Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1898 — BANKS AND CURRENCY. [ARTICLE]

BANKS AND CURRENCY.

Of late the gold advocating press Is not saying that “the banks are safe* than the Government.” This may be owing to the fact that Just now the people are Inclined to be impatient with those who show a disposition to impugn the stability and honesty of this government. Again, the recent bjg bank failures in Philadelphia, followed within the last week by a genuine boom in bank wrecking in the East, may have cooled the ardor of the “sound money reformers.”' Lemuel T. Terry, of New Bedford, Mass.; Lewis Warner, of Northampton, t Mass.; and E. H. Myers, of Carthage, N. Y., have wrecked the banks with which they were connected and have stolen an aggregate of half a million dollars. These men were all “highly respected members of society,” and representatives of what President McKinley calls “our best citizenship.” Will the gold advocates again take up the unpatriotic,' false and stupid cry that the banks are safer than the Government? Possibly, for there is no other argument to advance in favor of handing the control of the currency over to the banks. To admit that the Government is safe and honest is to admit that there is no excuse for taking the power to issue currency away from the Government. But facts prove shat, in many instances, the banks are not safe and that bank officials are not honest, while the converse is absolutely true of the Government; hence the gold clique argument has no weight and will be thoroughly discounted by the people.

Awakening of the Giant. How is it that not a single paper in the United States that is advocating the cause of bimetallism finds any time to say a word in favor of an AngloAmerican compact? The answer is “dead easy.” There is not a single newspaper advocating Independent bimetallism in the United States that Is owned in England, either in whole or in part. There is not a single paper advocating the gold standard in the United States that Is not also advocating an Anglo-American alliance. There is not a single paper advocating an understanding with England that is not either wholly or in part owned in England. They do not represent the sentiment of the American people. Their present noise, however, will serve to awaken the American people from their slumbers. When they awake they will sentence to British fortresses, as it were, now established among us and teaching false doctrines. —National Democrat.

Nelson Dingley—His Bill. There Is a bright and beaming smile upon the usually rugged face of Mr. Nelson Dingley these days. He hears with delight the music of Dewey’s guns at Manila; the smell of powder smoke Is as incense unto his nostrils. He glories in the triumph of American arms and he is particularly enthusiastic over all propositions looking to the prosecution of hostilities. For every gun fired, every naval skirmish tends to distract attention from Mr. Dingley’s “bill to produce revenue.” As he justly remarks: “The expenses of war are of an extraordinary nature and must be met by extraordinary means of raising money.” It was no 111 wind that bore to the Hon. Nelson Dingley’s ears the clash of resounding arms. It was a zephyr freighted with balm to the troubled soul and carrying away disagreeable mutterings concerning a deficit of $10,000,000 per month. Grim visaged War Is a white-winged dove in the eyes of Hon. Nelson.

Business Interests and the War. When it is borne in mind that all the men likely to be engaged in the war with Spain will not amount to 1 per cent, of the active working male population of the country, and that all the money that will be expended is less than the capitalization of each of several railroad companies in the United States, the importance of the war, considered with respect to its effect on trade and industry, is insignificant. There is no good reason why business should not go on without serious interruption, and the reports of the trade reviews show that this is the view taken generally by merchants.—Kansas City Star.

The Gerrymander Nuisance. The Supreme Court of Illinois has very properly killed the infamous gerrymander enacted at the recent session of the Illinois Legislature. The decision goes to the very root of the question and prevents any further attempt at apportionment until after the next census. Every step that is taken towards putting apportionment beyond the reach of continued meddling is beneficial, and if the States would adopt the rational basis of county representation they would be rid of this perpetual nuisance altogether.—lndianapolis Sentinel.

Effect of War on Trade. There are many instances in the history of the world where war acted as a stimulus to trade; where it has corrected a stagnant condition of business and has operated as the needed spur to set things in motion. There is every cause to believe that this will be the influence of the conflict that is now upon us; that it will encourage the revival of forces which have been dormant, and that it will communicate to the whole commercial and industrial fabric the power for which the. people have been waiting.—Kansas City Star. Vast Power Given to One Man. No other Parliament in any other country of the world has ever given the executive a freer hand than Congress did when it voted unanimously and without a single restriction .that $50,000,000. There are those who talk of the attempt of Charles I. to overthrow the rights and liberties of England, but he never dreamed of asking the House of Commons to put under his control any such sum as that—Providence Journal. Quay Has Work on Hand. Senator Quay is making the most determined efforts to secure his own reelection to the United States Senate by forcing the election of his henchmen to the Legislature; he is also strenuously engaged in efforts to compel the election of his candidate to the office of Governor, and to accomplish the nomination of one of his local lieutenants for the office of Mayor of Philadelphia.—Philadelphia Ledger. Cost of the Extra Session. The people of the State can now figure up the cost of the extra session, and they will then be in a position to give an approximate guess as to how much republicanism is costing them. It comes very high, but at the late election it seems they were determined to have it. —Peoria Herald. One Lesson of the War. The fact that Hawaii would be a source of weakness instead of strength to us if we annexed it is one of the useful lessons of the Spanish war.—Baltimore Sun.