davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27
THAT PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Patron Further Refutes Statements
Regarding 1t.

To the Editor of the Globe.
May / add few words to the discussion
the management Of the public library?
IL is not my purpose to speak of the
numerous misstatements in the sermon
which called forth the controversy; these
L wish merely to give some slight testimony
coming from long and personal observation
concerning the present administration of the
library. 1t might be thought that such
testimony would be unnecessary. as there
must be very few people who are unable
10 discriminate between those things over
which the present librarian and board of di-
rectors nave control and those things over
which they have no control whatever. Yet
these were confounded in the sermon re-
ferred to, although it must surely delay the
requirement of new library to try to show
that we are unable to care properly for the
one we already have.
Having drawn books from our library for
the past ten years. I have had at least a
slight opportunity to observe how it's affairs
are managed. During that time I have nev-
er noticed tnebriated men there nor have
L observed that idlers use the rooms as
lounging places. On the contrary, the ma
chinery of the circulating department seems
to move without undue friction, the reading
rooms are kept neat and orderly and the
reference rooms are as quiet as the most
fastidious student might desire. On the
whole, 1t seems to me that the person who
reaches the library, after passing through
the court house corridors and up the ele-
place of quiet, cleanliness and good or
der.
Although every patriotic citizen must wish
to see our library provided with more mon
ey to buy new books, and a new building
in which to lodge them, no one, am sure,
can find fault with the quality and charac-
ter of the volumes already on the shelves.
1t would be hard to find a library of sim
liar size in the United States having a
larger proportion Of high class literature.
1t has, 1 believe always been the policy Of
the present management to buy works Of
lasting rather than those Of transient i'm
portance. yellow covered literature is not
purchased, and not many copies are got Of
such books as "Dodo'' or "Ships That Pass
in the Night" for, though these novels have
a temporary vogue, they would in short
time cucumber the shelves unused. 1t is to
be hoped that when we get a new building
for our library an appropriation may ac-
company 1t sufficient to buy any book that
either the general public or the individual
student may desire; yet, since the present
appropriation is small, let us rejoice that
the preference is and has been given to the
purchase of works of permanent value. AS
a result of this wise and discriminating pol
icy carried through a number of years, we
now have a library not large, 1t is true,
yet with little in it that is useless, and con-
tanning the worlds best books in art, lit
erature and science.
We already have the foundation for a
large and noble library-a library that will
be an honor to our city; let us have a
building. then, and more money to buy books,
and such library will be ours.
"A Patron Of the Library.
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27

state except Cook county the valua-
ton was $2S2. 2.216, 1869 in 1873 and s1O5,-
43S,516 in 1893, decrease of 54.59 per
cent.
In real estate valuations the ten
dency has been the same, though not
In as marked degree because of the
impossibility of hitting it; but the de-
crease has probably been sympa-
thetic movement. an effort to shake off
some of the burdens of which personal
property was evaaing so much. In
those twenty years6 of unequaled
growth and prosperity the assessed
value OF all the real estate and it's
improvements in the state shrank from
SS9s,615,s52 to $s14 ,23s,04O, or 31.72 per
cent. OF this Cook county's share Of
decrease was but S.91 per cent, while
the shrinkage in the remainder of the
state was 1878 per cent. Meanwhile
the amount of taxation has been stead
lily increasing, with the result that as
the amount on which the levy was
made fell off the percentage Of taxa
ton rose higher.
In closing It's report, the bureau
says: In exposing the present system
OF taxation the purpose Of the bureau
is to show how the concentration Of
wealth is facilitated, burdens imposed.
opportunities withheld, and labor i'm
poverished through the operation of
vicious fiscal system" It insists that
"every special privilege granted by law
to individuals, through which they are
enable to exploit their fellows, is, in
the last analysis, a tax" and that
equitable taxation is the golden key
which will unlock the door to natural
opportunity, and confer on all who live
by toll security, dignity and liberty"
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27

