The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-05-10
THERE ARE CREDITORS AM
CREDITORS.

Our esteemed contemporary, the
Moorhead News, which is always vigor-
Gus and interesting, approves the alb
horrence with which the G O be re-
CARDS the action of the European pow
ers under the compulsion of Turkish
bondholders. 1t says. And yet, strange
and unaccountable inconsistency, the
Clio b has used its influence to up
hold the policy of the money-lending
and bondholding classes in the United
States, which does not differ in general
effects from the European" Our con-
temporary has managed to crowd into
this brief sentence as many miscon-
ceptions and illusions as we have ever
seen in the same number of lines 1t is
true that greed is the same all the
world over, and works out to the same
end, the destruction of all the higher
and nobler feelings and the reduction
Of the man to the level of the beast
gnawing bone and snarling and snap
ping at any one who would share it
viii A1AAAi. II - ctlSC Il llc lIIdl SIcOI
is not an attribute of any one "class''
That is the mistake which so many of
our friends make. Unhappily, it is just
as likely to be found in the tramp as
in the millionaire; and to foment strife
between CLASSES" on account Of quail
tiles that are universal is a lamentable
error Hit the X-piO1C i'm 1,,av
ever it exhibits itself, and cease dia-
tribes against those who merely have
larger opportunity, and panegyrics of
those whose disposition may be the
same and who may covet, not justice,
but the chance to feed their own ava
rice
Again, it is not true that the holders
of United States bonds are on the same
moral plane as those who own the Sc
curities Of Turkey. There is a great
abyss between them. Would our con-
temporary hold that a loan made to a
farmer on condition of repayment from
the proceeds of his crop stood on the
same moral level with one made to a
burglar to purchase a kit of tools and
be repaid from the spoils Of his first
robbery? There are creditors and
creditors. The origin of the great
crimes that stain the annals of Euro
pean relations with the Orient dates
back to the circumstances under
which bonds We're issued. The rich men
of Europe loaned millions to the profit
they were to be dissipated in vicious
excuses, and that, if repaid at all, it
must be by turning Egypt over to it's
mortgages. What they did was not to
make an Egyptian loan, but to buy out
right the government and the soil and
the fellaheen of Egypt as their chat
tells. The men who have invested in
Turkish bonds during recent years
were perfectly familiar with the Turk
ish situation. They did not make
loans to encourage industry, promote
development or to increase commerce.
but they gave their millions TO an
other profigate and criminal ruler,
knowing that repayment must come
from the spoils of his wretched sub
jects. They, too, paid the purchase
price of blood and lust. They could
foresee that satisfaction of their mort
gage could come only by sustaining,
as is now being done, the monstrosity
of Turkish rule. What comparison is
there between these debtors and those
of our own country? What comparison
between such creditors and the men
who have put their money into the
building Of American factories and rail-
roads and cities? If We are going into
the equities of this thing, there is a
big argument ahead.
Finally what the G o b @ has upheld
has not been "the policy of the money
lending and bondholding classes" but
such policy as it believed to be right
and just and, therefore, the only pol
icy which could bring prosperity and
happiness to this people. 1t is no great
Ell crime to applaud the policy of bad