New-York tribune., 1874-05-04
TILE IENCENT PLECE.

IF we correctly dcciphcr the title OF the pic
ture which adOns the west end of that ad-
mirablc work of art, the new ten-ccnt piece,
il is intended TO represent the late Hon. Wm
NJ. Meredith of Pennsylvania, who was Secre-
tary of the Treasury under President Taylor
in 1S49, and of whom the author of Statistical
Records of Cabinet Officers writes: "Hayng
" tried but in vain, to obtain proper notice
"of this gentleman, the present blank is Il
necessity Precisely why his portrait should
adorn so small a deusion as the new ten
cent piece we are unable to say. We have
no reason to doubt that he was a man who
fulfilled his obligations, redeemed his prom
scs, and paid his debts. But Mr.. Secretary
Richardson seems to have taken the likeness
of him by the scruff of the neck, as it were,
and set him down on the empty end of this
last issue of the lowest denomination of the
best currency in the world. Whoever will
consult the piece will observe that Mr.. Mere
dith looks as though he had been set down
"hardo and did not enjoy it, Added to the
maniacal expression which the photographer
brings TO his victims cOuntenance by the re-
quest to " sit easy and look natural" there is
a look of ine6abe disgust which seems to
the bill. When one reflects upon the uncer-
tainty Of the promise which he adorns, its
smalness and wOrthlcssness, its liability to
be passed for plain drinks by the wayfarer
and the topper, and its being the lowest de-
nomination of currency which the good pro-
nounce "not worth dimen and the profane
repeat with but slightly varying pronuncia-
ton, it is not SO strange that lie should DO
disgusted
Like all the other denominations of "the
"best currency in the world the ten-cent
piece is beautiful merely as a work of art.
We can suggest but single Improvement.
1t does not seem quite the thing to adorn this
beautiful currency with portraits of persons
who though they are dead may still have sur
viving friends 1t is just possible that the
friends of the late Mr.. Meredith may feel
chagrined at seeing his honored profile passed
about on ten cent piece in this dreadful
commonplace way, accompanying a promise
to pay which is never fulfilled. We do not
understand how Mr.. Richardson came to have
it done. Mr.. Meredith never did him any
harm, and the only excuse for it is that Mr..
Meredith is dead. Still, it does seem as though
the grave ought to be sacred from any such
intrusion. At the rate things are going on,
with new ten-cent pieces ordered every time
a new bank note company is organized, no
bodys ancestors are safe. No man can go to
bed at night with reasonable assurance that
he will not awake to find himself confronted
with his grandfather's likeness on new ten
cent piece. See what they have done with
Christopher Columbus; and he was we'll
meaning man too.
Now would it not be better-we submit it
TO the good sense of the Secretary of the
Trcasuy-would not everybody who has an
cestors feel safer, if these notes could be
adorned with portraits of people in the De-
partmentq We are aware that the law for
bids the use of the portraits Of living men,
and it may occur TO the merely superficial
observer that this would be an objection to
putting the likeness Of Mr. Richardson on tho
currency. But whoever has read the reports
of the SanbOrn Investigation knows that this
is no objection at all. Mr.. Richardson is still
at the head of the Treasury Department to be