Sioux City, Iowa.
Tell us what is the total public indebtedness of the United States of all kinds, National, State, county, city, township, district, etc. Also what part of the Union, the East, West, or South, owes the most. Finally, give the wealth per capita East, West and South.
Disputant.
Answer.—According to statistics in “The West in 1880,” since confirmed by the census returns, the local indebtedness of the several States (consisting of county, city, town and district debts, bonded and floating) added to State indebtedness, aggregated $1,117,821,671, or $22.28 per capita; and the wealth, measured by the assessed valuation, amounted to $336.89 per capita, distributed by States and Territories as follows:
| Per | Wealth | ||
| States and Territories. | Debt. | capita. | per cap. |
| New Eng. States | $178,654,977 | $44.54 | $661.27 |
| Mid. States | 488,638,655 | 41.57 | 473.55 |
| South. States | 204,887,805 | 13.43 | 155.29 |
| West. States | 243,984,183 | 13.17 | 333.63 |
| Territories | 1,656,051 | 2.73 | 211.29 |
| Total | $1,117,821,671 | $22.28 | $336.89 |
In some States local indebtedness has diminished since 1880, while in others it has increased. Assuming that the total local indebtedness is about the same, we may add to the above $1,117,821,671, the National debt at close of June 30, 1883, say $1,884,171,728, and it appears that the total public debt of this country is about $3,001,993,399.
PERVERSITY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Opdyke, Ill.
Seeing that the earth’s diameter at the equator is greater than at the poles, and Lake Itasca is nearer the center of the earth than the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, why isn’t it proper to say that the Mississippi River runs up hill?