The Atlanta constitution. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, July 16, 1894, Page 6, Image 6

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Newspaper Page Text6 THE CONSTITUTION. Entered at the Atlanta postoffice as see ©rd-class .na matter. November 11 1873 The Weekly Constitution «1.00 per annum Clubs ot live, SI.OO each; clubs cf ten SI.OO each and a copy to getter-up oi club WE WANT YOU. The Constitution wants an agent at every Fcstofficein America. Agent s outfit free era good terms. If you are not in a club wo want you to act asagent at your office, Write us. CHANGE OF ADDJtESS.—When ordering ad dress of you rpa per ch a ngcd always give the old uswell as the new address. Always give post otilec, county and state, if your paper is not re ceived regularly, notif y us. if you send us an order for new subscribers please allow us a week yet the names on the list and paper started before you write a complaint, as we are very much crowded now. ] Do not forget to make your renewals in time.. H atch your direction tag and see when your subscript ion expires, 'the next sir months will bi full of interest, and you should not miss a. tingle copy of THE CONSTITI Send ( pour orders al least a week in advance to make ( •tire. It may not take a week in every Instance; will get them on as soon as possible. 1 “Awakening from the Spell.” < The Washington Post, now under the < exclusive control of Hon. Beriah M il- 1 kins, the brilliant democratic ex-con gressman from Ohio, lias become the ac tive and vigorous champion of the re- ( habilitation of silver and of its restora- j tion to its constitutional position of free ] coinage. The influence of The Post is peculiarly potent, in that it is the leading daily published at the capital of the nation, and the friends of bimetallism every where will take renewed courage in its ' determined stand for the people's money. Ina recent editorial on the silver ques- ] tion and on the disastrous and annihi lating effect of the establishment of the single gold standard, it says: it begins to appear that the country is not 1 willing to rest upon the mere consciousness ( of having done a great and glittering thing. ( Men are beginning to ask whether it pays to strike attitudes and deliver high-sound ing moral sentiments at the cost of business < stagnation and industrial wreck. They are beginning to wonder whether they can ( afford so much abstract virtue. We were told, a year ago, that the repeal of the 1 silver purchasing clause of the Sherman < act would heal all our woes; that, by 10l- i lowing England and making the disgrace ( and degradation of silver universal, we would translate ourselves to the loftiest realms of bliss. The cuckoos came out of ] their boxes and called the hour that ushered | in our happiness. The mugwumps and the office-holding editors all twanged their lyres oi praise and roseate prophecy. Our wel fare was assured. Everything would be < lovely in a few minutes. The air would , blacken with the smose of re-established factories, commerce would come to life again, the noise and hum of quickened in- 1 uustry would make mUsic for the ear of ' man. A prophet had coma to judgment, ; and lo! the millennium and all its countless , joys awaited us around the corner. But 1 us we say. the manhood and the common sense of the country are awakening from 1 tiie spell that was laid upon them, and men are asking for something more than reverberating rhetoric and fatuous dogma. In Ohio, as elsewhere, it is a question whether we have helped ourselves or served any useful purpose by consenting to the elimination of silver from our scheme of , finance—whether events have vindicated or discredited the gospel of the single stand ard. It will be well to watch the revelations of public sentiment in this connection as they occur. We are not absolutely sure, as jet, but tiie indications are that the day of the cuckoo and the idolater is past. This is what The Constitution has king for nearly a y< ar. < toe after another the far seeing newspapers which have not been tied with the baiter of patron, a ■ obligations are awakening j to the seriousness of the situation, and j are demanding the fnltillnient vs tiie ‘ democratic pledge for the use of both gold and silver, "t rich to be coined w ith out discrimination against the other.” I iider the assurance that the uncondi tional rep. al of tiie Sherman law was the lirs; step to tiie free coinage of sil ver. I'h Post yielded to tiie pressure, mid during the late lamented extra ses sion uracil unconditional repeal on the assurance of those who were advocat ing it that it would he immediately fol- ■ lowed by further legislation restoring : silver to its eons: itutioual position. No ' w> • tli ■ ■cfo''.', tbr.t it should now 1 demand ci i. qfliance will! the obligations under wi i' ii silver was demonetized i mid tiie