Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1896 — Page 7

TALMAGE’S SERMON.

HANNAH WAS AN OLD FASHIONED CHRLSTtAN MOTHER. V Yet Dr. Talmage Saya Her Industry. Her Intelligence and Her Christian ■'Devotion Refined Her for Heaven— A Plea for Our Mothers. An Ordinary Woman. This radical discourse will no doubt have its practicul result in mnuy homcsfoads throughout Christendom. Ihe text was 1.. Samuel ii., 13. “Moreover his mother made h’m a little coat and brought it to him from year to year when she came up With her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.” The stories of Deborah and Abigail are wry apt to discourage ft woman’s soul. She says within herself,’“lt is impossible that I ever acnieve any such grandeur of character, and 1 don’t mean to try,” as though a child should refuse to play the eight notes because he cannot execute a ■“William Tell.” This Hannah of the text differs from the person's I just named. She ■was ’an ordinray woman, with ordinary intellectual capacity, placed in ordinary circumstances, and yet by extraordinary piety standing vut before all the ages to come tin 'mode. Christian mother. Hannah was.lhe wife of Elkanah, who was a person very much like herself —unromantic and plain, never having fought a battle or been the subject bf a marvelous escape. Neither of then, would have been called a genius. Just what you and 1 might be, that was Elkanah and Hannah. The brightest lime .n ah the history of that family was th' birth of Samuel. Although no -tar ran niong the heavens pointing down to his birthplace, 1 think the angels of God Stooped at the coming of so wonderful a prophet. As Samuel'had been given in answer to prayer. Elkanah and al! his family, save Hannah, started up to Shiloh to oft'e- sacrifices of thanksgiving. The cradle Whetc the child slept was altar enough for Hannah's grateful heart, but when the boy was old enough she took him to Shiloh amt took three bullocks and an cphuh of flour and a bottle of wine and made offering of* sacrifice unto the Lord, nod there. according to a previous vow, she left him, Cot there he' was to stay all the days of hit life and minister in the Bonctnary. Years rolled on, ami every year Hannah made with her own hand a garment for -Snnund and toos dt o|ento him. The lad would hnve go *■ along Weil- without that garment, for 1 suppose he was well clad by the ministry of the temple, but Hannah.could not b? contented unless she was all the time do ng something for her darling hoy. "Moreover his mother made him' u little coat and brought it to him from year to year when slie'came up with her husband t.o offer the yearly, sacrifice.”

