New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-01-29

On the third Tuesday of February General G. W.
lie Due will have the honor of welcoming to the Ma
tional Capital a Congress of Agricutursts, made up
of delegates from the various State societies. This
confluence of sober practical wisdom onght TO cxer-
else a wholesome and subdung influence upon the
rather explosive temperament of General lie Due.
The General is q trtc too spontaneous and he is
liable at any moment to sprout out into startling
and abnormal endeavors TO keep himself before the
people as an advanced agricultural thinker. This
congress of tillcrs of the SOIL by firm but tender
suppression, may restrain him from hurting
himself recklessly into the newspaper cul-
tiyation of coffee, tea aud other tropical
stimulants and persuade him to behave himself like
n rational imhabtant of the North Temperate Zone.
1t is not probable, however, that General lie Due
anticipates any such bencicent result On
the contrary, there is a rumor that it is his
purpose to make of these guileless hus-
bandmen and organize them into lob
by to urge upon Congress the expansion
of his Bureau into full-grown Department, and the
promotion Of the Commissioner to a seat in the
Cabinet. If General Lo Due is chershing such
hope he Is doomed to have it shattered.
There is no violent demand for any more
Cabinet at present, and the Commissioner will
discover that the delegates to this con-
vention, so far as they truly represent the
farmers Of the country, are not disposed
to mingc any great amount of politics with their
agriculture. 1t was Mr.. Willard, of Vermont, who
rreyerently remarked that the constitutional war
rant was quite as clear and the practical need was
quite as urgent for Department Of Theology. or
n Department of Boots and Shoes, rs for a Depart
ment of Agriculture; and about forty millions of
people concur with Mr.. Willard.
OF spurious paper money, the country has had
quite enough. Now that once more we have plenty
of silver in circulation, the manufacturers OF the
base have turned their felonious attention to coin.
The Secret Service of tho United States is full of
employment, and fabricators of the queer" have
been arrested in all parts of the country. There is
story, which reads like an episode In Gil Bias of
n mysterious cavern in the side of n high mountain,
near Pttston, Penn, where the coners and forgers
are supposed to be carrying on a great stroke OF
business and upon this wicked hole descent in
force was at tho time of the latest adyicos from the
ncighborhood mcditated. With proper precautions
taken by the public, with q reasonable activity OF
the police and with adequate severity on the part
of the criminal courts, we think that the mean
business of counterfeiting could be almost entirely
suppressed We call it mean, because. as it Is
usually carried on 1t bears most hardly in its effect
upon the poor people who put their trust in any
thing which has tho semblance of money just rs
they do in anything which has the semblance of a
savings bank. No sneak thievery is more despcable
than the dirty enterprise of distributing pewter
nickcls, leaden dimes, and sham one dollar bills.
Everybody who handles money ought to be
detective, and not only find out the falsty OF the