The Washington herald., 1917-01-27
What Great Flistonan Macaulay
Thought Of Britain War Debts
Here's Article from The History Of England that Every
Public Man and Every Private Citizen VIII Be
Interested in at This Time.

tpron hdcAh2yS alStofy OF H1u8tduo-J
stli, however. the estimated revenue
was not equal to the estimated ex-
penditure. The year 1882 has bequeathed
o large dencit to the year 16ss. and it
seemed probable that the charge for
1888 would exceed by about $4,000 pounds
the charge for 1892 More than 100000
had been voted for the army an6
ordnance. near 100000 for tho navy. Only
eight years before 100000 pounds had
betrayed the whole annual charge Of
government. More than four times that
sum was now required. Taxation. both
direct and indirect. had been carried to
an unprecedented point; yet the income
of the state still fell short of the outlay
by about 100000. 1t was necessary to
devise something. Something was de-
vised, something of which the effects
are felt to this day in every part of the
globe.
There was indeed nothing strange or
mysterious in the expedient to which the
government had recourse 1t was an az
pedient familiar. during two centuries, to
the f1nanciers of the continent and could
hardly fail to occur to any English
statesman who compared the void in the
exchequer with the overflow in the
money market.
During the interval between the re-
storation and the revolution the riches
of the nation had been rapidly lncreas-
ing Thousands of busy men found every
Christmas that, after the expenses of the
years housekeeping had been betrayed
out of the years income, a surplus re-
NAMED; and how the surplus was to be
employed was a question Of some DIFF
feulty In our time, to invest such q
surplus. at something more than per
cent on the best security that has ever
been known in the world, is the work
of a few minutes. But in the seventeenth
century a lawyer. a physician. retired
merchant, who had saved some thou
sands and who wished to place them
safely and profitably, was often greatly
Three generations earlier,
a man who had accumulated wealth in
a profession generally purchased real
property or lent his savings on mortgage.
But the number of acres In the Kingdom
had remained the same; and the value
of those acres, though it had greatly IN
creased, had by no means increased so
fast as the quantity of capital winch
was seeking for employment
The Natural Eject.
The natural effect OF this state OF
things was that a crowd OF projectors
ingenious and absurd. honest ana kna-
wish. employed themselves in devising
far ha apnnlnvnent of re-
dundant capital. It was about the year
l6Ss that the word stockjobber was first
heard In London. In the short space OF
four years a crowd of companies, every
one of which confidently held out to sub
scribers the hope of immense gains
sprans into existence: the Insurance Com
pany, the Paper Company. the Lutestring
Company, the Pearl Fishery Company,
the Glass Bottle Company, the Alum
Company. the Blythe Coal Company. the
Company. There was Tap
estry Company which would soon furnish
pretty hangings for all the parlors OF
the middle class and for all the bedcham-
bers of the higher. There was a Copper
Company which proposed to explore the
mines of England, and held out hope
that they would prove not less valuable
than those of Potosi. There was a Div
ing Company which undertook to bring up
precious effects from shipwrecked yes
sells, and which announced that it had
laid IN a stock of wonderful machines re-
sembling complete suits of armour. In
front of the helmet was a huge glass eye
like that of a cyclop; and out Of the crest
went a pipe through which the air was
to be admitted. The whole process was
exhibited on the Thames. Fine gentle
men and fine ladies were invited to the
show. were Hospitality regaled. and were
delighted by seeing the divers in their
panopIy descend into the river and re-
turn laden with old iron and ships
tackle There was q Greenland Fishing
Company which could not fail to drive
the Dutch whalers and herring buses out
of the Northern Ocean. There was Tan
ming Company which promised to furnish
leather superior to the best that was
brought from Turkey or Russia There
was a society which undertook the ONCE
of giving gentlemen a liberal education
on low terms, and which assumed the
sounding name of the Royal Academies
Company.
In a pompous advertisement It was an
nounced that the directors OF the Royal
Academies Company had engaged the best
masters in every branch of knowledge,
and were about to issue 2o,ooo tickets at
20 shillings each. There was to be lot
terry; 1900 prizes were to be drawn, and
the fortunate holders of the prizes were
to be taught, at the charge of the com
pany, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French,
Spanish, comic sections. trigonometry,
heraldry, japanning. fortihcations, book
keeping and the art of playing the the
orbo Some of these companies took
large mansions and printed their adver-
tisements in gilded letters. Others, less
were content with ink, and
met at coffee houses in the peighborhood
of the Royal Exchange. Jonathan's and
Garraway's were in a constant ferment
with brokers, buyers, sellers, meetings
of directors, meetings of proprietors. Time
bargains soon came into fashion. Ex-
tensive combinations were formed, and
monstrous fables were circulated. for the
purpose of raising or depressing the price
of shares. Our country witnessed for the
first time those phenomena with which a
long experience has made US familiar.
mania of which the symptoms Were es-
sentially the same with those of the
mania OF ITO, of the mania of 1925, Of the
mania of 1S45, seized the public mind An
inpatience to be rich, contempt for
those slow but sure gains which are the
proper reward of industry, patience and
thrift, spread through society. The spirit
of the cogging dicers of Whitefriars took
possession of the grave senators OF the
city, wardens of trades, deputies. alder
men. It was much easier and much more
l.. f. 49,