From the Philadelphia Inquired of May 27, 1S76. LESSONS FROM ABROAD. L OBSERVATIONS THAT POINT MORALS. KHE CONDITION OP EEANOE, GERMANY, AND GEEAT BEIT AIN. W INTERVIEW WITH HENRY CAREY BAIRD. HIS VIEWS ON THE FINANCIAL PROBLEM. Having ascertained that Henry Carey Baird, Esq., had just returned from Europe, an Inquirer reporter yesterday waited upon that gentle¬ man to learn from him what economic observations he had made during his absence abroad. Mr. Baird, who is well known as a close student of social science, tated that while in France he had devoted his attention especially to an ^examination of her agricultural, industrial, financial, and political con dition. As is well known, said Mr. Baird, Trance was obliged to pay to Germany a war fine of eleven hundred million dollars. This fine was paid, with a loss, in her direct intercourse with Germany, of but i$l40,000,000 of gold and silver; it having been actually paid almost entirely in bills of exchange drawn against merchandise shipped to Ger¬ many and other countries. To-day France is the only country in Europe which enjoys any degree of prosperity, and bears every evidence of as high a degree of vitality as she ever before possessed, eveil at the most flour¬ ishing period of the Empire. This appearance has a real and sub¬ stantial basis, with the exception, probably, of the silk industry of Lyons and the shipping trade of Marseilles, whose dulness is explain¬ able in the depressed condition of all the countries with which they trade. Reporter. To what cause, Mr. Baird, do you think this remarkable and exceptional prosperity of France is due ? Mr. Baird. To the fact that for seventy years she has maintained an intelligent and efficient system of protection to her industries, and that those industries have reached a higher degree of perfection than has ever ^before been seen by those of any country in the history of the world; mud, furthermore, to the suspension of specie payments by the Bank of j^rance, in September, 1810, the immediate resultant increase in her paper currency from $275,000,000 to over $600,000,000, and, notwithstanding the accumulation by import, of gold and silver, amounting to not less than $350,000,000 since January 1, 1874, a contraction in the circulation of the Bank of France of not over $120,000,000 from the highest point; thus making the instrument of payment subservient to the work that is needed to be performed, and not making the commerce of the people subservient to an arbitrarily limited volume of money, as we have stu¬ pidly done in this country since,the year 1865. Hep. Has the Bank of France yet resumed specie payments? Mr. Baird. No, and it is not proposed that she shall until Januai 1, 1878. Rep. Js specie in circulation to any extent to-day in France? Mr. Baird. Yes, both gold and silver, to as great an extent as I ever saw on any previous visit to that country, it being a matter of perfect indifference to any banker, merchant, shopkeeper, or hotel proprietor whether he gives or receives money in large or small quantities in gold, silver, or paper. Rep. To what do you attribute this condition of things? Mr. Baird. To the fact that, by the development of her industries,] already referred to, France has made herself a creditor nation with even country with which she trades, and has accumulated the precious metal to the amount of not less than $1,250,000,000, for which she has no use^ except as the basis of her banking system and. the commerce among her] people. Thus, with a metallic and paper currency of not less than $1,730,000,000, it is in the power of the people to dispense almost! entirely with the credit system, and the Frenchman stands to-day withl] the reputation of being the best pay in the world. Rep. As agriculture is generally regarded as the true basis of national j power, I would like to learn your views with regard to agriculture in France. Mr. Baird. The effect of the first French revolution was to divide the ownership of the land among the people, and the policy since uni¬ formly followed has served to retain the land in the hands of a largel number of owners, while the great development of her diversified indus¬ tries has made a large home market for her agricultural produce. Th< cultivation is of the most careful character France, almost from onei end to the other, presents a scene of beauty resembling a vast garden.) Nearly every acre is under tillage. Few fields are devoted to mere pas¬ turage, most of the cattle being stall-fed, and the yield per acre is pro¬ bably in excess of that of any other country in the world, with tin single exception of Belgium. Rep. Has this condition of prosperity which you describe made the people happy and contented under their new form of government ? Mr. Baird. Real prosperity in any country which extends down among all. classes of the people must and vHll result in their happiness and in giving strength and breadth to the institutions of the country, whether the latter be republican or monarchical in form. In this very respect the recent history of France is the most instructive for the poli¬ tical philosopher and statesman that has ever been given to the world. A Republic founded in 1870, and as Me as 1872 almost without any Republicans in it, has been steadily gaining converts to this system till, to-day, France is overwhelmingly Republican. This republicanism in¬ cludes not only the mass of the people, but has invaded the higher ranks of society, and has recently conquered the prejudices of some of the most conservative people of France. An anecdote told me at Tours illustrates the difficulties the Republic has had to encounter, but which she has hap¬ pily overcome. After its establishment the people were told by the priests and Imperialists that they could not possibly prosper under the Republic, as God would not prosper a people living under such a form of govern¬ ment, and predicted for their crops and industries every imaginable form of disaster. During a recent visit to the country by the Protestant pas¬ tor of Tours, in conversation with a peasant, the latter referred to the terrible predictions that had been made, and, after enumerating the blessings that had been showered on the