Hannah's Jntnstrr. Hannah stands before you, then, to-dny, in the first place, ai an industrious moth er. There was no need that she work. Elkanah, her husband, was far from poor. He belonged to a distinguished family, for the Bible tells us that ho was the son of .Teroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tobit, the son of Zupb. “Who wore they?” you say. Ido not know, but they w ere distinguished people, no doubt, or their names would not have been mentioned. Hannah might have seated herself in her family, nnd, with folded arms and disheveled hair, read novels, from year to year, if there had been any to rend. “But when I sec libr making that garment and inking it over to Samuel, I know she is industrious from principle as well as from pleasure. God would not have a mother become a drudge or a slave; he would have her employ all the helps possibly in this day in the rearing of her children. But Hannah ought never to be ashamed to be found making a coat for Samuel. Most mothers need no counsel.iii thio direction. The wrinkles on their brow, the pallor on thhir cheek, the thimble mark on their finger, attest that they are faithful in their maternal duties. The bloom and the brightness nnd the vivac’ty of girlhood have given place to the grander dignity nnd usefulness nnd industry of motherhood. But thoFe-isut heatiuinisli.ideir getting abroad in some of the families of Americans. There are nn'hers who banish themselves from th > home circle. For threefourths of t.heir maternal duties they prove themselves incompetent. They are ignorant of u i.nt their children wear, and what their children eat, ami what their children lead. They intrust to irresponsible persons these young immortals and allow then to lie under influences which may cr’pple their bodies, or taint their purity, or spoil their manners, or destroy their souls. From the awkward cut of Samuel's coat you knowdus mother Hannah did not make it. Out from under flaming chandeliers, and off from imported carpets, and down the granite stairs there is coming a groat crowd of children in this day untrained, saucy, incomi'itent. for all the practical duties of life, ready to bo caught in the first whirl of cr me and sensuality. Indolent and unfanhfn! mothers will make indolent and unfaithful children. You cannot expect neatness and order in any house where the daughters see nothing but Mlutternjim »-s nnd upside downativeness in their parents'. Let Hannah be idle, and most certainly Samuel will grow tip idle. Who are the industrious men in all our oeciipat’ous and professions? Who’ ar" they building the walls, tinning the roofs, weaving the carpets, making the laws, governing the nations, making the earth to quake nnd heave nnd ronr nnd rattle with tin trend of gigantic enterprises? Who are they? For the most part they descended from Industrious mothers, who in the old homestead used to spin their own yarn and weave their own carpets and plait their own doormats and ting their imvii chairs and do their own work. The stalwart tnen and the influential women of this day, ill) out of 10t» of them, came from such an Illustrious ancestry of hard knuckles and homespun. And who are these peoplein society—light froth, blown every whither of temptation aud fashion—the peddlers of filthy •fortes, the dancing jacks of political parties, the scum of society, the tavern lounging, store infesting, the men of low wink and filthy chuckle and brass breastpin and rotten associations? For the most part they came from mothers idle nud disgusting, the scandal mongers of society, going from homie to bouse attending to everybody’s business but their own, believing in witches and ghosts, and horseshoes to keep the devil out of the churn, nnd by a godievs life setting their children on the very verge o*f hell. The >o|herH of Bn.nufl Johnson, nnd of Allred the Great, and of Isaac Newton, nnd of Nt. Augustine, and of Richard Cecil, and of President Edwards, for the most pnrt were industrious, hardworking mothers. Now, whi’e I congratulate all Christian mothers upon the wealth nnd the modern science which mny afford them sill kinds of help, lot me soy that every mother ought to be observant Of her children's walk, her children’s behavior, her children’s food, her children's books, her children's companionships. However much help,Hannah mny have. I think she ought every year at least make one garment for Samuel. The Ixird have metey on the man who in so unfortunate as to &•▼* had a lax/ mother!

Hann*h*a Intelligence. Again, Hannah stands before you as an intelligent mother. From the way.’ in which she talked in this, chapter and from the way she managed this boy you know she was intelligent. There are no persons in a community who- need to be so wise and veil, informed as mothers. Oh, this work of culturing children for this world and the next! This child is timid, and it‘must be roused up and pushed out into activities. This child is forward, and-he must be held back and tamed down into modesty and politeness. Rewards for one, punishments for another." That which will make George will ruin John. The rod is necessary in one case, while a frown of displeasure is more than cnoughin another. Whipping and a dark closet do not exhaust all the rounds .of domestic discipline. There have been children who have grown up nnd gone to glory without ever having had their ears boxed. Oh, how much care and intelligence are necessary in the rearing of children! But in this day, when there are so many books on this subject, no parent is excusable in being ignorant of the best mode of bringing up a child. If parents know more of dietetics, there would not be so many dyspeptic stomachs and weak, nerves and inactive livers among children. If parents knew more Of physiology, there would not be so many curved spines and cramped chests and inflamed throats and diseased lungs as there are among children. If parents knew more of art, and were in sympathy with all that is beautiful, there would pot be so many children coming out in the world with boorish proclivities. If parents knew more of Christ and practiced more of his religion, there would not be so many little feet already starting on the wrong road, and ail around us voices of riot and blasphemy would not come up with such ecslasy of infernal triumph. The eaglets in the eyrie have no advantage over the eaglets of 1,000 years ago; the kids have no superior way of climbing up the rocks than the old goats taught them hundreds of years ago; the whelps know no more now than did the whelps of ages (igo—t .icy are taught no more by the lions of the desert, but it is a sUhme that in this day, when -rnere are so many opportunities cf improving ourselves in the best manner of culturing children, tjiat so often there is no more advance-, ment in this respect than there has been among the kids and the eaglets and theWhelps.