gold standard established. ■ ( The truth of tin matter is. tlm people • , are now beginning to fully realize the i , desperate condition which has followed i in the wake of the single gold standard, and the popular deni :nd for restoration and reform will soon prove to he such that it can do longer be resisted. The danger now lies in the fact that a new eongias< is soon to be elected, and that if something is not done in the meantime the failure may have a disas trous effect in the fall elections. Capital Looking South. The idea is growing in the north that the south is the section of peace and Ba fety. .Mr. Bal<lwin. third vice president of the Southern railway, on his visit to Richmond, a few days ago, said that capitalists were looking southward be cause they are now satisfied that their investments will be safer here than in tiie north and on account of the lawless elements in those sections. The publications of the census bureau find the reports of commercial agencies and trade journals during the past few' years have opened the eyes of outsiders to the progress and the possibilities of this region. The Baltimore Sun says: Very significant, indeed are the figured 3f the bureau of statistics showing the ex ports from the United States in the eleven months ended May 31. 1891. The total was $834,000,01)0. against $782,000,000 in the like pe riod of the preceding year, an increase of $52,000,000. But more than half of this in crease was in exports from the south, show ing the decided revival of business activity in that section. The exports from southern ports aggregated $285,709,000, or $2i,000,000 more than in eleven months of the year ended May 31. 1893. Baltimore's exports ag gregated $73,903,000; those of Charleston. $13,- 028 130; Galveston, $34,985,000; New Orleans, s7f'j>73,ooo; Newport News. $13,638,000; Nor folk and Portsmouth, $10,039,000; Pensacola, $3 694,000; Richmond, $3,985,5)0; Savannah, $24,815,000; Wilmington, $6,999,000. These to tals, as respects some ot these ports, are surprising. The rates of increase over last year are also surprising. Baltimore’s in crease was $7.1tm.000; that of Savannah, $5,900,000; of Newport News. $6,000,000; of New Orleans, $5,100,000; of Charleston, $4,000,000. The patient industry aud peacefulness of the south naturally make our pros pects brighter than those of other quar ters of the union. The recent extended trouble in the west will cause capital and enterprise to seek a field in which they will not be molested, and where they will feel assured that the over whelming majority of the people are on the side of law and order. The south is the land of promise! Alexanderll. Stephenson Silver. In 1879 Alexander H. Stephens made a silver speech in congress in which he made a strong plea for bimetallism, and pointed out the evils resulting from the demonetization act of 1873. Mr. Stephens wanted the old trade dollar made a. legal tender again. In reply to the objection that. China might return the twenty-eight milliop trade dollars then held by her lie said that we needed them, and he hoped that (‘very silver coin with the American eagle on it would come back to us. But he did not.expect our trade dollar to corne back from China. That country wculd never send 420 grains of silver over here to get 4121?> grains for it. The Chinese would find that a losing busi ness. The great commoner contended that we needed all the silver bullion that we could get, and we should make its coinage free and unlimited. The de monetization of silver had struck down half the mot"! money of the world. Then began dietary revolutions. In a year we bad 7.000 business failures, with upward of $200,000,000 liabilities; the following year 9,000 failures, with about $200,000,000 liabilities; the next year 8.000 failures, with again about $200,000,000 liabilities, ami in another year 10,000 failures, witli still heavier liabilities. Ho said that we could not afford to wait for the action of Europe, because as a. matter of justice our debts should bo paid in coin of the standard value existing at the time the debts were contracted. To increase the weight of the silver dollar would he an injustice to debtors. Tn regard to the price of sil ver bullion the speaker held that its depreciation was caused solely by de monetization, which had degraded it by depriving silver coin of its debt-paying power. Silver, before if was demon etized, was 2 or 3 per cent above gold. Bui if the owners of bullion made a profit out of tiie coinage of silver at the present ratio Mr. Stephens maintained that nobody would be hurt by it. It would add to the general wealth of the country, and would benefit not only the owners of bullion but every man who had anything to sell or any labor to be employed, because there would boa rise in prices. So far from dreading an influx of bullion from foreign coun tries. he would