Year: 1867

-
tional debt is telling SO seriously on the re-
sources Of every family in moderate or
straightened circumstances that the loyal "
and dsloyal, in the bitterness of their spirit,
are beginning to complain alike. The taxes
are enormous and it can no longer be dis
guised that the burden is grievous. If rea
sonable limit could be placed to the drain
upon the earnings of the people the heavy
cross would probably be borne cheerfully, but
inasmuch as no period can be assigned for
the cessation of the CALLING drag, the people
no longer murmur their discomfort but talk it
openly and deiantly. No great national debt
was ever yet paid: the great debt of the
United States will hardly form an exception
to the rule. The question then occurs, will
the people submit to mortgage the labor of
their lives and the labor Of their children to
pay interest annually amounting to one hun,
dred and fifty millions ofdollars? 1t will re.
quire that amount to pay the interest on the
present audited debt of the Government, but
we have the authority of the Hon. Wm. HiG
by for saying that the unliquidated debt, con-
sisting of just claims that must be eventually
allowed, amounts to from FIVE hundred 20 one
thousand millions more so that it is perfect.


y safe to estimate the debt, when all audited,
at from three thousand millions to three
thousand five hundred millions of dollars, the
annual interest upon which will be at least
two hundred millions. Nearly three times as
much for interest alone as it required to sup
port the whole Government before the war.
That the people Of the United States can sus-
tain such q load without becoming impover-


sbed is utterly impossible. In the nature OF
things the rich will become richer and the
poor poorer, until finally about ninety per
cent of the people will be working for the
other ten per cent. There are politicians and
tinanciers who affirm that there can be no es
cape from such fate except in repudation.
Think of it, At the lowest rate of interest
the people will have paid the full amount of
the whole debt in interest alone, leaving the
debt intact in all its crushing proportions,
exacting tho same payments for the next SIX


teen years, and so on for generations TO come.
Will a people who can rid themselves ofsuch
q CALLING load by simply saying so, con-
tinue always tractable and never say the
word? There are thousands who think diff
ferently, and their numbers are increasing
every day. The spell of sham loyalty" is
exploded, and the people, the toiling millions,
those whom the schemers would make chew
ers Of wood and drawers of water" are be-
| ginning to think for themselves, and, as they
do so, get clearer perception of the situation
They begin to see through the huge impos-
ture that has been played upon them, and it
is easy to predict from present mutterings,
that when they fully comprehend the gross.
ness and extent the swndle, in united and
gigantic effort they will shake the huge in
cubus from their shoulders. The debt was
cieated upon the plea Of military necessity ;
under the mistaken notion that the ConStitu-
ton was "repudiated" and that loyalty, with
the sanction Of the "higher law" could 90 as
it pleased. No one pretends that the delt
was legally and constitutionally contracted.
Thad. Stevens boldly declares that so far as
the South is concerned the Constitution has
been and is 'repudiated." He might with
equal truth have declared that since the first
call of the ''late lamented" for seventy five
thousand troops, it has been in the same fix.
/ l. 1rJ tla
commencement of the war, and in very truth
tho Constitution is ''repudiated. The mills
of the gods grind slowly, but they grind ex-
ceeding fine, and if the people, in their
wrath. shall finally kick the national debt to
the devil where it belongs, they will be apt to
conscientiously think they have only righted
dreadful wrong. The bondholders will
groan, and gnash their teeth, and bite, but
all to no purpose; they will only bite file.
Besides, should the people of this generation
thus cancel their great war debt, they would
be simply following glorious example ;their
ancestors of revolutionary fame and blessed
memory, did like kindness for Continental
currency.


To show clearly, however, that the idea of
repudiation has taken deep root in the popu
lar mind and is not confined to particular
class of politicians, an extract is subioined
from work on /" The Public Debt of the
United States, by j. S. Gibbons, a loyal
writer and one of the ablest in the radical
ranks. He says:


"It becomes the duty of the individual to
paw necessary tax, but it is a social right to
resist an unnecessary tar. What is necessary
in the connection is just, and hence the pay
ment of necessary tax is moral as well as
q civil act No honest man will attempt 10
evade it. But the obligation becomes less
binding. and less its moral character, in pro.
norton as the tax exceeds necessity. and
grows too oppressive aud this is the source
Of the sentiment Of reputation, which, far
from being the fruit of ignorance, or of mere
a,vocity. has It's roots in the natural soil ot
the mind, among profound ideas of justice
and moral right.


1t will be seen that the riqat Ito resist an