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THE CONSTITUTION.
Entered at the Atlanta postoffice as se'a
»rd-classtna matter. November 11.1873
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' The Cause and the Remedy.
The Washington Post in an editorial
trticle headed “The Cry of Distress’’ is
Inclined to take a very serious view of
the present situation. As a matter of
fact, the situation is of a character to
Invite the minds of intelligent people to
a season of serious reflection. What
The Post says is worthy the attention of
those who betray now and then a desire
to dismiss the present condition of af
fairs with a flippant denunciation of the
lawlessness that shows its head in vari
ous parts of the country, and a superfi
cial protest against the strikes that oc
cur when the pressure of hard times
compels a reduction of wages. The Post
says:
The people throughout the country are in
an almost unprecedented condition of unrest
and discontent, not only because of the
long continued hard times, but for the rea
son that their representatives in Washing
ton are so slow and apparently incompetent
to devise measures of relief.
A Ithough many thousands of honest work
ingmen have been out of employment for
long and weary months, the strike and boy
cott, entailing serious loss to thousands of
other wage-earners, are, after all, but the
natural fruit of strained and unnatural con
ditions. They are in the nature of uprisings
against the existing order of things.
Nor is it strange that so many more thou
sands, good and reputable citizens, in no
wise identified with the labor organizations,
and having no special sympathy with their
aggressive demonstrations, have become, in
a measure, indifferent to what is going on
about them, and almost ready to welcome
any outbreak that may relieve the monot
ony of their surroundings and arouse our
legislators to a more pressing and patriotic
sense of duty.
We have no apologies to make for lawless
r - , and we should esteem it neglect of ob
ligation not to curb, as far as possible, the
impatience of communities bowed down
w ith adversity. Yet is it not true that law
less.:es is many times begotten of the in
adequacy of the law to protect and promote
the interests of the citizen, and can we
wonder at the popular impatience to which
the law-making power of the government is
so supremely indifferent?
The Post is no alarmist? It has great
f. *(i in the future. It would fain repose
as much confidence in the capacity of the
imi i people for self-government as it
Ims knowledge of the illimitable resources
with which God has blessed their country.
Put we are firmly of the opinion that unless
a higher, broader, better order of states
manship is developed, a greater zeal for the
w Ifare, a more intelligent concep
tion of tiie public needs, a bolder and read
ier r< solve on the part of our governing
powers to afford the suffering people of the
I’nit'' 1 States relief, and those who are suf
f.-ruig include the great majority, the worst
of the crisis through which we are passing
11. yet to be seen.
lb-.soiling from effect to cause, it is
an easy matter to find the remedy which
the situation demands, but it is not so
easy to prevail upon a temporizing fed
e; il legislature to apply it. /The cry 7 of
vi.-t -ess which furnishes The Post witii
a text is a system which the democratic
party, as the representative of the peo
ple cannot afford to ignore, anti it is
lhe privilege, as well as tin* solemn duty
of the statesmen of that party to dis
cover the cause ami apply the remedy.
Statesmanship, in its last analysis, is
tiie application of the principles of com
mon sense to the problems ol polities.
There is some cause for tiie widespread
Sistress and diseontt nt on w hich The
Post comments. What is it? We know
that the strikes that have occurred
sad are now 7 occurring through
out lhe country are tiie result of a re
duction of wages. We know, too, that
the reduction in wages iias been caused
by a lack of markets for manufactured
products. We know 7 that in spite of the
unpreeetl. nted cheapness of till articles
of prime necessity, trade and business
are duller than they ever, have been in
this country. We know 7 that in spite of
the fact that flour is $3.50 a barrel and
other things cheap in proportion, thou
sands of aide-bodied men and women,
who are able ami eager to work, are in
a destitute condition. They are less
able to buy flour now than they were
v. hen it was > Ding at $8 a barrel. \\ by?
Because the scarcity of money in busi
ness and trade has placed them in a
position where they are unable to earn
l living.
Let us pursue the investigation a lit
tle farther. Business was prosperous
two years ago, and the people wito are
now flying the flag of distress were en
joying the results of that prosperity.
