Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-09-29

papers as to the best method for gettine
into active circulation the standard silver
dollar, has induced number of people
who think they are inanciers, to write
out their views upon the subject and send
them to the Treasury Department. These
''views," as a general thing, are so worth
less as not to command moments seri
| GUS consideration.
Some of them would be a little practi.
/ cable were it not for the fact that the
| standard silver dollar is unwieldy and un.
popular. Treasury Department officials
say that every eXpedient has been resorted
to to stimulate demand for this coin. II
cannot be done. Only the average uses
to which the standard dollar can be put
they say, will influence Its circulation. II
! cannot be made pOpular.s 1t can only be
| used to fill so much of the
circulation as the latter requires
of it by reason of necessity. 1t is
an unpopular coin on account of its bulk
and unwIeldly character. Its circulation
is annually stimulated when the crops
are moved and then goes back to its old
slow pace. 1t is suggested that in view
| OF these facts the government pay its at
tentiOn to fractional silver. 1t is argued
that silver can be given an impetus by
discOntinulng the issue Of one and two
dollar bills and forcing fractional silver
| into the vacuum which would be caused
idea, and would probably work il
it should be adopted. There is no likeli-
hood, however, that it will ever be adopt
! ed in the opinion of Treasury Department
officers. They say that the
ONE AND TWO DOLLAR BILLS
are the most convenient and popular
| forms OF currency that are ISSUED. When
ever there is a scarcity of them in any
section of the country there is howl.
! They say that If Congress should attempt
! to cut them off the whole country, espe-
| ciallv the regions away from commercial
| centres, would get up and howl; so that
the proposition would soon be
abandoned. While the fractional
silver is very popular, the
| 81 and 81 bills are even more so. The
only thing that remained to be done is for
| Congress, If it wants to get rid of the pill
| ing up of silver dollars in government
| vaults, to reduce its coinage. 1t is par
! ticularly noticeable that all of the schemes
which are proposed to start the standard
| silver dollar on its way, come from the
! silver producing States.
There is another point in regard to the
| silver dollar, Congressional action upon
which is severely criticised in the Treas
ury Department. 1t is that under
an appropriation made at the last
| session very extensive vaults,
to cost $4,000, are to be built under the
cash room of the Treasury here. These
vaults are to be made the dumping
! ground of the immense amount of silver
dollars that will not go into circulation,
no matter how much they are showed
from behind. Now there is nothing
| coined here. The surplus dollars will. in
order to be stored in the new vaults, have
to be shipped at government expense
! from the Philadelphia, San Francisco,
Carson City and New Orleans mints. 1t
would have evidently been much bet
! ter to have built small vaults for
| the storage of the surplus at those
mnts. Altogether it will be seen that
| Congress has not shown very much saga
! city in dealing with the silver question.
! 1t might be said that the silver question is
not lonesome in this respect.
AS is KNOWN, THE JAPANESE GOVERN
MENT
has for the past ten years sent annually a
sample of each of its coins, gold and sill
! yer, executed at its mint to the United
States and to England. This is 0one for
and United States mint bureaus
test as to the fneness
and exact weight of the different
coins. A test is also made by what we
may call the Mint Bureau of Japan,
although exactly what its name is ! do
not know. The results of the first nine
! tests as deduced by Japan, England and
the United States mint authorities, were
| to-day received by the Director of the
| United States Mints. 1t is very interest
ing, as showing how fine the matter of
testing all coins has been reduced. The
tests of the American and English Gov
ernments do not differ one particle in but
two Of the years that they
have been made. And then the
differences are SO very intinitesimally
slight as to amount to almost actual
agreement. The tests made by the Jap
aneSe Government have cOincided all
along with the American tests. This is
probably due to the fact that Americans
really superintend Japan's coinage af-
fairs.
1t is matter also of interest to know
that this government charges Japan the
regular rates for making tests the same
as 1t would charge man who owned a
mine and wanted an assay made of his ore.
''IF THERE Is ONE PLACE
| above another where law is unknown,
thieving and corruption 30 un-
punished and scOundrels find a Sc
cure haven, that place is the In
dian Territory This was said to me to-
come from that Territory. 81 have
travelled" he continued, call over the In
dian Territory, and what | say | know
from personal observation. just think
of it. There are on an average
twenty murders month. | do not know
of but one man who has been hung: and
his punishment was the result of the
perseverance of his victims nearest
personal friend. Talk about law in
Indian Territory! Why, sir, they do not
know anything about law down there.
When a scoundrel becomes too bad for
TeXaS-and you can imagine how bad
man must be to be run out of TeXas-he
goes to the Indian Territory. There he
meets eXiles thoroughly as tough as him
self, number of Indians and few
Indian agents, the latter of whom Get
rich i'll a surprisingly short time. No
wonder, in Such community, that crime
goes unpunished. The trouble is
that if they commenced they would not
know where to leave off It would be a
war of determination. The talk of civil
iZing the noble red man is all a stu
pendOus farce. | remember one case in
particular. Some years ago chief of the
Cherokee nation embraced Christianity,
lived in house like any white man, and
wore white mans dress. Strange to
say, he married an English goyerness. He
adopted the name of John Ross. The
trials of this poor woman were
something terrible. While to all
outward appearances Ross was
civilized, his savage nature was
really untouched, 1t was his custom,
when the hunting season opened, to deck
himself in the primeval costume of his
tribe. Literally besmeared with paint
and feathers, he would drive his wife out of
the house and compel her to follow him on
his expeditions. Sometimes he would
hunt game for three months, and during
all the time he would beat her upon the
slightest provOcatiOn, and compel her to
do all the drudgery of camp life. After
he had enjoyed hunting to his hearts con-
tent, he would come home and settle down
again, This custom he kept up every
year until he died.
:'Fhe government has been to great ex
pense in providing houses for the Indians
to live in-that is to say, the chiefs-for
the average Indian does not get much
from the government or any one else, as
for that matter. Only short time ago
was passing by a nicely constructed
stone house, which was built by the gov
ernment for one of the chiefs. Did the
Indian live there? No, indeedi he lived
in a hut close by and used the house to
store his corn and grain and to dry his
buffalo meat IN short, he used the
house, which Must have cost 81, 600 on
$4,000, as a barn, while he lived In a
hut, just like any other Indian. You
hear great deal about the work done bv
the Indian schools. That is another farce.
/ have never seen a full blood Indian i'm
any of them. In the Crow nation there
are probably two hundred white men who
have married squGws, and who observe all
the customs Of the tribe. They are Indians
TO all intents and purposes, and ares re-