The moon is getting to it's full, and,
as usual the Minneapolis Tribune is
getting luny. The concurrence of these
two conditions is so uniform as to leave
no doubt that they bear the relation
of cause and effect, the fulling of the
moon being the cause, and the Stiffness
of the Tribune the effect We state this
to prevent the Tribune from imagining
that the moon gets full every time that
paper gets silly. Nor would we be un-
derstood as saying that the Tribune is
foolish only when the moon Is full
We mean that its lunacy ebbs and
flows with the phases Of the moon,
swelling to a flood tide as that orb
shows this world more and more of
its face, and ebbing, but never disap-
pearing, as the light of the pale moon
Wanes
The present outburst Of prosperity
in England 'is due more to low tar
iff legislation in the United States than
to her own traditional policy of free
trade" says the Tribune. ''The reduc-
ton of tariff on imports to this country
has opened our markets to many Brit
ish products formerly excluded or
greatly restricted" thus furnishing
work for Englishmen and driving a
large number Of American worlmen
out of employment" '"Thfs," it con-
cludes, ''is the story Of the snlokeless
chimneys, the dead fires in the fur
naces Of countless manufacturing
plants, and Of idle men in our cities
walking the streets in vain search for
employment" And it adds the timely
suggestion that this fact should sink
deep into the heart of every American
voter" in order, probably, that every
American voter'can be as silly as it is.
A very brief statement of facts
turns this fine rhetoric into mere drivel.
Our imports from the United Kingdom
In 1885 were 20.07 Of our entire imports
in value. In 1892, the favorite year of
Republicans for comparisons, they
were 1889 per cent. The increase
whether due to tariff reduction or
whatever, was .18 per cent. Stated In
figures, our imports from the United
Kingdom in 1892 amounted in value
to $156, 6,SOO,SS1, and in 1895 to S159, ,0SS,-
249, an increase in 1895 of $2,7 1882, 1862.
What the Tribune, in this phase of the
moon, wishes to have Sunk deep into
the heart Of every American voter. i"
then is that, owing to the reduction
made in the tariff by Mr.. German and
his associates, England has been able
to send us $2.7S2, 1862 more goods than
she did in 1892. This is at once the
cause of her "outburst of prosperity. -
of our ''smokeless chimneys," of the
dead fires in the furnaces Of countless
manufacturing plants" and of our
idle men, wearily walking the
streets" of our cities. We doubt NOT
the man in the moon chuckles at this
exhibition of his influence on our con-
temporary.
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27
WHAT CAN BE DONE.

Prof. TaLSSig contributes the leading
one Of the articles on economic topics,
of which the Bond Record is making a
very valuable magazine. Assuming
that the gold standard is to be main
tanned; that, despite the clamor Of the
noisy few, the mass of the voters will
standard, he discusses the probabili-
ties Of action along financial lines.
Were Taussig in business or in poll
tics instead Of occupying the chair Of
political economy in Harvard, he would
be known as the practical man, con-
sidering always what it is possible to
do more than what should be done.
Not that he has no ideals, but that
he knows that such are unattainable
in a country of government by aver
ages, and that all progress towards
them must be by slow, tortuous, sap
ping-and- mining progress.
So we find him, starting with his as
sumption Of the permanency Of the
gold standard, considering what is rea-
sonably hopeful Of accomplishment in
our confused, illogical, hybrid system
open; the adoption of an exclusively
national money system. under which
the government would take over, either
directly or through some great, central
NJ ho Y,Iy
nations have, the supply of credit mon
ey; the retirement Of the government
from such issues, retaining only super
visory functions, or the maintenance
Of our present mixed national and in
div1dual method. He takes it for
granted that, in the present condition
of public opinion, or what the public
takes for it's opinion, it is impracti-
cable to procure general assent to the
retirement Of the greenbacks and other
treasury note issues. ~,
AS the present nlakashift has grown
out of series of compromises, SO anv
changes for the better must. he thinks.
be the result Of compromises between
those who would maintain and those
would change. "Uuder a democratic
government all legislation takes on the
form more or less Of compromise. and
under system like ours consistent
and clear-cut legislation is almost i'm
possible" The first possible. practf-
cal step will be In the separation Of the
note issue and redemption function Of
the treasury from its merely admins
trative functions. A bureau of issue
and redemption can be established
having it's own resources and funds
not subject to drain by any deficiency
Of revenues for general purposes. The
bureau should be relieved of the latest
and most mischievous Of the note is
sues, the treasury notes of 80; but
their immediate elimination he regards
as futile, and their gradual retirement
under the operation Of the law of their
issue. by which some $20.000,00O have
been retired. affords the only present
hope of help.
The tendency Of presidential cam
paign will make both parties, likely to
be influential in legislation, chary of
presenting any plan; but under the
more peaceful conditions succeeding the
election he thinks that a bill might be
passed providing safe. and reasonably
sound currency. such would embrace
government issues within the proved
limits of safety. Superimposed on this
would be bank issues under provisions
insuring fexibiiify. the expansion and
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27