offer an inducement to bring it here. He believed that it would be impossible for us to obtain and keep in this country too much of a metal which had been used as a standard coin all over the world for several thousand years. Nir. Stephens was a. student and a deep thinker. He went to the bottom of every question, and no man was more keenly appreciative of the el<> meats of justice and equity involved in every transaction great and small. No earthly consideration would have in duced him to favor a financial system that would bo unjust to either creditors or debtors. The false premises and mis leading arguments of the gold standard mon excited his indignation and dis gust. He saw that the demonetization of silver threatened financial distress, the robbery of all debtors and the op pression of all toilers, and ho hated the whole business with ail the hearty hatred of a wise and a just man who had consecrated his life to the service of his people. % Alexander 11. Stophens could no more have been a monometallist than he could have boon a tool of the monopolies and trusts! ——* A Procession of Object Lessons. It is a we]] known fact that The Con stitution made an earnest and an ur gent appeal at the beginning of the pres ent administration for an early session of congress ami speedy legislation on the linos of financial relief and tariff reform pledged in the Chicago platform. The grave problems demanding imme diate solution and the unfavorable con ditions then prevailing in the commer cial and industrial world convinced us that uncertainty ami delay in the set tlement of financial and tariff questions would be disastrous to the interests of every section. Our appeals wore not heeded by the powers that be and the mon who control. It was said by the advocates of the gold standard that the country needed an object lesson; that is to say. business and industrial stagna tion and a panic were needed to force the acceptance of the gold standard, and almost anything rather than hang on the ragged edge of uncertainty. The managers of the object lesson had their way, but when the purchasing clause of the Sherman act was finally repealed and the gold standard was established, not one of the promises of the gold sharks was redeemed. On the contrary, the pledges of financial relief were re pudiated. and as the weeks rolled by matters went from find to worse. Our readers hpve not forgotten the predictions made by the gold standard mon last year. They pictured bright ening skies, reviving prosperity and an era. of happiness and plenty as the im mediate and direct results of the uncon ditional repeal of the silver purchas ing clause of the Sherman act. The currency contractionists and monopo lists had their way. but their predic tions failed to materialize. Their ob ject. lesson was a great success from their point of view. It paralyzed busi ness. threw hundreds of thousands out of employment and caused the clamor of discontent and distress to bo heard all over the continent. Anything for a change was the cry. and many demo crats in congress, against their better judgment, yielded to the pressure, and the gold standard was allowed to tri umph. But one object, lesson did not suffice. A procession of object lessons started with the establishment. of the gold standard, and the end is not in sight. The shrinkage* of values caused by the policy of contracting the currency has resulted in greater losses than would have followed a civil war, Capital con- THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION: ATLANTA GA. MONDAY. JULY 16 1894. tinues to be hoarded in the centers where it is congested, and labor and labor’s products are sacrificed in tiie markets where they formerly received their just reward. The forced idleness of the masses is breeding desperate dis content, defiance of law and crime, or driving the more helpless to destitution. The remedies now invoked take the shape of troops and Gatling guns. It may be that they are needl'd, but how much better it would have been to have inaugurated the straightforward, honest policy of giving the country financial relief without delay, as soon as tin' pres ent congress could have been called in extra session! If this had boon done, as The Constitution repeatedly urged, all the troubles which now give our statesmen so much anxiety would have been avoided. Thorn would have boon no object lesson in the shape of panics, stagnation, strikes and open revolt. If the people had been dealt with justly and honestly under the terms of our platform this would now be the happiest and most prosperous country on the globe. NVe are tired of this procession of ob ject: lessons. Let us got back into the right path while there is yet. time to re trieve the blunders of the past. Let us get together and redeem the pledges that wore overwhelmingly ratified by the people when they elected the