Greenfield Republican, Greenfield, Hancock County, 24 January 1895 — Page 7
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THE GOSPEL'S POWER
REV. DR. TALMAQE REFERS TO MUNICIPAL REFORM.
B« PrtMkes a F*w*rfUl and Kloqwnl Swwon In New York, Taklnff Fer His Subject the Point* of the CompMS—The Beat at LMk 'New Tou, Jan. *).—The hearty treloom'e *ocorded to Dr. Talraag© at the Aoademy of Music, New York, Sunday before last, on the occasion of the eminent divine's introduction to tbd metropolitan pulpit, was additionally emphasized by the Immense throng that greeted him this afternoon aad which filled every Beat from oroheetra to top gallery. The singing was led by Professor Ali's cornet, and the services opened at precisely 4 o'clock with the singing of the long meter doxology. The subject of Dr. Talmage's discourse was "Points of Compass" and the text Luke xiii, 29, "They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down."
The man who wrote this was at one time a practicing physician, at another time a talented painter, at another time a powerful preacher, at another time a reporter—an inspired reporter. God bless and help and inspire all reporters! From their pens drops the health or poioon of nations. Tho name of this reporter was Lucanus. For short he was called Luke, and in my text, although stenography had not yet been born, he reports verbatim a sermon of Christ which in one paragraph bowls the round world into the light of the millennium. "They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down.
Nothing more interested me in my recent journoy around tho world than to see the ship captain about noon, whether on the Pacific or the Indian or Bengal or Mediterranean or Rod sea, looking through a nautical instrument to find just where we were sailing, and it is well to know that, though the captain tells you that there are 32 points of division of tho compass card in the mariner's compass, there are only four cardinal points, and my text hails them— the north, the south, the east, the west So I sproad out before us tho map of the world to see the extent of the gospel campaign. Tho hardest part of the'field to bo taken is tho north, because our gospel is an emotional gospel, and the nations of tho far north area cold blooded race. They dwell amid icebergs and eternal snows and everlasting winter. Greenlanders, Laplanders, Icelanders, Siberians—their vehicle is the sledge drawn by reindeer, their apparel tho thickest furs at all seasons, their existence a lifetime battle with the cold. The winter charges upon thorn with swords of icicle and strikes them with bullets of hail and pounds them with battling rams of glacicr.
Tho Gospel In tho Arctics.
But alrca Iv tho huts of tho arctic hoar the songs of divine worship. Already tho snows fall on open New Testaments. A1 ready tho warmth of tho sun of righteousness begins to be feit through tho oodies and minds and souls of tho Hyperboreans. Down from Nova Zembla, down from Spitsbergen seas, down from tho land of the midnight sun, down from tho palaces of crystal, down over realms of it* a and over dominions of snow and tiwoirgh hurricanes of sleet Christ's disciples are coming from the north. Tho inhabitants of Hudson bay are gathering to the cross. The Church Missionary society in those polar climes has been grandly successful in establishing 24 gospel stations, and over 12,000 natives have believed and been baptized. The Moravians have kindled the light of the gospel all up and down Labrador. The Danish mission has gathered disciples from among tho shivering inhabitants of Greenland. William Duncan preaches the gospel up in tho chill latitudes of Columbia, delivering one sermon nine times in the same day to as many different tribes who listen, and then go forth to build schoolliouses and churches.
Alaska, called at its annexation Wil liam H. Seward's folly, turns out to be William H. Seward's triumph, audit is hearing tho voice of God through tho American missionaries, men and women as defiant of arctic hardships as the old Scottish chief who, when camping out in a winter's night knocked from under his son's head a pillow of snow saying that such indulgence in luxury would weaken and disgrace the clan. The .1 cannetto went down in latitudo 77, while Do Long and his freezing and dying men stood watching it from tho crumbling and crackling polar pack, but tho old ship of tho gospel sails as unhurt in latitudo 7'! as in our own 40 degrees, and tho one starred flag floats above the topgallants in Baffin's bay and Hudson's strait and Melville sound. Tho heroism of polar exedition, which has made tho names of Sebastian Cabot and Scores by and Scliwatkaand Henry Hudson immortal, is to bo eclipsed by the prowess of thj men and women who amid tho frosts of highest latitudes are this moment taking the upper shores of Europe, Asia and America for God. Scientists have never been ablo to agree as to what is the aurora borealis, or
northern lights. 1 can tell them. It is the banner of victory for Christ spread out in the northern night heavens. Partially fulfilled already the prophecy of my text, to be completely fulfilled in the near future, "They shall como from the north." j?M The South For God.
