Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-01-27
Greenback Inspiration.

e. 2. Allis, of Milwaukee, made the
most charming speech evolved by
the convention of greeenbackers at
Madison. Harlow s. Orton pronoun-
ced II "the most perfect presentation
of the question be had ever read or
listened to-" and Harlow has heard q
good deal. Mr.. Alls's plan was,
substantially, this Let the debt of
the Government be represented by
either bonds or greenbacks. The
bonds to draw 3 and 65-100 per
cent. interest. If man TO whom
the Government owes anything can
not make more than that out of the
money. he would take bonds, and
whenever he could make more he
would go with bis bonds AMI get
greenbacks. The one is to be at any
time convertible for the other. The
currency, according to this theory,
would be entirely regulated by the
demand, up to the amount of the
Nations debt, and therefore the
Nations debt is an inestimable bless
ing and TO be perpetuated as a bles-
sing to untold generations. Ii the
debt amounts to two thousand
millions of dollars, in high state OF
prosperity there would be thatamount
of greenbacks in use among the
people, for the bondholders, being
able to invest in enterprises MOI c
profitable than the interest allowed
on them, would have them all return
cd to the Governn ent 70: green
| backs.
1t seems that this plan was new to
| Mr.. Orton and other members of that
convention, but it is not new. 1t is
an old and we'll tried scheme, Under
|
various names, in successive ages
and in many countries it has been
tried. La private relation it is in.
deed, the theory of al bank of issue
individuals, corporations, states and
empires have used IT. Out of the
lowest state of depression all have
been lifted to the highest state Of
activity by it. Hard times have beer
dispelled and succe eded by eras Of
prosperity by it. The plan is nearly
two hundred years old. Its first
trial was on an immense scale anc
had immense success. 1t was the in
vention of man who having wasted
his patrimony, while q youth, il
riotous living, murdered fellow
gambler and fed his country. Hi
name was John Law and be was Dor.
in Scotland in 1911. In 1916 BIZ
became banker in Paris. France
after century Of war vas in tn
extreme of distress. Louis XIV. haC
expired leaving an impoverishe'
kingdom. All industry was checked
because the poor mans wages wer
insufficient to buy his necessary foo
and clothing. Manufactures cease
because the produced found n
demand for his stables. Commorc
was destroyed, for the nation tina
could not raise its domestic want
could not buy foreign Injuries
Fields were uncultivated granarie
empty, and the peaeantry collecte
themselves in hecatombs TO expiat
the crimes of the monarch in who's
wars they were immortalized. Th
regency proposed TO throw off tn
the lead grinding the people to tn
dust, by declaring the nation bank
rupt. Notwithstanding this depth @
distress, such as could not be reachet
by the people of this country, tn
regent, Duke Of Orleans, objected
He called for the accounts of th
Nations creditors, and found th
debt to be nearly a thousand million
of dollars. 1t was funded at pc
}eent., but the kingdom was in sucl
distress that with all the usurpation
and refined frauds of the regency
they could not pay the interest. Nov
came the application of John Law
brilliant invention. A ssuming tina
the prosperity of q people increase
in the ratio of the money circulating
among them, be showed that as specie
can never be increased beyond {
certain mapk, it is necessary to resor
to paper money to carry the State
onward with increasing population
and wants. He urged the issue o
| PoPSi UAiPo w pooo 40 NuA iChSJ ohN
convertible with the treasury bonds
He proposed further that the bond
should be as mortgage upon tht
states. The short-sighted regents a
first declined to adopt the scheme
but Law was permitted to try thu
experiment as q private banker, HI
received subscriptions at $3.50 pei
share until his capital was 81, 100000
The notes were backed by specie anC
landed estates, but they were made
illegal tenders" and they soon tool
the place of the irredeemable scrip
which, representing government
bonds, already flooded the country
In few months the notes passed a.
nor