Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/43

DEBT. compiled by the Bureau of Statistics of the United States Treasury Department, here reproduced, gives the indebtedness of some of the principal nations, and of all the nations of the world combined, since 1800. The table shows that the progress of debt in most countries has been constantly forward, and that, with the exception of the United Kingdom and the United States, there has been no conspicuous reduction of the debt. The debt of Great Britain reached its maximum in 1857, when it amounted to £839,000,000. In the forty-three years since that date the total has been reduced by £199,000,000; but the process of debt reduction has been checked for the time being by the complications in South Africa.

The public debt of the United States was first reported, 1791, two years after the organization of the Government, as $75,463,476.52. In 1812, at the commencement of the second war with England, it had fallen to $45,209,737.90. That war brought it up to a total of $127,334,933.74. After peace the reduction was from $3,000,000 to $10,000,000 per year until in 1836 it reached its lowest point, being only $37,515.05. Thenceforward it increased one year and decreased the next, until in 1860—the year before the Civil War—it was $64,842,287.88, and the annual interest was $3,443,687. This was a rate per capita on the whole population of $1.91 debt and 11 cents interest. The outbreak of the Civil War made the raising of enormous sums of money an imperative necessity. Two small loans had been made just before—in 1858, $20,000,000 in 5 per cents., and in 1860, $21,000,000 in 6 per cents.—the first to run 15 and the last 20 years. Of the last loan, only $7,022,000 was issued. Of the loans made necessary by the Civil War, the first was February 8, 1861, $25,000,000 at 6 per cent., to run 20 years, of which $18,415,000 was reissued. March 2, 1861. 6 per cent. Treasury notes were authorized and $35,364,450 issued. Same date, $1,095,850 reissued to pay the Oregon war debt.

July 17, 1861, $250,000,000, at 7 per cent., to run 20 years, with authority to issue any part in the form of Treasury notes running three years at 7 per cent. interest, or on notes not bearing interest, but payable on demand, or in Treasury certificates for one year bearing 3 per cent. interest; the whole amount of demand notes not to exceed $50,000,000. An act of August 5, 1861, authorized the issue of 6 per cent. bonds, running 20 years, to exchange for the one and three year notes just mentioned, with accumulated interest, at any time before their maturity; and the demand notes were made receivable for all dues to the Government. Before the close of the year the demand notes, at first rejected by the banks, were at a premium, and the interest-bearing notes were readily convertible into permanent 6 per-cent bonds. On February 12, 1862, $10,000,000 more of demand notes were issued. In the same month a great war loan was authorized—$500,000,000 of 6 per cent. bonds, redeemable after 5 and payable after 20 years. The loan was readily taken, and the full amount was issued. In 1864-65, $15,000,000 more was authorized of the same loan. In February, 1862, $150,000,000 of legal-tender notes were authorized, of which $50,000,000 were to take the place of demand notes. In July, 1862, $150,000,000 more were authorized, and an equal amount in addition in March, 1863, making $450,000,000 in all. These issues formed the currency known as ‘greenbacks,’ from the color of the paper. An act in February, 1862, authorized the acceptance of $25,000,000 of deposits, increased in March to $100,000,000, on which 5 per cent. interest was paid. In June, 1864, $50,000,000 more was authorized at 6 per cent. This was a temporary loan, to be repaid on ten days' notice, and was all redeemed before the close of 1866. In March, 1862, Congress authorized the issue of certificates of indebtedness to public creditors in the adjustment of claims, running 1 year at 6 per cent. There were $561,753,241 issued, all redeemed before 1866. In July, 1862, postage stamps were issued for currency, and made a legal tender for sums less than $5. In March, 1863, fractional currency was authorized in place of postage stamps, the amount limited to $50,000,000. In March, 1863, a loan of $900,000,000 was authorized, principal and interest payable in coin; but only $75,000,000 was issued. The same act authorized $400,000,000, in one, two, and three year Treasury notes, interest not over 6 per cent., payable in ordinary money, and to be a legal tender for their face value. The actual issues were: Of one-year notes, at 5 per cent., $44,520,000; two-year notes, at 5 per cent., $166,480,000; three-year notes, at 6 per cent., $266,595,440; making the whole issue $477,595,400; all canceled or exchanged before May 15, 1868. In March, 1864, a loan of $200,000,000 was authorized at 5 or 6 per cent., principal and interest