Newspaper Page Text
4
The Weekly Tribune
THJC WEEKLY TRIBUNK.
One year -
Six months W
Payments required in advance.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1893
«' ■■ -
AGENTS FOR THE TRIBUNE.
Armnchee-Misa Lillian Watts,
Crystal Springs—Mrs. P. M. Storey.
Cave Spring—T. J. Davis.
Silver Creek—George Porter.
Van’s Valley—B. B. Sanders.
DANA AT THE SEPULCHRE.
The following from Mr. Charles
A. Dana, who has been to the Holy
Land, will be read with interest:
“We hate to say a word that may
discourage any one’s search after
knowledge, but we must advise our
readers who are preparing to see
Jerusalem not to read too many
books of modern exploration and
criticism, for fear of losing all faith
in the holy places where the remem
brance of the Founder of the Chris
tian religion is most religiously pre
served. This modern criticism, con
ducted in considerable part by men
as pious as they are learned, has
brought into dispute almost every
spot of importance in the history of
the sacred city. Excepting the site of
the Temple and the Mount of Olives,
I don’t think there is a single locali
ty which remains free from question
or denial.
“It is evident that much study in
this direction cannot lead to that
reverential and prayerful spirit in
which any person of Christian edu
cation must naturally approach the
place where he believes the Redeem
er of the world was laid after his
execution; and weturn with pleas
ure from scepticism to the opposing
utterance of such an authority as
Mr. William C. Prime. He is a PrW
testant, understands the questift
thoroughly, and is familiar
views of all the scholars
written be-
■ Holy
■ ~
- A , . IF ’'l i :ii' I ••
' ■ HF ■' :
■f,
■ Hie i’aet. bii’.
‘ cil its t r 111 ’<! •. ; t
> ■ ' - (inr t hiu !u-
■ .
s"* ||f eontiii'.'ihv, it liav-
Kk-mti vd from t hat
or state in which they live or to the I
business in which they are engaged. ’
No argument can be made to suit l
all interests,the greatest good to the <
greatest number should be the aim <
and in order to discover the best <
compromise the wide discussion of
the subject is much to be desired.
Free coal will undoubtedly benefit
very materally the manufacturing
interest of New England, and no
less will it discourage the coal in
dustry of the South and the twq
Virginias particulary. Mr. Edward
Atkinson very ably advocates the
removal of the tax on coal and
shows that American production
can compete with the world. He
claims, co itrary to the popular a
that our labor is the cheapest in the
world per unit of product, and sup
ports his argument with/ abundant
statistics of exports of our product
to foreign countries. / Why then
should we protect is in the
lead of competition ?, But the pro
tection the Southerners want is not
from loreign manufacturers but from
New England whose industrial de
velopment so farAjjceeds that of
the South that
a
hope
i n 11 u
man 11 a c d en-
couraged. By placn^icoal on the
free Hat New England manufacturers
could'easily shut out competition
and immense harm would be done
the great coal industries of the
Virginians.
Here is a double disadvantage
and an aspect of the tariff business
that should make Southerners think.
As to iron ore we think there is a
modification to be desired in the
specification of the kind of all to
be freed from duty. It is evident
that foreign ores cannot compete
with our low grade or non Bessemer
ores, but when it comes to the class
of ore produced in the Lake Supe
rior field or the Mesaba there is un
questionably-a. chance for foreign
competition. These-oses are mined
very cheaply, but the difficulties of
transportation are such as to make
them in the American market high
pricedoies. There are many things
bearing on this question of tariff
that entirely escape a superficial
observer and some that seemingly
have escaped the acute minds of the
Waysand Means Committee. The
has done much to clear up
■kplai” things, especially im
: us as it is getting to be
to our interest to look
■ whether
pe-
■Fisle’s report shows
of affairs with re-
V: ■fflie silver certificates issued
■Ki the deposits of silver bullion.
