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About Weekly constitutionalist. (Augusta, Ga.) 185?-1877 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1875)
tlkchh) Corcsliittticmalist, WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 20 1875 Saving Money—A Hint to Supreme Court Judges. One great argument for raising the salaries of Supreme J udges, indepen dent of the solicitude regarding the tax on their brains, is that the Justices can not live comfortably on their wages. It has been suggested that if any of them are of such an opinion, they have an easy remedy and that is to ‘‘step down and out.” with never a fear that the supply of material will be lost. But we dare say the salary is great enough if these Judges possessed half the wis dom of the late Andrew Johnson in managing money. We learn for ex ample, from a correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, that Mr. John son “never spent money foolishly, and kept his personal expenses at a low figure. At home he lived very plainly, caring little for aught else than the substantial of life. While President, he saved more than half his salary— never spdhding anything for useless display. He used to say that a man can live comfortably in the White House on 310,000 a year. He always watched his expense accounts very closely, and under no circumstances would let the outgo exceed the income. He used to say that his experience in life taught him that of ail miserable men those were most to be pitied who lived beyond their income. ‘ When a man does that,’ he would say, ‘ the bal ance has to come out of somebody else.’ He abhorred debt above all things, and during his life would never get anything on ‘credit.’ He knew the value of a dollar, for he could recall the time when he worked with the needle, cramped up on the bench, all the long hours of the day for just 31. “ His habits of economy and simplic ity were formed in the severe school of poverty, and he carried them with him through life. He never occupied a position that he did not make it a point to save at least a part of the salary. In his earlier life the opposi tion used to try to make capital against him because as legislator and Gover nor he lived in a ■ cheap boarding house ’ at Nashville. But they made little out of tills, for Johnson would re ply that the salary was small—that it came from the p ..kola of the people— that he wanted it to be small, and that to set an example to public servants uud to do what he could to lighten the public burdens, he lived at a cheap’ boarding-house, and he was proud qf M ..plieity well bew.u,;* Jntioo of the Supreme Court of a Re publican Commonwealth, aud, wo dare say, with, proper management, own the Chief Justice could keep out of the clutches of debt aud exist far more comfortably than the majority of men are now living. Os course if lie plays cards, bets at horse races, rides in ex pensive vehicles, buys blooded horses aud belongs to expensive associations, the salary of a Judge is insufficient, the more so if ho has a family whose sole object in life would seem to be lavish adornment of the person aud a persistent attempt to make him feel that the preachers of the gospel have all missed the most striking exemplifi cation of hell. But, with modesty aud true dignity, and with a family not ut terly given over to destructive propen sities, oven the Supreme Justices of the State of Georgia cau contrive, during these hard times at least, to thank God they are as well paid as they are, that their pay is prompt and certain, and that decent poverty can be more incorruptible than wealth unlawfully acquired. The Georgia Insurrection.—A dis patch from Atlanta, Ga., announces the arrest of Joe Morris, the leader of the late insurrection in that State, for whom a reward of five hundred dollars had been offered by the Governor. It is a somewhat remarkable circumstance that he should have been in communi cation with the United States District Attorney for several days prior to his capture, aud that a United States Judge should have refused permission to the Sheriff to enter a room in the Court House where the criminal lay concealed. The almost invariable sym pathy manifested for negro criminals in the Soutli by Federal officials would not seem to tend greatly toward the promotion of the era of good feeling, of which so much has been said of late. [New York Herald. A New Book.