t
IiLAINE.
HI9 LETTER TO TTENDKLI. riUXLirS.
The Senator from Mains Answers Soma Per-
tlnent Inquiries-lie Slatoi Clearly Till
Position on the Currency Question
Augusta, Mb., Sept. 23, 1878.
Wkndkll PniLLiPB, Esq:
My Dkar Sir: I remember the conversation
In the Senate Chamber to which you refer, and
I beg to recall to you possibly more fully than
I then stated the objections to the Intercon
vertible bond as the basis of our currency. I
am aware that many wise men besides yourself
have approved and advocated this theory. The
power to bold a bond which may at any mo
menl be converted Into legal-tender notes for Its
face value, and to have legal-tender notes which
may at any moment be converted Into a bond
at par, appears at first sight attractive. But
no scheme Is more deceptive or delusive, and I
will briefly state the objections which seem to
me Insuperable.
OBJECTIONS TO THE SCHEME.
First If the bond be of sufficiently bleh rate
of interest to float the currency even to an ap
proximate equality with coin say four per
cent, or thereabout the inevitable tendency
will be for the currency to run into the bond
rather than for the bond to bo exchanged for
currency, and this with such force and volume
at critical times as to compol a scarcity of
notes, an ever-recurring stringency In the
money market and a general Instability In
affairs.
Second If you make the bond of a rate so
low as to avoid the tendency and the danger
Just stated, you of course abandon all Idea of
having your currency at par with coin. If your
interconvertible bond Is worth but 75 to 80 cents
on the dollar In coin, you thereby fix the value
of your currency at 20 or 123 per cont. below par,
and you banish colu from your circulating
medium absolutely and filially. Ho that, if
your bond be one that will float a currency at
par with colu, It will steadily ami Irresistibly
teud to contract its volumo. And if you seek
to avoid this result by lowering tho ratoof In
terest on the bond, you render equality with
coin impossible. Iu either event the scheme
would work Its owu deslructlou swiit and
sure.
Third No device was ever conceived Ibat
would give a more complete advantage to un
healthy speculation of all kinds thuu the Inter
convertible bond. Several times within the
past ten years we have witnessed a "lock-up"
of greenbacks by Wall-street combinations.
with a view to financial ends, which were at
war with the public good. So promising and so
profitable were those ends that the speculators
coule afford to have innny millions of green
backs lie idle iu order to force a stringency
In the money market. Your interconvertible
bond would open the way for this class of finan
cial operntors to "lock-up" greenbacks and
have the government pay them Interest on the
whole amount, while they might be conspiring
to derange the business of a conllneut, and de
press the value of every farmer's crop Iu the
land. In other words, your theory would force
the government to be an accomplice in every
gambling scheme devised in Wall street against
the peace and prosperity of the country.
Fourth Every year, as the spring business
closes and summer comes upon us, there Is a
vast accumulation of money that lies Idle for
three or four months at the financial centres; In
the vaults of the banks, In the safes of capital
ists, iu the treasuries of railways, ami iu the
strong boxes of insurance companies. During
that period nearly one-fourth of the year
there are from one hundred and fifty to two hun
dred millions of idle dollars in New York and
the other great money centres, and these dollars
all belong to rich men. Your Interconvertible
bond would provide an admirable mode for
these capitalists to take a large amount of Inter
est from the government at a season when they
cannot gel it Irom any other source. But I ques
tion whether it would be quite fair to tax the
whole peopledurlng the hot months of summer
in order to Insure to the wealthy capitalists of
the country a good income on that large sum of
money which would otherwise be Idle while
they are enjoying the.mountain.uir.and the sea
breeze.
Fifth The Interconvertib'.e bond would leap
to postponement In the payment of small bills
and debts In the domestic business of supply in
every-day life. In our present system a large
sum of money Is carried at all times on deposit
without Interest. When bills are presented from
the butcher, the baker or the candlestick-makor,
the man having money on deposit not drawing
Interest readily pays them, for there is no profit
to him in putting off bis creditor. But once
teach every man who has a surplus of ready
money that be can deposit it with the govern
ment and draw interest thereon, and the inevlt-
: able tendency is to place it there and keep It
there as long as a creditor can be denied, avoided
or evaded. The advantage lu all branches of
trade and labor of promptly paying small bills,
not drawing Interest, is incalculable. The In
terconvertible bond would slop this at ouee, and
would array the avarice and cupidity of tho
moneyed class against it. Tho interest paid by
j the government would go into the pockets of tho
t rich; and the interconvertible bond would again
j make the government au accomplice with tho
.ptUUlBt lu withholding his honest dues from
i e workingman, the government meanwhile
jylng the rich man Interest on the money that
joestly belonged iu the poor man's pocket.