But my text takes in the opposito point of tho compass. Tho far south has, through high temperature, temptations to lethargy nd indolence and hot blood which tend toward multiform evil. We have tlirongt* my text got tho north in, notwithstanding its frosts, and the Game text brings in the south notwithstanding its torridity. Tho fields of cactus, the orange
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H. Presoott and Lord Kingsboroagh made familiar in literature Mexico* in strange dialeot of the Aztecs Mexic* conquered by Hernan Cortes, to be more gloriously conquered Mexioo, with its capital more than 7,000 feet above the sea level looking down upon the en.-, trancoment of lake and valley and plain Mexico, the home of nations yet to be born—all for Christ The south! That means Africa, which David Livingstone oonsecrated to God whea he died on his knees in his tent of exploration. Already about 750,000 converts to Christianity in Africa. The south! That means all the islands strewn by omnipotent hand through tropical seas—Malayan Polynesia, Melanesia, Mioronesia and other islands more numerous than yon c&9 imagine unless you have voyaged around the world. The south! That means Java for God, Sumatra for God, Borneo for God, Siam for God.
A ship was wrecked near one of these islands, and two lifeboats put out for Bhore, but those who arrived in tho first boat were clubbed to death by the cannibals, and the other boat put back and was somehow saved. Years passed on, and one of that very crew was wrecked again with others on the same rocks. Crawling up on the shore, they proposed to hide from the cannibals in one of the caverns, but mounting tho rocks they saw a church and cried out: "We are saved! A church, a church I" The south! That means Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador and Bolivia. The south! That means the torrid zone, with all its bloom, and all its fruitage, and all its exuberance, the redolence of illimitable gardens, the music of boundless groves, the lands, the seas, that night by night look up to the southern cross, which, in stars, transfigures tho midnight heaven as you look up at j£ all the way from tho Sandwich Islands to Australia. "They shall come from, the south."
Clirist In the Eaet.
But I must not forget that my text takes in another cardinal point of the compass. It takes in tho east. I have to report that in a journey around tho world there is nothing so much impresses one as the fact that the missionaries divinely blessed aro taking the world for God. The horrible war between Japan and China will leave the last wall of opposition flat in the dust. War is barbarism always and everywhere. We hold up our hands in amazement at tho massacre at Port Arthur, as though Christian nations could never go into such diabolism. We forget Fort Pillow! We forget the fact that during our war both north and south rejoiced when there were 10,000 more wounded and slain on the.opposito side. War, whether in China or the United States, is hell let looso. But one good result will como from the JapaneseChinese conflict. These regions will be more open to civilization and Christianity than ever before. When Missionary Carey put before an assembly of ministers at Northampton his project for the evangelization of India, they laughed him out of the house. From Calcutta on the cast of India to Bombay on the west thero is not a neighborhood but directly or indirectly feels tho gospel power. The Juggernaut, which did its awful work for centuries, a few weeks ago was brought out from tho place where it has for years been kept under shed as a curiosity, and thero was no one reverentially to greet it. About 3,000,000 of Christian souls in India are tho advance I guard that will lead on tho 250,000,000. Tho Christians of Amov and Peking and I Canton are tho advance guard that will I lead tho 340,000,000 of China. "They shall come from the east." Tho last mosque of Mohammedanism will be
turned
and the thickets of
magnolia are to bo surrendered to the Lord Almighty. The south 1 That means Jtfexico and all the regions that William
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into a Christian church. Tho last
Buddhist temple will become a fortress of light. Tho last idol of Hindooism will bo pitched into tho firo.
