The People's party paper. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, March 17, 1893, Image 1
'IAE PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER
VOLUME IL
A DEMOCRATIC SENATE.
WHO WILL REPRESENT THE DEM-
OCRATS ON THE COMMITTEES.
Republicans Given Chairmanships on
About the Same Committees Given
the Democrats Last Session.
Washington, March 14. The
Democratic caucus has finished its
labors so far as the reorganization of
the committees of the Senate are
concerned. There was a prevailing
sentiment in favor of a speedy re
organization of the clerical and ex
ecutive forces of the Senate.
Up to this time the committee has
been so busily engaged with the re
vision of the committee lists that
the other matter has been referred
to only in an informal manner. This
important branch of the work of the
majority is now, however, well un
der way, and it is possible that by
this time next week, if not earlier,
the elective officers of the Senate
will have been changed.
It will be seen that the committee
provided chairmanships for Senators
Peffer and Kyle, the Populists mem
bers, and permitted Mr. Stewart to
retain the chairmanship of the com
mittee of mines and mining, which
he has held under the Republican
organization. There was some de
bate over this action and some oppo
sition, but the influence of the com
mittee prevailed and the silver
Senator from Nevada will not be
disturbed. Either upon the stand
ing or on the select committees were
found positions as chairman for all
the new Democratic senators. The
Republicans are given eleven com
mittees, just the number they gave
the Democrats. The official list as
given out by Mr. Gorman is as fol
lows :
Agriculture—For chairman Bate,
Ransom, Peffer, Roach, (Repub
licans, 2.)
Appi\»p-iations'-Cockerell, chair
man ; Call, Gorman, Blackburn,
girice; (Republicans, 4.)
Contingent Expenses—White of
Louisiana, chairman ; Camden, (Re
publicans, 1.)
Census —Turpie, chairman; Berry,
White of California, Murphy, Peffer,
(Republicans, 4.)
Civil Service Call, chairman;
Walthal, Gordon, Irby, (Repub
licans, 4.)
Claims—Pasco, chairman; Daniel,
Berry, Calfery, Allen of Nebraska,
(Republicans, 4.)
Coast Defense Gordon, chair
man ; Irby, Mills, White of Califor
nia, (Republicans, 4.)
Commerce Ransom, chairman ;
Coke, Vest, Gorman, White of Lou
isiana, White of California, Murphy,
(Republicans, 6.)
District of Columbia Harris,
chairman; Faulkner, Gibson, Hun
ter, Smith, Martin, (Republicans, 1.)
Education and Labor—Kyle, chair
man ; George, Hunton, Caffery,
Murphy, (Republicans, 4.)
Engrossing Bills—Mr. , chair-
man ; Cockerell, Martin,(Republicans
1, chairman.)
Enrolling Bills Caffery, chair
man ; Mitchell of Wisconsin, (Re
publican, 1.)
Epidemic Diseases Mr. ,
chairman; Harris, White of Lou
isiana, (Republicans, 4; chairman.)
To Examine the Several Branches
of the Civil Service—Peffer, chair
man ; Vilas, Gray, (Republicans, 2.)
Finance Voorhees, chairman ;
McPherson, Harris, Vance, Vest,
Jones of Arkansas, (Republicans, 5.)
| Fisheries Coke, chairman ; Call,
Gibson, Hill, Mitchell of Wisconsin,
(Republicans, 4.)
Foreign Relations—Morgan, chair
man ; Butler, Gray, Turpie, Daniel,
(Republicans, 4.)
Immigration Hill, chairman ;
Voorhees, McPherson, Faulkner,
Peffer, (Republicans, 3.)
Improvement of Mississippi River
—Bate, chairman ; Walthal, Palmer,
Peffer, (Republicans, 3.)
Affairs—Jones of Arkansas,
chairman; Morgan, Smith, Roach,
Allen of Nebraska, (Republicans, 4.)
Interstate Commerce Butler,
chairman ; Gorman, Brice, White of
Louisiana, Camden, Lindsay, (Re
publicans, 5.)
Irrigation and Reclamation of Arid
Lands—White of California, chair
man ; Jones of Arkansas, Kyle,
Roach, (Republicans, 5.)
Judiciary—Pugh, chairman ; Coke,
George, Vilas, Hill, Lindsay, (Re
publicans, 5.)
