Litchfield enquirer., 1864-09-08
Poor Richards Reasons for buying United
 Statse Securities.

The other day we heard rich neighbor say
 he had rat her have railroad stocks than U. g..
 stocks. for they paid higher interest. Just
 then poor Rchsrd cam. up, and said that he
 had just bought some of Uncle Sans three
 years notes, paying seven and fhree-tenths per
 cent. interest. My rich friend exclaimed,
 "You! thought you had no m oney to buy
 with" "Ycs, ssid Richard, had lit tie
 something laid up ag ainst wet da'y. and I
 have kept lit le of my earnings by me. -
 Now Pc or Richard is known to all the country
 round to be a very ssudent and industrious,
 and ~ithal. wise man; for Riehard never
 lssrned any thing he didn't know how to make
 use of, and his wisdom and prudence had be- come proverb. So, when he took out his savings and bought the notes, more than one
 was sur prised. and it was no wonder rich Mr.
 Smith asked why. So Poor Richard, in a very oniet humble way-for he never assumed any
 thing-replied, "I suppose. MT. Smith, you know great deal better than do what to do
 with money, and how to invest for never had much, and all I got had to work hard for. But have looked round good deal up' on my neighbors, and seen what they did with their money, and will tell you some things saw and what thought of it. One very rlcn man was always dealing in money, and he made a great deal. but was never satisfied without hiqh interest. So he lent most of his money to come people whe he thought were very rich, at very high rate ; and he often told how much he got, till one day the people he lent to went to smash. He got back about ten cents on dollar of his money. know another old gentleman, who had some bank stock, and he went to the bank and got ten per cent dividend. The President and every body said it was the best stock in the coun- try-paid ten per cent. But what did the old man do but sell his stock the next day Why why said everybody. Because it pays too much diuidend And in six months the bank went to smash. Now, that know to be fact. We'll, Mr. Smith, you say railroad stocks are best. because they pay high dividsnds Can you tell how long they will pay them' like helped to build one, and go in for useful things. But tell you what know about them :? Oue-third of the railroads don't pay any dividend, and two thirds land some of them cracked up, tool do not pay as much as Government stocks. Now that brings me to the Government securities, and will tell you why prefer them. take it you will admit, MT. Smith, that in the long run the ir vest ment which is best should have these quali- ties: First, it should be pe,tectly seesrs sec ndly, that the income should be unDorm and pe,mansnt-not up one year and down the next and thirdly, it should be ns'ksts61s, so when your wet day comes. and you want your money, you can get it back. And think these notes or bonds have got these qualities more than any other personal property you can name. Try it.
 Firet, then. have been looking into that great book you call the CeJsus Statistics. used te think it wasn't worth much but sin ce began to study it, tell you, found out a good mrny things very useful for me to know. I found out, by looking at the crops and the and the shipping. &c.,; that we. q don't mean the Rebel States,) are making thousand millions of dollars more a year than we spend. So you see that (since the increase of debt isn't half that,) we are growing rich in- 'tead of poorer, as John Bull and the croaksrs l would have us think. Then the debt will be | paid. anyhow, no matter how long the war is. l Besides, did you ever hear sf . Government hat broke before the people did. Look into