St. Landry democrat., 1878-02-02

preSSl0nS or plate COAI dpou' WV NoA
lars, as against nineteen dollars hereto
fore paid to the bank note companies by
the old mode of printing by hand.
Foreign. Notes.
Many dwarfs and crooked people are
met in Genoa, and correspondent as
cribes it to narrow, dark streets.
Ashes from the recent eruption at
Cotopaxi, in Ecuador, are said to have
fallen at distance OF 1000 miles from
the volcano.
In France, the great poultry'erowing
nation of the world, it is said fully one
half of the eggs are artiticially hatched
by means of incubators.
AT Sweden funerals small hand-glass
is put into the coffin Of a woman, in Or
der that she may take last look at her
self when the trumpet sounds
The clocks in the Basque provinces OF
France are made to strike twice, first to
give warning and then to denote the
hour. Few of the people can read the
time, and frequently no minute hand Is
used.
A Russian official dispatch says the
Turks left 800 dead in the 1ortitication
of Trajan pass. Besides these, a Turk
ish battalion was almost annihilated in
an encounter with a Russian turning
column.
King Humbert l. has ordered the
Italian court to 20 in mourning six
months. 1t is said that Humbert,
though originally in favor of Turin, is
now disposed to agree to Victor Emman-
uels being inferred in Rome, but will
consult bis brothers. Signor Marcini
intends to introduce bill in parliament
appointing the pantheon as the future
burial place of the Savoy family.
The Fanfulla reports that Victor
Emmanuel said On his death bed, II
have always felt an affection and defer
ence towards the person of the pope.
If T have personally displeased him |
am sorry, but in all my acts [ have al
ways had the consciousness OF having
fulfilled my duties as a citizen and
prince, and Of never having committed
anything contrary to religion"
Russia's war expenses up to December
l were $400,000,000. Up to that date
she had lost about rs, 0O0 men, according
to the official reports. The financial fea'
ture of the war is a serious one for the
czar. who has borrowed 1886 100000
since the war commenced, while there
are over 100000, 900 paper roub'es, Or
about $3.50, 900 coo, floating about, and
the mill continues to grind out paper.
The Russian journals commenting on
the capture of the Turkish army in
Shipka pass, point out that this is new
evidence that the Turkish power Of re-
sistance is utterly broken, and remark
that the cabinets, at both Constantine
pie and London must understand the
necessity Of recognizing in the approach
ing negotiations the decisive military
situation created by the Russian army.
On the ID Chachapoyas, the capital of
Amazon, was visited by an earthq quake
which demolished several houses and
damaged many more. Fortunately there
was no loss of life. The walls swinging
to and fro, the groaniDg roofs, the noise
of falling tiles, the walls cracking and
throwing out clouds Of dust, combined
with the shrieks and groans of the agon-
lied inhabitants, made frightlul scene.
Callas also experienced severe shock of
the earthquake, but no damage was done.
/ Gold and Silver.
In his letter to the Tribune, Turlow
Weed makes some important points in
favor of the Bland silver bill. He shows
that the old silver dollar was demone.
tlZed not because it was worth too little,
but because it was worth three per cent.
premium in gold that if England Or Ger.
many possessed our vast silver mines they
would be sure to make silver a standard
of value and foster that metal in every
possible way; that il is insanity for us to
disparage our own great staple in favor
of gold, the great staple of England
that none of the American bonds were
purchased with gold, but that foreign
buyers sent this gold to New York and
had it converted into greenbacks to buy
with, and that the average cost OF sew
eral hundred millions of six per cent.
bonds purchased On foreign account did
not exceed fifty per cent. in gold that
Jefferson and Madison directed the mints
to discontinue the silver dollar because our
silver mines were not then developed
and we had to purchase all of our silver;
that "gold and silver are equally values
less as money without the ssuperscrip-
ton OF the government, and with that
ssuperscription' the gold and silver dol
lars can be made equal in values" that
the proposition to pay the capitalists in
gold and the laborer in silver is perni-
cious and utterly unjust, and not to be
tolerated in practice; that gold fluctu-
ates more than silver; and. finally, that
resumption is not possible without the
reconciliation of silver.
And now it seems the Bonanza kings
are all in favor of gold as the unit of
value. This was to have been expected.
The very rich-those who have a large
surplus over their indebtedness-natr
ally desire that excess to be as valuable
as possible. A million dollars in one
very scarce metal, which has been made
the legal unit, will buy more OF the pros
ducts of human industry than. million
dollars in very much cheaper metal:
the very rich, the world over, are there
fore in favor of a scarce and dear metal
as unit of value. Then it should be
remembered that the Banonza mines pro-
duce forty-five per cent. of gold to forty
five per cent. of silver. The mining in
terests of the Rocky mountains are about
equally divided between silver and gold.
and it isto their interests to have both
metals circulating as currency. Now
that 1t is officially stated that the Bo-
nanza kings are for gold, it puts an end
to the bugaboo raised by the geld
papers that 1t was the great mining
magnates who were at the back
OF the silver movement in this country.
In truth, this agitation is in the interest