The Washington critic., 1890-05-13
HIS BRIGHTER SIDE.
HARRISON ALTHoUGHNoT A GREAT
PRESIDENT is A GOOD MAN.

pany ms wit.
The Presidents of the United States
may not all have been great men, but
among them all there has not been
bad man. President Harrison is an in
stance. Democrats who abhor his
politics and Republicans who are dis
gusted with his administration have
come TO feel a sort of affection for him
personally on account of the good, kind
human nature that is in him. lie
showed 1t when Secretary Blaine met
with the series of bereavements which
decimated bis family; he showed
1t when that terrible calamity came upon
the household of Secretary Tracy.
Nobody could have noticed how he
supported Secretary Tracy and the other
Borrowing members of his family in
that terrible trial without feeling that he
was good deal of man. All the
ridicule and satire in the world cannot
lessen his love for his little grandson
nor induce him to deny to the little
fellow any of those delicate attentions
that he has always paid to him. Every
sunny afternoon he takes little Ben
jamin by the hand and walks out with
him over the grassy lawns and among
the trees and flowers of the White House
grounds, and on Easter Monday last.
when, according to custom, all the
children of Washington, black, white
and yellow, had assembled to hold their
annual picnic on the south lawn. Presi
dent Harrison left his desk for a while
and taking Baby Mckee by the hand
sauntered out upon the green and spent
half an hour pleasantly and familiarly
= among the children of the town.
The day when Senator Beck fell dead
at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad
Station was the day set for the firsts of
the Saturday afternoon concerts which
the Marine Band gives on the south lawn
Of the White House grounds pro bono
publsco every summer. 1t was beauti-
ful day, and large crowd of the people
of Washington, male and female, young
and old, were enjoying the music and
making merry; but as soon as the news
OF Senator Beck's sudden death reached
the White House the President ordered
that the concert and the merriment
should be stopped for the day.
President Harrison may not be bril-
liant or great statesman, he may not
be giant of intellect-and yet nobody
will accuse him of being exceedingly
dull or stupid--but, whatever may be his
short. comings as q public man, as a
private individual he has good heart
4 Here is very pretty little story that /
4 got from Private Secretary Halford the
other day:
Cover twenty years ago there came to
4 this country from Surrey, England, q
man named Robert Brown, with two
sons named Horace and David Brown.
Correspondence between the Browns in
America and the Browns in England
fell into arrears, and letters became few
and far between.
Recently Browns sister, in England,
became anxious about her brother and
endeavored to communicate with him
again, but failed. So one day, as last
resort, she wrote to the President of the
United States, the only person in Amer.
lea whose address she knew, and asked
( him If he would not kindly try to help
her to find her brother. When last
heard from she said he and his two sons
were in or about Boston. President
Harrison did not throw the letter into
the ewaste basket, as many a President,
and as nearly any business man would
have done, but took the trouble to for.
ward 1t to the Mayor of Boston, with a
request that If not too much trouble he
might have search made for the lady's
other.
"The President received reply from
Mayor Hart, saying that Robert Brown
died some years ago, but his two sons
1auiH onH Hnpana wall lrnnun and
reputable citizens of Boston, in good
circumstances.
"If the lady had thought of writing
to enc of her nephews her letters would
probably have been delivered; but hel
brother being dead, her letters addressed
to him were all returned through the
Dead Letter Office, marked Gone; nc
address,
'.The Presidents communication tc
the lady carried, no doubt, its share o.
sorrow, but 1t must have been some sat
isfaction to her to be relieved of hel
painful doubt and longings about hel
brother, and to be restored to cemmuni
cation with her lost nephews by th'
President Of the United States"
How many people know how mucf
there is in this country of what peopl
call money" how much in gold ant
silver coin, and how much in green
backs and other paper currency bearing
the stamp of the United States Govern
ment? Very few. Inquiry at th'
Treasury Department discovers the fac
that there is, all told, Just little owe
two billions, or between $50 and 81
apiece for every man, woman and chilli
in the United States. OF this littl
over one-half is in gold and silver coin
and little less than one-half In pape
OF various kinds. OF the metal none,
about two thirds are in gold and one
third in silver OF the paper abou
one-third is in U. S. notes or green
backs, one-fourth in silver certificates
one sixth in gold certificates, one-fift
in national banknotes, and the re
mainder In various denominations.
But the two billion dollars of U.
currency are not all in circulatio
among the people. More than one-thir
is locked up in the Treasury building
and that is the normal state of things
One half of all the gold and three
fourths of all the silver is locked up |
the Treasury. The circulating mediur
in use among the people is three fourth
paper, the largest volume being |
greenbacks, with silver certificates mex
then national bank notes, then gol
certificates, But we would not be doin
gold Justice If we did not say that ther
was more gold in circulation than aD
one kind of paper,
What q disproportion between til
amount of wealth and the amount {
money in the United Statesl all th