Year: 1874

A Washington correspondent OF the
St. Louis Democrat, speaking of the
new finance bill which has just been
agreed on and passed nearly unanl-
mously by the Republicans of the
Senate, makes following good hum
ored and cheering remarks about the
"small change" that is to take the
place of the present ragged fractional
currency.


"Then, TOO, it strikes a chord In the
POPULAR heart that is always thrCo-
bing for those old and halcyon days
of actual silver dimes and quarters.
It proposes to change the fractional
euffency into silver, as soon as the
money can be coined at the mint.
Just think of the millions of young
eagles and goddesses of liberty tnat
will come glowing from the coming
machine, just to jingling among
fellows keys. Think, too. OF those
little eagles and gOodesses that nave
been roosting and sleeping in old tea,
pots, stockings, corner cupboard5 ana
dark vaults these twelve years past,
and now they will come out from the
Rip Van Wrinkle slumbeR just as
bright and beautiful as ever ThlnK
of the bigger loaf of bread for flVe
cents and the drink of whisky ten'
and in second class saloons for five.
Think of the luxury of getting blind
drunk for five cents worth OF oad
whisky, and then think of the mill
ennium.


The writer then speaks further CT
the bill in the following apprCbative
style:


Joking aside, the bill is good one,
and meets theapprOval of many Dem
ocrats who voted against the meas
ure simply because it was the eenemy's
thunder. 1t will give settled policy
to the country and help to restore
confidence. We want faith more than
finance. The money affairs of the
country have been so terribly con-
vulsed that people are afraid of their
own shadows. The money Is all in
the country, but untold millions are
locked up and imperative. The man
who could borrow million two years
ago upon his simple name. might not
be able to borrow a thousand to-day,
although the schedule of bis property
should remain the same.


MORE WORK AND MORE WAGES


This irst stroke of the Republican
policy will tell amongst the people,
and bring loud acclamatiOns of ap-
proval, But even the restoration OF
confidence is not "a radical cure for
the evils that affiict us. The coun-
try is suffering from terrible paraly-
sis, that has settled down like horrid
nightmare upon all its industries and
commercial interests. A million or
men are asking for work and its nat
ural sequence, bread. How can these
idle hands be put to work and these
hungry mouths be fed? Not by the
financiers. All the money thinkers
from Lycurgus, of Sparta. to Kelley,
of Pennsylvania, cannot solve the
problem or relieve the difficulty. If
there were plenty of work and suit
able rewards for labor, the trouble
would disappear and prosperity be re-
stored.


Where shall the work be found and
the money to pay for it? Not in the
centers of Eastern capital, but in the
undeveloped regions of the great
West. The idea is gradually work
ing it's way through the hair, pene-
trating the sutures of the skulls and
permeating the brains of politicians
that the West is really big country
and deserves some consideration.
Having become sensible of past iHjus-
fica tn this section of the TTniOn there
is strong disposition amongst the
Republicans of Congress to give the
opportunity, redress the wrong. and
mete out even-handed justice to twen-
ty millions of people.