The Christ who camo from the east will yet bring all the east with him. Of course there are high obstacles to be overcome, and great ordeals must bo passed through before the consummation, as witness the Armenians under the butchery of the Turks. May that thrcno on tho banks of tho Bosporus soon crumble! The time has already come when the United States government and Great Britain and Germany ought to intone the indignation of .all civilized nations. While it is not requisite that arms be sent there to avenge tho wholesale massacre of Armenians, it is requisite that by cable under tho seas, and by protest that shall thrill the wires from Washington and London and Berlin to Constantinople, the nations anathematize the diabolism for which tbo sultan of Turkey is responsible. Mohammedanism is a curse whether in Turkey or New York. "They shall como from the east. And they will como at tho call of tho loveliest and grandest and
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men and women of all time. I mean tho missionaries. Dissolute Americans and Englishmen who have gone to Calcutta and Bombay and Canton to mako their fortunes defame the missionaries becauso the holy lives and the pure households of those missionaries area constant rebuke to the American and English libertines stopping there, but tho men and women of God thero stationcd go on gloriously with their work. People just as good and self denying as I was Missionary Moffat, who, when asked to writo in an album, wroto theso words:
My album is in savage breasts,
I Where passion reigns and darkness rests Without one ray of light. I To write tlui name of Jesus there, I To j-.oint t? worlds both bright and fair,
And sim? the payr.n bow in prayer,
I Is nil n:y soul's delight. In all those regions are men and womeu with tho cousecration of Melvillo B. Cox, who, embarking for the 1 missionary work in Africa, said to a follow student, "If I die in Africa, come and writo my epitaph. "What shall I write for your epitaph?" said tho student. "Write, "said he, "these words: "Let a thousand fall before Africa be given up."
Worldly Reform In the West.
\, There is another point of tho compass that my text includes. "They shall como from tho west." That means
America redeemed. Everything between Atlantic and Pacific oceans to be brought
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within the circle of holiness and rapture. Will it be done by worldly reform or erangelism? Will it be law or gospel? I am glad that aware of reform has swept across this land, and all the cities are feeling the advantage of the mighty movement. Let the good work go on until the last municipal evil is extirpated. About 15 years ago the distinguished editor of aNew York daily newspaper said to me in his editorial room: "Yon ministers talk abovt evils of whieh you know nothing. Why don't yon go irith the officers of the law and explore for yourself, so that when yon preach against sin you can speak from 'what you have seen with your own eyes?" I said, "I will," and in company with a commissioner of police and a captain of police and two elders of my ehurch I explored the dens and hiding places of all styles of crime in New York and preached a series of sermons warning young men and setting forth the work that must be done lest the judgments of God whelm this city with more awful submergement than tho volcanic deluge that buried Hcrculaneum and Pompeii. I received, as nearly as I can remember, several hundred columns of newspaper abuse for undertaking that exploration. Editorials of denunciation, double leaded, and with captions in great primer typo, entitled "The Fall of Talmage," or "Talmage Makes tho Mistake of His Life," or "Down With Talmage, but I still live and am in full sympathy with all movements for municipal purification.
But a movement which ends with crime exposed and law executed Btops half way. Nay, it stops long before it gets half way. Tho law never yet saved anybody, never yet changed anybody. Break up all tho houses of iniquity in this city, and you only sond the occupants to other cities. Break down all tho policemen in New York, and while it changes their worldly fortunes it does not change their heart or life. The greatest want in New York today is the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to change tho heart and the lifo and uplift the tone of moral sentiment and make men do right not because they are afraid of Ludlow Street jail or Sing Sing, but because they love God and hato unrighteousness. I have never heard, nor have you heard, of anything except the gospel that proposes to regenerate tho heart, and by tho influence of that regenerated heart rectify tho lifo. Execute tho law most certainly, but preach the gospol by all means in churches, in theaters, in homes, in prisons, on the land and on tho sea. Tho gospel is tho only power that can revolutionize society and save tho world. All else is half and half work and will not last. In Now York it has allowed men who got by police bribery their thousands and tens of thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars to go scot free, while some who wero merely tho cat's paw and agents of bribery are .struck with tho lightnings of tho law. It reminds me of a scene in Philadelphia when I was living there. A poor woman had been arrested and tried and imprisoned'for selling molasses candy on Sunday. Other lawbreakers had been allowed to go undisturbed, and tho grogshops were open on tho Lord's day, and tho law, with its hands behind its back, walked up and down tho streets declining to molest many of tho offenders, but we all rose up in our righteous indignation, and calling upon all powers, visiblo and invisible, to help us, wo declared that though the heavens fell no woman should bo allowed to cell molasses candy on Sunday.
Party and Politics.
