2060. DEBT (United States), Payment of.—
It is proposed to provide additional
funds, to meet the additional debt [assumption],
by a tax on spirituous liquors, foreign
and home-made, so that the whole interest
will be paid by taxes on consumption. If
a sufficiency can now be raised in this way
to pay the interest at present, its increase by
the increase of population (suppose five per
cent. per annum), will alone sink the principal
within a few years, operating as it will in the
way of compound interest. Add to this what
may be done by throwing in the aid of western
lands and other articles as a sinking fund,
and our prospect is really a bright one.—
To Gouverneur Morris. Washington ed. iii, 198.
Ford ed., v, 250.
(Pa.,
1790)
