The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-09-21
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

Your correspondent spent some
days just before and after the election
that has Just occurred in Maine in
those portions most notorious for the
prevalence Of the greenback craze.
1t was honestly endeavored to get
down to the causes underlying the
remarkable revolution in public sem
timent that has taken place during
the past months, as indicted by
the vate cast on the 9th inst. The
campaign was fought almost exclu-
siyely on financial issues, the Green
hackers forcing the fight as though
anxious to divert attention from the
undeniable purpose of the leaders
now supreme i'll the counsels of
Democracy to ignore the verd let of
the late war, wipe out the cOnStitu-
tional amendments adopted after its
close, and retrrn to the reign of the
bowie knife, the pistol and the mob.
| Those who remained Staunchly
loyal all through the dark days of
the war, including the most intelle-
gent elements, felt they had been
forced into a false position by MAX
ing matters of finance, vital as they
were conceded to be, the only issue.
But they had no choice but accept
the gauntlet as thrown down by an
opposition that grew more blatant
and domineering from the beginning
of the contest to the turning OF the
| polls at 5 o'clock p. NJ, on the 9th,
inst. 1t was noticeable that the same
classes who supported the war at
first but gradually arrayed them
selves under the banner of disloyal
Democracy as the price of their tea
and coffee increased and as draft
become more certain and The voters
who have grown up since under the
tuition of that style of patriots, fell
one by one away from their allie
glance to the cause of honest money
and the preservation of national faith
to its creditors as the promises of the
Democratic-G orators be-
came more profuse in their promises
of an abundance Of money provided
their candidates were elected. Ridi-
cul0us and absurd as it may appear
to diSpassiOnate observers d large
proportion Of voters esteemed as a
whole exceptionally Intelligent, talk
and appear to believe that money I'M
der the circumstances named, will be
as plenty as the stones in their fields.
The one leading idea every Green
back orator seemed most solicitOus
to lnculcate however much they
differed on other points, was that OF
"fat" money. The delusion that
Government can give intrinsic value
to a piece of rag or paper by the inn
press of its stamps is, in many locali-
ties, overwhelmingly prevalent. 1t
seems to strike an outside observer
as a sort of epidemic craze. More
financial wisdom, such as it is, was
gathered in two weeks visit there
than has been accumulated in a ten
weeks residence here among the
representative men of the nation a
part of whose business has been t.
known something of national fl
nances. Men heretofore credited
with knowing next to nothing have
suddenly acquired celebrity as the
ablest expounders of the new science
Boys sixteen years old and usually
occupying the ounces place in theil
classes at school can reel it off by the
hour, so constant have they been in
their attendance at the rallies thai
have been held in nearly every
schoolhouse or public hall in the
State. 1t is dire confusion and de
mOralization all over the State. The
old system of finances founded or
silver and gold as the only standard
of value which the fathers devised
and was never before seriously ques
toned, has been uprOOted and re
jected for the new one by the anna
tuers. But the day is not distant il
the future, likely, when the teachers
who haye acquired such sudder
prominence will be estimated at thei
proper value and the crude and revo
lutionary doctrines they have so in
dustriously dessimated will b.
spewed up.
The work of relieving the yellow
fever sufferers is still the one occupy
ing the greatest share of our atten
ton. The ingenuity of every one
has been stimulated by the rivalry t.
do most, and new methods of raising
funds have been resorted to with fail
success.
The Star of recent date says:
"The Republican Congressional
Committee will forthwith take the
necessary steps to secure phono
graphic report of the speech made BY
tho President in Minnesota VpStarda =