Evening journal., 1919-08-08
LIVINGCOSTS HIGHER
AWAY BACK IN 17l9.
Reducing Circulation t o
Lower Prices Recalls
Mississippi Bubble
WAS IN TIME OF
LAWS WILD IDEAS

NEW YORK, Aug. s.-Two hundred
years ago there was a worse high cosi
OF living time even than this one-al-
though Il was more spectacular, super
flcial and sh0rtlived-and the recent
Senatorial suggestions mat a solution
of the present trouble may lie in re-
ducing the amount OF currency now in
circulation harLs back 10 Paris in i7is
and f720. when scraps Of paper were
as plentiful as on armistice day in New
York city. and had less behind them
to back them up. Men died of suffo-
cation in the last OF these days, stam-
peding the Bank OF France TO get some
coin for their scraps.
With something like pleasures and
relief since this, too, will pass, one
recollects John Law, his life and times
that canny Scot who dealt so disas-
trously, although probably with good
intentions. with the credulous and
needy French Of HIS adopted land.
They called the Rue Quincampolx
The Mississippi In those days, and lit
tie Louis XIV, who was five years old
snd precocious. was worried because
the street wasn't gllded and so made
placid river OF the New World, how
ever. was ever so turbulent as that
frantic avenue OF speculation and OF
solid folk gone mad. They turned all
the shops into restaurants, so that
everyone could breakfast, lunch, tea
and dine right on the scene Of action,
and hardly go home at all.
And ii was all IN vain, for the Missls-
sippl, besides being placid. did not flow
gold as the Qulncampoix speculators
thought. The street, had II been gllded
as the baby king desired, would have
been more metalically valuable than the
whole length OF the great river which
went on its way so calmly ignorant OF
the wildness going on in the rue TO
which It had given a nickname.
Surely nothing more extravagant and
untrammeled and ili-advlsed and glori-
ously indicative OF the propensity OF
people 10 believe what they want TO
believe has ever happened IN the world
than this swift night af crative imag.-
nation into the realms OF wealth The
flight ended with severe engine trouble,
or II YOU like. with crippled, MANNED
and broken wings.
But 10 Is a fascinating romance TO
look back on even now when the world
Is none too sane and when commodities
are high. psrhaps even Josr Law, OF
Lauriston, himself believed there was
gold IN Louisiana. because he wanted
to-because. being the particular kind
of financial and economic and mathe-
mathical genius that he was, he simply
could not live any longer without Civ
ing expression TO his Ideas as TO how
nations should manage their finances.
Gambling and putterlng and observa-
tlons on the RialtO would not su1lce,
and the Dutch, almost as canny as him
self had sent him posthaste out OF Hol-
land What was there for IL. but TO
get the thing tried out Ia all It's splen-
dor and audacity (this idea OF his that
prosperity could come only by enor-
nous amounts Of money being put into
circulation, and that paper money was
the solution). and preferably TO do the
trying out among the impressionable. !
eager. inflammable French, who would |
be glad to leave details to him, but |
whose imaginatlons would take them |
with him at least part Of the way |
whenever his mind, as a writer OF the |
time understandlngly said, was i'm
pressed with the beauty and simpucity |
of some vast. ambitious scheme Jf
finance"
Very likely John Law, OF Lauriston |
M sounds unfinished with put that rem /
nant OF his Scottishness premptously !
afrlxed). did think gold grew In Louis |
lana. But II he hadn't thought so, !
would he perhaps have pretended he /
did2 Al any rate. he would have |
thought up some way TO get those |
scraps OF paper into circulation, and /
work out a proper system OF credit and /
exchange. The Mississippi Bubble /
happened 20 be the bubble he would /
blow. Another bubble would have done
rs well for blowing and for bursting
IN the end.
And what the Scotsman had forgot
ten was the anger which these eager,
credulous French, who were so child
ishly delighted with the pretty bubble
floating in the air, would feel when II
burst above their heads. The Scotsman,
a little bewildered and seriously declar-
ing his unintention OF fraud. got out
OF France before they Killed him. Scots
with genius for mathematics blow
large, heavy. intricate bubbles when
they blow at all. A smaller, lighter one
would not have burst With such a ter
ribly resounding roar 10 the offending
ears attuned TO lighter sounds.
Speculation went madly on in the
Rue Quincampoix, and then some OF
the investors began TO want a realiza-
ton Of their riches and began to buy
ihinss-estates, houses, hand, diamonds
and an extrayagantly good time, and
prices went up. Cloth which had sold |