The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1896-09-10
drawn on IN. French treasury and 10 Ion,

drawn on the French treasury and % long
as he bills were promptly paid. whsn.
however. owing to reckless financing and
the drain Of war, France could no longer
take up the bills, the Canadian holders Of
cards were nearly bcggarcd. Toward the
end OF the French regime the intendant
was allowed TO Issue paper money known
as ordonnanccs as he saw IT.
The ordonnanccs were not convertible
into anything except as circumstances
permitted and circulated at a heavy dis
count from the start When England took
possession the card money and ordon-
nnnces held in the colony amounted, face
value, to NO less than IL, 900, 900 francs, or
about sloOD,eO for 65,OOO people Hero
was cheap and abundant currency
with n vengeance. The bank note circuln-
ton in Canada today, for population of
b,O0O, 900, is about ESQ 900. 900. But IL ID
demonstrable that New France lost more
by that cheap" money experience than
by the ravages Of the British troops In the
parishes and the bonn bardment Of the city
both put together.
II Is true the settler was able to pay his
rent and solgnlorlal dues in deprecated
paper or light silver money. To that ex-
tent he profted by the degradation Of the
standard Of value, just rs the Kansas
farmer will profit through being able to
redeem 100 cents Of mortgage with 50 cents
worth Of silver. but the seignior I'm Now
France soon got rents upon n different
basis-that iI he made "a stipulation, " IL
had not been 50 stipulated before that tho
rent and dues should bc paid In money
of France" The merchants ran their
stores on that basis all along. so that II
farm products fetched more prices OF
money,a larger number Of lIyres and socs,
than formerly, thoir purchasing power
was no greater than before, and the
farmer consequently was no better of
Tho artisan was worse of, for the cost Of
living rose beyond the increase of wages.
Foreign trade, such as there was, was
crippled and internal commerce thrown
into confusion; fraud was rampant, the
intendant bigot being the biggest rascal
Of tho lot, and when the final crash came
and card money and ordonnances wore
not worth much more than waste paper
fortunately England afterward induced
France to pay 40 much in the dollar-the
people, as an ccclosiastic wrote, were per
fectly heart broken, rage alternating with
grief" The United States is vastly
grVltcr and more complex organism than
New Franco, and the ruin that would fol-
low its descent To "a silver basis and the
wholesale swlndling of the public and pri-
vatc creditor, including every one who
has money In tho bank or In an insurance
policy, would be "a convulsion out OF sight,
more serious than 'that which shook the
little colony ON the St Lawrence to its
foundations
The moral taught by events there Is that
an 'abundnnt' inconvertiblo paper cur
rency Ia practically Of no more use than
check for which there anc no funds, and
that specie money must have an intrinsic
value of IL. own equal to the value It
stands for. A Populist government could
not make u twenty 500 livrc worth forty
soes, ora 53 cent dollar worth 100 cents at
the store, and rs has been said, the real
measure of the value Of money, specie OF
paper, is what II will buy, what IL Is
equivalent OF in goods. Populism can en-
able the farmer to boat" the loan COM
pnny, but the swindlc can bc perpetrated
only once, and tho whole community will
have TO sweat blood rs ponance for many
day after. Toronto (Ontario) Globe.