Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-19

HUI COuuby III Our hbhto tnaJ Bull
howls about the terrible results Of
placing d currency on q coin basis.
According to this paper the interest
bearing national debt on January 1st,
1883, Is about the same an II was In
1866. On July LIST, 1866, the ma
tional debl was 80, $50, 647, $50 "a.
On July 1st, 1866, when the highest
range Of the public debt was reached,
It aggregated 2,773, 236, 173 60. On
February LIST, 1883, the debt was
81, 1902, 533, 534, These amounts rep
resent the debt as including legal
tender currency, gold and silver GER.
~tifcates and the bonded in
~debtedness of the Pacific rail.
roads, which, with accumulated In.
interest, amounts to 1922, 900, 600.
The interest bearing debt on the LIST
Of February was about 81, $40, O0O,.
600, the $500, 000, 600 additional bear.
ing no interest. In other words since
1866 We have reduced the outstanding
principal of our national debt $500.
702, 800 SO or nearly one. third. In
the same time we have decreased our
annual interest charge from
$3.50, T7,697 in 1865 to $75,.
Ol8,695 In 1881 and less than
$50, 000, 900 at this day, or q re.
duction since 1865 to 800, 600, 900 a
year In the annual interest charge on
the debt. These figures show con.
clusively that the national debt has
been considerably reduced.
This rapid rate of reduction was
doubtless beneficial in bringing the
credit of the country to the highest
standard of any nation on the globe.
But now, when we can borrow q tthree
per cent, 1t Is q suicidsl policy to tax
the people of this generation at the
rate of $13 ZOO, 900 a month to pay
off the national debt when
every farmer and every business man
has to pay from seven to ten per cent.
which through the government they
can borrow ct three. Let us illustrate.
The average debt of every man, woman
and child in this country Ia $50. Sup
pose that 1t was to be optional with
every person fin the United States
to pay his thirty dollars at once or
pay 80 cents q year In taxes for inter-
est. Would it not be more econom-
ical to pay the 80 cents a year than to
pay the $50, which, at 10 per cent,
would earn for each person $32 1t is
simply stupid for one. idea..cranks, who
imagine that the country Is going to
hades because the national banks
draw $14 .OOO,O0o a year on their
bonds, to insist that we should pay
the entire debt now and bankrupt the
country by oppressive taxation In Or
der that the banks should be wiped
out. In other words, these oranks would
rather have US pay thirty dollars for
each man, woman and child In order
to wipe out the national debt than to
pay twenty cents q year al their share
of the interest on the bonds which the
national banks hold. This would be
economy with q Vengeance.
In the minds of these cranks the
taxes levied by the railroad monopolies
are nothing when compared with the
SD, 900, 900 of interest on national
bank bonds held to secure circulation.
AS q MISTER of fact the gross earnings
which represents the tax upon Amsri-
can industry, of the railroads of thia
country are about $1,000, 600, 900 per
annum, and the amount of tax upon
the people after deducting the interest
upon the actual capital invested and
the legitimate operatingexpenses are
$500, 600, 900 a year, which is
five times as much as we pay in inter.
est on the whole national debt, and
more than fourteen times as much as
Is drawn by the national banks in in
terest on their bonds.
This paper is decidedly opposed to
any policy that would take away from
the people the use of the money
which Is now at their disposal at 8 per
cent, In the shape Of a national debt,
and compel them to borrow by private
loan at usurious rates of In
to pay off the debt.
Every man Of common sense must see
that the present high rate of taxation
imposed by the national government
for the purpose of rapidly paying off
the national debt, Is the main cause of
the hard times Aud depression In bust.
ness all over the country. Right
here In Nebraska, and all through the
west, farmers are paying 2 per cent a
month to hold their grain, and others
are mortgaged head over heels, while
the secretary of the treasury complains
that the surplus at Washington Is so
bulky that new vaults must be built
for Its storage, unless more bonds can
be redeemed.
A PETITION Is In circulation signed