Hannah’s Piety. Again, Hanrali stands before you today ns a Christian mother. From her praters, and f:om the way she ebnseern ted her! boyto God, 1 -know she- woa good; .A motliffTHKyltavc the tlnest culw ture, the most brilliant surroundings, but she is not fit for her duties unless she be a Christian mother. There may be well read libraries in the house, and exquisite music in the parlor, and the canvas of the best artists adorning the walls, and the wardrobe be crowded with tasteful apparel, and the children be wonderful for their attainments nnd mnke the house ring with laughter and innocent mirth, but there is something woefully lacking in that house if it be not also the residence of a Christian mother. I oless God that there are not many prnyerless mothers. The weight of responsibility is so great that they feel the need of a divine hand to help, and a divine voice to comfort, and a divine heart to sympathize. Thousands of mothers halve been led into the kingdom of God by the hands of their little children. There are hundreds of mothers to-day who would not have been Christians had it not been for the prattle of their little ones. Standing some dny in the nursery they bethought themselves: “This child God has given me to raise for eternity. What is my influence upon it? Not being a Christian myself, how can I ever expect him to become a Christian? Lord, help me!” Oh, are there anxious mothers who know’ nothing of the infinite help of religion? Then I commend to you Hannah, the pi' us mother of Samuel. Do not think it is absolutely impossible that your children come up iniquitous. Out of just such fair brows and bright eyes and soft hands and ’nnocent hearts erime gets its victims—extirpating purity from the heart. and rubbing out the smoothness from the brow' and quenching the luster of the eye, and shriveling up and poisoning and putrefying nnd scathing nnd scalding and blasting and burning with shame and woe. Every child is a bundle of tremendous possibilities, and whether that child shall come forth in life, its heart attuned to the eternal harmonies, and after a life of usefulness on earth go to a life of joy in heaven, or whether across it shall jar eternal discords, and rfter a life of wrongdoing on earth it shall go to a home of impenetrable darkness and an abyss of immeasprablo plunge, is being decided by nursery song and Sab’>nth lesson and evening prayer and walk nnd ride nnd look And frown and smile. Oh, how many children in glory, crowding nil the battlements anti lifting a million voiced hosanna—brought to God through Christian parentage! One hundred and twenty clergymen were together, and they were telling their experience and their ancestry, and of the 120 clergymen, liow many of them do you suppose assigned us the means of their conversion the influence of a Christian mother? One hundred out of the hundred and twenty! Philip Doddridge was brought to God by the Scripture lesson on the Dutch tile of the chimney fireplace. The mother thinks she is only rocking a child, but at the same time she may be rocking the destiny of empires, rocking the fate of nations, rocking the glories of heaven. The same maternal power that may lift ft child up mny press n child down. A daughter camo to a worldly mother and ■said she wits anxious about her sins and she had been praying all night. The mother said: “Oh,- stop praying! I don’t believe in praying. Get orcr all those religions notions and Igive you a dress that will cost .fo’XI, nnd you may wear it next week to that party.” The daughter took the dress, and she moved in the gay circle, the gayest of a’l the gay tlpit night, and, auro enough, r.ll religious impressions wore gone anti she stop(>ed praying. A few months after she enme to die, nnd tn her closing moments said. “Mother, I wish you would bring me that dress that cost ?500.” The mother thought it was a very strange request, but.she brought it to please the dying child. “Now,” said the daughter, ’ mother, hang that dress on the foot of my bed.” And the dress was hung the.e on the foot of the bed. Then the dying girl got up on one elbow and looked at her mother and pointed to the dress and said, “Mother, that dress is the price of my soul!’ Oh, what a momentous thing it is to be a mother! Again and lastly, Hannah stands before you to-day the rewarded mdthcr. For all the coats she made for Samuel, for all the prayers she offered for him, for the discipline she exerted oVcr hltn, she got abundant compensation in the piety and the usefulness and the popularity of her son Samuel, nnd that is true in all ages. Every mother gets full pay for nil the prayers and tears in behalf of her children. That man useful in commercial life, that man prominent In the profession, that master mechanic—why, every step ho takes in life lute an echo of gladness in the old heart that long ngo taught him to lie Christian and heroic nnd earnest. The story of what you have done or what you have written, of the influence you have exerted, hns gone back to the qld homestead, for there is sonic one always ready to curry good tidings, nnd thnt story makes the needle in the old mother's trem-

