The Bainbridge weekly democrat. (Bainbridge, Ga.) 1872-18??, August 17, 1876, Image 1
\ /
The Bainbridge Weekly Democrat.
published Every Thursday }
"HERE SHALL TnE PRESS THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS MAINTAIN, i y-l WED D TISFL UENCE AND UNBRIBED BY GAIN"
-j Two Dollars Per Annum-
Volume "V".
BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1876.
NuialSw 44
f -
ydre
Cliairman County Executive Com
mittee-
IUiMimnoE, Ga., August 2d, 1876,
JfrmorraSc and Cvnserratice party of
ipraUtr County.—
fti i.ow Citizens: By resolution of your
jjjcuiire Committee it has been made my
dt as Chairman of said Committee, to
dress you on this occasion. The time is
• approaching when we must place before
, pc»ple our candidates for the Legislature,
well as county officers. To that end, each
Kc’.-er of the Executive Committee, in the
1 Districts in the county, will call a
ijr of the Democratic and Conservative
iter- of said Districts (o assemble at their
pcctive precincts, and select three dele-
to represent said District in the nomi-
r convention, to be held in Bainbridge
Wednesday the 6th day of September
it. I would here suggest that fifteen or
renty days notice be given before the time
meeting, in order that the voters of the
hole District may be informed of the time
mi place of meeting. And the Committee
wild also urge upon every voter the im-
rtance of attending those primary mcet-
ja. and to select true and capable men to
like nominations for the several high and
portant offices in your county, for in
.(•-e primary assemblies lie the power of
llln people. We do earnestly request every
Lcr to come out and exercise the authority
bnaranteod to him in these conventions.
The Executive Committee also desire and
(►jiicst the several Districts to organize one
trimsc Campaign Clubs, on or before the
hh Saturday in August, and to furnish the
Chairman of this Committee with a full list
oflhe officers of the same, and their respec
tin'post office addresses.
The Executive Committee directs me as
Chairman to urge upon the people, and
especially the voters of the county, the
peat importance of faking our home or
wunty newspaper, the BAiNBitfnGE Demo-
!it.it. It is a channel of information to .the
L.yih on all county affair*, as well as State
j„,j n it inn'll politics. The Democrat labor-
[el zealously and with great effect in our
U<l campaign, and there is no doubt but our
unprecedented success as a party in this
(.unity and Congressional District was in no
jsnall degree effected by the repeated as-
zinlts and blows, skillfully directed, by the
puion: vr against our opponents. Several
kiuhe 1 copies of the Democrat were dis-
tvilmtfd iii 1X74, partly at the expense of
the Central DeiunMillie Club of Baiubriilge,
11,1 nri'.ti* by the Editor. Bon E. Bussell,
throughout our county. The Executive
f.mimitiee earnestly request that the sever
al (Tubs in the county take this matter
specially in charge, and procure as many
smscribers for the Democr at ns possible,
aii.l where parties are unable to pay tor the
pqur. each club should make up a small
taml to furnish it to them, at least during
the campaign. By this means the Democrat
I will lie distributed broadcast throughout the
Ifoiintv, and while this will sustain our
(home paper, it will at the same time have a
idling effect for good in the coming elec-
| lions.
1 find by reference to the Tax Digest for
118T6 for this county, that there are 1145
I white polls, 1084 colored polls returned,
I showing 61 more white than colored voters.
Iqj course this does not represent truly all
I the voters in the county, but it is a pretty
correct approximation to the true numbers.
I The census of 1870 show that (he white peo
■ pie in this county were in the majority at
■that time about one hundred, and it is
Ibelicvedby some of our most intelligent eiti-
Itens that more of the colored people have
(migrated from the county than of the whites
Vince that date. This being true, and the
Let that the Republican party in this couu-
|ty look, I may say, almost wholly to the
[colored race for their strength and support,
I should we not be encouraged at the outlook?
| Ve«; at a fair prospect of success at our elec
tions this fall. Then let us rally the Demo
cratic and Conservative h osts of our
county around our standard
! the standard of Reform, Economy
and Retrenchment—the standard that has
emblazoned on its folds—eqtwl and exact Jus
tin tv all—Injury to none. To do this let us
not enter the campaign with the extre
mists argument, the fiery abuse of our oppo
nents, nor with the language of the “milk
and cider” politician, but with bold decla
rations of riyht and justice let us deal with
facts. We have enough of them..
