Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-15
A SURPRISED JOURNALIST.

Mir Wellman writes from Washington t, the Chicago Time5-Herald of which he is the very able correspondent at the capital as follows:
 The intensity of partisan plgotry among public men is amazing to one "no studies them from an unbiased stanu point They have gradually unhtted themselves for true thinking. They are sincere in their stupidity, which they call party loyalty. I have met men who are looked up to as leaders Of pubic opinion who in their discussion or tnls ouestion displayed humiliating ignorance of the principles. as well as the detalis' of the governments currency system: For most of the republicans and many ot the democrats it was enough to know that MT. Cleveland had proposed thls fiscal reform That damned 1t in ad- vance in their eyes.
 "Another and most discouraging req lure of the situation Is the fact that number of partisans privately adinlt their belief that the president is right; that the greenbacks will have to be re- tired before the country will know finan- cial peace and that the sooner it is done the better for all concerned But this is their private view. Publicly they join in the hue and cry that it is revenue and not gold the treasury needs. Why do they do this? Because they are not hon. est with themselves or their constitu- ents; because they are afraid to admit that the democratic president is right; because they think party loyalty re- ouires them to place all the blame upon the democratic tariff law
 Tt has impressed me as remarkable fact that In Washington it is almost im- possible to find a public man who will discuss this question without party bias. while in Chicago. in New York, in Bos- ton, in all the cities and towns in the country, bankers. manufacturers and business men almost invariably discuss it from the standpoint of common sense They do not all agree. but they strive for the truth They are at least honest"
 MT. Wellman should not be discour- aged He should bear in mind that great questions are not so readily understood, absorbed and digested by the great mass of people as they are by the president. Mir. Cleveland is cock-sure about the money question. but it happens that the rest of the world are too dull of compre- hension to keep up with him.
 Most of the republicans. and many of the democrats in congress" says MT. Wellman, consider any measure damned which the president suggests" |" He would have been more accurate if he had said that on the question of cur rency nobody, except a handful of repre- sentatives from a few of the cities, will support MT. Cleyeland's scheme to retire the treasury notes and pay interest upon bonds substituted for them. We venture to say that no representative from Ala hama will vote for such substitution of an interest bearing debt for a non-inter- est debt Should he do so he will not again be sent to represent this people. To fund the 50O,0 900 of notes at per cent would entail a new annual burden of $15 000, 900 upon the people. It would entail an annual tax upon the people of Alabama of rearly half a mil lion of dollars While we might not see the tax collector we would just as surely pay to the government that sum as our proportion of the annual interest on the funded notes
 It is proposed that these funded bonds should ultimately get into the hands of the national banks and be made basis for banking. We pay the bankers the in over as many dollars in currency for them to lend out to the merchants and l farmers at 6 per cent. They would get II per cent upon their capital without a 1 lick of work. and could then utilize theii l deposits It would be a good thing fol 1 the banks. but the people cannot see how | it would be a good thing for the tax payer.
 l And when this change of non-inter.