ulous hand fly xjuicker and thejlail in the. father's hand >.otne down upma the barn floor with, a more vigorous thump. Parents love to hear good news from their children. Do yc.u send them good news always? Look out for the young man who speaks of his 'ather ns the “governot?” the “squire” or the “bld chap.” Look out for the young woman who calls her mother her “maternal ancestor” or the “oid woman.” “The eye that mocketh at his father ind refusetb to obey his mother the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." God grant that all these parents may have the great satisfaction of seeing their children grow up Christians.. But, oh, the pang of that mothey who, after a life of street gadding and gossip retailing, hanging cn her children the fripperies and follies of this world, sees thosechildren tossed out on the sea of life like foam on the wave of nonentities in Ja world where only brawny and’stalwart can stand the shock! But blessed be the moi her who looks upon her children as sons and daughters of’the Ivord Alniighty. Oh, the satisfaction of Hannah in see.ng Samuel serving at the altar, of Mother Eunice in seeing her Timothy learned in the Scriptures! That is the mother’s recompense—to see children coming up useful in the .world, reclaiming the lost, healing the sick, pitying, the ignorant, earnest and useful in every sphere. That throws a new light back on the old family Bible whenever she reads it, and that will be ointment to soothe the aching limbs of decrepitude rtnd light up the closing hours of life's day. with the gloriea es an autumnal sunset! There she sits, the old Christian mother, ripe for heaven Her eyesight is almost gone, but the splendors of the celestial city kindle up her vision. The gray light of heaven’s morn has struck through the gray locks wh’eh are folded back over the wrinkled temples. She stoops very much now under th<? burden of care she used to carry lor her children. She sits at home to-day too old to find her way to the house of God, but while she sits there nil the past comes back, and the children that forty yeais ago trooped around her armchair with their little griefs and joys and sorrows, those children are all gone now —some caught up into a better realm, whbre they shall never die, and others out in the broad world attesting the excellency of a Christian mother’s discipline. Her last days are full of peace, and calmer and sweeter will her spirit become until the gates of life shall lift and let the worn out pilgrim into eternal springtide and youth, where the liisbs never ache, and the eyes .never grow dim, and the staff of tlje exhausted nnd decrepit pilgrim shMl become the palm of tho I athlete.

Hard Times.

What has caused the "hard times” through which we are passlug? Almost every’ oue lias his theory about it. One man says It is the gold standard, another that it Is the danger of free coihago; one that it is because tariff duties are too high, another that it is because the duties are so low as to flood the country with foreign goods, nnd these are only examples of the wide diversity of opinion that exists. Perhaps the strangest theory of all, yvhich nevertheless .seems to have many adherents, is that the bicycle lias caused it; It is reasoned out thus: Hundreds of thousands of persons have been saving every spare penny to buy a wheel, and have thus kiHed other business. Men, women and young people of ivotb sexes wear their old clothing, economize in food and resort to other means of saving, and thus the business of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker is seriously diminished. Watches, pianos, jewelry, books and other articles not necessary in the Strictest sense of the word used to be the favorite luxuries; now all these things are neglected for the bicycle. The market for horses was greatly injured by the substitution of electricity for animal power in moving street-cars., The trade certainly bad another serious blow when the bicycle became the popular mode of locomotion. In all this there is an element of exaggeration, but it cannot be denied that there is a measure of truth in the theory. That is, the demand for bicycles has probably intensified the bad times. But neither hard times nor good times are a result of one cause. It is a mistake to fix upon one peculiarity of the situation and say, remove that and all will be well. So far as the bicycle is held responsible for the business depression, it is sufficient to point to the fact that the wheel-craze is quite as prevalent in Europe as it is in this country, and yet business abroad is in an excellent condition.—Youth’s Companion.

Mosquitoes and Fleas.

L. O. Howard, entomologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, states in a circular of-tbat department that egg-laying by mosquitoes occurs at night and in the form of boatshaped masses on the surface of the water, 200 to 400 eggs in a mass. The round of their existence is so brief that several generations may occur in A year, or one generation every ten days. Among the remedies suggested is the not altogether novel one of screening windows and beds. The burning of pyrethrum stupefies them until their presence is unobjectionable. Those on the ceilings of bedrooms may be caught in the lid of a blacking box that is wet inside with kerosene. It is nailed on the end of a stick and placed near the Insect. They nieet their destruction by flying against it.

