Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1901 — GREAT BRITAIN’S NEW DEBT. [ARTICLE]

GREAT BRITAIN’S NEW DEBT.

Enormous Figure of Notional Obligation at High-Water Mark. At the end of that gigantic war. tfee last great struggle between England and France, the united debts of Great Britain and Ireland stood at the enormous figure of £902,000,000, involving an annual charge of £32,046,000, Writes Harold Cox in the North American Review That Is the high-water mark of the British national debt. From 181$ down to the time when the heavy expenditure upon the South African war began, there was a fairly steady reduction—the only important exceptions being, first, in the years 1886 and 1837, when £20,000,000 was borrowed to compensate the owners of slaves in British colonies, and, secondly, In the years 1866 and 1866, when the debt was increased by £36,000,000 on account of the Crimean war. At the close of the Crimean war the debt stood at £842,000,000, involving an annual charge of £26,942,000 for interest and management. By the year 1900 the capital had been reduced to £689,000,000 and the corresponding annual charge to £17,600,000. A year later, in consequence of the South African war, the capital had risen to £703,000,000,