The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1873-12-18
FINANCIAL.
Opinions OF a Tax Payer
TIL Rim OF High Il.i u In
terest.

The following communication was re-
ceised yesterday from an old resident, and
as it contains many very pertinent inquiries
We present il in lie original shape to our
readers.
Editor 7in.ess
lam plain man aud like plain talk. l
seldom borroe money, but whenever try
to collect debt, am always met with the an
swer that "Money is tight and hard to get, ="
and am requested to call again. ALEC occa-
slonslly read the papers, and am quite in
,erested in the various opinions expressed
Concerning the panic. These opinions are
wonderful to conceive, and possibly correc',
but never find bat few writer's who attempt
q solution Of financial problems that do not
leave the reader in a worse state of mind
relative 10 money matters than the poor
wretch possessed atthe beginning. Itseems
to me that the majority Of scribblen attempt
to settle the difficulty by advocating the pay.
ment Of debts without aDybody's paying
anything at all.
Now, Mr.. Editors, have never been
into the my steries of finance but once, and
then lent person some money, which he
paid by giving me Q note, and when l call
ed for the payment at maturity, l could get
nothing but another note, and thus am
situated st present. As long as the giver oil
the mole WAS held to be good, could nego-
tate it at eight discount, bu, when public
lie confidence was somewhat shaken by his
persistent attempts to pay his obligations
with notes, experienced "a ranic," which
curiously enough was reminded of by read
ing the recent experiences of certain fnsn-
ciers in New York and other places. As q
natural consequence, l have quit taking
notes as reliable evidences of my property
values, and prefer something more tangible.
Now the other night, l lay awake think
ing over the matter, and wonderful to relate,
had curious vision, witch might possibly
point a moral in the present financial trou-
bles of the country. l seem to see many OF
the people OF the nation passing along under
high bridge, each with q bag or burden
upon bis back, labelled 10 per cent.Hor 20
per cent, while upon the structure, were a
crowd oil bond holders and money princes,
all of whom we're curiously reaching down
with long poles, labelled National Bonds.
whereby they drew up bag after big from
the shoulders Of the crowd below, which, ac-
cumu.ating rapidly, soon made standing
upon the bridge rather precarlous, az it be-
gan to sway somewhat under the load. SILL
the money ersbbers kept at their labor, till
finally the structure, with a mighty groan,
yielded to the immense strain and Tell with
u tremendous crash, carrying with it bond
holders, National Banks and all their con-
tents.
Now il seems to me to be pretty obvious
that the moral to this vision is not above our
comprehension. The currency of the coun-
| try to-day is nothing but a series of notes,
given BY the General Government, upon
which the people pay 6 per cent. interest in
gold. All this currency is passed into the
hands of the National B,nks, who charge Al
least Z per cent. in paper, and the people,
who thus pay from 10 to Is per cent. Tor the
currency they use, are struggling under q
burden that must from very necessity end in
a panic that will sweep the country from
center to circumference. The structure Of
public credit upon which the bond holders
and National banks are placed, is already
swaying beneath the weight of the interest
taken BY the National Banks, and before thu
latter are aware, the whole structure will
fall with them, for there is no business that
can long pay such . surplus as ten or fifteen
per cent. without running the bu ,iness. This
leads 10 the thought that if We pay fifteen
per cent. on our paper currency, how far
are We from nraciical specie navments? If We
can obtain gold at 81 GO by paying ak per
cent, what margin il there for gold spec u'a-
tion with currency at 81 IA, as 1t practically
is to-day? Had We men in Congress who
we're not sworn advocates of, and personally
interested in National Banks, We should not
see the banks drawing the life blood from the
people, and maintaining gold at it's present
figures, which only can exist by the monop-
oily of the currency that they have held for
years. ID. NJ. Z.