As “eternal vigilance is the price of liber
ty,“so nre unity, harmony and activity flie
only guarantees of political success. Let us,
beyond all things, have unity and harmony
incur ranks—forget whatever of dissadsfac-
lion may have heretofore marred our feel
ings or relaxed our patriotic efforts, and now
push forward in one common cause for the
good of our country ; and as a party, with
I ihat activity that guarantees success, arise
I as one max, on the day of election, and tri
umphantly bear our candidates into office,
1 And now, in conclusion, as the party of
progress in securing reform, retrenchment
and economy in the administration of gov
ernment and the ultimate redemption and
prosperity of the country, we earnestly in
vite all persons of whatever nationality, race..
or former political creed, who are willing to
conform to the principles of the Democratic
sml Conservative parjy, to allign themselves
with us in our patriotic efforts to obtain
good government, and we will hail their
advent with pleasure, and guarantee them
a cordial reception.
Respectfully
Maston O’Neal
Chairman Democratic Committee Decatur
County.
-A GIFT WORTHY OF A ROTHSCHILD FOR
OKS CENT,
A copy of Brown's Illlusirated Shakes
pearian Almanac, together with a copy of
hi'illustrated paper, the Growing World,
*hich is devoted to natural history, wlli be
sent to any one free who will se.-d us their
address on a one cent postal card. Address
DR. 0. 1\ BROWN 21 Grand Street, Jersey
City, N. j.
The Weokly Democrat.
BEN. E. RUSSELL, - Proprietor.
Bainbridge, Georgia. August 17, ’76.
Mr. Jso. D. Harrell is the General
Agent of the Democrat, and is authorized to
receipt for subscriptions and advertising.
TILDEN & HENDRICKS!
UNCLE SAMUEL’S LETTER
He Accepts the Democratic Nomina
tion for President-
And tells What Ought to be Done-
A Pithy Explanation of the Financial
Situation-
Albany, N. Y. ; July 31,1876.
Gentlemen: When I had the
honor to receive a personal delivery of
your letter on behalf of the Democratic
Nutional Convention, held on the 28th
of June, at St. Louis, advising me of
my nomination as the candidate of the
constituency represented by that body
for the office of President of the United
States, I answered that at my earliest
convenience, and in conformity with
usage, I would prepare and transmit to
you a formal acceptance. I now avail
myself of the first interval, in unavoida
ble occupation, to fulfill that engage
ment.
The Convcn ion before making its
nominations adopted a declaration of
principles which, as a whole, seems to
me a wise exposition of the necessities
of our country and of the reforms need
ed to bring back the government to its
true functions, to restore purity of ad
ministration and to renew the prosperi
ty of the people; but some of these
reforms are so upright that they claim
more than a passing approval.
REFORM IN PUBLIC EXPENSE.
The necessity of a reform ‘ in the
scale of public expense, Federal, State'
and municipal,” and ‘-in the modes of
Federal taxation,” justifies all the
prominence given to it in the declara
tion of the St. Louis Convention. The
present d 'pression in all the business
and industries of the people, which is
depriving labor of its employment and
carrying want into so many homes, has
its principal cause in excessive govern
mental consumption. Under the illu
sions of a specious prosper! y engender
ed by the false policies of the Federal
Government a waste of capital has been
going on ever since the peace of 1865;
which could only end in universal dis
aster. The Federal taxes of the last
eleven years reach the gigantic sum of
$4,500,000,000 Local taxation has
amounted to two-thirds and much more.
The vast aggregate is not less than 87 -
500,000,000. This enormous taxation
followed a civil conflict that had greatly
impaired onr aggregate wealth, and had
made a prompt reduction of expenses
indispensable. It was aggravated by
most unscientific and ill-adjusted meth
ods of taxation that increased the sac
rifices of the people far beyond the re
ceipts of the treasury. It was aggravat
ed moreover, by a financial policy
which tended to diminish the energy,
skill and economy of production and the
frugality of private consumption, and
induced miscalculation in business and
unremunerative use of capital and labor.
