The Savannah morning news., 1901-08-05
THE MoRLn.s PUBLIC DEBTS.

THE WORLDS PUBLIC DEBTS.
A study of the worlds national in
debtedness, by O. p. Austin, in the
North American Review for August.
presents a mass of data interesting to
even the lay mind that is not accus-
toned to thinking in millions or en-
deavoring to thread the mazes of ma
tional finance. 1t appears that at the
end of the last fiscal year of the United
States the aggregate national debt Of
the world closely Appropriated thirty
two billions of dollars. This includes
recent loans by Great Britain, Russia
! and Germany. In 1893, at the begin
ming of the Napoleonic wars, the
worlds public debts aggregated about
! two and a half billions of dollars. Thus
in a very little more than a century
| there has been an increase of about
| twenty-nine and one-half billions of
| dollars in public Indebtedness.
Most of this increase too. has come
| about within the last fftyfivc years.
What caused it? Wars, and military
ornaments, principally. There is no
state of Europe but has ceaselessly
piled war burdens upon itself. And
the cost of war increased greatly dur
ing the century. The engines and mis-
siles of death now employed by the
Powers come high in price. The pres
| ent cost of a first-class battleship
would a hundred years ago have paid
for feet, and the present cost of a
battery of high-power 12-inch guns
would have armed that fleet.
But wars have not alone served to
make the national debts of Europe
large. With the advent and develop
| ment of the steam railway, and steel
as a building material, there has come
| a demand for betterments involving
their use. Thus Russia, France, Ger
many, the Netherlands, Austria-Hun-
gary and Italy have added to their
debts for the purpose of constructing
state railways, warehouses, docks, etc.
The countries named except France
own practically two-thirds each of all
of the railways in their dominions, and
France is a large owner of railway
property. AS against the increase of
the debts for these building purposes,
it is pointed out that the governments
own the plants, which are valuable
collateral.
A peculiar fact shown by the stats
tics is that only the English-speaking
nations have shown any earnest dispo-
sition to reduce their national debts
during peace. Great Britain and the
United States have largely increased
their obligations during war, but with
the restoration of peace they have in
variably devoted themselves to pay
ing off their bonds. The Latins, on
the other hand. made no reductions
during the century past, but went
steadily forward increasing their debts.
SPANS debt was more than doubled
between 1874 and 1900; Italy's debt has
been doubled since 1870, and the debt
of France in 1900 was five times as
large as it was in 1852. Portugal mean
while continued to add to her debt I'M
til now she is the most heavily bur-
| dened per capita, of any government
in Europe except France. The French
debt amounts to $150.61 per capita, on
which the interest charge per capita
is Sc. % per annum. The figures for
! Portugal are SAB. so and 81 81 respec-
! lively. 1t is interesting to note just
here that the annual interest charge
per capita upon the public debt of the
United States is only "A cents. That
charge in Great Britain is $276, in
| Spain 81 49, and in Italy $3.5S. The
smallest debt in the world in proper
ton TO population is that of China, the
amount per capita being 70 cents, and
the annual interest per capita being 8
cents.
One of the marked characteristics
of the past century to which Mr.. Aus
| tin directs attention is the fact that
interest rates on government bonds
were so much lower at the end than
at the beginning or the middle of it.
| In general terms, he says, the nominal
rates of interest have fallen proba-
bly, one-half, perhaps more, during the
century In 1865 the United States paid
| 7.3 per cent. interest. while in 1900 they
sold at par, bonds bearing 2 per cent.
i "A IGCtill DilllSIl iOdI was hOdleu WIFI
an interest rate of az per cent. The
British bonds, however, were sold be-
low their face value, making the actual
interest received by the purchasers
much above the nominal rate. Con-
| sidering the debts of the world to-
day, Mr.. Austin says, it may be said
that the bulk of them stand at an in
terest rate of from to 315 per cent,
or probably about one-half that which
the great nations were required to pay.
under normal conditions. at the be-
ginning of the century. This would
seem to indicate that while the debts
have grown great and burdensome, the
public faith in the ability of the gov
ernments to pay is as strong as it ever
| Was.
LOOK TO THE PACKING.