pres ent administration. This is the only wise, just and safe course. The oppo site policy will bring more trouble and calamity. We have had too many bitter object lessons, and the remedy is not more troops and more guns—it is the honest and prompt fulfillment of the promises made by the party now in power. We must go back to our plat form and faithfully redeem ('very pledge in it! • Nir. Cleveland on Arbitration. Our dispatches yesterday intimated the probable passage of an act of con gress providing for arbitration in labor disputes on the line recommended by Nir. Cleveland in his message eight years ago. In the message referred to the presi dent said: The present condition of the relations be tween labor and capital is far from satis factory. The discontent of the employed is due, in a large degree, to the grasping and heedless exactions of employers, and the alleged discrimination in favor -of capital as an object of governmental attention. It must also be conceded that the laboring men are not always careful to avoid cause less and unjustifiable disturbance. Though the importance of a better ac cord between these interests is apparent, it must be borne in mind that any effort in that direction by 'the federal government must be greatly limited by constitutional restrictions. There are many grievances which legislation by congress cannot re dress, and many conditions which cannot by such means be reformed. I am satisfied, however, that something ma}' be done under federal authority to prevent the disturbances which so often arise from disputes between employers and tiie employed, and which at times seriously threaten the business interests of the coun try, and in my opinion the proper theory upon which to proceed is that of voluntary arbitration as (the means of settling these difficulties. But 1 suggest that instead of arbitrators chosen in the heat of conflicting claims, and alter each dispute shall arise, for the purpose of determining the same, there be created a commission of labor, consisting of three members, who shall be regular officers of the government, charged among other duties with the consideration and set tlement, when possible, of all controver sies between labor and capital. The suggestion was also made that the commission of labor should be made an annex of the present bureau of labor. The beneficial influence of the railway commissions, which in many states are merely advisory, lias convinced Nir. Cleveland that the same good results would follow Ihe creation of a federal commission of arbitration. Many labor leaders and congressmen are in favor of the proposed arbitration law, ajid it is believed that it would be so strongly backed by public opinion that both employers and employed would gladly settle their disputes under it rather than rim the risk of a conflict between labor and capital with disas trous consequences to both sides. At this time any peaceful experiment in the interests of 14w and order, with a view to the protection of the rights of all classes of our people cannot fail to be very popular. When arbitration is favored by the government few citizens will be selfish enough to oppose it. Ar bitration and peace go hand in hand, and it cannot injure those who have a just cause. Out of a Job. In those hard times when a man has a job he had better stick to it. Every wage earner has somebody de pendent upon him-a father or mother, or a wife or children. If he is without those he still has to feed and clothe him self. All this requires money, and many toilers have 110 income beyond their wages. Men cannot throw up their jobs these days and expect the generous support of a sympathetic pulflic. Landlords, butchers and grocers want cash and the man out of a job is no favorite with them. But some impatient worker will com plain that his wages are too low. That is unfortunate, but will he improve his condition by going without any wages at all? Hard times hurt employers as weil as the employed. Sometimes wages are cut in order to keep men at ■work and avoid the shutting down of a great industry. The sensible thing to do is to make the best of it until times im prove. W(> have hoard of so much suffering among men out of work with halt starved families that wo are astounded at the folly of others who are willing to give up their jobs and risk the con sequences. Such conduct is utter mad ness. For every man who stops out of a job twenty stand, ready to take his place. Lot no man in any position de lude himself with the idea that ho is indispensable. There is no such thing as an indispensable man. Thousands of Iho brightest, most industrious and capable mon that ever walked the earth are now out of employment or doing odd jobs until they can secure the work they are best fitted for. If any man thinks that it is a big thing to show his independence by giv ing up his job when there is