The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-02-24
CREDIT.
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cities OF the UNION, is the IDUn IN RANK among
| The public debts quoted In the exchanges Of
| the world II comes next after the debts oi
| France and England, the latter two being
| very nearly equal. II any one Is astonished
| Mt the fact that the American debt Is so great
| with only century Of existence. the answer
| to this Ia easy enough. The United States
| has made gigantic progress IN this century,
aud Its population has risen to the enormous
| number Of 45 100000 These iorty-five millions
Of inhabitants have cost only s3000,9o0 900,
while the thirty-eight millions of France
| have cost $1,000, 600, 900 and the tbrty-four
| millions Of England "a ,500,o10,00O.
| The age or these different people is a mat.
| ter Of little importance. The French and
| English nations have required, II Is true.
| fourteen centuries In which to create their debt
and the Americans have had only one century
| In which to create theirs but II In that cen.
| tury they acquired a greater population than
the other two nations, this question Of exist
ence and Of time Is without value and. In
point of fact, the United States presents to
Che minds OF flnanclers difference which is
| entirely In It's favor.
II now we compare Its resources with those
| u France and England, we will see that the
debt of the United States Is not only the
smallest but also tho easiest 10 bear and to
extingush France and England have never
extpguished their debts by ordinary means
| that Ia. by the money saved each year and
| each year carried to the credit Of the sinking
| fund for the gradual liquidation OF their debts.
In this respect the United States Ia ahead of
all other countries In the world. Up TO to-
day II has created four debts and paid or
| lIauidated three Of them. II cleared itself In
eight or ten years Of The debts created by the
war Of Independence. 1t took the same time
to pay the debt created by the war Of 1912.
Mr.. Buchanan almost paid the debt created
on account Of the Mexican war and the Utah
expedition. There remains the fourth debt, q
debt created by the war with the South.
This alone, by Itself, il more burdensome
than all the others that preceded II, and will
require more time to be paid. bought In or
liauidated. That Ia evident. But IL can be
liGudated by economy In the annual budget
There may be some doubt on this subject, be-
cause this debt SO far exceeds the ordinary
bounds and attains such proportions that II
will require the resources Of q long peace. n
peace uf d century, 10 pay IT, How II another
war comes and another debt be added to the
present one2 The United States may not
ouly have a foreign war, but another civil war,
growing out of the diversity Of interests exist
ing I'm so extended n country as this.
Surprising that the Union shall resist. and
shall be triumphant for second OF a
third time, 70 a certainty 1t must 10 nj n cost
If vast sums Of money, which 1t cannot
procure without saddling debt on the coun-
try, the burden Of which will be most difficult
10 bear.
Then would the ideas of credit. such as
~
would IL be said Tho credit Of the State
demands that our debts be- honored On the
contrary II would be said: The credit Of the
State demands that we reckon our debt no
more and II we wipe out the debt, the States
credit will me only the greater. for the Stnte
will then owe nothing. Hence the theory Is
to pay what we can and nil we can, and to pay
nothing at all when we can pay no more.
This theory is the theory OF France; and
France. ~ far as credit Ii concerned has won
the admiration and wonder Ut the world.
IL Is imagined that France has reached that
point by scrupulously respecting every obli-
Cation and every title Of the past. This is II
gross error. France, to-day 80 rich In real
values has many n time freed itself Of bur
densotne debt, and In an arbitrary manner.
Large volumes could BIO written TO explain
how the kings Of France, dmoDg whom Philip
the Fair. alias the 'Counterfeter," brilliantly
fgured,proCured subsidies by clipping money.
This clipping was the usual expedieDt up to
the day when Suly, the grand economist
under Henry ", went through q regular
bankruptcy. refusing to pay either capital or
interest to those who had lent funds to the
monarchy. AT that time the victims were
the rich, especially the "rcceveurs generaux"
Of finance, who professionally, and even by
predestinatlou, rs IL were, were expected to
have money ever ut the service OF royalty.
Thus WIS H. done under RiChelieu and under
Mazarin Under Louis XIV, De5marets went
through most complete and thoroughly de-
vsed bankruptcy on the Suly method. Thus
were matters disposed Of up TO the time OF
the emission OF boundess assignats-
emission through which France was enabled
To raise fourteen armies, and with these de-
feat many a time the whole Of Europe coales-
ced against her.
Apparently. Kcarney andthe Greenbaekers
have found in tho history Of the assignats the
idea Of paying the debt Of the United States
with paper money. They find this means a
good one because 1t has already been put TO
a good use and has served very good pur-
pose. The assignats crumbled to nothing
while France was liberated. Then did her
credit become greater than ever. This Is
readily conceived; she owed nearly nothing
Under the first Empire France was filed with
gold to Overl flowing; war brought it to her
plentifully But the more pacific Bourbons,
DESTROYS Of spArinR the people preferred To
resort to borrowing rather than taxation
They borrowed and the debt was reconsti-
tuted. It even increased so rapidly that Mr..
de Villele Minister OF Finance under
Charles X, endeavored to reduce It by
funding it. He failed. The Chamber Of
Deputies voted for the funding, but the Cham
Der of Peers rejected It, and tho debt In it's
entirety passed from Charles X to Louis
Philippe, who was greatly embarrassed by it.
One of his ministers, Mr.. Human, tried TO re-
duce the debt by the process invented by Mr.
de tVflleie, but he succeeded no better. The
two Chambers condemned that expedient 1t
was thus reserved for Napoleon II TO do, bya
single stroke OF the pen, that which the first or
the second restoration had failed to achieve In
thirty years OF eloquent talk. That operation
succeeded marvelously, and far from injuring
Frances credit 1t mended it one hundred
Id, and that credit surviving the Second
Empire has enabled her to raise the 1000, O00,-
900 Of francs used to liberate her territory.
This history, we think, teaches the science
of reducing public debts. 1t is not question
Of Reputation or Of running anybody, but on
the contrary, the question is to protect the
liabilities by making their burden endurable
to those who must pay them. A conversion
Of capital or reduction Of interest accom-
plished opportuney and with proper man
agement can enrich a whole State. II the
Federal frnu ont hoe t1,