Ee rm
SEER EE SNA
Bellefonte, Pa., June 5, 1891.
IN MEMORIAM.
There is no North or South,
And there is no East or West;
Our lears are shed for heroic dead
Asleep in the broad earth’s breast.
Roses and lilies brin,
Blossom and frond and thorn,
For the clouds have passed and night at last
Breaks into whitest morn.
Men from the wintery lands,
Men of the lands of sun,
But the days are changed since we stood es-
tranged,
And the North and South are one.
From where the bayonet gleamed
Follows the furrowing plow, :
And the hand of time, with touch subfime,
Has smoothed war's rugged brow.
Here are the clustered graves
Of those whose race marclied down
‘In the cold moon's light to the famous
height
Of beleagured Boston town.
And there are the grassy tombs
Unnamed by tongue or pen,
Of those whose sires left houshold fires
To fight 23 Marion's men.
Over these eloquent
The sounds ot discord cease,
And the Spring grass waves by the rounded
graves 5
Like hope at the side of peace.
And the robin builds her nest
In the rifle shattered tree,
And curlews ery where a clondless sky
Looks on a tranquii sea.
And so in brotherhood
We scatter the buds of May ;
Let the flowers fall over one and all,
For we know ao blue nor gray,
And there is no East and West,
And there is no North and South,
For the palm and pine together twine
Over the cannon’s mouth. -
—Ernest MeGaffey.
BE —
NOT GUILY.
BY WALLACE CHADMAN,
Allan Shortlige of Cleveland, one of
the most prominent lawyers in north-
ern Ohio, was reading a law journal in
his office one morning in the summer of
1885 when a young man entered and
handed him a card upon which was
written “David Winters, Geneva, 0.”
The lawyer read the card and, looking
- up pleasantly asked :
“What can I do for you, Mr. Win-
ters?”
“T wish to ask whether it would be
convenient for you to takea student in-
to your office.”
“Well, I don’t know; two or three
students have studied in my office and
I believe I would take another if the
right sort of young man should come
along. Do you desire to begin the
study of law?”
Yes, sir.”
“How old are you, Mr. Winters?”
“J am 21."
“A college graduate, I suppose?”
“No, sir; I have had no opportuni
ty to attend college. I havean academ-
ic education and I have found time
toacquire a fair knowledge of the
branches usually stadied during the
first two years at college.”
“I understand; you have been
schooling yourself. And you desire to
become a lawyer, eh? It's a hard life,
young man; lawyersspend many sleep-
less nights. When do you wish to be-
gin to study ?”’
——Pomorrow morning.”
“Very good. The office will be op-
en at 9 o'clock. If you are here at
that time and still determined to begin
the study of law, I will try to make
room for you in my office, and as soon
as we become a little better acquainted
with each other I will give you a key
so that you can come and go when you
lease,”
“Thank you; I will be here at that
hour,” said David, and bowing polifely
he departed.
“Well, well,” said the lawyer, half
audibly, “this is pretty hasty work,
more so than is customary with me in
such matters ; but I don’t regret it. His
countenance is al! the certificate of good
character I care for, and his eagerness
to enter an office satisfies me that he
will be a close student.”
A client came in and Lawyer Short-
lige was soon engaged in the work of
the day.
David Winters walked rapidly to the
railway station where he purchased a
ticket for Geneva, twenty miles distant.
He had just finished teaching a term
of school at that place, and having
saved up the greater part of his salary
he determined to enter a law office and
remain there as long as his money last
ed. Having, as we have seen, succeed-
ed in getting into the office of Allan
Shortlige, he had but one day to go to
Geneva, pack up his books and clothes
and return to Cleveland. This he did,
and before the sun had sunk into rest
less Lake Erie he was comfortably set-
tled in a private boarding house on a
pleasany street not far from the office of
Allan Shortlige.
Promptly at 9 o'clock the next morn-
ing he entered the office of the lawyer
where he found that gentleman taking
his morning smoke.
