The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1856-02-29
WHAT BECOMES or THE SILVER.

"iiAA DLNOalES vi ne OtLf EN.
Since the discovery of gold in California
the amount of silver coin in circulation has
steadily decreased, and mole than one nge-
nious theory has been broaehed TO account
for its disappearance from its accustomed
channels. Among these, that Offered by the
Philadelphia American is the most satsfac.
tory. That paper has dug up from the Brit.
ish Parliamentary statistics the amount of
silver shipped 10 the East Indies and China
from Great Britain; and from its fgnres we
learn that the enormous sum of thirty-one
millions of dollars took that direction in
1855, and that during the last five years over
ninety millions Of silver have been swallow
ed up by the demands of the China and AS
atic trade, in addition to the enormous
amounts that have been required for the
same trade which is carried on by the At
antic ports in the United States.
ave pay silver and little else for the teas, In-
dia silks, spices, ndigoes, &C., that we bring
from abroad; and, inasmurh as the supply of
the metal does not increase in propotion to
the increase ofthe Eastern trade, the demand
grows every succeeding year more and more
brisk, and the amount in circulation less and
less. We do not see when or where this
drain is to be stopped. The Chinese de-
mand little that England or America can
spare. Their civilization, their habits, Gus.
toms and wants, are widely different from
ours. Our farbrics, whether of cotton or
wool, are Of little value TO people who pre-
fer nakedness TO the most sumptuous appa-
rel. Our breadstuifs and salted pork are not
highly esteemed by men whom dab of
boiled rice is n dinner and to whom pork is
an abomination. Our steam engines and
locomotives, teiegraphs and reapers, our la
bor-saving machinery of all kinds, which con-
duce so much to the prosperity and hap
pncss of the Western world are powerlcss
in breaking down the caste system of the
Eastern world, that is older thau our civiza-
ton. As long as we continue to indulge in
the decoction that is the comfort Of the poor.
est rs well as the valued luxury of the rich;
as long MS we will stimulate our palates and
impair the national digestion with spices
that the East only can furnish; and us long
MS our wives and daughters will wear silks,
which, for brlliancy of dye, shame the birds
of most brilliant plumage, there is no es-
cape, we must pay! The Chinese, siser
than the English, will have nothing TO do
with our bonds. In the 'Flowery Land the
most skillful ncgotator would fail to wiring
II dollar from the incredulnus mandarins.-
They demand the silver and To them it goes. "
Factory Boy Now SPEAKER.--In the
election Of Mr.. Banks as Speaker, the Frede-
ricksburg Herald thinks it may say at least
that energy has been rewarded. if not integri-
ty of character; for we believe that Mr. Banks
has always been somewhat Of a slippery poll
tician-generally managing to fall on that
side of the fence where the herbage was most
luxuriant. We have in Mr.. Banks an cxem-
pIiicaton of the beauty of our republican
system Of government. There is no office,
however high, to which boy, however hum
ble of birth and destitute of fortune, may not
aspire. Mr.. Banks began !ife bobbin boy in
n mill at Waltham, Mass; his education was
that afforded by the New England free school
system; he is represented as having studied
under great disadvantages, and worked against
odds, with hardly anything in his favor save
industry and an indomitable will. At the
early age of forty.two he has been elected
Speaker of the popular branch of Congress
an Office scarcely second in importance TO that
of any other in the United States
.y- Mr.. John Boyd, of fParkersburg, Chcs.
ter county, Pennsylvania, in letter to the
Commissioner of Patents, in which he speaks
of the successful cultivation of Egyptian oats,
saws:
1t is with pleasure that report to you the
favorable result Of the cultivation of the
Egyptian oats, distributed few wears since
though the Patent Office. From eighteen
bushels, which | sowed on six ncres of
ground of middling quality, | raised two
hundred and forty-two bushels, which when