The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-11-16
VOLUME 24-NUMBER
What Do the Nations Owe ?-LetteT
from Secretary Boutwell,.

What Do the Nations Owe ?-LettfJ
from Secretary Boutwell,
/ In answer to our remarks of last
/ Tuesday upon the amount Of the
national debts OF Europe and America,
we have received the following letter
from the Secretary OF the Treasury:
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, .
f OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
{ Nov. ,. ISL.
/ ''TO the Editors ofthe EUCHinq Post.
''In your paper OF the 3Ist uItimO
sou state that, in a lecture recently
I delivered by me in New York and
I Boston, l gave the aggregate national
debts Of Europe and the United States
at twenty-three thousand millions of
dollars.
"The statement made by me in
eluded the debts OF all the nations of
the globe whose financial condition is
known.
Baxter, in his work on National
Debts at page 79, gives the amount
rs three thousand nine hundred and
eleven million pounds sterling. His
tables were prepared for 1869 and 1870.
and do not include the additions to the
debt of France caused by the recent
war. I estimate the increase of the
debt of France at five hundred million
pounds sterling.
"This gives a total of national in
debtedness Of about twenty-five thous-
and millions Of dollars, without in
Guiding the increase of the national
debts of other countries.
"GEO. S. BOUTWELL,"
The latest official reports we have
from most Of the nations of Europe
are not Of later date than lS6S-some
of them are of 1S6S-sOme of them are
of 1S67-and from them the estimate
was made up. But it is probable that |
Mr.. Baxter, in preparing his book, |
had no more recent authorities. Now /
the debts of Austria, Belgium. Den
mark, France, Prussia, Hamburg,
Bavaris, Baden. Great Britain, Greece. /
Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sus- /
sia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey, to- !
gether, amounted in 1867 and 1858, as /
nearly as possible, to SIS, ,2S9, 600, 900; |
so that his estimate, adopted by Mr.. |
was far out of the way.
But there has been a large increase
in the debts of a few OF them since
that time. For instance, Spain, in
January, 1867, reported her public
debt at almost exactly 81, ,000, ,O0O, 900,
probably a false report, since the /
official return Of il on March 81, 1870, /
was 8, ,639, ,351 ,703. Russia, reported /
in1S5S atS1, ], 300, 900, 900, had already be-
come 81, 700,0O0,0OO in 1859, and is
g, 900, 600, 900 now. The debt
Of Italy, understood to be 81, 80, 900, 600 /!
five years ago, was so swollen in the
by deficits and bad credit that
last year the budget called for 467, ,3I4,-
So francs for interest upon it, which d
would indicate q principal Of about
3, $50, 900, 900.
As for the debt of France, it is i'm
possible to ascertain the amount with
eXactness. In October, 1870, the ad-
usted or funded debt was said to be
L3, ,923, TlS,07 francs. Besides the {
expenses Of the war, France has since
the war indemnity debt of
1000, 900, 900 francs to Germany, and
las only paid part of this by borrow I
ng the money, so that the national :
iebt at this time cannot well be less
han $4,000, 100000. /:
Making allowance for all these adj
iitiOns since the last official debt
the aggregate Of the ma !
iOnal debts of Europe will be found (
o bea this time about S17, ,4OO, 900, 900; !
md, adding that of the United States,
We find that the productive industry I
# Christendom is mOrtgaged to cap
talists for about Sl9, 500, 100000. Pub
ic debts are unknown in Asia, and l
here are none in Africa except in I
Egypt. The debts of the American |
countries beyond the United States
re too small to raise the estimate I
.bOve twenty thousand millions of J
IOllars, which may fairly be assumed l
s the present sum of the national J
Iebts of the wOrld.-N y Post.