The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-07-25

in pamphlet form. We do this, not because
we endorse the views he. entertaiDs OF the
subject discussed, for we do net. 1t IS DnV
fair that the gentleman whom the people
have selected to represent them in the Coii-
gress Of the United States, should be heara
and read by his constituents on all impor-
tant questions, that an understanding may oe
arrived at between them. 1t is due TO, III
very many respects, faithful ana eiiicie''O
representative. There is no courtesy we o1
any one of his constituents, whether in po-
litical utilization and sympathy with him OF
not. could ask, that he would not cheersuily |
grant, and do so in a manner to make you
feel that you were rather confelrlng 1aVor
ON him than receiving one yourself in the
assistance he might render. In this respect,
Judge Harris has few equals, and as this Is
about all we could expect or would nave Il
right to ask OF a representative OF opposing
politics. we feel that it is due to impartial
Journalism as well as reciprocal courtesy, to
give him the benefit Of our columns in reach
ing his constituents with any views he may
deem of sufficient Importance to formulate
into set speech, affecting a question OF
general bearing and application.
Not only do we not agree with the via
views he advances upon the subject OF IL
nance. but we have nothing but the most
positive dissent for many OF his votes upon
questions at issue before Congress. As chair
ba has NOT
only been partisan in his conclusions but
severely unjust. He does not seem to nave
approached the duty of Congressman III
| its broad and statesman-like understanding.
He has chosen for his path the narrowest
avenue Of the narrowest partisan. ana mas
employed adro;tness, as well as ability, Ill
shaping his reports and arguments to accom-
plish intensely partisan and UNJUST results.
We cannot approve OF his vote to retain
Doorkeeper Polk in his position, after COM
mittee of his own party had reported thae
they had found he was guilty OF employing
persons who were s'borne on the rolls, con-
tinued others in service after they had been
stricken from the rolls, and encouraged them
to believe they would receive pay by resolu-
ton: that he employed just double the num-
Der of pages paid by law; that he divided
their pay; made fictitious pay-rolls; placed
persons on the soldiers roll who had never
been in the army; that he deprived soldiers
who were on the roll of their pay that all
his pay rolls were irregular and illegal that
his utter disregard of legal restraints, his
open violations of law, and his general inef-
ficlency rendered him unfit for the delicate
and responsible position OF Doorkeeper.'
But il. this Judge Harris was far more con-
sistent than many of his democratic col
leagues. The Doorkeeper asserted that these
Irregularities were the result of persistent
importantly by the democratic members OF
Congress, and his promises to the employees
were based upon the promises OF his party
friends in Congress that allowances would
be made for them. When the exposure came,
however, and the members had to either ac-
knowledge that they had forced the Door
keeper to violate the law, or make seape-
coat of him, they deserted him and condemn
ed him for doing the very things they had
urged him to do. And Notwithstanding this
formal arraignment, trial and condemnation
of the Doorkeeper, they, as one of the last
acts of Congress, adopted resolution de-
clarag that Polk was an honest, pure and
innocent man, and allowing him his full! sal
ary to the end of his term.
Nor can we endorse Judgs Harris vote
OF, the Potter resolution. the original object
of which was to plunge tie country into tur-
mol if not revolution, but which has result
ed in one of the most disgusting and nar&ea-
ting scandals that has ever disgraced the Do-
litical records of the country, and the eX-
penses of which the Peoples money las to
pay. Nor do we approve his proposition to
remove the tax from State banks, and thus
open the way for a flood OF irredeemable and
fuctuating paper money, an aggravated
disturbance of the business channels, and All
unsettled and dangerous policy for al trade
| transactions.
Analyze the theory upon which Judge
Harris starts out in his speech, and it will be
found that it means that it is the duty of the
government to watch over and be response
BILE for the investments of the citizen, and
that any loss which might occur from want OF
judgment, or understanding OF cause and Ell
feet, is the fault of the government. We OF the
South have had a too recent experience with
cheap money, to recognize an inflated vol
ume of irredeemable currency as money
We should therefore have been prepared to
properly estimate the immense issues OF
paper for war purposes, and not to have
based our calculations for the value OF a real
dollar measured by the recognized stand
ard of money in the civilized world, upon
the simple imprint on the paper OF ore DOL
lar The volume OF U. S. currency which
the war entailed DID not represent aceath,
but debt, Just as the Confederate paper did.
It was issued to purchase supplies which the
war destroyed. and to pay soldiers whose
employment created no wealth. 1t repre-
sented the drain upon the physical resources
of the country, and not a wealth created by
the industry and labor of the people. While
the estimated value Of property in such a
currency was far less than it was with Con-
federate money, yet we can the more readl-
ly understand the process Of imitation and
contraction experienced since 1865, when we
recur to our experience with the Confederate
issues before that time. It was not the goy-
ernment7s business to regulate the transac-
tions of individuals in the use Of this redun
dant currency, butt was its duty to bring this
currency down to STANDARD Of value, SO
that property could be fairly and Justly es-
timated This it has done, and as an incl
dent of the process, those who thought in,
flation was wealth have realized that it was
initiation, and nothing else. The assump-
ticn of Judge Harris that redundant cur
rency was a loan forced against the people,"
may be applicable to the people of the South
who recognize in it the essential agent in
the crushing of the Confederacy, but it is not
so regarded by those who put their all upon
the preservation of the Union. The sem
| tence is not creditable to his penetration or
sagacity.
Nor is the assumption of Judge Harris
| +opaJJo fhat tho roactiou in fra do and the