— Mrs. Harrington De slonde, of New Orleans, La., has in press a novel called “The Miller of Sil cott Hill” This lady is one of the most accomplished and talented of Southern womanhood, aud her experiences in life have been of the most romantic, thril ling and varied character. It was our good fortune, some years ago, to look into the MS. of this forthcoming work, aud we were struck with the extraordi nary cleverness of the plot and the purity of the style. Few of the gentler sex un derstand the resources of the English tongue better than Mrs. Deslonde, aud we should say that her venture into the field of letters would be profitable to her in every way. The Maryland Split—B. T. Wallis— The Greeley Medicine. Mr. S. T. Wallis, Republican-Reform candidate for Attorney General of Maryland, has written a letter accept ing the nomination, from which we quote as follows: “ The Governorship of the State, which you would desire to be conferred on me, is an office the duties of which. In my present state of health, I could not undertake, even if other circumstances would permit me to accept a nomination for it. I have, how ever, consented to be the Reform candidate for the office of Attorney General. That place is in the line of my profession, and although at considerable personal sacrifice, I think 1 should be able. If elected, to dis charge its duties to the satisfaction aud ad vantage of the public. I have accepted the nomination simply because I sympathize deeply with the present movement of the people in favor of reform, and do not feel that I ought to refuse to aid it with i ame and character, assured as I am by so many persons, of all parties, whose opinion I re spect, that my nomination will contribute to its force and its chances of success. The question of success, however, has no thing -to do with my acceptance. Some one must Incur the responsibility of every effort to reform abuses. If everybody com plains but nobody moves, there will never be any result. Success may not come this year, but it will come at last, If there is once a beginning. As I am, fortunately, above the need of office, I cannot, I think, be suspected of desiring it for any but hon orable and public purposes. I feel that I am In a position In which I have not the right to say no to the pressing call of any con siderable aud respectable body of citizens who think I can servea cause which I agree with them in feeling to be a just and im portant one. I am fast losing, too, my sense of political distinctions when thoy are only in name. I had as leave defeat a Democratic ring as a Republican one, and have made up my mind to vote for the pro motion of no public s hemes of plunder or private aggrandizement, if I know it. Having voted for Greeley, upon the nom ination of the Democratic party, I think I am fully entitled to vote for auybody I p.ease, on my own motion. Mr. Wallis, we know for a certainty, is a gentleman of unblemished charac ter, of the highest intellectual attain ments, and an ardent lover of Consti tutional Liberty. He really abominates Radicalism aud was as true to the doc trines of Lee and Davis as any man that ever lived. He was in the Mary land Legislature when McClellan dis solved that body by armed force and imprisoned its members. During a long and very tryiug Incarceration in a Federal Bastile, he refused to take tho oath of allegiance, aud never did do so. Ho has no ambition for political preferment and never had. The cor ruption of the Democratic party in Maryland must have been flagrant and enormous to swerve him from party discipline., Thq,most cutting stroke in the letter is the concluding sentence. He evidently thinks that voting for Greeley fairly killed any imperative ( allegiance to Democracy, pure aud j simple. It is hard for a policy Demo j crat to answer that. But the faithful | few who repudiated Greeley aud his I platform cau all tho more thank God that they wore nut caught in a trap which compels even a Wallis to seek reform for his party outside that pat ty’s organization. The Kentucky Plan—A Louisville Muddle. A city election for Mayor aud Coun cilmen is soon to come off in Louis ville. Matters are very lively in that municipality. Bribery and corruption are openly charged, a newspaper is ac cused of being bought by one of the con tending parties, and any one would suppose that a city government was nothing better than a scramble of rogues for the spoils of office. It would seem, too, from the fierceness and vi tuperation engendered that it pays to be Mayor and Councilman in many towns, taking Louisville as a type of the average Eastern or Western city. The South, under Democratic rule, has been comparatively free from such imputations, and Augusta should re joice that no such aspersions have been made in her midst, and that she has so many men willing to serve her, not for gain, but to the serious detriment of their private business. Ralston.— Eulogies on Ralston are the order of the day in San Francisco. They run into hyperbole and almost into blasphemy. Moral: When you steal, steal largely. Then you are a “financier,” aud when you die monu ments will be erected to your memory. The man who robs another of 350 is sentenced to twelve months’ imprison ment. His fellow-rogue, who appro priates a thousandfold more and does immensely more harm is a hero, a saint, a developer, a grand man aud, if he does n.t shoot, poison or drown himself, has the whole continent to ex ploit in. The Wheat Supply.