Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1896 — Page 3

WHAT IT MEANS.

freecoinage of silver atthe RATIO OF 16 To 1"Tlio Conw<luence W?hd<l lie the Decline of the 2‘urcliasing I*ower of a Silver Dollar to Ou« Half What it will Buy ut Present. A silver dollar weighs sixteen^timeses much as a gold dollar. This is. ;i whac is meant by the coinage of silver “.*.t the ratio of 16 to 1,” “Free” coinage of silver means that silver bullion when brought to the mint, shall be coined into dollars at the ex-pense-of the United States government, without cost to the owner. By the “unlimited” coinage of silver is meant that all the silver. American or foreign, brought to any of our mints shall be so coined, at the owner’s demand. When the ratio of 1G to 1 was established by the government, sixteen ounces of silver bullion were worth, in the market, just as much as one ounce of gold bullion. A silver: dollar and a gold dol- " Jar were then worth precisely the same before they were coined, when they were coined, or after they were melted. The face value of a silver dollar was its actual viilhe. But of left* years pure silver lias„ de.iCliped in value, so that now the commercial l.atio, instead of being 10 to 1, is about 31 to 1. That is to say, an ounce of gold bullion is' exchangeable for thirty-one ounces of silver buljjon, instead of being exchangeable for only sixteen ounces of silver bullion, as it formerly was. Silver bullion is thus worth in gold only about half ns, much as it was when the coinage ratio was made 10 to 1. A silver dollar, with the stamp of the government upon it, passes for more than it is worth, just us a paper dollar passes for more than the . paper upon which it is printed is worth. The credit of the government is behind the paper dollar, and the credit of the government is behind the silver dollar. The United' ♦State government lends its credit to ev‘ cry man with an American silver dollar in his pocket, so that he can pay 100 £ents of debt with 53 cents’ worth of silver. But the credit of the government is not behind the uncoined silver, in the form of bullion. Therefore the bullion is exchangeable forjrther commodities only to the amount of its Actual or intrinsic value. The "free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1” means, therefore, that the government of the United States, instead of pledging its credit for the niaiiilcnauee of a limited amount of coined silver at parity with gold, shall pledge its credit for the maintenance of, sin unlimited amount of silver, now worth only 31 to 1. at a parity with gold, at a ratio of 10 to 1. By this the United States would undertake to double the value of every ounce of silver, coined or uncoined, in the world, and extend an invitation to ail the nations to send their surplus silver here to be coined into silver dollars at a ratio of 16 to 1. These silver dollars, if coined ill an unlimited quantity, Would not be worth as much as gold dollars, because it is the credit of the government which makes those w<- now have equal ill |nirehnsing power to a gold dollar, and the credit of the government is not without limit. “Unlimited” coinage- of silver would exhaust its credit, by exhausting its power to redeem its (pledge to maintain silver at a parity with gold, at the ratio of 10 to 1. The consequence would be that the silver dollar would soon decline in purchasing power to the commercial value of the bullion it contains, and would be worth little, if any, more than half-a-dollar in gold. As all private and public debts not explicitly payable in gold would then be payable in these half-rate dollars. oiir gold would disappear from err- •' dilation and would quickly be drawn out of the country iti paying our obligations and purchases from gold-using countries where our silver coins would not be accepted. As a consequence we should in a few months lose all of our $012,000,000 of gold, leaving us with a much contracted and greatly depreciated currency. A disastrous panic would ensue, followed by the suspension of thousands of factories and business houses, u general —business -collapse, and the loss of employment by hundreds of thousands of wageearners and laborers. Under our present monetary system, and until the agitation for the free coinage of silver became a dangerous men-ace-to-buaincss and labor, we had the most prosperous years ever known in American history.

SILVER AND COMMERCE.

How Free Coin ago Would Incommode Our Foreign Trade. One of the lirst nud most disastrous effects of a change Of the standard of value in this country from gold to silver would he the dislocation of our foreign trade. Every merchant understands, though it is probable that thousands of his fellow, citizens do not. that all trade .done between nations that are on a gold standard basis is subject to an enormous line in the shape of losses incurred by reason of the fluctuations in the rate of exchange. Merchants understand, and they should now take the trouble to explain it to others, that a cargo of wheat or cotton shipped lrom New York to Liverpool for sale in the latter market will he sold and paid for there at prices reckoned and stated in gold. No act of Congress making silver the standard of value, or pretending to give it equality as such with gold at 16 to 1, or sit any other arbitrary ratio, will have any effect at. all in Liverpool or London. They buy and sell in those cities in terms of gold: not by the coined gold sovereign of England, but by tho pound sterling of gold which moans a found in weight and not in coin. And that is something that American law cannot touch. Wo can change our own standard if we choose, and make it different to that of Croat Britain, France, Cermany and the other principal commercial countries of the world, but wo cannot make them change theirs. hat then would happen in shipping ■cargoes of American merchandise to any European markets if this country adopts a silver basis? It is dear that their silvcr<price on this side would be constantly nftected, and harmfully on the whole, by the fluctuations, and downwards, of tho gold price of silver itself in London, Paris and Berlin. This would introduce an element of endless confusion into our foreign trade both ways, and compel merchants on both sides to be continually specula ling on the probable rise or fall of silver between the . sailing. of a ship from one side of the Atlantic and the unloading of her cargo on the other. Our foreign trade would thus he subject to flic risks of gambling. .Every consignment of goods sent from our jiorts to thuse of gold stafMttrd countries, and vice versa, would have to bo made largely on chances. Neither the shimx-rs nor the consignees would he willing to take these* chances, except with tho expectation and assurance that their profits would be proportionately larger for the extra risk they ran.-Shin-ping and Commercial List.

