Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-09-30


think Of asking the government 10 nsss !
law to enable the rich cities Of CHICAGO.
Cincinnati. Cleyeland. Minneapolis and
with q deprecated currencv' f,,cbsns
from the small savings Of Industry iof
the benefit Of wealth! II this subject were
q fa ous e nsn an opinion
W., would be nearly Unanimous in oppos-
IL have taken the liberty to allude to a
the reason that I believe the future pros
ptrity, II not the life OF savings banks.
would be ENDANGERED by Deprecated
upon the surplus Of earnings aboy er eer.
rent expenses. A deprecated currency
always has, and always win reduce the
p !,a,,, Of the wage Garner; He may nomi-
power will be less. Three 50-cent dollars
would buy less than two honest dollars
You can see the dissemination Of surplus.
result from such depreciation. The
farmers would feel It, too, as their home
market depends largely upon the value Of
I wish. however, to say that do not
believe Congress has the right to infiict
the threatened injury. The right to Inn
pair the obligation OF contracts between
by the states to the United States. and is
not necessary to the exercise Of any that
are. 1t can only be done. by a disregard
lion that the powers not delegated TO
the United States by that instrument, nor
prohibited by II to the states. are reserved
X se Of
the general Jurisdiction over it remained
with the states, and they have continued
to exercise their sovereignty over it ever
since the adoption Of the constitution. as
they did before. They protect It and tax
it. Each state makes its own laws, pre-
sci'ibirg the mode of transfer, the rate Of
fr&tc I.a nfrr nf he vnyt1 "a
heirs. The federal government can, do
none of these things. A government that
cannot protect property should not usurp
then tn as 10 enter ,e doma q;
state authority and take the property OF
one citizen and give 1t to another. As
suredly none under the constitution. The
right to coin money and regulate its value
does not give it. 1t Is the value Of the
money coined that Is to be regulated adj
justed. made regular so that the dollar
Suppose Congress should pass an act
for the free coinage of gold, silver and
copper at 16 to /. and redeem with cop
the debts contracted under IT, 1t does not
follow that 1t could be used to discharge
debts originating. under the gold stand
ard, and thereby impair the obligation OF
court shall feel bound bv their oath to
interpret the constitution In accordance
wiki the obvious meaning OF Its language.
ana not usurp the power to change 1t by
construction, your bonds and other secu-
rites, originating when the currency was
on gold basis. cannot be discharged by
worthless or deprecated currency. The
obligation of contracts between citizens
cannot be impaired without the change of
delegated power to a government of un-
limited despotlc power oyer the property
of every citizen.
General Choate was in a happy mood
and as usual made many bright remarks
TINT il would be useless to publish and
try to do them justice. His response
to ne toast The Finest City in the
Land was in part:
We have here many elements. but
OF al ..he naturalized citizen of Au-
gusta will predominant, and they are
as truly loyal citizens, as those who
We're born and passed their lives here.
What constitutes fair and prosper
ous city? Not numbers surely, for we
have examples of that all lnbout us
(sc,meone suggested HailowelD. 1t is a
city that is rich in it's social. religious.
and business institutions. 1t lis useless
for me to point our The advantages that
Augusta has in :his line, for .'ou all
knew them too we'll. A city that Is all
the time talking about .sself. is apt 10
fall in love with itself as the man ~
ancient times, Narcissus, who Thought
of nothing bu,. his personal beauty.
l am thankful that we have none of
them here. unless 1t is the editor Of the
New Age, who excels in manly beauty.
Augusta will never fall in love with
itself because it is divided by a river.
The east side sees a reflection OF the
west side, and it gets angry. 1t is the
same with the west side about the
east, and thus they are spurred on.
had occasion to want a fire, recent
ly, and started to build one in fire
place. l was warned not to light those
sticks as they were show sticks, but
to get some other wood. The show
sticks in business are not always the
best, but the weather beaten wood like
the Augusta Savings Bank is of the
right sort.
Augusta should always be like the
man who fished for whales rather than
the one who fished for fleas; always
going in for the biggest fish.
(Here Gen. Choate made a reference
to the parallels in the Bible. to which
gentleman took issue as 1t was not
proper, but in the end, Gen. Choate
said the man with the one talent in the
parable should placed it in the keeping
of Cashier Dudley, and he would not
have met the fate that he did at the
hands of the king.)
General Choate closed with the trib-
ute to Augusta:
r. off Of ho vol NJ no
of the river and old oceans tide,
May peace, prosperity and plenty Ger be
thine misfortune ne'er betide:
Your sons and daughters strong and fair,
where'er their lot may fall,
With loyal hearts turn back to thee and
say. Augusta, fairest. loveliest Of
them all"
Hon. F. E. Timberlake, bank exam
liner of Maine, had a paper of great
value which he gave in response to the
toast, Savings Banks Of Maine" Mr..
Timberfake spoke in part as follows:
In responding to this toast it may be
proper for me to briefly and in a gem
eral way outline the history of these
institutions. They are one of the re-
suits Of the efforts made during the
present century to better the condi-
ton of the laboring people and those
in moderate circumstances in life, and
no one thing SO fully shows the pro-
LII In