—Alexander Del mar estimates this year’s requirement of wheat in Gi;eat Britain aud Irelaud at 188,000,000 bushels, and the home supply at 81,000,000 bushels, leaving a deficit, to be made up by importations, of 107,000,000. The average deficiency is about 95,000.000 bushels. “Greenbax.” —A correspondent of the New York Tribune, writing from Penn sylvania, dolefully confesses that the greenback platform will sweep the State. He says, in a majority of coun ties, the man who talks "hard money” is a candidate for mob law. A Character Sketch Another Old Ghost Revived. We were under the impression that# Wai. Lloyd Garrison and Ben Wade had as good as died about the same time. But just as the Ohio humbug pops up in the West the Eastern scare crow creates an excitement at a fune ral, quite in keeping with his Paul Pry achievements of an earlier day. It seems that Mr. Garrison attended the last rites of one John C. Benson, an an cient crony, who hated negro slavery, so-called, and dearly loved a high tar iff. We quote the account giving the transactions at the grave: jgt The Rev. Mr. Gbenxell, a Bfcgtl3t cler gyman, officiated at the fuaeral and deliv ered a very orthodox sermon, fact of death being the wage of sin Sad ail that, whereupon the venerable William Lloyd Garrison followed with soot* strougl v dissenting remarks, takingah the oiourn ers by surprise to hear suofe a'jfcifing at a funeral. Mr. Garrison in death but a natural sequence of!. ILL and esteemed it as one of God's mctHHSi man and the gateway to heaven. -1 not what a man’s faith or creed i Jjhti. 3. If he lived uprightly and made tnHaKu bet ter for the fact of his having Hn It he believed he would not go far astray . He entirely dissented physical d,iath,w> h the ideas of the preacher, in thimßmt* the I wages of sin, but argued; th*4yßv as as natural fur a man to die as it wis fi r him to be born. His remarks -wewiMpßi ifuliy eloquent throughout, and hi® tjKw;'-io the orthodox sentiments of the l gen tleman officiating was a sever# The Dominie had the best of the at last, however, giving Mr. a re taliatory clip in his concluding prayer, thanking the “ great Father who has said that death was sent into the world as a punishment for sin.” We reproduce this to show, not that Garrison or Rev. Mr. Grennell had the better of the dispute, but the dis gusting tendency of such creatures as the former to stick a miserable finger into everybody’s pie, just when cour tesy, good sense and the exigencies of time and place demanded non-interven tion. It was an old trick which Garri son had played upon the people of the North with regard to slavery. He per suaded this people that it was their duty to Wipe out negro slavery in the South, by waste of white blood aud trea sure, if necessary. He convinced them that the “sin of human bondage” was upon their souls, and that God Almighty required of them to take possession of the c mscienoe of the South. A nice mess the pestilent intermeddler has made of it! He may go to heaven— wo hope he will—but if it were/possible that such a creature could ffirev-hia, peculiar ehaiact,eristics !uu: man sion* of .; everlasting in aft#■ Important Cotton Figures. We have received from the compiler, Mr. S. J. Cary, a copy of his first an nual issue of tables showing the prices of cotton ruling daily in the Augusta market during the season of 1874-75; crops of each year since 1823; the high est aud lowest prices of cotton in the New York market for each year since this article became prominent as one of the staple products of the Southern section of the United States. The average gross weight of bales is also given for the years comprised in the war period—from 1859 to 1865—and for a number of years since—in addi tion to other important information. This chart will prove to be of great value to our cotton merchants, as well as to all planters of cotton in the sec tion immediately tributary to the Au gusta market. The compiler, Mr. Cary, was for a number of years since the war, and up to a short time ago, commercial reporter of the Constitu tionalist, aud hence is thoroughly con versant with the matter he has taken in hand. He proposes to issue these reports annually, at the close of each cotton season. We are assured that Mr. Cart has made every effort in com piling his tables—especially the prices of Cotton in Augusta— to have them as correct as possible, and our merchants and friends out of Augusta cau assuredly use them with perfect confidence in com paring them with the figures that are to rule in the season upon which we have just entered. We are glad to learn from Mr. Cary, that he will, next year, issue a much more extensive report of prices of cot ton by which comparison with previ ous years can be made. We will make copious extracts from this chart and give our readers all the information that can be gleaned from it. It is a very neat specimen of printing issued from the job office of the Constitution alist under the superintendence of our efficient foreman, Mr. John M. Weigle. Sententious.