“Well, young man, you are on deck
this morzing. Now, let me see; what
would be the best work for you to be-
gin upon. The order of reading law
has turned around since I was a stu-
dent and I think it was a turn for the
better, I began with the institutes of
Justinian, Blackstone and Kent, but I
think it is best for a student to learn at
first the law as it is modified by exist-
ing statutes, after which he can trace
each rule to its origin and learn the
custom {rom which it sprung. If you
pursue this course you will be able in
a very short time to derive some bene-_
fit in a financial way from your knowi-
edge, as [ am away part of the time
and you will have to look -after my
clients. Hereis “Swan's Treatise,” a
justice's code, which you may read
first of all, using the revised statutes of
Ohio and the supreme court reports as
reference books.”
Mr. Shortlige walked to the shelves
containing his books and ran his fin-
gers along the back of the ponderous
volumes. Hz took down *Swan’s
Treatise” and laid it upon the table
which stood in the center of the office.
David picked it up and began reading
the preface,
“Now, before beginning to fill your
head with the abstract principles of
Jaw,” said the lawyer with a twinkle,
“you had better look around the office
and acquaint yourself with the position
of the books and their arrangement, 80
that in case you wish to refer to one of
them you can do so expeditiously, for
your progress will depend mueh upon
the celerity with which you make such
references.”
David saw the wisdow of this sug-
gestion and signaled his approval by
immediate compliance.
“And,” continued the lawyer, “you
must cousider this office as much yours
as mine for all purposes of study or
anything else that is within the bounds
of propriety. Here you will find books
and paper, pens and ink; if you wish
to write, do so; if you desire to read,
read ; annd if you feel like making a
noise, all will be useful to you when
vou become a lawyer. I know several
lawyers who win more cases by the ex-
cessive noise they make than by
shrewdness in the practice of their pro-
fession; and the best lawyer, at least
in the estimation of the members of
the profession, is the one who can tell
the funniest story.”
Lawyer Shortlige took a heavy laugh
as he finished speaking. Doubtless
his levity was feigned for the purpose
of brightening David, who appeared to
him to be too sedate and would be apt
to be overstudied—commendable traits
of course—but his own genial disposi-
tion had done much toward his success
as a lawyer and he desired to impress
upon the mind of his student the im-
portance of cultivating a pleasant man-
ner.
David was surprised. He had sup-
posed that if he should have the good
fortune to get into an office he would
be obliged to sit in a corner out of the
way, and there pursue his studies with-
out speaking or being spoken to. He
began to feel more at home.
“J am afraid I shall never be able to
repay you for your kindness,” he said.
“Don’t trouble yourself about that,
young man ; I shall be more than com-
pensated if you keep the office open
during my absence. After you be
come a little more accustonied to the
office I shall give you information con-
cerning a part of my business which
may need looking after while I am
away. I hardly need mention that
such information is confidential and
should not be divulged. I shall be
away the greater part of this week and
you will have the office all to yourself.
Here is your key.”
Mr. Shortlige soon left the office and
David having made himself familiar
with the arrangement of the books, ap-
plied himself diligently to Swan's
Treatise. :
When Mr. Shortlige returned he
found the office much improved in ap-
pearance. The papers and journals
had been tastefully arranged and the
books were iL their proper places. T ie
floor was clean and the dust had been
wiped from the chairs and desks. It
was customary for Mr. Shortlige to
employ a man to put the office in or-
der but he now saw that it would be
unnecessary to do so thereafter. Ie
knew also that the work of keeping the
office in order would give David need-
ed exercise and relax his attention from
his books, for he was certain from what
he had observed that there was dan-
ger of the youth applying himself too
closely.
And although apparently indifferent
to the progress or the assiduity of the
young man, Mr. Shortlige was, never-
theless, a keen observer of all his ac-
tions. With a good deal of curiosity
he watched David's procedure in mat-
ters in which instructions were giv-
en, and he saw that the youth exercis-
ed judgment becoming maturer years.