“Some of the principal difficulties
encountered by the Treasury de
partment,” the report says, “lesult
h&pm the-indisposition of the public
. Btetain standard silver dollars and
in circulation. It
constant effort upon the
•> ■the Treasury ollii ials to pre
certificates especially from
lEt-L-Blatiuer'' in the Sub-Treasur
exclu-ion of legal tender
KffffwbV- Why this should be the
not easily understood, for,
||||||Vgh these certificates are not
• ■ s.■tender in the payment of pri
i ■debts, they are, by the acts of
gMßaml 1886. made receivable for
public dues, and by the
H|Bof May 12, 1882, national banks
. K authorized to hold them as part
lawful reserves.”
--■This result does not seem so
■angc to us. The certificates are
Hither legal tender nor a conven-
form of currency for general
Mfirculation. The treasury depart
ement has difficulty in keeping them
y out and is likely to have so long as
they remain In their present form.
Mr. Carlisle proposes to meet the
difficulty by taking up the certifi
cates and having them re issued in
small denominations of ten- dollars
i or less, so that they will be conven
ient for general circulation. To in
crease the demand for them he pro
. poses to withdraw from circulation
the smaller denominations of other
kinds of currency.
i This will have some effect, but if
- ■
S' :! Bve
Wfland,
Wheeler,
■of the
llssed by
is a
■ b’
■tted by
ye or dis
x sections
THE WEEKLY TRIttUNE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 18»3
the Secretary wishes to put the sil
ver certificates in a form convenient
for general use, why does he not ask
congress to pass a bill for the coinage
of the silver bullion, at least so much
of it as represents the seignorage ?
If he will do that and accompany it
by the seme measure which he now
proposes for the withdrawal of small
denominations of other kinds of
currency, he will have no difficulty
in keeping the silver coin in circu
lation.
One advantage of such a course
is that it would give the treasury
about fifty millions of seignorage,
and thus avcid the necessity for the
issue of bonds. Some people fear
that such coinage would strain the
credit of the government. We think
the idle bullion strains the credit
more than the dollars would in ac
tive circulation among the people.
This is especially true if a green
back dollar is withdrawn for every
silver do’lar put out. The green
back is all fiat and the coin is only
part fiat. That removes nearly two
thirds of the fiat from every dollar
of coin put in the place! oi green
back.
THE INCOME TAX.
Secretary Carlisle has created a
jmnsation by advocating a personal
Tncmne tax on all incomes derived
from stocks and bonds. The advan
tage of such a tax is that the num
ber of shares of stock held by indi
viduals in any corporation may be
ascertained without serious difficul
ty. To tax the corporations and tax
their dividends in private hands
would be to tax the same thing
twice. We do not suppose the Secre
tary contemplates that.
There is no doubt that corporate
property is a good target for taxing
power, whether it aims at the com
pany or the individual holder of
stock or bonds. When the state
creates an artificial person it makes
it in its own image. What God
creates, the State does not so easily
control, but its own creation is al
ways in sight and in reach.
It must be said however, that such
a tax, unaccompanied by a tax on
other forms of income, would be
class legislation. We see no reason
why income from land should not
be taxed, especially land in cities,
where rents are enormous. Rents
are know” and paid of all men. It
would be hard for the landlord tq*
dodge the income tax. The only
difficulty is that he might put up
rent to pay it.
IDLE MONEY.
The report of Secretary Carlisle
has this interesting comment on
the accumulation of idle money in
the centers:
“This excessive accumulation of
currency at particular points is
caused by the fact that there is no
such demand for it elsewhere as
will enable the banks and other in
stitutions to which it belongs to
loan it to the people at remunerative
rates, and it will continue until the
business of the country has more
fully recovered from the depressing
effects of the recent dis
turbances.
“Money does not create business,
b”t business creates a demand for
money, and until there is such a re
vival of industry and trade as will
require the use of the circulating
medium now outstanding, it would
■ be hazardous to arbitrarily increase
its volume by law or to make ma
terial changes in its character by
disturbing in any manner the rela
tions which its different forms now
bear to each other.”
, The Secretary makes a distinc
i tion that is worth remembering
when he says, “Money does not
create business, but business creates
a demand for money.”
Money oils the wheels of com
merce, but it cannot make them go
without the motive power of pros
pective gain. People do not like to
swap dollars.