What has happened to bring about such
a vast change in the condition ot af
fairs? Nothing less than a vast change
in our financial system —a change the
most violent and momentous that ever
occurred in the history of a people sup
posed to be free. Nothing less than the
destruction —the obliteration—of tiie
debt-paying quality of more than half
of the coin ami currency in circulation.
Every form of paper currency afloat, as
well as the silver coinage, has been
made redeemable in gold. This has in
creased the value of gold to such an ex
tent that lhe profits of human labor of
ail kinds, the prices of all the products
of human labor and the value of till
forms of property have fallen and
shrunk with a rapidity that is without
precedent or parallel in our economic
history.
If d»e value of only one of two forms
of property had shrunk, or the price of
only one or two commodities had fallen,
thoughtful persons would be justified in
tracing these results to other causes,
but when the value of all forms of prop
erty is shrinking and the prices of all
commodities are falling the cause can
only be found in the fact that the money
for which this property and these com
modities are exchangeable is increasing
in value. The only remedy known to
economists is to increase the supply of
the money of redemption. As this can
not be done in the case of gold, we must
have recourse to the use of silver as
money of final payment. The Chicago
platform says how 7 this shall be done. It
pledges the party to restore silver to its
old place in our currency system as a
part of the standard money of the coun
try.
That is the remedy for the present
condition of trade and business—the
remedy for idle labor—the remedy for
destitution—the remedy for the distress
and discontent that are plunging the
country into dire confusion—the remedy
for strikes—the remedy for low wages
and no wages—the remedy for all lhe
troubles that have followed the sudden
and disastrous shrinkage! of values and
fall of prices that followed the sudden
increase in gold values when the mints
of India were closed to silver in .June,
1893, and silver .was effectually demon
etized bi' this country in lhe fall of lhe
same year.
When will congress make an effort tc
apply this remedy? When will the word
come from tho white house! When!
The Question of Parity.
The question of “parity,” which seems
to be troubling a number of editors who
desire to use the term as a screen for
goldbuggery, is coming home to the peo
ple.
Those who seek to confuse the minds
of tiie people in regard to "parity” say
that the silver dollars now 7 in circula
tion—dollars that have been coined at
the ratio of 1G to I—are kept at par
with gold because they are redeemable
in gold. But those who seek to weak
en a great fact and undermine a great
principle by such an argument as this,
forget that these silver dollars, coined
at a ratio of 1G to 1 are not redeemable
in gold by law, but only as the result of
a treasury policy put in operation in
IS9I by Charles Foster, the republican
secretary of the treasury, to enable the
banks of New York to cart the gold re
serve out of the treasury in order to
force an issue of bonds. .
Neither silver dollars nor silver notes
were ever redeemed in gold until
Charles Foster entered into a corrupt
agreement with the New York banks.
Even John Sherman, chief fugleman of
lhe single gold standard, obeyed tin* law
witii regard to silver when he was sec
retary of the treasury, and carried out
lhe policy of the people embodied in
the law. lie even strengthened that
policy by issuing gold certificates
against deposits of silver dollars, la
other words, even John Sherman felt
it incumbent on him to be honest enough
to maintain lhe vital and necessary
function of the silver dollar as debt
paying money—money of final redemp
tion.
Hight behind this question of “parity”
Is the question of equity—justice, rarity
means equality, and (‘quality can mean
nothing more and nothing less than jus
tice and equity. What equity, or justice,
or element of “parity” can be found in
a policy which doubles the value of all
debts'and at the same time destroys
more than half of the money in which
the (ielitor expected to discharge his
obligations? The chief function of mon
ey, apart from its employment as a
medium of exchange, is in lhe payment
of debts. The real “parity” of money
is in lhe relations il bears to the
products of labor, for it is in these
products that all debts are finally set
tled. Money is simply lhe medium
through which these products are ex
changed.
