Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-03-21

ChofFCT INTERVIEWS SEVERAL sENAToRs-PRE-
PAIRING FOR NEXT wrNrER-sTANFoRD WANTS
MORE MoNEY"-DTrTo PEFFER AND JERRY
sIMPsoN-wBAr MORRILL, THINKS ABOUT IT
BUENoe AYhHs AND ITS TERRIBLE WANING.
Washington happy this week. for our hotels
and boarding houses are tolerably full. Never
before for genera ton were 30 many Congress-
men in town fortnight after adjournment.
Last fall cyclone is still blowing through their
whiskers. Everybody is wide awake. The new
corners into the seats Of power are playfully
sitting in the empty chairs and wandering
around the reverberent galleries and enjoying
iawmaking in anticipation while the men who
VIII come no more hnger q moment on the
threshold ere they pass on. Some, too, have
business to finish in the departments, while
Others. like Edmunds, Stanford, Kenna and
others, own houses here and live in them most
of the year round
called Saturday on Senator Stanford at his
mansion on Mcpherson Square. While waiting
IN one OF the parlors took note that it Was a
superb hall sixty feet long, fioored with heavy
rerslan rug over moquette carpet, hung
win costly paintings and decorated-the wallis
the furniture, the great Turkish portieres that
nan cut on the upper end-in gold and GRIM
son ss and peacock blue. On the tables and about
OF art. and a dozen photographs Of the steam
Of snow.
Presently Senator Stanford came in and with
MS comprehensive smile asked me what the
pubic wanted to inquire about now.
1T wants to know what Won think about the
subtreasury BILL 1 said.
That it would not give the needed relief"
he answered; Il doubt il it would give anv re-
ilef whatever. To geta payment of a part Of
hpI g. &.-l..s
want' they can get that now from elevator
men Nothing short of my land-loan bill will
heip the farmers. and shall try to push it to
the front next winter
The land-lOan bill. believe, proposes that
the government shall lend money for twenty
years on land to the amount Of half of its
value?'
Yes; at per cent interest"
Precisely as our money is now made
And to be irredeemablep''
oh. no; to be redeemable, like our present
greenbacks.''
How much money would be wanted on those
II have not made any estimate. A good deal
would be, no Doubt
How is the value of land to be got at2''
Appraisers will be appointed by the land
loan bureau in every county where q loan is
applied for, they to be paid by the mortgage"
is 1t not probable that they might be paid
WV MuSh W the mOrtRaRee!
1T is possible that there would sometimes be
bribery. rs there now is. but have confidence in
the general honesty of the people. Ibelieve the
law would be great relief to the poor
suppose borrowers wanted more money
than the treasury could supply?"
How could they? There would be no limit
except the need of land owners and ability to
put up the adequate security. The amount
would regulate ITSELF
Suppose there were applications for thou
sand million dollars the first year? Would not
the value Of the bills depreciatey'
No; not as long as they were receivable for
All taxes and all debts-how could it? Some-
thing must be done to relieve the desperately
suffering: can think Of nothing better than
this and believe the country will demand it. :"
SENATOR MORRILLs VIEWS.
bowed myself out and called on Senator
Morrill,. the venerable chairman of finance
He has a fine residence, pretty nearly all he has
made, suppose, during his public service. Its
front and SIDE windows overlook Thomas Cir
cle-One OF Washington handsomest reserya-
tons. He was hard at work at his large table
amid heap OF manuscripts remarkable ex-
ample OF industry. energy, dignity. amiability
and clear-headed virility in a man who will be
eighty-one by the time this letter sees type
and who was in Congress before Abraham Lin
coins name was known outside of Illinois
asked Senator Morrill, what he though. of
Stanfords bill.
That it is every way unworthy of the man. I"
he said
He rose and took book from shelf and
read the following conclusion formed by John
Law in France in III: If paper currency
not convertible into specie. be based or secured
upon any article, such as land. and be issued to
an extent not greater than the value in specie of
such article. such paper currency will not be
deprecated i'll comparison to specie
Now. what happened?' asked the Senator
why Law started the Mississippi scheme and
induced France to 60 into it. Money was lent
on land. Stock rose tremendously For So
Ooo new shares there were 100000 applicants.
Shares went up to four or five hundred per
cent. A thousand million dollars was invested
in 1t. There was what seemed like universal
prosperity. Presently gold began to be boarded.
Laws with terrible penalties were enacted
against boarding gold or sending it ont of the
country, but in three years the whole gilded
bubble burst, bringing widespread ruin The
national bank closed its doors and Law fed.
Are we in the United States to perpetrate this
stupendous folly? No, indeed. it is only pass
ing breeze. There won't be bakers dozen of
these Utopians in the next Congress or in any.
IN SOUTH AMERICA.
''See what the Argentine Republic has inst
done! Five years ago it opened grea. ma
tiOnal mortgage bank to make loans upon the
hypothecation of real estate. 1t advanced fifty
per cent Of the assessed value of land lust as
Senator Stanford proposes to do. The borrower
gave 'hypotheke, and he got in return a piece
OF paper called 'cedula. which circulated like
greenback. The scheme was a great success
for n time. About !450 00O, 600 was issued and
now the whole wild dream has collapsed: the
cedula sells at 80 today; the country is bank
rupt, and the creates. bankers in the world
have come very near going under because thew
Endorsed the scheme.
THE FIench assignsts Of 1870, when in
creased in volume, went down till thew were
worth only thousandth part Of their face
Look at our own continental paper currency
In spite OF all that Congress- Washington. Jeffer-
son and Franklin could do it went down till
Tl6O,OOO were actually paid for one pair of
boots and $3.50 900 for a plain supper for four
persons. We Americans are not fools. This
chimerical panacea for poverty and substitute
Tor honest work will net make us crazy
CASE IN POINT.
After I left Senator Morrill, at his work desk
happened to meet on the street the United
States minister to South American republic.
whose name l cannot repeat He had lust
come from Buenos Ayres and l asked him
about the situation.
I'm six months" he said, "the people have
passed from commercial activity and enthu
siasm to depression from happiness to misery:
from confidence to despair. They have taken
@ Niagara plunge from which they will not re-
cover in a generation. The worst of the
scheme was that it offered irresistible tempta-
ton to bribery. 1t made it possible for a man
who owned real estate to get almost any uuan-
tity Of money If he would only swear falsely.
An acquaintance of mine had nice farm there
which he valued at $4,000 The law would
give him a loan to one-half Of the value-that