Middletown transcript., 1876-01-22
Nineteen Sheriff Sales.

The sheriff Of New Castle county pub
fishes this week. in one paper, nineteen
sales Of real estate. One by one the
homes Of the poor are being sold
from them. No matter how many
days and weeks Of incessant toll; how
much pinching and saving has been en-
dured in the earnest strife to obtain a
permanent home; no matter if from the
sale only enough be realized to cover
the mortgage (held BY some money
broker who in all probability advanced
the cash generously at twelve per cent
discount and six per cent INTEREST,"; no
matter if the eight or ten hundred dol
lars saved and paid by the laoorer be
sacrificed and be and his little family
turned out Of doors, the mortgage must
be paid. that the lender, already rich,
may grasp more wealth and invest it
in other loans to again foreclose and
realize regardless Of the sufferings and
misery entsiled upon the victims Of his
greed " How long, o Lord how
long," might well be the cry Of hun
dreds and thousands of suffering hu-
nanity that day after day are struggling
blindly or hoping against hope for some
measure Of relief. Business is dull,
labor is unemployed, and the incessant
tramp. tramp. tramp" Of the homeless,
wearily passing from place to place
seeking work, is the best evidence that
Mr.. Davis resolution of inquiry into
the national finances is of more and
deeper interest to the country than
Quixotic speeches from Presidential as
pirants on amnesty. Congress should
adopt some measures Of financial relief
to the country at large that would en-
ploy more labor and give less work to
the sheriffs that would recall the wan
dering tramp from bis weary pilgrimage
and tighten the load Of care from the
heart Of many a helpless widow and
orphan child who scarce can tell where
their next meal is to come from. Will
ling to work and none TO be had-is the
daily cry, and yet no effor. is being
made to.give relief, and the red flag Of
the sheriff faunts gaily 10 the breeze.
ANON.
Much Of the trouble and distress Of
which our correspondent complains is
too often traceable to the acts of the dis
tressed persons themselves aided 10
vast measure by the ruinous credit
system which pervades to such an al
most unlimited extent among the agri7
cultural portions Of our peninsula, and,
indeed, throughout the land No cash
payer was ever sold but by the Sheriff.
If men would be satisfied to live within
their incomes, and 60 no further in
debt than they knee they could pay !;
do business on the means they have,
instead Of borrowing money at "12 per
cent" to extend their operations, the
Sheriff would have much less work to
do. To bis last proposition that the
"weary tramps are willing to work and
no work can be had," rather dcroga-
tory answer is found in the reports Of
strikes by the operators in large fac
tories, etc. Though the prices for all
kinds Of manufactured goods have re-
turned to almost their ante bellum con-
dition, the wolkmen have never been
willing that their wages should be sub
jected TO like reduction, but insist in
endeavoring to keep them up to the
high standard attained during the war,
and whenever the employer seeks to
make a reduction they "strike" and try
by the means Of unions, &C., to force a
compliance with their demands. Then
many Of them quit and complain that
they cannot get work when in reality
they can get work. but not at their
prices.