There is no parity now between gold
and the prices of the products of hu
man labor. The farmer who, twenty
years ago, could discharge a debt of
SIOO with one bale of cotton weighing
500 pounds, now finds that he must haul
three bales of cotton to market in or
der to purchase the SIOO witii which to
discharge his debt. In other words,
he must work three times as long
and three times as hard in 1804
than he worked in 1873 in order to
pay a debt of SIOO. It needs no argu
ment to show 7 that the parity which
should exist between money and debts
—between money and prices- has utter
ly vanished under I lie single gold stand
ard.
Those facts were well known to the
men who framed the Chicago platform.
If they were honest and patriotic—
which no one doubts—w hat else could
they mean, when insisting so strenuous
ly on lhe “parity” of the dollar unit of
coinage of both metals, but that the
debt-paying power of the silver dollar
should be restored until it was on tin
equality with gold in that respect?
Knowing and appreciating the losses
that lhe debtor class has sustained
since the repul>licans demonetized sil
ver in 1873, the honest and patriotic
democrats who framed the Chicago plat
form could have had no other inten
tion when they insisted on tiie parity
of the dollar unit of both metals than
to announce that their parly pledged
itself to restore the debt-paying quality
of the dollar unit of coinage of silver to
an equality with that of gold. If “parity”
in the platform doesn’t mean that, it
means nothing. For tho restoration of
the debt-paying power of the silver dol-
THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION: ATLANTA. GA, MONDAY. JULY 9.1894.
lar, by the reopening of the mints to
the white metal imparts to every
dollar coined the potential quality of
full legal tender. If the maintenance
of “parity” between the tw 7 o metals
does not mean that, it means nothing.
The silver that have been
coined since 1878 do not possess the full
legal tender power that is conferred on
gold, but, in spite of that fact, they
have circulated at par, and still circu
late at a parity with gold, although the
policy of the treasury tends, and was in
tended by Foster, to depreciate them.
Let the people take heart. The demo
cratic platform and the democratic par
ty propose to maintain the parity of
gold and silver dollars by restoring to
silver its debt-paying power—by im
parting to it the potency of full legal
tender.
High and Statesinan-Liko Grounds.”
We clip the following from The Ma
con Telegraph:
From all parts of the state come hearty
endorsements of Major Bacon’s course. He
has pitched his campaign oh high and
statesman-like grounds and is demonstrat
ing more and more his fitness for the high
oiiice to which the people are sure to elect
him.
We reproduce this not as an indica
tion that The Constitution favors Major
Bacon’s candidacy for the senate above
that of others of bis distinguished com
petitors, but simply to congratulate The
Telegraph that it has at last opened its
eyes to the broad statesmanship in
volved in the support of the free coinage
of silver at a ratio of 1G to 1.
Heretofore Tiie Telegraph has been
rather shaky on this ground, but it is
apparently liming itself to accord with
the overwhelming democratic senti
ment of tho state, which demands that
the silver question be settled in accord
with the pledge of the national demo
cratic platform.
Since Major Bacon, like that sturdy
democratic patriot, Hon. Patrick Walsh,
has announced squarely in favor of the
coinage of silver at a ratio of 1G to 1,
and wo believe this suits Mr. Garrard,
too, it will be seen that The Telegraph,
in endorsing “his broad and statesman
like course,” is coming rapidly to the
democratic position, which demands the
coinage of silver and gold “without dis
crimination against either metal.”
Tho Constitution announces no prefer
ence in the senatorial race. Tiie can
didates in the field are good mon, and.
of course, they till realize the fact that
they must go before tiie people, not on
their personal merits, but purely on the
platforms on which they respectively
stand.
Now 7 that Tho Telegraph, which has
heretofore differed witii The Constitu
tion on the silver question, has taken
its stand on the democratic platform,
lot the procession move.
Let. all democrats get together, wipe
out the’r differences, and unite on the
democratic platform!
Fair Elections and Honest Counts.
We learn from The New Orleans
Times-Democrat that the Louisiana
legislature has offered the people an
election law which is a mockery. Liespite
tin* popular demand for ballot reform in
(he interests of good government, petice
and order, it charges that the legislature
has dressed up the old dishonest sys
tem, with a few changes in phraseology,
but none in its spirit, and with most of
its patent defects perpetuated. The
New 7 Orleans paper thus discusses the
matter:
The negro bugbear is brought forward to
justify fraud. If we have an honest elec
tion, say our legislators, farewell to demo
cratic government and while supremacy.
