The Ring has not quite ruined New York. Mr. D.
A. Wells, formerly Commissioner of Revenue, has been appointed to report on the City Debt, and has ascertained that it amounts to about £25,000,000 sterling, at an average interest of 6 per cent. New York with her credit restored could raise money at 5 per cent., and her dead-weight, therefore, need not be more than £1,250,000 a year — a sum which, in a city with real estate assumed at £400,000,000, or, say £20,000,000 a year, amounts to a rate of 14d. in the pound—not a third of the average London rate. As the City can be splendidly governed for about £2,000,000 more, and has, besides really enormous business wealth, it need not, if honestly managed, fear a declaration of bankruptcy.