A few weeks ago, after I had preached in one of tho churches in this city, a man staggered up on the pulpit stairs, maudlin drunk, saying, "lam one of the reformers that were elected to high office at the last election. I got rid of that' 'great reformer" as soon as I could, but I did not get rid of the impression that a man like that would euro the abominations of Now York about as soon as smallpox would cure typhoid fever or a buzzsaw would render Haydn's "Creation. Politics in all our cities has become so corrupt that the only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is that each is worso than tho other. But what nothing else in the universe can do the gospel can and will accomplish. "They shall como from tho west," and for that purpose tho evangelistic batteries aro planted all along the Pacific coast, as they are planted all along tho Atlantic coast. All tho prairies, all the mountains, all the valleys, all tho cities aro under moro or less gospel influence, and when we got enough faith and consecration for tho work this whole American continent will cry out for God. "They shall come from the west."
The work is not so difficult as many suppose. You say, "Thero aro tho foreign populations." Yes, but many of them aro Hollanders, and they wero brought up to love and worship God, and it will tako but little to persuade the Hollanders to adopt tho religion of their forefathers. Then thero are among these foreigners so many of tho Scotch. They or their ancestors heard Thomas Chalmers thunder and Robert McCheyno pray. The broatli of God so often swept through tho heather of tho highlands, and the voice of God has so often sounded through tho Trossachs, and they all know how to sing Dundee, so that they will not have often to bo invited to accept tho God of John Knox and Bothwell Bridge.
Then there aro among theso foreigners so many of the English. They inherited tho same language as wo inherited—the English in which Shakespearo dramatized, and Milton chimed his cantos, and Henry Melville gospelized, and Oliver Cromwell prorogued parliament, and Wellington commanded his eager hosts. Among these foreigners aro tho Swiss, and they were rocked in a cradle under tho shadow of tho Alps, that cathedral uf tho Almighty in which all tho elements, snow and hail and tempest and hurricane, worship. Among theso forigncrs are a vast host of Germans, and they feel centuries afterward the power of that unparalleled spirit who shook
GREENFIELD REPUBLICAN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 24. 1895.
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the earth when ho trod it, and the heavens when ho prayed—Martin Lnther! From all nations our foreign populations have come, and they are homesick, far away from the place of their childhood and the graven of their ancestor, and oar glorious religion presented t• them aright will meet their nc*d* r..: flll their souls and kindle their en'. asm. They shall come from anv.-t wheat sheaves of Dakota, and f/c:n ore beds of Wyoming, and from tho verminesof Nevada, and from tho en gulches of Colorado and from tiw banks of the Platte, auoThe Oregon, »ad the Sacramento, and the Columbia. "They shall come from the west" liTlted to Sit Down.
But what will they do after they oomeT Here is something gloriously consolatory that you have never noticed, "They shall come from the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, and shall sit down.'' Oh, this is a tired world! The most of people are kept on tho run all their lifetime. Business keeps them on th9 run. Trouble keeps them on the run. Rivalries of lifo keep them on the run. They are running from disaster. They are running for reward. And those who run the fastest and run the longest seem best to succeed. But my text suggests a restful posture for all God's children, for all those who for a lifetime have been on the run. "They ishall sit down!" Why run any longer! When a man gets heaven, what more canhoget? "Thoy shall sit down." Not alone, but picked companionship of the universe not embarrassed, though a seraph should sit down on one side of you and an archangel on the other.
Thero is that mother who, through all the years of infancy and childhood, was kept running amid sick trundle beds, now to shako up tho pillow for that flaxen head, and now to give a drink to those parched lips, and now to hush tho frightened dream of a little one, and when there was ono less of tho children, because the great lover of children had lifted one out of tho croup into tho easy breathing of celestial atmosphere, the mother putting ail the moro anxious care on those who were left, so weary of aria and foot and back and head, so often crying out: "I am so tired! I am so tired!" Hor work done, sho shall sit down, and that business man for 30, 40, 50 years has kept on the run, not urged by selfishness, but for the purpose of achieving a livelihood for tho household. On the run from store to store, or from factory to factory, meeting this loss and discovering that inaccuracy and suffering betrayal or disappointment, nevermore to be cheated or perplexed or exasperated, ho shall sit down, not in a great armchair of heaven, for tho rockers of such a chair would imply ono's need of soothing, of changing to easy posture or scmi-invalidism, but a throne, solid as eternity and radiant as tho morning aftera night of storm. "They shall sit down."
The Heavenly Rest.
