Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1898-08-06
"OUR SPLENDID NATIONAL
CREDIT.

.
SZ0O,000,000 with which to prose-
cute the war.
This means an interest charge of
only $6,000,U0O a year-a mere bag.
atelle to a nation so rich as this Re-
public is.
All this money is offered to the
Government five times over. The
people offer practically all of it in
small subscriptions of $500 or less.
Banks offer it on practically any
terms that the Government may
make, and one New York bank has
offered to take the whole loan and
distribute it among the people with
out any fee or charge or reward Of
any kind.
There was never a more splendid
national credit than this. And when
we ark why, the answer is ready.
At the end of the civil war the
nation owed nearly $4,000, 100000
and it had a terribly deprecated
currency. 1t has since enormously
reduced taxation, and yet it has
made its currency sound and has SO
rapidly paid off its obligations that
it's bonded debt on November /,
1897, was only $847 1866, $50
Only once in all those years was
there thought Of increasing the
bonded debt without war necessity,
yet with that increase of 1862 .000,-
900 during CIeveland's time the in
terest- bearing debt Of the country
has been reduced to onet third of
what it was.
1t is the man who pays his debts
that enjoys abundant credit. 1t is
precisely the same with nations.-
Nev York World.
The foregoing sounds well and
tickles the vanity of the thoughtless,
but it will not stand careful anal
ysis. The fact that people are al
most breaking their necks in a mad
scramble to secure Government
bonds at 3 per cent. is very far from
being IA circumstance for congratu-
lation. 1t proves conclusively y one
of two things: Either general bust
ness must be extremely bad. afford
ing poor opportunities for the pro-
titable investment of money, or
there must be some peculiar and
exceptional advantages in Govern
meut bond AS an investment. No
man will loan money to the Gov
ernment at 3 per cent. if he can do
better and feel perfectly safe 1t is
ridiculous to suppose that he will.
Persons who are timid-who are
afraid to assume any risks whatever
in business, may content themselves
with what they consider to he a
"sure thing" at 3 per cent. Now
and then we find person whose
fear of losing is such that he will
not invest his money at all, but will
simply hide it away. These, how
ever, are exceptional cases. When
there is grand rush to secure in
vestments at rates so low, it should
lead people to pause and inquire in
to the reason for il. A general low
rate of interest does not indicate
either general prosperity, or an
abundance of money. On the con-
trary, it shows that business is dull,
that demand for money is slack,
that it cannot be protitably invested
in productive enterprise, and con-
sequently has become superabund-
ant in certain places. In short, that
money is plentiful in the hands of
the lenders, but scarce everywhere
else. This is one of the simplest
principles in monetary science, and
vet it is the most difficult for many
people to comprehend. Unquestion-
ably the credit of the Government
is good. Why should it not be?
The Government is backed by and
controls the entire wealth of the ma
ton. A Government bond is as
safe as anything in human affairs
can be. But that is not the only
reason for the low interest rate, nor
is it the chief one. The fact stated
by the World that since the civil
war two thirds of our bonded debt