Evening star., 1924-03-15
CHAPTER Xxx. s...4.
The Public Debt CHARGES.

"~ oUhC DCut ShaKBeSS.
+ Out Of every dollar which was
raised by Alexander Hamilton to
carry on the federal government in
1880 rs cents went to. pay interest on
the public debt. The government
spent s4.269.o0o for all purposes in
that year: Interest took s2.34s.e00.
For the next twenty years the public
debt charges took $3.0oo,o 900 to $4,000
OOo a year. Then bump number one
appeared--a war
The war of 1872 caused public debt
charges to increase for fifteen years
to about s5,0O0,000 annually. Then
Tor ten years gradual reduction
TOOK place, for peace was abroad in
the land. Peace is the greatest healer
or financial sickness known to man
kind. BY 1886 the public debt had
been entirely. paid off The item of
interest for the next ten years was a
mere trifie. But it was too good to
last.
So the government of the United
states deliberately ran into bump
number two-the Mexican war.
From IS4S to 1860 the public debt
charges again reached from SO, 900 600
to $4.OO0,0O0 annually. and by that
time IT was not difficult to meet. : The
government had again control of the
'teaosiofIs hCH HuInDtT
aprerred. 1t was a terrible one
another war :
The civil war nearly wrecked the
American nation financially. both in
the north and in the south. Interest
charges rose from "a, ,0d0. 900 in 1851
to sI33.0o0.000 in 1866. The next df-
teen years were ehearttreak e4oncs.
me debt charges fayerRsedyy well over
90 100000 annually. But. the great
financial healer peace, was again in
N q OF r-ln 3..n t,e.rl
as payments were made on the pEinci.
pal The Spanish American war added
but little to- the burden, because the
greater part of the war expenses
were paid out of current taxes.
That was the right policy in 1898.
1t was the one policy to have pursued
in 1917, but il was not followed.
Bump number four appeared-another
war.
The Races Greatest Debauch.
The great war was the greatest
financial debauch in all the history OF
mankind. We spent for purely war
purposes a total of s30.7s7 600, 900 and
we raised in war taxes a total of
$1,000, 100000. For every dollar which
we spent for war we raised 22.4 cents
in taxes. The balance-7..6 cents
we got by selling government credit
and by debauching our money. We
ronscripted men. but we did not con-
script wealth. That was our bigges,
m stake.
Jean de Bloch. a Polish banker
published a very great treatise on
The Future of War" In the six
volumes of this monumental work the
great banker established the PROPOSE
ton that from purely economic
viewpoint modern war was nothing
less than International suicide and
unless civilization could get rid OF
war 1t would get rid of civilization
Bloch was the first business states
to the modern industrial plant
He saw clearly that unless all the
war expenses are paid for out of cur
rent taxation future generations will
pay the cost by their savings and
hardships- Yes. and at lower stand
ard Of living. The whole world is
experiencing just that thing today
And the people of the United States
are not outside of this iron law OF
war
1t is very important at this point
that we should not confuse real
wealth with the evidences and SYM
bols Of wealth. Real wealth con-
sists Of goods and services, while
evidences of wealth consist of money
and credit. s-l. .....
United States paid its entire cost
of the war while 1t was being fought
There was no escape from it Every
Army saddle, every gun, every uni
form, every ton of she'll, every piece
of beefstake. every man-hour spent
n military service, was taken from
the current store of wealth at the
time.
Real Incomes Reduced.
Now. if these materials and ener-
gies given to war activity did not
arise from increased productive eff
cheney, which would have been i'm
possible under peace conditions, this
draft on our real wealth made poorer
by just that much the current real
incomes of our population. How
then, did we pay for the war? We
paid for it in housing shortages. in
food and clothing scarcitieS-in a
word, in reduced purchasing power