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PAGE FOURTEEN JOHN TYLER MORGAN. The death of Senator John T. Morgan, of Alabama, does not come as a surprise. He was old and inarm, and his passing away was one of tiiose events so in ac cord with the course of nature as to be generally anticipated. The democrats of Alabama at their last primary election renominated him for tne place he has so long and so ably tilled, but at the same time they took the precaution to nominate an alternate to succeed him. Yet de spite the expectancy that preceded this melancholy event, it brings a certain shock and much sadness to know that this long familiar figure, this man who stood so many years conspicuous among the nation’s great men, and one of the represen ia.ive men of the south in national affairs, has become “part and por tion of the dreadful past.’’ Had he lived but a few days longer Senator Morgan would have completed his 83d year. It is to the few only that such long life is accorded, and few, indeed, have carried their strength and use fulness into such extreme of age. He was ever an active man. He began the practice of law in ti.e year that James K. Polk began his term in the presidential of dee, and he was a pres' idential elector in that tempestuous political year immediately preceding the civil war. In the confederate ser vice he rose from the station of pri vate soldier to brigadier general and he was prominent among those who redeemed Alabama from the rule of tne carpet-baggers. He was a Til den elector in 1870, and the follow ing year began his long career in the fedeial senate. He was contempora ry with Beu Hill, Wade Hampton, Lamar, Vance, Garland, Isham G. Harris and other prominent southern* ers some years departed, and whom we have come to regard as men of a past generation. He was among the ablest and brightest of the distin guished southerners who entered the senate in the period following recon struction, and he maintained his men tal vigor with but little evidence of impairment to the end. It was but a few months ago that he gave marked evidence of his well preserved powers in the persistent and acute cross-ex amination to which he subjected Wil liam Nelson Cromwell, one of the shrewdest of corporation lawyers, and a man experienced in the man agement of large affairs. Cromwell left the country patently to escape Senator Morgan’s incisive question ing. Senator Morgan was a man of un us al intellectual accomplishments. Some years ago he was a frequent contributor to the reviews, and more than any other man in public life at that time displayed an ability for polemic essays produced with a order of literary ability. He had much reputation in Alabama for pop ular oratory in his earlier days, and he dir'il ived some extraordinary pow ers 01 debate in the senate. His fluency and prolificncss of speech were proverbial. He was the demo cratic dependence when the minority partv in the senate adopted filibus tering tactics and it became necessa ry to talk an obnoxious measure to death. Senator Morgan possessed great WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. suavity and courtliness of manner which, couph.d with his ready mental equipment, would have made him an ideal diplomat, and it seems strange that his ambition never led him into that character of public service, ite could, no doubt, if he had desired, have had high diplomatic appoint ments under .President Cleveland, but to be an American Ambassador now requires a large private fortune, of wmeu the distinguisned Alabaman was never possessed. Alter thirty years in the United States senate, which is often called “the millionaii es ’ club,’’ it is to his credit that he died a poor man. It was Senator Morgan’s strong and persistent advocacy of the Nica ragua canal for which his career in the senate will be most remembered. The project of an isthmian canal to be constructed by the federal gov ernment owes much to the untiring energy with which he advocated it. He was so strong a partisan of the Nicaragua route that he submitted with poor grace to the choice that was finally made, but in the agita tion of the canal project he was the most untiring of leaders and the canal when finished will be a monument to his energy, though it was not c< n strucled over the route he preferred. His advocacy of the canal showed Senator Morgan's breadth of mind. He gave his chief attention to this practical matter for the advancement of the nation and especially of the south, at a time when most southern senators were absorbed with sectional politics. His breadth and independence of thought were further exhibited in his support of the policy of terri torial extension in the Pacific when it was opposed by the majority of his party. He favored the annexa tion of Hawaii in opposition to Pres ident Cleveland, and stood for United States control in the Philip pines despite the “anti-imperalist ” pronouncements of the democratic platforms in three successive presi dential campaigns. In the passing of John Tyler Mor gan another link that bound the old and the new south has been broken. He was one of the last of a great generation. It is most regrettab'e that his death marks another indi cation of the decadence in the per sonnel of the south’s represent a ion in the federal senate. He does not leave such able southern men in that body as he found on entering it.