Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, August 17, 1876, Image 1
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l.e wis m. gkist, proprietor, j $nirtptnbtnt Jfamilg ^tetospaptr: Jfor tjrt |Jramati(rit of % Ijaliiical, facial, ^griraltaral aair Ctrtnmercial |ntmsls of l|t Soa% TERMS?$3.?0 A YEAR. IN ADVANCE.
VOL. 22. YOEKYILLE, S. O., THURSDAY, ATJGTJST 17, 1876. ^O. 33.
Jin:
Lost and found"
OR,
THE WHITE FAWN OF THE FOREST.
BY MRS. HENRY DEAS.
CHAPTER X.
Panther Joe was quite a celebrated character
in that part of the world. He was a halfbreed
Indian, noted for his adventurous life
and hair-breadth 'scapes, and derived his cognomen
from one especial encounter with a
panther, in which heliad won the victory over
his assailant, rendered ferocious by hunger, in
an almost marvellous manner. He was a
huge, strongly-built creature, sleepy-eyed,
slow of speech and sluggish in movement
when no emergency called for action, but
__-.l ???i?c? i av
Wlin ft BlUtUDCrillg ur? ucuontu uio imn ouut
lids that could leap into angry flame at a slight
provocation, and a world of power and fleetness
in those brawny, museular limbs. He
was an ardent worshipper of Mr. Carleton
and all his family, and had rendered them
many a valuable service, in the way of bringing
them game to supply their exhausted
larder, and destroying prowling beasts in
their neighborhood when it had been wilder
and more unsettled than now. Mr. Carleton
never could make out whether he was a convert
to Christianity or no, for on this subject
he would not speak. He would listen by the
hour, with his sleepy gaze, to the clergyman's
discourse, occasionally giving a little nod
of the head or a slight grunt, in testimony of
attention, but, if asked a direct question, invariably
shirked a reply. He was lying
stretched on a bear-skin in front of bis cabin,
blinking lazily at the declining sun, as the
missionary approached. At sight of the latter
he immediately arose, and rearing his
huge form to its full height, advanced a step
or two to meet him.
11 !? If- L
"Weii, uoe, ww iur. variolous grevwug,
"You have been resting, I see?I suppose you
are just home from hunting, or some other
brisk exercise."
"No," said the Indian. "I have not hunted
to-day. I have been out, but not to the
chase. I have news for you, father missionary."
This was bis mode of addressing Mr. Carleton,
and he never bestowed any less respectful
title upon him, seeming to consider it his
duty always to recognize the full dignity of
his office.
"You will come in," he added, laying his
hand on the horse's bridle. "The skin of the
bear lies in the corner ready for you, with the
blanket for your covering, and the venison is
dressed for supper."
"Many thanks. I was going to ask you for
a supper and shelter for to-night," was the reply,
as the clergyman alighted in obedience
to this hospitable mandate. Old Wbitefoot
was apparently good friends with Joe, for he
whinnied gently in token of recognition, and
willingly suffered him to lead him to a little
distance, where, tethered in a sort of leafy
stall, his saddle and bridle removed, and his
coat rubbed down with a wisp of straw, he
presently gave himself up to the enjoyment
of a hearty meal, while his master and his
host partook, inside the cabin, of theirs. The
missionary was weary with his ride, and did
ample justice to Joe's excellent providing;
for the Indian was not only expert in furnishing
game for his table?if a rough board set
across a stump might be so called?but was
quite civilized enough to know how to cook it
also in the most approved style. Joe's menage
formed, in fact, a curious mixture of refinement
and barbarism. The shaggy bear-skin
couches, the war-like implements and tokens
yfckooa rloonro tinrv iKo Wftllo flnH Hlfl
VI bliu VUWQW UVWIHVlUg VMV ?* M?W|
primitive cooking apparatus, all indicating
the customs of the savage; while, ou the other
hand, sundry domestic conveniences, in the
shape of shining pans and cups, and a very
respectable assortment of blue china ware,
and even some attempts at ornament, as testified
by the exhibition of a couple of engravings
hanging over the rude hreplace, showed
that the example of civilization was not lost
upon him. These engravings, representing
hunting-scenes, and quite spirited in design, if
not very artistic in execution, were the pride
of their owner's heart. He had purchased
them once when on a visit to a town some 6fty
miles off, and would frequently, while smoking
his pipe, sit and contemplate them with
satisfaction, and a perfect faith in the genius
of their designer, whoever he or she might be.
Supper being over, the Indian brought out
an earthen jug, a couple of pipes and a single
cup. He was sufficiently well acquainted
with the habits of his guest to know that he
would not join him in his protations, though
he would not refuse to smoke a friendly pipe
with him.
"Ah ! Joe," said the clergymau, shaking his
head, as he glanced at the jug, "that's a bad
friend of yours. I dislike to see him in your
company."
Joe took a puff or two before replying.
"He is no bad friend now," he slowly rejoined,
at length. "Once upon a time he was ;
then I got drunk, and made myself a big fool.
I have heap more sense than to get drunk any
more."
"Well, I am glad of that; but still, I think
whisky is a poor companion under any circumstances,"
said Mr. Carleton.
"He helps me a mighty good deal when I
am weary," said the Indian. "You take some ;
yourself, father missionary, when you come i
from a long hard ride, and you see how good |
and strong he'll make you feel."
"Cold water is my best drink, Joe," replied
the clergyman. "Your fire-water is too ardent
for my taste, and besides, it is my maxim
that tbe temperate man always gets through
the most work."