Even in prosperous times the daily
wants of industrious communities press
closely upon their daily earnings. The
margin of possible national savings is at
best a small percentage of national earn
ings. Yet, now for these eleven years,
governmental consumption has been a
larger portion of the national earnings
than the whole people can possibly save
even in prosperous times for all new in
vestments. The consequences of these
errors a.e now a present public calami
ty; but they were never doubtful—never
invisible. They were necessary and inev
itabic, and were foreseen aud depicted
when the waves of that fictitious proa-
perity ran highest,
In a speech made by me on the 24th
of September, 1868, it was said of these
taxes : “They bear heavily upon every
man’s income, upon every industry, and
every business in the country, and year
by year they are distined to press still
more heavily unless we airest the sys
tem that gives rise to them. It was
comparatively easy when values were
doubling under repeated issues of legal
tender paper money to pay out ot the
froth of our growing and apparent
wealth these taxes, but when values re
cede and sink toward their natural scale
the tax-gatherer takes from us not only
our income, not only our profits, but
also a portion of our capital.* * * I do
not wish to exagerate or alarm. I sim
ply say that we cannot afford the costly
and ruinous policy of the Radical ma
jority of Congress. We cannot afford
that policy towards the South—we can
not afford the magnificent and oppres
sive centralism into which our govern
ment is being converted. We cannot
afford the present magnificent scale of
taxation.” To the Secretary of the
Treasury I said early in 1865; “There
is no royal road for a government more
than for an individual or corporation.
What you want to do now is to cut
down your expenses and live within
your income. I would :,ivc all the leg
erdemain of finance and financiering—
I would give the whole of it—for the
old homely maxim, ‘Live within your
income.’ ” This reform will be resist
ed at every step, bat it must be pressed
persistently. We see to-day the imme
diate representatives of the people in
one branch of Congress, while strug
gling to reduce expenditures, compelled
to confront the menace of the Senate
and the Executive, that unless the ob
jectionable appropriation be consented
to, the operation'* of the government
thereunder shall suffer detriment or
cease! In my judgment an amendment
of the constitution ought to be devised
separating into distinct bills the appro-
piiations for the various departments of
the public service, and excluding from
each bill all appropriations for other ob
jects, aud all independent legislation.
In that way alone can the revisory pow
er of each of the two houses and of the
Executive be preserved and exempted
from the moral duress which often com
pels essent to objectionable appropria
tions rather than stop the wheels of
government.
THE SOUTH.
An accessory cause, enhancing the
distress in.business, is to be found in
the systematic and insupportable mis-
government imposed on the States of
the South. B- sides the ordinary ef
fects of ignorant and dishonest, admin
istration, it has inflicted upon them
enormous issues of fraudulent bonds,
the scanty avail of which were wasted
or stolen, and the existence of which is
a public discredit, tending U bankrupt
cy or repudiation. Taxes, generally
oppressive, in some instances have con
fiscated the entire income of property
and totally destroyed its market value.
It is impossible that these evils should
not react upon the prosperity of the
whole country. The nobler motives of
humanity concur with the material in
terests of all in requiring that every
obstacle be removed to a complete and
durable reconciliation between kindred
populations once unnaturally estranged,
on the basis recognized by the St. Lou
is platform of the “Constitution of the
United States, with its amendments
universally accepted as a final settlement
of controversies which engendered the
civil war.” But in aid ot a result so
beneficent to the moral influence of
every good citizen, as well a- every gov
ernmental authority ought to be exert*
ed not alone to maintain their just
equality before the law, but likewise to
establish a cordial fraternity and good
will among citizens, whatever their race
or-eolor, who are now united in the one
destiny of a common self-government.
If the duty shall be assigned to me I
should not fail to exercise the powers
with which the laws and the constitu
tion of our country clothe its chief mag
istrate to project all its citizens, what
ever their condition, in every political
and personal right.
CURRENCY REFORM.
