The Portland daily press., 1874-11-10
NEW YORK, Nov, Sth, 1874


NEW YORK, Nov. Sth, 1874.
The crash OF last Tuesday was neither un-
expected nor surprising. Popular discomfort
has from time immemorial manifested itself
most signally in elections. When the
country is thrifty and prosperous, the party
which bears sway gets the credit of it. When
trade languishes and industries are torpid, the
impatience for change becomes epidemic.
The masses do not trouble themselves to re-
fleet at all, as to the degree of responsibility
to their rulers for the altered condi-
ton of affairs. Mobs are always unreasoning
whether the weapons they WELD are the ballot
Or the bludgeon, and in political uprisings the
surging multitude is recruited by the men in
broadcloth as we'll as the men in corduroy, and
palace and hut contribute to swell the aveng
ing host.
Nowhere, perhaps, does one witness these
phenomena SO strikingly as in a large city,
where the very rich and the very poor minge
for only one day of the year in common fell
lowship. The Irishman who has always re-
garded it as the real luxury of suffrage to vote
"agin the guv' 'nment' now finds an ally in
the millionaire who ostentatiously displays the
Democratic ballot, and says in an angry kind of
way as he drops it in the box: "Things are not
going right" Occasionally some more voluble
malcontent runs througha scale of grievances
which he has committed to memory from
reading them every morning for a twelve
month, and believes in with precisely as
strong faith and as little evidence as ever
Mussulman accepted the Koran. In quiet
the crowds run like flock of
sheep, in turbulent ones they bear
a closer resemblance to the herd of which
mentioni is made in theVth chapter of St.Mark's
gospel that ''ran violently down steep place
into the sea-" They will be fortunate if they
escape similar fate.
The cause which has produced the temporary
revulsion is SO palpable, that it would be a
waste Of words to dilate upon it. Democracy
fiourishes upon disaster, and Repubicanism is
the synonym of prosperity. 1t was so in war:
it is so in peace The victory of Sherman at
Atlanta turned the tide in 1864, and assured
the reelection of Lincoln. It is one of the
drawbacks of popular government that public
sentiment often becomes distraught in crises
when there is the greatest need of calmness
and circumspection. Had Lincoln been de.
feated, the calamity would have been brought
about by the men who were dissatisfied that
the war did not progress more vigorously.
And yet the consequence would have been a
virtual suspension of it, and loss of all the
blood and treasure it then had cost. The
anti-slavery men in 1874 prevented the elec.
tion of Clay, because he was not sound on the
great principle of human freedom. But in do
ing so, they seated President who was in
finitely more Objectionable, and precipitated
the Mexican war, and prepared the way for
more slave territory and the complete SUBJ
lection of The country for decade to the
thraldoa of the Southern oligarchy. Ee
If in the present emergency there had been
any distinctive difference in the principles Of
the contending parties, there would have been
deducible moral from the result. But upon
the paramount question of the day there is
quite as much diversity of opinion upon one
side as upon the other. The western Democ
Iacy are perhaps rather more generally, GER
tainly more strongly committed to imitation
than the Republicans of that section, but the
latter are infected with the sophism to such a
degree that it is only question of time when
both will reach the saiue goal, unless they can
be dissuaded from pursuing the Journey On
the other hand all the leading men of both
parties in the East and North however widely
they may differ as to the time and the method,
are practically unanimous in recognizing the
necessity of return to the specie standard.
1t would appear to be an absolute impossi.
bility, amid this conflict of views that any
financial measure of stability and value should
command majority of both houses of the
next Congress The West snd South could
and would press through by sheer force of
numbers, a bill to increase the volume of legal
tender, if the Presidential veto did not stand
in their way. But inasmuch as there is little
prospect of the adoption of any such scheme by
two.thirds vote, it looks very much as if things
would remain in statu quo for the ensuing two
years. If so the blame will rest upon Congress,
of not making them any better, and the praise
will be due to the President of not permitting
them to get any worse.
The veto of the currency bill last April was
the most creditable act of either branch of
the government throughout the long session.
Had it been followed by cognate legislation, il
is not unlikely we should have had material
improvement in business before now The
thing couldn't be done. The opposition was
too strong. But because it was impossible,
the dominant party is now resting under the
ban of public displeasure. Democratic votes in
Congress prevented action and the Democratic
party all over the country profits by inaction.
Meantime, it would be consoling to have
ground for hope that current discussion would
assume more reputable form, now that there
is no especial motive for appealing to the pas.
sions of the masses 1t is questionable wheth-
er one citizen in ten has any adequate concep.
tion of the gravity of the financial topic. We
all know what England is, but few stop to con-
slider what condition that great nation was in
during the period of her suspension, or through
what trbulations and sufferings she regained
her place among the foremost nations of the
globe. And yet the story is instructive an(
cannot be too carefully studied. We have nj
such appalling experiences in prospect because
our resources are boundless and our population
sparse, but we can profit immensely by not
ing what series of tumbles and falls preceded
her recovery to the only standard which evel
has or ever can stand the test Of time or th,
canons of political economy There is nothin,
dull nor tedious about the narrative 1t is re
plete with facts as thrilling and momentous a
the most moving scenes in drama or novel
and every one of them conveys lesson which
we may take to heart and turn to proftabl,
account.
1t cannot be denied that the columns of th
leading newspapers of the country are LITERAL
given up to fippant and frivolous themes. Th
insufferable gabble about "third term" ha
| occupied ten times as much space as the cond
tion of the currency has been deemed worth
of. Thus mere myth, an utterly incons'
quent and cbimerical phantasy, has usurpe