People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1896 — THE WAR DEIBE. [ARTICLE]

THE WAR DEIBE.

ITS UPS AND DOWNS DURF.C THE THIRTY YEARS. High-Water Mark in 1867 Mark in 1892 —I'rincip ;I, li.u . i -t . a Premiums —In Ronml Figures, S4.oi;<>.000,000 Paid. (Washington Correspondence of the Globe-Democrat.) Senator Cockrell delights to del ,t in details. His mind naturally gr. the minutiae of Government affairs.. This is in well known that it Lie. him an authority on his line aiuo..,-; Senators. Especially is Senator Co. rell strong on the dollars and 'or:. transactions of the Government. K cently he has been overhaulin'.; figures pertaining to the public He has had com, i! i some inform i. ■ which will in'.. and surprise ... average reader who knows little and cart i ss a;,on. the : . ion’s . obligations. There seems to b na political purpose in what the Sen.it' ’■ be drawn forth. The results simply sho.v in dollars the marvelous recuperation of the nation from the cost of the civ’ll war. Tire statement prepared for Senator Cockrell by the Chief of the Tree me. Bureau ol Eta istics, Worthington on! shows the condition of the public n: V for every year from 1865 to Uv of 1895.' That debt was $2,221,311,918 at the end of 1865. It i . .. a red in 1866 cud in 1867, reaching a maximum the r tt- . year of $2,248.9:17.387. In the thirty years ending with 1893 the country has paid on the print,pm of this debt $1,505,109,858. This reduction of the princinc’ i magnificent testimony to the recuperative power of the United Stati s. Big wha: will people say when they learn that in addition to the reduction of principal the country has paid in in crest during the thirty years a sum greater than the debt at its maximum? Here are the figures: Paid on principal from 1565 to 1895 $1,505,109,858 Paid in interest from 1865 to 1895... 2,356,760,931 Total principal and interest paid $3,861,870,789 The debt of the United States reached $2,500,000,000 in round figures, but the country has already paid on account of it nearly $4,000,000,000. The lowest point reached by the debt was in 1892, the closing year of the Han : -on administration,. It stood then at $585,029,330, about one-fourth of the debt at its maximum in 1867, and about one-seventh of the iotal amount which has i_- on paid in principal and inheres'. In the 'thirty years that the United States has been dealing with the war debt the reductions ant! increases present some interesting figures. In the year that the debt reacluu its highest point, which was 1847. a payment of $84,000,900 was made on the principal in addition to $138,000,000 of interest. None of the debt was due in 1867. To persuade bondholders to let go of their appreciated securities the Government had to go into the market and pay a premium of .- 000 in the extinction of this $84,000,00) of debt. Of the thirty years from 1865 to 1896, twenty-two years have shown reductions and eight years have shown increases of the debt.

The largest reduction of the debt in ■ any one of these twenty-two years was made in 1882, the firs' year of the Arthur adminstration, when $173,090,- 1 000 of the bonds was wiped out. These bonds fell due ar.d were redeemed without the payment, of any premium. The smallest reduction :n the twentytwo years was in 1870. when only ! $11,000,000 of the bonded debt was ex- j languished, I - making the reduction of the i debt raster than the bonds fell due the I Government has paid $119,000,000 in premiums.- If the premiums are added to the interest paid and to the twentytwo reductions of the debt it will be seen that the total paid on account of the war debt is $3,980,000,000. Of the eight years in which additions were made to the debt, the first was the year'lß6B, when $111,000,000 was the increase. The second addition was made in 1874, the year following the panic of 1873. That increase was $23,000,000. In the year of the great railroad strikes, 1877, and in the two years of depression and -hard times following, there were increases of the debt. The increase of 1877 was $1,000,000 in round figures. In 1878 it was $84,000,000. In 1879 it was $3,000,000. After 1879 the reductions began, and in every year for thirteen years the debt was cut down. It was during this period that the largest reduction, already mentioned, that in 1882, was ■ made. In the thirteen years from 1879 to 1893, covering the administration of Hayes (in part), Garfield and Arthur, Cleveland (the first) and Harrison, the reduction was $1,206,000,000. ' In the last two fiscal years included in Cleveland’s first administration there was a reduction of $192,000,000. For the redemption of bonds called in before due, premiums amounting to $25,000,000 were paid. In the first three fiscal years covered by Harrison’s administration the net reduction of the debt were $245,000,000. The amount paid fn premiums was S3O - 000,000. In the last nine months of the Har rison adminstration and first three months of the first year of Cleveland’s second adminstration the debt showed an increase of $7,000. In the first fiscal year of Cleveland's second adminstration thd Increase was $50,000,000. In the second, it was $Bl.-

100,000. The Third full year will not be ended until June 3D. >; will include the February sale of SIOO, ;£■ 9,000 bond 3. The interest paid on he war debt was $151.977,6?7 in 1861. That was high-water mark. In 1892. the last fiscs! year of the Harrison administration, the interest paid was $22,893,833. That was the low-water mark. The interest paid in 1895 was $29,000,000. For 1896 the interest charge will be about $34,000,000. The Interest charges of 1865 are about what the pension appropriation bill calls for how. The interest charges now- are 9but what was paid in pensions thirty years ago. The Gov, rnment’s fiscal year ends on June 3The figures given above are on that Stasis. The presidential year ends on the. 3d of March. In order to make comparisons more accurate, Senator Cork:oil has had a separate compilation n 1 ode by presidential years for the Harrison and the two Cleveland admin is tra; ions. V'.'iH-n Mr. Cleveland entered the White . ■ on the 4th of March, 1885, the public d. bt was $1,196,149,600. During that administration the debt was reduced $538,043,380. The interest paid during the first Cleveland administration was $188,253,905. In principal, interest and premiums there was paid in the four years of the first Cleveland admin-tr.t:ion $551,000,000. President Harrison found the public debt SB-58.106.220 when he entered upon his term. He left $385,034,260. The reduction of the principal during the Harrison administration was $263,995,260. The ii ■ res: paid durng the Harrison admi: "ration was $123,521,436. The paym- or principal, interest and premia tr- during the four years of Harrison were $423,000,000. President C’ we; :nd comph ted three years of hi. second term in March of this year. The debt wr- $585,000,000 when be w. ■ inrugur.de.! the second time. At the end of hi? third year, March 3, 1896, it was $822,000,000, an Increase of $237,000,000. The interest paid in the third presidential year of the second Cleveland administration, the year that recently closed, was $34,000,000. In the third presidential year of Harrison’s term the interest charge was $21,000,000.