An Object-Lesson on Free Sliver.

Do you wish to know how you can turn the tide in favor of “sound moneyV” Let our great railroads run f»ee excursions to Mexico and Colombia—free only to representative laboring men (not walking delegates)—a ml show them the practical operations of free Hilver; show it iu its glory and in its fhluess; show how pleasant it is for labor to be crucified on the cross of silver. All expenses should be paid, and a most merry crowd it will Is l . It 1b not bribery nor buying of votes, but education by object-lesson.—Basse! luer. Ala., communication to the New York WorlU

"The Fool’s Revenge."

THE) FABLE. There was once a man who climbed a tree, and had in hiH hand a saw. And while he was in the tree his enemy came beneath it and lay down to'sleep in the shade. And the man said to himself: “Behold, iny enehry is, asleep and in thy power! I will avenge myself niioii him by sawing off a limb of this tree and allowing it to fall upon him and crush him,’’ And asbti said he •did: but he sat upon thd limb, and when it fell k* fell with It, and was grievous- .... — i: ‘ i ' . ~ '

ly injured. | But the sleeping man was not injured. THE MORAL. There was once a farmer who went in debt to a banker. V And values declined and money became scarce, and he said: “I will have a law passed making my debt payable in cheap money, and thus I will be avenged upon this Gold Bug.” And as he sai<l lie did. But when debts had been made payable in cheap money he received only cheap money for the products of liis farm, and he was required to pay double the amount of cheap money for his necessities; and the Gold Bug foreclosed the debt and was not injured, but the farmer was ruined! And this is the story of “The Fool's Revenge/* _ .

WILLIAM J. BRYAN, POPULIST.

Stewart Bears Testimony to the Nominee’s Kadical Principles. If additional evidence were needed that William J. Bryan is a Populist it may be found in the declaration of the Populists themselves, their allies and abettors in the two conventions which met at St. Louis last week and indorsed Mr, Bryan. In the 'silver convention William M. Stewart, Republican Unit-ed-States senator from Nevada, bore testimony to Mr. Bryan’s principles in these words; I kooiv William »T. Rryah. He believes what we believe. He Is us true to his principles as a needle (o the pole. He Is not a Democrat in good' and regular standing, having said time and again that if the Democratic party adopted a gold platform he would pot support it. | In the same convention Judge Scott of Nebraska, in the course of a fervid speech, invoked the Almighty to send pqstilence and disease, war and famine upon the nation “rather than subject Us to four more years of oppression under Grover Cleveland/’ , , J lie then Called for three -cheers for Bryan, which were heartily given. shewing the estimation in which a Democratic President was held by a gathering which indorsed the Nebraska candidate. So much for the silver convention. In the Populist gathering the testimony to Mr. Bryan’s populistic orthodoxy was even strpnger. Judge Green of Nebraska, an intimate friend and associate of Mr. Bryan, in answer to a question from a Texas delegate, said: “I know Mr. Bryan. I know him personally. He is my friend, and I say to you he is as true a Topulist as j-oii or I.” As Judge Green is, according to his own statement, a Populist of thirty years’ standing, more convincing could hardly be asked for. But the proof accumulates. James B. Weaver of lowa, twice the candidate <»f the Populists for the presidency of the /United States, in nominating Mr. Bryan said: I place in nomination for the presidency of tile United States a distinguished gentleman, who. let it be remembered. Ims already been three times indorsed by the Populist party of ids own state—once for representative in Congress, once for United States senator and only last week for the jn-esideucy. The inference in the last clause that the Coliseum convention was a Populistic gathering is both plain and sincere. But of that later on. > * - The host evidence, however, oLa man's faith—political or otherwise—it* - to —be found in his own words. On the 4th of November, 1803. at Lincoln, Neb., Mr. Bryan, in addressing a Democratic, state convention which had voted down a free silver resolution by a two-thirds majority. made this deelaratioft: If the Democratic party, after you go home, indorses your action and this becomes your sentiment, I want to promise you that I will go out and serve my country und my God under some other name, if I go alone. Divested of the hyperbole, which is Mi-. —Bryan's favorite rhetorical figure., this declaration meant that he wpuld desert the Democratic party and become a Populist. . Does anyone doubt that he has fulfilled his declaration? Mr. Bryan is the nominee of three national conventions. Two of these Were openly and avowedly Populistic. The third—the one which met iu Chicago—was Populist in everything blit name, and that name was stolen from a party with which it had no sympathy. That it was a Populist convention was proved by the fact that it nominated Air. Bryan. That geittieman could mot have accepted the Democratic platform of 1892 or of any previous year. He could- not have faced a Democratic convention '.with his record behind him. Nor, on the other hand, could the Chicago conventioh have nominated a Democrat. The feeble attempts that were ninde to do so showed the estimate iu which Democrats wore held by the convention. Teller, the Republican, was accorded consideration and might have been nominated, but Democrats of lifelong standing were cither contemptuously thrust aside or not mentioned at all. It was a Populist convention. The two St. Louis assemblages which have adjourned after indorsing Mr. Bryan were also Populist conventions. He has had the indorsement of no one but Populists for the last tlireiv years. lie is claimed by the Populists. He is exjdoited as a Populist. He admits that he is a Populist. He is a Populist. Is any further argument necessary ?-»• From the Chicago Chronicle (Dem.).