contraction of volume obedient to
trade conditions, resting mainly on the
credit and general assets of the bank,
redeemable at agencies in the great
commercial centers as well as over
their own counters. A provision pro-
hibiting the paying out of the notes Of
other banks would secure a constant
redemptionary process that would op-
tenn would be educational, he thinks,
gradually removing the prejudice
against bank notes and paving the
way for the abandonment Of govern
ment issues. This he regards as being
within the range Of what can be done.
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27

about half that Of the commercial
proportion, would raise prices, in
crease wages and create industrial
prosperity. 1t shows again that the
basic impulses of human nature are
the same in all nations, and that
Gresham's law, expressing the effect
Of the movement Of those impulses,
knows no national lines.
Chill, since the days Of the Incas.
has been a great silver producer. 1t
was the source Of that wealth that
has made her the most powerful Of
the Southern republics. Improved
methods of reduction operated there,
as everywhere, to increase the guam
tity that was flooding the mints of the
world from all quarters. AS, under
the impact Of excess of supply, the
price of silver bullion sank, the dol
lars. freely minted and made a legal
tender, sank in purchasing power,
while the gold went out of circulation.
"The crime of '73" was committed
there, and the free coinage Of silver
was checked and finally stopped. This
did not suit the silver miners Of that
country any better than did the SIM
They began, as ours did, an agitation
for restoration of free coinage. Prices,
readjusted to the gold basis, had fall
en-, but Chilians were no more able
Of fn hn
compensating increase in the pur-
chasing power of their money. They
looked only on its ''debt-paying pow
er," as do some Of our own folk.
Much the same course was run as is
being run here. There was the same
denunciation of the money power and
the rapacious gold bugs, while the fall
in prices was attributed to the demone-
tization of silver and the adoption of
the gold standard. England was
roundly denounced for refusing to re-
ceive silver in payment of money
loaned, and the people were assured
that their country was rich and great
and powerful enough to "go it alone"
in disregard and defiance of the COM
mercial world.
The silverites prevailed, and until
1892 the country was on a silver basis,
the bank notes following silver in its
depreciation. Measured in terms Of
silver, prices advanced; those of COM
modities, as usual, far in advance Of
wages. With the purchasing power
Of their money thus diminished by the
unequal movement Of wages and
prices, the ability to buy fell off, and
trade Of all kinds languished under it.
Gold disappeared, becoming COM
modify. In 1892 free coinage Of silver
was stopped, the gold standard adopt
ed, and in 1893 measures were taken
to insure the convertibility of the ma
tiona1 notes. The result was that
public confidence was restored, gold
poured into the country, industry re-
vived, and the national credit rose
SO that recent loan Of ten millions
was subscribed twenty times over"
Is it worth our while to go through
such an experience to learn again the
old, old lesson?
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27
WITH INTENT TO AMUsE.

Who was that you Just bowed to, Jack?"
Tom Bikes"
WHAT that fellow? I thought he was
such hard case nobody'd speak to him."
He Is He's SO tough 1 can't cut him.
Harper's Bazaar.
81 seem to be very well liked" said the
NANCY little dog.
YES remarked the wicked little boy
"even the tin cans are attached to you."-
Exchange
First Traveier-Does the train stop here
long enough to let you get something to eat?
Second Traveler-No; just long enough to
let you pay for what you order.-New York
World.
Husbands there any of that sauce you
made for the cabinet pudding left?
Wife, believe so, dear. Why?
I'm all out Of mucilage. Truth.
Isn't Palette. the artist. drinking good
deal?"
Yes; he has been trying to get case Of
the horrors"
"Oh, no; it's all in the line of business. He
wants some new poster designs. Chicago
Post
Wife {reading letter from distant
whether her baby is a boy or girl.
Husband-But doesn't she say it is begin
ming to talk?
Wife-Yes.
Husband-Then it's a girl-washington
Evening Times.
She is under cloud, and she
Is rather sftd of that;
BY adding naaE ribbon here and there
1t will make swell, swell hat
-Betfoit Sunday News Tribune,
sS--..
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27
GREsHAM,s LAW IN CHILL.

