The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-20
CURRENT PRESS COMMENT.

WHETHER the people of the United States wish to
go into the costly and hazardous business of digging a
canal through the isthmus is purely a domestic ques-
ton; but if decided in the affirmative it must be with
the full expectation of a strenuous opposition from
every European power-an opposition that, to say the
least, will add much to the embarrassment Of a not
too promising Observation-Disclosures Times.
THE matter has been discussed considerably, but
there has been no indication of a general demand for
passed the bill to make room for another Democrat in
the Cabinet. We doubt if this would relieve the Presi-
dent. Indeed, nothing short of two Cabinet officers
for each State would tend to absorb the large amount
of Democratic craftsmanship possessed by those who
are sure that they are designed for Mr.. Cleveland's
Standardization Journal.
WE have never been able to see why any canal
across the isthmus, whether at Panama or Nicaragua
would not most properly have its neutrality guaran-
teed by all the great powers jointly. Certainly we
should lose nothing by it, with our domestic com
munications across the continent. The treaty, as re-
ported, is said to be in direct violation of the Clayton
Bulwer treaty with England, Is it worth while to
make a row in the beginning of an expensive project,
the only excuse for which is the national defensef
Boston Herald.
In the case both of the soldier and the bondholder it
was simply a matter of contract. The government
has fulfilled, or is fulfilling, its part of the contract
with scrupulous honesty. The government agreed to
pay the soldier in currency, and it did so. making pref
own acts. 1t promised to pay those from whom it
borrowed money in gold, or its equivalent, and it has
done so thus far, though there is danger that it will
have to pay silver before a great while, to the incalcu-
liable injury not only of the public creditor, but of the
public credit.-Chicago Times.
TIE privileges of the United States in respectt to the
Nicaragua canal will not be abused to the detrim emit
Of the trade of Great Britain or of Gny other country.
1t is not as a base of war operations, but as a channel
of trade and for the promotion. of the peaceful pur:
suit of money making by our citizen and those of all
other nations, that the canal will be used if this gov
eminent controls it; and it is for peaceful uses ex-
clusively that we wish it 70 be built. The one further
condition must be that it shall not be used against us
in time of war; and the United States Is very firmly
of the opinion that it needs no help from any quarter
to secure these two ends.-New York Sun.
THE chief lessons which these worlds fairs teach is
the dignity of human labor. The time has been in the
South when this lesson would not have been thought
worth learning. Work was once considered in New
with a conviction that labor was dscreditable-a
sordid Yankee habit, which gentlemen ought not to
toilsome century is fast Disappearing in the new
South. Social antecedents and ancestral pride no
longer stand in the way of self:respecting labor, and
the sons of the first families" in every State are no
longer taught to despise industry, thrift and enter
prise.-New York Tribune.
THE bill which has just passed the House, by a
large majority, providing for the creation of a Depart.
ment of Agriculture, and giving its head a seat in the
Cabinet, is distinctly a buncombe measure. The
farmers, as a class, have not asked for it. and do not
need it; but it is supposed by the promoters of the
measure that the agriculturists will be battered by it,
and will remember their friends at the polls. In
thinking this we are confident that the politicians un.
derrate the intelligence and good sense of the class
whose favor they seek. The utility of the Bureau of
Agriculture is conceded by some farmers, but the
most OF tnem look upon IL ~ uecluouH an OrndnnonUal
piece of furniture, rather than a useful one,-Boston
Advertiser.
BUT the conclusion of these reciprocity treaties is
open to still graver objections. They constitute an
attempt, by the executive and the Senate, to usurp
the control of the revenue system, which the Consti-
tuition has committed to Congress. For, though leg
i~slation by the House of Representatives is necessary
to give effect to these treaties, when once that legisla'
ton has been passed, it is not repeslable until the
treaties expire. We have experience on That subject
we know how the legislation desired by California on
the Chinese question has been %hampered by the pro
visions of the Chinese treaty and how constantly 1t has
been necessary to appeal to the Supreme Court to find
out if this or that needful law was not in contraven-