— The Pittsburg Post epigrammatically says : “ The people, as it happens, before they can get con trol of their own financial affairs, must first put the Radical rogues out of of fice. That’s where the financial issue comes in, and that’s what the people will do.” True as preaching ; but how are the Democracy to help themselves by adopting, as New York has' done, the policy of Grani’s administration. Mrs. Snipe, of Texas, made her hus band quail before her. Gamey ! Hon. fm. D. Kelley and the Financial Situation. At the express request of CoL R. A. Alston, of the Atlanta Herald, Hon. Wm. D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, has written a letter on the financial situa tion which we reproduce in this day’s issue of the Constitutionalist. It is a powerful document. Judge Kelley treats his subject as a master, and with iron logic. It bristles with facts, fig ures and argument. All attempts at fine writing are discarded. The inter nal evidence of this letter is that Judge Kelley, though an old abolitionist and latter-day Republican, has learned some wisdom from events and does not hesitate to leave the Administra tion wing of his party on a question which so vitally concerns the country at large. Upou this subject, the New York Freeman’s Journal has an article so ap posite, that, we quote it, conspicuously as a companion piece to Mr. Kelley’s trenehant epistle. Commenting upon the New York nominations and plat form, it says; “The Platform, a string of ‘Bun combe’ propositions, is what has been dictated by the bondholders—mostly foreign—aud the national bank inter est. It obscures knowledge by a cloud of big words. It endorses the financial policy of President Grant’s adminis tration by urging ‘a speedy return to specie payment’—‘steady steps toward specie payments.’ “The administration of President Grant has been driving us thither—to the paralysis of all business, and es pecially of all industries of business men with small capitals, at a rate that, in six years, has shut up hundreds of thousands of homes, under foreclo sures, or executions of judgments, and has put on the streets, without a dol lar, or the means of earning a dollar, many tens of thousands of men capa ble and desirous of being engaged in legitimate and honest occupations. “Gov. Tilden’s Syracuse Convention has, we are under the impression, thrown off some vague words—such as office-seekers use against opponents— against Grant’s Administration. But it lias endorsed the financial policy of that Administration. “Would it not be a thing, to see, next year, Democrat and Republican for gotten as political nomenclatures—to see the Bondholders, and National Bankers, and Watered Stock Railroad Companies, throwing Grant overboard, inking up Tilden, as one expe ctance i in iqAhirg victims pay full ‘■etyted,paper! And then, sack real lenders of. the people, as not? fnd then come up, sud denly, and with irresistible tak ing up, as their champion, against Bag-debts seeking gold payment, Grant’s n< xl and best friend, Eliuu Li. Wash burns, now American Minister to France J “ This very thing is on ‘the cards,’ and, therefore, it is not impossible that it may appear in full play. It would be difficult to find a man, possible for next President of the United States, holding in his hands so many, and so utterly diverse, threads that lead to ward success. Were the impossible to occur, in the nomination of Tilden for President, Washburne, named against him, however the opposing parties might be named, would have an easy * walk over.’ “ But what is of immediate interest is the plea of bankers and money lenders, that the rag bonds they have in hand ought to be paid in gold coin. Why these Shylocks put on moral airs and talk of good faith! “Yet they know that every Five- Twerity Bond issued was made payable, as to the principal, in Legal-tender greenbacks. They cannot deny this. “It is altogether,a matter of prudence and foresight as to the general good, whether those Bonds, so far as yet out standing, should not all be paid, and at once, as they are past due, in green back legal tenders. “Asa matter of prudence, in order not too severely to disrupt values, a great care ought to be used. But when these holders of Bonds, bought at forty cents, demand a dollar, in the name of good morals, we are quick to tell them: "Honest debts should be paid in honest money. Gold debts should be paid in gold. Bag debts can justly be paid in rag money. “Mr. Tildex’s Convention has pleas ed the Bankers and money-lenders. It has cast a deep discouragement on the hundreds of thousands of honest peo ple, cast out of ivork by the contraction of any circulating medium. “Perhaps these workmen, in the State of New York, will vote the ticket pro posed for them by Gov. Tilden, in fa vor of the money-lending classes. It will not be the first time that they will have voted for their own degradation. “The Ohio platform, adopted by Pennsylvania, offered a compromise. — It was to slop further contraction of the currency; and especially, to abolish the circulation of those vampire National Bank bills, which, without any compen