— Nashville Banner. INDIANS AND NEGROES IN OFFICE. There have been many Indians who have held highly important civil and military positions, and an even greater number of Negroes who have served creditably in similar capaci ties. Perhaps one of the most con spicuous of these among American Indians was the famous Tecumseh. He was born in 1768 and killed at the Battle of the Thames in 1813. Although a Shawnee, he took sides w'ith the British and become a brig adier general in command of a mixed British-Indian force of two thousand or more. Another Indian general who won for himself a name for bravery and shrewdness was Chief Watie of the Cherokee nation. There was a slight strain of white blood in the veins of this man, however. He was a colonel, and afterward a brigadier general in the Confederate army, commanding an Indan brigade of two regiments and three batteries. Originally the Cuerokees were one of the nations of the Atlantic coast, and spoke a language similar to that of the Iroquois, but were greatly re tarded in civilization by being trans ferred to a desolate tract of countiy beyond the Mississippi. Yet despite their many hardships and the numer ous interventions that have tended to retard their progress, they are among the most highly cultured of all the American Indians. In 1824 a Cherokee named George Guess in vented for his people a complete al phabet, and with a written language their literature has had a steady growth peculiarly its own. They also print newspapers in buth Cherokee and English. Equally prominent was General Ely S. Parker, a Seneca, who was born in 1828 and educated a civil engineer. When the civil war broke out he enlisted in the Union army, and became General Grant’s secre tary and an officer of his staff. Later he was promoted to assistant adju tant general, then to brigadier gen eral, and finally became commission er of Indian affairs. Representative Curtis, of Kansas, was said to have been a quarter blood Kansa. J. N. B. Hewitt, of the bureau of ethnology, was said to be part Tuscarora; and Dr. East man, a noted agency physician and worker, is three-quarters Sioux. Mexico furnishes the most con spicuous examples of Indians who have risen to high official positions. General Hidalgo, who was spoken of in that country as the George Washington of Mexico, was said to have been an Indian of full blood. Then there was President Juarez of the same country, who was also an Indian, and President Diaz, called the “Maker of Mexico,’’ is also of Indian blood. Since the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1863, there have been many negroes who have held official positions. Two have held the position of United States senators. Twenty-two have been representa tives, two have been registers of the treasury, and several have been lieutenant governors of States. About twenty have been foreign ministers or consuls. Several have been of ficers in the army, and six have b •eii recorders of deeds. The first negro to fill the po i tiou of United States senator was Hiram R. Revells, of Mississippi, Strangely enough, he was elected to fill the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis* when the latter resigned to as sume the position of president of the confederacy. This negro was a grad uate of Knox college, was a Meth odist minister, received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and after his retirement from public service be came president of the Alcorn agri cultural and mechanical college at Rodney, Miss. The other negro to become a sen ator was Blanche K. Bruce, also of Mississippi. He served a full term in the senate from 1875 to 18sl, was also register of deeds, and later be came register of the treasury, in which position he died in 1898. The only other negro to fill the position of register of the treasury was Judson W. Lyons, who was ap pointed by President McKinley. Prominent among members of his race to serve in congress was Jo seph H. Rainey, of South Carolina. He served for ten years, and was considered one of the most influen tial of the representatives of his time. Jefferson Long, the only negro whom Georgia ever sent to congress, was a remarkably intellectual and brilliant man, as was Robert Brown Elliot, of South Carolina. Elliot was graduated from Eton college, Eng land, and was a member of the forty-second and forty-third con gresses from South Carolina. In 1879 at the Chicago Republican conven tion he nominated John Sherman for president, and when Sherman was afterward secretary of the treasury he made Elliot special agent of that department at Charleston, S. C.— Sunday Tribune Magazine. —■ l 4 CURRENCY INFLATION DANGER. The National City Bank in its monthly circular calls attention to cer tain features of our currency move ment which, unless corrected, suggest some disturbing possibili.ies for the financial situation at no distant date. The circular points out that bank note issues have risen aboye $600,- 000,000 —the largest volume in the country’s history—and that this ex pansion is in progress at a time when, on acount of diminishing trade activity, the need for money is de creasing. This anomaly has been realized more or less generally for some time past, but the City Bank reveals some thing entirely unappreciated in its statement that bank notes are being counted, to a growing extent, im properly as a basis of reserves. It is partly for this reason and partly because of the increase in the supply of government bonds available as security for circulation, owing to the recent refunding operations, that the applications for note retirement have been so disappointingly slow. In other words, two factors, one old and the other new, are operating to inflate the bank paper issue, and the circular refers to this inflation as one of the causes for the present exports of gold. The danger is, of course, entirely clear. If the inflation of bank notes is allowed to go on the cheaper form of money will expel the dearer; that is gold exportations, which are not at present regarded as serious, will assume dangerous proportions later on. The recent laws raising Lorn $3,000,000 to $9,000,000 the monthly limit of note redemption have so far completely failed to produce the ex pected results. It is still as true as it ever was that our bank circulation rises and falls not with trade re quirements but with the varying sup ply of government bonds. Only much more sweeping and effective legislation than congress has yet shown a disposition to enact can overcome this evil. But, in the mean time, the practice of the banks in not discriminating between bank notes and lawful money as a basis for re serve is something that can and ought to be corected at once. It is the plain duty of the national bank examiners to take action in the mat ter. —New York Globe.