The Washington herald., 1917-01-27

those who believed that loug specession
Of confident predictions, 20 signaily
falsinad BY . long succsssion Of indis-
putable facts. To point out that fal.acy
10 the Office rather of the political
economist than Of the historian. Here
Il y sufhcient to say that the prophets
OF evil were under double delusion.
They erropsousiy imagined that there
was an exact analogy between the case
of an individual who 70 In debt to an
other individual and the case Of society
which Is in debt to q part Of itself; and
this analogy led them into endless mis-
takes about the effect Of the system Of
, funding. They were under an error not
less serious touching the resources Of the
country. They made no allowance Tor the
effect produced by the incessant progress
of every experimental science. and by the
incessant efforts Of every man to get on
In life. They saw that the debt grew; and
they forgot that other things grew as
well as the debt
A long experience justifes US In believ-
ting that England may. in the Twentieth
| century. be better able to bear debt
Of 1,eoo. 100000 than she il at the
present time TO bear her presen.
load. Be this as II may. those who 80
! confidently predicted that she must
sink. first under q debt OF A.ooo.oo0.
| Nltu unotf oept VI cosD1fpSos ttitt
| under a debt of i4o,ooo.o CO., then undei
a debt of 24o,ooo.ooo and lastly under
a debt of so.oooooo. were beyond all
doubt under two-foId mistake. They
| greatly overrated the pressure Of the
| burden; they greatly underrated the
strength by which the burden was to be
borne.
1t may be desirable TO add a few words
touching the way In which the system of
funding has affected the interests Of the
great commonwealth of nations. II II
be true that whatever gives to fnteili-
gence an advantage over brute force and
| to honesty an advantage over dishonesty
has a tendency to promote the happiness
and virtue of our race. II can scarcely be
denied that. in the largest view. the ef-
\ feet of this system has been salutary.
\ For II is manifest that all credit depend'
| on two things. on the power Of a debtor
TO pay debts. and on his inclination "a
pay them. The power of society &c
pay debts is proportioned TO the progress
which that society has made In industry
/ In commerce, and in all the arts ano
sciences which flourish under the benig'
nant Influence OF freedom and of equa
| law. The inclination of q society to pay
debts is proportioned to the degree ir
4 which that society respects the obnga
| tions of plighted faith. OF the strength
which consists in extent of territory anc
In number Of lighting men, a rude despo
! who knows no law but his own childish
| fancies and headstrong passions. or Z
| convention OF Socialists which proclaim
all property to be robbery. may hay'
more than falls to the lot of the bes
and wisest government. But the strength
| which Is derived from the confidence o.
capitalists such a despot. such a conyen'
| ton, never can possess. That strength
and IL is strength which has decided
the event of more than one great con
nict, flies, by the law of its nature, from
barbarism and fraud. from tyranny anc
anarchy, to follow civilization and virtue
4 liberty and order