Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-10-06

which has taken place during the las
few years, it would be no surprising
thing if it were simply Of that char
acter; but there have been extraordi
nary circumstances which have pro
duced far more serious disturbance
than they could have done in ordina
ry times.
Do you suppose it is possible to pi
twenty millions against twenty, Oh
ten, or five, without disastrous results!
Do you suppose SO vast conflict al
our civil war produces no disturban
ce in the business affairs of nation
except such as can be repaired in q
day or in a year? War would not
be the terrible thing it is if its mis-
chlet could be medicated in an hour
Why, it is not merely killing of men
that makes War horrible; forif men
are not killed they will die. They
will go out Of the world in one way
OF another; and it does not matter SC
much whether they go out by scarle,
fever, or yellow fever, or the cholera
or the bayonet stab. There are va.
rious forms of death; but death is in.
evitable; and.'going little earlier
is not OF much account. The mis-
chiefs of war are generally described
as being the desolation of households
and the leaving of widows aud or.
phans. These things are mischiefs;
but are there no such mischiefs from
other causes? Are there no desolat-
ed households, and no widows or or
phans in times of peace War in
in its disturbing elements has enough
of cruelty and harshness, and the cup
that it puts to the lip is bitter and
fiery; but the worst mischiefs of war
are those that are wrought on the
moral sense of the community. They
disturb mems thoughts of what is
right and just. They shatter and jar
all those arrangements of business
which are founded on natural equity
between man and man in domestic,
civil, commercial and moral relations.
And they are mischiefs which are
like poisons in the blood, that run
down through years and years after
the cause has ceased.
We are suffering from the effects
of the late war in this way. When
l make just estimate of all the
benefits and mischiefs of the war, l
do not doubt that those benefits,
though they cost us so much were
cheap. The unity of this nation;
the passing out of that leprousy which
threatened the life of the whole
commonwealth; the reorganization
of industry throughout one halt OF
our country on sound basis of poll
tical economy; the exaltation of
work; the opening OF reciprocal
channels of intercourse; the promise
of better relations in the future
these elements, secured at the price
of blood even, were not dear. We
bought prosperity as cheaply as any
nation ever bought it. We have re-
deemed liberty from thrall at as
small a ransom as any people on the
globe ever did. And while say
that the disturbing influence of the
great war is severely felt, and will be
severely felt in many respects for a
long time, l think it has in.oned the
patriotic conscience. I hear the COM
plant that men have no conscience.
NV observation is that some men
have half a dozen consciences; that
some men have conscience of the
packet, and no other conscience; and
and that some hvae no conscience at
all. Men have a good many con-
sciences, or no conscience as the
case may be, and they act in some
relations as they wonld not in others
having specialized conscionces where
they have any. And, think the
tone of the sense of patriotism has
been immensely augmented. There
was need of it. There was need of
Strengthening the feeling of esteem
in men for the glory and honor and
purity and grandeur of the country.
But, after all, the national con,
science on the subject of money has
been hurt; and there are special rea-
sons why it shonld have been hurt.
1t became necessary for the govern
ment to issue an immense amount
ofmoney in the form of paper mon
ey-promises to pay. Ten millions,
twenty millions, five times twenty
millions, ten times that, two thousand
millions, three thousand millions,
four thousand millions, and more, of
dollars were manufactured. When
the government asked for credit, the
paper money that the United States
issued was appalling. The enormous
multiplication of money stimulated
every department of society. 1t set
agoing the manufactures, night and
day. Everything that human socie-
ty needs was manufactured in exces-
sive quantities. This went on tol
one year, for two years, for three
years, yes, for good part of four
and five years; and it was trcmend-
Gus stimulus upon the industry OF
the country.
There never has been a period in
the history of mankind on this con-
tinent so fruitful, So active, so pro-
ductive in every direction, as during
the time in which ournatlon was call
ed to discuss the question of man.
hood, Of government and liberty
And if you will take parallel statis-
tics you will find there never was a
time when there was so many inven-
tons made as then. There was a
general stimulus of the brain of the
whole nation. Men thought more,
thought faster, thought deeper; men
invented more, more machines were
built; there were more auxiliaries
for farming produced; there were
more facilities provided for the pro-
ductlon of manufactured goods
There were more railroads built;
there were more farms opened
There was more accomplished during
the last twenty-five years of our ma
tional existence in that period than
in double the time in any period pre-
cceding.
Then we Americans are an excita-
BILE people. We run to brain, natural
lv Our ynrv atm0Snhero il stimula-