“Reform is necessary,” declares the
St. Louis Convention, ‘ 'to establish a
sound currency, restore the public cred
it and maintain the national honor,”
and it goes on to “demand a judicious
system of preparation by public econo
mies. by official retrenchments and by
wise finance, which shall enable the na
tion soon to assure the whole world of
its perfect ability and its perfect readi
ness to meet any of its promises at the
call of the creditor entitled to payment.”
The object demanded by the conven
tion is a resumption of specie payments
on legal tender notes of the United
States. That would not only “restore
the public credit” and “maintain the
national honor,’: but it would “establish
a sound currency” for the The
methods by which this object is to he
pursued and the means by which it ia
to be attained are disclosed by what the
convention demanded for the future,
and by what it denounced ;■ the past,
BANK-NOTE RESUMPTION.
Resumption of specie p '.ymenta by
the Government of the Un ted States
on its legal tender notes wots d establish
specie payments by all the banks on all
their notes. The officia statement
made on the 12th of May, shews that
the amonnt of the bank notes was $300,
000,000, less $20,000,000 held by them
selves. Against these two hundred and
eighty millions of notes the banks held
8141,000,000 of legal tender notes, or a
little more than fifty per cent, of their
amount, but they also had on deposit in
the Federal Treasury, as security for
these notes, bonds of the United States
worth in go’d about $360,000,000,
available and current in all tne foreign
mono/ markets. In resuming, the
banks, even if it were possible for all
their notes to be presented for payment,
would have $500,000,000 of specie
funds to pay $280,000,000 of notes
without contracting their loans to theit
customers, or calling .on any private
debtors for payment. Suspended banks
undertaking to resume have usually
beep obliged to collect from needy
borrowers the means to redeem exces
sive issues and provide revenues as re.
serves. A vague idea of distress is
therefore often associated with the pro
cess of resumption, but the conditions
which caused distress in those former
instances do not now exist. The gov
ernment lias only to make good its own
promises, and the hanks can take care
of themselves without distressing any
body. The government is therefore
the sole delinquent.
LEGAL TENDER RESUMPTION.
The amount of the legal tender notes
of the United States now outstanding is
less than $370,000,000, besides $3,4,-
000. 000 of fractional currency. How
shall the government make these notes
it all times as gwod as specie? It has
to provide in reference to the mats
which would be kept in use by the
wants of business a central reservoir
of coin adequate to the adjustment of
temporary fluctuations of .international
balances, and as a guarantee against
transient drains artificially created by
panic or by speculation. It lias also to
provide for the payment in coin of such
fractional currency as may be present
ed for redemption, and such inconsid
erable portions of the legal tenders as
individuals may from time to time,
desire to convert for special use, or in
order to lay by in coin their little stores
of money.
RESUMPTION NOT DIFFICULT.
To make the coin now in the treasu
ry available for the objects of this
reserve, to gradually strengthen and
enlarge that reserve, and to provide for
such other exceptional coins as may
arise, does not seem to me a work of
difficulty. If wisely plann-’d and dis
creetly pursued it ought not to cost any
sacrifice to the business of the country.
It should tend, on the contrary, to a
revival of hope and confidence.
The coin in the treasury on 30th of
June, including what is held against
coin certificates, amounted to nearly
$74,000,000. The current of precious
metals which has flowed out of our
country for the eleven year? from July
1, 1865, to June 30, 1876, averaging
nearly $76,000,000 a year, was $832,-
000.000 id the whole period, of which
$617,000,000 were the product of our
own mines. To amass the requisite
quantity by intercepting from the cur
rent flowing out of the country, aud by
acquiring from the stocks which exist
abroad without disturbing the equilib
rium of foreign money markets, is a
result to be easily worked out by prac
tical knowlege and judgment. .With
respect to whatever surplus of legal-ten
ders the wants-of business may fail to
keep in use, and which, in ord ;rtq save
interest, will be returned for redemp
tion, they can be either paid or they
can be funded. Whether they con
tinue as currency or be absorbed into the
vast mass of securities held as invest
ments, is merely a question of the rate of
interest they draw. Even if they were to
remain in their present form and the gov
ernment were to agree to pay on them a
rate of interest making them desirable as
investments, they would cease to circulate
and take their place with government,
State municipal and other coporatc and
private bonds, of which thousands of
millions exist among us. In the perfect
ease with which they can be changed from
currency into investments lies the only
danger to be guarded against in the adop
tion of general measures intended to
remove a clearly ascertained surplus—
that is, the withdrawal of any which are
not a permanent excess beyond the wants
of business. Evan more mischievous
would be any measure which Affects the
public imagination with the fear of an ap
prehended scarcity. In a community
where credit is so much used, fluctuations
of values and vicissitudes in business are
largely caused by the temporary beliefs
of men, even before these beliefs con
form to ascertained realities.