no other in sight he should first find out what his wife and children realty think about it. It is a pitiful sight to see everything in a little cottage sold to buy food for the wife and children of the man who is oiii of a job. It is harder still when the landlord drives them out. Stick ft your job, and, if any one tells you to quit it— Don’t! This Country Should Take the Lead. The Cincinnati Enquirer wants inter national bimetallism, but it believes that this country should take the lead. It says: Ours is the greatest silver-producing coun try on the globe, and the best interests of all who are producing wealth will be im measurably promoted by its universal use as money. The Enquirer is ready to advocate any practicable, honest, honorable and states man-like mode to make silver a universal standard of value. It is in the power of the American congress to make it to the inter est and profit of all commercial nations to join in the coinage of silver at a fixed ratio with gold. We heartily concur in the opin ion of Balfoui aud other distinguished English statesmen that if the United States persist in the coinage of silver England and other European monometallist nations must conform their money to ours or lose their most valuable trade. With common standards of value and universal reciproc ity, the peace, happiness and prosperity of the whole family of man are assured, with the continued favor and blessing of a com mon Father. Os course, . England and other gold countries will not give up our trade and see us corner the trade of all the silver nations. When she finds that we are determined to restore silver to its right ful place in our monetary system she will yield very graciously, ami claim that changed conditions make bimetal lism necessary. NVe need nor be afraid that our foreign trade will suffer. A recent writer on the subject says: But what of our foreign trade if we cease coining gold and silver? Our foreign trade is tire bogie-man of the metallists simply because they do not understand it. It has no more to do witli our currency than with our quart cups ami bushel baskets. Na tions d<? not “swap” money any more than they trade yardsticks; they exchange com modities. Our commerce with foreign coun tries amounts to hundreds of millions an nually. How many French francs or Brit ish guineas have you got? And can you purchase a drink or a dog in this country with your imported coin? The prattle in dulged in by the metallists about “money that is good the world over” is mere goose speech, intended for intellectual goslings. There is no such money. America sells a cargo of cotton to Eng land and buys fine wines of France: No British money comes to America, no Amer ican coin is carried to France. Bills of ex change do the business and one debt is made to discharge the other. We can pay cur foreign debts ami collect our foreign dues only in commodities. Our gold coin is it self but a commodity the moment it goes abroad —mere bullion, worth so much an ounce in the country to which it is carried. The nation in whose favor the balance of trade lies does not necessarily drain tiie debtor countries of their coin any rrfore than of their pound weights and pint cups; it drains th<’m of general wealth -accumu lates their securities and compels them to give it of their products in discharge of in terest or dividends. This is true. Even with our depre ciated greenback currency for fifteen or sixteen years when we had no coin in circulation, our trade with Europe was enormous and our people imported more luxuries than they have ever had before or since that period. If our trade did not suffer when we had nn Irredeemable paper currency, made a legal tender by the government because it had no mon ey, we can certainly get along with a currency of gold, silver and redeemable paper. This is the common sense view of it. There is no more reason for waiting until Europe adopts bimetallism than there would bo in waiting for Europe to adopt any other good tiling which is within our reach and under our control IS YOUR. TIME UP? LOOR at the date on your paper. If s"!»wr subscription runs out soon, why not renew at once so as to get one of the handsome Souvenir Spoons we are giving; to every one who sends in u year’s subscription (whether new subscriber or renewal) this inontli. Viewed from Europe. Whenever we have a little trouble over here Europe looks for the collapse of tin' republic. The statesmen and thinkers of the old world have always predicted the failure of our system of government. More than a generation ago Lord Macaulay predicted that some day the discontent ed and desperate classes would plunge the country into a social revolution. Thomas ( arlyle wrote: “America’s bat tle is yet to fight; new spiritual pythons: enormous megatlierions, as ugly as ever were born of mud. loom huge and hid eous out of the twilight