Chill is the latest nation to have
run the cheap money race to which
our silver friends invite this country.
and her experience is at once warn
ing, and another and the latest Illus
tration Of how inexorably the law
formulated by Sir Thomas Gresham
works. From a solvent currency
through one based on fiat she went
a way of distress and disaster until
she retraced her steps and took UP
again the worlds standard of meas
uring values The story, as narrated
bv her commissioner to the Atlanta
exposition, is not without value to
those of our people who have been led
to believe that the free coinage of
silver at a nureH arbitrary ratio.
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27
FISH THAT DRANK WINE.
Some of Them Developed n Taste
for 1t and Got Hilarious.

San Francisco Post.
did you ever see drunken fish," in
quired Sonoma county wine grower.
No one would confess that he had
seen intoxicated fish, and the silence in
dicated g. predisposition to incredulity.
II suppose you are going to tell us
about a drunken catfish staggering
down through the orchard and catching
bird?" suggested one.
do you think I am liar?" demanded
the farmer Indignantly, but he was left
in ignorance as to the belief of his hear
ers. MY winery Is right on the bank
of little creek. This time Of the year
the water stands in pools and every pool
is full of trout, suckers and pike. All
Of the waste from the winery Is thrown
into the creek, and that is enough to
discolor the water, but the other day
big vat of sour claret burst and nearly
all of it ran down into the hole of water
just below the winery. In half an hour
the pool was crowded with fish floating
belly up. l thought they were dead,
and pulled big pike out, but he wig
gled and Topped around just like an old
drunk trying to get up without any
thing to hold on to. One by one they
disappeared as they sobered up, and
when the water cleared two days after
ward there wasn't a dead fish in the
pool. They had just been jagged"
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27

The G o b e does not feel called upon
to make any further reply to
the criticisms Of the Rev. Ad-
Olson Moore upon the public
library and its management. He
has, we believe, fallen into the not un-
common error of making sweeping
generalizations from insufficient prem
ises. It is no doubt true that there are
some books not in the library which
it would be desirable to have there,
funds ampler, and it may be that at
some time a lounger has used the rooms
for purposes other than those Of study.
The same is true everywhere else. The
essential fact is that the impression
given by his remarks was one that
the facts do not warrant; and this Is
something against which every man
who speaks to the public, especially If
from the pulpit, should guard. The
shifting Of ground from charge that
the library Is not open on Sunday to
one that the principal entrances of the
city hall are closed needs no comment
The whole question is dealt with spe-
ciically and satisfactorily in a letter
which we publish this morning from
a correspondent who is quite familiar
with the library and its work. It is
a rule to which few exceptions have
been found that reflections upon our
library itself have come most largely
in the past from those who talked from
hearsay, and were free to admit their
mistake when they took the trouble to
make personal examination Of the
facts.
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27
NEARLY -FOUR SCORE.
local Odd Fellows Observe a Vener.
able Anniversary.

The seventy-seventh anniversary Of the In
dependent Order OF Odd Fellows was ap-
propriately commemorated yesterday by the
local lodges. At 10 a. m. all the lodges gath
cred at the hall on Wabasha street and form
ed a procession, marching to the Peoples
church. Several hundred men were in line.
The church was decked with flowers, de-
signs emblematic of the order being conspic-
uous therein. Special music was also pro-
vided, and the sermon by Rev. s. G. Smith
dealt with the precepts and practice of the
order as simplifying and applying the tenets
of the church.
The anniversary is to be made the occa-
sion of benefit for the proposed Odd Fell
lows home fund. and this evenings per-
formance of "The Doctor" at the Grand will
be so devoted. The associated order Daugh-
ters of Rebekah, was largely represented at
the service, although not participating in the
march.
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27
ANOTHER sBILLION DOLLAR" CON-
GRESS.