Joe nodded slightly, as though not caring j
to discuss the subject. After a brief silence,
Mr. Carleton asked him what was the news
be had to tell him, of which had spoken.
"This," said Joe, removing his pipe, and
# speaking with some degree of animation, as if
in the subject: "The Spring Vale Crows have
" ' been turned out of their reservation, and
tnoved to a new place just near by here."
"Indeed 1" said Mr. Carleton. "When did i
that take place ?"
"They have but just arrived to-day."
"Have you been there ?"
-"I have been there. They are but a small
company, and need little land ,* your people
wanted the old reservation to settle themselves
on. Maybe some of them will die soon, or j
wander off; then they will be fewer still than I
dow, and will need yet a smaller piece of
land. Then the white people will come again
and move them somewhere else. So it goes
from time to time."
"It is very true," said Mr. Carleton, sighing.
"I wish the government would let them
-alone."
"Bah! what matters?" rejoined the Indian,
with a shrug of his shoulders. "Red men do
the country no good; big fools any how.
Your people are wise, they have much under
T* in nil nntlf tliniT IlKnilM OTOf fKp
BtttUUlUg. JLI ID aii il^UH VUVJ WftlWMCM gvw WMW
moat good land."
This was not hypocrisy on Joe's part. He
was, for the most part, no admirer of the race
whose superior he considered himself on account
of the dash of Spanish blood in his
veins. Yet there was far more of the Indian
than of the Spaniard in his physique, and in
his nature also. One would scarcely have suspected
him to be other than a genuine son of
the soil, but for his own statement, almost invariably
volunteered to those who became acquainted
with him. Mr. Carleton had had
many arguments with him, respecting the
rights and privileges of the natives, and the
treatment they received at the hands of the
whites; singular arguments, in which the
white man espoused the red man's cause,
while his swarthy opponent advocated the
course pursued by the great Chief at Washington,
though not always able to defend that
of his too often unworthy tools and agents.
"Are the Crows satisfied with their new quarters
f asked the clergyman presently.
"Maybe so?maybe not," was Joe's not very
satisfactory reply. "Some of them speak
peaceably. Others look dark and say nothing.
If they are not content, they will give trouble?that
I know. The Crows have hot blood;
they get themselves often into quarrels."
"And how far from here do you say they
are?"
"About six miles. You know Black Dog
Cafion ?"
41VArt T Ua?*A nnoon/^ fKwAtinK if nfton "
1 CO) X UdTO |/MQVU VUiVUgu Iv v??WM?
"Well, they are just south of that. It iB
not a bad place."
"Have they good water and good planting
ground there?"
"Oh! yes, good enough. If they are wise,
they will hold their peace, and be content."
"I wish they may," said the clergyman.
"I do not wonder, however, that these people
are often dissatisfied at being removed from
their comfortable homes, and shifted about
from pillar to post, as the will or caprice of
the government dictates."
"You are the Indian's friend," remarked
Joe.
"I am the friend of the oppressed," said the
clergyman, warmly. "It arouses my indignation
to see injustice and fraud, no matter who
its victims may be."
"Not worth while getting troubled about,"
said Joe, calmly puffing his pipe. "The
strong must conquer. That is the law of the
world. Red men owned this big country first;
good. What did they? They hunted, fished,
fought, scalped orre -soother, and lived and* died
in their wigwams,without improvement?
savages from their birth to their death. Did
that improve the land? No. White men
come?they see this vast land, they admire it,
they say they will get it for their own. Indians
did not like that. It was their country,
it is true?but what of that? They did it no
good. White men settled here, built cities,
towns, churches?brought education, civilization,
pictures, printing, book-writing, all fine
things and useful things. They improved
the land, and did heaps of good. If red men
were peaceable, the whites didn't trouble them
much. They only said, 'We do the country
heap of good, you get out and give us the best
part of it.' That's all fair. If the red men
went, good ; if they didn't go, they brought
out their guns and their pistols, and scared
'era away. I see no harm in that. Plenty of
land left, good enough for them. Why need
they complain?"
"But the worst of it is, the land they are
driven to is sometimes very bad," said the
missionary. "They are forced to leave the
comforts of the homes to which they have become
accustomed, where their needs are all
amply supplied, to seek new abodes where
they have neither good soil, good water, nor
good hunting-grounds. You know yourself,
Joe, when the Indian River Blackfeet were
moved to the Gaudaloupe reservation, how
many of them died for want of proper food
and water. It was pitiable."
"Those Blackfeet wern't worth their salt.
If they had showed any fight, I believe they
would have been let alone. It didn't do any
harm to thin them off a little. See what a
good village is built up on their old reservation.
You yourself visit it, father missionary,
in your rides?heap better than the Blackfeet
camp. Seems to me it's all fair. If the
white men can get the land, let 'em take it?
the red man is bound to die out some time,
and it makes no difference whether it's a few
years sooner or later. I don't complain."
With which concluding remark, Joe refilled
his pipe, and lit it with deliberate gravity,
thn mianinnarv malrincr no reDlv. for he Wa8
too well accustomed to the swarthy philosopher's
utilitarian views to be shocked by this
exposition of his sentiments.
The half-breed, however, had not yet unburthened
himself of all that it was in his
mind to say. After another pause, during
which he smoked with half-shut eyes, while
his guest ruminated pensively on the crooked
ways of the world, he once more removed his
pipe, and with a sidelong glance at the clergyman,
remarked?