Taking all things together he pro-
nounced David **a bright young man,
a model young man.” He would have
trusted him with every cent in his com-
mand or divulged a professional secret
to him with a perfect reliance that the
money would be properly accounted
for and the secret would be kept.
One afternoon Mr. Shortlige entered
the otfice and laid ‘a heavy sack upon
the tabie. He had received a draft
from a client in Chicago for the pur-
chase of real estate and had obtained
the money upon it at the bank.
“There, David,” said he, “is a little
task for you. The cashier of the bank
has put $5,000 in gold in this sack and
I wish you woul count it over. = I'll be
back in a few minutes.”
David complied. He poured the
gold out upon the table and began to
count, putting it back into the sack as
he did so.
“Well, how did it come out, David?"
asked Mr. Shortlige upon his return.
“There is one $20 gold piece too
much,” replied David.
Doubtless David would have felt
very much hur if he had known that
the lawyer had added the extra gold
piece to make a final test of his hon-
esty.
“It is a mistake that cashiers fre-
quently make when they are rushed
with business,” said Mr. Shortlige as
he took out a double eagle. “I'll re-
turn this to-morrow. 1 am afraid that
Mr. Fletcher is not coming to gei his
money and I don’t like to keep so much
in that old safe over night. He was to
be here at 6 and it is almost 7 now.”
Whea the clack struck 7 Mr. Short-
Jige put the sack into the safe, locked
it and prepared to go home,
“Be sure to fasten the office door
when you go out to-nighe, David,” said
he, as he went away.
lige sat in his library waiting to be
called to breakfast, he happened to
take out his pocketbook.
“Well!” he exclaimed, “I have mis-
laid my safe key.”
Just then breakfast was announced,
but the lawyer did not respond. Te
canght up his hat and hurried down
the street to his office. David had not
vet arrived and nothing in the office
was disturbed. 1e tried the safe and
found that it was locked, after which
| he began a hasty search for the key,
{ thinking that he must have laid it
| somewhere instead of putting it into
his pocketbook.
On the next morning while Mr.Shori- |
After searching the office thorough-
ly he approached the safe again, and
bending down to inspect the keyhole
placed his right hand upon the top of
the safe. As he was thus examining
the lock and calculating the possibility
of having another key made, he became
conscious that there was a small, hard
object under his right hand. He
straightened up and raised bis hand.
There was the key; he had placed his
hand upon it by accideut. !
“What luck,” he exclaimed.
Mr. Shortlige inserted the key into
the lock and swung the door wide open.
The sack of gold was gone!
It would be difficult tor describe the
mental operations of this famous law-
yer during the next half hour. “Could
it be possible that he, the celebrated
Lawyer Shortlige, who prided himself
upon hie ability to discern the human
character, had been deceived by an art-
less youth from the rural districts? Or
had the young man found the key by
accident, and having opened the safe in
order to feast his eyes upon the gold,
been seized with an impulse to possess
it—an impulse so strong that a life of
honesty and Christian propensities
could not overcome it? How should
he proceed? Have the youth arrested
at once? And if he did not confess con-
vict him on circumstantial evidence?
What if he had fled? That would be
conclusive proof of guilt.
Such were some of the thoughts that
were coursing through the mind of the
jawyer when suddenly the door opened
and David greeted him with a cheery
“Good morning, Mr. Shortlidge.”
The lawyer returned the courtesy in
his usual affable manner, and as he
hastily closed the safe he occupied his
mind with the invention of an excuse
for his presence at the office so early
in the morning.
“1 met Mr. Fletcher last night,” said
he, “and he informed me that he
would be here at 7:30 this morning to
transfer the property and get his mon-
ey ; he ought to be hcie now. You
didn’t see him on the street, did you,
David ?
“I did not.”
“Well, since you are here I will not
remain any longer. If Mr. Fletcher
comes during my absence tell him I'll
be here at 9.”
The appearance of David at his cus-
tomary hour, his same quiet manner,
without an uneasy act or look, chang
ed the order of procedure which the
lawyer had outlined in his mind.
