The West Virginia journal. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1864-1877, 1868-11-18
What arc the United States
Worth ?

y ~ great HCal Is saIu, u! DclHOSlHIlE
orators and editors. about the cnormi
~ Of the national debt, and the impos-
sibility Of paying It of for ever so
mauy generations. 1t is den ominatcl
n permanent mortgage upon the whole
property and labor Of the country.
We arc coolly. invited to contemplate
ourselves, not only as groanin@ under
n load OF debt that isncvcr likely to he
discharged, but as. acquicscing In our
own di>honor, and cmancipating our,
selves from the incubus3by attempting
TO pay it of 'by.nn unlimited issuc'of
nrccnbacks. Such II rcmedyIoull bc
sG mNcll worse than the disease, that;
any party which should carry il into.
effect would be itself speedily rcpudia-
ted by the people. q
| But let It's consider. for moment.
the actual figures Of our debt. rs com
pared with the probable resources OF
our people: We say probaLlc rcsour-
ccS. because all the means for cstinia-
tin" The value OF property. or the az
@rc&atc of wealth in this country, Gas
in every oihcr.) are necessarily impcr-
feet and only remotely representative.
]
inlnucv: nor has even the first rude
altruIri been made To tabu!air the value
Of property in the national ccn>nS 'In-
til within thirty years. The OASIS OF
these tables. in fact. WAS the Sialc leF!
ofall property fnrpurpo-cS OF taNatioh'
which j. nOioriUu-Iy greatly below the
| real value. II also excluded AL prop
rr,v hrioii"ir" Ia the States. or to the
United STATES. When il is considered
that his rnug! estimate thus cNciHucN
from valuation, ~ property, the entire
lpubiir domain. with il. enormous.
though undcvcl"p"d wealth. ~ well rs
every other spcrir> Of HoYrrnmcni
property. whether State or national, II
will readily appear that the figures arc
sufficiently moderate.
The first attempt 10 secure data 10!
an estimate of our national wealth WAS
in thr census Of 1910. Since then we
have haI two additional inventories Of
property, aud il is probable that the
figures (Ihou"h. rs yet. far from trust.
worthy grow steadily more complete
II: the end Of each census decade. Made
up IL they are. they certainly can not
be suspected Of 0vcr.>taicmrnts.
The following. are the figures of the
ag"rc~alc valuation Of property, both
real and personal. in the national cen
>u-. al the respective periods named:
!>iG ......................... S316I'ytC1l
ISH ......... ... ................... t.h.,INS-S
i>J Observation-Disclosures. E. ......... lG.l hI!iG'|
L. will thus hc seen that, while the
percentage OF Increase in the decade
from 1919 10 1850 WAS less than one
hundred per cent. the ratio during The
next Ten years wa> increased 10 over
one hundred and lwrnty-siX per cent.
ETt. ia !hc last ccU.uS. til" Mar>halI
were instructed to 20 further. They
procured return from individuals. in
each ccns,lS district throughout the
United StutcS. Of real estate and per-
>unal property Is valued at the time.
which was The lSt day Of June, 1850.
The aggregate of this distinct valuation
was, for HE whole United States, no
less than $l9.OS9. ljG.!$9. or, in round
numbers. Rinctcrn MO"Snnd millions Gf
d0ii0rH. It we offset the whole SUN Of
Tie national debt against this. (cXcIud-
ing. ~ il does, Hll national and State
iprupcrtv. and embracing only the in.
Iiyiiual wealth OF the na!ioll.) We shall
have the following result:
Aggregate. at private wealth In the
,i', un, Sn,", y" iT% G, iSS 'S,", "!.E"m"I
Balance r...................... slGrkD,U,1N
Eut the above leaves out Of account
the great increase, during the past eight
years. o! our aggregate Of wealth. This
! has been prodigi0usly rapid in some
directions (as IN aSricutnrcl Gn1 less
~ in others. We. will no: claim that
il j. equal to the ratio Of the preceding
licu years, although IL is certain that
| the rapid 9r0wil, OF certain Industries,
and the great influx Of foreign popula.
ton since lSG5, are doin" " much (amd
will do still more between this and
1870 10 repair the waste aud losses
caused by our four ycars' war. Sup.
pose we state the increase foEil:p .enf.s
rent decade Il t Only esitslfsofss tSiiat; ;it:
kwasrillttllc tcItSy years pre- ccding. This.
isS Scertainly moderate Zen noush. Ard,
as we nrc aware thatIthc value Of slave
property was rcckoncl In the census
of 1850. we will deduct that item from
tho basis Of calculations. We shalltllcn
have the following result: :; .. T.,
Agsrr"ntr ~ private wealth in the:
United States IN lSD ....Sl9 00n 000 O00
Deduct estimated vuIuo or 100000
n!avcs at s'iJ ................"....." 2t0honoD
...~ - :l7.uD,~u,no
| Adj percentage Of incrca~r, lsGn Ia
IS,H. nj Dnr.ialf that Of lStI tO lSjI. 80 20.
or ~ Irr cent !N,tCilu Of III Der
cent ,,........... IV,'lu,Up
Aggregate "fprivHtr wealth In 1870 o00
The latter sum, after dcducting the
aggregate OF our national debt, will
still leave over twenty-five thousand
millions Of dollars Of actual wealth.
Now, suppose that any citizen, pos
Scsscd ofpr0pcrty 10 any amount that
may DC named, owes debts TO the
amount Of onc-tcnth that property: Is
his case Il very desperate one: Is ten
per cent. Of ones assets n very alaynaI
Ing lien or mortgage upon ,6neEs re-
sources: Yet our ntirothatio debt,
large enough as itm, and important as
it is that not 2,tDliar Of unicccssary
debt slQplf,cvcr sbc created, is less
.@tbxrf onc-tcnth. OF tho private. wealth Of
our citizens, leaving wholly ont Of ac-
count the public wealth, MS well ns the
rapid and increasing growth Of our re-
sources In the future. Why. the vnluc
Of the corn crop Of the United States
alone, for two years, would more than
| pay OF tho debt Of twenty-five hun
| lrnI ,n;liinnc =