FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



341 



worthy of attention, that $100,000,000 less principal, 

 at the commencement of the process of payment, will 

 save $400,000,000, in round numbers, in the end, if 

 the rate is five and a half per cent., and $300,000,000 

 if five per cent. The burden of a national debt is, of 

 course, relative to the national resources, and these 

 resources are not, strictly speaking, capital, but the 

 current product of the capital and industry of the 

 country. The annual product, however, is found to 

 bear a certain ratio to capital, and this ratio may be 

 conveniently and safely used in computing the prob- 

 able resources which must in the future meet the na- 

 tional requirement for the payment of interest and 

 extinguishment of the debt. 



In the opinion of the Secretary, subsequently 

 expressed, the annual product of the labor and 

 capital of the country may be considered as 

 bearing the ratio of twenty-five per cent, to the 

 capital wealth of the country. Taking the re- 

 turns of the census of 1860 as the amount of 

 the wealth, and regarding the increase to 1870 

 only at one hundred and twenty-five per cent., 

 the annual income at that period will amount 

 to a sum twice as large as the present debt. A 

 payment of $200,000,000 on the public debt, 

 out of this sum, would be only 2.9 per cent. 

 He concludes, that no act of Congress, except 

 for raising the necessary revenue, would be 

 more acceptable to the people, or better calcu- 

 lated to strengthen the national credit, than 

 one which should provide that $200,000,000, 

 commencing with the next fiscal year, shall be 

 annually applied to the payment of the interest 

 and principal of the national debt. These favor- 

 able views served to sustain public confidence 

 in every department of industry. For the meas- 

 ures of the Government relating to revenue, see 

 the subject of Taxation on a subsequent page. 



Statement of the Public Debt on the \sb day of January 

 in each oftheyears from 1791 to 1842, inclusive, and 

 at various dates in subsequent years to July 1, 1865. 



Value of Real Estate and Personal Property according 

 to the seventh Census (1850) and the eighth Census 

 (1860), respectively; also tlie increase. 



Ptrtlj wtimatod. 