"I am going to obey your counsel, father I
missionary, that you offered me when last you j
were here."
"And what is that, Joe?" asked Mr. Carle-1
ton, rousing himself from his reverie.
"Don't you recollect?" asked Joe, somewhat |
shyly, "you gave me much good advice?I j
have not forgotten it, though I made out to |
scorn it then. Now I have changed my mind, i
You bade me take to myself a wife?do you |
'member now ?"
"Ob ! yes, I did not know what you meant, i
Well, and so you are going to follow ray ad-;
vice ?"
Ttia Tndian ffpavplv "T ttm mv '
mind is fixed. Before the next moon is run
out, I shall bring a wife home to my cabin,!
to dress my meat, and keep all things in order.
But she shall not work much?no: she is too
beautiful for that. She is bright as the morn-.
ing star, and graceful as the mist that curls
about the brow of the mountain."
"Dear me!" said the clergyman, moved to
admiration by this unusual display of enthusiasm
on the part of bis host. "You are quite
poetical, Joe. I should like to see her. May
I ask her name?"
"I cannot tell it to you," replied Joe, "for
I have not heard it tnyself. I have but seen
her once."
"Only seen her once, and she has promised
to marry you, Joe!"
"No! no, I never said that, father misionary.
I said, my mind was fixed to make her
my wife; but I have said no word to her yet."
"Then how do you know she will consent?"
The Indian smiled sleepily, and took one
or two good whiffs of his pipe before replying.
Then he said, with a modest self-appreciation
quite worthy of a more refined member of society?
"I have no fear. She will follow my footsteps
when I call to her to come."
Mr. Carleton could not forbear a gentle
laugh. Joe probably understood from the
expression of his face that he did not put
quite as much faith in his powers of persuasion
or attraction as he did himBelf; for with
a serious, argumentative look, he stretched
ftiif nno Via nit anil noiit nrotflripdllv?
VMW ?"V W? ?V. ? J
"Father missionary, you believe that I
make idle boasts; time will show you whether
I am right or wrong. Why should the
young maiden shrink from following me?
She lives in a poor little hut, with a feeble,
sick old man; great chief once, but weak
and worthless now. He will not last long,
that I can see. The maiden tends him, she
binds his bead when it aches, she brings him
food ; she is good and virtuous, that I have
well perceived ; and she is beautiful, far too
beautiful to waste her life thus. Let her leave
the worthless old man ; her care cannot make
him live; he can get another to dress his
meat and lay the healing herbs upon his bead.
With meshe will be happy, she will have no
care. All the day she can roam abroad, or
sit at home and braid her hair if she will. She
will live at her ease, and be as free as the
antelope upon the plains. Is Panther Joe a
man to be despised? Has he not slain his
enemies, and many beasts of the forest? Is
not his arm strong to defend the wife of his
choice, and can he not strike terror to the
heart of any who would seek to do her wrong?
Is not his power well known among his people
? I tell you I could haye wooed and won
more than one noble maiden had I sought to
do so. Few would refuse this band if it was
offered, but 1 would have none of tbera?no,
not the daughter of the mightiest chief, because
I had no pleasure in them all. But I
have seen to-day the fairest face that smiles
upon the earth, and my heart is conquered.
It has become as the heart of a child.' I have
laid it at the feet of that beautiful one, and I
have sworn to make her mine. Father missionary,
I shall keep my vow."
"Well, Joe," said Mr. Carleton, amused,
but willing to indulge the Indian's views, "I
am sure I wish you all success. I have no
doubt, myself, that you will be very good and
kind to any wife you may get, and I hope
you may get as good a one as your heart can
desire. Is this. maiden yum apeak of one of
the tribe of Crows who have been moved to
the new reservation?"
"She is with them," said Joe, "but she is
among them all as a rose among weeds, so
fair does she shine above the rest. Her skin
is less dark than theirs, her hair more silken
and fine. Her eyes are like the eyes of the
gazelle, and the movement of her limbs is
like the swaying of the boughs in the evening
breeze. And I have also heard her sing. She
was singing to herself a song as she waited on
the sick old chief; and I have never heard a
forest bird whose notes were clear and sweet
as hers."
"I confess you have awakened my curiosity
to see her," said the missionary. "I trust that
on my next visit to you, I will find her here,
and that she will bring a blessing to your
home."
The Indian, having unburdened himself of
all that he desired to say, finished his pipe in
silence, then rising from his seat, remarked
that it was now time to go to bed. Mr. Carleton
was weary from his journey, and quite
willing to seek repose, and stretching themselves
on their bearskin couches, both he and
his host were soon wrapped in sleep dreamless
and profound.
|To De uonunuea.j
|lati0nal fcmocraca.
LETTERS OF ACCEPTANCE.
GOVERNOR TILDEN'S LETTER.
Albany, N. Y., July 31,1876.
Gentlemen :?When I bad the honor to
receive a personal delivery of your letter, on
behalf of the Democratic National Convention,
held on the 28th of June, at St. Louis,
advising me of my nomination as the candidate
of the constituency represented by that
body for the office of President of the United
States, I answered that, at my earliest convenience
and in conformity with usage, I
would prepare and transmit you a formal acceptance.
I now avail myself of the first internal
in nnflonirlnhln nominations to fulfill
rvI f,#1 " ? www"*f ?
that engagement.