futuroon Amer ica. She will have her own agony and will have her own victory, but: on terms that she does not yet quite understand.” With these predictions before them it is natural that our European friends should take a very serious view of the recent strike. The leading Faris news paper, The Gaulois. says that the cause of the trouble is the McKinley tariff, which drew capital and labor into enter prises that had no future before them, and the extravagance of the Harrison administration. The London papers de nounce the strike as a. mad man's dream and say that the strikers will suffer as much or more limn the other side. In Berlin the strike is regarded as disas trous to our future, and much bloodshed is looked for. Some of the newspapers in London and elsewhere say that the republic is on trial and that it is doubt ful whether it will stand the strain, as it lias already been found wanting. The fear is expressed that our soldiers will sympathize with the lawless classes, and The St. .Tames Gazette goes so far as to say that the situation indicates the breaking down of civilized govern ment. It must be admitted that our occas ional touches of anarchy are destructive and deadly, but in the past the govern ment has always been able to suppress disturbances and restore order, and it is utterly absurd to suppose that a. ma jority of our 70.000,000 people will ever | permit such a reign of terror as France I has seen several times in the course of | the past hundred years. There are no deep, underlying causes at the bottom of the present agitation—nothing that can not be satisfactorily remedied by the , just reforms pledged in the platform of the dominant party. These reforms have been delayed by huckstering poli ticians who thought more of the inter ests of monopolies and trusts than of the welfare of the people, but the pres- sure of public opinion will now cause the statesmen of both parties to go to work to give’the country the promised ami inucli-neeileil financial relief and other legislation demanded by the exi gencies of the times. The country will come out al! right. There is far less danger of a collapse of government here than there is in some of the older countries of Europe. Our Military Strengt h. How many men in the ( nited Stales are fit for military service, and what is the strength of the regular army and the militia, of the states? The iins’ipT should reassure the timid people who are afraid of a general out break of lawlessness. There are 9,000,- 000 men in tliis country subject to mil itary duty, 25.000 men in the regular army and the militia numbers 112,190 volunteers. The rich and populous states have a. strong militia. New York lias 12,810 soldiers; Pennsylvania, 8,014; Ohio, (5,125; Massachusetts, 5,(566; Illinois. 4.777; Indiana, 2,633; lowa, 2.351: Mis souri. 2,415, and Michigan, 2,801. Those volunteer soldiers are subject to the orders of the president and can be sent wherever the}' are needed. If there should be an uprising of any magnitude the president would call 011 the governors of th(‘ states for as many million men as might be required to sup press tiie disturbance. Os course, it is not. to )x‘ supposed that a sensible peo ple like tin' Americans will ever render such a step necessary. The f(’floral gov ernment. is solidly backed by tin 1 people of every state, with the exception of a very small percentage of the discon tented and lawless classes, and if pub lic disorder in any locality is allowed to continue for a few days it is because the government is merciful and is re luctant to use the force at its command. When the necessity arises, however, the misguided men who defv the law will find that the tremendous might of this great republic cannot be resisted either at home or abroad. Facing Death for Seven Years. The late President Carnot was notified nearly every day during his term of office that hi' would lie assassinated. More than 2,060 such threats reached him in seven years. He literally faced death every (lay, and yet. he went about with a smiling face, shirking none of his duties, and making one of the best rulers that France ever had. 'rhe French president was a great man, a. brave man, ami made of the genuine martyr stuff. Few men could have endured his mental strain for so many years without breaking down. It would i>e hard to find a nobler example for all men in whatever station who hoar great responsibilities and have im portant duties to discharge. Life was sweet to ('arnot.’but he never weighed it in the balance against prin ciple and duty. The daily threat of murder never caused him to waver or halt. He lived and (lied without fear and without reproach. A Lesson to the Farmers. The great strike of tiie past week in terrupted irattic to a serious extent, but while it may bo regarded as a. national calamity, it will boa blessing if our farmers profit by the