Library—Mills, chairman; Voor
hees, (Republican, 1.)
Manufacturers Gibson, chair
man ; Smith, Cafferey, (Republi
cans, 2.)
Military Affairs—Walthal, chair
man; Cockerell, Bate,Palmer, Mitchell
Wisconsin, (Republicans, 3.)
' All Special Privileges to None.”
Mines—Stewart, chairman ; Bate,
Call, Irby, Mills, (Republicans, 4.)
Naval Affairs—McPherson, chair
man ; Butler, Blackburn, Gibson,
Camden, (Republicans, 4.)
Expenditures of Executive Depart
ment—Smith, chairman; Cockerell,
Hill, Walthal, Cafferey, (Republic
ans. 4.)
Patents—Gray, chairman; Kyle,
Mills, Berry, (Republicans, 4.)
Pensions Palmer, chairman ;
Vilas, Camden, Cafferey, (Repub
licans, 4.)
Postoffices and Postroads—Col
quitt, chairman; Daniel, Pasco, Gor
don, Brice, (Republicans, 5).
Printing—Gorman, chairman; Ran
scm (Republican, 1).
Private Lands—Ransom, Colquitt,
Pasco, Berry, (Republicans, 3; chair
man).
Privileges and Elections—Vance,
chairman; Gray, Pugh, Turpie, Pal
mer, (Republicans, 4).
Public Buildings and Grounds—
Vest, chairman; Daniel, Pasco, Brice,
Gordon, (Republicans, 4).
Public Lands—Berry, chairman;
Walthal, Pasco, Vilas, Martin, Allen
of Nebraska, (Republicans, 5).
Railroads—Camden, chairman; Ber
ry, Gordon, Palmer, Martin, (Repub
licans, 5).
Relations with Canada—Murphy,
chairman; Pugh, Colquitt, Hunton,
Mitchell of Wisconsin, (Republicans,
Revision of the Laws—Daniel,
chairman; Call, Lindsay, (Republi
cans, 2).
Revolutionary Claims—Mr. ,
chairman; Coke, Pugh, (Republicans,
3; chairman).
Rules—Blackburn, chairman; Har
ris, Gorman, (Republicans, 2).
Territories—Faulkner, chairman;
Hall, Blackburn, Bate, Call, White
of California, (Republicans, 5).
Transportation Routes to the Sea
board—lrby, chairman; George, Tur
pie, Gordon, (Republicans, 4).
Pacific Railroads—Brice, chair
man; Morgan, Faulkner, White of
Louisiana, Murphy, (Republicans, 4).
Indian Depredations Lindsay,
chairman; Faulkner, Kyle, White of
Louisiana, Cockerell, (Republicans,
Select Committee to Investigate
Potomac River Front—McPherson,
Ransom, Hunton, (Republicans, 3;
chairman).
To Inquire into Claims Against
Nicaragua—Morgan, Phlmer, (Re
publicans, 3; chairman).
Additional Accommodations for
Library of Congress—Voorhees, But
ler, Pugh, (Republicans, 2; chair
man).
The Five Civilized Tribes of Indi
ans—Butler, Pasco, Roach, (Republi
cans, 2; chairman).
On Transportation and Sale of
Meat Products—Vest, Coke, Allen
of Nebraska, (Republicans, 2; chair
man).
To Establish the University of the
United States Hunton, chairman;
Kyle, Vance, Jones of Arkansas,
Turpie, (Republicans, 4).
Quadro-Centennial —Vilas, chair
man; Colquitt, Vest, Gray, Daniel,
Gibson, Voorhees, Lindsay, (Repub
licans, 6).
To investigate the Geological Sur
vey—Martin, chairman; Jones of
Arkansas, (Republicans, 2).
On National Banks—Mitchell of
Wisconsin, chairman; Vance, Col
quitt, (Republican, 1).
On Foreign Reservations—Allen
of Nebraska, chairman ; Kyle, Mor
gan, (Republican, 1).
On Corporations in the District of
Columbia—Gorman, Brice, Harris,
(Republicans, 2, chairman).
To Investigate Tresspassers upon
Indian Lands—Roach, chairman;
Butler (Republican, 1).
This is the list complete with the
exception of the assignment of the
Senator of Wyoming, and that place
has been left vacant until the mem
ber is sworn in.
