The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-07-30
THE WAR FUND LOAN.
Democrats Are shown How To Raise
Money without Resorting 10
Syndicates.


shows plain signs of being disgruntled
over the popular feature of the new
war loan. This Is not strange. 1t is, in
fact, party matter.
During the last democratic admins
tration large block of government
bonds was issued and the entire
amount was allowed to go to a multi
millionaire syndicate manipulated by
President Cleveland's former law part
ner in New York, Mr.. Stetson. The
people were not allowed any chance at
those bonds, first hand, and the syndi-
cate made n profit of several millions.
That record is made prominent by the
contrast it presents to the present
case.
If President Mckinley had followed
in the footsteps of President Cleve-'
land n perfect cyclone of Indignation
would have swept over the country.
The democratic press would have
found the English language all too
feeble to express their wrath, and the
republican press would have recog-
nized the justice of the Indignation.
Yet there was no more excuse for syn
dcating the Cleveland than the Nc
Kinley bonds. There was a popular
demand for both. The republican
press took the same position then in
favor of giving the people n chance
that it did in this latter instance. The
same arguments, substantially, were
used in both cases. The democratic
press was Indifferent and by ac-
quiescence shared with Cleveland re-
sponsibility for that syndicate.
The popular feature was even n
greater success than reported when
the time for subscription closed. That
date of closure was the 14th inst, and n
Washington dispatch of the 18th states
that since the 14th nearly 10000 sub
scriptions have been received. Some
of them were delayed in the transmits
sion and will be accepted; others were
too late. Subscriptions to the amount
of $500 or less will absorb fully $780,
100000 of the bonds, or one-half of the
whole. The other half will nearly, if
not quite, be absorbed by subscrip-
tions under $4,000 in amount. The en-
tire loan is thus distributed to indi-
vidual subscribers in small lots.
AS n matter OF course some of these
subscribers acted as agents, no doubt,
for others who furnished the money,
but such cases form at most only an
insignificant percentage of the grand
aggregate.
Some of these bonds were subscribed
as permanent loan or investment and
some with view to making profit on
them. The government sold the bonds
Mt par. They will probably command n
premium. This profit will be small at
best in any given case, and will be
widely distributed. II will be made, IL
ut all, not out Of the government, but
out of the secondhand purchasers
namely, the banks and other moneyed
corporations which want large blocks
of bonds and can get them only by GO
ing into the open market. The Cleve-
land-Stetson syndicate made its mil
lions of profits by secondhand sales.
The aggregate profit of the new bond
holders may he even greater than that
harvested by the syndicate, but ii will
be distributed among the people.
Everybody had an equal chance, so far
as the government was concerned. to
subscribe. and thus share in the profits.
1t is safe to say that no future adj
ministration will dare go back to the
syndicate policy in placing bonds. The
republican party can add one more
trophy to its long list Of great achieve
ments. A republican congress and n
republican administration between
them succeeded in doing what no other
nation on earth has ever done. All
other governments, great and small,
have placed their loans through great
banking houses. Great Britain has the
Bank of England, France the Bank of
France, Spain the Bank of Spain, and
so on all along the line. Behind and
above all these, including even the
Bank of England, is the great house
of Rothschild, which made millions out
of the Cleveland administration. For
many years now these great moneyed
corporations have exacted toll from
their governments and from minor
states, quite ms matter of course.
At last the United States has shown
the nations n more excellent way to
fnancier their leans. They have given
the civilized world what ought to be,
in government finances, an epoch
making object lesson in the highest
branch of political economy.-Chicago
Inter Ocean.