Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-12-08


of natural beauty, his imagination found
its proper field and aliment; and if poetry
to truth, mediated to the acceptance of the
soul by the sense of beauty, we can easily
understand how the forms of external ma
ture, as seen in earth, sky and ocean, be-
come gifted by the poets fancy with f'a To-
cal habitation and name"
Around this enchanting spot I would
gladly linger for days or even months
From the number of guests at the Kings
Arms Hotel, [ should suppose that many
have been making it their summer resort.
But as my poet says
Pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower its bloom is shed."
''A National Debt National Blessing" !"
From the Chicago Advance.
The following statement, by q friend of
fair play who is perfectly conversant with
the matter which he writes, is contribu-
ton to the financial history of our war
period which deserves to be put on record
To the Commercial Editor Of the 4dcance:
| notice that the recent publication in your
columns of letter from Mr.. Jay Cooke, ap-
proving your proposed plan for resuming
specie payments. has revived the very silly
custom on the part Of a portion of the press
of attribnting to that gentleman the bald,
unqualified declaration that "a national debt
is national blessing" Mr.. Cooke never
made such a declaration, and the eminent
service he rendered our country at a time
when financial ability, energy and foresight
were quite as essential to the nations pres
ervation as good generalship, entities him at
least to immunity from persistent misrepre-
sentation at the hands Of reputable Journals
During the four years of the war Mr.. Cooke,
as fiscal agent Of the government, negotia-
ted the following loans:
First Five twenty loan. .........S 543, 900, 900
SeYen-Ihlrty loan ....-.......... S3O, ,0OO,OOO
Other loans. ..............-... 300, ,O00,0 900
Total Observation-Disclosures 81 ,643, 900, 900
The government had failed utterly to pop
ularize its own l. ans, its treasury was empty
and Mr.. Cooke entered upon his great task
at his own solicitation. The compensation
he received was not one-fourth as much as
European governments pay their financial
agents for similar services with less risk Mr.
Cookies principal reward came in the shape
of that financial prestige and reputation
both here and in Europe, which have placed
his firm at the head of the monled interest
on this continent and poured into his New
York, Philadelphia and Washington banking
houses volume of unsolicited business which
could not fail to result in great accumula-
ton of wealth.
of series issuued by Mr.. Cooke in the nter
est of the public credit and the sale of bonds,
Previous ones had treated of "How to Or
game National Bank, !" and "How our Debt
may be paid, and the one in question was
entitled s'ROac our Notional Debt nldu be a
National Blessing It was written by Mr..
samuel Wikeson, formerly Of the New York
Tribune, and published with the approval of
Mr.. Cooke. The pamphlet was issued for
definite end, and It accomplished its purpose
perfectly It was IN tbs winter of '64-5; the
debt had reached a prodigious figure, conf
dence in an early termination Of the war was
at low ebb the press all over the land was
indulging in the most dOleful prognostica-
tions as to the 'scrushing debt" the lawful
mortgage upon us and our children" etc. SO
nearly universal was this cry that the most
cheerful became Respondent; the loans
dropped; it was almost Impossible to dis
pose of the bond or MAINTAIN standing in the
market, and financial croakers multiplied like
the frogs in Egypt. The prevalent despond-
encv at home depressed the spirits of our
troops in the field. and the means to carry on
the war daily become harder to obtain. I'm
der these circumstances 1T was 3 necessity
that some one should present the bright aide
of the financial situation, and turn attention
to the incidental benefits of that growing
debJ which was represented to be an unmixed
curse and an iutolerablc burden. To do this
in the only effective way was OF course in
consistent with the traditional and helpless
dignity of great government, and MIR.
Cooke, as the governments agent, with the
quick eye of 8 sensible business man, under
took to show the people, through his famous
pamphlet, that they were more scared
than hurt by the national debt. He knew
that his document must have a startling title
and present the subject in a popular manner
in order to make any impression on the pre-
occupied public mind. He did not propose
TO publish critical essay on political econo-
my, nor did he profess to treat the matter
iudiciallY, giving equal prominence to the
dark and the bright features of the debt
question. He spoke as an advocate, his pur-
pose being to aid the government in selling
It's bonds to doubling and reluctant lenders
of money. 1t was not his business to hold
up the gloomy side. He presented the
che erful part of the picture and purposely
left the unpleasant portion untouched. Mr..
Cooke was perfectly aware, and never dream
ed of teaching otherwise, that, as general
proposition, debt of the individual or of
the nation Is an evil, but, having the de6t
upon as, he sought to show that 'if right
ly managed" it's burdens would be compare
lively light and its benefits many. Perhaps
more felicitous title for the paper, consid
ering it's scope and aim, would have been,
F'In what Particulars q National Debt may
be National Blessing, much as one might
with perfect propriety write an essay on the
BLESSINGS of labor" although the necessity
for manual toll is popularity regarded as an
evil. 1t is not difficult to controvert some of
the minor arguments of the pamphlet refer
red to- just as fallacles may De found in the
financial writings of professed political econ
om1sts, but in it's general enumeration and
estimate of the advantages to accrue from
the national debt, partially offsetting it's
hardships, the paper was substantially cor
rect and sound.
Mr.. Cooke, in issuing his pamphlet, ex-
pected to encounter storm of criticism and
abuse, and he was not Disappointed but his
object was accomplished, and he could afford
to pay the price. The Confederate press
abandoned their assaults upon the public
credit, and engaged in fierce onslaught on
denunciation ard rid'cule were exhausted in
tdemolshing the doctrine that ga national
debt is national blessing"-a doctrine Mr.
Cooke never advanced, and hence man of
straw. More than a million copies of the
pamphlet were circulated and read among
the people, and the effect of the widespread
discussion was to aid materially IN lifting the
public mind out of the dumps, in giving a
new impetus to the sale Of bonds, and in re-
storing confidencein the ability of the nation
to stand erect under It's load.
The leading positions taken by the writer
of the "National Blessing" pamphlet we're
these: (D With our resources the debt can be
easily and certainly paid; (2) the government
securities furnish widely diffused and easily
available cash capital, ready at all times for
the uses OF business enterprise; ~ these Sc
curities constitute the best possible savings
bank for workmen, widows and orphans; a.
the debt furnishes the only sound basis for a
system of uniform national currency; (5) the
annual savings to the people by such a ma
tional currency based on the debt will nearly
pay the interest on the debt; (6) the public
debt, difused throughout all the states and
among all political parties, will serve as
bond of union and check to part1-
san violence; ~ this generation should
not be required to pay the whole
Of the debt; (8) our revenue system should
be materially modified, we should cease
counting the peoples teaspoons and collect
our internal tax from few articles, spirits,
wine and tobacco being the leading ones; (9)
increased population and increased manufac-
lures will constantly tighten the debt burden
by diffusing 1t; Q0) we should make Europe
contribute 10 our revenue by l-vying an ex
else tax on expor ed cotton and petroleum.
From this outline Of the doctrines pre-
sented in he pamphlet, and this explanation
OF the occasion OF it's issue, the reader cal
! l.