The convention, before making its nominations,
adopted a declaration of principles
which, as a whole, seems to me a wise exposition
of the necessities of our country, and of
the reforms needed to bring back the government
to its true functions, to restore purity of
administration, and to renew the prosperity
of the people. But some of these reforms are
so urgent that they claim more than a passing
approval. The necessity of a reform in the
scale of public expense, Federal, State and
municipal, aud in the modes of Federal taxation,
justifies all the prominence given to it in
the declaration of the St. Louis Convention.
The preseut depression in all the business and
industries of the people, which is depriving
labor of its employment and carrying want
into so many homes, has its principal cause in
excessive governmental consumption. Under
the illusions of a specious prosperity, engendered
by the false policies of the Federal government,
a waste of capital has been going on
ever since the peace of 1865, which could only
end in universal disaster. The Federal taxes
of the last seven years reach the gigantic sum
of$4,500,000,000. Local taxation has amounted
to two-thirds and much more. The vast
aggregate is not less than $7,500,000,000.
This enormous taxation followed a civil conflict
that has greatly impaired our aggregate
wealth, and had made a prompt reduction of
expenses indispensable. It was aggravated
by most unscientific and ill-adjusted methods
of taxation that increased the sacriflces of the
people far beyond the receipts of the treasury.
It was aggravated more by a financial policy
which tended to diminish the energy, skill and
economy of production and the frugality of
private consumption, and induced miscalculation
in business and an unremunerative use
of capital and labor.
Even in prosperous times the daily wants
of industrious communities press closely upon
their daily earnings. The margin of possible
national savings is at best a small percentage
: of national earnings. Yet now, for these elev!
en years, governmental consumption has been
; a larger portion of the national earnings than
, the whole people can possibly save even in
prosperous times, for all new investments.
The consequences of these errors are now
I a present public calamity, but they were nevI
er doubtful, never invisible. They were nec
essary and inevitable, and were foreseen and
depicted, when the waves of that fictitious
prosperity ran highest
In a speech made by me on the 24th of
September, 1868, it was said of these taxes :
"They bear heavily upon every man's income,
upon every industry and every business in the
country, and, year by year, they are destined
to press still more heavily, unless we arrest
the system that gives rise to them. It was
comparatively easy when values were doubling,
under repeated issues of legal tender
paper money, to pay, out of the froth of our
growing and apparent wealth, these taxes;
but when values recede and sink toward their
natural scale, the tax gatherer takes from us
not only our income, not only our profits, but
also a portion of oui; Capital. I do not wish
to exaggerate or alarm. I simply say that
I we cannot afford the costly and ruinous polij
cy of the Radical majority of Congress. We
cannot afford that policy towards the South.
We cannot afford the magnificent and oppressive
centralism into which our government is
being converted. We cannot afford the present
magnificent scale of taxation." To the Secretary
of the Treasury I said early in 1865:
"There is no royal road for a government
more than for an individual or a corporation.
What you want to do now is to cut down your
expenses and live within your income. ' I
would give up all the legerdemain of finance |
and financiering, I would give the whole of it,
for the old homely maxim, 'live within your
income.' This reform will be resisted at every
step, but it must be pressed persistently."
We see to-day the immediate representatives
of the people in one branch of Congress,
while struggling to reduce expenditures, compelled
to confront the menace of the Senate
and the Executive, that unless the objectionable
appropriation be consented to, the operations
of the government thereunder shall suffer
detriment or cease. In my judgment an
amendment of the constitution ought to be
devised separating into distinct bills the appropriations
for the various departments of
the public service, and excluding from each
bill all appropriations for other objects and
all independent legislation. In that way alone
i can the revisory power of each of the two
houses and of the Executive be preserved,
and exempted from the moral duress which
often compels assent to objectionable appropriations
ratber than Btop the wheels of govment.
THE SOUTH.
An accessory cause, enhancing the distress
in business, is to be found in the systematic
and insupportable misgovernment imposed on
flm Stnfp? nf the Smith Resides the ordinarv
j effects of ignorant and dishonest admiuistra!
tion, it has inflicted upon them enormous issues
of fraudulent bonds, the scanty avails of
which were wasted or stolen, and the existence
of which is a public discredit, tending
to bankruptcy or repudiation. Taxes generI
ally oppressive in some instances have confis;
cated the entire income of property and toI
tally destroyed its marketable value. It is
impossible that these evils shcrald not react
i upon the prosperity of the whole country.
The nobler motives of humanity concur with
i the material interests of all, in requiring that
! every obstacle be removed to a complete and
durable reconciliation between kindred populations,
once unnaturally estranged, on the
basis recognized by the St. Louis platform of
the "Constitution of the United States, with
its amendments universally accepted as a final
QPttlement nf t.hfl cnnt.rnversies which enffen
dered civil war." But in aid of a result so
beneficent, the moral influence of every good
citizen, as well as every governmental authority,
ought to be exerted, not alone to
maintain their just equality before the law,
but likewise to establish a cordial fraternity
and good will among citizens, whatever their
race or color, who are now united in the one
destiny of a common self-government.. If the
doty shall be assigned to me, I shall not fail to
exercise the powers with which the laws and
the Constitution of our country clothe its
Chief Magistrate, to protect all its citizens,
whatever their former condition, in every political
and personal right.
CURRENCY REFORM.
"Reform is necessary," declares the St. Louis
Convention, to "establish a sound currency,
restore the public credit, and maintain the
national honor," and it goes on to "demand a
judicious system of preparation by public
economies, by official retrenchment, and by
wise finance which shall enable the nation to
assure the whole world of its perfect ability
and its perfect readiness to meet any of its
promises at the call of the creditor entitled to
payment." The object demanded by the
Convention is a resumption of specie payment
on the legal tender notes of the United States.
