A Comparison Has
More Than Once Been Made Between The Manner In Which Our Debt Was
Made And That In
Which the debt of the United States is now being
created; and the great point raised in our favor is,
That while we
were borrowing money we were also taxing ourselves, and that we
raised as much by taxes as we did by loans. But it is too early in
the day to deny to the Americans the credit which we thus take to
ourselves. We were a tax-paying nation when we commenced those wars
which made our great loans necessary, and only went on in that
practice which was habitual to us. I do not think that the
Americans could have taxed themselves with greater alacrity than
they have shown. Let us wait, at any rate, till they shall have had
time for the operation, before we blame them for not making it. It
is then argued that we in England did not borrow nearly so fast as
they have borrowed in the States. That is true. But it must be
remembered that the dimensions and proportions of wars now are
infinitely greater than they were when we began to borrow. Does any
one imagine that we would not have borrowed faster, if by faster
borrowing we could have closed the war more speedily? Things go
faster now than they did then. Borrowing for the sake of a war may
be a bad thing to do, as also it may be a good thing; but if it be
done at all, it should be so done as to bring the war to the end
with what greatest dispatch may be possible.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 413 of 531
Words from 110419 to 110701
of 142339
