The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-06-21


 and a large amount of foreign capita
 was invested in American stocks. The | banks, moreover, encouraged by this
 prosperous condition of affairs, begar
 to issue bank notes in enormous quantl- l ties.
 The financial affairs of the country
 were in fact in a diseased condition
 Money seemed to be plenty. Credit was
 easy, and rash and wild speculation be-
 came alarmingly prevalent A panic was inevitable, and nothing was needed
 to bring on the crisis but the recall of the deposits.
 But to return to the surplus The pub 1 lie lands offered a particularly tempt 1 ing bait to the speculators, who pur- chased at the rate fixed by the govern ment, a dollar and a quarter an acre, and held the land until they could sell it at an advanced price. Large sums of the government money were borrowed from the "pet banks" and invested in these lands. As fast as the money was received at the land offices it was de-
 posted with the other government funds in the banks, only to be again
 loaned, and this process was repeated over and over again while the surplus constantly increased.
 The result was that the surplus was largely composed of the promissory notes of those who' had borrowed the money of the banks, and the president alarmed by the accumulation of so much paper of doubtful value, and de- string, if possible, to check the rapid growth of the surplus, instructed the secretary of the treasury to issue the specie circular.
 This provided that only gold and sil- yer coin should be received in pay ment for the public lands, and all though it accomplished the purpose for which it was designed it neverthe- less spread distrust of the paper cur rency and thus hastened the impending crisis.
 In June, 1886 an act was passed pro- viding that after January 1, 1887, all surplus revenue above $5,000000 should be loaned to the states until needed to meet obligations of the government The division of the money among the states was to be made according to the electorial vote. It was thought at the time that there would be about S50, 100000 to distribute, but by the time for the payments to be made the amount had fallen off to about s36,- 000, 00O
 The deposits of government money was recalled from the banks, and as they were not prepared for any such action on the part of congress, they were compelled to collect upon short notice all the money which they had loaned Then the crash came. The ef- feet produced by the withdrawal from active circulation of such an immense sum of money, was disastrous in the extreme. Banks and private individ- uals went down in one common ruin and 1t was several years before the financial affairs of the country recov- cred from the shock.
 This panic was one of the severest l through which our country ever pass ed, and coming as it did so soon after a period of wild speculation it's effects | were felt far more keenly than they | otherwise would have been
 The payments were made in three | installments during the year 1887, and | a fourth installment which was to have | been paid, was first postponed, and then | given up, for the surplus had become | xhaus:ed. The actual amount distrib- lted was about $2S.OO0,000
 In October, 1887, the power of recall ng the loans from the states was trans 'erred from the secretary of the treas Try to congress, which amounted to the same thing a S giving the loans to the states as 1t was evident that their rep would never vote to give he money back
 The states disposed of their shares in yarious ways. In several states, extra iessions of the legislature were called 1t large expense, to decide what was to ,e done with the money, and in many, arge sums were wasted. Some loaned he money, others lost the greater part l f their shares through bad manage 1ent. Maine and New Hampshire went o far as to distribute most of their hares among the individual citizens, ach person receiving about $2
 The commonest use to which the honey was put was the' support of he schools, and some of the states, among the number, are till using the interest for this purpose 4 The fact that a small part of the honey has been made good use of is he only redeeming feature of the whole flair Viewed as business trans , ction it was a deplorable failure, and z
 forms dark blot upon the pages of UT country's history. It "The Soldiers Chorus" Cfrom Gounod's I pera of FausO was then sung by the f lee club in most beautiful manner. f urtis Howe Walker of West Haven C len delivered am oration on "The Linn s of Party Allegiance" It was as I blows: V THE LIMITS OF PARTY ALLBGI- | CURTIS HOWE WAL
 KER. a When We wish to regulate the move l. ents or restrict the actions of any t -eat factor in our lives, it is of primary nportance to know the elements and Ia, story of that factor. Especially Is f is true when we attempt to alter in c " way the established custom of the n ,litical parties of to-day--those two e eat giants who, like Anteus of old, re- O lying fresh strength at every touch of 5 s Mother Earth, who come to strug- ', Q against each other at the polls. f.