' Sixth Is it not apparent, from the couslder
, 'aftlons thus hastily summarized, that no foriuof
' currency could bedevlsed which would besocou
i stant and so oppressive as the Interconvertible
j bond, In the taxation it would impose on the
i people? It would make tho government the
I constant repository for tbe surplus money of tho
rich, who would use It as the restlug-placo for
fortunes, waiting a more permanent and mora
profitable investment. Iu short, tho whole
I scheme would cud lu making the government
i answerable for Interest on money that for tho
I time could not bo used iu any other Investment.
J It would incur the general odium of taxiug the
many for the benefit of the lew ; of exacting from
, the poor a contribution to pay Interest on the
rich man's money, at a time when tho govern
ment did uot need It and could not use it.
' NO WAY PROVIDED TO HEL'UKE COIN.
You urge that our party should have taken
ground in favor of "the government' issuing
of all the paper-note currency, the same to be
legal-tender everywhere and for every pur
pose." Your language implies more thuu you
j really meant to convey, for your "every
. where" Is necessarily limited to our own oouu
I try, and you proceed yourself to limit the legal
i tender for every purpose" by declaring that tho
principal and interest of your Interconvertible
! bonds shall be payable in coin. " The moment
: you take the ground that the principal and
interest of the bonds shall be paid In coin, you
I separate yourself absolutely and Irreconcilably
j from the advance guard of the Greenback
school of financiers, who refuse to incur any
; obligations to pay coin. And y u will observe
that while your theory oroposas to pay both
j principal aud interest oi your bonds in com,
I you provide no way to seoure the coin, but
make your paper-money legal-tender for cus
toms and all other dues. Yon seem to ap
prove the wisdom of Republican legislation
I in so far as to make government bonds pay
able in coin, but yon fall to go with the name
legislation in providing au efficient and certain
; mode or securing the colu. 1 note this as
among the most glaring defects of your inter
, convertible theory one among many that ren
tier its adoption by the Republican party 1m
possible. Moreover, the scheme would have
proved lamentably insufficient to appease the
demand of the "fiat" money advocate. It
would not even have proved a "sop to Cer
berus, " and to have resorted to it would Justly
have exposed the Republican party first to ridi.
cute and then to disaster.
WHAT "THE BEST EUROPEAN THOUGHT'
REALLY 18.
Nor can I agree with you-differlng with full
deference and respect that the "best European
wugut is hastening" to the doctrine vou ad'
vocate. In the three most enlightened and tow-
rful nations of Europe England, Germauy
and Franoe-I question Ua single authority can
o iuuua mat would advocate, or even tolerate.
the Idea of the government issuing paper money
TIIE STATE,
Pennsylvania Expenditures,
A Favorite Theme fop the Democratlo
Politicians In the Campaign.
Soma Interesting Facts and Figure that
Throw a Little Light on the Var
ious Administrations of tha
Commonwealth.
The increased expenditure of the State admin
istration has been and is a chosen subject of
comment In all Democratic discussions. It is
a thoroughly legitimate topic, and one we are
glad to have opened. The only fear is lest It
shall drop out of sight after the election, as it
has so often done heretofore. The periods gen
erally chosen for comparison are those of
Packer, Democrat, in 1858-60, when the costs
were Si, 200, 84 9 17 for the term; of Curtin, In
18G4-66, when they were 81,885,157 C8; of Geary's
first term following, when they amounted to
82,453,148 64; or his second term, in which they
were 82,808,305 07, and of Ilartranlt's late ad
ministration, In which they havo advanced
from 8999,987 77 In 1873 to 81.213,276 31 In 1877.
Resting upon these facts, the Democrats and
Nationalists censure the Republican party uu
stlntedly for extravagance, and hint at malfeas
ance.
It Is so difficult to procure absolutely trust
worthy and lntelllgl hie statistics in such debates
that Hon. Chester N. Farr rendered a good ser
vice to the interests of tho State, the knowledge
of the people, and the cause of truth, in his con
sideration and presentment of the facts at
Myerstown on Suturday evening. Ho did not
undertake to deny or apologize lor a state of the
case Involved in tho history of the Slate, and
generally known to everyone; but, premising
that tho expenditures of the Commonwealth
have trebled since 18U0, explained tho causes and
Justified the facts convincingly , and when am
ple Justification could not be found, pointed to
Democratic action as equally or wholly respon
sible. During Packer's administration, of
1858-60, tho expenses were SI, 209,849 17. Since
his retirement the population of the SUte
has Increased from 2,906,370 to about
4,200,000. This increase has necessitated in
creased expenditures in every direction.