I notice that tho most of tho styles of toil require an erect attitude. Thero aro tho thousands of girls behind counters, many such persons through tho inhumanity of employers compelled to stand, even when becauso of a lack of customers thero is no need that they stand. Then thero aro all tho carpenters, and tho stonemasons, and tho blacksmiths, and tho farmers, and tho engineers, and tho ticket agents, and tho conductors. In most trades, in most occupations, they must stand. But ahead of all those who lovo and servo tho Lord is a resting place, a complete relaxation of fatigued muscle, something cushioned and upholstered and embroidered, with the very easo of heaven. "They shall sit down." Rest from toil, rest from pain, rest from persecution, rest from uncertainty. Beautiful, joyous, transporting, everlasting rest!
Oh, men and women of tho frozen north, and tho blooming south, and from tho realms of tho rising or setting sun, through Christ get your sins forgiven and start for tho place where you may at last sit down in blissful recovery from tho fatigues of earth, while thero roll over you the raptures of heaven. Many of you have had such a rough tussle in this world that if your facultios wero not perfect in heaven you would some time forget yourself and say, "It is time for me to start on that journey," or "It must bo time for mo to count out the drops of that medicine," or "I wondor what new attack thero is on mo through the newspapers?" or "Do you think I will save anything of those crops from tho grasshoppers, or the locusts, or the droughts?" or "I wonder how much I have lost in that last bargain?" or "I must hurry lest I miss the train." No, no! The last volume of direful, earthly experiences will be finished. Yea, tho last chapter, tho last paragraph, the last sentence, tho last word. Finis!
Frederick tho Great, notwithstanding the mighty dominion over which he reigned, was so depressed at times ho could not speak without crying, and carried a small bottle of quick poison with which to end his misery when he could stand it no longer. But I give you this small vial of gospel anodyne, ono drop of which, not hurting either body or soul, ought to sootho all unrest and put your pulses into an eternal calm. "They shall como from tho east, and from tho west, and from tho north, and tho south, and shall sit down.
Princes and Princesses.
Tho English liko to read about princes and princesses, to gossip about their doings and to utilizo them for ceremonials, but their positive liking for them has rather narrow limits. They will not allow them any political influence, thoy are desperately jealous of their claim to appointments even in tho army, though princes fill these fairly well, and they will not, when they can help it, votothem any money to live on. It will by and by bo simply impossible even to ask parliament for grants.
Tho real English feeling, we should have said, is limited to the sovereign and to those who must succeed her, the throne rather than the royal family being the true object of the nation's te« qard.—London Spectator.
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THEY AEE ALL AT SEA
CONGRESS SPLIT INTO FACTIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF FINANCE.
A GrowlnK Feellnj In Favor mt Silver, Vartoua Anthorltlmt on Pineal 8«lanee. Ttowa of CtwgrMtmei Stalling!, H«adrix, Hepbnra and Others.
[Hpocial Correspondence.
Washington, Jan. »4. —If it wero not ftuch a vary sariou* matter for the p*ople, the congressional situation at this time would rouse the we«ping philosopher to sardonic la-.i^litw. The axplanatioa Is •liuple, too, for, lo! these many yean we have b«en trying all acirts of experiments In finance, and many of the wlldost have provod apparent succosBes because the rapid growth of the oountry saved ua from the natural consequences of our folly. The result has been to create a foolish confidence in some and extreme timidity In othore, with a general uncertainty and many diversities of opinion which are represented in congress. In the dominant party thero aro no less than nine factions, ranging from Air. Sperry of Connecticut, with his sweeping bill for retiring all government paper money, to Mr. Bland from Harti Aloney Patterson to Soft Money McLaurin.
Growing Favor For Silver.
The Republicans could be hilarious indeed over the predicament of their opponents, but their own withers aro by no means unwrung. They have polled the next congress a few times, and every time have discovered a few more fellows who aro oB color in fiscal scienco. A single instance shows how panicky the feeling is. In ordinary times tho fact that the Republican who is to succeed Mr. Tracey of New York is a silver man Would excite only a smile, possibly an expression of good natured contempt, but the recent announcement of the fact causcd a feeling a little liko that which runs through an army when some trusted officer goes ovor to tho
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enemy. Moreover, in spite of all the political changes, it is today asserted that tho new senate will be even more strongly prosilver than the present one.