AMOUNT OF NECESSARY CURRENCY.
The amount of the necessary currency
at a given time cannot he determined ar
bitrarily and should not he assumed on
conjecture. That amount is subject to
both permanent and temporary changes.
An enlargement of it, which seemed to be
durable, happened at the beginning of the
civil war by a substituted use of currency
in place of individual credits. It varies
with certain states of business. It fluc
tuates with considerable regularity at dif
ferent seasons of the year. In the autum,
for instance, when buyers of grain and
other agricultural products begin their
operations, they usually need to borrow
capital or circulating credits by which to
make their purchases, and want these
funds in a currency capable of being dis
tributed in small sums among numerous
sellers. The additional need of currency
at such a time is five or more per cent, of
the whole volume,and if a surplus beyond
what is required for ordinary use does
not happen to have been on hand at the
money cenfres, a scarcity of currency
ensues, and also a stringency in the loan
markets. It was in reference to such ex
periences that in a discussion of this sub
ject in my annual message to the New
York Legislature of January 5th, 1875,the
suggestion is made “that the Federel Gov
ernment is hound to redeem every portion
of its issues which the public do not wish
to i^se. Having assumed to monopolize
the supply ofjcurrency and enacted exclu
sions against every body else, it Is bound
to furnish all which the wants of business
require. * * * The system should posi
tively allow the volume of circulating
-credit? to ebb and flow according to the
everebanging wants of business. It should
imitate as closely as possible the natural
of trade which it has superceded by
artificial contrivances." And in a similar
discussion in my message of January 4,
1875, it was said that resumption should
be effected “by such measures as would
keep the aggregate amount of the cur
rency self-adjusting during all the process
without creating at any time an artificial
scarcity and without exciting the public
imagination with alarms which impair
confidence, contract the whole large
machinery of credit, and disturb the natu
ral operations of business.”
MEANS OF RESUMPTION.
“Public economies, official retrench
ments and wise finance” are the means
which the St. Louis Convention indi
cates as provision for reserves and re
demptions. The best resource is a re
duction of the expenses of the govern
ment below its income, for that imposes
no new charge .on the people. If,
however, the improvidence and waste
which have conducted us to a period of
falling revenues, oblige us to supple
ment the results of economies and re
trenchments by some resort to loans, we
should net hesitate. The government
ought not to speculate on its own dis
honor in order to save the interest of
its broken promises which it still com
pels private dealers to accept at a ficti
tious par. The highest national honor
is not only right, but would prove pro
fitable. Of the public debt $985,000,-
000 bear interest at six per cent, in
gold and $712,000,000 at five per cent,
in gold The average interest is 5.58
per cent. A financial policy which
should secure the highest credit wisely
availed of ought gradually to obtain a
reduction of one per cent, in the intes-
est on most of the loans. A saving of
one per cent, on the average would be
$17,000,000 a year in gold- That sav
ing regularly invested at 4} per cent,
would, in less than thirty-eight years,
extinguish the principal. The whole
$1,700 000,000 of funded debt might
be paid by this saving alone, without
cost to the people.
PROPER TIME FOB RESUMPTION.
The proper time for resumption is
the time when wise preparations shall
have ripened into a perfect ability to
accomplish the object with a certainty
and ease that will inspire confidence and
encourage the reviving of business.
