Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1879-09-04
fN. Y. Tribsne.
The A B G Of Finance.
RoBBISG THE MANY To RELIEVE TUE rEw.

| nave been made In order 10 keep the peo-
Piles pledge. All the cost Of resumption
has been paid; shall We throw away all the
gainsf Trees which it has cost years OF
care to raise are Just beginning to bear.
What reason have we to gir,lle them. or 10
tear them up by the rootsp IL Is a ques-
ton OF honor. too. Why should a pledge
be broken. when It will cost no more II
keep II? No loyal man would think OF
backing out, but for the fact that United
States notes are used rs money. Bad mor
ey rather than good, there are some men
IN every land who want. Money pays debts.
| They want cheap money 10 pay with. Most
| men are little ashamed TO ask openly for
| worse money. and 40 the cry Is for more
money. Resumption WAS resisted mainly
on the plea that II would Involve contrac-
ton. Now that IL has been reached with
out contraction, there Is still an outcry for
more money. The real desire Is for bad
notes. instead OF notes kept good by pay
ment on demand-ior money which shall
fall short In buying power. and 50 be more
easy To get.
| OF course, when debtor gains dollar
by the use Of cheap money, a creditor must
lose dollar. The country can gain moth
Ing; no boy makes anything by robbing his
rixht-hsnd to I'LL his lefi-hand pocket. More
money. being necessarily worse money. i.
can help one class only BY hurting smother.
government, servant OF all alike.
should seek "the greatest good OF the
greatest number" but the creditors are
many aud the debtors lew. Il i strange
that this Is not always seen. II IL were
there would be fewer demagugues urging
Us to give reliet to the debtor class" :"
which Is small at the expense OF the cred
itor clAss, which l. very large. But some
seem 10 think that all the people OF this
country are debtors, and that all the debt
ors are dishonest.
Mr. Astor may owe \ butchers bill. or
Nr. Vanderbilt taIior's bill. but neither
belongs 10 the debtor class. Any man who
has owing TO him more money than he owes
must lose more, "a a creditor. BY the use
In payments OF a money that loses value or
buying power. than DE can gain thereby a.
a debtor. For him, poorer money would
save At the .pigot aud waste at the buns
To that class belong nine-tenths OF those
who work for wages. There are over eight
millions OF them, aud they earn more than
" 9Sp,UO 900 In year. About 5000 900
work on farms. and are paid by the month
or season; about l,eO0.o0 are domestic
servants. usually paid by the month; over
2,US.uo are employed Ia manufactures or
mncs, OF whom many are paid by the
month. On An average. more than 800
Ooo. 900 Is at all times due 10 this army OF
creditors. In Massachusetts the Labor
Bureau reports that more than half OF the
workers save money. and OF the rest the
large msJorty make both ends meet"
Are the workers In other States less thrifty
than la Ms,sachuscus. II not, hardly a
tenth OF the 5 600, 600 get into debt for more
than their wages Coming. Over ,OoO, 900
mn "A In
ey; less than 900 90 can gain by having
cheap money with which 10 pay their deols
Can the naIIon afford To harm the many lu
order tn help The fewl
IL is true there are many persons who
have borrowed money on lands or houses,
or Ia carry on business But those who
lend are ten times rs many as those aho
borrow. SoIvea, merchants aud manufac,-
arefs have more owing 10 them than they
owe. Good farmers, as Q rule have been
saving money, and before three great crops
had enabled many TO clear of debts. wide
search led 10 the belief that hardly one farm
la ten Was mortgaged. The borrowers
from any bank can gather In one room, but
II II tails, the streets are blocked with the
ihrong OF depositors whose money 1t holds
lie who holds a lie Insurance policy /,
creditor. About 700 90 policy holders
sums. year by year. unt,l their assets ex.
ceed 500. 900. 900. but the loans on mort
gage By all the lite Insurance companies
number less than 10000. Fire insurance,
building, and loan associations also gather
small sums from each OF many persons, but
loan 10 large sums To few. IL Is probable
that All the loans by all the savings banks.
10 amount $500 900 90, number less than
so.UIl. but the money Is gathered from
?.4o1 600 depositors In New-England.
New ork and New-Jersey there are q
l53 ,l22 depo,ltors, and only So. .0sG iam-
HES, so that there are more creditors OF
this sort alone than there are families. II
takes thousand little rills 10 make one
river, and many lenders 10 supply one bor-
rover. For the small savings OF the nil
lions are not large enough TO be separately
used In trade or Industry. and the men who
have the means TO use borrowed capital
advantageously. and the credit to obtain IL.
are comparatively few. One little rill will
hardly noat . shingle. but a thousand.
brought together. will noat the commerce
OF a continent. So, OF necessity, the many
save and lend. aud the few borrow and
Use.
The directors OF the Glasgow bank went
10 jail because they took the savings from
the creditors OF one bank, and gave relief
to tew debtors. But ''more money
would do the same wrong to the depositors
in all the banks 10 this country. The pres
ident OF an insurance company lies in
prison, because he made things easy for a
dozen borrowers, but hard for thousands
OF policy holders. More money" would
pay 700 600 holders OF policies In dollars
worth 80 cents each, IN order 10 let 10,0OO
borrowers have cheap money for their re-
iSf suE
every dollar due to 2, 400 900 depositors 10
savings banks, iu order that the 200, 900
men to whom their money is loaned might
keep part of il. II individuals do this thing
1t Is . crime. What would it be II done by
act OF Congress?
The folly Of it is that "more money"
would cut OF supplies from future Industry
and trade. II would girdie the sugsr-tree
so that the sap should no longer mount.
To rob those who have saved. and are
creditors. would lessen the desire to save
or to lend hereafter. But those who save
and lend money are those who make future
industry possible. There could be no crop
next year. II the farmers should sell or eat
eli the grain they have raised. and save
nothing for seed and no money for work
ers. Cloth could never have been made by
machinery. II no one had saved the money
to build mill. Not pound OF iron could
be rolled in the land, II money had not been
saved TO open mines and build furnaces
and mills. No gain or growth hereafter
would be possible. II each man should eat
up bis earnings or waste his gains every
year. Had not great sums been put away
in banks, to be loaned In time of need. nve
years OF disaster would have closed forever
nearly Ill the mills and furnaces In the
land. Suppose that the savings OF times
past had been taken from the millions who
had earned them. for the relief OF the thou
sands who were debtors 10 1873! Ruin
that no man can measure would have been
the lot Of industry 10 this country.
Cheap money for debtors will not only
wrong those whose savings have now been
loaned, therefore, but those who will need
70 borrow hereafter. The supply OF money
70 be loaned Is not so great in this country
that borrowers can afford to make it less
II blight should Kill the grain. aud leave
10 seed for another sowing, we could still
buy from abroad. But money does not
come to be loaned to country where the
dollar lent 10 apt 10 BE- twice ~ big ss the
dollar paid. The debtors who want this
thing are not many, nor the best. Most
men, who have the sense 70 use borrowed
means In large eniei prises. know that no