The more feasible remedies, he regards, are the destruction of their breeding places by draining pools, the introductlop of fish ’ where feasibl<», even in tanks, and the application of kerosene to the surface of breeding ponds. The latter remedy is applied at the rate of an ounce of kerosene to each fifteen square feet of water. This ai>pllcatlon will answer In periods of over thirty days. They find among breeding places rain water in barrels, hogsheads, etc. It those are covered at night they pre vent, egg laying. The flea la not likely to infest houses where the bare flqprs cap be frequently and thoroughly swept, but where it does occur a free sprinkling of pyrethrum powder in the infested rooms is the easiest remedy. This falling, benzine may be tried, spraying carpets and floors, keeping all lights away. These falling, the floor must be washed with hot soapsuds.

Advancing Civilization.

At Coemassle road-making operations are being commenced, and itefore long a magnificent road will be made not merely between the Gold Coast proper and the Ashantee capital, but also to the famous Moorsmta country. AU the chiefs hare surrondehjd to Gov, Maxwell their instruments of torture.

Qnnual Product of TINPLATE in the United, States

THE PATRIOTISM OF BUSINESS.

It has become the fashion of late to ddery business as unpatriotic. We hear much of the “sordid considerations of capital,” “employment,” “industrial energies” and “prosperous labor.” The United States, differing from the mediaeval conditions whiclj,govern older countries, differing from the militarism whieh is the curse of European nations, differing from thrones Which rest upon the sword, is pre-eminently and patriotically a commercial and a business nation. Thus commerce and business I are synonymous with patrlotisqi; When the farmer is afield sowing ami j reaping the crops which find a market that remunerates him for his toil, when the labooer and the artisan find work Seeking them and not themselves despairing of work, when the wage of the toiler promises comfort for his family and hope for his children, when the rail is burdened with tlie product of the soil and of the factory, when the spindles are humming and the furnaces are In blast, when the mine is putting out its largest product and the national and individual wealth are constantly Increasing, when the homes owned unmortgaged by the people are more numerous day by day and month by month, when the schools are most crowded, the fairs most frequent and happy conditions most universal in the nation, then are the promises fulfilled which make those United States of America the home of tlieoppfeSsed and the land of the free. —Hon. Chauncey M. Depew. McKinley on the Value of Labor, No worthy American wants to reduce the price bf labor in the United States. It ought not to be reduced; for the sake of the feborerjand his family and’the good of society it ought to be maintained. To increase it would be in better harmony with the public sense. Our labor must not be debased nor our laborers degraded to the level of slaves, nor any pauper or servile system in any form, nor under any guise whatsoever, at home or abroad. Our civilization will not permit it. Our humanity forbids it. Our traditions are opposed to It. The stability of our institutions rests upon the contentment and intelligence of all our people, and these can only be possessed by maintaining the dignity of labor and securing to it its just rewards. That protection opens new avenues for employment, broadens and diversifies the field of labor, and presents variety of vocation, is manifest fromgiur own experience.—Hon. Win. McKinley.

An Honor to the Nation. This is the year of the people. They have risen in their might. From ocean to ocean, frbm lake to gulf, they are united as never before. We know their wishes and are here to register their will. They must not be cheated of their choice. They know the man best qualified and equipped to fightUhelr battles and to win their victories. His name Is tn every heart, on every tongue. His nomination Is certain, Ills election sure. His candidacy will sweep the couiftry as a prairie is swept by fire. This is the year of the people. In their name, by their authority. 1 second the nomination of their great champion. William McKinley. Not as a favorite son of any State, but as the favorite son of the United States. Not as a concession to Ohio, but as an added honor to the nation.—Senator Thurston. Pennaylvania for Protection. Wo welcome the Issue, American protection, American credit and«an American policy. Let the people in the campaign which this convention inaugurates determine whether they are willing to live throagh another free trade panic. Let the wage-earner' and the wage-payor contemplate the bitter experiences which brought hunger ti> the home of one and financial ruin, to the other. Let the American farmer compare farm product pieces with free trade promises. Let him who has saved a surplus and him who works for a livelihood determine, each for himself, if he crave* to be paid in American dol-

