New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-18

struck off for them.
Some poets. philosophers Sanscrit scholars ana
theologians say that filing up hole Win ""'er Is
no manner of use: that the more water you pun III
the larger the hole washes the further you are get
ting all the while from bottom, and the more 1oupo
you'll have when you find that you musl reai,S
buckle to and fill the hole mp with sold STUN :
Thinking il over IL sometimes occurs 10 he Vn''
we all have made great mistake from the nIs' II,
endeavoring to turn a national curse INTO u hauo"
blessing A civil war came upon us. one secton VI
the country was arrayed against the other in 'ne
most dreadful struggle that deuged Gods foot
stool with blood and when 1t was all over anu '",
earth ON every side was trenched with graves and
CON-, With dead-plowed and seeded down as never
orr far,ns were before-instead of gong down upon
our knees and thanking God that we had escaped
humiliation, that anything at all renamed 10
Ms confessing that we were poor and endeavonng
nv fruQality and honest industry to pay that which
we owed-behold. we turned round and, reckoning
other nations around us to admire, said "Lo, we
are rich-this war has made so! Look, the need
of the time has stimulated industry and invention
never were our manufactures so brisky busy; nave
we not builded millions of ingenious engines Tor the
reduction of works and workers IN all parts OF our
land besides buying weapons of war and munitions
of war on credit from every nation OF the
earth One-third of our common country Is lhO
waste fertile plantations and farms are given over
again into wilderness; onetenth Of those who TILED
the soil flung the shuttle, swung the sledge, whose
strong arms in a thousand directions kept busy
wheels whirring, are SIAM The vultures every
where are fattened: on no side can you turn with
out encOuneTing the protruding belly of some con-
tractor made rich. And the usual legacy of pro-
tracted war is with us; mark you the exchange.
The camp which took sturdy, honest men from the
midst of us has returned to drunkaTds and dema-
gOgues. Were our Government amenabIe to the
laws which regulate debit and credit between indI-
viduas. the shutters of ITS Treasury would have
been up long since. But we have managed TO grow
rich out of it never were so prosperous, never
were we so happy. Hoop-la Was ever such ma
ton as ours Hail to the eage Hurrah for such a
chance TO make money. And tiger, boys|
Forthwith instead of weaving our own cloth and
turning to in homespun attire to repair by years
of frugality the rayages which each year OF war
wrought we stretched out our greedy lustful hands
to foreign looms for silks and velvets saying Give
rs. we will pay thee anon" We travel abroad and
who so gorgeous as the Americana Is not " Milor
Anglaise,' for whom "biftek" is ordered in trem-
bling tones by the quaking garcon Immediately his
mutton-chop whiskers show themselves over the
will not 20 abroad this year simple little trip from
the praries to the sea from gulf TO gulf viii con-
tent us What other nation has palace forsooth,
and travels IN none other' Has the Old World big
diamonds, costly fabrics, choice wines, expensive
clergymen for which market is sought Where
send thew them-where but to America3 Name me,
if you can, another nation ready to import super
huties, so willing to export obligations
l. - ,f how Loot ona-t N
their honey, oue-tenth of their workers-not one
drone-and five years of time, should re-
place their honey-comb with rags all the
empty cells with rubbish. and then set up a
louder buzz and hum than ever was heard from the
hive before. procaiming that never were they so
rich, never were they so prosperous as now.
The fact is we are paupeTs for the moment; our
Government is bankrupt for the time, and we only
live by the forbearance of creditors. Do you deny
itY What mean. then. these promises to pay, past
due floating round, on which nothing can be col
lected Translate, If YOU can. into any other mean
ing this proposition now to increase these unre-
redeemed and unredeemabe promises by millions,
instead Of lessening them by one. That setting
day for all this must come, sooner OF later and that
the sooner prepare to meet it and pnt our houses
in econouicalorder the better it will be for Us all
this hold to be a proposition too self-evident to
need blackboard demonstration.
Amid the very general confession that we have
been and are oyertrading who shows a sense of the
fact On what side do you see movement for re-
trenchment7 The many preach, but who practices :
When say preach do not mean from the pull
nit but take that sgnalpost Of Zion, for instance.
Thence comes note Of warning ever and anon
against extravaganza; but look at the example set
in the carving and adOrnmeHt Of that very struc-
rure Turn TO the churches themselves. Scarcely
can YOU show me one of these brown-stone houses
built on a fashionable street for the abiding place
Of Him who built the world and while on earth had
His habitation among the lowly-scarcely one Of
these hints of a brown-stone compromise, with a
severe but architecture-loving Deity, built
within the past five years, can you show me which
is not in debt and bonded at that for more money
than it would sell for if put under the hammer
to-day The cornerstone of nine out of ten has
been laid in debt and the altar consecrated with
mortgage. Is a clergyman pale, not to the parks of
the Colorado. the health-giving breezes of our own
grand mountains, do send him, but stra ght for
tour through the sinking streets of Europe, car
rvinR several thousands of dollars in gold out of tine
country forever. As are the people, SO are the
teachers.
Good friends. all Of rs: we have made a grand
mistake we are making a grand mistake all the
while and printing Oft paper and calling II money
and getting deeper in debt on the strength OF IT.
won't help us ont of it. The frog of the fable
attempted initiation, You will remember, and burst
before attaining the Expansion" at which he
aimed but had he indeed attained the surface size
of the OK he emuated, without accident, | question
whether he would have been very good beef when
one got down TO the bone and marrow OF IL. And
what shall il profit if we enable him TO 90 to
market with bushe basket full of paper and he
is also enabled TO carry home the vegetables it pur
chaseth 10 his vest pockets This changing about
does not help matters at all. And the sooner we
look the thing squarely in the face and conclude TO
take the back track, at least sit down stump
for while and think about it, the better il will be
for all of us-including Gen. Butler.
AS for me personally, have come back to Gowanus
again. there 10 cultivate the modest business virtues
of the turnip. and in the retirement of my garden