The indebtedness of the North.
In addressing the great Democratic gathering at
Philadelphia, on the 1st inst.,
Col. J. Ross Snowden, late
director of the United States mint, made some curious statements showing the magnitude of the financial operations of the
Federal Government, as follows:
The national debt — what is it now?
Who can tell ? An official statement recently published says that it amounted on the 30th of June last to one thousand one hundred and ninety-seven millions two hundred and seventy-four thousand three hundred and sixty-six dollars. It consists of the following classes of obligations:
| Four per cents | $28,059,295 |
| Five per cents | 101,297,639 |
| Six per cents | 481,275,875 |
| Seven and three-tenths per cent | 189,920,500 |
| Debt not bearing interest | 396,721,057 |
| Total | $1,197,274,365 |
But this frightful sum total does not include all the liabilities of the
Government.
I see in the newspapers of the day other items mentioned, namely:
United States certificates of indebtedness; quartermasters' vouchers.
These and many other items constitute a floating debt, most of which is not embraced in the above financial statement.
Some idea of the magnitude of the business of settling army paymasters' accounts may be inferred from the fact that over one hundred and fifty clerks are employed upon them at the office of the second auditor, yet, with all this force, there is a year and a half's accumulations of accounts and claims in that office.
If we add to the above statement all the liabilities incurred for war purposes since the 30th of June, and claims for damages, pensions, bounties, &c., we will not overstate the total liabilities of the
United States at the present time at two thousand millions of dollars.
Pennsylvania is about one tenth of the "Union as it was." Her proportion of the national debt is, therefore, two hundred millions of dollars.
But if we impoverish and destroy the
South, depopulate her cities, her towns, and her plantations, the proportion of the debt to
Pennsylvania will be increased fifty per cent., making her liabilities for the war four hundred millions of dollars.
The expenses of the
General Government, for all purposes, at the present time, exceed two millions of dollars per day; that is at the rate of seven hundred millions per annum.
The internal revenue tax now levied is estimated at one hundred and fifty millions of dollars.
It is very doubtful whether that amount will be collected; but, whether it is or not, these figures will show what an immense increase every month and every year of war will make to the above-mentioned enormous amount of liabilities.
The debt is now represented by a mere promise to pay, but it is payable in money, which the
Constitution recognizes to be
gold and
silver.
It will increase our understanding of the amount of the money I have named when we consider the weight of those amounts in
gold and
silver.
The debt is now say two thousand millions of dollars; this in
gold coin of the
United States would weigh three thousand eight hundred and seventy-five tons.
(A ton of gold weighs about 3,685 pounds) To move this amount on an ordinary road would require 3,885 horses, or 921 wagons with four horses.
Silver weighs about fifteen times as much as gold.
It would, therefore, require a greater force, in that proportion, to move the above amount, if estimated in that metal.
How much these amounts would weigh in paper, which has no intrinsic value, I have no means of calculating.
The valuation of the property, real and personal, in
Pennsylvania, as fixed by the revenue board of 1863, is five hundred and ninety-six millions of dollars.
The ascertained and registered debt of the
United States on the 30th of June last, alone, with out reference to other debts and liabilities, is nearly twice as great as the whole value of the assessed property in this Commonwealth ! If we include the estimated debts before referred to, including claims for damages, etc., etc., we then have a debt more than four times the value of the property of all kinds in
Pennsylvania, as returned by the assessors to the county commissioners.
This comparison also will assist us to form some adequate idea of the magnitude of the national debt.
Again,
Boston, in proportion to her population, is the richest city in the
United States.
The total wealth of that city, as recently valued by the assessors, is three hundred and two millions of dollars.
The whole wealth of that city will not pay the expenses of the
Government for much more than one hundred days.