people, wound up with the assurance, “Le bon Dieu esl Republicain ” (“ The good God is Repub¬ lican. ”) Rep. Do you consider the Republic fully established on a firm and substantial basis, and likely to endure as the future permanent Govern¬ ment of France? Mr. Baird. While the country is governed in a way to maintain the present prosperity, it will be extremely difficult to overthrow it or change its form. From the people it is in no peril whatsoever, no previous government having been so popular with them ; but it has its perils. Among many of the higher classes, and especially among the adherents of the Bonapartes, the Orleans family, and the Bourbons, it has very bitter and active enemies. The President, MacMahon, is himself not a Republican. The prefects throughout the country, appointed by the Central Government, are generally enemies of the Republic. Germany herself, alarmed at the financial and industrial strides made by France, since five years ago she seemed crushed beyond the hope of resurrection, is at this moment engaged in industriously endeavoring to foment dis¬ cord in her midst, in order to prevent stability and check the further 4 growth of this power. Sad to say, there are, it is well understood, men even in the French Assembly who are in the pay of the German Govern¬ ment. Rep. Why should Germany, which so recently vanquished France, so soon fear another encounter with hep? Mr. Baird. Mainly owing to a want of true statesmanship on the part of her rulers since the close, of the war, and especially in the man¬ agement of her finances. Believing that she was to receive substantially eieven hundred millionrdollars ia ; gpld and silver from France, in the payment of the war fine, Germany determined to demonetize silver and retire all bank notes under one hundred marj^s ($25). The fine was paid, as before stated, almost entirely in bills of exchange drawn against merchandise. Germany did nojt get, the gold and silver she expected. She had reduced the circulation of silver coin before the end of 1875 thirty-seven million dollars, and had retired one hundred and fourteen million dollars in small notes. The people of Germany, among the most active and enterprising business men on the Continent, feeling that there was to be an ample, supply of currency to carry on a more extended industrial and commercial intercourse among themselves, made extensive preparations for such increased business. The result being, however, that the money for the payment of the war fine having actually to be furnished by the German people themselves, who received simply merchandise in exchange, and the contraction of the volume of money by the govern¬ ment brought on a financial crisis, widespread bankruptcy, and industrial ruin, from which she is in no measure relieved at this hour. Five years more of such policy will reverse the relations in which France and Ger¬ many stood to each other five years ago. Without probably understand¬ ing this condition of affairs, Bismarck appreciates its existence and has no desire to again measure strength with his recently vanquished enemy. In connection with this subject I would,state that, according to the Bava¬ rian Vaterland, the imports of merchandise into Germany, in excess of her exports, from January 1, 1870, p° December 31, 1874, were $1,132,000,000. This will explain very clearly why the precious metals in Germany have not increased in quantity since the close of the war. Rep. You have stated tha,t no country in Europe is prosperous with the exception of France. In what condition did you find Great Britain? Mr. Baird. In answer I would say that I was assured by one of the most prominent bankers in London, less than a month ago, that never in his experience had he seen anything to equal the disaster, depression, and ruin which, at that moment, surrounded him on every side in Eng- I 6 land. I asked him if after the crisis of 18G6 things were not worse, and he replied that the crash of that period presented no parallel to the present state of affairs; that a class of men who were then unaffected are involved in the financial difficulties of this day. In Manchester, about the 10th of the present month, a panic was momentarily expected, following the numerous and heavy failures and bankruptcies which had there taken place. Throughout England there is a feeling of gloom and depression, and it was stated the other day in a London paper that within a year 10,000 carriages had been put down in that city alone. Rep. What lesson do you consider the foregoing facts relating to the condition of France, Germany, and Great Britain teach in connection with our own financial and industrial depression? Mr. Baird. They justify the policy of protection which we have pur¬ sued since 1861, and condemn in the strongest manner the practice of the arbitrary contraction of the currency since 1865. Not only do they explain how our country may be made prosperous, but why it is that we are not so to-day; and why we see about us such discontent, want of confidence in and dissatisfaction with the government, political and per¬ sonal corruption, and a general decline in public morals. Our people must be got to work, and that quickly, unless we are content to see this ma¬ terial and moral decline continue and increase. So long as commerce is made the servant of its instrument, money; so long, in a word, as that servant is placed above its master, so long must the people be idle, and the country and the government decay. It would be safe to estimate the decreased production in the United States, caused by the paralysis of her industries, at $15,000,000 per day. This is a measure of the privations suffered by the people which they need not suffer but for empiricism in the conduct of their government. Rep. What policy would you have the United States pursue? Mr. Baird. I would have them stand firmly by protection, and dis¬ regard the teachings of the free-traders and their practical result, the Morrison tariff bill, now before the House of Representatives; further, I would have them adopt the financial policy which has been so ably advocated in Congress and before the people by Hon. William D. 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