Statement of the Interest-bearing debt at the beginning of the new fiscal year July 1: ' ' 1 Title or Loax. Bath. Amovnt Funded loan of 1391 J Funded Man ot 1007 1 per cent 740,898.200 Refunding vertlflciMeii4 per cent ■ 40.012.750 73300 47,140 Lomu or 1904 5 per cent.; 100,000,000, 100,000,000 Loan or 19234 per cent. 162315,400 162,315,400 Asisreante of Interest-Beorltag DOM. —— —f - liwued to PacUlc Railroad* . Fl Demoerntlc laereote Since K*reb, 1893..Z-W..Z.M •$62,395,55$ , 1 '-s-ri- -u

lars disgraced and depreciated to half their alleged value.—Gov. Hastings. Soiithern Demand for Protection. When the South defended upon-the labor of its slaves, and employed little or no free labor, It was fts earnest an advocate of free ‘trade as is England to-day. Now,, that it must resort |o free labor, it is placed upon the same footing as Northern producers; It Is compelled to pay a like rate of wages for a day’s wdrk, and therefore demands protection against the foreign producer, whose product is made op grown by a cheaper labor. And we find all through the South a dcroaudiCor protection to American Industry against a foreign competition, bent upon their destruction and determined to possess the American market—Hon. Wm McKinley. Neither Work Nor Wane. Four short years have come and gone. Look at the country now. The treasury Is empty. Our credit IS Impaired. Our revenues are deficient. We meet the public needs not with income, but by borrowing at high rates and pledging the future for the wants of the present. Business is paralyzed. Confidence is gone. Enterprise has folded its eagle wings and mopes and blinks In the market place. Our mills are idle and our railroads crippled. Capital hides itself and labor Idly walks the streets. There is neither a good day’s wage nor a good day’s work.—Senator Lodge. McKinley Takes Command. ~ Hear the people's joyons shout, McKinley takes command; To lead Protection’s army on. Drive Free Trade from our land. Arise! host, arise! No effort now abate . To raise Protection’s.banner h >?!». From Maine to Golden Gate., Now join the patriotic host, _ In America’s great land, And never more fear Free Trade's blight. McKinley tanes command. How to Buy Best. The consumer in all cases buys cheapest where he pays easiest, no matter what the nominal price of the .article may be.—Gaiusha A. Grow. Downfall of Democracy. Bryan is only Tillman in better English. Well, who In the East knows Bryan, and who In the West knows Bewail? To Cleveland the saddest thing in life Is the letter he might have written declining the third term, and didn’t... , . General Backus was right. It will be a double-ender—Bill McKinley and McKinley bill—with vim and vigor at each end. The Chicago platform is mainly a plagiarism, as can readily be seen by comparing ft with the Populist platform of 1892. ‘The boy orator of the Platte” is likely to do more slopping over than lias ever before been done by a candidate for President. If Mr. Hanna had been privileged ,to Order the proceedings at Chicago In the interest of McKinley, he could hardly have Improved upon what has been done. ,

The terms of twenty-nine Senators will expire next March, and after that we may look for a Republican Senate that will do business instead of obstructing IK- . - , No party has ever yet succeeded In this country on a platform favoring repudiation and spoliation, and there is no reason to suppose that such a thing Is possible this year. The free silver! tea have expended most of their energy In the work of making a platform and a ticket, and their enthusiasm will dwindle rapidly as the campaign progresses.*A phrase has nominated a for the Presidency, but a phrase cannot elect a candidate who stands for the idea that 100 cents worth of labor should be paid for with a 50-cent dollar.

THE PUBLIC DEBT.

“THE CRIME OF '73.”

