste show that great
4 nation was making present sacrifices
for future good. Hear, heaEl. But 1
take my honorable friend to task alto
1 gether as TO his charge that this Tpropo.
sitioh- Is SENSATIONAL Certainly, i'll
Wereinclinedt TO excite peoples passions
L should draw q picture OF a widow
without boots trudgingl home through
the mud in consequence of the taxes on
locomoLion, and propose "a repeal of
those taxes, rather than submit pro-
I position for the reduction of the nations
n debt-,( A laugh, and Hear, hear.1
Il confess that 1 think the sensational
fqualtties, the powers of producing sem
sation5 by painting and eoloring, sx-
thiblted by my honorable friend in his
speech equals anything / ever heard In
this House, and are far beyond any
thing ever aimed at or could succeed