St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-25
WHO ARE THE llDEBToRs ~,

WHO ARE THE EEDEDTORS:,
No phrase was ever more imposing
to the ear than that about the mon
ey power and the debtor class, and
none ever sustained SO little the pres
sure of the slightest examination. 1T
assumes a sharp division that is no
where discernible. 1t would be just
as accurate to say that the right-one-
legged men had the acknowledged
men in their power, for every debtor
is also, to a greater or less extent,
a creditor, and every creditor a debt
or. The person commonly in the
mind of the man who uses these
terms is the farmer, mortgaged I'D
to his ears with a debt contracted
when his produce had a greater debit.
paying capacity than now; and, in a
vague sort Of way, the wage-e arners
are grouped in the debtor class, al
though, as a whole, they form the
largest short-time, call-loan credit
ors Of the nation. A more extensive
examination of the real debtor and
creditor classes-using the word
classes" for convenience and not
for accuracy-of the country than we
have heretofore made in comment
ing on this delusion, is worth while.
The result will be surprising to those
who have permitted their thought
lessness ITO be imposed on and them
selves to be deceived by the cIaptran
OF the demagogueS. Instead of consult
ing the imagination for facts, they
are drawn from the resources of the
statistical bureau of the yove,rnca,-
First in point of magnitude of debt
among the debtors of the country
are the railroads, enormously classed
IN general as a part of the money
power. On June 80, 1894 the funded.
Understanding debt of these COM
panies was $3.50, 5S3, 019, with current
liabilities of $6O5, S15, 1856 more, max
ing nearly $4,000, 100000 of debt. So
sorely pressed were these debt
ors that ON that day 1872 roads rem
resenting about one-fourth of the en-
tire mileage, were in receivers hands
Out of the s4,S24, O75,659 of their can
ital stock, $3,066, $50, O94, or 63.43 men.
cent, paid no return in dividends
while 1851 1881 ,349 of the funded debit
and income bonds defaulted in inter
est, and the stock that did get divi-
dends received an average of b,,+
5.4l per cent. The RAILWAYS of tbe
country are debtors to the amount of
$lo Tor each 81 of farm mor.-
gage debt in the country in 1889: the
latter, in that year, amounting 10
S5S5, 729,T9. To this, however. is tn
oe AIDED the short-time debts of that
numerous class of creditors. the en-
pioyes of the companies, NUMBERING
0'''ooz' who are month-to-month
creditors OF the companies to the
amount of $436,SO1 900 annually as
Stunning the low wage average of
soVo a year. The railways thus ap-
pear to be the most important part
OF the debtor class" of the co,,n+,v
Next in order, in point of maeni-
tude of their debts, are the banks
OF the country, including onlv The
national and savings banks. and
not the large number of state
ana private banks. Fortunate if is
Tor these debtors that their creditors
90 not combine ITO crush Thorn hy
making Simultaneous demand ON
them for the payment of their de.
mand debts; for if they did. there
would not be solvent bank in tho
country. No class of men are so
utterly in the power of their cred.
ltors as are these much-enyied gem
tlemen. On Oct. 2, 1894, the 3.755 ma
tlonal banks owed their depositors
SZol9,3OO,00O, which is equal to the
entire currency of the country: while
In addition, the savings banks owed
thelr. oepositors that year 81 IN. 933.-
z42. To this must be added the I'M
certain amount owed to depositors
by the state and private banks. iusti-
lying the estimate of the total due
deposItors in all of over 81, 00O, ooO, 900.
How many there are of these credit
ors OF the national banks is not stat
ed; but there were last year ATT, 6S7
or them in the savings bank class,
with an average claim of $780,. Sc each.
Then there is that other eminently
respectable and deserving class of
debtors. the several states. cities.