Ainsworth R. Spofford--says Col. Ingersoll--gives the following facts
about interest: "One dollar loaned for one hundred years at six per
cent., with the interest collected annually and added to the principal,
will amount to three hundred and forty dollars. At eight per cent, it
amounts to two thousand two hundred and three dollars. At three per
cent, it amounts only to nineteen dollars and twenty-five cents. At ten
per cent, it is thirteen thousand eight hundred and nine dollars, or
about seven hundred times as much. At twelve per cent, it amounts
to eighty-four thousand and seventy-five dollars, or more than four
thousand times as much. At eighteen per cent, it amounts to fifteen
million one hundred and forty-five thousand and seven dollars. At
twenty-four per cent, it reaches the enormous sum of two billion, five
hundred and fifty-one million, seven hundred and ninety-five thousand,
four hundred and four dollars!" One dollar at compound interest, at
twenty-four per cent., for one hundred years, would produce a sum equal
to our national debt.