He hurried home, ate his breakfast
and retired to his library, where he re-
viewed the facts in the case. For a
while this eminent lawyer, noted for
the cool and dispassionate manner in
which he conducted the most impor-
tant cases, paced the floor greatly agi-
tated. Ile knew that the law would
compel him to make good the loss
of the money. He knew, also, that if
it was not recovered he would pay
every dollar of it out of his own pocket,
but that knowledge was not what caus-
ed his agitation.
Had David anything to do with the
robbery ? }
The consideration of that question
was the cause of the disturbed state of
the lawyer's mind. The evidence was
decidedly against David. The lawyer
felt certain that no jury in the world
would hesitate at conviction upon such
a chain of evidence, if the youth had
not an unimpeachable reputation in
the community for honesty. But if he
should take the stand against David to
what, could he testify? To nothing
but what would be in the highest de-
gree commendatory of the young man.
“And,” reasoned the lawyer, “my
judgment is worth something. 1 have
had ample opportunity to study this
young man and ought to be able to
judge whether he ‘s a thief or not, es-
pecially when I feel that my judgment
coincides with the dictates of my con-
science. If I had observed a single
short-coming in his deportment, a 8in-
gle remission of duty, [ should say:
Arrest him and let the law take its
course; but it is my honest belief that
he is innocent and I therefore pro-
nounce him ‘Not guilty.’
Mr. Shortlige was as good a man as
his judgment was sound. He was
well aware of the irreparable damage
that would result to the character of
the young man should he be arrested
for the robbery, no matter if an imme-
diate acquittal would follow, and he
would have rather lost twice the
amount than have caused the disgrace
of an innocent person.
He returned to the office at 9 o'clock,
but of course Mr. Fletcher had not ar-
rived. After conversing pleasantly a
short time with David, he went to the
police station and related the whole
matter to the chief officer, cautioning
him at the same time to make investi-
gations with the greatest secrecy.
“It's very plain to me,” said the of
ficer, after hearing the story, “that
the young man knows something of the
affair and you'd better let me go up
and frighten it out of him.”
Mr. Shortlige positively forbid such
a course and gave the reasons for his
belief in the honesty of David. The
officer agreed to withhold the personal
accusation until some evidence against
the young man had been obtained, al-
though he informed Mr. Shortlige that
he would be obliged to make inquiries
concerning him at his boarding place |
and a1 Geneva,
The lawyer did not return to his of- |
fice again that morning but went direct
ly home. His wife heard him enter
his study and followed.
“1 do wish K you would
money away, Allan,” said she.
afraid that robbers will break into the
house.”
“What! oh,—ah—that’s so,” stam-
mered the lawyer, almost betraying
his ignorance of what she meant.
“When you went for 1t at 1 o'clock
last night you said you would take it
away this morning but you must have |
forgotten it. I'd rather have it in that
old safe than under your pillow. I'll
get it and. you take it right down te
the hank.”
She left the room and returned with
the sack of gold.
What a shock! The lawyer under-
)
stood it. Ie had been a somnambu-
list for thirty years, but in this instance
he had proceeded so naturally that
even his wife believed he was awake.
Mr. Fletcher received his money
that afternoon and the chief of police
was told that the sack had been found.
One day, almost iwo years later,
David returned from Columbus, where
he bad passed the examination and
had been admitted to the bar. Mr.
Shortlige took him to his home and re-
lated the story of the sack.
A shingle bearing this inscription:
Shortlige & Winters, Attorneys at Law
now hangs from a window in a large
building in Cleveland.
Law, and Legal-Tender Money.