Within the past year we have seen
two remarkable phenomena in the
business world. One was the stop
page of business by the luck of
a medium of exchange. The other
is a delay of business because of tin
certainty with regard to the tariff.
The first has beeu so fully remedied
■ that there is more money on deposit
than ever before in the history of
the country; but it is mostly idle,
and doing little good, because of un
certainty with regard to the tariff.
Wool, ore and cotton are the main
items of manufacture in this coun
try, and if two of the three are to be
put on the] free list, the manufac
turers want to know it before buy
ing any more raw material or mak
ing up any more goods.
We have thus had two unusual
situations, no business for lack of
money and no money for lack of
business. The first evil was a ques
tion of supply, the latter is one of
distribution. The first was removed
by action of congress and the second
will go the same way if the tariff
bill is speedily passed.
THE NATIONAL WHISKY BILL.
The Atlanta Constitution, which
s by no means a prohibition organ
and is not edited by cranks, prints
this striking temperance lecture:
“One of our Washington specials
yesterday quoted some internal rev
enue statistics showing that in spite .
of the hard times we have wasted ,
enough money in the past year to 1
make everybody in the country '
comfortable.
“The Americans who were howl
ing about the financial depression i
spent in the past twelve months
$609,000,000 tor whisky !
“The same crowd spent in that
period $617,268,460 for beer !
“For cigars and tobacco they
spent $275,750,000 !
“These grumblers and growlers '
who talked economy to their wives
and children and prayed for the re
turn of good times, managed to ]
scrape up about $1,600,000,000 for
their common drinks and their
igars, and what their wines and
brandies cost we may imagine!
“This enormous sum, our corres
pondent says, is more than our en
tire volume of circulation. It is
27 per capita more than the pres
ent per capita circulation. It is
$195 for each head of every family
in the United States
“This money would pay all the
appropriations of a billion-dollar
Congress and leave enough to more
than half pay the expenses of an
other such Congress. It would pay
six times over for our annual cotton
crop. It would pay the cost of a long
foreign war. It would feed and clothe
in a plain fashion every family in
the union.
’ “This is not a temperance edi
torial. It is simply a statement of
facts which muss open the eyes of
men to the true explanation of most
of the poverty and suffering now
prevailing. The American liquor
ana tobacco bill would be frightful
enough in a period of prosperity,
but what shall we say of it these
hard times ?”
SENSELESS RADICALISM.
Some people are abusing the
president because he counsels, and
the Ways and Means Committee be
cause they have exercised some dis
cretion in cutting down the tariff.
The committee has shown a wise
discretion and by so doing will take
away the alarm that pervades the
business world when radical meas
ures are resorted to. By this course
they will prepare the country for
such further reduction as may be
possible without too far depleting
the revenue, and such steps may be
taken hereafter. In the meantime
they have cut off at one blow, about
half the tariff burden which now
rests on the people of the United
States. Such a cause is much bet
ter calculated to make tariff reform
permanent and progressive than the
radicalism which would wipeout all
the tariff at once. Such a coursewould
inevitably be followed by the undo
ing of the work by the next con
gress, The country recoils from
extremes, though it seldom recedes
from a good position taken by a
well considered measure; and such
a position once occupied and its ad
vantages fully seen, gives the coun
try confidence to go a step further.
That is the true policy of tariff re
formers.
LOWELL’S LETTERS
The publication of two volumes
of James Russell Lowell’s corres
pondence throws a pleasant light on
the character of that genial, whole
souled man of letters. The letters
written when he was United States
Minister to England show the gen-
uineness of the man’s character. He
detested pomp, and in spite of the
charge of anglomania, he was
thoroughly patriotic. Writing home
from London in 1884, he said to a
friend:
“My fate often seems to me a
strange one—to be snatched away
and set down in the midst of Baby
lon, the great city, obliged to inter
est myself in what, to me, are the
! mirages of life, and above all, to
’[ make speeches (which I loathe), and
’ to be praised for them, which makes
it more bitter.”
