New-York tribune., 1875-09-18
NICIp1L JNUEBTEDNE

The letter which we publish III othcr col
umns, containing startling statistics concerning
the growth Of the Indebtedness of the prnci-
pal cities of the United States, tells its own
story THE TgIBUNE has been constant in de-
nouncing the immoral and dangerous practice
of heapng up Indebtedness for postcrity to
take care Of-a policy which has already IN
more cases than one terminated IN practical
reputation, has invariably encouraged cxtrav-
agance and fraud, and carries III its tram evils
scarcely less than those which attend paper
money itself. Paper money and debt are re-
Lated to each other as Jupiter and Juno, being
al once brother and sister and husband and
wife. The great cxpouudcTs of Political Econ
omv. from David Hume and Adam Smith down
to John Stuart Mill and the late Prof. CailTcs,
have without exception denounced public
debts and advocated their reduction and ex
tinctiOn.
In "1'he Wealth OF Nations,' the first edi
ion of which WAS printed just century ago,
Adam Smith speaks at considerable length Of
"tic enormous debts which ut present Oppress.
"and will in the long run probably ruin, all
"thc grea. nation; of Europe" Again he says:
"When national debts have once been accu-
"mulated to a certain degree, there is scarce,
81 believe, "a single instance OF their having
"becn fairly and completely paid. The lib
"eration of the public revenue, if it has ever
"been brought about at all, has always been
drought about by bankruptcy"
Hume's remarks on this subject, which are
contained in his ESSAY "Of Public Credit" are
still more forciblc and to the point than those
of Smith. He tells Us that it was the common
practice of ancient nations to hoard up treas
urcs beforehand for the necessities of war,
without trusting to extraordinary impositiOns,
much less to borrowing in times of disorder
and confusion. The modern expedient of mort
gaging the public revenues appears to him
"ruinous beyond all controversy" III the
abuses of treasures be dangerous, those of
mOrtgaging are certain and inevitable. 1t
"wOuld scarcely be more imprudent to give
ga prodigal son a credit in every bankers
"shop in London, than to empower a states
oman to draw bills in this manner upon pos
"terity" With the career OF " Statesman
Tweed fresh in our memory, and the City
Debt perpetually reminding us of him, this OBJ
servation must carry conviction to the mind OF
every New-Yorker. Hume observes that there
"has a strange supineness. from long custom,
"creepcd into all ranks of men with regard to
- pubic utDtS, HNt WHAT vi ih'n oo W.
"hemently complain of with regard to their
"rciigious doctrines" How little in this re-
spect has the world changed since 1852!
There can be no doubt, we think, that the
mutitudinOus State, town, county, and NUM-
cipal debts of our day are, relatively at least,
a greater injury to the populations afflicted by
them than the Pubic Debt itself. Certainly it
would be of far greater benefit to the cities of
the country to get rid of their $500,O00,00O
Of net indebtedness than to be freed from the
taxes they pay on account of II corresponding
portion of the National Debt. Ricardo, writ
ing in 1920 called the National Debt of Great
Britain Zone of the most terrible scOurges
(Which was ever invented to afliict u nation"
If we cannot speak with equal severity of the
indebtedness which rests upon the population
of New York City, then il the amount of tax
alton imposed on people matter of utter
Indifference.
John Stuart Ml strongly advocates war
taxes in preference to war loans, and argues
in favor Of maintaining a surplus revenue for
the reduction of the Public Debt. He has tho
following on the proposition. 80 often heard in
these days, to let the money "fructify in tho
"pockets of the people" instead Of using it in
paying of the Public Debt
We sometimes. indeed hear II said that the amount
should rather ,o loft to fruey In the pockets u The