The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1868-09-01
The Public Debt--Strikfng Illus
tratiOnS.

The Louisville Democrat has taken to
illustrating the Public Debt, with view
Of showing up its immensity. 1t says
that the statement Of the public Debt
published August 1. 1868, confesses that
the amount of that great Irrational bless
ing" foots up S2,523, ,534 ,4S0! These
figures represent an amount of indebted
ness that few men can comprehend. Its
immensity is barely within the bounds
of human calculation, and would prove
appalling TO q nation OF Rothsohilds,
Barings and Peabodys.
It stands upon the ruin of the Consti-
tuition, amid the crumbling pillars Of the
American Republic, monument of Rad
ical misrule, incompetency, villainy and
despotism. While it represents the
price of our national ruin aud degreda.
ton, it is eloquent Of national bankrupt.
cy, intolerable and eternal taxation and
selfish subjugation Of the poor to the
rich. 9, s~z....
The tax gatherers, Of whom it is .he
fertile parent. are now busy in every
street, lane, highway and byway in the
land; and are as disastrous to the pros
perity Of the country as these seven
plaques, to which Pharaoh was compelled
to snccumb. 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, a
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 yon burn,
The coal yeu 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 eat of them.
Those Of our readers who deal in mon
ey aud who in the daily habit of in
specting piles Of greenbacks may be in
terested with the following illustrations,
which ve 6nd 10 the Frankfort Yeoman:
The highest mountain in the world is
Q peak Of the Himslays Mountains, in
India, which reaches the altitude Of g..
178 feet, sf little less than Eve and q
ha.f miles.
The public debtof the United States,
according 70 the official statement Of the
Secretary Of the Treasury, amounted, on
the frst Of the present month, to the
sum Of s2,523, ,534, ,4s0. Now, let US, fol
illustration, suppose this debt to be in
one dollar bills, and piled up before us
Do you imagine it would reach "mountsin
hight" Let Us see:
Allow one hundred notes to the inch
and We have its hight
To be ........25, ,235, ,344. inches!
or.............2, 102, ,945........ feet!l
or.............. 700, 0,9S1........yards! II
or........... $685.. .....miles II
or, Il the notes we're of the denomination
of s100 each, instead OF 81, we should
have a pyramid of money reaching about
four miles highl whilst the highest noun.
tain peak in North America, (Mount St
Elias in Russian Amerlca), is but II, 900
feet, or less than 81 miles.
Still further: let US suppose the deb
to be in silver instead of notes, and esti
mating SIC to the pound, We have 6
weight Of debt amounting to just 157 ,720.
sos poundsl or 1857 car loads (at 16,.
OC0 pounds to the cary, which would
make train Of cars 56 miles in length
allowing but thirty feet TO the CARL!
Bullet us illustrate little further; and
suppose it we're necessary to take the
silver dollars from she mint, employing
porters for that purpose, requiring each
man to carry forty pounds. In that case
it would take about 1900, 900 men, who
standing three feet apart, would make Q
line about 5000 miles long; and march.
ing at the rate of three miles an hour i,
would require about forty days for this
debt -burdened army to pass given point
And the task of counting the debt, il
silver dollars, would be one of almost
endless duration. Let US see: A mar
commencing August 1st, 1868, and work.
ing ten hours each day and counting six.
ty dollars each minute, would accomplish
the job A. d. 1868.
But there are other illustrations oI
the magnitude of this great "Dationa
blessing which cannot fail to arrest the
attention Of farmers, to whom the follow
ngis addressed:
At SO per bushel the public debt rep
resents 1921, ,767, ,245 bushels of wheat
or 81 ,S53,0l7 tuns. To transport thit
amount in two-horse wagons, allowing
one tuu to each, would require 1885,.
or wagons aud 75,7O6,34 horsesi Give
each team 30 feet space, and you have /;
cavalcade which 'coulG encirele the globe
But we tire Of these illustrations, a,
We do Of everything pertaining to Radi
cal rule, which in brief period has Gov
cred the land with ruin and crowned theil
wfrk with immortal iDfamy by monu
,nept Of dett which, like the pyramids, are
more conspicuous iron the desolatior
that surrounds them.