Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-03-01

Hnance anu trade. HIS bank was but
portion OF nobler dream. His sys-
tenn was but one vast belief, one elori-
GUS hope.
The Company Of the West-this It
was that made John Laws heart throb.
America-its trade-its future! John
Law, dead now and gone-he was the
colossal pioneer. He saw in his dreams
what we see to-day in reality; and no
bubble Of all the frenzied Paris streets
equaled this splendid dream Of a re-
newed and revived humanity that IA
fact to-day.
But there came to this dreamer and
doer, at the very door of his success.
that which arrested him even upon his
sentering in. There came the prelim-
mary blow which in flash his far
seeing mind knew was to mean ulti-
mate ruin. In word, the loose prin-
ciples Of a dissolute man were to ruin
France, and with It one who had once
saved France from ruin.
Philippe Of Orleans found It ever
difficult to say no to friend, and more
so if that friend were woman; and
of the latter sort, none had more than
he. Men and women alike, these could
all see only this abundance of money
made OF paper. What. then, was to
prevent the regent all powerful, from
printing more and yet more Of it. and
giving 1t to his friends? The regent
did SO. Never were mistresses better
paid than those Of Philippe Of Orleans.
receiving in effect faithlessness in re-
turn for insincerity.
The notes of the private bank of Law
We're an absolute promise to nav a
certain and definite sum. not a change.
able or indefinite sum; and Law made
1t part of his published creed that
any banker was worthy Of death who
issued notes without having the specie
wherewith to pay them. He insisted
mat the payment should mean specie
In the value Of the day on which the
note was issued. This item the re-
gent liked little, as being too irksome
LOT his temper. Was it not Of record
how Louis, the Grand Monarque. had
twice made certain millions for him.
SELF by the simple process Of chang
ing the value of the coin? Dicing.
drinking, amorous Philippe, easy
going, shallow-thinking, truly vert
thou better fitted for throne than for
a bankers chair!
The royal bank, which the regent
himself fastened to foster when he
saw the profits Of the first private bank
OF circulation and discount France had
ever known, issued notes against which
Law entered Immediately his firm pro-
test. He saw that their tenor spelled
ruin for the whole system Of finance
which, at such labor. he had erected.
These notes promised to pay, for In
stance, fifty livres "in silver coin" not
in coin Of the weight of the standard
OF this day." as had the honester notes
OF Laws bank. That is to say. tho
notes meant nothing sure and nothing
definite They might be money for
time, but not forever: and this the
director-general was too shrewd man
not to know.
But under this issue you shall have
all France" said the regent to him one
day. as they renewed their discussion
yet again upon this scheme. "You
snail have the farming Of the taxes.
will give you all the foreign trade
as monopoly, If you like-will give you
the mint-will give you, In effect. as
have said, all France. But, monsieur
my director-general, must have
money. 1t is for that purpose that I
appoint you Observation-Disclosures
l find you the most remarkable man in
all the world"
Your grace" said Law, print your
notes thus, and print them to such
extent as you wish, and France is
again worse than bankrupt! Then, in
deed, you have worse than repudiated
the debts of France"
"Ah bah! mon drole! You are i'll
to-day. You have a migraine, per-
haps? What folly for you to speak
thus. France hath swiftly grown SO
strong that she can never again be
ruined. What ails my magician, my
Prince Of Golconda, this morning !?
France bankrupt! Even were it SO,
does that relieve me of this begging of
De Prize. of Parabere, and all the 9TH
ers? My God, Monsieur Las, they are
like leeches! They think me made of
money"
and your grace thinks France made
of money"
Nay: I only think my director-gen-
eral Is made Of money, or can make II
as he likes"
And this was ever the end Of Laws
reproaches and his expostulations.
This, then, was to be the end Of his
glorious enterprises, thought he, as he
sat one morning, staring out Of the
window when left alone This sordid
love for money for its own sake-this
was to be the limit of an ambition
which dealt in theories, in men, in ma
tons, and not in livres and louis dor!
Law smiled bitterly. For an instant
he was not the confident man of action
and OF affairs, not the man claiming
with assurance the perpetual protec-
tion Of good fortune. He sat there,
alone. feeling nothing but the great
human craving for sympathy and trust.
A line OF carriages swept back across
the street at his window. and streams
of mobiles besought entrance at his
door. And the man who had called out
all these. the man for whose friendship
all Europe clamored-that man sat
with aching heart, longing, craving,
begging now of fortune only the one
thing-a friend!
At last he arose, his face showing
lean and haggard. He passed into
another room.