The broad ax., 1896-07-25

BdPcIJ
st. Paul, Mimi, dispatch: One O
the leading bankers Of the city sac
to-day that a company OF wealthy
Frenchmen intended TO establish head
quarters in st. Paul for the loanlne
Of an immense amount of money TO the
farmers Of Minnesota and the DakotaS
after the assurance had been given
that the financial system Of this coun'
try was to continue on a sound oasis:
He continued:
This company is prepared 20 loan
millions of dollars to farmers at rea'
sonably low rates of interest, but II is
waiting to make sure that II II SENDS
gold here II will receive gold in return
II the republican party declares lor
sound money, as il surely VIII, the
central ONCE will be established here
In st. Paul, and all this money Will be
distributed from here. 1t is easy TO
understand the benefit such company
would be. It means that the farmers
would be provided with money TO pay
their debts, the country merchants
would be paid by the farmers, they In
turn would pay the wholesalers, and
everything would loosen up all the way
around. The trouble now is that no
one cares to advance money on land
values lest loss should result from a
still further depreciation in the event
Of going to a silver basis"
If the above isn't a clean-cut admis-
sion that there is not sufficient money
in the country to do business with,
what is it?
The only difference between this
leading St. Paul banker" and our
leading populists" ON the money ques-
ton is in the means which each would
employ to rid the country of the money
famine admitted by both to exist.
But, withal, is the st. Paul bankers
plan not an exceedingly brilliant one
when you consider it thoroughly? The
farmers would pay their debts with
money borrowed from this company Of
foreign capitalists! Funny, isn't it, the
ideas concerning money" and debts"
a banker can have? This st. Paul
banker really believes that the Dakota
and Minnesota farmers would pay"
their debts by putting blanket inter
mortgage on their land
values" and using the proceeds to
liquidate certain non-interest-bearing
claims which merchants have against
them! 1t is this style of ideas and
this sort of logic that rules at Wash
ington to-day and has ruled there for
many years.
Poor old Uncle Sam paid" his
debts" exactly that way soon after the
war closed. and the consequence is
that the old ass has since that time
paid nearly double the amount of his
debts in interest and still owes the
principal.
OF course. IL the farmers could pay
the merchants, and the merchants the
wholesalers, everything would loosen
up all the way around" provided the
farmer acquired his ability to pay
through the sale of his products. But
If he got his ability to pay through
plastering his farm with a mortgage,
then the loosening process, instead of
going all the way around" would
have to begin above him and at the
expense Of Tightening up of things"
for him.
Suppose the number of millions of
dollars" which this company is pre-
pared to loan to farmers at reasonably
low rates Of interest" should aggregate
five per cent. Suppose the rate of in
tsrest be fixed at per cent. Is It not
slain that instead of paying their debts
they will have assumed an annual debt
of $500, 900 in addition to their pres
ent debt Of s5.OOO.OOO? So far from
paying their debts" this course would
compel them to pay 5000, 200 in in
terest in the course of sixteen wears
and eight months, and still leave their
present debt Of $1,000, 900 on their
farms.
But, dear me, what a picnic the
foreign company the and leading ST.
Paul banker" who would, of course.
act as the company's agent in obtain
ing the loans, would have in the event
Of the farmers borrowing this money.
While the fool farmers of Minnesota
and Dakota were skinning around CON-
tending with hot winds in summer and
cold billiards in winter in their efforts
to meet the additional interest burden
assumed for the patriotic purpose of
''loosening things up all the way
the gentlemanly foreigners
and their st. Paul agent could be lux
at seaside watering place. or
enjoying the balmy breezes of Florida
with an increased sense of Gods good
ness to man and Of their own impor-
lance in the makeup of sublunary
affairs.
The leading St. Paul banker. who
eased tho pressure on his mighty brain
by evolving this scintillating scheme
for loosening things up all the way
talked from the standpoint of
a republican, and appeared to be utter
ly unconscious Of the fact that in thus
relying upon the assistance
Of foreigner" to help US run our
affairs he was going directly contrary
to the doctrine so assiduously taught