sation to the public, draw, on the one hand, over twenty millions of gold as a subsidy; and, on the other, make the line of money twice as costly, to honest borrowers engaged in business, as it would otherwise be. “ Mr. Tilden’s Convention, at Syra cuse, has rejected this overture of com promise. It has stigmatized ft as in flation of the currency, and repudia tion of the Rag-debt of the United States. Mr. Tilden’s Convention has acted foolishly. It would be a sorry day when the suffering people of the West and of the South—where they have values—but not Bankers’ values— where they have houses and lands, that New York bankers will not touch at any price, because they cannot “real ize ” on them “on call ” —but that, all the same, are real and true values—it would be a sorry day, we repeat, when the people of these wide regions, on which the existence of the commerce of New York depends, will find their good in combined antagonism against the handful of rich bankers in New York! From the days of the old, and of the new, Tyre of the East, to the days of Venice, and of the once moneyed centres of Italy, history bristles with examples of what has happened to Commercial Emporiums grown over confident in the power of their wealth. “To the bankers and money-lenders of New York, whose fingers were tightly pressed on the lips of the delegates who, in a large majority, did not accept their money brokers’ platform, cannot, long, control the action of the suffering people in the very State of New York! We are not inciting—we are only fore casting the fierce conflict that is coming on us ! When, in 1855, we predicted the bloody war that broke out in 1861, we were laughed at. But the elements of our wretched inter-State war were in existence, and hatching, in 1855. The eggs of a far more fatal war, not be tween States, but between classes of the populations, are now, again, hatching. The United States, till now, have been too young a country to know what a formal and set antagonism of this kind means. Our wish, but scarcely our hope, is that it may not have to learn the lesson.” City Politics—ls There to be a New Deal ? We have heard it intimated that Mayor Estes baa become weary of the Mayoralty and earnestly desires that acme competent person shall succeed him. Ittnay be requiring too much of him to ask from his own lips a true statement of the case, and he would j very likely imitate Grant and say it j would be time enough to decline a : nomination when such a thing is offered I him. We dare say he could get it, If so disposed, and, in ease of opposition, he 1 would be hard to overthrow, for few men in Georgia better comprehend the i mysterious ways of political engineer ing, and he is a man who would jbe up and at work, where he could effect the most good, when an or dinary opponent was turning over in bed. Our people seem to be di j vided on this sul j ect. Some think that : ;is Mr. Estes has undertaken such j gigantic schemes he should continue them, as the chief responsible party, ;to the bitter or beneficial end. The same persons shake their heads gloom ily and say that the city has got into such a mess that nobody wants to as sume the risk of extricating it. Right there, whether intending or not, they pay a tribute to Mr. Estes, who is as bold as a lion and would not hesitate, we firmly believe, to push his schemes to completion and trust to the future for a perfect vindication of his course, more particularly as the people have voted upon the biggest of them all— the canal to-wit. Other people take the ground that candidates are not wanting at all, and" capable ones at that. We think there is considerable truth in the statement that candidates are plentiful enough. The day that offices of any sort go begging in this country will be an unmistakable signal to the Angel Gabriel that he need no longer delay the sounding of his trumpet. Besides, in every com munity, there are ambitious men who either have held public positions or de sire to hold them. These men, very naturally, believe that they can take the municipal helm and briDg order out of a supposed chaos. Whether they can do so or not remaius to be seen; and it also remains to be seen whether they will have the chance of such endeavor. Now, we take it as a granted . pro position, that the most popular candi date will be that man who can substan tially promise a lowering of taxes, or rather a diminution of the assessment upon which taxes are levied. But who can safely promise anything of the kind? We presume that the present tax estimate barely carries us through from one fiscal year to another ; aud, judging from a recent transaction, by which the city has met with grievous loss and may be compelled to part with some of its most valuable securities, to fill the great gap made by the Cohen failure, that taxes and assessment are about as low as we shall see them for years to come. It may be, and upon this point we should be glad to have outside opinion, that a stop page of work on the canal would