At the conclusion of the caucus
Mr. Foreman sent a copy of the list
to the Republican committee which
was in session. It is said that there
has been quite a pressure brought to
bear upon the committee to remove
Mr. Stewart from Republican repre
sentation on the Committee on Ap
propriations and it is not unlikely
that it will be done in view of the
fact that he had been kept by the
Democrats as chairman of the Com
mittee on Mines and Miners. The
Northwestern Senators are urging
that that section of the country is en
titled to representation upon this im
portant committee, and will insist
that some one of their number be
given the place. Mr. Dawe’s retire
ment from the Senate leaves the
minority representation as it would
be under the reorganization, but if
Mr. Stewart is removed there will be
a vacancy, and it is this probable va
cancy that the men from the North
west are demanding should be given
them. The committee changes will
probably receive the sanction of the
Senate to-morrow by a resolution,
and the old chairmen will then give
up the rooms they have occupied
and the Democrats will be in posses
sion of that important branch of the
Senate. Nominations will then be
received and promptly acted upon.
ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY MARCH 17, 1893.
BATTLES WITH AFRICANS.
The British and Germans Both Have
Engagements with the Natives.
Calcutta, March 14.—The Brit
ish have had a severe battle with the
tribe beyond Chatrel, where the
British have for some time been en
deavoring to strengthen the Indian
frontier against the possibility of
Russian encroachment. The British
recently occupied Chilas, beyond
Chatrel, with a garrison and fortified
the place with the intention of hold
ing it permanently. The mountain
tribes took offense and made an at
tack on the front, which was bravely
defended by the British. The con
flict was desperate and sanguinary,
and the natives were at length driven
off, with a loss of 200 men. The
British were then aggressive, and
marched against the entrenched vil
lages and the hostile tribes. Owing
to the mountainous character of the
country, this expedition was ex
tremely hazardous, but the British
troops acquitted themselves valiantly,
storming village after village, under
the command of Major Daniele, who
was shot through the heart while
leading his men in an assault on one
of the villages. He carried every
point occupied by the hostile natives,
the British leaving twenty-three
killed and 330 wounded in the fight
ing. The result of the struggle
greatly strengthened the British po
sition by what was considered the
weakest point in the vicinity of the
Hindu Kush.
One Kind of Expansion.
St. Louis Republic.
It is claimed by some that there is
half a billion dnllars ($500,000,000)
in gold in the country. This is prob
ably an overtimate, but conceding
that there is fully this much, it is in
adequate to do the business of half a
dozen States, much less of the entire
country. Compared with the amount
of tokens of value demanded to do
the business of labor and commodity
exchange, the gold supply is a mere
nothing.
Last year the banks in the clear
ing-house cities of the United States
handled sixty-one billion dollars of
private paper (private money or to
kens of value issued by private par
ties) and less than five billions of
cash (gold, silver and government
papei j. With every fivi dollars in
government tokens of value they
“cleared” over sixty-one dollars of
private paper.
Here the private currency of credit
is twelve dollars for every dollar of
cash handled in “clearing it. But if
we make all of this credit paper call
for gold the banks in the clearing
house cities alone would handle over
$l2O of private paper for every dol
lar in gold in the country available
to redeem it.
This shows how little gold has to
do in reality with business, and it
also shows the folly of attempting to
restrict business to the gold supply.
If that could be done, the business
of the country would be best repre
sented by a vast inverted pyramid,
resting on its apex.
Students of the phenomena of
panics are familiar witn the results
of contracting the cash currency
greatly below the demands of ex
change. It is undoubtedly so con
tracted in the United States at pres
ent. There is not cash enough to
do in ten per cent of the business,
but business men eke it out by money
of private issue which circulates for
a short time only and is then re
deemed or “ cleased.”
This currency of credit is ordina
rily capable of expansion without
much regard to the very limited
amount of cash on which it is sup
posed to be based. Business men do
not, therefore, feel the need of a
cash currency, increasing with the
increase of population and the exten
sion of business, as they would with
out this system that so greatly re
lieves the demand for cash to be act
ually handled in each transportation.
.Undoubtedly this system of private
paper, which is in reality money of
limited existence, is one of the great
est inventions of modern times, but
it depends a great deal more on faith
than it does on an actual “cash
basis.”