Two Kinds of Dollars.

The Santa Fe railway has a branch from Rincon, N. M„ to Guyaiiias, in old Mexico. On both sides of the boundary line between Mexico and the United States this company nays its section hands $1 a day; but the Mexicans are paid in Mexican dollars, while the Americans are paid in American silver. The Mexican employe, if he crosses the line, finds that liis dollar is only worth 50 cents; but the American employe, if he crosses the same line, finds that his dollar is worth twice ns_mueh as at home. The Mexican dollar is a free coinage dollar and is valued at the market price of the bullion which it contains. The American dollar is intrinsically worth less than the Mexican, lmt it hns the credit of the government at its back, and its purchasing power is equal to that of gold. Tlie moposition to establish free and unlimited coinage of silver here is a proposal to Mexicanize our silver dollar. Who is the true friend of the silver dollar? Is it the man who desires to “strike down at one fell swoop” its present purchasing power? Or is it the man who wishes to preserve its purchasing power intact? Wnteh of these two is the friend of the poor, the friend of the workingman? Free coinage of silver saves the Santa Fe road just one-quarter of the wages due to its section lmnds, beenuse it pnvs Americans SIOOO a day in American money, but pays 1000 Mexicans only SSOO in American money, while nominally both are earning the same wages. Workingmen! think of these things and be not deceived!

What Silver Means to Workingmen.

There are $4,500,000,000 in wages to be paid the workingmen of this country annually at 50 cents on the dollar. That is what the Democratic platform menus. Who nre the creditor class in the United States? There nre the bondholders, who have nhout $600,000,000 of government bonds, they could be paid in silver dollars worth 50 cents each. Then there comes the 10,000,000 laboring men, from the farm hand to the railroad engineer, from the counter girl to the cashier, earning from $1 to $4 eneh per day, at the lowest average $1.50 a day, making $13,000.000 a day for 300 working days, $4,500,000,000 annually, seven times as much ns all the government bonds outstanding. To pay the workingmen in 50cent silver dollars would mean the annual loss of one-half their income, or $2,250,000,000; or in plain words his wages wquld be cut down from $1.30 to 75 cents a day.—A Workingman iu Now York Tribune;

The Whole Trouble with Silver.

The trpuble and the whole trouble and iniquity of the silver basis would be its uncertainty, its mobility, its erratic quality. The yardstick, to use a familiar simile, would be 30. 25. 50, 15 inches in a single day. or, in other words, the worth, the purchasing power, of silver would vary, for no one cifu for a moment think that any country or federation of oountries could maintain the parity between gold and silver under thp load of the, latter metal whieh would be

poured in under free coinage. You might just as well expect them to be able to .make- every,poor man rich. The silver com wdhid go for its bullion worth, antr the laborer, the mistress of the house, every one, would have to receive the market quotation daily in order 6q “adjust. You can grant nothing to uir-' certain primary money except the ruin of the holder. You might as well grant that the druggist could accommodate himself to a variable measure for poisonous drugs. The Lord help.the patient who would have lo “adjust” under such circumstances,—H. A. Fairbairn in New xork Evening Post v _

SAW HOW FREE SILVER WORKS.

Though a Lifelong Democrat, He will Not Vote for Bryan. Another well-known Hoosier Democrat who finds he cannot conscientiously support the presidential nominee on a free silver platform is Capt. William Schrodt of Jeffersonville, Ind., who is chief bookkeeper for the firm of Harbison & Gathright of this city." Capt. Schrodt has always voted the Democratic ticket previously under all circumstances, but the Populistic dose this time; lie says, is entirely too bitter for him to take. Many years in the life of Capt. Schrodt have , been spent in Mexico, Central America and South America, and he fibserved the free silver plan in its actual workings. To a reporter for the Evening Post he said: “I find it impossible to support Mr. Bryan on the platform upon which he was nominated. He may be a very brilliant young man, and I have no doubt that he is. Still, his monetary views are so decidedly opposite to those I hold that I will uot be able to vote for him.—lt is well enough for,people to talk about free silver, but when they have' lived for years in a country where they have tried it. ns I have, they will not be so rampant for something about Which they now know nothing. It lias been four or five years since I was in Mexico..but I am satisfied that there has lieen little change. There were millions of paupers then, and Mexico will always have the poor with them in large numbers. “One advantage to impoverished families down there was tWftt they could take their silver plate to the mint and have it coined into money, but the poor had no silver plate. Laborers there get 30 cent? a day. as a general thing, but in some remote cases, for skilled labor, the workmen are paid 35 cents. Their silver dollars have plenty of silver in them, and they are heavier than those in the United States, but they are not worth as much. The only way to make a silver dollar worth a dollar is to put a dollar’s worth of silver in it. If this is done one might just as well carry the article about in lumps, and not go to the trouble of having it coined. Down in Central America the country is flooded with silver that is not worth its face value anywhere, even in the sections where it is made. The poor are ground down and pay double prices for everything. while the wages are the same. “I have been in South America, too. where it is used, and the same state of affairs exist there. They tried it, 1 as an experiment, just as is proposed here, and it wilt take a couple of hundred years for the people to recover from it. There are several/silver mines in South America which have been closed for want of capital to continue the work. In fact, the .value_has_ declined, so rapidly that there is no money in having It coined. If every resident of the United States owned a silver mine I could see some sense in liis’ wanting free ’ coinage.”—Louisville Post.

SILVER CATECHISM.

