Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-07-06
DULL DAYS AT WASHINGTON.
The Trade Dollars Rejection the Prin-
cipal Topic of Conversation.

cipdA 1Oplc OF conversation.
WASHINGTON, July SIT can be said
truly that Washington is practically de.
serted. The phenomenally cool weather
which we have had so far this year has
deserted us, and we grow warm and
swelter. When the weather is cool there
is no more delightful place during the
summer than Washington. When it is
hot there is no more disagreeable. The
wide streets do not cOunteract the accu-
mulated heat of the asphalt streets. There
is at night always something of a breeze,
but it watts the heat of the day.
People have been for the past two
weeks getting away by the hundreds.
They how get away by the two
hundred daily. Everybody who can is
leaving as fast as trunks can be packed
and tickets purchased. Those who can
not get away go down the Potomac every
evening on one of the many excursions
that are being run. The President is
gone. Most of the Cabinet are gone.
With them fit the smaller fry, known as
assistants" and ''bureau officials The
departments show a dearth of officials.
"And yet the government is run ON just
the same.' By the way, did you ever see
that startling statement before? Oh !!
how old it is Ever since there was a
newspaper, and ever since there was a
fitting official, has the former said
that ''although the President, Cabi-
net and principal subordinate
officials are absent the wheels of govern
ment continue to reVolve." And every
time newspaper prints that startling
discovery it thinks it has said something
very smart. 1t might have been smart
some one hundred years ago, but its per-
petual repetition is calculated to make it
somewhat pointless. But it will be said
as long as we have a government. But
where was | when branched out on this
feeble protest against more feeble and
antiquated ''Smart'' saying? Oh! l was
trying to tell you about the way the city
was deserted. Well, about the best way
to do that is to say that it is deserted.
And it truly is. Bah! We are dull, stale
and Improbable. The only things that
give any variety to the local scene are
typhoid fever (Which is very prevalent) }
and an abundance of genuine malaria not
the Congressional article).
/ have talked with number of Treas
ury officials against the raid which is now
being made on the trade dollar. They all
take the same view as that recently elab-
GRATED in this correspondence. They say
that they have no doubt but that the pres
ent crusade is like former Ones-Origi-
mated, pushed and engineered by brokers'
All the indications are certainly that way,
they say. The trade dollar, intrinsically,
is worth more than the standard silver
dollar. 1t is not a legal tender, it is true,
but it is always-eXcept under such cir
cumstances as the present raid-taken as
current for its face value in trade.
There is no reason that it
nnI0GC
it be to allow the brokers to buy it in and
then sell again when they see fit to cease
their crusade against it. 1t is more than
likely, however, that the brokers will this
time Overstep their mark. The attention
of members of Congress is being called to
the trade dollar anomaly, and the fact
that it is an ever present source of specu-
latiOn f, brokers', The trade dollar will
doubtless be called in at the next session
of Congress at its bullion value and re-
coined into standard silver dollars. But
this will not be before the brokers may
reap arother harvest by manipulating it.
The tiocal year which has just closed
finds the country financially and other
wise i'll a much better condition than it
has ever been. The funds in the Treasury
surplus do not reach the amounts that
they have at the close of a number of
years since the war, it is true; but that is
an advantage. Inere is plenty OF money
in the vaults-more than there ought to
be-and the fact that there is not more
now than at the closing of any
previous fiscal year is due to
the reduction of internal revenue
taxation. The reserve is pretty near up,
this reduction, to the arbi-
trary figures fixed by John Sherman when
he was Secretary of the Treasury. Treas
ury officials say that taking it all in all
the year just closed is the red letter year
of the history of the United States finan-
cially. They are proud of the record, but
do not hesitate to say that it would be
much better were there less money in
the Treasury. A full purse tends to ex-
travagance. They do not advocate a
further reduction ofSinternal revenue.
They do not say that the customs revenue
should be cut down because they get
their salaries under a protectionist party
but they hint that things could be chopped
down there to very material advantage.
The Republicans are growing because the
past has been such very good fiscal
year financially. But they do not think
of the fact that it was a good year be-
cause the conditions were good, not on
account of any endeayOr of theirs; nor do
they think that those very favorable con-
ditiOns present a strong argument in
favor of judiciOus tariff revision.
POTOIAC