A recent publication comes to us with
its first article from the pen of ex-Secre-
tary of State T. F. Bayard, who, for a
text, quotes the golden opinion of the
late Mr. Justice Miller: ¢“No man in
this country is so high that he is above
the law. * * Tt is the only supreme pow-
er 1n our system ofgovernment. * * And
are bound to obey it.” And, sub-
scribing to this, Mr. Bayard further
affirms that “one of the chief and endur-
ing purpose for which the Constitution of
the United States was ordained is the
establishment of justice.” This distin-
guished statesman’s loyalty none will
question, and I shall only employ his
position to point a moral ; for the jour-
nal concludes its May number with an
article from the pen of an eminent stat-
istician, in which he scoffs at certain
laws of our country and designates cer-
tain statutes relating to money as fram- |
ed to enable one citizen ‘‘to cheat’ an-
other. Furthermore, he teaches that
the laws which he dislikes are dishonest
and thus, in effect, instils the doctrine
of disloyalty into the minds of his read-
ers. Anarchy practically exists when-
ever individuals are permitted to select
the laws which they will directly or in-
directly nullify or openly disobey. If
it were the aim of the clever editor of the
monthly, in the arrangement of the ar-
ticles at his disposal for pubiication in
the merry month of May, to illustrate
how brief is the step from the sublime
to the ridiculous, his effort in this in-
stance has been attended with lofty
success.
“Free coinage of silver,-—why not ?”’
asks the statistician ; and he proceeds to
argue that itis the duty of the govern-
ment to eliminate silver from our legal-
tender money, and that accomplished,
and gold madesole legal tender, then to
coin free all silver offered. The first,
and it should ever be the last, answer to
his question, stated under the conditions
argued, is : Becanse there is not gold
enough in the world to fulfil the func-
tions of money, if all the great commer-
cial nations use no money but goid as a
legal tender, without robbiug debtors
and tax-payers by a csonseqent and in-
evitable lowering of the average scale of
the prices of all products of labor, and
consigning a large portion of labor to
enforced idleness. This is demonstra-
ted by the financial crisis wrought when
England alone attempts to demand that
all obligations due to her people shall
be paid in gold. And the answer to free
couinage of silver without legal-tender
value is, that it would be a crime
against the best interests of the nation
and a hindrance to the prosperity and
welfare ot the whole people, It would
delude the masses with material suppos-
ed to be “money” in easy times, buf
which would prove to be worthless at
the first mutterings of a finaucial storm,
And it would furnish opportunity for
an army of brokers to levy tribute on
the peop.e by buying and selling at
varying discounts a material in the
likeness of money, but not money
because not a legal tender.
Baron Alphonse Rothschild, that em-
inent merchant, banker and financier,
whose name isa synonym for know- |
ledge on the subject of money and its
functions, before the Monetary Commis-
sion, which metin Paris in 1869, op-
posed strongly any purpose to maintain
and adopt gold as a single standard for
money, and presented cogent reasons
why such a step'must prove alike in-
jurious to creditor, debtor, and enter-
rise. Baron Rothschild said :
~The simultaneous employment of
the two precious metals is satisfactory
and gives rise to no complaint. “"Wheth-
er gold or silver dominates for the time
being, it is always true that the two
metals concur together in forming the
monetary circulation of the world, and
it is the general mass of the two metals
combined which serves as the measure
of the value of things. The suppression
of silver would amount to a veritable
destruction of values without any com-
pensation ”’ ‘ i
The president of the Bank of France,
in earnest argument, presented similar
views to those expressed by Baron
Rothschild. :
The statistician next proceeds to dis-
cuss the creation and functions of
money, and says: ‘The Government
rightly assumes the function of coinage
in order to give ‘absolu.e assurance that
each coin contains a certain quantity of
gold measured by weight in grains, or a
certain quantity of silver measured by
weight in grains.”
The fanztion and power conferred
upon Congress, in justness, beuneficence,
2. d wisdom
n
sta isticinn, ana the statement that it is
“i order to give,” implying defined
spe ific purpose or object, is a perversion |
of fact The Constitution conferred
upo Congress the power ‘‘to coin mon-
ey, ard regulate che value thereof.”
| In the exercise of that power and in the
i in the payment of debts.”
take that |
fulfillment of a specific purpose, Con
oress has coined gold, silver, and. pa-
per, and declared each “a legal tender
The doctrine
f
that “lo coin money”
| piece of humbug as was ever promulga-
ted by self-proclaimed scientists to mis-
lead the minds of a busy and too-con-
fiding people. The time present
when the sham of such teaching should
be exposed. To eon is simply to stamp.