Senator Quay makes no secret of his intention to talk the appropriation for collecting the income tax to death singlo handed and alone, or at least to talk till tho new senators to fill vacancies get here. Of tho three from tho now half represented states wo wero at first assured that two would bo goldbugs and one a silver crank, next that one would bo a monometallist and the other two moderate silver men, but now it is given out that all three will bo silverites. The senator stands almost alone, however, in his party on tho proposition to nullify tho income tax law by withholding appropriations. Such Republicans as Sherman, Cannon and others of long standing experience protest that it would bo a very dangerous precedent. Mr. Cannon says: "The Democrats tried it in Hayes' time, went just far enough to rouso ungcr and then backed down. If wo begin it—well, tho Democrats have never been backward in adopting our worst precedents, and 1 fancy they would be liko that fellow in Shakespeare who said, 'Tho villainy you teach mo I will execute, and it shall go hard with me but I better tho instruction.'
It is taken for granted, therefore, that by tho close of this session, if not before, tho government revenue will exceed its expenses, and tho houso committee on naval affairs is figuring on a considerablo surplus by December. This relieves tho Democrats of the heaviest pressure to unite and pass a bill and leaves them free course to run and bo damnified. How wildly thoy have run, and how scattered and how changed positions, is shown not only by tho nino diverse propositions they have had to consider and caucus upon, but by the fact that so cautious and conservative an old southern Democrat as Judge Culberson favors a plan which two years ago would simply havo annihilated his party in the western states. He thinks all tho greenbacks and Sherman silver notes, nearly $500,000,000, should be funded in 2 per cent bonds, which could be used as the fcasis of banking. A unique plan indeed is that of Congressman Terry of Arkansas. In addition to a tolerably liberal banking law, he would enact that any state or territory may buy silver bullion as cheap as it can, bring it to the mint and have it coined into silver dollars on state account, provided that the amount in any one year should not exceed $1 per capita of the state's population at the last census.
Mr. Terry's Plan.
My plan," said Mr. Terry in the course of a lengthy talk, "gets rid of all tho superficial objections to the increased uso of silver. There is really nothing in most of them, and tho main ones nullify each other, but superficially and as presented to the people thoy have a certain force. Lnder my plan the silver kings would not got tho benefit of freo coinage, nor would the increase bo rapid enough to disturb existing contracts. It would supply moro money just about as fast as needed and, in my opinion, would in time bring the two metals to a parity. While the process was going on the people of each state or territory would got tho benefit of tho difference between bullion and coin. Better still, if the gold bug states disaproved of the system they need not go into it. Only the states in favor of silver would then have it coined on account, and tho goldbug states could cut down tho increase one-half, if they liked. I havo no doubt, however, that New York and Massachusetts would take the boigniorago just as promptly as Texas and Colorado."
The gonial Mr. Stallings of Alabama also has a plan which he thus sets forth in conversation, for he has not thought it worth while to put it in tho form of a bill: "I start with the proposition that the national banking system is tho best this oountry ever had, and though a better
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might he devised it would be impossible to £et it adopted. Furthermore, the striction of the issue to 90 per cent of tb« bonds as well as the security deposit bav* long been unnecessary, for the bonds worth more than their face, and I «UB hardly eonoeiva of a condition in the future waen they could not be immediately sold to redmm tho notes of any failed bank. I would, therefore, for the present give the banks the right to issue the JTaoe! value of the bond and in emergencies like that of 1SU3 to issue 50 per oeut more, this extra issue to bo subject to a heavy tax, which would insure itn retirement as soon as the emoraency passod and the rate of interest became normal. I must admit, however, th»t this is mere theory, for then*: is so much cowardice among public men at present. 1 consider this aa one of those periods in which legislators should lead public opinion or even resolutely defy it instead of following it Congress ought to follow the light of experience and sound science, and adopt the boat plan, even II tho people were opposed to it, and then go out and persuade the people to indorse it. A funny illustration of tho general scare is found in the published figures on the gold available and the statements made about it in congress. They talk about there being $600,000,000 in tho country, but my opinion is that a universal search warrant would not discover more than $325,000,000.
Varied l'lann.
