Essays in Liberalism - Being the Lectures and Papers Which Were Delivered at the - Liberal Summer School at Oxford, 1922 by Various
page 57 of 207 (27%)
page 57 of 207 (27%)
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income with the present debt. What happened to that as a burden during
the 100 years just gone by? If it was alleviated, to what was the alleviation due? I would not burden you with a mass of figures, but I would just give you one or two selected periods. You can find more details in my recent book on _Wealth and Taxable Capacity_. We had a total debt of-- 850 million pounds in 1817 841 " " " 1842 836 " " " 1857 659 " " " 1895 800 " " " 1903 and before this last war it had been reduced to 707 million pounds. In 1920, of course, it was over 8000 million pounds. Such incidents as the Crimean and the Boer wars added materially to the debt, but apart therefrom you will see that there is no tremendous relief by way of capital repayment to the original debt. Similarly, in a hundred years, even if we have no big wars, it is quite possible we may have additions to the national debt from smaller causes. Yet the volume of the debt per head fell from £50 to £15.7, so you will see that the increasing population made an enormous difference. The real burden of the debt is of course felt mainly in its annual charge. I will take this, therefore, rather than the capital:-- In 1817 the charge was 32 million pounds " 1842 " " " 28 " " " 1857 " " " 28.8 " " In 1895 the charge was 25 million pounds " 1903 " " " 27 " " |
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