Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-05-11
WHOLE NUMBER l22.
Debt and Taxation In England and
America.

America.
a suggestive remark occurred i'm the
speech of Mr.. Lowe, the English Chan
CellOr Of the EXchequer, presenting his
annual budget to Parliament. He was
able to show that he had paid off more
than four million pounds of special debt,
during the past year, and expected a
large surplus of revenue for the year to
come. ''The secret of all this is the sim
plest thing in the world, " said the Chan
cellOr; it is nothing on earth but ecunO-
my" And be added determination to
stick to that policy, and the hope that
Parliament would give the Ministry, sin
! this course Of economy, the same support
it had given hitherto" Our Admins
( tration too, claims to have reduced the
public debt of the United States some
what during the past year, but it has
been done in spite of the Executive De-
/ p2rtment, not through its policy; for
the appropriations were all made before
/ the present administration came into
I power. Now that it IS compelled to
make its own estimates, every chief of
( department is demanding largely in
/ creased appropriations, and every at
/ tempt to lOp off useless objects of exDen-
| dituTe encounters howl Of agOnized re-
/ mOnstrance from the hOrdes Of ravenous
/ leeches who are fattening upon the spoils
/ of the Treasury. There is no loud call
| here for the support Of the legislative
/ body in q "cOurse Of economy" and the
only chance our officials can see for are
duetiOn Of the burden of taxation, is
| through a cessation of the process Of
/ paying off the debt. Hence the anxiety
/ Of Secretary Boutwell, for funding bill
| "A swindling arrangement that would
! levy upon the industry of the next gem
Grafton the tax which has been incurred
and should be paid if paid at all, by the
/ present, The men capable of devils
ing such scheme would not hesitate to
rob orphan asylums for the Interests Of
the party"
1t has been latterly supposed, by the
way, that this projected generalization
/ of the national debt through q funding
bill providing for the issue of bonds
nOminally payable in about half a CEN
tury hence, was definitely disposed of
for the present session at least, But
Secretary Boutwell, and the money
kings are not disposed to give it up So
There has been little affectation Of on
position on the banks to the reduction
OF the rate of interest from six
to fOur-and-a-half per cent, nut that
" 90 - AOl z GuGLlEHAl5ll GllLSlOlls ueSlRDeO
to conceal the real movements and mo-
tives of the manipulatOrs. Like the
| hOrse-thief who proposed to sWap n stO-
len animal for 'One of his own. . all the
bOndhOlders - bankers included = are
anxious to get rid of paper they now
hold which has the incurable odOr of
fraud about it and might be at any mo-
ment scaled down by Democratic Con-
gress to its original price in gold, or tax
ed at Q rate liberal enough to secure
something like Justice for other tax-pav-
ing people. A four or fOur-Ond-a-haIf
! per cent. bond, running forty or fifey
! years, guaranteed payable at its face in
| gold, and free from all taxes, would be
obviously worth much more than anv
| Government paper of that description
issued during the war and now liable, as
we have said, to be scaled or taxed, or
bOthl and if the bOnd-hOlding ring in
! Congress is not very much weaker i'll
numbers and nerve than it has hereto
| fore shown itself, the iniquftous substi,
! tuition will yet be accomplished before
the adjournment,
It IS hardly worth while. at this late
day, to argue the policy Of the policy of
extending in any degree or direction the
lien now held by the bOnd-holding
classupon the productive industry
Of the country; but we can not
refrain from quoting, and especially
here, another significant sentence dron-
ped by Chancellor in his budget sDepcb
The mOneyed classes hf England arc
bitterly hlstile 10 all measures looking
10 the extinction of the national debt,
That mOnstrOus absorbent, which de-
YOURS half the annual revenues of the
nation, is the favOrite investment Of the |
nOn-prOducing class. If the debt were
paid, the capital it represents would be /
forced into other channels, and EMPLOYED |
in productive enterprises, beneficial To /
the whole mass of the people, perhaps. /
but necessarily involving some of tha
the risks always attending trade and |
manufactures. These risks the money
ed aristOcracy do not want to encounter:
they are satisfied with moderate inter-
est, guaranteed by the Government. and
wish-like our own bondholders-tODe Der-
petuate the investment. As a matter of
course they resist every effort to materi-
ally reduce the volume of the debt. sp6
this explains Mr.. loves meaning.
when he said, in reply to the suggestion
that the surplus revenue should be an
piled in paying the debt as fast as posi-
6le, "Ihere is something i'm that pro- I
position which will commend itself tO
the esteem of any person who has not
the responsibility of Carrying it Out. -
The man who undertakes that RESPONSE
bility would have to meet the relentless
hostility of almost every man in ParIia- !
ment who possesses or represents accum-
Ilated capital Let US not in America !
proceed farther in policy which would
thus tie the hands of future financial
however anxious they NAV
De tOrelieve the people of their burdens. ( /
The bOndhCldinE class is already far too {
with us; its strength should I
pc broken, not increased, The only leg /
Station we ROW need concerning the s
iebt Is the imposition of such q tax upon e
t as will compel bOndhOIdeTs TO nav
heir just and reasonable share Of the /
burdens Of Government. Such a tax a
would he free from all objections urged t
lgainst the compelling the exchage Of L
tx per cent for four per cent. bonds. It
would add forty millions to the annual t
esources Of the Government and extin- b
,uish that amount of the principal Of o
he deOt yearly. 1t would pay the en- e
ire debt in much less than forty years. b
While the funding bill, while paying the d
ebt twice over in interest, would leave V
unpaid at the end Of the term.-Cin' G.
i"q, s