Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1901-09-19
BOER WAR
Great Increase in British Public
Debt Has Been Caused.
Enormous outlay Made Necessary By
Continuation of Hostilities In
south Africa and No End
in sight.

In the speech of Sir Michael Hicks
Beach, chancellor of the exchequer, in
the house of commons on the occasion
of the introduction Of the new budget
there was not very much that bore
directly on the cost of the war in
South Africa. The tale was told, how
ever, in one clause of one sentence.
The expenditures for the year, he
said had been e1s3. 500, ,O0O,, ''of which
SOS ,000, 900 was on account of the war
in South Africa" At the same time he
proposed loan Of e6O,0O0,000, made
necessary by the war.
This loan, which is now being sub
scribed, is in addition to the war loan
of 10000, 900 issued in 1900. That
loan represented less than half of the
increase of the British public debt last
year due to the conquest of the Boer
republics. Its total was very near the
74,0OO, 900 mark, says the New York
Sun.
Since the latter part of the seven
teenth century Great Britain has never
been out of debt. The debt began with
trifling s3,0O0,O00, the result Of the
revolution which brought the Dutch
King William to the English throne.
From that time it grew and nearly al
ways on account OF war.
At the accession of Queen Anne in
1902 the debt was & 16,400,000, and
when the first George became king IL
years later the debt Tad been nearly
quadrupled. He paid off a paltry cou-
pie of millions, but George IL. saw it
grow to nearly f140,000O00.
BY the beginning of the American
war il had been reduced some 10000
900, but that war sent ii climbing to
what at that time was the terrifying
figure of R25O,OO0,OOO. For few years
there were successful efforts at re-
duction, and total decrease of anoth.
er R1O,00O,O0O was recorded for the
decade.
Then began the disastrously expen-
sive French war. which with a slight
intermission called peace continued
until the downfall OF Napoleon in 1915.
During those 23 years the debt grew
tremendously, the loans averaging
about e20,000,00O a year. In 1916 the
British debt had climbed to the colos-
sal figure of c 900 100000. The debt
of no other. country, except France,
has reached such proportions.
After the peace Of Paris the British
debt took a new course and began to
decrease. This course was followed
steadily with but two slight Interrupt
tions until the outbreak of the war
with the Beers. In 1888 the abolition
of slavery caused slight increase,
and the Crimean war added about
100000 600, so that in 1857 the debt
stood at about es39,OOO, 900. In the 43
years that followed, up to the out
break of the present war. the debt was
reduced on the average e e5,0O0,O0O a
year. In 1899, when the war began, il
had decreased to f635 100000.
The war expenses had taken it back
well over e700OOO 600, or more than
three times the net debt of the United
States. and there is as yet no sign that
the war expenses are about to cease or
even to show any material diminution.
Great Britain is now spending approx
imately million dollars day on the
war with an army in the field of only
250,0OO men.
In the civil war, when the federal
armies numbered nearly million, the
expense was only approximately dou.
BILE what Great Britain is now spend
ing for one-fourth of that strength.