It may be well enough for one dol
lar in gold to stand for and redeem
twenty dollars in paper as long as
there is no impatience among the
holders of the paper. When those
who have to wait the longest to have
the cash come their way will wait,
there is no trouble, but when they
will not, there is immediate dan
ger of a collapse of the whole
vast system. At such times gold is
worse needed than at any other, but
it is apt to disappear at once, and for
the time being it becomes impossible
to carry on the business of commod
ity exchange, because the credit cur
rency has mostly disappeared and
because the cash, always inadequate,
has been locked up.
It thus appears that an undue con
traction of the supply of cash is cer
tain to result first in an undue ex
pansion of the currency of private
paper, in which most of the business
of civilized countries is done, and
that this undue expansion is likely to
result in collapse.
A very small sponge soaked in al
cohol will fill a large balloon with
hot air. It is on this principle that
some people who have reasons of
their (<wn for their views would like
to construct the currency. They
want th a actual supply of cash to
correspond with the sponge; and of
the sponge they demand control, so
that it will depend on thenji to say to
what extent the balloon of credit
may be'inflated. But it must be ap
parent to every business man en
gaged either in producing commodi
ties or in distributing them through
trade that an undue restriction of the
supply c* actual cash is an undue re
striction of the possibilities of trade
extension
The Plutocrats and the Homeless.
A census bulletin of farm and
home own ership in Massachusetts has
just been issued, and it shows that
in spite of the enormous wealth con
gested in that State the common
people are almost if not quite as
badly os~there as in some of the
States from which the Massachusetts
Plutocracy draws its income.
“Among the 479,490 families of
the State,” says the bulletin, “ there
are 304,737 or 63.51 per cent which
hire their farms and homes, and
175,053 or 36.49 per cent which own
them. Os the families which own,
66,149 or 37.85 per cent have farm
or home incumbrance, and 108,804
or 62.15 per cent are free of incum
brance. I>?rso families, on an av
erage, 68.51 hire their farms and
homes, 13.81 own with incumbrance
and 22.68 own without incum
brance.”
“ Farm and home ” as here used
means a habitation of any kind,
whether in city or country. It is a
most surprising fact that in Massa
chusetts, the richest State in the
Union, where there are probably
more millionaires m proportion to
the population than there are any
where else on the continent, over
sixty-five families in every hundred
are landless and houseless tenants,
who have no bc-mes of their own and
keep a roof over their heads only at
the pleasure of landlo v ds.
In Bostor. fess tliau nineteen fami-
Ises in every huadrq $ own their own
nmes. , The rest
U ndoubtedly thu- Js laigeiy due to
the abuse of the national taxing
power and to the methods by which
the national currency has been con
trolled for class benefit, but it is also
due to some extent to local taxation,
as the increased ratio of homeless
ness in the cities shows. Whether
the tax is national or local; whether
it is a tariff tax or a municipal tax
for improvements, its inevitable
effect is to centralize the control of
property.
Under high taxation the wealth in
land and houses as well as in money
is soon collected into the hands of
the few. The time has come when
the majority of the people in the
United States are homeless and
landless, and under the present sys
tem it must soon come when, taking
the country through, 90 per cent of
its wealth in real estate as well as in
personal property will be owned by
less than 10 per cent of its popula
tion. We already see in our leading
cities a three-fourths majority of the
people who are too poor to own their
own homes, and seeing it see the
plutocratic majority still as fierce as
ever in demanding what it conceives
to be its rights—the right to control
the money and the wealth of the
country and to take toll from every
grist that is ground. It is a compli
cated problem we are creating for
posterity in America, but it will work
itself out in time. When it does the
country will find away to discourage
plutocracy.
More Offers of Gold.
Washington, March 14.—The free
gold in the treasury has been built
up until it aggregates more than
$5,000,000. Several offers were re
ceived today from western points, ag
gregating $35,000. Secretary Car
lisle is accepting these offers as fast
as he can supply the small treasury
notes for them. Only the most ad
vantageous offers are now accepted.
The names of the banks that make
the offers, and the cities in which
they are located are not now given
to the press for publication. This
change in practice is said to have
been suggested by President Cleve
land, as some banks had an idea that
to have the fact stated that they were
parting with gold might have the
effect of weakening the confidence
felt in them. The treasury depart
ment is also accumulating gold in the
ordinary course of business, though
no offers of gold in any considerable
amount have been received by the
treasury from eastern bankers.