Q. —What silver-standard countries have free coinage? A.—Not one. There is liot in all the world a mint obeli' to the free coinage of silver at any ratio. Q. —Does not Mexico coin all silver brought to her mints? A. —Yes; but she charges $4.41 for each 100 coius, and the coinage is at 10.31 to 1. so that she recoins European silver at a cost to the holder of aljout 10 per cent, and, American silver at a cost of 7 per cent. Q.—Does not India flee coin silver? A.—No. The mint was closed throe years ago. Q. —Does not Japan coin free? A. — No, The mint closed some years ago. It coins subsidiary silver on government account, as all mints do. The currency is Bank of Japan notes. $134,000,000. redeemable in full legal tender silver coin. These notes correspond to our greenbacks of ISOS, except that they do noTgo below 50 per cent, discount. ’* Q.—What is the result? A.—That the finances are disordered. There is no security for business. There is no fixed standard of value. The yen (dollar) is worth 53 cents in gold one day and 51 the next, ns the price of silver fluctuates in the market, exactly as our greenbacks fluctuated. Q —ls this true of all silver standard countries? A.—lt is true of each and all. There is not one in which business is not speculation, because there is uo fixed standard of value. Q.—What is meant by “a silver basis?” A.—That the notes issued are redeemable iu silver; that silver is the money of final redemption. Q. —What is its practical effect? A.— To drive gold out of circulation and out' of use as money, either as currency or as a reserve for redemption, as it is now used by our banks and by the government. Q. —Is this a universal result? A. — It i& There is not a silver standard country in the world in which gold circulates or is used as money. The more valuable money is always hoarded or sold in speculation as a commodity. Q. —Would not the adoption of free silver coinage prove a measure of contraction, giving us less money than we have now? A.—lt would. More than $500,000,000 in gold coin and certificates would be immediately driven out of circulation or use as money. It would tax the silver-mining capacity for ten years to make good this deficiency.—New York World. ;

Yield of Farm Products.

•■e decline in the value of farm products is sufficiently accounted for without reference to the “crime of 1873,” by the increase of acreage in cultivation. In the United States alone, the amount of land planted in wheat, iu 1875. was 26.381,512 acres; in IS9I it was 39,910,897 acres—an increase of 50 per cent. The yield of wheat iu the United States in 1875 was 292,130.000 bushels; in 1891 it was 011,780,000 bushels—an increase of more tltnn 100 per ceut. In addition to this increase in the amount of wheatproduced iu this country, a similar increase has occurred in India, Russia and South America. Prices are fixed by the law of supply and demand. The increase in the supply has lowered the price. A similar increase hns taken place iu the production of corn, oats, cotton and other agricultural products.

POLITICAL NOTES.

The United States Tobacco Journal complains sarcastically of the demonetization of tobacco, ’'the money standard of old Virginia,” and laments the passing of tlie good old times when "it took three gold dollars to buy one pound of the weed. Borrowed money which was worth “200 cents on the dollar, ’’ wlien borrowed, should bo repaid in money of the same kind. This is not politics. It. is common honesty. The Westerly (R. I.) Weekly says: “If a vote for Mr. Bryan is a vote for a 50-ccnt dollar, a vote for a gold-standard Democrat might be described as a vote for a 75-cent dollar. The only effective vote for a 100-eent dollar is a- vote sot McKinley and Hobart. We do not know what McKinley's popular majority will be. but we know what it ought to l>e«-sixtecn to one. i - The St, Paul Dispatch says: “The election of Altgeld in Illinois will mean as much in prestige for free silver, among free silver Democrats, as if Bryan were to carry the state." If the government has power t# “make money.’’* why does it Collect taxes from ns? Why does it not “make money” anjl let us a lout)

TALMAGE’S SERMON.

THE PREACHER DISCUSSES A GREAT LAWSUIT. *> the Indictment, the Testimony, the Summing Up and the Judgment— Graphic Report of a Trial for the T *«fe of a Soul. 4 ' 7' ‘ r * In the Courtroom, The illustrations of this sermon are drawn from the scenes in a court room, with whifh Dr. Talmage became familiar when he was studying law, before he Studied for tjbic ministry. The text is 1. John, ii. f 1, “We have an ndvoente with the Father, Jesus Christ, 1 the righteous.” Standing in a court room you say to yourself, “At this bar grime has often been arraigned; at this witness stand the oath has often been taken; at this jurors’ bench the verdict has been rendered; at this judge’s desk sentence has been pronounced.” But I hare to tell you to-day of a trial higher than any oyer and terminer or circuit or supreme or chancery. It is the trial of every Christian man for the life of his soul. This trinl is different from any other in the fact that it is hath civil and criminal. The issues at stake are tremendous, and I shall in my sermoft show you first what are the grounds of complaint, then who are the witnesses in the cause and lastly Who are the advocates; < When a trial is called on ( the first thing is to have the indictment read. Stand up th<yi, O Christian man, and hear the indictment of the court of high heaven against thy soul. It is an indictment of ten counts, for thou hast-dircctly or iiidirectly broken all the Ten Commandments. You know how it thundered on Sinai, and when God came down 'how fc the mountain rocked, and the smoke ascended as from a smoldering furnace, and the darkness gathered thick, and the loud, deef> trumpet uttered the words, “The soul that einneth. it shall die!” Are you guilty or not guilty ? Do not put in a negative plea too qu’ck, for I have to announce that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There iij. none that doeth good. No, not one. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Do not therefore be too hasty in pronouncing yourself not guilty.