IT EXISTS ONLY IN THE MINDS ’• “ 7 OF SILVER MEN. Congressman McClefary Exposes the AtfSßtarf abrications About the Act of*' 1873—felll Wa* Discussed for ■ Three Years, . • , . ’ 597 i.?. ■ - L 7 '. Here’Arettac Fa<As. For the benefit of the thousands of intelligent people who honestly believe that a crime Was committed surreptitiously. against silver lb 1873, Congressman J. T. McCleary of Minnesota devoted considerable time, in his great speech of Feb; 12, to a presentation of the Important fact* connected with the passage of the Coinage act of 1873. The facts stand but so clearly and tell sticji a 'Straightforward story that it would seem impossible that any fairminded man should, after reading them, continue to believe that there was any “conspiracy” by anybody that caused the passage of this act We can give but a few of the more salient points from Mr. McCleary’s speech on this subject: The original bill was prepared ln the Treasury Department In the winter of 1869-’7O, by John Jay Knox, then deputy comptroller of the currency, under the direction of George 8. Boutwell, then Secretary of the Treasury. The laws relating to the mint had not been revised for more than a generation, and much confusion existed. This bill was largely a codification of existing law, with such improvements as experience suggested. » The first draft of the bill was submit-* ted to leading experts on coinage and currency in this country, and to some in Europe. In this way the views of more than thirty men were obtained. Their answers were transmitted to the House in June, 1870, as a supplementary report on the bill. The consensus of opinion of these experts, and of those who discussed the bill In Congress, was that it waq simply to recognize legally what had practically existed, since the act of 1853 had made gold the single standard of value and made sliver subsidiary and legal tender only for sums not exceeding $5. The bill as Introduced distinctly discontinued the silver dollar. One of the eight headings to the divisions in the reports accompanying the bill was as follows: “(5) DISCONTINUANCE OF SILVER DOLLAR.” This was printed in capitals. The discontinuance of the silver dollar was specifically referred to In four places in this report. Contrary to the Suppositions and statements of many leading free silverJtee, ! the old standard dollar of 412% grains was never In the coinage bill passed in 1873, and therefore It could not, as they allege, have been omitted surreptitiously. In May, 1872, a silver dollar containing 384 grains was introduced into the bill. Like the silver halfdollars, It did not have “free coinage” or full tender. This was the dollar which was afterward dropped out of the bill and In place of which the trade dollar of 420 grains, with unlimited* coinage, but limited tender, was substituted.

I'bom the contemporary records It is .clear that the bill was before Congress for about three years; that it was printed eleven times separately'and twice In reports of the Comptroller of the Currency; that it was considered at length by the Finance Committee of the Senate and by the Coinage Committee of the House during five different sessions; that It was carefully debated in both houses, the debates tn the Senate occupying sixty-six columns and those in the House occupying seventy-eight columns of the Congressional Globe, and it finally passed substantially as it was originally introduced Every feature of the bill was thoroughly explained In the original report accompanying the bill, and repeatedly afterward In the debates on the bill itself There doubtless were persons In both houses-who did not pay attention to either the report or the discussions, for at that time such subjects were regarded as of interest only to experts, but it certainly cannot be truthfully said that they did not have full opportunity to know all about It. So far as concerns the coinage of gold and silver, there were just two important provisions in the act of 1873 '—namely, the unlimited coinage of gold and the limited coinage of silver. Both of these provisions have endured and will endure, because, as I have shown already, this is the only way in which we can have the use of both metals as money at the same time. And though some very excellent gentlemen in Congress tn 1878, when the wave of “free silver” threatened to overwhlm every one opposed to it, may hare said some foolish things about the act of 1873, It Is a significant fact that not a single Republican of those quoted as saying these things, unless he lives in a silver producing State, has ever voted to repeal the essential provisions of the act of 1873 above elted. Except aS to the trade dollar (which was Inserted as a special concession to the silver producers), the act of 1873, based .upon the experience of centuries, framed by men pro-eminent for ability and Intesjprity, discussed In all its phases during the three years when it.was before Congress, will be recorded in history as one of the wisest and best pieces of legislation ever enacted by the Congress of the United States. Its details may be changed, but its fundamental principles will endure. Occasionally we hear a man ask, “Why didn't the newspapers say more about the act at the time of Its passage?” The answer Is plain. It was because of their being newspapers, not ancient histories. There was nothing new In principle or practice in the bill. It was largely a re-enactment of existing law, properly codified. Why did the bill give gbld unlimited coinage and tender? Because all mint laws In existence did so. Why did It restrict the coinage of subsidiary silver and limit itg tender to fib? Because these were the. provisions of the act of Feb. 21, 1853. Why did it omit from coinage the old standard stiver dollar? Because .thpt had been the Intent of the act 0f‘1853. In 1853 the dollar waa entirely out of circulation, and no attempt was made to bring It back into circulation. Why did it make the gold dollar the unit of value? Because »t had really been the m etallic unit since

