The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1868-07-15
THE DIFFERENCE. q.
Radical mud Democratic Plan
of Paying the National Debt
C0ntrasted.

VI kayIhS tAc NhtAOuuh ApCut
C0ntrasted.
The following able article, in which a
contrast is made between the different
modes suggested for paying the National
Debt, we clip from that able paper, the
Columbus Crisis. We ask all to give it 0
careful perusal:
Without entering upon a controversy
upon the precise total amount Of the Pub
lie Debt, we will assume it to be about
what the Government officials set down a:
the amount in ronHd numbers now audited
viz: Two THOUSAND AND SEVEN Hun
DREp MILLIONS (S2, 700, ,00e, ,000s1 Abou,
two thousand ono hundred and twenty
millions, t2,l20, 0O0, ,000) of this will beal
gold interest after the lst of August next
and the large portion Of this sum is paya
BILE in the lawful money (greenbacks) OF ths
United States. The balance is the green
backs, the fractional and the cheap meta
currency that floats as money, and othel
non,interest hearing obligations that ART
passed around at par in the settlement o
balances in trade.
lst The Democratic plan for disposinI
Of the public debt is to pay it according t.
the specific terms Of the contract: and t.
do this within the next seven or eight year,
at farthest. First, by abolishing the INA
tional Banks" and substituting the green.
back currency of the people for the $780,
| 600 900 of Bank note currency, thus re
ducing the interest paying debt by a single
stroke to a little over 81 800, 900, 900, or to
but triffe mere than three times the
amount of the Federal revenue 1900, ,000,-
600, raised off the labor of the country
last year. Secondly paying off the bal
ancc of the public debt as it falls due iu
"lawtnl money as is. provided upon the
face Of the bonds, and By gradually in>
creasing the greenback currency as the
growth Of the country and its expanding
business will require, and not to materially
affect its value; the entire debt by this
means will be liquidated as before stated,
in less than seven years under an economi-
cal government conducted with wisdom and
for honest purposes.
And now, secondly, let us look al the
other side, and see how the most feasible
@ the Republican plans would affect the
interests Of the country.
REPUBLICAN PLAN FOR PAYING THE PUBLIC
DEBT.
MR. GIBBONS, who should be good au.
thority with the Republican party, in his
late work on the public debt Of Uuited
States, assumes that the debt is $2,7OO,-
600, 900, and the interest per cent. Com
nencing with an annual payment of $l0,-
0O0,000 Of the principal, shows how the debt
can be extinguished in the year zoos, or
one undrcd and forty-two years from 1866.
This is so gradual process that the amount
of interest to be raid, in all, would he
50, $50, 900, ,00O--nearly four times the prin
cipal--and the total amount required to
discharge the debt in this way would be
$12, 52S, 500 000-a sum equal to almost five
times the original debt. But, large as this
sum is, is only the amount the Government
will receive, not the actual amount the peo-
ple must pay, which we shall find, as we
proceed to be quite different matter.
Upon all taxes laid on commodities, for
eign or domestic, the merchant and dealer
through whose hands they pass charge
profit. These taxes incrs ase their cost; and
AS the trader, OF course, charges his profit
per tentum upon that, the consumer her to
pay profits upon the tpxes as truly as upon
the original cost Of the articles.
Foreign good pass through the hands of
importers, jobbers and retailers. If their
q sggregste profit are together equal to only
33d per cent, which will be an average OF
about / per cent. each, and probably much
less than in the actual fact, and if domestic
articles pass through the hands Of but two
classes of dealers, at 10 per cent. each,
which, as the profit of the last dealer is
charged upon the first, is equal to 2l per
cent, which is fair estimate in proportion
to the former, we shall then have q basis
upon which TO compute the entire cost to
the tax payers.
From an analysis of the revenue of 1867,
and the charges certain to be made, it is
clear that about 50 per cent Of our revenue
will be derived from the Custom House
duties, and 25 per cent. from direct or in.
direct excise upon home products the bal
auce from income and other special taxes.
II so, it will then be true that, Of the sum
required to pay the gross amount OF $l2.-
52S, ,00U. 900, one half, or $6 264, 900. 000 will
be paid by these duties. and one-half the
balance, or $3,l32, 600, 900, by excise on
merchantable commodities, Whe then get
as the following result:
On sc, ,246 0OO, 900, profits, 33s
per cent, amount. ..... Sc, OBS, ,060, 900
cent, amount .................... s57.72o,ooo
Total paid in profits ........ $2,745.72u,oOo
Thus it appears that, by the tedious pro-
cess Of procrastnation which is proposed by
the Republican platform, the people would
pay, in mere profit upon taxes, a larger sum
than the whole original amount of the ma
tional dctt! But this is not all. The debt
must be taken care of during the long pc.
riod contemplated The English Govern
ment pays over $500, 900 annually for the
care OF its debt. Ours could hardly cost
less; but as we are suprosing that it will be
gradually reduced until extinguished, We
may safely assume thai the cost Of manage
ment will be for the whole term $3.50, ,00C
per annum. which, in one hundred and
ierty-two years, would amount to $35, $500,
900, to be added to tie amount the people