The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-05
nc PopnIar loan Idea.

The Popular Loan Idea.
II the position IN respect 10 the financial
trouble that IS held by some OF the repub-
/ lican leaders in congress is the correct
/ one, namely. that what is needed is suf-
fclent money in the treasury to meet all
I the governments obligations. and that
| with a full treasury the outflow Of gold
would cease. a loan. If decided to be nee
essary. should be popular one We have
no doubt that the people would quickly
take an issue of Sl00.O00O0O of gold bonds
paying per cent. or even 500. 100000. il
the bonds were Of small denominations.
say $50. $50. S10O and on up to $1,000.
There is a vast amount of money hid
den away in the homes Of the people. It
is in gold. silver and bills. and kept in old
stockings and locked up in trunks and bu-
reaus Those who have it do not know
what to do with it. and many OF them are
never free from fear that it will be stolen
from them. 1t often represents the saw
lngs of years and is held against a pos
slble day Of trouble. Sickness may come
or losses may be suffered, and so this
money is boarded for any emergency that
may arise.
1t is not put into the savings banks
because those who have it are afraid Of
banks. They know little or nothing about
them. and what they see in the news
papers about bank failures fills their
minds with a distrust of all banks.
But they would buy government bonds.
They believe the government will last,
and that their money would be entirely
safe in its keeping. The interest they
would receive would also be an induce
ment to them to invest in the bonds.
The reason they have not heretofore
invested in the bonds Of the government
is that there are no bonds to be had
that are within their means. The bonds
are all of large denominations. But put
them within their reach and they will
take them as fast as could be desired.
In this state. for instance it is pretty
safe to say there are thousands Of small
farmers who have little sums Of money
which they are afraid to invest They
would like nothing better than a chance
20 invest their savings in government
bonds. And what is true of the farm
ers Of Georgia is true of the farmers
and laborers of each of the other south
ern states.
Government bonds distributed among
the people would have a remarkably good
effect They would make them more
patriotic-more deeply interested in the
welfare of the government They would
lessen the influence Of demagogues as
nothing else would. and put a damper
upon populistic politics.
The debt of France is largely owned by
the plain people, the peasantry, and
they send the majority to parliament,
which holds in check the socialists and
anarchists of the cities The same con-
dition of affairs would exist in this country
if the nations financial obligations were
distributed among the common people.
The impression seems to be that if
loan is offered it will be almost wholly
placed in Europe, with the view of getting
back some of the gold that has been
taken from us. But would it not be ad-
visable to find out, before seeking gold
abroad, whether all the gold that is
needed cannot be found among our own
people? If the people can give the treas
ury all the assistance it needs we
shouldn't go abroad for it. Not only for
the reason given, but for other reasons
It would be better that our debt should
be owned by our own people.