The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-12-29
WEALTH OF FRANCE.
MUCH OF 1T Is HOARDED IN THE
STOCKINGS OF LA6ORERS.

acknowledgements Savings Banks.
Every one who has travelled over the ad-
mirable territory of France has seen its
fertile plains covered with the golden
grain in harvest time its hills with their
autumnal n1antles of green and purple
grapevines; its picturesque, fruitful sea
boundaries, which yield the ever rendering
tide of fish from the Mediterranean on
around through the English channel-any
such one, I say, viii cease TO wonder why
the Frenchman does not emigrate; why he,
his native land, his native shore are one
and indivisibie Tear the Erenchman from
his country and he will soon look like
plant plucked from a garden of sunshine
left TO vegetate and become anAmic in q
sunless cellar He misses the daily bottle
Of wine, which feeds his exuberant spirits;
he misses his congenisl climate, which
hardly ever reaches extreme heat and cold.
In monotonous country of plains, or in
one too accidental, he misses the happy
intermixture of the two, always pleasant
TO look upon, always accessible for human
eye and foot, not separated by rivers mile
wide: not lost TO view BY inaccessible,
heavenward drawn mountains. It is tbs
abode of equili briuu, never visited 6y ex-
terminating billiards or destructive earth
quakes. 1t is little peaceful corner which
has well chosen It's motto, Sod protects
France" and il has we'll feathered placs
under the shadow OF His wing. This Is
all true" once said an American friend to
me, but are the people altogether worthy
of such a beautiful, peaceful abode2 Do not
their evil doings make the line of poem
especially applicable 70 its Where every
prospect pleases and only man is vile "
Not so vile as you suppose. That judg
ment is the result Of the smattering you
acquire of French character as demon
strated in Paris, in questionable places you
make speciality Of visiting and studying
while you are in this so called Babylon OF
wickedness. Then, in a political way, at
times the French express their evaporation
rather loudly. They then hit right and
left az an injustice too long endured, and
at times the blows fall on the wrong per-
son. They kill their brethren and them
selves in moments of frenzy, as during the
great revolution and the commune. But
if in such moments they 60 too far, there
Is not a nation on earth which will stand
tyranny so patiently and for such a long
while with the endurance of a cur who
thinks his master may one day have 8
change of heart.
HOW THE FARMERS SAVE.
No doubt all who have made but q cur
sorry study Of the French in large cities viii
express surprise when told that they are
the most Thrifty, the most provident and
the most saving people in the world. But
documents and statistics prove it. In ref
erence TO the loans made by the credit
what wealth there IS in the country, wealth
not concentrated in few individuals, who
control the country's financial affairs as
their moods inspire, but each thrifty, in
dustrious man or woman has little sum
boarded up IN a wooden stocking, hidden in
some corner only known to themselves, or
have a number of state bonds which slow
ly but surely contribute to a competency
that a hfetime's honest labor has earned
for a rest in old age.
The small bourgeois, the cultivator, the
farmer, the peasant, the artisan-it is they
who, after having paid the heavy indemni-
ty in tie last war, still patiently pay the
heavy taxes which go to equip the reor-
gained army that they hope will do its
duty on the day when the political fates
viii decide that the shout, ''To armsP' Of
the "Alarseil!aise'' will become a cruel
reality. II is they, when loans are made
like tnat5of the Credit foncier and of Rus
STA. who take out their gold coins from
their hiding places and go for their depos-
its in the caisses d'epargne to subscribe for
four or five times more than is wanted
These caisses d'epargne are especially or
gained 10 help the laborer 70 save; he can
deposit any sum and is given 81 per cent.
at the end of each year for the amount de-
posted. He is at liberty 10 take out any
part of the sum total of his deposits at any
time. Even a child can have his bank book
there, and thousands of children have
them; they can deposit as small sum as
twenty cents. The parent thus teaches
economy to his child, giving him an idea
OF what an increasing capital az compound
interest will amount to when he is Of age
With his small capital he viii be able 70
set up shop, buy bit of land, or get up
q home, as the case may be.
GOVERNMENT SAVINGS BANKS.
You cannot deposit more than 800 in
these saving banks. They are made for
the masses and must not be monopolized
by the rich. This said, the following
statistics viii go 20 prove what a number
of small capitalists there are in France.
The money deposited in these savings
banks N 1875 was 677, 0o0o00 of francs; in
1881 the deposits reached !, 425, OOO, 900: in
1859, 8 $50, 500, 0o0 and 1890, 1873, O0O, 600.
Now, when the state, the city Of Paris or
the Credit foncier decides 70 make loan
out comes all that boarded money. and on
the days Of subscription long lines of hun
dreds OF people stand and wait to sub
scribe
Each one knows that II is q sure invest
ueut, no danger of the state or the city
falling into bankruptcy. And besides the
BIZ per cent. given there IS smother attrsc-
uOn. Every man thinks he NAV De the
lucky winner of the so, 600 prize. The
Credit forcier, for instance, gives ST go
worth Of prizes every year. All the num-
bers OF the shares are thrown in an urn,
ard the e&geEVy-three NUN beTs taken out
are winners OF sums ranging from SO 90
70 800. On the presentation of the share
with the winning number the sum is paid
out 70 the owner.
This lottery business may not Be legiti-
mate way OF tempting people 70 Re saving
and investing their money, but those who
are generally scuearish about the moral
Try OF games Of chance, hsve found, sre
they who think the risk Of losing too great
against the small chance OF winning, and
IN business do not hesitate 20 practice out
raCeous usury in the matter OF profits, In
rBIs case the effect perhaps attenGAses the
questionable morality OF tds cause; II
saves from ruin many French families
whose heads might otherwise taFe 20
or ganbIlEg.-Parls Cor. Brook