An Iridescent Failure.
The Kansas Trust and Banking
Company, of Atchison, of which ex-
Senator J. J. Ingalls, of Kansas, was
president and a large stockholder,
was put in the hands of a receiver
by the Federal court Tuesday.
ANALYSIS OF APPROPRIATIONS.
A Statement Made by Representative
Henderson, of lowa.
Mr. Henderson, of lowa, eight
years a member of the House Com
mittee on Appropriations, has made
a careful analysis of the work of the
Fifty-second Congress.
He gives the total appropriations,
including permanent appropriations,
at $1,026,822,049.72, exceeding the
Fifty-first Congress by $38,404,866,-
38, an increase of $115,707.42 for
each Congressional district in the
United States.
He notices the charge that the
Senate makes the large appropria
tions and calls attention to the fact
that the House, at the session just
closed, sent their bills to the Senate
for $513,687,242.02, or at the rate
of over $1,027,000,000 per annum.
The House is a “ Billion Dollar
House,” for its bills for the Fifty
second Congress aggregated $1,004,-
178,614.79 before they reached the
Senate.
He shows that in addition to ap
propriations actually made by the
Fifty-second Congress, it authorized
contracts mortgaging future reve
nues in the sum of $58,526,621.
He says that if the Fifty-second
Congress seeks to excuse itself by
charging its extravagance to the leg -
islation of the Fifty-first Congress,
then the latter Congress can make
similar claims against its Democratic
predecessor and the Fifty-second
Congress, aggregating over $91,000,-
000.
To guard against a deficit, Mr.
Henderson warns this administration
to give closer attention to “moon
shiners” and the “whisky ring” in
collecting internal revenue than it
did from 1885 to 1889, when it col
lected $51,095,682.04 less than Pres
ident Arthur and $115,385,524.73
less than President Harrison.
He shows that the retiring admin
istration paid $296,316,931.20 on the
public debt, saving in interest $55,-
352,493.51 annually.
He touches on pensions, showing
from the bureau report that the rolls
will reach their highest point on De
cember 31, 1894, with 1,171,918 on
the rolls, including invalids, widows,
orphans, and dependent parents, the
annual value of the rolls at that date
being $155,865,094, and that in 1895
will be dropped from the rolls
44,932 pensioners, with an incre<* o mg
ratio thereafter. Referring to the
complaint against widows’ pensions
he shows that if all widows’ claims
yet undisposed of are allowed, there
would be 709,834 dead soldiers un
represented on the rolls by a widow,
an orphan, or a dependent parent.
He also points out the danger to
the Treasury from war claims, and
says that Congress has now the data
to show that about $600,000,000 may
yet be drawn from it to satisfy their
demands.
Mr. Henderson refers to the defeat
of the bankrupt bill in the House,
the burial of the pure food bill, the
slaughter of the anti-option bill, its
inability to grapple with the money
question, its silent admiration of the
McKinley bill, and predicts that the
Fifty-second Congress will go down
to history as “The Know Nothing”
and “The Do Nothing Congress.”
A STINGING ARGUMENT.
Hon. Abner Taylor, of Illinois, a
Republican, made a short speech
during the last hours of the dead
Congress, of which the following is
the closing part:
Several persons, in criticising the
act of 1890 have said that if the cer
tificates that were being issued under
that act had behind them a dollar’s
worth of silver that there was no se
rious objection to it. That is exactly
what they have behind them. The
certificates are issued for the pur
chase of this silver at the market
price as fixed by the world’s market,
and the certificates are issued on that
market price so, as I said, each one
has a dollar’s worth of silver, as esti
mated by the market world, behind.
The Secretary of the Treasury has
ample authority to sell bonds if nec
essary now. It is true they would
be four per cent bonds, but they
would bring a premium that would
bring them to less than three per
cent.
I notice by the papers that one
Walter Q. Gresham has been selected
by Mr. Cleveland as his Secretary of w
State. Mr. Gresham within the las
sixty days has said that he was a
good Republican, except that he was
in harmony with Mr. Cleveland on
the tariff question, and as he was se
lected simply because he was in har
mony with him on that question, I
have been very much surprised that
the author of this amendment (Sena
tor Sherman) was not selected for a
Cabinet position. He is entirely in
harmony with the President-elect on
a greater question than that—finance.
