The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-20
They Should De Mada to Pav un

1t to be hoped that the suits which
are to be begun to recover the vast debt
the Pacific railroads owe the government
are to be pushed vigorously. One of these
suits is against the Central Pacific and
the other against the Union and Kansas
Pacific roads. The amount which the
Central Pacific owes is, with interest
SIC, 1856, 9O4, and the amount due from the
Union and Kansas Pacific roads is $92, 3d.
| 633.10. .,..,
These roads have paid no interest on
| their obligations to the government for
thirty years. In that time they have
made large earnings. What has become
of the money will doubtless appear during
the trial, If there ever is a trial The
men who have had control of these roads
have made vast fortunes, and it is be-
lieved they have not made them legiti-
mately. There are reasons for thinking
they never intended to pay the debt due
the government, and it is quite certain
the government cannot get out of the
roads the amount of its claims. There
are bonds ahead of the government bonds
and their amount is much greater than
tho roads could De sold for.
1t is remarkable that the governments
has been so neglectful in collecting the in,
/ terest due it. The amount of the inter
est to which it is entitled is now greater
than the amount of the original obliga-
tions. Many times have these obligations
Of the Pacific railroads to the government
been before congress, but for some reason
or other that body has done little or
nothing to protect the governments in
terests
If'the government is now in earnest in
collecting what is due it, the roads I'M
| question may pass into its possession In
that case they would become sort of foot
balls for the politicians. They would be
managed in the interest of the party
IN power, and it is a question if in
running them the government would not
be subjected to loss fully as great as that
it has already sustained. .y
The New York Sun attacks, and sue
cessfully apparently. that part of the ex-
| traordinary speech of the Rev. r. C.
Cave, delivered at Richmond on Decora-
ton day, in. which he said that in the
! civil war the cavaliers of the south were
opposed by 1.-The power of the north,
dominated by the spirit of 'Puritanism -
The Sun asserts that the. spirit of puri.
tanism is at the present time stronger
and more prevalent at the south than at
the north" Undoubtedly there is much
truth in this. The southern people are
descen dants of the old American stock,
and they have the ideas and beliefs now
which prevailed in the days of Whitfield
and the early Methodist and Baptist
eVangelists. Owing to vast immigra-
ton from Europe, radical social and
religious transformation has taken place
in the north. There is very little Puritan
ism there now. The Sun says THE
most distinctively Puritanic figure of the
civil war fought on the side of the south.
A more through and conscientious and
| consistent Puritan than Stonewall Jack
son never lived. If ever the spirit of de-
votiou to strict and severe and austere re-
ligious obligation was manifested in its
heroic fullness and its deepest intensity,
it animated the course of Stonewall Jack
son as a southern soldier and ardent pa
triot, convinced that he was fighting the
battles of the Lord in fighting against the
north and the union"
1t is stated that the "black DEATH"
now epidemic in China, in the fourteenth
century killed 100000 people in China,
24.OO0,0O0 in other Oriental countries, and
not less than 25,OOO,OOO in Europe. In
Germany alone 1,244,494 deaths were re-
corded from the scourRe, and in Italy one
half Of the population was swept away.
In London, then a comparatively small
city, there were no less than 10O, 900 vic
Tins. There seems to be no question that
the "blaok death" is the most fearful
scourge TO which humanity has ever been
] subjected.