The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-16
FINANCIAL LEGIsLAT1oN.

1 Committee haQ long lsaah Win tiiS
President at oyster Bay on Thursday
on the proposed currency legislation.
! The only thing Of importance that was
\ decided was that a currency bill should
/ be ready to be introduced at the extra
/ session of Congress. which, 1t is ex-
pected. the President will can early In
| October or not later than Nov. g.
/ This subcommittee has been con-
/ sidering the question or currency leg
/ islation all summer-that is, the men,
I beers of ii have been studying it when
/ ever the opportunity to do so offered,
/ but it is a safe assertion that the COM
mittee is in about as much doubt now
/ as to what the provisions Of the bill
| should be as it was when Congress
| adjourned. All of the members of this
| subcommittee say that they want to
hear from members of both houses of
Congress, from city and country bank
ers in all parts of the country, and
| from business men generally as 70
what legislation is needed.
The outlook for any currency 1egis-
lation at either the extra session or
the regular session is not promising.
Those who have followed the discus
sions of the currency question that have
taken place at the conventions of bank
ers, the meetings of business men and
have noticed what the politicians have
had to say about il realize that the
task of harmonizing the widely diverse
4 N..f. fe
lean one.
In the first place there is a very large
percentage OF we'll informed people,
among whom is the man who, it is ex-
pected, will be elected Speaker of the
House, who think there is no need for
any financial legislation-that there is
plenty of money in circulation. On
the other hand some of the leading
fnanciers are certain that there viii be
a money panic in the near future unless
provision is made for increasinS the
volume of the currency. particularly at
certain times of the year.
And then there is the great question
as to the advisability of authorizing
asset currency. When Congress takes
up this currency question it will find
itself so overwhelmed with petitions
and opinions from every section of the
country that it will hardly know what
course to pursue. 1t has been trying
to enact a financial bill for a number
of years. and has made practically no
progress. Now it feels that something
must be done to save the country from
financial troubles, and it discovers that
it is no better prepared to act than it
was last year or the year before. There
is no doubt. however, that a supreme
effort is going to be made to enact a
| financial bill of some sort. If a bill
| is passed before sometime next sum-
mer those best acquainted with the real
! situation will be much surprised.
RETRIBUTION FOLLOWS CRUELTY.
Human passions and human frailties
are such factors in life that no one
knows what day may bring forth
for him. Many of the crimes that send
/ men to prison are the result of sudden
| impulse; others are the outcome of a
desire to provide better for ones fam
/ lily than one can afford To pay a
debt or to conceal poverty has led
many man to do thing making him
amenable to the laws provided for the
| protection of society. So it may be
/ said that all men are in danger of the
law. Was il not Wesley, who said with
respect to a condemned felon, but
for the grace of God 1 should be in his
position?" In the French revolution,
! and even in less bloody times, the exc
cutioners of one day were the executed
of the day following; the injustices
of those who abused their power met
with certain and swift retribution.
There is no danger of retribution in
kind falling upon those who have
abused their power in the matter of
the treatment of prisoners in the Geor-
gia penitentiary, nor upon those above
them who knew of the abuses; but the
punishment that follows cruelty will
surely make itself felt. Already the
warden that fiogged the DeCris woman
has felt the power of outraged public
sentiment. He has resigned his office
Nor is the DeCris case the only one
of brutal exercise of power in the peni-
Tertiary establishment recently. A
year or two ago a young white man
of tender rearing and refined sensibili-
ties, albeit he was a convict, was
whipped by penitentiary officials be-
cause he refused to keep the books
for a convict sub-leasing concern.
Those who suffer the lash or other tor
lures In the convict camps are help
less; they cannot complain, because to
do so would mean for them more suf-
| fering and more disgrace. No human
1 ity, no kindness, no consideration, can
| be expected at the hands of those who
are coming money out of the flesh and
blood of erring, but still unfortunate,
1 men and women.
THE SEABOARD DEAL.
Beyond the fact that a number oil