Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-05-26
ODD LETTERS
Donn Pisstt's Correspondence. ia SInci.i-
natl Commercial.


NEW YORK, 1869.
Coming from Washington City to
New York is lilee passing from a GEM
etery 10 a lager beer saloon. With
all its herd of office-seeke kers, incIud-
ing Grants fast horses and slow Cab
ilet, the Captal City becomes insig-
nificant by the side OF this great me-
tropolis, through which throhs the
commerce of continent. One year
ago L felt it rattling aud roaring
along its streets, and, returning, the
stunning refrain is taken up in my
ears at the point where it seemed to
cease; yet all this time the multitud-
inous tramp OF hurried humanity
has increasingly continued. / seem
to see the same faces, eager and dys-
peptic, the same equipages, the same
walking advertisements of female
folly and extravaganza, the same
beggars, with the same old hats and
shrill organs. Yet they change con-
tinually. The broker who blows off
the top of his head, or drops help
lessly paralyZed, or retreats bank
rupt and brohen-hearted into obscur-
ity-is succeeded by another TO run
like career. So it is with the mer-
chant and the mechanic, the lawyer
and the doctor. AS one drops out,
another of like sort occupies his
place and runs the same career. The
fierce competition, stimulated by
want of bre -,d and greed for money,
seems to mold humanity into GER
tain shapes that remain the same.
Every thing about rs indicates the
great city. Boston, Philadelphia
ard Baltimore are villages in COM
parison. l can hear my own belov-
ed town of Cincinnati snore in the
distance, while Chicago Is only STACY
canvas, crazy imitation. This is
not the hub-it is the heart, and
through it pulsates our world. stand
on broadway two hours and you
Will see every one you know in New
ork stand there Il year, and you
Will meet everybody you know in
the United States. There is 30 de-
sire, however wicked, no wish, how
ever pure, that cannot be gratified
within the corporate limits of this
sinful place. Its lost women would
make Il p0puious town if collected to
themselves. It's thieves, ,pick-pock cts
and burglars would form an army. if
recruited and organized for that pur-
pose. It's luxury rivals that of Eu-
rope, and its poverty swings down
to the lowest depths of human de
gradatiOn, but in its romance of real
life New York stands prc-eminent.
The strangest characters come to IL 2
surface, play their eccentric parts,
and disappear to give place to others
equally strange. The millionaire of
to-day who inhabits "A palace, was
an unknown adventurer yesterday,
and may be beggar tomorrow
b..ax .NA,S St..r- L.. (,
gorgeous habitatioms, in which the
average duration of residence does
not exceed five years 1t is IA great
car&vansary. They come, and
bloom, and flourish, and disappear
in such quick succession that one is
daZed.
that New York holds its most re-
markable permanencc. 1t is gov
ernment of thieves. Old, we'll
known terms have lost their dcfini-
tions- Rogues rule and honest men
obey. One set of scoundrels is only
displaced by another set. Judges
are bribed, aldermen shot, the police
murdered, ,anGthe entire COVER ment-
al structure rots and stin' :, and
stinks and rOts, until the word holds
its nose, and the enemies of repub-
lican government point to it as a
sickeIing exam pie and a warning.
Certainly, | must admit that If by
lf-government we mean the widest
use of the right of suffrage, our re-
publican form of Government is a
failure. Our Government at Wash
ingtou has come to be vast ma
chine to build up monopoliZed eapi-
tai and crush the poor. Our State
capitals are Sink-holes of iniquity,
and our city corporations what /
have told is New York.
/ have this moment been reading,
a. doubtlessly YOU have read two
bills presented and paid at Albany
To cover the expenses of certain COM
mittees sent here from the Iegisla-
ture on business of the State. In
those bills are items amounting to
over eight hundred dollars for bran
dy, wine and cigars, two hundred
and eighty five dollars for tteater
tickets, and | am told by knowing
ones, that wherever the charge oc-
ours for thcaters aud hacks general
ly, il covers expenses in gambling
hells and hrothels
Talking about sending mi-Siona-
ries to Africa and China, and the
spread of Christianity amorg the
| heathens. Better begin AT home, ,un-
| less we want to see the fabric If self
government sought to be established
| by the fathers come tumbiing about
| our ears. If this sort of thing con-
tinuee, the day is not distant when
| the people will rise up in their wrath,
and, like the blind Sampson, luTl all
/ In one common ruin.