The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1860-03-17
Capital Cerresrsn4ssce.
DIS Mo1Nrs, March IL, 1860.

a rev Items from the Uapitat may interest
your readers. When dsbts are pressing the
people, and poverty with its skeleton form,
ID staring them in the face, il il natural to
look somewhere for relief. Two years since,
State Bank was established, and they
looked to that, hut they we're disappointed.
Banip are aseful and they largely acconmo-
date the mercantile and commercial interest,
bat they can no more raise m indebted coun-
try and dsbt-strioken people out Of embar-
easements, than can man pull himself ont
OF quagmire with gumelastic suspendsrs.
Banks are but creatures Of the people, sub
iect to the frailties Of observation-disclosures, ex-
element and panic. The less disposition
there is to accommodate. generally, in hard
times, the more confidence 10 to be raposed
in them. III twelve Of the most wealthy men
in the State were to be a. liberal 10 loans
and accommodations ~ banks are expected
to be by those who regard them - general
relief institutions, they would explode in six
months and in twelve be praying for relief
at the hands OF the Legislature.
When the Legislature commenced its SEES
sion many fearful eyes were turnsdto it, and
thousands OF petitions were pressed on ito
consideration. Spectators had been ruined;
real estate from prices Of fiction, more IS
tonishing than any facts, had run down to
q song lumber, building materials Of oil
kinds, and labor had deprecated; laboring
men had ceased to have employment, and
farmers we're without compensating crops !;
and ii was but natural that oil these classes,
embracing the energy, vitality, bone and
sinew Of the State, should expect some IA
vors from the law making power.
Can these expect atoms be met2 The Leg
islature can pass all the laws demanded, but
the Legislature cannot pay debts, turn judy
ments against, into judgments for, and sub
stitute dollars and farm products for power
", distress and endorsements. Congress
can tender a kind of general amnesty to
debtors, but the Legislature is powerless for
sach purpose.
II the Legislature should pass oil the lava
prayed for by thousands Of petitioners, would
they be better of? A mortgage redemption
law cannot be made retrospective, and what
good will it do the thousands whose farms
apd town lots are groaning under mortgages
FIR more than their ordinary vaiues2 II it
coald be made retrospective, how many could
redeem from sales who could not get years.
time BY making just compensation? An
appraisement Law cannot be made retrospect
i've 10 its operations according to the Su-
preme Court OF the United States. III it
could, would it do any good? Is there q
debtor embarrassed and likely to become in
solvent under legal pressure, can he not
pay his debts with property at two-thirds its
appraised valuep 10 ninety cases out Of
one hundred, better settlements would be
made without such laws than with them
When they are thrust between creditor and
debtor, the debtor is apt to rely on them A.
though, without his exertions, they could
resurrect him to solvent life.
The true principle in hard times is to look
within and not without; to look a. home and
not abroad; to look at the mind, Gods great
gift, and at the hands and muscles, and sum
mon them to the contest and for relief. In
mans energy, determined and indomitable
10 his sinews and muscles, true relief ia
found.
How many embarrassed men in the large
towns have been doing nothing fer two years
waiting for "somsthing to turn ups" som.
legislation or return of prosperity to pay
their debts? For years after relief laws are
on the statute books, they will indulge in the
same deceptive hopes and will be no bette,
of after exhaasting all their virtues.
A Law authorizing redemption from mort.
gage sales has already passed, and an ap.
praisement bill will become . law in few
days. The bill which reduced the penalt,
on unpaid taxes from twenty-five to ten pei
cent, If paidbefore tho lss Of July, was de-
feated in the House. This was the mos
just relief measure proposed during tho Sos
sion, one Of vast service to the people ii
the larger towns and older counties, -ant
yet is was voted down under the pressure Of
the cry that it was designed for mere spscula.
tors. A speculatcr 10 not real person, bu
horrid ghost, whose very name brighten,
half the members Of the Legislature out O
their propriesies.
The Legislature will adjourn before th,
first of April. Representative Price has gon,
home on account Of sickness ia his family
and Representative Mccullough 10 20 sick a
to be confined to bis bed. @. Z,
CT Sir William Napier, the historian
died in London on the 18th OF February, II
the 18th year Of bis age. He Was born il
Castleton, Ireland, IN l785. At the age Of
fourteen be entered the army, and after |
long military career Vas in 1851 advanced
70 - ~ 49, GA~>-~l