The Lawsuit. This lawsuit before us also charges you with the breaking of a solemn contract. Many a time did we promise to be the 1 xml’s. We got down on our knees and said, “O Lord, I am thitie now and for-" ever.” Did you keep the promise? Have you stood up to the contract? I go back to your first communion. You remember it as well ns if it,were yesterday. You know how the vision pf the cross rose before you. You remember how from the head, and the hands, anil the side, and Hie Tees there ea me “Weeding forth two words, “Remember me.” Yon recall how the cup of communion trembled in your hand when you first took it, and as in a seashell you may hear, dr think you hear, the roaring of the surf even after the shell has been taken from the beach, so you lifted the cup of communion and you, heard in it the surging of the great ocean of a Saviour’s agony, anil you came forth from that communion service with face shining as though j*ou had been on the mount of Transfiguration, and the very" air seemed tremulous With the love of Jesus, and the woods and the leaves and the grass and the birds were brighter and sweeter voiced than ever before, and you said down iu the very depths of your soul, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I loye thee.” Have you kept the bargain, O Christian man? Have you not sometimes faltered when you ought to have been true? Have you not been proud when you ought to have been humble? Have you not played the coward when you ought to have been the hero? I charge it upon you and I charge it upon myself—we have broken the contract. Still further. This lawsuit claims damages at your hands. The grentest slander on the Christian religion is an inconsistent professor. The Bible says religion is one thing. We, by our inconsistency, say religion is some other thing, and what is more deplorable about it is that people can see faults in others while they cannot see any in themselves. If you shall at any time find some miserable old gossip, with imperfections from the crown of her head jo the sole- of her foot, a perfect blotch of sin herself, she will go tattling, tattling, tattling all the years of her life about the inconsistencies of others, having no idea that she is inconsistent herself. God save the world from the gossip, female and male! I think the mabs are the worst. Now the chariot of Christ's salvation goes on through the world, but it is our inconsistencies, my brethren, that clock up the wheels, while all along the line there ought to have been cast nothing but pnlm branches, and the shout shouM have been lifted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Now you have heard the indietmeat read. Are you ready to plead guilty or not guilty? Perhaps you are not ready y«lt to plead. Then the trinl will go on. The witnesses will lie called, and. we shall have the matter decided. In the name of God I now make proclamation: Oyez, oyez, oyez, whosoever hath anything ro offer in this trial, in which God is the plaintiff and the Christian soul the defendant, let him now step forth and give testimony in this solemn trial. The Testimony. The first witness I call-upon the stand in behalf of the prosecution is the world, all critical and observant of Christian character. You know that there are people around you who perpetually banquet on the frailties of God’s children./ You may know, if you hare lived in the country, that a crow cares for nothing so much as carrion. There are those who imagine that out of the faults of Christians they can make a bridge of boats across the stream of death, and they are going to try it; but alas for the mistake! When they get midstream, away will go the bridge, and down will go their souls to perdition. O world of the greedy eye an 1 the hard, heart, come on the stand now and testify in behalf of the prosecution against this Christian soul on trial. Wha; do you know about this Christian man? “Oh,” says the world, “I know a gnat deal about him. He talks about putting '■ hia treasures In heaven, but he is the sharpest man in a trade I over knew. He seems to want us to believe that he is <i Child of God. but he is juat full of imperfections. Ido not know but lam a great deal better than he is now. Oftentimes he is very earthly, and he talks so little about Christ and so much about himself. I am Tory glad to testify that this is bad man.” Stop, O world, with the greedy eye and hard heart. J fear you are too much interested in this trial to give impartial evidence. Let all those who hear the testimony of this witness know that there is an old family quarrel between these two parties. There always has been h variance between the world and the church; afid. White the World on the witness stand to-day has told a great deal of truth about th: i Christian map. rou must take it #ll with much allowance, remembering that they atill keep the old grudge good. O world of the greedy eye and the hard heart, that will do. You may sit down. Tbs second witness I coll in this case is

conscience. Who art thonJO conscience? ■ What is your business’? Whore were you born? 1 What are you.doing here? “Oh,** says eoftseience, “I was born in heaven.' 1 came down to befriend this man. I. have lived with him. I have instructed him. 1 have warned him. I showed him the right and the wrong, advised him to take the one and eschew the other. I hnve kindled 'ft great light in his soul. With a whip of scorpions I scourged his wickedness, and I have tried to cheer him when doing right, and yet I am compelled to testify on thei>stahd to-day that he has sometimes rejected my mission. Oh, how many cups of life have I pressed to his lips that hfe dashed down, and how often has ho stood with his hard heel’ on' the bleeding hgprt of the Son of God. It pains me very much that I have to testify against.this Christian man, nnd yet I must in behalf of him in no wise clear the 'guilty say that this Christian man has done wrong. He has been worldly. He' has been neglectful. He has done a thousand things ho might not to have done, add left undone a thousand things hb ought to have done.” That will do, conscience. You can sit down. The third witness 1 call in the ease is an angel of God. Bright and shining one, what doest thou hero? ‘What hast thou to say against this man on trial? “Oh,” says the angel, “I have been a messenger to him. I have guarded him. I have watched him. With this wing I have defended him, and oftentimes, when he knew it not, I led him into green pastures and beside the still waters. I snatched from him the poisoned chalices. bad spirits came upon him to destroy him, I fought them back with infinite fierceness, and yet I have to testify to-day that ne has rejected my mission. He has not done as he ought to have done. Though I came from the sky, he drove me back. Though with this wing I defended him, and though with this voice I wooed him, 1 have to announce his multiplied imperfections. I dare not keep hack the testimony, for then I should not dare to appear again among the sinless ones before the great white throne.” There is only one more witness to bo called on behalf of the prosecution, and that is the great, the holy, the august, {lie omnipotent Spirit of God. We bow down before him. Holy Spirit, knowest thou this man? “Oh, yes,” says the Holy One, “I know him. I have striven with him ten thousand times, and though sometimes he did seem to repent he fell back again as often from his first estate. Ten thousand times ten.thousand has he grieved me, although the Bible warned him. saying: ‘Grieve not the Holy Ghost. Quench not the Spirit.’ Yes, he has driven mo back. Though I am the Third Person of the Trinity, he has trampled on my mission,and the blood of the atonement that I brought with which to cleanse his soul he sometimes despised. I came from the throne of God to convert and comfort and sanctify', nnd yet look at that man and see what he is compared with what, unresisted, I would have made him.”