Writing to Stedman, Mr. Lowell
ays a great deal in a few words
about the spasm of erotiesm which
afflicts modern poets of whom Swin
burne is a type. He says:
“I have not seen Swinburne’s new
volume —but a poem or two from it
which I have seen shocked me, and I
am not squeamish. * * lam too
old to have a painted hetaira
palmed off on me for a Muse, and
I hold unchastity of mind to be
worse than that of body. Why
should a man by choice go down to
live in his cellar, instead of mount
ing to those far upper chambers
which look towards the sunrise of
that Easter which shall greet the
resurrection of the soul from the
body of this death? Virginibus
puerisque? To be sure! let no man
write a line that he would not have
his daughter read. When a man
begins to lust after the Muse in
stead of loving her, he may be sure
that it is never the Muse that he
embraces. But I have outlived
many heresies, and shall outlive
this new Adamite one of Swinburne.
The true church of poetry is foun
ded on a rock, and I have no fear
that these smutchy back-doors of
hell shall prevail against her.”
There aie some more directly ptr
sonal judgments: To begin in New
England, we have Emerson, the
lecturer:
“Emerson’s oration [before the
Phi Beta Kappa Society] was more
disjointed than usual, even with
him. It began nowhere and ended
everywhere, and yet, as always
with that divine man, it left you
feeling that something beautiful
had passed that way—something
more beautiful than anything else,
like the rising and setting of stars.
Every possible criticism might have
been made on it but one—that it
was not noble. *
gle 1, lie lost his p
on li is g lasses ; bfl
uutt'llV Iroin >"]■' ?
lost his way in » -V '
our built, not. hiW ? v■ .
The «’x port u
gn’.d ..:i Sat unlfl
,>' < ' k ’7 i
b ■ 1 r !. ia
ey market ■■":•'s■; /.y.k;/.; ''
is that such
isting conditions is a sign of ,health
and not of disease. With call mon
ey as low as 1| per cent here, while
it commands 2| in London and 3 or
4 in Berlin, an exportation of gold
is desirable. If the gold is owned
by us we shall get more tor its use
abroad than could be obtained here.
If it is owned by foreigners, we shall
no longer be paying interest for
something that we cannot employ
profitably. These are very ele
mentary truths. They are properly
appreciated now because we are not
under apprehensions of a change in
the standard of value arising from
the purchases of silver by the Gov
ernment. On the contrary, we are
now witnessing large shipments of
sil /er abroad, for which gold would
have been required under the re
gime of the Sherman act; 450,000
ounces of the white metal having
’ gone out on Saturday. Another
fact of importance is the increased
productiveness of our own gold
mines, those of Cripple Creek, Col
orado, having risen to $261,000 in
October, as compared with $204,000
in September, a gain of 30 per cent.
The fiendish plot to abduct Taby
Ruth from the White House shows
that men classed as cranks are
' likely to be criminals of the most
diabolical character, to be kept in
check by the strong hand of the law,
and not entitled to much mercy
when they are caught.
A BOY S AMBITION.
bam was usually a very cheerful boy,
but all day long he toiled up and down
the long snowy cotton rows in moody si
lence.
It was a dreamy October day, the part
ridges piped cheerily in the dead white
grass of the stubble, and beyond the
grove of sweetgums dashed with yellow
and crimson, the wide, deep woods slept
in a mystic glamour of light.
It was circus day. For weeks Sam
A' 1 •••»“
had looked in|wonder at the great flam
ing posters on tbe country blacksmith
shop. He thought many strange things
about the terrible animals and wonderful
birds, and to see them real and alive—
with long mane and terrible claws— at
once touched with a magical light the
summitof bis hopes and ambitions.
But Sam’s father was a plain, matter
of-fact old m-n, and when circus day
came he notified Sam in no uncertain
terms to “Git to that cotton patch, an’
don’t hev no foolishness.”
I'he public road led by theootton field,
and as the crowds passed towards town
boisterously shouting their anticipations,
Sam regarded them with a heavy heart.
“Never mind,” he said to himself, with a
meaning shake of the head, “I’ll be a
man some day, an’ ’nen I’ll see some
thing myself.”