I do not think that Mr. Gresham has
ever had any expOience in revising
a tariff, nor do I believe he is a
great tariff student, while the gentle
man who is the author of this amend
ment has had great experience.
NUMBER 2 6
No man knows better how to make
money scarce and interest high than
he. No man knows better what the
Wall street money owners want and
is more ready to co-operate with
them m obtaining it than he. There
fore I can not understand why he
was overlooked in forming the Cabi
net, as the financial question is greater
than the tariff.
The President-elect has had his
office for the last four years on Wall
street, been breathing the air, sur
rounded by the men who own money
and who gamble with it, and comes
into power fully impregnated with
their views, and, I have no doubt,
will do everything he can to carry
out their views. But I wish to say
to him and the country that the time
for money owners controlling the
legislation of this country has passed.
A great empire has grown up in the
West, of which they have but little
knowledge.
The line between the two great
parties has become somewhat dim.
Men are crossing and recrossing
from one party to the other, and this
is owing to the fact that the two
great issues which divide the parties
are the tariff and the financial ques
tion, and there is high tariff and low
tariff men in both parties and men in
favor of contraction and expansion in
both, and K a fight is forced upon
the West by the incoming adminis
tration for a contraction of the cur
rency, which will have the purpose of
making money, scarcer and higher,
the President will find himself with
out a following in the West. The
dividing line between the two parties
will be broken down and the parties
in the West—both North and South
—will unite in a common cause
against the administration and the
money owners of the East.
Humbug Investigations.
St. Louis Republic.
Not long ago The Republic had
the misfortune to excite the wrath of
Congressman Bynum of Indiana by
an incidental comment on the ex
treme courtesy and tenderness with
which the President of the Whisky
Trust was treated while on the stand
as a witness before the special com
mittee of the House of Representa
tives to investigate the
trust. Now we. wish to state, not
iicidentaiff, hu/F jlirectly, and saftor
careful deliberation, that Mr.' By
num’s Whisky Trtist “investigation”
was probably only one of a number
of fraudulent humbugs which were
not intended to find out anything.
We have learned from the Bynum
investigation that the Whisky Trust
is now incorporated under the laws
governing corporations in general.
This and some other information of
a like nature everybody who reads
the newspapers knew beforehand,
and Mr. Bynum might have learned
it by investing 5 cents in a copy of
The Republic.
Bad as that humbug was, the com
mittee investigation of the Panama
Canal swindle was no better. The
Canal Company spent some $4,000,-
000 in this country, and it is presum
able that some of it was spent in
bribing members of Congress, but
the only conclusion reached by the
committee is that “ it may be that no
investigation, however prolonged,
could be efficient, after this lapse of
time, in making the discovery, even
if there were such corrupt use of
money, but on this point the com
mittee does not desire to express the
opinion that further investigation
would be entirely fruitless.”
In view of the fact that Banker
Seligman handled the funds; that he
admitted on the stand that his books
would show who got the money, and
that the committee entirely failed to
examine the books, this humbug is,
if anything, a little more transparent
than the Whisky Trust whitewash.
We are afraid that the time has
come to confess that in at least nine
cases out of ten the legislative “ in
vestigation ” is inaugurated with the
intention of preventing anything
from being found out. This is not
due to “partisanship,” as is some
times wrongly supposed. The inves
tigating committee is almost if not
quite as unwilling to detect and ex
pose members of the other party as
of its own. The “courtesy of the
Senate ” or of the House, or of the
office-holding fraternity in general, is
far stronger than partisanship, and
partisan advantage is continually
sacrificed rather than take the risk
of exposure which might become
mutual.
Negroes Preferred to Slavs.
Pittsburg, Pa., March 14.
About 250 negroes from the South
arrived at Brinton Station yesterday
afternoon. The colored laborers will
be given first a chance by the Carne
gie Company at all its works in pref
erence to foreigners who apply for
work.
James Galey, general manager of
the plant, expects nearly 1,000 others
in a month. This will nnean that as
soon as possible all the Slavs will be
dismissed. There are about 3,000
foreigners altogether.