al, and though they
may be at so low a rate of interest as three per cent., they absorb
the energies of the people, and, like a glacier grinding over the
earth, crush all beneath them.

Public debts are incurred to relieve the present wealth of the burden
of present duty. Debts place the whole burden on producers of the
future. They relieve those who hold the wealth now, but are a draft
upon those who make the wealth that is to be.

An individual incurring debt places a mortgage upon his productions;
by a pledge of future production he relieves himself of the strain of
the present.

A family incurs debt; a part of the members of the house are strong
and capable of productive labor, and a part are not; the whole burden
of the payment comes upon the productive members of the home. The weak
and helpless and the indolent, though strong, bear no part of the
burden. This family has a home, and a mortgage is placed upon it to
secure the present needs. The burden of paying the interest on this
mortgage, and the final payment of the principal, is wholly on the
capable and industrious members of the family.

National debts are incurred to relieve the present wealth of the
burden of present government calls and obligations, and to roll it
upon those who shall produce wealth in the future. So the debt of a
city, state, or nation is a present relief to property holders, by
placing the producers under future obligations.

A street in a city is to be paved; no additional tax is levied; but
bonds are issued running twenty years.

This relieves the present wealth of the burden, placing it upon those
who shall produce the wealth that shall be in twenty years.

The expenses of a great war must be met. Present taxes may be slightly
increased, but to meet the burden consols or public bonds are issued
to be paid at a distant date. This relieves the present wealth, but
binds it upon those who shall be the producers of wealth in the
generations to come. Hume says, "The practice of contracting debts
will almost invariably be abused by every government. It would
scarcely be more imprudent to give a prodigal son a credit with every
banker, than to empower statesmen to draw bills in this manner on
posterity."

These public bonds are the golden opportunity of the usurers. Not only
is their wealth relieved of all burden, but it affords an opportunity
of profitable investment with the best possible debtor. They can pose
as enterprising cit