The Washington herald., 1917-01-27

west OF Reading were mortursd. Eat
.er Tor u TO have been conquered ~
Prussia or Austria than to be saddisd
with the interest Of i4o.ooo.ooo
ana YET this great philosopher-for
sucn ne was-had only 10 open his eyes,
ana to see Improvement all around him.
cities increasing, cultivation extending.
marts too small for the crowd OF buyers
ana sellers. harbors insufficient to con-
tain the shipping. ARTIFICIAL rivers Joining
the chief inland seats Of industry to the
chief seaports. streets better lighted.
houses better furnished. richer wares ex-
posed TO sale In statelier shops. swifter
carriages rolling along smoother roads.
he had. indeed, only to compare the
Edinburgh OF his boyhood with the Edin-
ourgh OF his old age. His prediction re-
mains 10 posterity. memorable Instance
OF the weakness from which the strong
saw little and but little further. He
admitted that. immense as the burden
was, the nation did actually sustain II
ana thrive under 1t In a way which no.
BODY could have foreseen. But he warned
MS countrymen not 10 repeat so hazard
Gus an experiment. The limit had been
reached. Even a small increase might
be fatal Not less gloomy was the view
which George Grenyille a minister emf
hently diligent and practical. took OF our
financial situation. The nation must, he
conceived. sink under a debt OF 140. 900 900,
unless portion Of the load were borne
by the American colonies. The attempt
TO lay portion of the load on the Amerf-
can colonies produced another war
That war left US with an additional
hundred millions of debt, and without
the colonies whose help had been repre-
sented as Indispensable. Again England
was gwen over; and again the strange
patient persisted in becoming stronger
and more blooming in spite OF all the
diagnostics and prognostics of state
physicians. As she had been visibly
more prosperous with a debt of l40, 600
than with debt of 50.0o0.0oo SO she was
ylsibly more prosperous with a debt of
24o.0o.ooo than with a debt of 14o ooo. 600
Soon, however. the wars which sprang
from the French Revolution. and which
lar exceeded In cost any that the world
had ever seen, taxed the powers Of public
credit to the utmost. When the world
was again at rest the funded debt of
england amounted to soo,0oo,00o. II the
most enlightened man had been told, in
l1s2 that In 1915 the interest on 500. 600 ooe
would be duly paid to the day at the
bank. he would have been as hard Of
belief as IL he had been told that the
government would be in possession of the
lamp OF Aladdin or of the purse Of For
tunatus. IL was in truth a gigantic. a
fabulous debt; and we can hardly won
der that the cry of despair should have
been louder than ever.
But again that cry was found to have
been as unreasonable as ever. After a
rev years OF exhaustion, England recoy-
ereo herseit' Yet, like Addison's valetudi-
nar1an, who continued to whImpcr that
he was dying OF consumption TIL he be-
came so fat that he was sbamed into
silence. she went on complaining that
she was sunk in poverty TIL her wealth
showed itself by tokens which made
her complaints ridiculous The beerared.
the bankrupt society not only proved able
to NEE. all its obligations, but. while
meeting those obligations, grew richer
and richer SO fast that the growth could
almost be discerned by the eve In every
county we saw wastes recently turned
into gardens; In every city we saw new
streets and squares, and markets more
brilliant lamps, more abundant supplies
OF water; in the suburbs OF every great
seat of industry we saw villas multiply
Ing fast, each embosomed in its gay little
paradise OF lilacs and roses While shall
low politicians were repeating that the
energies of the people were borne down
by the weight of the public burdens, the
first Journey was performed by steam on
a railway. Soon the island was inter-
sected by railways. A sum exceeding the
whole amount of the national debt at
the end of the American war WAS. in A
few years voluntarily expended by this
ruined people In viaducts, tunnels en-
bankments, bridges, stations, engines.
Meanwhile taxation was almost constant
ly becoming lighter and lighter; yet still
the exchequer was full 1t may be now
affirmed without fear of contradiction
that we find 1t as easy to pay the in
terest Of sooooo,ooo as our ancestors found
II. a century ago, to pay the interest of
$4,000, 900.
Some Great FaIIacy.
1t can hardly be doubted that there
must have been some great fallacy in
the nations of those who uttered and OF