St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-13
VIEWS OF THE REVIEWS.

nave SWe1leQ the Dulk Oh the Dut IN
both the yield is phenomenal" Nor is the
Forum exceptional in mere quantity; the
quality is excellent. The Forum follows all
the other magazines In Welding first place TO
Lowell and Archdeacon Farrar brings his
tribute of kindly appreciation of the man, of
his abilities and his works. In common with
the Others Farrar yields his critical faculties
to the warmth of friendship which unseats
judgment and puts them all rather IN the role
OF friends bringing immortelles than of cool
critics bringing their implements of dissec-
tion measurement and weight. In all is ex-
pressed sense of personal loss which pre-
cludes their judgment from acceptance as
, the final one OF the place Lowell must take
J in the ranks of men of letters. The per
sonal equation" is shown in all the articles
bv the selections made by each of the verse
or thought which has impressed each writer
as characteristic of some feature of Lowelfs
character, and the diversity is marked; but
singularly, none of them cite the verse which
as strongly marks that sturdy sense of right
that scorn of the ginooine statesman" who
'Should be on his guard,
Ell he must hey convictions not t b'leeve 'em
tew hard"
which was SO strong in Lowell as any he
wrote. l refer to the verse he contributed to
the proceedings of the Society of Authors for
the promotion of copyright:
In vain we call old notions fudge,
And bend our conscience to our dealings;
The Ten Commandments will not bulge,
And stealing still continues stealing"
President Eliot. of Harvard. adds to the
literature of municipal economy Zone Rene
dy for Municipal disagreement" Before
the tendency to extension OF municipal func-
tons is further encouraged, he thinks it will
be well to stop and inquire if those already
possessed are used in manner which war
rants any further gift of power and duty He
makes negative answer 20 the question
whether we have shown ourselves capable of
governing so well that the domain may be eX-
tended; Taking separately the functions of
taxes, lighting, sewerage. water, street con-
structlon and cleaning and the control of
monopolistic franchises, he examines our
treatment of each, and, com pairing il with
that of foreign cities, he finds the defect in
the want of fitness of the men to whom the
direction and discharge of these various
functions Is given, and this want he lays at
the door OF our craze for elections and the
attendant use of places of trust as spoils of
war. The uncertainty OF tenure alone pre-
vents men from engaging in this work and
giving the time and study necessary to quail
ify them for the fit discharge of their duties.
The employment of such men never comes
as the Intentional result of our elective sys-
tem though it may occasionally occur; but a
system should not be built on exceptions.
Before municipal government can be set
right he concludes, municipal service
must be made a life career Tor intelligent and
selfrespecting young Americans; that it
must be attractive to well-trained Young men
who enter it, as they enter any other profess
sion or business, meaning TO stay in it, learn
fidelity and ability
Hon. NJ D. Harter's plan for Perma-
nent Bank System has had notice and COM
ment in the editorial columns of the GLOBE.
but there are points of interest in his argu-
ment leading up TO the statement in detail of
his plan which are noteworthy. Mr.. Harter
IS Democrat belonging to the free trade
wing of his party, and has been connected
with the management of the Aultman IL
Taylor manufacturing company, engaged
wholly and largely in making farm imple-
meuts, since lis organization. That be has
the full courage of his opinions was shown
III his unaccepted challenge to Senator Sher-
man, his toWnsman. in the campaign of IS,
to discuss the issues in joint debate,
and that he has the ability to defend
them will be amply demonstrated
before the Fifty second congress
shall have ended. 1t is very refreshing at a
time when SO many Statesmen" in all par
ties go smashing around to use Senator
Washburn's term, among the economic fren-
zies which the transit from old to new prob
lens has developed, TO see this Democratic
congressman standing stUrdily by the tried
and tested principles of finance and govern
ment, principles known to be Democratic
and right" and refusing to consider the new
questions 'in the light of dangerous and
temporary expediency." He rejects as I'M
wise and hazardous any scheme which will
leave to congress the power to fix the
amount of currency, believing that that
should be an unrestricted servant of trade,
able to render at all times the precise
amount of aid required by trade condi-
tons He opposes the proposed unrestricted
coinage of silver because experience demon
Straies that two morals of varying intrinsic
value can be kept in circulation side by side
only by limiting the coinage of the cheaper;
because it would result in the immediate and
disastrous contraction of the currency by the
withdrawal of our 5000o0,0 900 oil gold under
the immutable operation of Gresham law:
because it would reduce the'values of all de-
nOSifS in g1VinOS hanks the Vnlna of n
siOns, land generally, fleece the whole peo-
pie for the personal benefit Of a handful of
silver mine owners, bullion producers and
SPECTATORS Senator Sherman's suggestion
of the use of silver bullion as basis of
note issues he dismisses as not ':the
well-considered plan of a man OF his
recognized ability, or inefficient if it is. AS
currency carries but per cent of our eX-
changes and 81 per cent is carried by credits,
checks and drafts the volume of money is
secondary consideration, the first being the
provision of credit facilities and the main
tainance of the measure or standard OF all
these values which is gold. The enlargement
of credit facilities would be obtained by the
multiplication of banks under his system,
while the value of the credits would be main
tanned by basing them on the only measure
of values that enlightened nations will ac
cept
Senator Villas article, 1.-THE Bennett Law
in Wisconsin. - is redeemed from having
historical value only by the fact that a Re-
publican senate in Illinois defeated the bill
passed by the Democratic assembly repeating
similar law and the projection of the cues
ton into the issues in that state next year.
This gives the article title to place among
the topics of the day, and the senator abil-
ity gives IL interest to the reader. II the Ben
nett law is u matter of mere transitional in
tereSt, the conflicting principles of gov
eminent which were active in its in
ception and its repeal were never more a
matter OF interest or of Importance
never more vital topic of the day than
now. That conception OF the government
which is best described by the word paternal-
ism, that tendency towards the steady, pro-
gressive assumption OF power by the state at
the expense of the liberty of the citizen,
that conception of which Federalism. Repub-
licauism and Socialism are types differing
only in degree. found expression in the Ben
nett law. On the other hand, that idea of
government which believes that the liberty
of the individual should be conserved in the
largest possible degree, that the state should
be restricted to little more than the functions
of the police, found its expression III the re-
peal of that law. While in this case its i'm
plement was the Democratic party, and while
| that party is supposed to stand for the
individualistic as opposed to the paternal
idea OF government. 1t is apparent TO all of
| our legislatures that the SOcialiStic tendency
has tainted Democracy and that no more i'm
| portart duty lies on our public men and all
| citizens than the effort to reverse this drift
and turn the tide back towards limited
pONSFS VI Iu0 state anu STcdlcI lISeuOIu LOT
| the individual. And this is what Senator
| Villas articles teaches While admitting the
right of the state to demand education he
| limits its correlative duty 10 the provision
| of means for obtaining that education.
! " lille it is the duty of the parent to see that
| his offspring get an education it is his cor
! relative right to direct that education and
| say what it shall be. In the public school
| the state performs its duty; in the private
| school the citizen exercises his right.
| A fitting companion piece is Mr. WInston's
1.-THE School Controversy in Illinois,, which
| heads ia The same conception of government
! which produced the Bennett law in Wiscon-
| sin, and of which Mr.. Winston is a Jealous
| advocate. Starting with the conceded i'm
| portance of at least, rudimenlary education
and of the duty of the state to furnish the