The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1855-11-22
FOOD AND FINANCES IN FRANCE.



/ THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE.
|
The Merchants Magazine for November
devoiss quite an elaborate article to the sub.
ject. The writer endeavors to show that f..
nance and food have been mighty agents,
which five times in the course of sixty years
have revolulionized France; and hurled from
their seat Of power, despols, kings, and re-
publicans. He then proceeds TO show the
causes that produced the revolutions OF 1889,
1902, 1880, lS4s, and 1851. Il is moi neces-
sary for US 10 recapitulale these in detail, but
| the qnestion--whai is likely to be the future
OF France? is well calculated 10 arrest at,en.
ton. Ii is argued that every revolution that
has overhrown the rulers of France, has
been proceeded by war, and that within a
short time, Government has effected loans,
which will add sixty-one millions OF francs
10 the yearly expenses Of France. Add to
this fact, abe one that the floating debt at the
present time is 76O, 900 francs, that the sink
ing fund is suspended, and that ITO, 100000
francs will have 10 be added 10 The budget of
1855, and we have an idea that the slender
thread upon which hangs the tranquility of
France, for she is approaching toward fnan-
ciai embarrassments that are inevitable, and
which year of famine will accelerate, and
aid in producing and causing another revolu.
ton. In single month war has reduced the
bullion in her bank $s 900 900, and already
commercial revulsions are beginning to oc-
cur in all parts of the empire. One year Of
scarcity would now be but the precursor TO
another revolution. Let Us here remark that
it is no, the fickleness Of the people that pro-
duces these changes, but it results from the
peculiar position Of the nation, owing TO the
subdivision of it's landed property.
"We have already alluded 10 the extent OF
these divisions in 1915, and Judging from that
date there are at presen. in France 17,000,-
900 landed proprietors, most of whom are
TOO poor to ever taste of meat, and who exc
out but miserable subsistence. The result
of this system is that France has no "extra.
ordinary resources" on which 10 draw in case
of war, for il she were to levy upon land
tax Of s25, ,OOO, 900 10 support the war. ii would
bear directly upon II 100000 Of her peorle,
while in England 1t woult. only affect 10000
owners OF the soil. Thus England doubles
her land tax of $31 900, 900 in single year,
and yet il produces only wordy debates, but
if France was to increase hers Sc, 200, 900, il
would almost insure a revolution, for in the
last case il would lake bread from the mouths
Of 100000 people, while in the first it
would reach the pockets of 1000 English
farmers, who own 100000 acres, and ST..
900 more who own the same extent. The
difference in :he nation's resources explains
the stability of the one and changes of the
other, and while England in sixteen years
has taken off taxes from her people 10 the
amount Of 500, 100000, France has dimin!
ishsd hers only $3,OoO,OO0. The one has
exhausted her capabilities OF great taxation
upon land by i,s subdivisions, the other has
increased hers by preventing even political
division of The soil. Such is Frauce's posi-
ton in regard to taxation and war.
"Let US look at her supply of food. So
inadequate, even in years of plenty, is her
means of supplying food for her people that
A00, 900 chesnu, trees are depended on as
one means Of furnishing subsistence to her
citizens, and as our table will show, she has
now no longer the means of furnishing con-
sah,ly an adequate supply Of food for her in
habilants. A frost destroys her chestnut crop,
and annihllaies in single night 100000
bushels of food, While weeks storm, as in
1888 and isi7, destroys whole harvest and
inciles het people TO revolution. She is reach.
ing the acme in her financial affairs, and be-
yond which she cannot pass, and each day
widens the grasp between her own demand
and home supply Of food. Revolutions upon
her soil need no human propagandists. They
come with hail, frost, and blight, deficits In
budgets, new taxes upon land, and new drains
upon labot Quie,uds to France ID an i'm.
possibility--naiure herself watts sgslnst it,
Her rulers also prevent It, and five govern
menis have been overturned upon her soil,
because war embarrassed the finances and
nature destroyed her food. The sathe nigh
~, invincible sgenii ere now at work in her
capital war is creating deficits in her treas
ury and taxes for her people, and her future,
like her past, 10 10 be marked with sueces.
sive revo'uiions, and the active uncsasing
agents that will surely produce them will be
Finance and Famine.D
This is, indeed, a startling view of an inn
porant subject, and although Il may be ex-
sggerated, il is entitled to due considefa.
,ion.