New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-08-19
!. THURSDAY. AUGUST 10. 1866

shores we NAV reasonably presume that, in
one shane or another it has been registered at
our Custom Houses, and forms part OF the
value of the exports with which we stahu
credited upon the official records. On the
other hand il it has not left our shores, we
must sunnose that it has been relnvested here
and now forms an addition to our debts pub
lie and priyate) to foreign nations. Undoubt-
edly. n large part of the apparent adverse pal
ance of $4,000 900 mentioned above Is to be
thus accounted fOr-viz., by foreign invest
ments in some sort of American securities.
On the whole, it seems probable that we shall
not err very widely in accepting the figures
given above (s1i3,OOO OOO) as a measure of the
increase of our public and private indebted
ness to foreigners during the year.
This is not an agreeable conclusion; but upon
examination it will be found less dlScouraglng
than it appears at first sight. 1t does not I'M
ply that our importers are falling behhd IN
their accounts with foreign merchants, ana
that our people are in turn running INTO deOC
TO our own merchants, nor does 1t necessarily
drive us to the inference that we are
| living beyond our means and cOhSum-
ing more than we can afford OIL our
own products and of imported merchan-
disc. A more probable explanation Is that
| an exceptional demand for American securities
| arose in Europe during the past year, ana thaI
| foreigners have become our creditors to large
! amount because of their own anxiety to do so,
rather than through cur own eagerness 10 incur
debt. Such an exceptional demand may beaccount
ed for. in part by the demise of Andrew JohnsohS
Administration, which, throughits frequent rev.
olutionary menaces, prolonged some Oh inc
commercial evils of war until It's close, ana ny
| the accession to power of an Administration
pledged to the honest payment of the Natiohai
obligations change which, although 1t dld
NOT occur until the 4th of March, was for
mally promulgated to the world through the
results of the October elections, and began at
once 70 prodnce its effects. Another cause
which tended strongly to make both our public
and private securities popular, was inc e'l'
dences our country hasshown of its great recupe-
rative powers, and of its rapidly returning pros
perity.
In one respect, then, the conclusions we
draw from the heavy balance against us are
rather satisfactory than otherwise. They are
an indication of high credit. II is true that
the readiness of foreigners to take our secuTl-
ties may have tended to encourage US In ex-
travagance but, as a matter OF fact, TINS does
not appear to have been the case to any great
extent. An examination of the items OF our
imports shows that the increase upon the I'M
portatons Of the preceding year has Deeh less
in those commodities usually classed as luxu-
ries than in such things as contribute 10 the
future production of wealth; while the falling
off in our exports is more than accounted for
by the precious metals alone, the exports OF
other merchandise having been larger by some
millions than during the preceding year. We
know too, that an unusually large proportion OF
our active industry has been employed during
the year in the prosecution of important in
ternal improvements. which form vast per-
manent addition TO the National wealth If Om
capitalists have sold bonds to foreigners, and
invested in these great home enterprises, it has
undoubtedly been because they saw in tho lat
ter a better source of profit than in the former
and we may trust their judgment that the
country will not lose much by the indebted
ness thus incurred abroad.
The chief cause for uneasiness in connection
with the large amount of our bonds held by
foreigners ia the high rate of interest they
bear but the fact that most of them are re-
deemable at the option of the Government at
the expiration of five years from their issue "a
term which, for a considerable part of them,
has already expired) puts an easy remedy
within our reach. This is to go on buying
them up as rapidly as possible, until they
reach par value, and then giving foreign
rs we'll as home holders the option of convert
ing them into security Mt a reasonable rate
of interest or having them redeemed. This
policy, if persisted in. will show very differ
ent trade balance at the end Of the current
fiscal year.
We must not be understood rs thinking this
balance against us good thing; for it is MT,
and we never imagined that it could be. 1t is
deplorable that we ran deeper into debt to
Europe last year to the amount of nearly One
Hundred and Fifty Millions of Dollars; but
there is consolation in the fact that we stimuli
taneously increased our Home wealth by at
least ten times that amount. We ought to
have done this and not incurred the debt; but,
since We did incur the debt, it is well that we
have something to show for it. We owe the
cash for railroads, factories, furnaces, houses,
&c, we meantime built; we heartily wish we
had done without or made ut home tho Silks
Laces, Brussels Carpets, rich Paris furniture
and multifariOus gauds by importing which
the debt was actually incurred. By-and-by,
we hope to do So
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