The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-03-22
FRANCE OF TO-DAY.
Fast and Prcsent-Thc Holders Of Rentes
~, Rare COnndencc in the

Past and Prc-ent-The Moidcrs Of Rentes.
h.. Rare COnndencc in the
| Government. ifu4dh ''i.'
The Paris correspondent of tho Pau
Mnu Gazette writes to that journal
IL Is Interesting to contrast the France
OF to-day with the France just described
by M Tainc A hundred years ago
half the population of Normandy was
starving, he.people never saw Il whcate n
loaf. Now there IL hardly a pauper to
be found In the whole :. province.
and farmers OF Ef0tO II Year are
hardly the exceptions. A dotumsnt
on La Diffusion de Ia Kente F'ran.,
caise" gives u very fair idea Of the Ma
tional wealth. The writer remarks that
one OF the salient features OF the Ma
tionaf debt Is its ceaseless tendency 10
spread, especially within the past TWEEN
ty years. The ministry Of finance pub
lishcs at certain intervals an account Of
the number OF holders or Government
scrip. from which one can gather the
following Information II will be REL
membercd that in 1893 there was Il
reduced by twot thirds this was worse
than what was recently done in Turkey.
In spite oYthis step the eGoverhmer,tscrtp
soon recovered tspopularity lat lcast, in
1898, five years after the State bad de
clared Itself bankrupt, the public books
showed that there were 25O0D hoidcfs Of
Govcrnm cnt securities 10 the atfrtiunt of
30, 900 900 ffancs q year. Tho revelmtio n
was approaching its end, and ,already
CONFIDENCE was beginning 70 be, felh
When Napoleon seized On the chiaf
power there was q sensible incrca9e In
the number Of holders, . which rose
~ . a t,...
Of the Empire, - Up /. TO vi 1915
as Napoleon made mis- wafs SUPPORT
themselves, and had not to appeal IT,
the public for funds. The RESTORATION
soon, commenced borrowing; it GEst
| borrowed Gao, 0,O0O, 900, in, order to iu
denniYy the crnigres for the losses they
had sustained by tine revolution M
DeViiicle, too, converted the tive pet
cents into three per cents, and thest
transactions increased the number d
holders. Still the rente was held only
! by limited number of people, BY bank
.ers, rich merchants and citizens, and
had not penetrated into the country
According to NJ. Wolowski, In 1880 the
number OF renters did not exceed
2OO, 900, and most Of these wcte laigt
UroprietOrs Thirty nine years latter
and on the eve Of the fall OF the Second
| Empire, which had borrowed laEgeiJ J
and had appealed tofa petite b0uysp, the
number Of holders was five times what
| it was when Louis Philippe ascended tt
the throne, and Government securities
were found TO be in the hands OF ,254 '
| 900 persons. Now there are about 900,
600 holders, owing to The vast sttme
raised TO pay tie expenHes' ~ the Int
war. In the interval between 1886
and 1875, while the public debt
| has only. tripIed itself. the RumbeI
! Of renters has Increased tWenty.
fold It was the Empire which induce
| all proprietors tn p7comesfOrwttrd a ant
| invest their hidden treasures. In 1876
all the demands for 50 franc rente, anl
| not exceeding that sum, were declare
not reduciblc, and oht Of 1921 siib
scribers there were GO, i42 irredueti bIes
In 1863 the sum WIS red,iosts TO- ID fran
Of ircnte, and the number, Of lrredueti
| blts rose TO; 53Q,S93 out, Of ,GJ0, ,23'
Subscribers d Further ftiitictions wer,
tUtowned with 'HI fnrtffdf r success
and 1.-The RENT was defnoerat
lied. 1t may be, added that one OF the
most glorious acts Of the Commune wa;
i to burn the Grand Livfc In which the
subscr'iboys are registered Fortunately
there existed another Great Book whicf
did not fall intothel hands Of the insur
rection. The above figures show wha
/ - change has been worked in this coun
try within a century. A hundred years
| Ago people refused to work, for the GOV
ernment deprived them Of the fruits o
their labor. Now Do9r people Iend t.
the Government even such small sums
as only produce five francs income,