Bloomsburg democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1867-1869, 1868-12-09

favor US with prompt response.
Our FiSanclal Trouble - The
Kennedy
Congress has proved Itself incapable or
unwilling to adopt such financial measures
o. are needed to relieve the business Of the
country, and the sooner public sentiment is
concentrated and brought to bear in favor
Of practical measures, the better. 1t is only
by this means proper action can be secured.
All agree that the high rate Of interest paid
BY Ii. government is hndrance to every
species Of individual enterprise. Let this
be tie fret point in which to demand re.
form. A large number Of 6ve.twenty
bonds are now redeemable at the option Of
the government Let them be taken up as
speedily ~ possible, and bonds at lower
nate of interest substituted. The Difficult
ties Of the present system are we'll set forth
by the Doylestown Democrat as fellows:
10 course Of conversation, the other day,
with Conservative Of Republican proclivi-
ties, lie made this remark There must be
something wrong when cannot borrow five
thousand dollars on my real estate worth
forty thousand dollars" We agree with.
him, for indeed, there is something wrong,
and the sooner people come to understand
what that wrong is, the sooner it will be
rightsd. This state Of things really exist,
and men everywhere, in all communities,
begin to appreciate it. What used to be the
easiest thing, when there was money to loan
borrow it on real estate security-is now
about the hardest and unless there be some
change brought about it will become still!
more d&cult. Now what is the matter that
this state Of things should exist? The an
swer is easily made. The government with
its paper goes into the money market and
overbids the. farmer aud all other persons
whose wish to borrow on real security Il
not only pays greater interest, but has the
happy faculty Of excmptins its own bonds
from every description of taxation. The
security it gives is Of lower grade than
that Of the landholder, nevertheless it can
borrow as much money as it wants while
those who wish to borrow on houses or land,
find it almost impossible to do so. The
government monopolze the money market
and drives other borrowers out, because it
gives higher interest than individuals can
afford to pay. This is true statement of
the case, and this is the reason why our
friend, mentioned in ,h. beginning of this
article, could not borrow five thousand dol
lars on real estate worth forty thousand.
Our readers irrespective Of party, will
agree that this state Of things should not
exist in a free government where there is
supposed to be equality Of laws, The gov.
ernment and individuals should stand on the
same level in the money market, and the
law should not give either party an udvan-
tage over the other. The government mo-
nopoly over investments works another in
jury, it makes great deal of capital unpro.
ductive. We have now locked up in Uni.
ted States bonds twenty-five hundred mil.
lions Of what is really dead capital 1t
yields nothing to the holder except the an
ual interest, and the country becomes no
richer on account Of it. How much better
would it DC were this immense amount of
capital used to open new farms, build towns,
and erect manufacturing Establishments
While it lies idle it bears none of the bur.
dens of the country, and the holders of gov.
ernment securities are created favored
class. Notwithstanding all this our bonds
sell at lower figure in tn, money markets
Of Europe than those Of any other country
Even those Of Turkey and Morocco bring
better prices, and while our $50 S are worth
but "a cents on the dollar in London, the
English Consols are worth 94 cents on the
dollar. Whether this arises from fear Of
reputation, or other causes. We shall not
discuss but it shows that the government
monopoly over the money lender, OK xemption
from taxation, &c, which works an injury
to real estate, have failed to make our Sc.
curities IS valuable as those of other coun.
tries.
Now this state Of things ought to he rem.
edied, and the sooner the better-and how
it can best be done will be the great work
for the incoming administration. We want
to see the time come when the government,
the man who wants to borrow money to help
to pay for his farm, and the poor man who
wishes to build new house, will all enter
the market on an equal footing, and can on.
ly offer, by law, the same rate Of interest
But before this can be brought about, there
must be new issue Of government bonds
which bear less rate Of interest than the
present, and arc not like them entirely ex
empt from taxation. No principle is better
settled in this country than that every des-
cription Of wealth and capital should bear
AUST proportion Of the public burdens, and
until it be carried out in practice there will
not be justice to all classes. 80
IT IS announced from Washington that
President johnson has informed the con.