CAUSED BY COMBINED ACTION.
One-half of all that has occurred In the
seventeen years Is due to the combined
votes of Republicans and Democrats, when
the constitution of 1874 added 270 members
to the Legislature, increased the Judiciary
heads of departments and clerks. This action
of both parties appropriated 81,000,000 annually
to tha public schools; increased the pay of the
Legislature 8100,400, and that of printing 801,-
079 03. Of the 8218,070 40 remaining Increase to
be accounted for, 8157,801 is accounted for by
the Increase In the salaries of the executive de
partment, clerks and Judges, all of which Is
non-partisan, and has been approved; by the
Increase of mileage and stationery In the sum
of 857,007 91, or 832,693 03 more than double
what they cost In 1860, and by 810,533 91 appro
priated to Soldlors' Orphans' Schools, leaving
but 843,253 53 of all this vaunted extravagance
unascribed the major part or the growlh
having been wisely concurred In by both
Democrats and Republicans in order to meet
the increase or 23 to SO per cent, which has
touched nil branches of living since I860. As the
Increase of expenditures under Democratic rule
from 1844 to 1800 was 6C,vd per cent. , tho Increase
of the same expenditures for the years from 18G0
to this time falls absolutely 830,000 below the
ratio of Democratic Increase when the costs of
reorganizing the government and Legislature
are subtracted. On tho other hand the .Repub
licans have not only carried on the government
lu a period of civil war, and through a follow
ing term of depressed industry and Inactivity
with no Increase of the debt, but they have
made an annual saving of88o,ooo, together with
a profit ot 8261,922 by refunding the State dobt,
which they havo reduced from 842,000,000 to
813,000,000 aud placed lu tho course of speedy
liquidation.
We remark or an exhibit which will gratify
tax-payers and true Pennsylvanlaus, irrespec
tive of party, that it proceeds from a compe
tent, responsible aud reliable source, where the
floating statements which Impeach State credit
and hurt the prosperity of the Stato, Indirectly
if not directly, are the products or partial
knowledge at the best, and either leavened with
partisan feeling or Intentionally colored. With
this authentic exhibit the case is mado up. The
financial issue is the greatest In State as in
national politics. Having shown a great re
duction of the Stale dobt, greater efficiency and
permanent gain In every department of ad
ministration, and preparation for greater econ
omy ami profit, the party may well and confi
dently go to the people, who wanted no other
evidence to renew Kieir original friendship and
sustain a policy they marked and demauded.
rOETRY.
LATEST LAf Or THE DEMOCRATS.
The Story of an Attempt to Steal the Presl
doncy The Kfl'oet of Samuel's Roguery
A Miserable Failure.
OUR PIUXCIPLES.
TIIK KKI'l'ItLICAN LA1SOU l'AKTV.
What Investigation Proves That Republi
canism is the Only Safety for the IVork
inginen of the Country,
By fismnel J. TIMen, Late Reform unci Frand Can
didate, now grievously sflllctcd with ciphers.
I have touched the highest point of all my great
ness, And from the full meridian of my glory
I baste now to my letting faster than Rarus
trots
When at his best; I shall lall
As falls the slyest knave ibat wears a mask,
And no man see me more my goose Is cooked.
Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness I
This is the state of man: to-day be puts forth
The semblance of Rerorm; to-morrow preaches
And solemnly proclaims his hate or Fraud;
The third comes a Key a perfect Key
And when he thinks, deluded man, full surely
His prospeots are a-rlpenlug, busts bis mask,
And then he falls as I do
Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate yej
And also ye, ye horde of nincompoops.
I feel ray eyes new opened. Oh, how wretched .
Is that poor man who trios to bribe electors I
There is betwixt that seat be would aspire to,
That vole or bribed electors and bis ruin,
Such pangs and rears as I or Marble have,
And when be falls, he falls like well, like me,
Never to hope again. Deuce take the cipher.