The Rcbnttal. The evidence on the part of the prosecution has closed. Now let the defense bring on the rebuttal testimony'. What havb you, O Christian soul, to bring in reply to this evidence of the world, of the conscience, of the angel and of the Holy Ghost? No evidence? Are all these things true? “Yes. Unclean, unclean.” says every Christian soul. What? Do you not begin to tremble at the thought of condemnation? We have come now to the most interest-, ing part of this great trial. The evidence nil in, the advocates speak. The profeV sion of an advocate is full of responsibility. In England and the United States there have arisen men who in this calling have been honored by their race and thrown contempt upon those who'in the profession have been guilty of a great many meannesses. That profession will be honorable as long as it has attached to it such names as Mansfield and Marshall and Story ami Kent nnd Southard and William Wirt.' The court room has sometimes been the scene of very marvelous and thrilling things. Some of you remember the famous Girard will ease, where one of our advocates pleaded the cause of the Bible nnd Christianity in masterly Anglo-Saxon, every paragraph a thunderbolt. Some of you have read of the famous trial in Westminster hall of Warren Hastings, the despoiler of India by splendid talents, by courage, by bribes, by gigantic. dishonesty. The whole world had rung with applause or condemnation. Gathered in Westminster hall, a place in which thirty kings had been inaugurated, was one of the most famous audiences ever gathered. Foreign ministers and princes sat there. Peers marched in, clad in ermine and gold. Mighty men and women from all lands looked down upon the Scerie. Amid all that pomp and splendor, and amid an excitement such as has seldom been seen in any court room, Edmund Burke advanced in a speech which will last as long as the English language, concluding with this burning charge, which made Warren Hastings cringe nnd cower: "I impeach him in' the name of the commons house of parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I impeach him in the name of the English nation, whose ancient honor he has sullied. I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose rights he has trampled on and whose country he has turned into a desert. And lastly, in the name of human nature, in the name of both sexes, in the name of every age and rank, I impeach him as the common enemy and oppressor of all.” But I turn from the recital of these memorable: occasions to u grander trial, and I hnve to tell you that in this trial of the Christian, for the life of his soul the advocates are mightier, wiser and more eloquent. The evidence all being in, severe and stern justice rises on behalf of the prosecution to make his plea. With the Bilile open in his hand, he reads the law. stern qnd inflexible, and the penalty, ‘•The soul that sinneth. it shall die.” Then he says: “O thou Judge and Lawgiver, this is thine own statute, and all the evidence in earth and heaven agrees that the man has sinned against these enactments! Now let the sword leap from its scabbard.* - Hhnll n man go through the very flames of Sinai unsinged? Let the law be executed. Let judgment be pronounced. Let him me. 1 demand that ho die!”

O Christian, does it not look very dark for thee? Who will plead on thy side in so forlorn a cause? Sometimes a man will be brought into a court of law, and he will have no ft-lends and no money, and the judge will look over the bar and soy, “Is there any one who will volunteer to take this man’s case and defend lpm ?*! And some young m«u rises up and says, “I will be his counsel,” perhaps starting on from that very point to a great and brilliant career. Now, in this matter of the soul, ns you have nothing to pay for counsel, do yoti think that any one will volunteer? Y’cs, j-es; I see one rising. He is a young man, only'33 years of age. I see his countenance suffused with tears ami covered with blood, and all the galleries of heaven arc thrilled with the spectacle. Thanks be unto God, “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteons.” O Christian soul, your case begins to look better. I think, perhaps, after nil, you may not have to die. The best advocate in the universe has taken your side. No one was ever so qualified to defend you. He knows all the law, all lta demands, all its penalties. He ia always