help ■ us somewhat, if such a thing does not' become impossible by outstanding con tracts. We should like to hear from those who know, if there are not cer tain expenditures that could be lopped off. We very much fear that this lop ping off; if attempted, would bear hard upon men who dep&id upon their daily labor for support. That is a del cate matter to handle, and it is also a political matter, somewhat like the goat question. But if sacrifices are to be made and loppings off to be the order of the day, all to make up for the serious mistake of the Finance Committee, we ask, in the name of the people, that the reform shall commence at headquarters. Let the ordinance increasing the Mayor’s salary be re pealed as soon as possible. By doing this Council will show that entrench ment is not to touch one class of the city government alone but all classes. There must be a “fair tote” all around, or else tho people will know the reason why. If any man, com manding public esteem and con fidence, can come forward and de monstrate that he has the ability to lessen our city expenses and is not afraid to lead a reform movement, if one be necessary, let him present himself without hesitation, and, unless we are very much mistaken, he will be the next Mayor, provided, as we have been led to believe, Mr. Estes has de termined to retire and look after his private affairs which must have suf fered somewhat during his energetic and long-continued administration of the city government. Bitters—The Secrets of the Charnel House. A considerable number of men who cau not take one drink of alcoholic li quor without an almost irresistible tendency to get drunk, violate the Eighteenth Section, empty the barrels of their revolvers, or run the risk of | going home on a shutter without any tragical preliminaries—a great many ! meD, we say, thus circumstanced, ab jure whiskey and fall back upon “bit | ters” as a comforter, instead of cold j water. We regret to say that the cure is now pronounced not much better ! than the disease. It seems that the | Board of Health of Boston intrusted ; an expert, Mr. W. R. Nichols, with a chemical examination of the substi tutes for straight liquor, and his report would almost make the quills bristle on a porcupine. Mr. Nichols endorsed a similar report of Dr. Gibbons, of Cali fornia, an outline of which is given by the New York Times. We learn from this source that "bad whiskey appears to be the basis of almost all of them, and th.e bitters are made up of any herbs that happen be most conveni ent to the maker’s hands. The profits on the sale of these concoctions are said to be five hundred per cent, above the cost of material. * * * * Out of twenty varieties of the bitters most frequently used, only one was found to be free from alcohol, and that one has the smallest sales. One sample con tained as much as fifty-nine per cent, of pure alcohol, another had forty-six, another forty-two, and so on, the pro portion varying in all. It appears that vinegar bitters were started with the intention of devising something from which alcohol should be altogether excluded. Th# idea originated with the cook of a party which traveled overland as a mining company to California. He settled in Calaveras county, and, having no suc cess as a miner, he turned his atten tion to the medicinal properties of the herbs growing about him. He made an infusion of these, and submitted his project to a druggist in San Francisco, who immediately joined him in the concern, and the two were resolved to make a speedy fortune by the sale of their ‘lndian Vegetable Bitters.’ But while they were perfecting the business arrangements, the infusion of Indian herbs was fermenting, and when they came to look at it again, it was quite sour. But it was easy* to change the name, and it was not profitable to throw away the compound. So they agreed thenceforth to call it “Vine gar Bitters,” and to identify it with the movement against alcoholic drinks. The next change was to do away with the native herbs, which became rather troublesome to collect, and in place of them they substituted aloes, which has the advantage of being cheap and at the same time nasty enough for any reasonaole palate. Dr. Gibbons says of Vinegar Bitters that it is one of the vilest, if not the very vilest, of all the concoctions in the market; and it is rendered more repulsive and ob noxious by concealing its poison with the mask of temperance. Upon analy sis it turns out that even this mixture contains six per cent, of pure alcohol, besides some free acetic acid.” After this exposition we are inclined to believe that the man who drinks “bitters” is more dangerous to a com munity than he who takes his straight whiskey, at some first-class bar room. The crimes frequently saddled upon potations of the best of “Bourbon,” “Acme,” “Baker” or “Diodora” may be perhaps traced to commercial bitters and spurious decoctions of corn, wheat and rye. The Empress Augusta wears white pique at the French watering places,