That would not only "restore the public credit,"
and "maintain the national honor," but it
would "establish a sound currency," for the
people. The methods by which this object is
to be pursued, and the means by which it is
to be attained, are disclosed by what the Convention
demanded for the future, and by what
it denounced in the past.
BANK NOTE RESUMPTION.
Resumption of-specie payments by the Government
of the United States in its legal ten
der notes would establish specie payment by
all the banks on ail their notes.
The official statement, made on the 12th of
May, shows that the amount of the bank
notes was $3,000,000, less $20,000,000 held
by themselves. Against these $280,000,000 of
notes the banks held $141,000,000 of legal
tender notes, or a little more than fifty per
cent, of their amount. But they also held on
deposit in the Federal Treasury, as security
for these notes, bonds of the United States
worth in gold about $360,000,000, available
and current in all the foreign markets. In
resuming, the banks, even if it were possible
for all their notes to be preseuted for payment,
would have $500,000,000 of specie
funds to pay $280,000,000 of uotes, without
contracting their loans to their customers, or |
calling on any private debtor for payment, j
fiimnonfiJ hanlra nnH prtak t.fl rpsiimp have i
usually been obliged to collect from needy j
borrowers the means to redeem excessive is-i
sues and to provide reserves, A vague idea !
of distress is, therefore, often associated with j
the process of resumption. But the condb I
tions which caused distress in those former i
instances do not now exist,
The government has only to make good its :
own promises, and the banks can take care of j
themselves without distressing anybody. The !
1. !_ .1 ?!,? ^0l,'rn.i0nf I
gOVCriJNieiJ I tlioiciuio, nic ruic uuiu^uwuv*
LEGAL TENDER RESUMPTION.
The amount of legal tender notes of the
United States now outstanding, is less than
$370,000,000; besides $34,000,000 of fractional
currenoy. How shall the government
make these notes at all times as good as
specie ?
It has to provide in reference to the mass
which would be kept in use by the wants of
business a central reservoir of coin, adequate
to the adjustment of the temporary fluctuations
of international balances, and as a guaranty
against transient drains artificially created
by panic or by speculation. It has also
to provide for the payment, in coin, of Buch
fractional currency as may be presented for
redemption, and such inconsiderable portion
of the legal tenders as individuals may, from
time to time, desire to convert, for special use,
in order to lay by, in coin, their little stores
of money.
RESUMPTION NOT DIFFICULT.
To make the coin now in the treasury available
for the objects of this reserve, to gradually
strengthen and enlarge that reserve, and to
provide for such other exceptional demands
for coin as may arise, does not seem to me a
work of difficulty. If wisely planned and
discreetly pursued, it ought not to cost any
sacrifice to the business of the country. It
should tend, on the contrary, to a revival of
hope aDd confidence. The coin in the treasury
on the 30th of June, including what is
held against coin certificates amounted to
nearly $74,000,000. The current of precious
metals which has flowed out of our country
for the eleven years, from July 1st, 1865, to
June 30th, 1876, averaging nearly $96,000,000
a year, was $832,000,000 in the whole
period, of which $618,000,000 were the product
of our own mines. To amass the requisite
quantity by intercepting from the current
flowing out of the country, and by acquiring
from the stocks which exist abroad, without
disturbing the equilibrium of foreign money
markets, is a result to be easily worked out by
practical knowledge and judgment.
With respect to whatever surplus of legal
tenders the wants of business may fail to keep
in use, and which, in order to save interest,
will be returned for redemption, they can
either be paid or they can be funded, whether
they continue as currency or be absorbed into
the vast fund of securities held as investments,
is merely a question of the rate of interest
they draw. Even if they were to remain in
their present form and the government were
to agree to pay on them, a rate of interest making
them desirable as investments, they
would cease to circulate and take their place
with government, State, municipal and other
corporate and private bonds of which thousands
of millions exist among us.
Tn Mi a narfpnt. proa wit.h which thev can be
changed from currency into investments lies
the only danger to be guarded against in the
adoption of general measures intended to remove
a clearly ascertained surplus, that is the
withdrawal of any which are cot a permanent
excess beyond the wants of business. Even
more mischievous would be any measure
which affects the public imagination with the
fear of an apprehended scarcity. In a community
where credit is so much used, fluctuations
of values and vicisitudes in business are
largely caused by the temporary beliefs of
men, even before those beliefs can be conformed
to ascertained realities.
AMOUNT OF NECESSARY CURRENCY.
The amount of the necessary currency at a
given time, cannot be determined arbitrarily,
and should not be assumed on conjecture.
That amount is subject to both permanent
and temporary changes. An enlargement of
it, which seemed to be durable, happened at
the beginning of the civil war, by a substitu
ted use of currency in place of individual
credits. It varies with certain states of business
; it fluctuates with considerable regularity
at different seasons of the year. In the
autumn, for instance, when buyers of grain
and other agricultural products begin their
operations, they usually need to borrow capiital
or circulating credits by which to make
their purchases, and want these funds in currency
capable of being distributed in small
sums among numerous sellers. Theadditiontional
need of currency at such times is five
or more per cent, of the whole volume, and if
a surplus beyond what is required for ordinary
use does not happen to have been on hand
at money centres, a scarcity of currency ensues,
and also a stringency in the loan market.