«To coin money’ 1s to stamp with any
device, seal, and inscription which the
Government may adopt. The authority
granted neither asserts nor directs any-
thing more, and means nothing less.
The material to be used is left entirely
to the option and discretion of Congress,
Every piece of paper money issued by
is
our Government for legal-tender pur-
port contains the coin stamp—in red
P 0 tonstituti is in | : s A :
of the Constitution, is in | mestic commerce in exclusively silver-
sense expressed as stated by the |
' ernment to control or regulate.”
|
|
{
means, of neces- |
“I am | sity, the use of metals ‘is as arrant ‘a
color-—of the Government, and by vir-
tue of this coin stamp, and this para-
mount, the legal-tender act of Congress
applying to the use of paper money was
sustained almost unanimously by the
supreme Court of the United States.
“To coin, is to form, fashion, fabri-
cate, or convert into ‘money,’ anything
of which it may be made,”’*
Amid the perils which from time to
time have beset our Republie, Congress
has frequently authorized the issue of
Treasury notes for carrency, but those
issued prior to the act of Congress of
February 25th, 1862, were not made a
full legal tender, and upon those the
stamp of the Government, as evidence
of lawful-issue money, was not required ;
but upon those issued bearing the words
“legal tender in payment of all debts,
public and private,” the required coin”
stamp of the Government came forth in
compliance with the language of the
law, which declares ‘shall bear * * * as
evidence of lawful issue the imprint of
a copy of the seal of the Treasury De-
partment.” This was the creation of
money, of coined paper money, and in
the power granted by the Constitution,
with the authority and majesty of law,
for the beneficent use of the people. In
pursuance of the power ‘‘to coin mon-
ey,’—-not “dollars,” as the statistician
tries to persuade the people,—Congress
has declared a certain piece of paper, a
certain piece of silver, and a certain
piece of gold, each bearing the national
coin stamp, shall be “money,” and a le-
gal tender in the payment of debts;
and under the adoption by special stat-
ute of the decimal system, shall be
known as “dollars” and units thereof—
the name adopted from a foreign lan-
guage.
And under the power ‘to regulate
the value thereof” Congress has declar-
ed that metal money and paper money,
under the decimal system of designation,
shall be of equal and uniform value in
money of account, and in the payment
of debts. Congress has not directed
what amount of money shall be paid for
a horse or any othing of value. A le-
gal-tender law merely prescribes how
purchases and contracts shall be legally
tulfilled. And, asalaw and guide to
the coiner in the selection ot metals for
metal money, the kind to be used has
been specified, also the weight and qual-
ity of metals; butin no instance assert-
| ing as to grains of weight that they were
or are of an exact parity in bullion val-
ue, although defining relative relations
in grains of weight, —at times the silver
metal money being of’ greater bullion
value than the gold; at other times, as
at present, the gold-metal money being
of greater bullion value than the silver
It is passing strange we never beard
the cries of our peculiar patriots as to
the ‘‘dishonest’’ gold dollar, when silver
was at a premium by the gold standard.
And Congress has from time to time
changed the weight and the relative ‘re-
lations of weight, and changed the kind
of metal to be used for coins, but has
never changed their value while per-
forming the functions of money in the
payment of debts for which they were
created, with the exreption of the skort-
lived and ignoble trade dollar.
«To regulate the value thereof,’ is to
assign a value to it as money—without
reference to any value it may or may
not have as material for other purposes
than those assigned to it --by making it
lawful money. Congress is not restrict-
ed as to the materials they may make
use-of; or their worth or value, indepen-
dent of their authorized use as money ;
nor is it required that they should bave
any such value.”’*
Even this statistician assures us that
: “the value of gold and silver in the mar-
kets of the world is & matter that is
wholly without the power of the Gov-
Then
why should we notall unite in proclaim-
ing the absolute folly of urging our
Government to attempt creating metal
money of a parity of bullion value?
