The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-05-30

five milliard francs (t200 ,00G ,00W as
follows:
80 days after the suppression OF
the commune.... ......,.. .... : ~. OcO ,OHO
During 1871 ....-. ...-. ......... At, OUO OO0
In May, 1870. 2o,00U, 900
ID March, 1874 .fl20, 00U, 600
Total ...... $500, t200. 000, COO
The last f120,O0000O to bear in
terest at five per cent; all payable in
German coin. Germany afterwards
agreed to take small part in French
Bank notes, but counting Interests land
the cost Of making exchanges the
amount to be paid in coin amounted to
fl04 ,645,000. The whole war indem-
nifty, notes and coin. amounted to. in
American money. about S. ,lOO, 000,-
600 Zone billion, one hundred million
dollars) according to reports Of the
French Treasury.
1t was apparent to everybody lex
cept French financers) that France
had taken on herself to do an almost
impossible thing-tO pay goo. 10000
in coin within three years, and that
when her Treasury was empty. She
had of coin only enough to pay the
first installment of $50 100000.
What did France do to get the coin
she promised to pay! Did she issue
bonds and try to sell them all over
Europe, offering big interest and Il
long run! No! She bought bills on
Holland, England. Belgium. and Ger
many and at some expense had them
converted into German gold and paid
them over.
Germany got no French specie. or
very very little. The equivalent Of
gold in bills Of credit paid almost the
whole Of the war indemnity to Ger
many
The figures are, as found in several
reports of the time:
French notes and coin ...... -. / %, 192, coo
German money and bills on
Germany. -. l20, Sl5, 600
Bills on England, Belgium, and
Holland II ,JDS. wv
Sl99 Cd. 900
Hardly one-eighth of the whole was
paid in French money--notes ami coin.
Now how France got hold of so much
German money and bills of credit is
question that interests us.
Marvin Warren. in his work on
"American Labor explains it in "a
very few apt words. He says:
France saw she wanted specie.
How to get it! Stimulate labor.
From labor comes production. Pro-
duction furnishes things for export rs
we'll as to use and live on at home.
Export creates foreign balances, and
l,ntn lriI "
gold or specie or bills of credit
equivalent.
SO France issued a loan to her pee pie
to stimulate industry similar to our
issue of Greenbacks during the war;.
At the time France made the first
payment on her great gold war debt
to Germany in 1871, the paper money
sOf France fell from par to , - per
cent below. In such Il case, according
TO the American wise men. a con-
traction of paper currency would have
been commenced at once SO rs to bring
it to par. But France took the OPP
posite course. She authorized the
issue of four hundred millions of
francs more of paper money, ad-
ditional to the then limit. which was
-,fVO,UOV,DNV III iltSs w lilC
premium fell tol per cent. Still
another four hundred millions of
francs was authorized to be issued.
whereupon the premium on gold in Il
short time disappeared altogether.
Money was everywhere within the
country to be had almost for the
asking. The merest nominal Interest
would secure to the business man and
manufacturer where-with to go along
with work.
Every. industry in France WAS set in
motion. Her shops, and mills, and
mines. and fields we're all set going at
full speed. and French goods appeared
in German markets, better and
cheaper than the German goods. and
brought back to the French merchant.
German gold and bills of credit. which
he handed over to his government for
French notes. and his government
handed them over to Germany. saying
..Here-so much paid.
French goods sold everywhere. and.
not one dollar going out of France for
any kind of goods all the while. France
not only paid the war indemnity
punctually. but found herself wonder
fully ahead of the country she was
but few years before SO heavily in
debted 10.
Britton \. Hill says in his ''Abso-
lutte Money.
In 1878 money panic swept over
Germany, quite rs Obstructive as our
own panic of 1857. and from the effects
of which that country is still QS571
suffering intensely, after the lapse of
full two years. Meanwhile no
country in Europe has been and is
still SO prosperous rs France. which
has experienced Ar unparalleled de-
velopement of her commerce. in
dustry. and agriculture. And what
is the reason of this remarkable
phenomenon The five milliards were
not only debt incurred by the citi-
zens of France, but equally an in
crease of the worlds money. which
proved all the more valuable to France
as her citizens subscribed the whole
of it. That debt launched five mil
lizards more of francs into actual cir
culation.
The Germans, supposing that the
transaction WAS merely one of debit
and credit, credited themselves in
their minds with an addition to their