The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-13
War and Debt.

In the address delivered by Secretary
Gage at Chicago last night there is one
thought to which 1t is almost incredi-
BILE that so few of our people pay at
tentiOn. This is the vital relation be-
tween sound money and the ability of
assume an aggressive position in the
world. 1t happens, strangely enough,
that the most inveterate jingoes in the
United States are also loudest in their
advocacy of cheap money and in their
opposition to the retirement of one
dollar of legal tender notes. Now, the
fact is that, in. case of a possible war,
which is being held up before the peo-
pie daily as a near contingency, we
should have the deadliest enemies in
our own camp. Not all the ships and
armies Of a hostile nation could strike
with such terrific effect as d weakness
In the nations credit
The famous remark that God is on
the side of the heaviest battalions''
can be paraphrased for present use by
saying that military success is based
upon the stronghold. The monarchs
of Europe are intelligent enough to see
this, and the first step which any of
them takes for offense or defense is to
see that there is accumulated a suf-
tcient treasure to put an army into
the field and maintain it at a high eff
fectfve. The government which is con-
fronted with a state of war and has no
resouI ces at cOmamnd is in sorry plight.
The nation which, in the same situa-
ton, is not only burdened with debt,
but has already overtaxed or over
strained its credit, is in danger Of de-
feat before a blow is struck.
A short time ago the question of a.
war with England over the Venezuela
difference was one of days and hours.
Today majority of our representa-
Hawaii. on the ground that a war with
some foreign power is an immediate
probability. If the hands of congress
e We're as loose as its tongue, war would
be declared between the United States
and Spain before the end of another
week. Any such event would bring us
. to the test. We congratulate our
selves. with good cause, upon being the
richest and most resourceful nation In
the world. When the war tocsin sounds
it is not the productiveness of the soil
or the riches of the future that can be
discounted. The call is for ready cash.
Immense amounts of money, many
times greater than ever before, in these
days of costly ornaments and ships of
war worth from 100000 to $4,000. 900
apiece, must be raised instantly The
power of taxation can be relied upon
to pay debts, but not to collect war re-
sources. Since the cash in the treasury
is already pledged for other purposes
and the gold reserve is necessarily held
as security for note issues, we would
have to borrow, and our first loans
would be measured by hundreds Of mill
lions. From whom must this money be
obtained? From the banks, from cap
italists, from the possessors of tangi-
BILE wealth, moved partly, 1t is true, by
patriotism, but requiring also some as
surance that their advances would be
returned. A declaration Of war must
be accompanied by the call for loan
and the issue of bonds.
The response to this depends entire
ly, in any nation of the world, upon the
credit of the government, upon its
scrupulaus fidelity in the discharge of
all past obligations and the belief of
its citizens that such policy will be
continued. In our own case the out
standing greenbacks, mere promises to
pay debts contracted by a forced loan
from the people to carry on a war that
ended more than thirty years ago.
stand like menacing army, every
note rife muzzle pointed at the ma
tons heart. All this balancing of
standards, all this denunciation of the
nations creditors, all this unwilling
ness to take a single step toward the
payment of old debts. would war