This writer further asserts in the article
under consideration that “gold is the
standard of the world’s commerce,” It
will be difficult for the practical mind
ot the citizen of the United States to
comprehend the assertion when be daily
sees that the standard of entire domestic
commerce is the money of account into
which enters every variety of currency.
He attempts to prove his assertion by
the theory that the value of the entire
crop of any production “is determined by
the excess, above consumption at home,
used for export. The most valuable
crop of all we produce is hay, the value
of which is never determined by the
price of the quantity available for ex-
port. Other crops of great value might
also be cited, notably vegetables and
fruit ; then, too, our production of coal,
iron, and other ores, and most of our
factories. Mr. Thomas Baring testified
before a commission of the British Par-
liamentjthat in the panic of 1864 in
Calcutta it was impossible to borrow a
single rupee (silver) on the deposits of
£20,000 of gold—silver, not gold, being
the legal tender. The testimony of that
eminent merchant in statement of fact
will far outweigh the theory, impossible
to demonstrate, that “gold is the stand-
ard of the word's commerce.” Itis
quite possible to demonstrate that the
balances of the world’s international
commerce are chiefly adjusted upon a
gold stindard, but this does not sustain
the general assertion, which cannot by
any possibility be correct as to the do-
using countries, und especially to the
enormous trade in those countries in
commodities not entering into export.
For a nation such as ours, now capa-
ble of adjusting its balances of interna-
tional commerce, with an ample supply
af gold and silver from its own mines,
and steadily maintaining a prosperous
condition from its own industry aed
commerce, Lo “tieup to a gold stand-
ard,” as urged by this writer, would be
the sheerest piece of lunacy every advo-
cated. Such a course would throw
away our present advantages and ‘plac.
the material destinies of the people of
the United States in danger of the in-
solvency lately seen in South America
and among other pdoples, to whom
Encland lends freely its credits and de-
mands gold in return. Gold for credit,
gold for interest, gold for insurance,
gold for profit, and these failing to save
her own credit at home, England shouts
to ail the world, “Lend, send me, gold
to save me!” Shall we fetter ourselves
# Farrar.—Manual of the Constitution.
islative Powers, Special.
Farrar—Manual of the Constitution.
Legislative Powers, Special.
{ for the purpose of aggrandizing Eng-
land ?
A statute proposed for ail Lhe States,
and which bas passed the Senate of
Pennsylvania by an almost uoanimous
vote, reads as follows: “An act w pre-
scribe the mode of pryment of obliga-
tions of debt contracted to be paid In
money. Be in enacted, etc. Lhal from
and after the passage of this wet all ob-
ligations of debts, contracted io be paid
in money, shall be payable—all stipula-
tion to the contrary notwithstanding —
in either the notes, gold, or Sikver coin
authorized by the Congress of the Uunit-
ed States as a legal tender.”
Of this act a distinguished jurist, ex-
Judge F. Carroll Brewster, wrote: “lt
expresses more law and more common-
sense in briefer compass than any other
statuté upon our books. Its justice 1s
so apparent that it is at first sicht diffi
cult to understand the necessity for in-
troducing it; but nce thatitis explain-
ed, all must acknowledge the beneficent
action of the law. No measure prepos-
ed in this century will have more tur-
reaching and important results. Ln or-
der to give it full effect it should, as it
no doubt, wil, ve adopted by all the
States.”
The necessity for this statute is found
in the fact that the statutes of the State
govern the construction, validity, and
obligation ef contracts, and that, under
those prvileges, the declared policy of
the General Governmet is daily nullified
by the making of special contracts, pay-
able in specifically-designated pieces of
gold, neverthe less money, and by this
avoidance of the law usury is attempted
and “public welfare’ is attacked.
The right of private contract is never
denied the citizen unless its exercise in-
volves or impairs the value of property
or the welfare of others not parties to it.
1t is also denied when it affects public
morals or evades thelaws of our country.
