The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-12-18
The T0NTINE PLAN.
FROM McCLURE's MAGAZINE.

sssssssssssssssssss
One OF the most conspicuous hang
ers on of the early court of Louis
XIV. was certain Lorenzo Tonti. a
Neapolitan banker. Tonti was one OF
that numerous brood of spectators
who found so fruitful field OF spec
ulation In the European courts of the
seventeenth century. OF an adven-
turous disposition, unlimited person.
al resource and unbounded confidence
in himself and his schemes, he read
lily wormed his way into the royal fa-
vor, became a confidential secretary
10 Cardinal Mazarin. a pensioner Of
the Crown and a valued adviser on all
| financial affairs. He abounded in
ingenious devices for increasing the
national revenue, paying off the debts
OF the clergy. erecting great public
| works and building up the foreign
trade. especially in the East Indies
and the South Seas. At one time he
aroused much speculative interest in
a plan for stimulating the growth of
| silkworms by planting mulberry trees
| on all the highways of France. His
fame rests almost entirely upon the
| fact however, that he was the inven-
tor Of that scheme OF gambling on
human lives now generally known as
tontine.
Tonti first proposed his plan to
Mazarin in 1856. Like Mazarin,
however, he was an italian and there
fore personally unpopular Parlia-
ment refused to register the UNDER
taking, and the public, in a spirit of
ridicule, gave it its present nickname
Of tontine. Tonti himself soon for
feited the royal patronage; lost his
pension, and, for some reason now
unknown, landed as a prisoner in the
Bastile. Thence he indited many ap-
pealing letters to the King and Col
bert, describing his misery and pow
erty and continually harping upon the
advantages of tontine. Tonti's death
which took place toward the end Of
the seventeenth century is another of
the many mysteries enveloping the
Bastile. One of his sons was that
Chevalier Tonti whose adventures
among the Indians of the Northwest
with La Sale and Iberville is one OF
the romances Of early American his
tory.
King Louis, although he neglected
poor Tonti himself, never entirely
abandoned his scheme. In 16S9i
when surrounded by European Goa
ltion, harassed for money and unable
10 borrow further from the bankers
or to wiring another penny in taxes
from his exhausted peasantry, he
raised l 100000 livres on the tontine
plap. He followed precisely the pro-
gram mapped out by Tonti more than
thirty years before. He invited sub
scriptions, at 800 livres each, 10 a
general fund. He agreed to pay the
total interest on this fund TO all sur
viving subscribers. Each members
share of the income was to cease at
death and revert to those who still
lived. Each members income. that
is, increased in proportion TO the
deaths of his associates. 1t was clear
ly lottery In annuities. in which the
prizes went to the long lived mem
bers. 1t acquired popularity because
Of this gambling feature and because
it apparently promised a provision
for old age. Its essential advantage
to the King was that the capital fund
itself need never be redeemed 1t
was a State loan, that is. upon which
interest only was paid and which was
entirely liquidated when the final sur
vivor died.
King Louis first tontine apparent
ly had a successful career. 1t met all
its obligations and continued until
1926. The solitary survivor was
widow. one Charlotte Barber. who
died in her ninety-sixth year. At that
time she drew an annual income of
$4,000 livres, in return for an orig
inal subscription of 800. King Louis
and his successors frequently utilized
this method of supplementing the
public funds. In the eighteenth GEN.
tury private spectators also estab-
lished a large number of tontines; in
France there was little less than a
tontine craze. Nearly all these pri-
vate undertakings. however, ended
disastrously. In most instances the
tontine managers were dishonest. The
greatest private tontine. the Caisse
La Fargo, cheated the public out OF
nearly 6O.0O0.O00 francs. Dishones-
~ was inherent in the plan itself.
Tonti did not devise his original
scheme i'm the interest of the people.
but of the Government. 81 believe
this is an easy way" he wrote 10 Col
bert from the Bastile. whereby the
King may get several millions from
his people which would never be SUBJ
ject TO redemption. The King might
use them to redeem his domain, and
for the execution of other designs.
This might be done without it's being
known. 1t transforms France into
gold mine for the monarchy" Pri-
vate capitalists adopted the plan In