This cry will deceive no thoughtful person.
White rule does not depend on fraud, and
w? have only to look around at our neigh
bors to see that fact demonstrated. It
would be a humiliating confession if we had
to say that we rule and can rule only by
dishonesty. But, as a matter of fact, every
one knows that this negro scare is but a
subterfuge, which, has been successfully
used for years past. * * *
It is to late to hope for anything from
the legislature, and we must perforce ac
cept its offer to submit the question anew
to the people. We have no fear of the re
sult, and we are satisfied that those who
postponed ballot reform until 18%, so as to
hold one more election under the present
system, Which encourages fraud, will be
surprised at the result.
The popular sentiment in favor of ballot
reform is strong throughout the state, and
will grow stronger. * * *
A campaign in favor of honesty, a fight
against fraud, always wins when once be
gun in earnest. We have submitted to
fraudulent elections for twenty-six years,
in the hope that a democratic legislature
would put an end to them. That hope we
must now abondon, and the people them
selves must give us ballot reform. All the
ills that Louisiana has suffered, all the mis
government that has prevailed, and all the
robberies that have followed, have been the
result of dishonest election laws and meth
ods. Our corrupt system was exposed to
the gaze of the world in 1872, and again in
1876. The world will be surprised to learn
how little progress we have made toward
honest elections since then.
It must be mortifying to the people of
Louisiana to have these' statements go
out to the world. We are told that the
legislators of this great state fear that
honest elections will defeat white dem
ocratic rule, and that a fair expression
of the public voice lias been kept under
for twenty-six years by fraud. We are
furthermore told that the legislature
cannot believe that the people really de
sire honest elections, and therefore sub
mits the question to them again.
This condition of affairs is almost
incredible, but the statements of The
Times-Democrat are presumably true.
It is gratifying to be assured that the
people of Louisiana demand fair elec
tions and honest counts. If they will
continue to ask for ballot reform until
they get it they will win a great, victory
for honesty and good government.
Fortunately, here in Georgia, our peo
ple settled down years ago into the con
viction that it could not profit any
party to win by the corruption or in
timidation of voters.
As a rifle, fair elections are popular
throughout the south, and in Georgia the
usual frauds practiced in Indiana, Illi
nois, New York and Connecticut would
not be permitted. The corruptionists
guilty of such methods would be under
the ban of public opinion if they re
ceived no severer punishment.
We hope that the good people of
Louisiana will succeed in convincing
their next legislature that they are in
earnest about ballot reform. Offenses
against honest elections should be pun
ished by a long term of imprisonment.
The penalty should be severe because
this crime affects the rights and inter
ests of millions of citizens. No greater
political calamity could befall a people
than to be at the mercy of tiie men who
are unscrupulous enough to defeat the
popular will by either violent or corrupt
means.
An honest ballot and a fair count
should be insisted upon by the better
classes of every community until they
win the fight. We cannot believe that
an honest policy in this matter will de
stroy white supremacy or re-establish
republican rule in tiie south. We have
an abiding confidence iu the people
when they are treated fairly and justly,
and we believe that under such condi
tions intelligence and virtue will rule.
If we are mistaken in this conclusion,
then universal suffrage is a. failure, and
our system of government should be re
modeled.
Make It a Democratic Measure.
At last the tariff bill goes back to the
house, and the modifications and nour
ishes added by the senate will be dis
cussed and probably amended.
The house now has an opportunity to
make the bill a democratic measure, and
it is to be hoped that it will be made,
as far as practicable, a revenue tariff.
The house should stand by the tariff
plank of the Chicago platform. When
the house bill reached lhe senate it. was
held up by highwaymen, so to speak,
and t the democratic senators who were
dissatisfied with the measure voted for
it the principle that half a loaf is
bettv-n than none. They knew that it
wasPiot the revenue tariff bill pledged
in t' (1 e platform, but as it was the best
theywould get under the circumstances
they'’accepted it, hoping that the house
would change it. for the better.