When the Fifty-fourth congress met
its speaker announced retrenchment,
economy and reform to be its policy.
The profigacy Of the Fifty-first con-
gress was to be offset with a frugality
that would tie the knot in the purse
strings tighter than any Democratic
house ever tied it. The appropriation
bills Of the Fffty-fourth congress have
all been made up and sent over to the
senate. That body is conscientiously
augmenting them. and what they will
be when they come out Of conference
no one dares guess. The doubling
Of the river and harbor bill gives some
Indication. But, whatever were Speak
er Reeds good intentions at the begin
ming, he found that parties and their
policies have their momentum that
even a cars fiat cannot overcome,
and that the love Of the "old flag and
an appropriation" that made the Fif-
ty-first the banner spendthrift of the
family, was not a whit diminished by
the chastening it got in 1890 and
1892.
The appropriations made by Reeds
former congress, the Fifty-f1rst,
amounted to $611, sos, $685. It was the
appropriations that were made 'tper-
manent" or Continuing" under
which contracts were made that sue
ceeding congresses had to make ap-
propriations for, that swelled the ac-
tual appropriations Of that congress
to an amount that earned for 1t the
title Of 'the billion dollar congress" :"
Joe Cannon, chairman of the appropri-
ations committee, recently stated that
eff Tom Reed had not set down hard,
this congress would have spent from
$3.50, 100000 to 5000, 900, 900 more than any
former congress" In spite Of the
weight Of the speakers ponderous
form squatted on his congress, the
amount carried by the appropriation
bills that have received the approval
Of the house is $5O5, ,OO0,746 including
about $119, 100000 Of continuing" ap-
preparations, provision for which sub
sequent congresses will have to make
in their appropriation bills. The first
session of the record d-breaking Fifty
first congress appropriated only $751;
722,4S9
The first session Of the Fifty-fourth
surpasses it's predecessor by the COM
Portable excess Of $217,27S, ,257; or, omit
ting the Continuing" appropriations,
Of nearly $1OO, 900. With the pressure
Of presidential campaign for the nom
ination and the election taken off, with
Tom Reed no longer sitting down hard
on it, the short session may be safely
trusted to take the banner from the
Fifty-first and float it in triumph from
its own standard, proclaiming it the
unsurpassed and indispensable ex-
torter of taxes and distributor Of mil
lions. But what a grim comment is
this unequalled profigacy on the dia-
tribes Of the Republicans about the
deficit in the treasury. Hypocritically
lamenting a deficiency breeding tar
iff," unable to agree on any revenue
measure, they go gaily on scattering
the money about as if the treasury
were as cverflowing as 1t was when a
Democratic administration turned 1t
over to their tender mercies in 1889.
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27
TODAYsS WEATHER.

WASHINGTON. April 26-Forecast for
Monday:
For Minnesotar-Fair in southern; local
rains in northern portion; cooler in northern
portion; variable winds
For Wisconsin-Generally fair during the
day. warmer; light to fresh southerly winds.
For Iowa-Generally fair during the day;
warmer in eastern portion; southerly winds.
For South Dakota-Generally fair; winds
shifting to northwesterly; cooler Monday
night.
For North Dakota-Fair, followed by local
rains Monday afternoon or night; cooler in
eastern portions; northwesterly winds.
For Montana-Party cloudy weather; light
local rains; cooler in eastern portion; west
erly winds.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
United States Department of Agriculture,
Weather Bureau, Washington, April 26. GAS
p. N. Local Time, 3 p. m. 18th Meridian
Time.-Observation taken at the same mo-
ment of time at all stations.
TEMPER ATIIPE9
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27
Curious Life Insurance.

curious form OF life insurance is sprinp-
ing up In French manufacturing towns under
the name OF La Fourma (the anti. The pe-
less he becomes entitled to. The navment oS
81 month assures the payment Of 81, 900 to
the tn heirs OF man dying before the age Of
tnlrty-eignt, the payment diminishing pro-
portionately to $50 at ffty-one. The fde.
seems to be that If a man dies young his chill
dren are likely to be in want, but that when hs
Is nfty they will be able to earn their living.
St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27

A Cincinnati paper says it would
be very brave thing for Maj. Nc
K1nley to come out now and in trum-
pet tones declare against free silver.
1t would, on the contrary, be very
dishonest thing for the man who drew
the money plank of the Ohio platform
to do anything Of the kind. If McKin-
ley is going to have a change of mind
every sixty days on the money ques-
ton, he is not safe man for a presi-
dential candidate.