The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-08-11
GOKHERCIAI And FEAECIAL.
From tas MelO York Post.
THE PUBIC DEBT.

The public debt statement, which ap'
peared in our special dispatches yester.
day, is more satisfactory than was
expected, notwithstanding the very
large payments of interest during the
last two months. The apparent in
crease of the whole debt, after deduct
| Ing the cash in the Treasury, is only
SIS, ,2Ss, ,593 SO. OF this Sc, sos. 600 consists
of bonds issued to the Pacific Railroad,
/ which are a debt of these roads, for
which the United States hold mort
gage upon the property. These bonds
can only become claim upon the Gov
ernment in the very improbable event
of the failure of the railroad companies
to provide for their mortgage debt. De-
ducting this, the apparent increase is
reduced to S6.9s0, ,59S 93.
These statements, under Mr.. McCul-
loch's direction, are unfortunately so
imperfect that they convey very little
Information as to the actual condition
of the Treasury. They do not include
the Interest already accrued whether it
is already payable or not. In conse-
quence of this, the public debt, as
officially stated, is subject to violent
fluctuations in amount, when the funds
for the payment of the interest Rccu-
mulate for one month and are paid out
during the next. 1t is only by COM
pairing the statements at intervals of a
year that any trust can be given to their
Indications; and even then they are
seriously disturbed by the TACT that the
accrued interest on the compound in
terest notes is not included in them.
No man but Mr.. McCulloch has access
to the exact figures, and until he
chooses to obey the law, and publish
them, any guesses by the press will be
worth little.
The total debt, less cash in the Treas.
ury, was reported August l. 1867, at
g. GIL BOG, ,426. 1t is now S2,523, So, :
S4S. The amount of the Pacific rail-
road bonds was then S15, ,402. 600; it is
now $32, 30, 600. Deducting theSesums,
we have the capital of the debt of the
United States year ago, s., ,r495 904, ,426 !;
and il is now, S2,49l, 1924 ,9IS. Thus the
revenues of the Treasury for the past
year have reduced the whole indebted
ness 81, ,579 .5T6.
Bot, in addition to this, the amount
of the compound interest notes has been
reduced within the year $50, ,724. $40.
These notes, when funded or paid, have
borne compound interest for three
years at six per cent. that is to say, of
the interest paid upon them at mature
ty, less than six per cent. ought to be
reckoned as belonging to the current
year nearly all of it, in fact, having
been due, though not Payable,.a "a year
ago, for most ofthese notes were funded
in the first months of the fiscal year.
Not less than fifteen per cent, there
fore, upon this sum S12,O0s, ,6sI must be
credited to the reduction of the public
debt. Adding this to the apparent re-
duction before exhibited, the total is
81, ,5sS ,257 ; or, in round numbers, we
have reduced our debt for the last year
at the rate of one and a half millions
per month.
Were the finances of the country in
a settled and sound condition, this rate
of payment would be quite as rapid as
is necessary to sustain its credit. But
our system OF taxation is unsettled,
having been very seriously modified
during the last six month. Its future
productiveness is uncertain; and the
adequacy of the revenues for the next
year depends very largely upon causes
beyond the control of Congress and be-
youd the foresight of the people. The
Government itself has no policy but to
await events and its future course is
likely to lie governed as much by po-
lilical as by properly financial consid-
erations. Under these circumstances
the holders of the debt cannot be en-
tirely freed from anxiety, even by a
statement which, on the whole, appears
SO gratifying as this.