Tl> house can lose nothing by adding
the qinendments that will transform the
bill into a democratic measure. There
is a possibility that some of the amend
ments will be concurred in by tiie sen
ate, but if they are rejected the house
will still be able "to fall back on the
bill as it passed the senate.
This one chance to secure a demo
cratic tariff—a revenue tariff—must not
bo neglected. The original bill as it
came from the house was butchered in
the senate, but there is sufficient vitality
left in it to give its friends some hope of
setting it on its feet again.
There is no occasion for Unnecessary
delay or a prolongation of tiie uncer
tainty which lias been so damaging to
the'business interests of the country.
The democrats in the house know the
essentials of the revenue tariff and in
a f/w days they will be able to let the
s ‘-af'.’L e kuow exactly what they want.
Il' the cast* is hopeless —if no changes or
amendments will be accepted—the bill
as it stands can be passed by the house
ami sent to the president, and the people
will have to make the best of it.
But. the house should put in its best
work on thq tariff in the next few days,
and if possible make it a demociatic
measure.
A Goldbug Oracle.
The Now York Times is in a fever of
excitement over the free silv°r resolu
tions of the democrats in Arkansas and
Michigan.
Our contemporary says:
Populism is not. democracy, and populists
are not democrats. The so-called demo
cratic convention in Arkansas did well i.-i
. voting down the resolution endorsing the
administration of President Cleveland, after
adopting one resolution which was pure
populism and rejecting another which was
the mildest sort of democracy. The presi
dent’s administration is democratic. It rep
resents loyall.* 7 and with a good deal of
wisdom what the people of the United
States understood that they were voting
for in 1892, when the major.ty of them voted
the democratic national ticket. That ad
ministration has absolutely nothing in com
mon with the men who constituted the Ar
kansas convention, except their professed
ideas as to the tariff, and the difference
between the administration and the conven
tion on finance is far more important, es
sential and controlling than the agreement
on the tariff. * • * They are not dem
ocrats. They are unfaithful to democratic
principles. They speak only for themselv es,
and what they say will be again, when the
time comes, as it has already been, con
demned by the aumorized representatives of
the democratic party.
Tiie case of the democratic convention of
Michigan is no, better in substance, though
a little less candidly and consistently
avowed. * * ♦ .
We repeat that the professed views of tne
pretended democrats of Arkansas and of
Michigan are not democracy. We do not
say that they will never be accepted by
the democratic party, though we do not
think that they ever will be. If that disgrace
should fall upon the party, the party will
have to 'make up its mind to follow new
leaders, and follow them to defeat.
The Times should not have stopped
here. It should have proceeded to read
out of the parly Uie democrats of Illi
nois, who adopted the following plank:
We edorse the action of President Cleve
land, the public services of all democrats
in executive and legislative stations, in all
things that they have done to give force
and effect to the principles of the party
as laid down by the Chicago convention of
1892, and we condemn the contemptible par
tisanship which seeks to prolong for pai tj
advantages that period of financial depres
sion and unrest which has been the direct
outcome of republican legislation and profli
gate expenditures and extravagant notions
of the republican leaders.
Iviiiiisi worry the goldbug oracle not
a Utile to find tiie Illinois democrats only
endorsing the administration and con
gress “in all things that they have done
to give force and effect to the principles
of the party as laid down by the Chi
cago convention of 1892.”
But The Times lias a little prudence
left. After reading out the democrats
.of Arkansas and Michigan, it pauses for
reflection when it reaches tin* great
state of Illinois. Possibly the thought
struck the big goldbug newspaper that
if it. continued to brand all lhe silver
democrats as populists it would soon be
left with a so-called democratic party
composed of a few eastern money
sharks, monopolists and trust, kings.
The genuine democrats of the coun-
try do not care a snap for the opinions
of The Times. That paper last spring
telegraphed every newly elected con
gressman for his financial views, slyly
intimating at the same time that mil
lions of British gold would rush over
here for investment as soon as we re
pealed the purchasing clause of the
Sherman act. We repealed the clause,
but there is no British gold in sight, and
our gold continues to drift to Europe.
