The Goodland republic., 1907-03-08

great difficulty Of enc thousand nlil-
lions more, which BismaFk ezzcted OF
her, and which. the French represent
atives declared at the peace nsgOtia-
tions, exceeded the total amount OF
money IN circulation in the entire
world To the French, the whole cost
Of the war and its subsequent events,
with the indemnify, was about elgh-
teen hundred and fifty million dollars
OF indebtedness.
Russia and Japan came 70 the end
Of their recent war after Russia had
added about $500. 09O.O0 to her debt,
a sum which Of course takes no ac-
count Of her valued navy or of many
losses which later viii be carried into
the general fund OF debt According
to the figures supplied BY the Japan
ese embassy at Washington, Japan
spent about S65O.OOO,OOO-
These sums seem great, but the
American civil war added to the debt
Of the union nearly $2,80O, 900, 600 ex-
elusive OF all that could be obtained
BY heavy ordinary and extraordinary
taxes We raised IN five years. by long
loans and virtually without fOreign
aid, almost as great sum as Great
Britain borrowed and put 70 her na-
and 1916, the period OF her prolonged
struggles with Napoleon and her sec
Ond war with the United States
Besides ali this, there were the
debts OF the loyal states and munich
palities as well as a great mass OF OBJ
legations which never were and never
viii be paid, representing the pecuni-
ary sacrifice Of the people OF the south
Indeed, the most careful and expert
OF statisticians can not compute the
full money cost OF the civil war
The vast expenditures OF these years
could not be met by any method
known to the government OF the Unit
ed States Robert Morris was account
ed to have achieved a great triumph
when he sent Washington $4,000 for
his operations around Trenton, and
borrowed $4,000 from Rochambeau
to set the ragged Continental army
before Yorktown. Stephen Girard,
another Philadelphia hnacier, had as
sisted the government during the war
OF 1912, and EnOch ". Clark and Jay
Cook, Of the same city, procured a
few millions to aid the government IN
Waging its unrighteOus war upon Mex
leo But this was as nothing in com
parisOn with the great hve-twenty
loan and the seven-thirty loan which,
in the civil war, Jay Cooke placed for
Secretaries Chase, Fessenden and Nc
CuIloch, and the subsidiary operations
which he undertook for the govern
ment He sold bonds and treasury
notes when the department and the
subtreasuries could not sell them, just
as he could catch fish where others
angled in vain He surpassed all 9TH
er bankers and brokers whom the sec
retaries tried, and they were always
forced to return to him as the one
man who could draw from the people
the great sums daily needed to manage
the war.
The unalterable foe OF the repudia-
ton OF any Of the debt which he had
been instrumental in distributing
among the people, Jay Cooke was both
a wholesome and a potent influence in
political and financial circles after the
war had ended He advocated the
early conversion Of s per cent bonds
into issues bearing a lower rate OF in
terest, and certainly would have ef-
fected his funding Of the debt If he
had been permitted to undertake It
What de did in this line under Secre-
tary Boutwell,, through the famous
syndicate" "a word which was
brought into the language to describe |
this OperatfOn). was well done, after
envious rivals had first been tried, and |
had failed to perform the service for |
the treasury Magazine.