The earliest time in which such a re
sult can be brought about is best. Even
when th i preparations shall have been
matured, the exact date would have to
be chosen with reference to the then
existing state of trade and credit ope
rations in our own country, the course
of foreign commerce and the condition
of the exchanges with other nations.
The specific measures and actual date
are matters of detail having reference
to ever-changing conditions that belong
to the domain of practical administra
tive statesmanship. The captain of a
steamer about starting from New York
to Liverpool does not assemble a coun -
cil over his ocean chart and fix an angle
by which to lash the rudder for the
whole voyage. A human intelligence
must be at the helm to discern the
shifting forces of the waters and the
winds—a human hand must be on the
helm to feel the elements day by day
and guide to a mastery over them.
PREPATION FOR RESUMPTION.
Such preparations arc everything. Of
ficial promises fixing a day are a snare
and a delusion to all who trust them.
They destroy all confidence among
thoughtful men. An attempt to act on
such a command or on such a promise
without preparation would end in a new
suspension. It would be afresh calamity
prolific of confusion,distrust and distress.
TnE ACT OF JANUARY 14, 1875.
The act of Congress of the 14th of Janu
ary, 1875, enacted that on and after the
1st of January, 1879, the Secretary of the
Treasury shall redeem in coin legal tender
notes of the United Statesmen presentation
at the office of the Assistant Treasurer in
the city of New York. It authorized the
Secretary to prepare and provid' for such
resumption of specie payments by the use
of any surplus revenues not otherwise ap
propriated, and by issuing iu his discre
tion certain classes pf bonds. More than
one and a half of the four years have
passed, and Congress and the President
have continued ever since to unite in acts
which have legislated out of existence
every possible surplus applicable to this
purpose. The coin in the Treasury claim
ed to belong to the government had, on
the 30th of June,, fallen to less than $45,-
000,0000, as against $59,000,000 on the
first of January, 1875, aud the availibili-
ty of a part of that now is said to be ques
tionable. The revenues are falling faster
than the appropriatious-and expenditures
arc reduced, leaving tJje treasury with di ;
minishing resources. ' The Secretary has
done nothing under his power to issue
bonds. The legislative command, the of
ficial promise,'fixing a day for resump
tion, have thus far been barren. No prac
tical preparations towards resumption lmve
been made. There has been no progress.
There have been steps backward. There
is no necromancy in the operations of the
government. The homely maxims of
every day life are the best standards of
its conduct. A debtor who should promise
to pay a loan out of a surplus income, yet
be seen every day spending all lie could
lay his bands ou in riotous living, would
lose all character for honesty and veracity.
His offer of a new promise, or his profes
sion as to the value of the old promise,
would alike provoke derision.
THE RESUMPTION PLAN OF TIIE ST.
LOUIS PLATFORM.
The St. Louis platform denounces
tha failure for eleven years to make
ood the promise of legal-tender notes.
It denounces the omission to accumu
late “any reserve for theirredemption.”
it denounces the conduct “which, dur-
eleven years of peace, has made no
advances to resumption and no prepara
tion for resumption, but, instead, has
obstructed resumption by wasting our
resources and exhausting all our sur- ‘necessary to its purification, necessary to
plus income, and, while professing to
intend a speedy return to specie pay
ments, has annually enacted fresh hind
rances theretoand having first de
nounced the barrenness of the promise
of a day oi resumption it next denoun
ces that barren promise of a “hindrance”
to resumption and demands its repeal,
and also demands the establishment of
a judicious system of preparation for
resumption. It cannot be doubted that
the substitution of “a system of prepa
ration” without the promise of a day
for the worthless promise of a day with
out a system of preparation would be
the gain of the substance resumption in
exchange for its shadows ; nor is the de
nunciation unmerited, of that improvi
dence, which, in the elevan years since
the peace, has consumed $450,000,000
and yet could not afford to give the
people a sound and stable currency.
Two and a half per cent, on the expen
ditures of these eleven years, or even
less, would have provided all the addi
tional coin needful to resumption.
RELIEF TO BUSINESS DISTRESS.