A pretty good test, of democracy is
The Times’s condemnation. When that
paper says Hint tho democrats of Arkan
sas and Michigan are not. democrats, it
is safe to say that their democracy is
tho Simon pure article.
—>-
A Sensible View of Silver.
The New York Tress, in common with
other far-seeing republicans, is looking
forward to the triumph of tin* free coin
age of silver.
Our contemporary- sees no advant
age in a single gold standard, and gives
the following examples of successful
and prosperous countries in which gold
was not used or was secondary to silver:
Germany, for example, was upon a single
silver basts when the war with France was
fought, and the civilization of the country,
like its military power, was never higher.
France is. and for centuries has been, one
of the most highly civilized nations in the
world. It has led mankind in the useful
arts, and in the meantime it has proved
itself to be possessed of resources which
have permitted it to recover from disaster
more quickly than any other European na
tion has ever done. But France has always
used silver more largely than gold, and at.
this moment its stock of silver is greater
than any iu existence outside of India.
Our own revolutionary war was fought with
depreciated paper money, and the southern
rebellion was suppressed with greenback
currency. Gold was clear out of reach in
both cases. The civilization of this country
was never higher than during the civil war,
and never did any nation display more con
stantly the virtues or patriotic devotion and
self-sacrifice. It is admitted by all compe
tent authorities that India has accomplish
ed more for the development of its manu
facturing industries during tne last twenty
years, when gold was at a premium, than
during any other period in its history.
This is true also of Meixco and of Japan.
The debasement of silver has acted really
as a stimulus to the internal commerce of
these countries. It has urged them toward
a large measure of self-dependence.
The Press goes on to say that this
nation could exist with perfect, comfort
if it should never have another com
mercial transaction with any nation
under the gold standard. Such a con
dition is not to be desired, but the fact
should not be ignored. Everything which
we are absolutely compelled to import
can be had from the countries which are
now on a. silver basis. If bimetallism
should shut us out from European trade,
tin absurd supposition, we should still
enjoy every comfort now within our
reach, and have the same opportunities
for progress.
This being the case, what is the mat
ter with silver?
A Popular Tax.
Despite tiie opposition to the income
tax in certain quarters, the vote on its
passage showed that it is a popular
tax.
The New York Evening Post bias
strongly opposed the income tax. but
it now admits that it is more popular
than any measure of taxation belore
the present <'ingress. It says that no
tariff law could have been drawn which
would alienate but lour democratic votes
ami win ten republican votes. Tho fact
that one-fourth of tho republican sena
tors voted for the tax shows that it is
idle to expect its repeal at the hands of
the republican party, and it. will be
recollected that twenty-two years ago
twenty-five republican 'slynators went
on rocord in favor of this tax.
'Hie Post goes on to say:
Whether we like it or not, therefore, w 7 e
must admit the cold fact that the income
tax has come, and probably has come to
stay. Recognized by economist# as, theoret
ically, a just and even an ideal tax, it has
cunningly been put into a form to give it
the greatest possible strength with the
masses of a democratic country. Their in
evitable answer to all objections is that
made by the chairman of the Maine demo
cratic convention thy other day, who said:
“Give me the income and I’ll not quarrel
about the tax.” The logical outcome of
that answer is spoliation, but democracy is
not careful to be logical, and property has
immense power on the defensive.
The most objectionable features of the
Jaw have been eliminated and it is safe
to say that when its limit of five years
expires neither party will take the
responsibility of attempting to get rid
of it. 'l he equity of the tax and the
ease with which it will raise revenue
for the government will make it as pop
ular here as it is in England, and it will
become a permanent feature of our
taxing system. This is one great re
form that will loom up on lhe credit
side of the democracy.
The people kept silver coined at a ratio
of 16 to 1 at a parity with gold long before
the treasury decided that it should be re
deemable in gold. This is a fact that will
run quite a number of southern sky-larkers
in a hole. #
It is not an easy matter to defeat any
man in Georgia who has stood squarely by
the southern and western interpretation of
the Chicago platform.
Tin horns should be cleaned and greased
today.
The ratio of 20 to 1 seems to lack plausi
bility. * ,
EDU ORLAL COMMENT.