lesson which it teaches. NVe have seen that it is possible for one man to issue an order which in a few hours will tie up the main trunk linos and blockade interstate commerce, cutting off from us tiie section which lias so long been our source of grain and meat supply. If the strike had been a complete success it would have driven some communities to the verge of star vation. and the planters of the south would have been unable to move their cotton or import food for man and beast. In past generations when we produced at home everything that was needed in the shape of grain and meat the inter ruption of communication with the west would have simply impeded travel, with out making any difference in our mode of living. But with the multiplication of railroads we have allowed ourselves to become entirely too dependent upon remote sections for the supplies which might easily be produced at homo. It is not likely that a strike will over ’ shut us off from the east and the west ; for many days at a time. but. wo should : not run any unnecessary risk. NVe have 1 a. productive soil and plenty of labor. It ' is just as easy now to raise our own 1 bread and meat as it was forty years ’ ago. and the advantage of such a policy is too evident to be disputed. If the southern people will make their section as independent and self-supporting in ■ the matter of food as it wrw in the old J days, the labor strikes in other parts of ’ the country will be scarcely felt here. The strike should set our farmers to ( thinking. Great Spoons? Have you not seen them? Subscribe for The Weekly Constitution nt once nn(i set riaht in the pnxh. Thousands of them will «o this month. Send in ! y.mr orders at once and avoid the de lays which may crowd upon us later. ED7 TORI A f. COM MEN T. ( In what respect Is Senator Peffer a whit . better than Mr. Debs? It cost nothing for Debs to order work to stop. He knew that his salary would still go on. Carl Browne is marching with the Coxey army on Wall street. He promises to re turn and head his men to the capitol on September Ist. ; The destruction of property in Chicago was not caused by the railway strikers, but by the toughs who took advantage of the confusion to indulge in rioting. France is about to abolish the law mak ing marital infidelity a misdemeanor. As , the law stands, the unfaithful wife is pun- 1 ished while the husband goes free unless he commits the offense under his own roof. Eugene Field says: “We have no hesi tancy in declaring that the newspaper ; writer who can write a timely newspaper 1 article just now without offending some- ’ body is a daisy from Daisyville, Daisy county.” | Says The New York World: “The new 1 city directory contains 387,411 names. Reck- 1 oning upon the usual basis of five to one, 1 which in New York is more than conser- ' vative, this indicates a population of nearly 2,000,000. But this covers only the forty-one square miles of territory within the boun daries of the city proper. It does not at all represent the real greatness of this vast seat of population. Taking Central park as the center, and including as large a territory as Chicago does—lßs square miles —we have here a population well in excess of 4,000,000, or very nearly as great as that of London.” Gloomy prophecies of the future of the human race, owing to tight lacing, are being circulated, says The British Medical Jour nal. Tight lacing no doubt exists to some extent in this country, and produces bad results. It existed just as much or more, thirty, sixty and a hundred years ago. Nev ertheless, our eyes may convince us that the race has not degenerated. Indeed, Eng lish women seem to be growing finer and taller than ever, though their mothers were widely addicted to tight lacing. Among the richer classes golf, lawn tvnnis and the abandonment of “lineladyism” of the bad eld type accounts for the superior develop ment of contemporaneous womanhood. The experience of hospital doctors also tends to show that the women of the poor are big ger and healthier than their mothers. As for the male youth of Great Britain, their mothers’ vanity has done them little If any harm. Southern Repudiation. From The Jacksonville Times-Union. The July number of The North American Review contains an answer by Clark How ell, of The Atlanta Constitution, to an aiticle that had appeared in the same pub lication a month before on southern repu diation, written by John F. Hume. Mr. Hume argues that the dishonesty of the southern states in repudiating their deuts has ruined their erdeit and wrecked the value of all kinds of southern securities. Mr. Howell s answer is able, clear and fun, and is a complete refutation of the state ments of Mr. Hume. While Mr. Howell's answer completely demolishes the position of his opponent, no answer was necessary. The assault on the south shows an ignorance or a malice that defeats