One hesitates to enter into the recent debate between Professors Barro, Buchanan and Feldstein on the public debt controversy. But, while all the current participants have been heard, the figure of one who cannot defend himself looms in the background. David'Ricardo's views on this problem were mentioned in the course of a criticism of Barro's article by Buchanan in which, inter alia, Barro was taken to task for ignoring the literature on the problem. But Buchanan has not adequately characterized Ricardo's own views on the subject.