When the elephant, Jumbo, was dissected
a pint and a half of gold, silver, copper and
bronze coins was found in his stomach. In
the lot were coins of three kingdoms, two
republics, five dukedoms, two principalities
and one dependency.
The Memphis Commercial-Appeal is the
name of the consolidated Commercial and
The Appeal-Avalanche. Mr. G. C. Mat
thews, late editor-in-chief of The Appeal-
Avalanche, is the managing editor of Tiie
Commercial -Appeal. He is an able journal
ist, and, with his associates, will give the
people of Memphis a first-class paper.
At the commencement exercises of
Thornton seminary, Saco, Me., last week
the girl graduates appeared in plain ging
ham dresses and tiie boys in ready-made
suits. This was in obedience to an order
issued by the trustees several months ago,
the argument being that the times were
hard and that the students should set
an example of economy. There was much
indignation among the pupils, but it is to be
presumed that many of the fathers are
pleased. The incident is a big advertisement
for the seminary.
The New Orleans Times-Democrat proves
by figures that, while the south has more
than a third of the population of tiie coun
try, its failures last year were but 13.21
per cent of the total number of failures.
In clearing house returns, the falling off
in the south was 17.4 per cent, and the de
cline in the rest of the country was 34 per
cent. While the south is to be congratu
lated on its prosperity, these figures are
another indication of the enormous losses
sustained by the manufacturing section
through the uncertainty of legislation af
fecting present and future operations.
The Cosmopolitan magazine will removt
its quarters from New York to Irvington
in August, but Professor A. S. Hardy will
still keep his editorial office in the city. A
small literary party will gather I'ound the
quarters which are being erected in Irving
ton, and the experiment will be an inter
esting one. There seems no good reason
why a magazine with an established repu
tation should not make its headquarters in
the country as well as in the sweltering
city.
Tiie country people of Indiana are very
much exercised, it is said, over the discov
ery of a strange and portentous marking
which they find on the blades of the grow
ing oats. On each blade they can read,
plainly impressed, a letter B. Acres and
acres in all parts of the county.have been
found to be thus curiously marked, and it
is no wonder that imaginative persons can
associate the presence of a letter with fore
booings of evil. It is claimed that the only
other times the letter -was ever found on
oats in this manner was just before the war
of 1812 and the late civil war, and that the
B stands for “bloodshed,” which may now
be looked for again. Each blade is marked,
the letter, about half an inch long, being
as it seems, pressed into the leaf and dis
cernible on the other side. Some say that
the phenomenon occurs frequently, but none
explains its origin.
letters fromt he people.
A Point About Sliver.
Editor Constitution: The main argument
against the coinage of silver at the ratio
of 16 to 1 made by Hon. H. G. Turner in his
speech last Saturday evening, uttered with
his most convincing unction, and most vo
ciferously applauded by his friends, was:
“That it would be a rank injustice to
take the silver bullion of the rich mmet,
which only costs 20 cents to mine, and coin
it for him into a dollar worth 100 cents.”
Now this is a favorite argument with the
pin-feathered financiers who spout from
every corner for the edification of the hood
lums, and it is quite worthy of them; but
for a man professing to be a statesman,
already honored as such by the people,
and aspiring’ to still higher honors, to grave
ly give utterance to such u proposition in
the presence of an intelligent audience,
is beneath his high place and discreditable
either to his sincerity or to his intelligence.
Such an argument made upon the stia?et
corner is not worth controverting, but com
ing, as it does, from a man of Mr. Turner’s
prominence, its absurdity should be exposed.
Mining statistics show that it costs more
to mine an ounce of silver than it does to
mine a pennyweight of gold. It cannot be
then that the cost of the bullion is to regu
late the coin value of the metal. If it does,
then Mr. Turner will have to readjust his
gold ratio. The gold miner who is fortunate
enough to turn up a three-pound nugget
of gold, at a cost of sl, will have it scaled
down to a parity witii its cost. Every
man presenting an ingot of gold tor coin
ing will have to give its cost of produc
tion in order to determine its coin value,
fetich a proposition is tod absurd to admit
of discussion, and yet it is Air. Turner s
proposition, with this difference, that the
principle must be applied to the silver
miner while the more fortunate gold miner
is not touched.
