Year: 1868

Ex-Governor Seymour, of New York
in his recent admirable speech before
the New York Democratic State Conven
tion, tells Us substantially that we need
not trouble ourselves about the National
Debt, because it does not begin TO be due
for fifteen years, and then another gen.
Grafton will take care of it. This is
Senator Sherman's view of the matter,
also. Indeed it is the Radical view of it.


We confess it is not satisfactory. We
cannot dispose of the National Debt by
handing it over to the next generation.
That would not relieve our minds OF
the anxiety it causes, nor our energies
of the burdens it imposes. This debt
draws an annual interest of Sl43, ,000, Quo
in gOld-equal TO over 500, 900 900 in
lawful money. This is the all important
matter. If there were no interest on
tho debt, We would be most happy tu
take Governor Seymour's advice, and
hand the debt over to the next genera
tion, and leave them to hand it ever to
the next, and so on. But the longer
we put off paying the debt, or part of
il, the longer wo have to pay the two
hundred millions interest on it. In ten
years the interest would amount TO tCo
thousand millions. In thirteen years,
to twenty-siX hundred millions
more than the debt itself And yet,
after we had paid this twenty-six hun
dred millions Of interest on the debt,
the debt itself would still remain, not
diminished by q single dollar. In short,
this plan of handing the debt down to
posterity means that we shall pay its
volume every thirteen years to the end
Of time, and leave the debt unpaid still.
Such q process will hardly be satisfac-
tory to the people,. whose complaint
now is that they are year by year i'm
poverished by the exaction of 81 per
cent. interest. They are becoming
poorer and poorer constantly under
the exaction, while dealers in money
are growing richer and richer; and
the people are beginning to see that it
will not be great while before the
American nation will be divided into
two classes-a few thousand creditors,
and many million of debtors-the for
mer an arisrocracy, the latter their serfs.
These classes are already being deyel-
oped with alarming rapidity and dis
tinctness. The creditor class have their
nucleus in the holders of Federal bonds,
who in the Egyptian policy, of requir-
ing bricks without furnishing straw,
exact $500, 100000 of interest from the
people, and at the same time refuse the
enlargement of the currency that would
enable them to meet the demand.


Senator Sherman proposes to reduce
the rate of interest on the debt to five
per cent; but this, it mast be remem-
bered, is payable in gold at forty per
cent. premium-equivalent TO seven
per cent. in the currency of the people.
Under Senator SherInan's plan, we
should still have to pay about Sll2, ,O00,,
900 iuterest--wbieh is more than the
people are able to pay for consider


able length of time without crippling
their energies, and impairing the value
of their capital. The annual increase
Of the capital of the country, as we stat
ed on previous occasion, is
about three and half per cent, and
that is the limit of the
interest We are able to pay, and that
We ought to pay on the public debt
The creditor class in the country will OF
course look with great disfayor or
any scheme that proposes to reduce the
amount of annual interest they receive
and to increase the amount of Lawful


money with which this interest is paid


but the people must be considered il
the matter, and we are sure the inter
ests of the people demand that Cen


gress shall pay off portion of thai
debt, as soon as possible, in Lawful


money, and reduce the rate of Interest


on the residue to the rate otannual in
crease of the nations wealth.