itself. * * * The northern man who talks about southern repudiation has a wonderiut amount of cheek. The first wholesale re pudiation that was ever known m the scuth, as Mr. Howell well says, was iorccd on the southern states by the federal gov ernment. The southern ‘ - .were lorced to repudiate the debts they had incurred in their defense against invasion. These debts were held by friends. Certainly after forcing these states to r ipudiate honi debts, it comes with very poor grace fur the north to criticise the south fur repudi ating debts that were never incurred oy the southern people, but were incurred when tlfe states were in the hands of a set of foreign adventurers who obtained power only through the force of the fed eral government, and used it only to issue bonds to enrich themselves. To show how the freebooters pillaged the southern states, it is only necessary to show the amount of the debts they had saddled on the states in three years after their accession to power. Ihe figures given below do not represent the total indebted ness of the states in 1871, but the amount of the debts that had been incurred by the carpet baggers. The figures are as fol lows: Alabama. $52,761,917; Arkansas, $19,398,D1M; Floriila, $15,797,587; Georgia, $42,560,500, Lou isiana, $40,021,731; North Carolina, $31,88/,461; South Carolina; ?,12.‘ . : ,16; T xas, 814.. Virginia, $17,090,866. This was the work of three years of carpet bag rule. During that time the indebtedness of the southern states was increased, in amounts ranging fri m $5,000,000 to $17,500,000 each, per a ti nt m. The refusal of the southern states to pay these fraudulent debts has not injured their credit in the slightest degree. The credit of every southeia state was bad before the i t j.udi.-i th>n of these uebts. r.nd since they h, ve bi cn 'jurtiated southern < redit is good. The southern states, except in a lew instances, have r-<>udiated thtir honest debts only when force i by the federal gevernment to do so. With this exception northern states have lepudiated as often and as much. The repudiation of these carpet bag debts was neither bad morals nor bad policy. I ■. iirbm w. biimj tt it .-ur.-r«Tjrvw skvx pS nf l THE MISSING Ji ILlLjrO WORD. The present sentence will run for hvo mouths instead of one, here tofore, To Sept, ist Ast interesting; Contest in Which Ev erybody tins the Same Chauce. The Missing Word competition craze is the latest fad in England. ft is exciting iti • whole country, an i hundreds o'. tbou.-amis of people arc- 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 ord r office, and embarrass the 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 so” a shilling. The' money sent in 'is divided among the guessers who name the correct woid. A few' weeks ago one paper distrib uted $35,000 among fort','-three correct guess ers, each man receiving over SBOO for h’s shilling. The money order blanks have al! been used up at many postoffices, the mails nre clogged and clubs have been organized to go into the guessing business. !’f» CONSTITUTION READERS. The Constitution makes this proposition: Among those who supply the missing word in the following sentence between now and the Ist of September, 18;d. we will divide one fourth of the subscription receipts of ail 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. '1 HE SENTENCE. “He crept to this place and waited a fa vorable opportunity, it came at once, for the keen cars of the guard heard some un usual sound as Thurabi 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 the subscriptions of ail those who guess. THE GUARANTEE. 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 the division will be made and published just as outlined THE PROSPECT. Suppose 5,000 guesses were made. This 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, $62.50, 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 diately after September Ist. CONDITIONS AND INDUCEMENTS. The terms of the contest are xew and sim ple: 1. Every guess must be accompanied by one year’s subscription to The Weekly Con stitution, sent to any address at $1 2. The sender of a club of five at $1 each, for one year, is entitled to a free paper one year and also a guess. 3. With every subscription the missing word should be written plainly, with the name and address of the guesser. It is not necessary to rewrite the sentence —simply write the word and label it “the missing worn for September Ist.” 4. Renewal subscriptions are entitled to guesses just as new subscribers. Remember that you get the greatest and best of all American weekly newspapers for every guess. You cannot do without The Cons'itution for ]S!>4. address a’l communi cations to „ THE CONSTTTtTTTON. Atlanta, Ga.

Georgia Historic Newspapers

The Atlanta constitution. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, July 16, 1894, Page 6, Image 6