It is trie rarity of the metal and not the
cost of its production tnat makes it precious.
It should make no difference to the public
whether the metal in the dollar in its pocket
costs tiie producer 29 cents or 150 cents;
whether it was a lucky find in the sands of
the Sacramento or a dead sea apple.
B. F. SAWYER.
We call the attention of our rendert
to the fact that the niiHsing word
contest, oi which notice is given in
another column of this issue, will run
for two months this time, instead of
one mouth, as !uis heretofore been
tiie custom. We make this change iu
order to give time f««r more guesses,
and in order that the dividends may
he larger tban. heretofore. These
contests are constantly increasing iu
popularity with our renders, and we
feel sure that, now that the time has
been extended to two months, the to
tal receipts will be far in excess oi
liny heretofore received in any one
contest.
THE MISSING
rinu WORD.
The present sentence will run fo<
two months instead of one, ns here*
tcefore,
To Sept. Ist
An interesting; Contest in Which Er
erjbodx Has the Same Chance.
The Missing Word competition craze is the
latest fad in England. It Is exciting the
whole country, and hundreds of thousands
of people are racking their brains for miss
ing words.
Several London weeklies have started
what they call “missing word competi
tions,” and the craze has affected all Eng
land to such an extent as to block, the
money or<?-r office, and embarrass tha
whole postal service. The scheme Is this.
A sentence is printed every week from
which one word is omitted; for instance,
“Smith is a ” and people are invited to
send in their guess with a money order for
a shilling. The money sent in is divided
among the guessers who name the correct
word. A few weeks ago one paper distrib
uted 535,000 among forty-three correct guess
ers, each man receiving over SBOO for his
shilling. The money order blanks have all
been used up at many postoffices, the malls
are clogged and clubs have been organized
to go into the guessing Business.
I’o CONSTITUTION
READERS.
The Constitution makes this proposition
Among those who supply the missing worn
in the following sentence between now and
the Ist of September, 1894, we will divide one
fourth of tl-.e subscription receipts of all
those who send guesses with their subscrip
tions.
This leaves us the bare and actual cost
of furnishing the paper to subscribers for
the year.
THE SENTENCE.
“He crept to this place and waited a fa
vorable opportunity. It came at once, foi
the keen ears of the guard heard some un
usual sound as Tr.urabi crouched behind
the”
Supply the missing word in the above
sentence and if you guess the correct word
you will share with the others who are as
fortunate one-fourth of the receipts from th«
subscriptions of all those who guess.
TIIE GUAR AN TEE.
No one knows the word missing except
the managing editor, who has placed it in a
sealed envelope and which will be opened
on Sept. Ist. We pledge our honor that tht
division will be made and published just
as outlined
’IHK PROSPECT.
Suppose 5,000 guesses were made. Thia
would leave $1,250 as one-fourth of the
subscription receipts, for so many names
to be divided among the successful guess
ers. Supposing ten persons guessed the
word, this would give them $125 each; if
twenty, $02.50, etc. Suppose there are 10,000
guesses—which is not improbable—this may
give from SIOO to SSOO each to the success
ful guessers. Checks will be mailed imme
diate! v after September Ist.
CONDITIONS AND
INDI cements;.
The terms of the contest are few and sim
ple;
1. Every guess must be accompanied by
one year’s subscription to The Weekly Con
stitution, sent to any address at Si.
2. The sendefr of a club of live at $1 each,
for one year, is entitled to a free papei
one year and also a guess.
3. W ith every subscription the missing
word should be written plainly, with the
name and address of the guesser. It is not
necessary to rewrite the s«ni nee—simply
write the word and label it “the missing
word for September Ist.”
4. Renewal subscriptions are entitled to
guesses just r.s new subscribers.
xtemember that you get the greatest and
best of all American weekly newspapers for
every guess. You cannot do without Th<
Constitution for IS' 1 !. Address all commit*:!-
cations to THE CONSTITUTION.
Atlanta. Ga.
