National Republican., 1888-02-26
SUNDAY. FEBRUARY q.
wanted Somebody to Reduce IA Pri.
vate surplus.

There s, man in Philadelphia who ha,
caught the national disease of America,
llri- afflicted with hig surplus. lie ma,
also caught the prevailing intirmity of the
dominant party in politics, for he uc-
kuowlcdgcs his incapucity To deal prop
rrly with his surplus, and advcrti>cS for
proposal, of charitable nature, which
may command hi> disagreement to the
extent of iitty thousand or more lie has
tried in every way tu dispose of Il part of
hi, surplus cunotitutionally under the
general welfare cauSc, and hc has sought
some policy by which his future should
mot bc made miserable hy an ever arcu-
mulaling surplus. But still the mans
burden is unrclicvcd, and his perspective
Is rluuicd with the threat of still greater
initiation. His surplus remains and grows.
Who this remarkable individual of
pcthuric pockets is We are not allowed To
know His custudianS advertise him
widely, and wisely kept him concealed.
lie j., doubtless, Il bachelor, and this i, leap
year with all that the dark suggestion inn
plies Philadelphia has smart and pretty
women, who are armed for high game,
and Jersey is ON the other shore with Il
growth of seaside mantraps which can in
one turrid season absorb the wealth of
nations and look over the shoulder for
more. OF course, he has escaped these
plcaSantricS of life, or there would be- no
surplus Then, too, we know that he is
not friend of Jay Gould, for brief conf
dental relations with that philamthropi~t
impic, deficiency on the part of the
other fellow. Neither has lac dealt at the
stock exchange in sO-callcd railroad
securities, which secure only the tashiuna-
bile alternative of poverty or a retreat on
the border of Canada.
But whoever this animated surplusagc
may be, and however be hcaped up his
surplus, it is clear that he lacks knowledge
which Others are impatient to cXchang,
with him for that which is the root of all
evil Ills custodians should send him t,
Washington at once. Even in the Scrvic,
of Uncle sam and among the hangers Oi
ricncc, and that at a moderate CON G0mmpcnSl wniil
ti"n. In fact, they would sell out for hal
cost what they have purchased of informa
tjun about the grain market, the wisdom
that has come to them in the huctuatiOi
of stocks and the sleek and slippery ccccn.
triciIirS of oil, or the steady education tu
br imbibcd by following very hopeful
claims as they drag their slow lengths
along the congressional terms. If better
authority is required, hc might tackle
Congress itself, Within the two house,
there are just four hundred and one men
who know all about reducing the sur.
plus, each zone knowing full well
that his own plan will pre-.
vail ~ to national overflow
and why not rs to private one?
And this leads Us right up 10 the point
Of real interest aS to the disposition of
this private surplus The man who knows
more about surpluSScs and everything is
Mills, "f Texas, alias the Little Boss, alias
Roger QuiXottc, alias Chairman of the
Ways and Means Committee Since his re-
turn from Rhode Island, where he told
the manufacturers they knew less abuu,
their business than the Texas cowboys
know, his sole ambition has been to i'm.
part his exclusive knowledge of how To
replace Il surplus with glaringand gig,n-
tie deficiency, The extraordinary man
who wants a hole bored in the bottom of
hi- cash depository should look upon
Mills and die happy