It was in reference to such experiences, that,
in a discussion of this subject, in my annual
message to the New York Legislature of January
5, 1875, the suggestion was made that;
"The Federal Government is bound to redeem
every portion of its issues which the
public do not wish to use. Having assumed
to monopolize the supply of currency and enacted
exclusions against everybody else, it is
bound to furnish all which the wants of business
require." * * * "The system should passively
allow the volume of circulating credits
to ebb and flow, according to the ever-changing
wants of business. It should imitate, as
closely as possible, the natural laws of trade,
which it has superceded by artificial contrivances."
And in a similar discussion in my
message of January 4, 1876, it was said that
resumption should be effected "by such meas1-1
1 1 A- A - t
uresas wouia Keep ine aggregate amouut ui
the currency self-adjusting during all the process,
without creating, at any time, an artificial
scarcity, and without exciting the public
imagination with alarms which impair confidence,
contract the whole large machinery of
credit, and disturb the natural operations of
business."
MEANS Of RESUMPTION.
"Public economies, official retrenchments,
and wise finance," are the means which the
St. Louis Convention indicates as provision
for reserves and redemptions. The best resource
is a reduction of the expenses of the
government below its income, for that imposes
no new charge on the people. If, however,
the improvidence and waste, which have conducted
us to a period of falling revenues,
oblige us to supplement the results of economies
and retrenchment by some resort to
loans, we should not hesitate. The government
ought not to speculate on its own dishonor,
in order to save interest on its broken
promises, which it still compels private dealers
to accept at a fictitious par. The highest
national honor is not only right, but would
prove profitable. Of the public debt $985,n/\A
AAA I !_? j. . | J
vuv,uw uear interest at aii per eeuu iu gum,
and $712,500,000 at five per cent in gold.
The average interest is 5.58 per cent
A financial policy which should secure the
highest credit wisely availed of ought gradually
to obtain a reduction of one per cent, in
the interest on most loans. A saving of one
per cent, on the average would be $17,000,000
a year in gold. That saving regularly invested
at four and a half per oent. would in less
than thirty-eight years extinguish the principal.
The whole $1,700,000,000 of the funded
debt might be paid by this saving alone,
without cost to the people. The proper time
for resumption is the time when wise preparations
shall have ripened into a perfect ability
to accomplish the object with a certainty and
ease that will inspire confidence and encourage
the reviving of business.
The earliest time in which such a result can
be brought about is the best. Even when the
preparations shall have been matured, the exact
date would have to be chosen with reference
to the then existing state of trade and
credit operations in our own country, the
course of foreign commerce and the condition
of the exchanges with other nations. The
specific measures and the actual date are matters
of detail, having reference to ever-changincr
conditions. Thev belong to the domain
of practical administrative statesmanship.
The captain of a steamer about starting from
New York to Liverpool does not assemble a
council over his ocean chart and fix an angle
by which to lash the rudder for the whole
voyage. A human intelligence must be at the
helm to discern the shifting forces of the waters
and the winds. A human band must be
on the helm to feel the elements day by day,
and guide to a mastery over them.
PREPARATIONS FOR RESUMPTION.
Such preparations are everything. Without
them, a legislative command fixing a day,
an official promise fixing a day, are shams.
They are worse?they are a snare and a delusion
to all who trust them. They destroy all
confidence among thooghtful men whose judg- j
meat will at last sway public opinion. An
attempt to act on such a command or such a 1
promise, without preparation, would end in a
new suspension. It would be a fresh calamity,
prolific of confusion, distrust, and distress.
THE ACT OF JANUARY 14, 1875.
The Act of Congress of 14th of January,
1875, enacted that on and after the 1st of
January, 1879, the Secretary of the treasury
shall redeem in coin the legal tender notes of
the United States on presentation at the office
of the Assistant Treasurer in the city of New
York. It authorizes the Secretary "to prei
pare and provide for" such resumption of
| specie payments by the use of any surplus,
! revenues not otherwise appropriated, ana by
j issuing in his discretion certain classes of
bonds. More than one and a half of the four
years have passed. Congress and the President
have continued ever since to unite in
acts which have legislated out of existence
every possible surplus applicable to this purpose.
The coin In the Treasury claimed to belong
A- *1-* ?-?-?a J am fliA QfWh .TunA
ku me guveiuuieut uwi, uu h? w>u u> Vuuv,
fallen to less than $45,000,000, as against
$59,000,000 on the first of January, 1875,
and the availability of a part of that sum is
said to be questionable. The revenues are (
falling faster than appropi^ations and expen- !
ditures are reduced, leaving the Treasury
with diminishing resources. The Secretary
has done nothing under his power to issue
bonds.
The legislative command, the official promise
fixing a day for resumption, have thus far
been barren. No practical preparations to- ,
ward resumption have been made. There
has been no progress. There have been steps ,
backward.
There is no necromancy in the operations j
of government. The homely maxims of eve
ry day life are the best standards of its con- .
duct. A debtor who should promise to pay a
loan out of surplus income, yet be seen every |
day spending all he could lay his hands on in .
riotous living, would lose all character for
honesty and veracity. His offer of a new
promise, or his profession as to the value of
the old promise, would alike provoke derision.
RESUMPTION PLAN OF THE ST. LOUIS PLAT- |
FORM. (
The St. Louis platform denounces the fail- <
ure for eleven years to make good the promise i
of the legal tender notes. It denounces the ]
omission to accumulate "any reserve for their
redemptionit denounces tbe conduct "wnicn,
during eleven years of peace, has made no advances
toward resumption, no preparation for
resumption, but instead has obstructed resumption
by wasting our resources and exhausting
all our surplus income; and while professing
to intend a speedy return to specie payments
has annually enacted fresh hindrances thereto.