Tho country has hoard enough of the Baltimore plan, tho Carlisle bill, tho Springer substitute for tho CarMslo bill, the Bland substitute, the Walker substi tute, the Walker amendments to the Walkor substituto and tho Springer amendments to the Springer substitute for tho Carlislo bill as well as the Sperry substitute for all the other substitutes and bills. It would fatigue the memory to even name tho minor subdivisions of opinion on all theso measures, and in this chaotic condition the houso drifted toward a vote, the Populists being tho only really happy fellows in tho business. The first day after tho holiday recess, but onc-lourth of tho members being presont, tho debate was a trifle dull, the speakers being Messrs. Black of Georgia and McCreary and Beekner of Kentucky fur the bill, and Messrs. Haugen of Wisconsin and Adams of Pennsylvania against it
Jerry Simpson injected a little fun by asking how tho pcoploof the United States had lost $20,000,000 by tho decline in tho price of coal, as Mr. Adams had stated. Tho latter answered according to the advice of the old lawyer to "abuse the plaintiff's attorney," and then Lafe Poncccame in with some ovidenco about the foreign born miners of Pennsylvania, which stirred up feeling and made tho debate almost interesting. On tho second day, however, Mr. liendrix of Brooklyn said in substance: There is too much paper money. If we are to maintain the gold basis—and do it wc must—we must fund the whole $530,000,000 of government papor in bonds and then uncounted millions of jjjold now waiting to see what wo will do will flaw in upon us from Europe. Now is the golden opportunity, when the world has more money than it can use. I bog of you strike while the iron in hot, while the great pools of capital in France and Germany and England are wailing simply for the signal that tho United Slates is once moro all right and intends to keep all Tight, to let their Pactolian st ream come over and flow through all the veins of our commerce."
A Sensational Speech.
Tho sensation of the day, however, was the speech of Hon. Wii'iam Peters Hepburn of Iowa, who spoko but 15 minutes, but every sentence was a snapper. He was for hi.z.li tariff, more silver, a subsidy to shipping until we do all our own carrying, and for several other thing.-, selected from the measures advocated by various parties. Consider this sentence, "But I am as firmly convinced as that I am alhe that, if tho secretary of the treasury was now to exercise discretion, paying out gold when legitimate redemption i's demanded and refusing to pay it out when the sole and only purpose is to deplete the treasury of this country, when the desire is for shipment abroad, tho evils that we suffer from would cease to exist." Tho gem of hi3 speech, however, was in tho low sentences with which he cut tho balance of trade theory into giblets. He asserted, and some think ho proved, that tho balance of trade has never been in favor of this country in tho last 50 years. His demand for more silver money, coming from an Iowa Republican, was highly significant. The silence on that point of Mr. Dingley, who followed, was equally significant. It was tho opening of tho rift in that party corresponding with the somewhat bigger rift in the other, and as tho debate went on it seemed to grow.
The next speaker toexcito great interest was Dourke Cockran. Tho temper of tho houso may bo judged by tho fact that when ho declared in an eloquent period that tho financial question should not be political there was a smile if not a snicker. This proposition to make every important quostion nonpolitical has becomo such a "chestnut." And during all the week here briefly outlined there wero never at ono time 120 membors in the houso and very seldom more than 80.
Talk of an Extra Session.
Thoso who ought to know insist that there will bo an extra session of the Fiftyfourth congros*, and some go so far as to name tho date—tho second week in April. On tho assurance that thero will be a surplus the naval committee wants $8,000,000 for three new battleships, 13 torpedo boats and several other things, but most of this money would not be spent till 189G. Both houses aro tolerably liberal at present, and the appropriation bills aro doing quite as well as could be expected. Tho silver men swear that Cleveland is merely in to a it re at an extra session, and that they don scaro worth a cent. They like tho prospect They aro perfectly confident that any currency bill that can be. passed on presont lines will be a failure, and thoy very naturally want tho Republicans and gohlliugs to bear the burden of it. Thero is a heap of human naturo in a man if ho is a silver Democrat. Outside of congress thero has been a very singular change for tho worso. Only three weeks ago tho charitablo societies were rejoicing that their work would bo light this winter, and dealers said that tho Christmas trade in small: articles was largo. Tho poor peoplo must havo spent all their money then, for now tho most appalling accounts of suffering aro heard from every sido, and thero have actually been several deaths from want and cold. Today, unless all the witnesses aro mistaken, tho local situation is as bad as a year ago. J. B. PAKKE.
7 4 A Men of Genius. Ouida deduces from history the fact, that men of genius are fine, handsome fellows. So thoy are, as a rule. Witness Tennyson, Mussot, Scott, the strongest man of the rough clan Marlborough, Goethe, Bonny Dundee Burns, Longfellow, Sir Henry Taylor, Napoleon, Shelley Byron—a gallery of beauties. The Po*£
and Voltalres are the exceptions, jr
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