DEBTS

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 10, 1878

AN exchange says:—

If the world should suddenly resolve to be rid of one of its greatest evils, debt, there would not be found sufficient money to pay one cent on a dollar. This statement may seem extravagant, it is, however, not made without considerable investigation of statistics and the closest scrutiny of approximations where definite figures could not be found.

The national debt of the United States, $2,051,587,254, would swallow about three times the money in the country, yet this national debt is a mere trifle compared with debts of States, counties, towns, cities, villages, schools, churches, business firms and corporations, and private individuals. No definite approximation can be made to the debts here mentioned; from the latest returns at our command we estimate the debts of thirty-three States to be $564,371,400. In this sum are included the debts of about two-thirds of the counties and townships, and hence, since the county and town debts form by far the larger portion of this amount, we may safely add another $125,000,000, for the remaining counties and towns not before counted.

One of the chief debtors in modern times, and especially in this land of lavish expenditure, is the cities. It seems almost incredible, yet the best authorities vouch for the fact, that the city of New York is carrying a debt of $149,000,000. A writer

for the September Galaxy ascertains the debt of 130 of our largest cities to be $644,378,663, and estimates that the total debt, if all the cities were taken into account, would not fall short of $1,000,000,000. It is a noteworthy fact, that while many of the States and counties are slowly diminishing their burdens, the debts of cities are increasing at alarming rates. What, then, should be called the public debt proper may be summed up as follows:—

National debt, Oct. 1, 1877, $2,051,587,254 State, county, and town debts, $689,371,396 Village debts (estimated), 100,000,000 City debts, 1,000,000,000 Total, $3,840,958,650

What do these figures indicate? That the purely public debts of the United States, one of the youngest debtors of the earth, aggregate five times the amount of money in the country.