And having first denounced the barrenness of
the promise of the day of resumption, it next
denounces that barren promise as "a hindrance"
to resumption. It then demands its
repeal, and also demands the establishment of
"a judicious system of preparation" for resumption.
It cannot be doubted that the substitution
of "a system of preparation," without
the promise of a day, for the worthless
promise of a day without "a system of preparation,"
would be the gain of the substance
of resumption in exchange for its shadow.
Nor is the denunciation unmerited of that
improvidence which, in the eleven years since
the peace, has consumed four thousand five
hundred millions of dollars, and yet could not
afford to give the people a sound and stable
currency. Two and a half per cent, on the
expenditures of these eleven years, or even
less, would have provided all the additional
coin needful to resumption.
RELIEF TO BUSINESS DISTRESS.
The distress now felt by people in all their
business and industries, though it has its principal
cause in the enormous waste of capital,
occasioned by the false policies of our government,
has been greatly aggravated by the
mismanagement of the currency. Uncertainty
is the prolific parent of mischiefs in all
business.
Never were its evils more felt than now.
Men do nothing because they are unable to
make any calculations on which they can
safely rely. They undertake nothing because
they fear a loss in everything they would attempt.
They stop and wait The merchant
dares not buy for the consumption of his cus- e
tomers. The manufacturer dares not make j
fabrics which may not refund his outlay. He E
shuts hiB factory and discharges his workmen. ^
Capitalists cannot lend on security they con- t
sider unsafe, and their funds lie almoet without g
interest. Men of enterprise, who have credit, e
or securities to pledge, will not borrow. Con* a
sumption has fallen below the natural limits t
of a reasonable economy. Prices of many
things are under their range in frugal, specie- 8
paying times before the civil war. Vast mass- v
es of currency lie in the banks unused. A c
year and a half ago the legal tenders were at 8
their largest volume, and the $12,000,000 j,
since retired have been replaced by fresh is- d
sues of $15,000,000 of bank notes. In the t
meantime the banks have been surrendering G
about $4,000,000 a month, because they can- j
not find a profitable use for so many of their c
notes. t
The public mind will no longer accept [
shams. It has suffered enough from illusions, j
An insincere policy increases distrust. An 8
unstable polioy increases uncertainty. The i
people need to know that the Government is ^
moving in the direction of ultimate safety and c
prosperity, and that it is doing so through pru- c
dent, safe, and conservative methods, which j
will be sure to inflict no new sacrifice on the u
business ot tbe country, men tne inspiration j
of new hope and well-founded confidence will t
hasten the restoring processes of nature, and t
prosperity will begin to return. B
The St. Louis Convention concludes its ex- c
pression in regard to the ourrenoy by a decla- c
ration of its convictions as to the practical re- ?
suits of the Bystem of preparations it demands. B
It says; "We believe such a system, well de- c
vised, and, above all, intrusted to competent D
hands for execution, creating at no time an jartificial
scarcity of currency, and at no time ^
alarming the public mind into a withdrawal r
of that vaster machinery of credit by which a
ninety-five per cent of all business transac- t
tions are performed?a system open, public r
and inspiring general confidence would, from fa
the day of its adoption, bring healing on its p
wings to ail our harrassed industries, set in e
motion the wheels of commerce, manufactures n
and the mechanic arts, restore employment to ti
labor, and renew in all its natural sources tbe a
prosperity of the people." tl
The government of the United States,in my j(
??? rMiimnHnn nf srwip
UpiUlUIIj tau OUV0UVW KUW -- JJ
payments on its legal tender notes by a grad- ^
ual and safe process, tending to relieve the ri
present business distress. If charged by the n
people with the administration of the Execu- s,
tive office, I should deem it a duty to so ex- t]
ercise the powers with which it has been or j,
may be invested by Congress as best and 0
soonest to conduct the country to t&fbeaifi- a
cent result *
CIVIL 8ERVICE I^EFbbH. j]
The Convention justly affirms that reform c
is necessary in the civil service; necessary to a
its purification; necessary to its economy and a
its efficiency; necessary in order that the or- 1<
dinary employment of the public business ei
may not be a "prize fought for at the ballot 1
box; a brief reward of party zeal; instead tl
of poets of honor assigned for proved compe- C
tency and held fur fidelity in the public eng
ploy." The Convention wisely added that
"reform is necessary, even more in the higher
grades of the public service. President, VicePresident,
Judges, Senators, Representatives,
Cabinet officers, these and all others in authority
are the peoples' servants. Their offices
are not a private perquisite; they are a
public trust"
Two evils infest the official service of the
Federal Government. One is the prevalent
and demoralizing notion that the public service
exists, not for the business ana benefit of
the whole people, but for the interest of the
officeholders, who are in truth, but the servants
of the people. Under the influence of
this pernicious error, public employments have
been multiplied, the number gathered into
the ranks of officeholders have been steadily
; J i 1J ?ui ne
increased, neyouu any putuiuie le^uucuicui ut
the public business, while inefficiency, peculation,
fraud, and malversation of the public
funds, from the high places of power to the
lowest, have overspread the whole service like
a leprosy.
