The Portland daily press., 1875-07-13

COlleCJ money IRON peOpie VINO neither pos
sessed it nor the chances of acquiring it. And
so Imprisonment for debt was abolished alike
in consistency with humanity and common
| sense. Now if one wants to benefit the debtor
class the only true way to do it is by providing
a stable currency not subject to capricious
changes, for that will give an impetus to all
the activities Of life, increase the productions
Of the country, furnish employment for labor,
and aid the accumuations of the means by
which debts can only be liquidated justly. II we
| could have sudden shower of greenbacks and
| everybody who was in debtcou receive exactly
the quantity necessary to pay up in full, and
then there should be no more running in debt,
and no more issues of greenbacks that would
be very nice arrangement for all who owed
anything. But any method short of that
| sweeping and summary way of finishing up
the business on The instant is empirical and de-
llgsiye. As long as the relations of debtor and
areditor S9ntnue to exist, it is for the interest
of both that firsEre should be fixed and relia-
BILE standard of valpees. And as these relations
will inevitably endp re for all time, and in all
conditions of society nothing could be more
unwise than a departl ire from hrst principles
on the pretext of protecting ei'her from nara
ship.
There are comical features about this tear
full sympathy with the debtor e>.sss' l, 'onn
Smith finds himself unable to mss-- ms en-
gagements it is of course very hard for 6rss9..-
but just think how much harder for the people
he owes. Aud yet nobody ever seems to have
any consideration for them. In the settling up
in nine cases out of ten the debtor gets the
best of it. Ia fact the advantages are all on
his side. These to whom he is indebted are
generally too much engrossed with other con-
Germs TO follow him up. They almost always
take what they can get, and release him. SO
that in reality there need be very little anxiety
bestowed on debtors. They can take care of
themselves. When shrinkages come, when
property of all kinds which has been overrated
falls back to its true measure, it is the folk that
have not those who have not, that suffer- Con-
sequently the creditor interest will of necessi-
ty bear the heaviest share of the burden of
restoration.
There is occasion for cheerfulness IN the FORE
gone conclusion that the Republican party will
be substantially a unit on contraction, retrench-
ment and sound money. 1t Is a strong platform
and will necessarily attract to its support the
all over the land. In all great crises the party
has asserted its invulnerability Has anything
occurred to ALLEVIATE the attachment of any of
its sincere followers? Disappointed men, un-
successful in self-seeking, habitually drop
out of the ranks when they have nothing
more to hope for in the way of personal gain,
but apart from these, in what quarter and to
what extent has the grand column been
broken? Certainly the government never was
more wisely, frugally, iudicially administered.
See what has been done by the Treasury De-
partment, the revenues faithfully collected,
the public credit inviolably maintained, the
banking fund preserved, the appropriations met
and handsome surplus realized during fiscal
year OF which there were many forebodings.
Clamor, coarse, vulgar and mendacious has
assailed every federal officer necessarily for the
past three years and upwards from presses which
lied willfully and from presses which misrepre-
sented ignorantly; stump orators have deelaim.
ed loudly and wildly about ''venaity'' and ''cor-
ruption Sin suspiciously initiative and parrot
like-fashion, but the historic truth remains so
clear and self evident that the most superficial
observer must recognize it-that the standard OF
integrity and capacity never was higher than it
is at this moment at the national capital among
sll grades of public servants. The temporary
cloud which dimmed the fefllgeace of the Re-
publican party was the natural sequence of in-
fation the panic. The sober second thought
of the people ought to lead them to comprehend
that panic is not party measure at all.
And more than that, if they would protect
themselves from recurrence Of such fnan-
heresy of democracy, that another Hood Of IT.
titous paper will remedy instead of aggravat-
l ing the ills we now endure.
Among the later victims of the vicissitudes
of the stock exchange the most notable is Dam
iel Drew, who from being the putative owner
of millions is now a self declared bankrupt.
1t is not long since the street dwelt with min
| gled feelings of awe and admiration upon the
tales of his ingenious devices and cunning trick
cry which were everywhere current He was
| deep one. 'The sharpest needle, best white
| chapel, warranted not to cut in the eye," was
nothing to him in the way of keenness. He
| was treasurer of the Erie railway once. and his
| fellow directors authorized him to sell thirty
i thousand shares of their stock when the mar
| ket ruled several points above par. Part of the
| proceeds were to pay four per cent. dividend,
l about falling due. Drew sold such prodgous
l quantities of the stock 'short' that he
| run the price down to IS but sngularly
| enough he didn't sell any per account of the
l company but had it all on hand when the an
| nual meeting took place. The Board was in
| dilemma. He helped them out of it in
l characteristic way. He loaned them the
amount of the dividend, taking the shares and
l million of bonds as collateral. Armed with the
stock thus pledged to him he operated "short"
till the price got down to 60. Then he fur
nished points to ambitious neighbors who were
courageous enough to enter into contracts to
| deliver down as low as 433. Then Drew turned
in and bought right and left till be sent the
price up to 81, squeezing his confding follow
ers numerically ard filing his own Golfers to
| repletion.
By and by, however, other sharpers and
! trcksters played similar games on him. Fisk
| and Gould wrung tears from his eyes and mill
lions from his till. Vanderbilt played with him
| as a cat might with mouse and made awful
inroads upon his exchequer. The pupils of bis
school after time 'bettered upon their instruc-
tions, and plucked him as unconcernedly as he
had plucked others. And so in his old age he IS
left to moralze on the instability of mundane
| nopes ana 10 eXcialm Win tns Ereacner van
ity of vanities; all is vanty!' OF course there
are plenty of people who give him credit for
having laid away sufficient store. But that
is a conjecture which would be sure to arise
whether there was any foundation for it or not.
All that is known positively is that he belongs
| now to the debtor class, and the current OF
| sympathy ought to run with his unfortunate
| creditors, who cannot get their pay.
YARMOUTH.
THE WAY TO BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT.
The Chicago Tribune devotes leading article
to the speedy recovery of that city from the
! panic, and gives the annexed details of the
process:
The period since the panic has been devoted
| 10 ha i1ad he