Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-09-08
THE PUBLIC DEBT-STRIKING IL
ILLUSTRATIONS.


The Louisville Democrat has taken..to il
Illustrating the Public Debt, with a view of
showing up its immensely. 1t says that the
statement of the Public Debtspublished Au-
gust ], 1868, confesses that the amount of
that great Irrational blessing" foots up 81
523, 1874, 4SO! These figures represent an
amount of indebtedness that few men can
comprehend. Its immensity is barely within
the bounds of human calculation, and would
prove appalling to nation of RorHscHILDs,
BARINGs and PEABoDYs.
1t stands upon theruin of the Constitution,
amid the crumbling pillars of the American
Republio,5 monument of Radical misrule,
incompetency,v illainy and despotism. While
it represents the price of our national ruin
and degradation, it is eloquent of national
and of selfish subjugatiOh of the poor to the
rich.
The tax gatherers, of whom it is the fertile
parent, are now busy in every street, lane,
highway and by way in the lasd and are as
disastrous to the prosperity of the country as
these seven plaques, to which Pharaoh was
compelled to succumb. They demand taxes
for
The hat on your head,
The boots on your feet,
The clothes on your person,
The food you eat,
The tea and coffee you drink,
The pot it is cooked in,
The cup you drink it out of,
The implements on your farm,
The tools you work with,
The paper you write on,
The pen and ink you use,'
The papers and books you read,
The furniture in your house,
The gas or oil you burn,
The coal you consume,
The stove you burn it in,
The match you light it with.
The medicine you take,
The tobacco you smoke,
The pipe you smoke it in,
The dishes on your table, and
All YOU cat off them.
Those Of our readers who deal in money
and who are in the daily habit of inspecting
piles of greenbacks may he interested with
the following illustrations, which we find in
the Frankfort Ycomdn.
The highest mountain in the world is
peak of the Himalaya Mountains, in India,
which reaches the altitude of %, 179 feet, or
little less than five and half miles.
The public debt of the United States,
according to the official statement of the Sec
rotary of the Treasury, amounted on the first
Of the present month, to the sum of 81, 523,-
534, 4S0. Now, let US, for illustration, suppose
this debt to be in one dollar bills, and piled
up before us. Do you imagine it would reach
''mnuntaiu hight" Let us see:
TO be. IS 49,, 344. inches!
or........... %, lG2 9l5. feet !!
or...-.-....... 100 9SI. yards!!!
or.....................s9 sI 80. -. miles!
or, if the notes were Of the denomination of
500 each, instead of 81, we should have
pyramid of money reaching about four miles
high whilst the highest mountain peak in
North America Mount ST. Elias, in Russian
America is but II 900 feet or less than 8
miles.
Still further; let US suppose the debt to be
in silver instead of notes, and estimating SIG
to the pound, we have aceiyht of debt amount
car loads Cat Ii, 900 pounds to the carr, which
would make train of cars Sc miles in length,
allowing but thirty feet to the car! !!
But let US illustrate little further, and
suppose it were necessary to take the silver
dollars from the mint, employing porters for
that purpose, requiring each man to carry
forty pounds. In that case it would take
about 100000 men, who standing three
feet apart, would make line about 5000
miles long; and marching at the rate of three
miles an hour it would require about forty
days for this debt burdened army to pass a
given point And the task of counting the
debt, in silver dollars, would be one of almost
endless duration. Let US see: A man COM
mencing August 1st, 1868. and working ten
hours each day and counting sixty dollars
each minute, would accomplish the job y. d.
1868.
But there are other illustrations of the
magnitude of this great Irrational blessing"
which cannot fail to arrest the attention of
farmers, to whom the following is addressed.
At 81 per bushel the public debt represents
1861, 7G7 ,245 bushels of wheat, or 81 $685. 18
tons, To transport this amount in two horse
wagons, allowing one ton to each, would
require 37,706,017 wagons and 1906, 034
horses Give each team 80 feet space, and
you have cavalca6e which lCoud encircLc the
globe!
But we tire of these illustrations, as we do
of everything pertaining to Radical rule,
which in brief period has covered the land
with ruin and crowned their work with inn
mortal infamy by monument of debt which,
like the pyramids, are more conspicuous from
the desolation that surrounds them.
WHAT TO STAMP.-For the benefit of our