Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-12-10
ga National Debt National Blessing


To the Commcrcial Editor Of the Advance: !
| notice that the recent publication in
your columns of agletter from DIR. Jay
Cooke, Approving your proposed plan for
: resun1ing specie payments has revived
the very SHY custom on the part. of a
portion of the press Of attributine tothat
gentleman herbaId, unqualified declaration
that :. a national debt is a national bless
o ing" Mr.. Cooke never made such a
declaration, and the eminent service he
rendered hour' country at a time when
financial ability, energy sand foresight
were quite as essential to the nations
preservation as good generalship, ientitles
him at least to the immunity, from per
sistent Misrepresentation at the hand, OF
reputable, journals. .ecsa.t .1o -.,...,H
During the four years of the war Mr..
Cooke, as fiscal agent of the government,
negotiated the following loans: 70 ~
First Five twenty loan Y. ~. s 513 OOe, 600
Seven Thirty loan. S30,000n 200
other loans. SVoVoopoo
Total. .............: .$1643,0O 1000
The government had failed utterly to
popularize its ownsloans, its treasury was
empty, and Mr.. Cooke entered upon his
great task at the request of the admins
tration and not at his own solicitation
a6Fhecompensation he received WAS not one
0 fourth as much as European governments
pay their financial agents for similar SER
vices with less risk. Mr.. Cookies principal
reward camein the shape of that financial
prestige'and reputation, both here and in
Europe, whit h have placed his. firm at the
head of the monIed interest on this COM
tinent and poured into his New York,
Philadelphia and Washington banking
houses a volume of unsolicited business
which could not fail to result in great
accumulation Of wealth. .a...sst
$50 The National Blessing" pamphlet was
one Of a series issued by Mr.. Cooke in the
interest of the public credit aud the sale
of bonds. Previous ones had treated of
GLOW to organize National Bank" and
"HoW.our debt may be paid, and the one
in question was entitled, '"L7ooo our MAJ
tional Debt may be a National Blessing.p
1t was written by eNTr. Samuel Wllkeson,
formerly OF. the New York Tribune, and
published with the approval of Mr. Cooke.
The pamphlet was issued for a definite
end, and it accomplished its purpose sper-
fectly. 1t was in the winter of '64-5;
the debt had reached prodigious figure.
confidence in an early termination of the
war was at a low ebb; the ,disloyal press
all.over the land was INDUCING in the
most doleful representation as to the
." crushing debt" the lawful mortgage
upon us and our Children" etc. So nearly
universal was this cry that the most cheer
full became respondent; the loans
dropped; it was almost impossible to dis
pose of the bonds or maintain their stand
ing in the market, and financial croakers
multiplied like the frogs in Egypt. The
prevalent despondency at home depressed
/, the spirits of our troops in the field, and
the means to carry on the war daily be-
q. came harder to obtain. Under these cir
cumstance it was a necessity that some
0ne should present the bright side of the
financial situation, and turn attention to
the incidental benefits of that growing
debt which was represented to be an I'M
mixed curse and an intolerable burden.
To do this in the only effective way was
of. course inconsistent with the traditional
and helpless dignity of q great govern
inent, and Mr. Cooke, as the governments
= agent, with the quick eye of a sensible
business man, undertook to show the
people, through his famous pamphlet, that
they wereSmore scared than hurt by the
national debt. He knew that his docu-
ment must have striking title and pre-
sent the subject In popular manner in
order to make any impression on the pre-
occupied public mind. He did not pro-
pose to publish a critical essay on political
economy, nor did he profess to treat the
matter judicially, giving equal prominence
to the dark and the bright features of the
debt question. He spoke as an advocate,
his purpose being to aid the government
in selling its bonds to doubling and re-
luctant lenders of money. 1t was not his
business to hold up the gloomy side. He
presented the cheerful part of the picture
and purposely left the unpleasant portion
untouched. Mr. Cooke was perfectly
aware, and never dreamed of teaching
otherwise, that, as a general proposition,
debt of the individul or of the nationis
an evil, but, hdojng the debt qspon as, he
sought to show that I" if rightly managed'a
its burdens would be comparatively light
and its benefits many. Perhaps a more
felicitous title for the paper, considering
its scope and aim, would have been, Gin
What Particulars National Debt may be
a National Blessing, much as one might
with perfect d.propriety write an essay ON
the blessings of. labor" although the ne
cessity for manual toll is popularity re-
garded as an evil 1t is not difficult to
controvert some. Of the minor arguments
OF the pamphlet referred to, just as falla-
cies may be found in the financial writings
of protested political economists, but in
its general enumeration and estimate of
the advantages to accrue from the nation
al debt, partially offsetting its hardships,
the paper was substantially correct and
sound. ,,as ass
Mr.. Cooke, in issuing his pamphlet, cx-
. pected to encounter a storm OF criticism
and abuse, and he was not disappointed ;
but his object was accomplished, and he
could afford to pay the price. The Cop
perhead press abandoned their assaults
upon the public credit, and, engaged in a
fierce onslaught on the Cooke pamphlet.
All the resources Of 'denunciation and rid
icule were exhausted in demolishing the
doctrine that ga national debt is national
blessing "a doctrine Mr.. Cooke never
advanced, and hencey a man of straw.
More than "a million copies of the PAM
phlet were circulated and read among the
people, and the effect of the widespread
discussion was to aid materially in lifting
the public mind ont of the dumps, in giy3
ing new impetus to the sale of bonds,
and in restoring confidence in the ability
of the nation to stand erect under it's load.
The leading positions taken by the
writer of the National Blessing" PAM
phlet were these: Q) With our resources
the debt can be easily and certainly paid ;
(2) the government securities furnish a
widely diffused and easily available cash
capital, ready at all times for the uses of
business enterprise; (3) these securities
constitute the best possible savings bank
for workingmen, widows and orphans ;