That was a long time ago. Sam spent
his nights reading histories and studying
geographies. He went to school ard
learned rapidly. The years went by and
Sam grew to young manhood. He took
no interest in thejordinary affairs of per
sons of his age. He never had a sweet
heart, the never went to a party of any
kind. He planned and woiked con
stantly to one end—to visit and see with
his own eyes the remote regions of the
word was the highest dream of hfs life.
At tweuty-one be left home and went
west. He worked hard and saved his
money. He became informed in the
world’s ways. From Texas he went to
New York. Months were spent studying
the American metropolis as a lawyer
studies Blackstone. He then crossed the
Atlantic and spent years in the various
countries of the old world.
Thtough the clanging streets of Lon
don, across tbe snow-crested Alps,
through the dreamy valleys of Piedmont,
and at last reposed his weary limbs be
neath the crumbling arches of Rome.
His footsteps led throu h tbe groves of
Athens, across the marble deserts of
Egypt and over the mountains of Leba
non. He lingered in tbe groves of Geth
semane and bathed in the river of
Naaman.
He listened to the cry of the tiger in
the jungles, he heard the ecash of the
Alpine avalanche and the moan of the
sea on desolate shores, and bis heart
bounded with a sublime exudation in
the realization of his boyhood’s dream.
J. A. Hall.
“THE SAD FACE OF A DISAPPOINTED
CHILD ”
Let them have their toys, their dolls and
their fire works. It is every man’s duty
to feed, clothe and educate his children
and our laws now by taxing the general
public aid him in the latter work. The
performance of these daily duties are se
rious matters. As our Presbyterian friends
would say they are matters of “susten
ance,” nor. of merriment. They lighten
the childis life but they do not brighten it.
Christmas should be a bright day. The
broom of Santa Claus should sweep away
and the elves and the fairies
their sunshine and songs
the
/ ; k h. ort
,A> i : r
a pair of shoes, one with
a side of bacon, one with a pound package
of soda, one with a string of select sausages,
one with a tripe, one with a soup bone, one
with a peck of meal and some salt, one
with a bunch of pine and half bushel of
coa., one with a cheap overcoat, one with a
night gown and a tooth brush, one with a
catechism, one with a copy of Doddridge’s
Rise and Progress, one with an obituary
notice in black and gold of his great-grand
mother with directions where to find her
grave, as their Christmas presents, gazing
with the sad faces of disappointed children
“alternately at their articles of susten
ance” and of every day life, and at the
other group of merry children, and the
words you have written rebuke the man
who goes “mourning all the day.” “Let
him who would abate by one single rip
pling syllable the childish glee of this
season stop and think what anguish might
be his in looking back a year hence upon
the sad face of a disappointed child.”
Some man has said, “The more I know of
men the more I like dogs.” I will say, the
more I know of men the more I love chil
dren. God bless their innocent little
hearts! My greatest joy is to lighten their
little lives and make them happy, and how
happy they make me when with their lit
tle arms around my neck they give me
their gratitude and love.
When you buy presents for the children,
think well and long, and don’tjbuy to suit
your fancy, but get things that will please
them. J • Branham.
CHRISTMAS RHYMES.
Christmas times in Georgia—presents for the
folks;
Old friends shakin’ hands sgentellin’ old
time Jokes!
Games with kissin’ in ’em—many a smack and
hug;
Beat the eggs until they foam, an tilt the old
brown jug!—Atlanta Constitution.
Men fear not the bold highwayman,
Or the footpad in the land,
But the wives who go through pockets
Now that Christmas is at hand.
Chicago Inter Ocean.
The problem that is causing
Old Santa’s worried look
Is how to show up in good shape
With flattened pocketbook.
—Kansas City Journal.
A fauncle strange my sense doth grete
Midst Christmas throes;
Each poemc, now, upon its fete
Hath mistletoes!
—Washington Star.
There was a woman in our town
And she was wondrous wise,
She bought her Christmas presents ere I
The crowds increased in else.
—Boston Transcript* I