Peltou, I did not think to shod a tear
In all my misery; but the Tribune makes me
Out of Its honest truth to play the woman;
Let's pack our trunks; and listen tome, Pcllon, -
And when I'm execrated as I shall be,
And sleep with, d that Marble,
Whcro no mention of me more shall bo heard, :
Then say 1 taught thee; Say Tildou,
That once trod the road to ruin,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of rogue
'ry, Found thee a way out of his wreck to rlNo In, '
A sure andsafoouc, though your uncle missed It.
Mark but my fall und that that ruined mo.
Pel ton, I chargo thee fling away ambition.
By that sin fell your uncle; how can you, then.
The nephew ol your uncle, hope to win by It? .
Lovo thyself lust, cherish those hearts that hate
thee;
Ask Schcll and Kelly up to dinner Sundays,
And wrllo upon the gonfalon thou bearest:
Corruption wins not more than honesty,
Reform and Fruud are uot convert'ble terms.
O, Pelton, Polton. Peltou, Pelton,
Had I but lived my life upou tho Fquare
Not Gramercy but tho downright moral
square,
I would not In my age, with '80 Just ahead,
Bo knocked much higher ttian the famous kite
Which once was flown by Mr. Ulldcroy.
This continent was colonized by laborers.
This country was be wn out from a wilderness;
improved, organized, and has bcou directed, as
it still Is, by laborers. There are no hereditary
titles thero are few great fortunes to transfer
any one from the ranks of useful Industry to
those of unproductive leisure; aud where an
exception occurs it is cured in a generation.
Tho Republican party was organized of, by, and
n the delenco and asslslaucoof lubur. It liber
ated millions of laborers as its very tlrst act,
aud secured their freedom. At the samo lime it
grappled tho great question of providing all
labor with employment, aud making that re
munerative aud steadily greater and more
lucrative, and providing It with knowledge.
Composed of, working with aud for, and sus
tained by labor, aud directed by a system whoso
operations and end consider labor in such a
complete aud high sort as was never the case
auywheie before, the Republican party, by Ihe
thoroughness of its principles as much as by Its
eminent deeds, has the right to be viewed as the
most perfect aud only labor organization in the
country. It is great and deserving for patriot
ism, philanthropy, financial ability, military
valor; but all these have been designed and used
to give the State such completeness in every
part, that every laborer would rise to the highest
welfare and happiness.
We present facta really known to every one
because a few individuals, Inordinately anxious
to occupy places for which they are not Quali
fied, have assumed to be the laborers ol the
State and to direct and prescribe lor all labor.
They are arrayed elsewhere, but thev are here.
"Some of their complaints and some or their in
tentions are correct. Some of each are perni
cious, and their views could not be carried out
in the manner they propose without a conflict
with other interests, and the interests of others
deserving equal recognition with their own
nor without loss to the harmony of the whole
community. On the other hand the doctrines
of the Republican Labor party have not only
been confirmed by investigation, but also by
trial. They are operating iu and Improving the
south. Tbey are building up the Pacific coast
as well as the luterior, the north and the east.
They are sending our products over the world,
regaining our oonas, Bringing back gold, stlm
ulutlngour Industries, and leave comparatively
few unemployed where lately hundreds of thou'
sands wauled work. Tbey hurt no one, but
help all.
Those who would promote labor, directly and
efficiently, should cast their votes for the Repub
lican party. Others will disappoint them: this.
never. Others will fall from Ignorance of prin
ciples, or ot their subject or their application,
or from having overlooked related facts. This
carries a perfected theory In ascertained moth'
ods, aud overlooks nothing either in con tern
plation or effect It wars with no race or call
NASBY.
lie Pronri'ds to Organize a Scctiou- l lie
Result.
CONKEDRIT X ROADS), )
( lch Js In the Slate uv Kentucky),
Sept. 1, 1878. S
I li'lt. It incumbent onto mo to goto Factry-
vllle, a village hanl-by, and establish a lodge
uv lYosiincls, uv the Kearney kind. Faotry-
vlllo wuz established by a company uv Massy
chooslis disturbers, wlchlnvadld tho sacred soil
for the purpus uv nianufaclrlu Iron wlch in
found there in great quantities, and they bev a
mill Into wlch about a hundred men bev bin
employed. Tho price uv iron hevln gone down,
these erasplu monopolists lied the ashoorence to
ask tholr sufloriu lubers to redoose their wagls,
glvln the frivolous pretex that ez tho price uv
llvin hed gone down also, they cood afford to
work for a trifle less. Ez most uv the men
owned their own houses, wich they hed saved,
and was comfortably fixed, they coodont git
away, and hed to etidoor the ojus exacsbuns uv
thegrludlu capitalists. And ez collocksbuns
wuz difficult, and they didn't git tholr wagls
with tho regularity of former yeers, they mur
mured some, which I felt It my dooty to Im
prove. They needed a loeder, ror none uv 'em
kucw how much they wuz suffcrin till I went
and told em.
