The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-02-12
NATIoNAL DEBTS. "

Under the head Of Some Staggering
Figures, q recent number of the New York
SIN presents the national debts Of the
chief nations % the world. These total
national debts amount to the enormous
sum Of S25, OOO, OOO, 900 The provincial,
county, municipal, railway and other debts
would nearly triple this All these ma
tional debts have originated from wars IN
dsrtaken BY pig-heAded despots, TO avenge
fancied Insults or coerce other nationali-
ties. The people have been compelled TO
fight by home bayOnets, and made to foot
eli the bills. These wars forcibly illustrate
the fact that what are termed govern
ments have been the curse Of all ages and
nation. q, -. lat portion of the taxation
of every people goes to pay the interest on
everywhere.
But little consolation can be had from
learning that these national debta alone
average $62 a head on every man, woman
and child living We in the United States
| on All our bonded indebtedness owe &y7 per
head Ot the more important nations,
the debt of Austria is 81 per head;
Greece, SOL; Italy, $72; Portugal. SOL;
Russia, 1874 Spain, SlO5, France, 500;
the South American republics, $25 to $3.50
per head Great Britain, $I22, and includ-
ing all her colonies, $50 per head on every
inhabitant Of that vast empire. Our ma
tional indebtedness alone amounts to $50
per head
A large portion of these debts have been
contracted within the last half century
And it was all spent in stupid wars that
were benefit to nooody-just such war
as our lllustrious President is said to be
fomenting with Spain, for the purpose Of
Withdrawing popular attention from gov
ernmeutal rascalities and great social ana
| financial reforms. And not content with
| the imitation process used in plling up our
debt, cur insane moneyed Aristocrscy are
counting utter destruc i'm by legislating to
double the purchasing power of the inter
est and the debt itself through shrinkage
Of values Of labor and commodities What
a picture We present to the world Of the
best government that ever existed T.
The fraudulent character II all these
debts is apparent from the fact that there
Is not throughout the world one dollar III
specie for 500 "f Indebtedness Where
did the " money come from that was Dor
rowed Who lent it to these governments
! The great mass Of the working class, com
meTclal men and farmers did not lend it,
for tasy generally have hard scratching to
make ends meet.
These debts have been little more than
speculative swIndie of what is termed
the money power. The house Of Roths-
child, which never raised hill Of potatoes
or performed any other useful labor, is said
t. be worth several thousand million dollars
of these bonds Other lesser lights hold
another large Portion. The interest de-
rived from these bonds this year, after Af-
fordIng princely living, is sufficient for q
loan next year to some needy government
at 40 many cents on the dollar The in
terest is 50 vast that it is not possible to
use it in any other way. The more bonds
the more interest, the more the interest
the more the bonds. All the nations are
perishiug under the constant drain Of this
interest.
Hard times snd business stagnation
are universal throughout the world 1t is
not because money is deficient, but because
it has passed from the hands Of industry
into those of money monopoly, through
interest. The money power absorbs double
the amount of the natural increase Of
every nstioG Governments and the money
power play into the hands Of each other,
and taxation and interest entail all the
woes Of war and famine.
II is clear from these figures that the
time is near when every nation must cut
down OF abolish interest, OF rePudlate its
debts, m both. The industry ~ the civ
ilized world cannot continue TO pay inter
est On nifty Thousand millions Of bonds
suppose they repudi&te What then
Why, the ~iping out Of this huge debt
would not diminish the resources or pro-
ductive power Of any nation tp the amount
Of one dollar