Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-07
Dent and Pr1SneritV.


Since the 30th of June. last year. the
public debt has been reduced S114. 1884,
90, or. in round numbers, by S115.OOO.-
900, being an average of 81, 800. 500 per
month, and at the rate of S13S. OOO. 900
per year. The highest point for the in
terest-bearing debt of the United States
was in August, 1865, when it stood 81
3S1, $50, 295. The reduction since made
is 1928, 715,4 Alp. The annual interest
charge in 1865 was $50, 977.697. At
the close of the fiscal year 1882 it was
but So, $3.50, 10. and now it is some 81
900, 1000 less. The lowest rate ofinterest
paid in 1865 was ) per cent, the highest
was rs per cent; the average was 4
little over per cent; the lowest rate at
present is per cent, the highest is 81
per cent.
| These figures are sufficiently striking.
They do not indicate the highest wis
dom in the management of the national
finances, for many errors have been
made. The burden laid upon the peo-
pie has been needIessly heavy on ac-
count of the depreciation Of the Govern
! ment notes previous to 1878. But the
enormous available resources of the
country and the capacity of our people
to bear without serious difficulty q strain
wholly unprecedented in economic his
| tory are all the more proved. This fact
comes out still more plainly when the
history of our debt is compared with
that of England. Since 1857-twenty-
six years-the net reduction of the debt
of England has been but 1855, 900, 900.
In his latest budget the Chancellor of
10 n
the further reduction in the next twenty
years of S850,00O,000, making for the
forty-siX years an average annual re-
ductiOn of q little over $4,000, 000.-
During the eighteen years since 1865 the
average annual reduction of the debt of
the United States has been nearly twice
that amount, or over S5S, 000,0 900, while
last year the reduction of the interest
bearing debt was over S175, 000,0 900, or
nearly six times the average annual re-
ductiOn in Great Britain As bearing on
the material condition of the two ma
tons, it must, moreover, be remembered
that taxation in Great Britain is farm
carefully adjusted than in the United
States and its burden bears more lightly
upon the earning capacity Of the peo-
pie.
If we compare the financial condition
of the United States with that of the
other great republic of the world, France,
there is still more striking CONTRAST
France, like the United States, has had
to struggle with the burdens of q OIL
gantic war, and though civil war is far
more costly than a foreign war, even
when followed by such loss of territory
and such money indemnity as France
had to bear, France is to-day in far
weaker and more insecure position than
the United States. The Government is
now engaged in the process of refund
ING a relatively small amount, some
$40, O00,0 900, of the 5 per cent. debt in
to A per cents, and the measure is re-
garded as very seriously threatening the
stability not only of the Ministry but of
the Republic itself. The debt being very
largely held by the smaller tradesmen
and peasants, who have put their mon
ely into it at various rates of purchase,
from 81 per cent. to above par, the loss
of One-tenth the annual income of the
bOndhOlders creates the most acute dis
content--a feeling wholly unnOticed in
this country, when by q mere admins
trative act of the Secretary of the Treas
ury the interest on over a thousand
millions of the debt was reduced from 5
per cent, a per cent, and per cent.
to 81 per cent, a reduction ranging
from ~ per cent. to 80 per cent. of the
revenue derived from the bonds These
facts show how very much more closely
the French people are compelled to
calculate their incomes, and how much
more seriously the eXactions of the Gov
eminent affect their comfort and their
security.