The distress now folt by the people
in all their business and industries,
though it has its principal cause in the
enormous waste of capital occasioned by
the false policies of our government,
has been greatly aggravated by the
mismanagement of the currency. Un
certainty is the prolific parent of viie ,
chiefs in all business?. Never were its
evils more felt than now. Men do
nothing because they are unable to
make any calculations on which they
can safely rely. They understand
nothing because they fear a loss in
everything they would attempt. They
stop and wait. The merchant dares
not buy for the future consumption of
his customers. The manufacturer dare
not make fabrics which may not refund
his outlay. He shuts his factory and
discharges his workmen. Capitalists
cannot lend on security they consider
safe, and their funds lie almost without
interest. Men of enterprise who have
credit or securities to pledge will not
borrow. Consumption has fallen below
the natural limits of a reasonable econ
omy. The prices of many things aro
under their range in frugal specie-pay-
ing timos before the civil war. Vast
masses of currency lie in the banks un
used. A year and a half ago the legal
tenders were at their largest volume,
and the $12,000,000 since retired have
been replaced by fresh issues of $15,-
000,000 of bank notes. In the mean
time, the banks have been surrend ring
about $4,000,000 a month, because they
cannot find a profitable use for so many
of their notes. The public mind will
no longer accept shams. It has suf •
fered enough from illusions. An in
sincere policy increases distrust—an
unstable policy increases uncertainty.
The pe pie need to know that the
government, is moving iu the direction
of ultimate safety and prosperity, and
that it is doing so through prudent, safe
and conservative * methods which wit!
be suro to inflict no new sacrifice on
the business of the country! Then the
inspiration of new hope and wellfound-
ed confidence will hasten the restoring
proces of nature and prosperity will be
gin to return.
Tlie St. Louis Convention concludes its
expression in regard to the currency by a
declaration of ito coxrvicLiuub' ab to Uio.
practical results of the system of prepara-
tions it demands. It says: “We believe
such a system, well devised aud above all
intrusted to competent hands for execu
tion,creating at no time an artificial scarc
ity of currency and at no time alarming
the public mind into a withdrawal of that
vaster machinery of credit, by which
ninety five per cent, of all business trans
actions are performed—a system open,
public, and inspring general confidence,
would, from the day of its adoption,bring
healing on its wings to all our harassed
industries, set in motion the wheels of
commerce,manufactures and the machanic
arts restore employment to labor and
renew in all its natural sources the pros
perity of the people.” The Government
of the United States, in my opinion, can
advance to a resumption of specie pay
ments on its legal tender notes by a
gradual and safe process, tending to
relieve the present business distress. If I
am charged by the people with the ad
ministration of the Executive office I
should deem it a duty so to exercise the
powers with which it lias been or may be
invested by Congress as best and soonest
to conduct the country to that beneficent
result.
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
The Convention justly affirms that
reform is necessary in the civil service,
its economy and its efficiency, necessary
in order that the ordinary employment of
public business may not be “a prize
fougbt for at the baliot-box,a brief reward
of pafty zeal, instead of posts of honor
assigned for proved competency and held
for fidelity in the public employ.” The
Convention wisely added that “reform ia
necessary even more in the higher grades
of the public service. President, Vice
President, Judges, Senators, Representa
tives, Cabinet officers—these and all
others in authority are the people’s ser
vants. Their offices are not a private
perquisite; they are a public trust." Two
evils infest the official service of the
Federal Government. One is the preva
lent and demoralizing notion that the
public service exists not for the business
and benefit of the whole people, but for
the interest of the office-holders, who are
in truth but servants of the people. Under
the influence of tills pernicious error
public employments have been multiplied
and the numbers of those gathered into
ranks of office-holders have been steadily
increased beyond any possible require
ment of the public business, while ineffi
cency, peculation, fraud, and malversa
tion of the public funds, from the high
places of power to the lowest, have spread
over the whole service like a leprosy. The
other evil is the organization of the official
class into a body of political mercenaries,
governing the caucuses and dictating the
nominations of their own party and at
tempting to carry the elections of the peo
ple by undue influence and by immense
corruption funds systematically collected
from the salaries or fees of office-holders.
The official class in other countries, some*
CONCLUDED ON FOURTH PAGE