The other evil is the organization of the official
class into a body of political mercenaries,
governing the caucuses and dictating the
nominations of their own party, and attempting
to carry the elections of the people by
undue influence and by immense corruption
funds, systematically collected from the salaries
or fees of office-holders. The official
class in other countries, sometimes by its own
weight, and,sometimes in alliance with the
army, has been able to rule the unorganized
masses even under universal suffrage.
Here it has already grown into a gigantic
power, capable of stifling the inspirations of a
sound public opinion, and of resisting an easy
change of administration until misgovernment
becomes intolerable, and public spirit has been
stung to the pitch of a civic revolution. ?b.e
Srst step in reform is the elevation of the
standard by which the appointing power selects
agents to execute official trusts. Next
in importance, is a consciencious fidelity in
the exercise of the authority to hold to account
and displace untrustworthy or incapable
subordinates. The public interest in an
boneet, skillful performance of official trust
must not be sacrificed to the usufruct of the
incumbents.
After the immediate steps, which will injure
the exhibition of better examples, we
may wisely go on to the abolition of unnecesjary
offices, and finally to the patient, careful
organization of a better civil service system
under the tests, wherever practicable, of
proved competency and fidelity.
Whilfl mnoli mw h? nennmnlifthed hv these
methods it might encourage delusive expectation
if I withheld the impression of my conviction
that no reform of the Civil Service in
this country will be complete and permanent
until its chief magistrate is constitutionally
disqualified for re-election,
Experience having repeatedly exposed the
futility of self-imposed restrictions by oandidates
or incumbents through this solemnity
unly can he be effectively delivered from his
greatest temptations to misuse the power and
patronage with which the Executive is neoesSarily
charged. Educated in the belief that
it is the first duty of a citizen of the Republic
to take his fair allotment of care and
trouble in public affairs, I have for forty
pears, as a private citizen, fulfilled that duty,
rhough occupied in an unusual degree during
ill that period with the concerns of government,
I have never acquired the habits of oficial
life.
When a year and a half ago I entered up>n
my present trust, it was in order to conlummate
reforms to which I had already derated
several of the best years of my life,
knowing as I do, therefore, from fresh expe'ience
how great the difference is between
gliding through an official ro 'ine and workng
out a reform of systems and policies, it is
impossible for me to contemplate what needs
0 be done in the Federal administration,
vithout an anxious sense of the difficulties of
1 J
UO UUUUI
If summoned by the suffrages of my counry
men to attend this work, I shall endeavor
vith God's help to be the efficient instrument
>f their will. Samuel J. Tilden.
To Gen. John A. McClernard, Chairman,
Jen. W. B. Franklin, Hon. J. J. Abbott,
Ion. H. J. Spannhorst, Hon. H. J. Redfield,
Ion. F. S. Lyon, and others, Committee, Ac.
MR. HENDRICKS' LETTER.
Indianapolis. July 24,1876.
Gentlemen: I have the honor to acknowldge
the receipt of your communication, in
rhich you have formally notified me of my
tomination, by the Rational Democratic Conen
tion at St. Louis, as their candidate for
he office of Vice-President of the United
States. It is a nomination which I had neithr
expected nor desired, and yet I recognise
,nd appreciate the high honor done me by
be convention.
The choice of such a body, pronounced with
uch unusual unanimity, and accompanied
vith so generous an expression of esteem and
onfidence, ought to outweigh all purely peronal
desires and preferences of my own. It
b with this feeling, and I trust also from a
leep sense of public duty, that I now accept
be nomination, and shall abide the judgment
if my countrymen. It would have been imKwsible
for me to accept the nomination, if I
ould not heartily endorse the platform of
he Convention. I am gratified, tfieretore, to
>e able unequivocally to declare that I agree
n the principles, approve the policies, and
ympathise with the purposes enunciated in
he platform. The institutions of our country
lave been sorely tried by the exigencies of
ivil war, and since the peace by selfish and
orrupt management of public affairs, which
las shamed us before civilised mankind by
inwise and partial legislation. Every indusry
and interest of the people have been made
o suffer, and in the execative departments of
he government dishonesty, rapacity and velality,
have debauched the public service;
aen known to be unworthy have been proQoted,
while others have been degraded for
idelity to official duty; public office has been
aade the means of private profit, and the
ountry has been offended to see a class of
aen, who boast the friendship of the sworn
trotectore of the State, amassing fortunes by
lefrauding the public treasury, and by corupting
the servants of the people. In such
. crisis of the history of the country I rejoice
bat the convention at St. Louis has so nobly
aised the standard of reform. .Nothing can
e well with us or with our affairs until the
lublic conscience, shocked by the enormous
vils and abuses which prevail, shall have delanded
and compelled an unsparing reformaion
of our national administration in its bead
nd in its members. In such a reformation
be removal of a single officer, even the Preslent,
is comparatively a trifling matter, if the
pstem which be represents and which has foe?red
him as he has fostered it is suffered to
smain. The President alone must not be
tade the scapegoat for the enormities of the
pstem which infests the public service and
lireatens the destruction of cur institutions,
n some respects I hold that the present Excutive
has been the victim rather than the
uthor of that vicious system. Congressional
nd party leaders have been stronger than
to President No one.- man;.gouid have
rented it, and the remotafct^p^ne man
in amend it. It is thoronglj^|Hkpt, and
tost be swept rem orselessly i jm^HTthe sesction
of a government compoewwreleinents
ntirely new, and pledgee^ to radical reforms,
'he first work of reform must evidently be
be restoration of the normal operation of the
lonstitution of the United States, with all its
[CONTINUED ON FOURTH! PACE,}