ready. No hew ttrmof the ease can snr-> prise him, and he will plead for you for nothing , ar-earnestly as though yon brought a world of. treasure to his feet. Besides that, he has undertaken the case of thousands who were as forlorn as yoti, and he has never lost a ease. Courage, O Christian soul! I think that, after all, there In ay be some chance for you, for the great advocate rises to make his plea. He says: “I admit all that his been proved against my client. I admit- all these sins —aye, more—blit look at that Wounded hand ojf mine ana look at that other wounded hand and at my right foot and at my left fopt. By all these wounds I plead for his pjearance. Count all the drops of my blood. By the humilitftion of Bethleheni, by the sweat of Gethsemane. by the sul|erings of the cross, I demand that he gi»' free. On this arm he hath leaned, to this heart he hath flown, in my tears he hath washed, on my righteousness he hath depended. Let him go*free; I am the ransom. Let him escape the lash; I took the scourgings. Let the cup pass from him; I drank it to the dregs. Put on him the crown of life, for I have worn the crown of thorns. Over against my throne of shame Set his throne of triumph. " ’ . ; Judgment. counsel on both sides have spoken, and there is only one more thing now remaining, and that is the awarding of the judgment. If you hnve ever been in a court room, you know the silence and solemnity when the verdict is about to be rendered or the judgment about to be given. About this sopl on trial—shall it be saved or shall it be lost? Attention, above, around, beneath! All the universe cries, “Hear, hear!” The judge rises nnd gives his decision, never to be changed, never to be revoked, “There Is, therefore, now no* condemna-. tioq to them who are in Christ Jesus.” The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not, I will not. desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never; no, never; no, never, forsake. But, my friends, there is coming a day of trial in which not only the saint, but the sinner must appear. That day of trial will come very suddenly. The farmer will be at the plow, the merchant will be in the counting room, the woodman will be ringing his ax on the hickories, the weaver will have his foot on the treadle, the manufacturer will be walking amid the buzz of looms and the clack of flying machinery, the counsel may be at the bar pleading the law, the minister may be in the pulpit pleading the gospel, the drunkard may be reeling amid his cups, and the blasphemer with the oath caught between his teeth. Lo, the sun hides! Night comes down at midnoon. The stars appear at noon to-, day. The earth shudders and throbs. There an earthquake opens and a city sinks as a crocodile would crunch a child. Mountains roll in their sockets and send down their granite cliffs in avalanche of rock. Rivers pause in their chase for the sea, and ocean uprearing cries to flying Alps and Himalaya. Beasts bellow and moan and snuff up the darkness. Clouds fly like flocks of swift eagles. Great thunders beat and boom and burst. ' Stars shoot and fall. The Almighty, rising on his throne, declares that time shall be no longer, and the archangel’s trump repeats it till all the living hear and the continents of dead spring to their feet, crying, “Time shall be no longer!” Oh, on that day will you be ready? I have shown you how well the Christian will get off in his trial. Will you get off as well in your trial? Will Christ plead on your side or against you ? Oh, what will you do in the last great assize if your conscience is against you, and the world is against you, and the angels of heaven are against you, and the Holy Spirit is against you, and the Lord God Almighty is against yon? Better this day secure an Advocate.

Short Sermons.

Plagiarism.—l have much sympathy with the poor fellow who steals a loaf of bread to keep his wife and babies from hunger. But the preposterous individual reputation for learning, piety and honesty, admired by a great congregation, who goes on a false reputation and steals other men’s brainwork to keep up Ids humbug, is so detestable an animal that there Is no known punishment adequate to his case. The ordlnry pickpocket is a saint In comparison.—Rev. Dr. Thompson, Episcopalian NaAchez, Miss. Religion and Science.—Religion is the knowledge of life, science is systematic knowledge. Religion is separated from science only in the sense that you can speak of religion and sculpture or religion and history being distinct. Religion Includes all knowledge In the world, so far as that knowledge is necessary for the worship of God or the betterment of humanity. Religion Is not morality, although It includes it. Religion is not seience, but it does not deny the usefulness of science.—Rev. A. W. Bostwick, Episcopalian, Daiisville, N. Y. Sympathy.—What tens of thousands of our fellow-creatures need Is helphelp to form new principles; help to extricate themselves from their present environment; help to climb to higher and purer moral altitudes. Sympathy Is the great desideratum—not sympathy at arm’s length, but hand to hand sympathy; not sympathy that exhausts itself In sighs and groans and tears, but sympathy that means work for the unemployed, medicine for the sick, or places of refuge for the devil-pursued, and lifts in place of knocks for the fallen and the falling.—Rev, William Fielder, Methodist, Minneapolis. Wealth Our Peril.—The peril of America to-day Is Its enormous wealth. We are becoming so absorbed in the pursuit after the material prosperity that we are neglecting our inheritance and allowing the country to become a hotbed of secular license and lawlessness. X)od is drummed out of politics; the Bible Is out of the schools from which must come our future citizens. We are so far from being good-Christians that we are not even good Jews. The social and political regulations of to-day are no>t, even an approach to the Ten Commandments, which are the fundamental laws of the Mosaic economy.—Rev. Dr. Magroder, Methodist, Cincinnati, Peace, Not War.—Our defense as a nation should not be what many think, strong fortifications and long range guns, but righteousness. We must set the nations of the earth an example worthy of being followed. We must Wt them see that the true God of heaver and earth Is not a God of war, but ot peace. The day for slaughtering men on the Held of Inttle is past among Christian nations. Our differences must be adjusted henceforth by arbitration. We must defend the institutions Inherited from our fathers, not with powder and ball, but with the omnipotent weapon, the vojee of the people—the American ballot—Rev., Dr. Harooart, Methodist, Philadelphia. -