,1834. . And .this was the avowed Intend tion of the act of 1853. The truth was that ip 1872 the sftyer dollar was worth for bullion 3% cents more than the gold dollar and that silver dollars had not been In circulation for many years. As Congressman Hooper said on April 9,1872, when discussing the silver dollar: “It does not circulate now In commercial transactions with any country, and ttie convenience of thesh manufacturers in thin .respect can better be met by supplying small stamped bars of thp same standard, avoiding the useless expense of coining the dollar for that purpose." And Mr. Kelley, who is reported an having said afterward that he “did net know that the bill omjUed the standard silver dollar,” said on this same day: “It is impossible to retain the double standard. The values of gold and silver continually fluctuate. You cannot determine this year what Will be the relative values of gold and sliver next year. They were 15 to 1 a short time ago. They are 16 to 1 now. “Hence all experience has shown that you must have one standard coin which shay be a legal tender for all .other% and then you may promote-your domestic convenience by having subsidiary coinage. qf silver, which shall circulate in all parts of your country a* legal tender for a limited amount and be redeemable at its face value by your government.” Ip another place in the same speech Mr. Kelley said, "Every coin that Is not gold is subsidiary.” Even Mr. Stewart, then as now a Senator from Nevada, said on Feb. 29, 1874: “By this process we shall come to specie basis, and when the laboring man receives a dollar it will have the purchasing power of a dollar and he will not be called upon to do what is impossible Tor him or the producing classes to do, figure upon the exchanges, figure upon the fluctuations, figure upon the gambling In New York. But he will know what his money is worth. Gold is the universal standard of the world. Everybody knows What a dollar in gold is worth.” The remarks of Mr. Kelley in the House in 1872, and those of Senator Stewart In 1874 show that at that time, before the tremendous output of Silver turned men’s heads, there was practically imdlvlded opinion on the subject. The bill had been before Congress three years, it had been repeatedly discussed, there was nothing new or startling in it, and hence there was no call for any extended notice of its passage. glut the facts are seen to be that the bill was passed openly and honestly. It embodies the principles of sound mintage, and it undoubtedly saved us from going to a silver basis on the resumption of specie payments. And, therefore, the men who framed it and those who passed it deserve and will receive the grateful thanks of ourselves and our posterity. After becoming acquainted with the facts, how ridiculous seems the following statement from Coin's Financial School: “In the language of Senator Daniel of Virginia, it (the; act of 1873) seems to have gone through Congress •like the silent tread of a cat.’” Yet this is but a sample of the false statements made by most of the leading sHverites. The following summary of procedure indicates how “like the silent tread of a cat” the act of 1873 stole through Congress:

Uncle Sam—No, Dick, my wheel may have Its weak points and may not be up to date in all its details, but I would not think of trading It tor an out-of-date thing like that. Mine is similar to those used in all advanced countries, while yours is in use only In China, Peru and other half civilised countries. You’d better put that silver wheel In front and get’a modern gold one for the tear. 4—u— j * ■: . ’ The Incoaoieteut Stive rite. ’ r •> y* “I believe In a man living np’.to his principles,” said Uncle Allen Sparks. “Now, I have a neighbor who is • howling silverite and is always tatting about the crime of 1873, bat whenever he finds that somebody has passed a Canadian 10 ceilt piece on him he eaves it to throw In the contribution box at church."—Chicago Tribune. Best that Silver Can KxpOct. There Is a field! for silver tn our currency system as there is for paper. but It is one is subordinate to gold. The United States cannot afford, either as a matter of honor or self Interest, to abandon the present single standard.—Kehr Ybrk Advsrriser.