Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-09-27
Bonds for the Horny Handed.

There are many men, farmers,
mechanics, laborers, who save little
every week, month, or year. Most
of them who save only III small
amounts have been in the habit of
placing the little in Savings banks"
under promise OF small interest. These
institutions re nearly all frauds and
thousands are now making the dis
coyery. II the government would
so arrange that its debt could be par
italy held by its citizens in these
small amounts great good might re-
suit. On this subject we endorse the
following from the Chicago EUening
journal
No doubt Secretary Sherman is
delighted with the success of the
loans He has reason to be. 1t is
meeting the objects had in view,
which were TO reduce the interest
burden of the Government and facili-
tate resumption. The country ought
to rejoice with the Government, for
these objects are in the line of popu-
lar welfare. But the public debt
ought to be handled, part ofiy, with
a view to still another popular want,
and one which has been entirely
overlooked hitherto. Every loan
thus far has relied on the capital class
for patronage, and had sole reference
TO the interest OF the Government.
j may be that such policy was true
craftsmanship. We have no dispos-
ition to indulge in ordinations for
the past But it is very certain that
new public loan policy is now de-
manded, and it is very fortunate that
the syndicate arrangement is so near
~ completed that q new policy can
be adopted without bad faith toward
the halt-dozen banks forming the syn
dictate.
Arrangements should now be made
for placing o new loan ut low rate
OF interest and to such an amount
that what remains outstanding of the
old loans can be called in, the same
TO be given Into the hands of no syn.
dictate, but to be in every sense a
popular or savings loan. Instead of
letting few men monopolize the loan
care should be taken that no such
monopoly should obtain. The amount
any one person could hold should be
limited, with view to preventing
the bonds from bieng absorbed by
the wealthy few.
There Is no good reason why
America should not profit by and
emulate the financial example Of
France The bonds Of that country
are held y the people. They are
the savings deposits of the industrial
classes, and that is the grand secret
of two remarkable facts: First, that
France is prosperous to day, while
the rest of the civilized world is exper-
fencing hard times; and, second,
that the political revolutions of France
do not shake the foundations of the
French nation. The people are held
together by the bonds of a common
interest, or, rather, by interest in and
on bond common to them all. Pres
ident Hayes is doing much for the
reunlfication of the country by his
Southern policy, but Congress can do
very much more by placing a savings
loan within the reach of the people
who depend upon manual labor for
support and provision against the In
eyitable "rainy day" 1t ought not
to be long before the Union should be
cemented by consols. The peril OF
savings bank failures can be averted
in this way and in no other. The
"bloated bond-holder" is a term
which ought to give place to or be
supplemented by the "horny'handed'
bond-holder. This new departure
will be taken if public sentiment is
persistent in its demand, but not
otherwise. 1t is not enough that the
new loan policy should be Endorsed.
1t must be urged with importantly
and demanded as a right by the peo-
pie.