I hed a tolerable easy time uv It. I made em
twosoceehes, lu which I showed em they wuz
groan In under a tyranny compared with wlch
the sulItrUis uv tho Rooshun serf was nolhin,
and that they wood never bev thor own till
they orgnnlzed and crushed their oppressors. I
showed cm that wat tbey wantld wuz to crush
out capital, aud be thelrsolves their own rool-
ers. It wuzu't hard to do, and the second nlte
I organized a seckshuiu
rue rilojil I writ myae If, basin it on Kear
ney's ldeo. It wuz very brecr, and run suthiu
like this:
"Hath the brother wrongs?"
"He hath. "
"Doth tho brother brood?"
"Hedoth. "
"Is hp a successful brooder?"
"Hols."
"Doth tho brother look forward to the time
when ho will hev bis iron heel on tho neck uv
his oppressors, aud will bev the lecherous em
ployer by tho throat?"
"Ho doth."
'Doth the brother understand tho yoose uv a
box uv matches?"
"Ho doth. "
"Is tho brother wlllln, in this holy croosade
uv lubor uglu capital, to buy his owu matches,
or is he so craven-sporilid ex to ask tho Order to
furnish them?"
"Ho will buy his own."
"Hath the wronged brother two dollars aud a
hall In his trowscrs to help thccoz.by supportlu
me agitator?"
Tho wronged brother at this stage prodooscd
tho money, which I took to strengthen the coz.
aud then porceeded with the lecter. I romarkt
that ho wuz u grovliu slave, and that by laylu
still ho wuz addlu to his bonds. Wat he wantld
to do wuz to rise. Ho wantld to demaud an
ckttl dlvlshuu uv properly, aud ef this reasona
ble demand wuzu't acceded to, ho wantld tode.
stroy wat property thor wuz. He wantld to de
mand an onllmllld lssoouv money, to be divided
in some way so that bo wood git all that he
wantld, aud ibat the hours uv labor shood be
fixed by lnw, and the wuges also. Ho shood de
mand siih Icglslasbcu cz wood let him live 1
absloot luxury, no manor wat he wuz. The
more incompetent or averse to labor ho wuz the
greater the dooty uv the government to see that
he didu'l want for anything. Ef after be bed
rlz aud these demands wuzu't gruutid then the
mutches shood come In.
I iuishlaled the entire force uv the factry, and
the next moroln they inarched lu a body to tho
mill uud demandin their heaven-glveu rites.
The bloated einployors tried to reason with em,
aud tried to show em that they wuz payln all
they cood afford to In the present deprest con-
dlshn uv things, and that they wuzglttlunow
ez much ez they wuz before, when the cost uv
livln wuz taken into account They hed the
impudence to tell em that ef they hed to accede
to thor demands that they wood hev to shet up
the mills, and one uv em told the men that ef
they wood assoom tbe mortgages, ex well e
the biznis, he wood be perfectly wllllu to re
linquish It then and there.
The workmen wood bov yeelded, but I hava
made em a speech wlch whooped it up agin.
They became lufoorialed and moved on the
works. In less than a mlult they bad guttld
it; in Ave mlnlts it wuz in flames, aud in a
half-hour it wuz iu ashes, aud the men firmly
but determinedly moved off. The first battle
for the rites uv man bed bin fought lu Factry
vlllo, aud the first viclry uv labor' over capita
iu Kentucky hed bin acheeved.
The meu wuz jubilant, aud I congratulated
em. We adjourned to the grnsery and poured
out llbasheus uv sod-cora whisky over our irl-)
utnph. v
Things wuz boomln' for a day or two. Fi
nally the men begun to git sober, aud went
home to tholr families. I notlse by the ciose uv
tbe third day au oiulnus change iu ihedemcauor
toward me.
"Is the bosses goiu' to bildagluV" they asked
one uv anolhor.
"Iruiherthluknoi," wuz the ausor. "The
foot is, ali that they hed wui investid lu them
tlld Ut..t tiu la n.t . .. ... .
m. umi in jvug. AUCJ Uttlll I goi UUIUIU'