Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-10-24


cident be true or false, as having caused
the celebrated William Pitt to negotiate
those heavy loans which are said to
have increased the National debt in
England to an almost fabulous amount,
we know not, but as there is moral in
il We introduce it here:
Everybody knows that Pitt raised the
character and prosperity of England by
loans, but it is not generally known
that Pitt ''borrowed the idea of borrow
ing" from the following anecdote.
Schneider, an inhabitant of the Can
ton of Unterwald, in Switzerland, was
left at the age of twenty-one to shift
for himself. His father had been a re-
spectacle man, but had left nothing TO
his son but some sketches for a new
constitution, which Schneider could
make no use of. The doctrine of loans
came into Schneider's head as happily
as that of attraction struck Newton. As
nobody knew that his father had died
insolyent, he declared openly that he
was in want of 1900 rix dollars (f40O),
for which he was willing tc pay per
cent. interest, the capital to be repaid
in six months. He had no difficulty in
obtaining this loan, which was very
useful to him, and by constantly saying
that his father had left him very little,
but that by economy he managed to
make both ends meet, every body
thought him modest rich man. Two
months before his bills came due he
borrowed of another banker 1926 rix
dollars. Schneider instantly went to
the person from whom he borrowed the
1000 rix dollars, and after remarking
that ) per cent. was a heavy interest to
pay, told them that he would repay the
capital if they would allow him dis
count for the remaining part of the
term. The bankers convinced of the
stability of Schneider, were unwilling
to take the money; he persisted, how
ever, and they consented at length on
condition that if ever he should have
occasion to borrow again, he would
apply to them. Schneider went to work
upon great scale, his credit being fully
established. In the course of three
years, there was such an eagerness in
the first houses Of Switzerland to lend
money to Schneider, that he frequently
refused their offers. He quieted his
conscience, rejecting that if he lived
sixty years according to his inordinate
expenditure his creditors would lose
only 400, 600 rix dollars by him, and he
considered the excellence of his life,
and the suggestions which he made
every now and then to the Government
as an ample equivalent.
To make short of a long. story,
Schneider found himself upon his DEATH
bed at the age of eighty; not, however,
before he had rendered great service to
his country, by introducing the mode
of making the celebrated Gruyere cheese
which is now eaten over the whole con-
tinent. He summoned his creditors, one
hundred in number, to his bedside, and
after relating to them the mode which
he had adopted for his support, and as
frankly stating that he had nothing to
leave, terminated his dying speech in
the following terms: "What Is the loss
which you sustain by me compared
with the admirable system of finance,
which, through me, you can reveal to
your country? |, poor mortal. at my
dying hour, commit an act of bank
ruptcy; but the nation never dies. A
nation may borrow without limit, be-
cause its existence is without limit
Switzerland has only to tread in my
steps, TO create loans, and TO pay the
interest punetually, and one day or
other she will engross the capital of
Europe"
The creditors were struck dumb with
admiration, and as a mark of their
esteem for the talents of the great
Schneider, erected over his grave a
superb monument, with the inscription.
''DER ENTLEHNER,''
which signifies "The Borrower" The
celebrated Pitt, in a tour through
Switzerland, saw the monument, and,
struck with its singularity, inquired its
history. ''The nation never dies" re-
peated Pitt with ecstacy; and he scarcely
said anything else till he reached Lon
don. The people thought him mad;
but in a few months we heard of the
famous loans with which he subjected
India, conquered colonies, and over
threw Napoleon, who might, probably,
have been upon the throne of France to
this day, if the inventor of Gruyere
cheese had never existed.
In 1876 the National debt of England
uac c9ea 0on nOO