The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-01-14

have to return to the su~b-treasurer
the sum of money advanced, together
with the interest on same and the
storage and insurance charges on the
product. This is no new or untried
scheme; it is safe and conservative; 1t
harmonizes and carries out the system
already in vogue on a really safer plan
because the products of the country
that must be consumed every year,
are really the very best security in the
world, and with more justice to So
ciety at large. For a precedent, at
tention is called to the following:
In December, 1848, the London
Times announced the inevitable ia lure
of the French republic and disintegra-
ton of French society in the near
future, but so wise was the admins
tration of the statesmen of that nation
that two months later it was forced
to eat It's own words-saying in its
columns February I6, l849:
Gas a mere commercial speculation
with the assets which the bank held
in hand it might then have stopped
payment and liquidated its affairs with
every probability that a very few
weeks would enable it to clear off its
liabilities. But this idea was not for
a moment entertained by M. DArgout,
and he resolved to make every effort
to keep alive what may be termed the
circulation of the life-blood of the
community. The task was overwhel-
ming. Money was to be found to
meet not only the demands on the
bank, but the necessities both public
and private, of every rank in society.
1t was essential to enable the manu-
facturers to work, lest their Workmen,
driven to desperation, should fling
themselves among the most violent
enemies of public order. 1t was essen
tial to provide money for the food of
Paris, for the pay of troops, and for
the daily support of the industrial
establishments of the nation. A fail
ure on any one point would have led
to a fresh CONFUSION, but the panic
had been followed by so great a
scarcity of the metallic currency, that
a few days later, out of a payment of
&c, 600, 900 fallen due, only $4,000
francs could be recorded in silver.
In this extremity, when the bank
alone retained any valuable sums of
money, the government anne to the
rescue, and on the night of the 18th
of March, the notes of the bank were,
by a decree, made a legal tender, the
issue of these notes being limited in
all to $50, 900, 900, but the amount of
the lowest of them reduced for the
public convenience to loo francs. One
of the great difficulties mentioned in
the report was to print these loo
franc notes fast enough for the public
consumption In ten days the amount
issued in this form had reached &c.
600, 900 francs.
To enable the manufacturing inter
ests to weather the storm at a moment
when all the sales were interrupted, a
decree of the national assembly had
directed warehouses to be opened for
the reception of all kinds of goods,
and provided that the registered in
voice of the goods SO deposited should
be made negotiable by Endorsement.
The bank of France discounted these
receipts. In Hsvre alone eighteen
millions were thus advanced on colon
ial produce, and in Paris fourteen mil
lions on merchandise; in all sixty mil
lions were made available for the pur-
poses of trade. Thus, the great insti-
tuition had placed itself as it were in
direct contact with every interest of
the community, from the minister of
the Treasury down to the trader in a
distant outport. Like a huge hydraulic
machine, it employed it's colossal pow
ers to pump a fresh stream into the
exhausted arteries of trade to sustain
credit, and preserve the circulation
from complete collapse.-From the
Bank Charter Act, and the Rate of In.
terest, London, 1873"
This is proof positive, and a clear
demonstration, in l848, what this sys-
tenn could accomplish when a neces-
sity existed for resorting to it. But
since that time every conceivable
change has tended toward rendering
such a system easier managed and
more necessary. The various
of rapid transportation and the facili-
ties for the instantaneous transmission
of intelligence, make it no disadvan-
tage for the produce of a country to
be stored at home until demanded for
consumption, and the great savings
that will follow the abolition of local
shipments shows what great economy
such a system is. In this day and
time no one will for a moment DENY
that all the conditions for purchase
and sale will attach to the government
certificates showing amount, quality
and running charges that attach to
the product.
The arguments sustaining this sys.