The proposed statute does not restrain
the right to deal in gold and silver bul-
lion; for in that state the contract is one
of barter, as to which the Government
has never declared a policy which con-
travenes such right.
“Volumes of so-called political econo-
my have been written, based on the idea
that there should be ‘unrestricted free-
dom of action’ between men to make
whatever bargains could be made, and
that such contracts should be enforced
by the whole civil and military power
of the nation.
“The principle underlying these doc-
trines ignores all moral obligations of
one man or one nation to another. Itis
the brate idea that the fact of one man,
or body of men, . ~ving superior mental,
physical, or pecuniary power, confers on
that man, that body of men, the natural
right to use that power for his, or their,
selfish purposes regardless of the suffer-
ings thereby inflicted on weaker men or
weaker nations. If this principle is cor-
rect, the slave-holders were right. For
if one race have superior power to an-
other, why not allow them to use that
power as to them appears best for their
own interests? ‘The interests of the
weak and the strong, of labor and capi-
tal, are identical. Why, then, not trust
the strong to do as they think best with
the weak? Why not let nature take
her course ?”’
“A shark wants ‘unrestricted freedom.’
The same is true of tigers and all other
beasts and birds of prey. A wolf does
not want to be ‘limited’ to the amount of
mutton necessary to a meal, he wants
‘unrestricted freedom’ to slaughter and
suck the blood of a score of sheep at
onze. Men whose superior physical, in-
tellectual, or pecuniary strength gives
them advantages over their fellows are
prone to desire ‘unrestricted freedom,’
and often unconsciously persuade them-
selves that the doctrines of the fishes of
the sea are true pelitical economy,’”’*
The conclusion of an argument made
by the present writer advocating the
passage of thisimeasure will further aun-
swer the question of ** Why not free sil-
ver coinage without legal-tender value?”
“The time has fully come when the stat-
utes of the separate States should hind-
er a rapacity that attempts to evade the
laws of our country that it may gather
gain, listless that it is planting in the
hearts of the toilers unhappiness, if not
despair, and rendering the relations of
members of society to each other antago-
nistic and revengeful. No republic can
live if the laws of its States cannot be
made to conform to the statutes of the
nation, nor can it exist in peace and hon-
or with one currency for the lender of
money to demand of the debtor, and an-
other, deemed of less value, for the com-
merce and the business of its whole peo-
Hi ’ :
P The statistician 'does not hesitate to
call those dishonest who cannot see
aught but equity, justice, and honor in
complying with thelaws of our Congress
in the full use of and futher advocating
the wisdom of enlarging its volume to
the extent of making all silver issues the
legal-tander money of our Government.
He will therefore permit those who dif-
fer with him in opinion to say that he
who will declare it right for a creditor to
loan money in the money of account of
to-day, and require it returned at some
future time in gold, is in purpose a usur-
er and at heart more than ‘‘dishonest.’”
The charter of the Bank of England
permits the bunk in time of catastrophes
to pay its notes at one-fifth in silver,
which in its ratio of value with the gold
standard is less than the silyer in the
United States silver coin. If the citi-
zen of Great Britain were to proclaim
this ratio of silver -‘dishonest,” or this
privilege granted the bank dishonest, he
would be sent into penal servitude. The
law as expressed by Mr. Justice Miller
is required to be observed and hell in re-
spect in England.
In concluding the article under dis-
cussion, its author, manifesting plainly
that be feels that the source of alt knowl-
edge of finance and the functions of
money rests with the gold docirinaires,
expresses the conviction that ‘the farm-
ers’ are fast coming under the influence
of new convictions and further knowl-
edge. With becoming m desty, the
tarmers may with pride and hope re-
verse assurances of satisfaction that some
of the doctrinaires of to-day are gather-
ing knowledge from the wisdom of the
First Congress of the United States,
composcd almost entirely of farmers,
which, “in order to form a mcre pertect
union. establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common de-
fence, promote the general weifare, and
secure the blessings of liberty to our-
Soe yor hy
#Dr. J. P. Phillips.
(CONTINU ED ON THIRD PAGT.)