10.The debts which governments have to carry in this way are very great.Cities borrow money，usually for erecting public buildings，paving streets，making sewers，and the like.Some city governments have been extravagant and dishonest，and in this way such cities have great debts with very little to show for them.
11.The debt of the federal government has been caused principally by war.Each time the nation has had a war the government has had to borrow money to carry it on.The debt of the revolutionary war and of the war of 1812was paid off in 1835.But in 1846we fell into war with Mexico，and from 1861to 1865we had a great civil war.The latter especially was enormously costly.When the war ended，in 1865，thedebt of the federal government was nearly three thousand millions of dollars （2，773millions）.The treasury paid out during one year ending with June，1896，over thirtyfive million dollars as interest on the existing debt，the principal of which even now amounts to nearly a thousand millions.Besides the interest on the debt，we have in the pensions another expense caused by the war.Soldiers and sailors who were disabled in the war，or who have since become unable to work，and widows and orphan children of war veterans，receive a sum of money each year from the federal treasury.In all nearly a million people are now receiving war pensions，and they were paid in the year ending with June，1896，the sum of a hundred thirtynine millions of dollars.So we are yet paying the cost of our great civil war from the national taxes，and it will be many years before the payment will be ended.
12.Wars and Taxes.As we have seen，the great national debt has been created by wars.To pay this debt it is necessary for the people to submit to heavy taxes for many years.If we feel that the wars were necessary，we can endure these taxes patiently.But if we should be so foolish as to go to war from the mere desire to win victoriesto get military “glory，”as it is calledthen the taxes，as well as the cost in blood and suffering，would be a price far too dear.No war is just unless it cannot be avoided without loss of liberty or honor.
13.What a shrewd English writer thought of the price of a war of glory it may be interesting to see.We should remember that a common nickname for England is“John Bull，”as “Brother Jonathan”is for the United States.
Taxes the Price of Glory
①SYDNEY SMITH
JOHN BULL c a n i n f o r m Jo n a t h a n w h a t a r e t h e i n e v i t a b l e consequences of being too fond of Glory：TAXES！Taxes upon every article which enters into the mouth，or covers the back，or is placed①The Rev.Sydney Smith was a clergyman of the Church of England，who died in 1845.He was the founder of the Edinburgh Review ，and was famous as a wit and caustic critic.
under the foot；taxes upon everything which it is pleasant to see，hear，feel，smell，or taste；taxes upon warmth，light，and locomotion；taxes on everything on earth，and the waters under the earth；on everything that comes front abroad，or is grown at home；taxes on the raw material；taxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man；taxes on the sauce which pampers man’s appetite，and the drug that restores him to health；on the ermine which decorates the Judge，and the rope which hangs the criminal；on the poor man‘s salt，and the rich man’s spice；on the brass nails of the coffin，and the ribbons of the bride；at bed or board，couchant or levant，we must pay.
The schoolboy whips his taxed top；the beardless youth manages his taxed horse，with a taxed bridle，on a taxed road；and the dying Englishman，pouring his medicine，which has paid seven per cent.，into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent.，flings himself back upon his chintzbed，which has paid twentytwo per cent.，makes his will on an eightpound stamp，and expires in the arms of an apothecary，who has paid a license of a hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death.His whole property is then immediately taxed from two to ten per cent.Besides the probate，large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel；his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed marble；and he is then gathered to his fathers，to be taxed no more.
In addition to all this，the habit of dealing with large sums will make the Government avaricious and profuse；and the system itself will infallibly generate the base vermin of spies and informers，and a still more pestilent race of political tools and retainers of the meanest and most odious description；while the prodigious patronage which the collecting of this splendid revenue will throw into the hands of Government will invest it with so vast an influence，and hold out such means and temptations to corruption，as all the virtue and public spirit，even of Republicans，will be unable to resist.Every wise Jonathan should remember this！
UNITED STATES SOLDIERS.