Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-09-17
TREASURY STATISTICS.
Condition of the Public Debt from 1SG
to the Present Time.

Condition of the Public Debt from 1850
to the Present Time.
Secretary Sherman has just issued table
of more than passing interest, giving an an
alysis of the public debt of the United States
from July 1, 1860, to July 1, 1873. By it it
is shown that in 1860, one year before the
war, the total interest bearing debt was
$64,64O,S 18.l1, made up of little more
than $43,000,000 of 5 per cent. bonds, and
over $21 100000 of per cents, and which
required an annual interest payment of near
ly $3,5O0,O00. For the first year of the war
there was but little increase, the total inter-
est bearing debt aggregating over 100000
600. In 1862 this swelled to $3.50, 1000, 900,
and for 1868 aggregated $7O7,000,O00. In
1864 the interest bearing debt was over
81 300,0OO,O0O; in 1865, over $4,000, 100000.
In 1865, on the 31st of August, the debt
reached it's highest figures and aggregated
$2,381 $50, 254.76, made up of SOS, 127.98 of
per cent. bonds; $269, 175, 1856 of fives;
81, 281 ,476,439.33 of SKIES, and $83OO00,OOO
of $40 per cents, and upon which the an
nual interest payments aggregated $780,
977,e97.s7. From 1865 to 1870 the debt
was decreased about $200,O0O,OOO, and was
steadily decreased until 1873. In 1877 the
table shows that the total interest bearing
debt was but $1,711 ,889,5OO, whereas in
1873, up to August LIST, it reached 81, 1884,
735,650, showing an increase of over $685.
100000 since Secretary Sherman took charge
of the treasury department.. The table also
shows the debt upon which interest has
ceased, the outstanding principal, and the
debt per capita and the interest per capita
For 1878 the debt on which interest has
ceased is placed at 1854, 56O.26; that our
total debt is 81, 1893, 1885,, 28O.45, of which
there is 1856, 1885,, 682.26 which bears no in
terest. The debt per capita, according to
the figures in 1860, was $1.91, computed up
on the basis of population of 81, 900
and upward, while in 1878 the debt per
capita is $11.69 upon a population
of upward of 47,O00,O00, and
which is $1.97 interest per capita. The
highest debt per capita is charged to the
year 1865, when it was $685., and with an
interest per- capita of 1929. Since that
time it has decreased to the figures before
given for 1873. The table also shows that
the lowest amount of cash in the Treasury
from 1860 to 1878 was July l, 1861, just
after the war commenced, when it contained
only $2,S62.212.92. With increased taxation
and our internal revenue system that was in
creased by July 1, 1862, to $18,863, 659.96.
Then under ur heavy war expenses in 1868,
the amount was reduced to $8,421, 4O1.22
Another turn of the screw was given, and in
1854 the cash in the Treasury amounted to
$1O6 1872, O23.53. In 1865 it dropped again
to $685., O12.92. Since then it has steadily
accumulated, and in no year since was it less
than $1O6OOOOOO Sherman reports cash
in the Treasury for 1878 at 1886, 1929, 612.O8.
When he too hold in 1877 there was in the
Treasury 5,96o73, showing that he
has added to his cash fund in one year over
$7O,OOO,OO0. This, of course, with an eye
single to resumption.