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

roiwtor - * Y* RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE - PAST WEEK. ■ Board of State Confcmlaaiot!<?Js Complete the Aueasmtot-Censm Se» Being Taken Shows a Marvelous Increase in Madison County, Indiana’s Railroad Tax. The Board of State' Conunisqhwers have completed the assessment of railroad property. The net increase in valuation is about $60,000. The total for 1866 is $156,259,260, as againat $156.199,465 for 1895. The miles of -mailt track, 1896, are 6,279.88, for 1895, 6,2b/.52; assessment of main track for 1896 is $123,938,565; for 1895, $124,211,940 The assessment on other corporation* was as follows for each mile: Western Union, $350; Postal. $225; Grand Rapids end Indiana, $75; Grand Rapkls and Ft. Wayne, $75; American Long-Distance Telephone Company, $250; Central Union, s2so; Cumberland, S4O; Greensborg. $25; Jasper County; Telephone Company, $25; Madison County Telephone Company, $25; Scott County Long-Distance Telephone Company, $25; Ohio Valley, SSO; Pacific Express Company, $250; Adams, $100; Wells-Fargo Company, $250; National, $250; United States, $175; Pullman Car Company, $150; Wagner Company, $125. Sodden Death Stops a Murder. Edward Savnge, of Anderson, awoke early Friday morning with a start and his blood ran cold When he found James Field, hts roommate, standing over him with a razor in his hand. He was to all appearances just oh the point of cutting. Savage’s throat. Savage gave an exclamation of fright, just as Field dropped to the floor with the razor beside him. Savage jumped out of bed, called his brother and went to where Field was lying. They found him dead. Officers were called and the ease was put into their hands. Developments indicate that Field was insane and had taken a deadly poison. He vas just on the verge of making the tragedy a double one, when Savage awoke. The latter cannot tell what caused -him to awake at the time. The action of the drag Field had taken worked simultaneously with the slight shock caused by Savage crying out. The poison was for the purpose of sobering him, but was to be taken in very limited quantities. Be took all of it. He was a glass worker and leaves a widow at Rochester, P*. Gas Belt Population Grown. The house-to-house canvas* being made in Madison County for census purposes has brought out some wonderful surprises for those not acquainted with She gas belt's growth. The compilation has been, completed' for Alexandria and Elwood. It shows Elwood is now n city of 11,933 inhabitants, against 1,490 in 1887 and 7,950 in 1894. Alexandria makes a still more wonderful showing. Her population to-day is 7,632 against 491 In 1881 and estimated 4,000 in 1894. Anderson’s summary has not been made. It will probably exceed 24,200, against 3,300 in 1887, 10,967 in 1890 and 18,000 estimated) in 1894. The same will hold good with the .city of Muncie and possibly of Marion. The growth is the result of natural gas. The population of Madison County in 1887 was 20,573, in 1894 88.654, and now exceeds 100,000, and is the second largest in the State. All Over the State. The sudden disappearance of Frank Borger. a butcher, from Shelbyville, has given his family and friends much uneasiness. He wrote a note to his wife stating he was going to leave never to return. He was heavily in debt. At Shelbyville, a horse driven by Elmer White, in company with Bertha Parker and Emma White, took fright at » young woman riding a bicycle, and van away, upsetting the 1 vehicle and ’browing them against a barb wire- fence. Mlsa Parker received injuries froin which she cannot recover. The first step toward the practical test of Rev. J. 8. Axtell’s aerodome, the latest flying machine, has been taken by the appointing of a committee at a mass meeting of Portland citizens which will look toward the organization of a com-j-any for the purpose named. If ilie aerodome proves a success the company w*ll be capitalized at SIOO,OOO, and wilj be known as the Aerial Transit Company. Rev. Mr. Axtell feels confident and ha* received a number of inquiries regarding bis machine. _ ... Galvin Armstrong, defaulting deputy treasurer of Tipton County, was released at Kokomo after serving a three-year term in the northern prison. Owing to the strong feeling still existing against him by the taxpayers and bondsmen, Armstrong asked to be bronght home ■» the night, and on being released, at the court house door he disappeared and his present whereabouts are unknown. There is a strong belief that l»e still has possession of part of the missing $48,000. The County Commissioners of Adana* county have been -bedding a special ***- sion in their office ip Decatur. The pwrI>ose of the meeting was for examining ami accepting the report of the .pfficers of the county, including trustees, auditor, clerk and treasurer. The reports were all carefully examined and found to is* correct and satisfactory, until theycame to the report of the treasurer, Daniel P. Bold*. Jlis report was found to be wrong. He had, as alleged, charged the county with his per cent on road taxes, ami also other taxes, wtiich the commissioners claim he had no right to do. The amount of the shortage may run into the thousands. Mr. Bolds is one of the wealthiest and most prominent men in the county. He has been quite a large oil speculator. It is claimed by Bold** friends that the shortage, which they sag' is oul.v a misimderslauding, it doe to the fee and salary law which has been in force in this State the peat year. Thieves robbed the postoffice at Wheatheld Monday morning, taking several hundred dollars’ worth of stamps and a sum of money. Robberies have been committal at Demotte and Wheatfleld almost nightly for several weeks past. William Davis .was shot by his wife. Lizzie Davis, at Red Cloud. Mrs. Dam was a teacher In a Sunday school, amt her husband became jealous and declared that she only went to Sabbath school to meet the superintendent, with whom be charged she was intimate. The wife resented the charge and in the row she abot him. Pretty 18-year-old Maud Dusenbury, of Ramona, was arrested at Brazil for steal, ing a tea pi of horses and a buggy, which he had with her. She was taken hack to ltnmona. Thia is said to be the third time she has been implicated in horse stealing. Ex-Secretary of the Navy “Unci* Diet” Thompson, of Terre Haute, ha* entirely recovered from heat prostration.add feels a* well as he has for several years audits discussing the political situation and locations of the campaign with as much vigor ns he did half a century ago. HhJ friends aajr it 4a out of the question that be could succumb in a year, ot an exciting presidential campaign. i ~ -...