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About The Sioux County journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1888-1899 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1896)
CRISP FORMS OF TIloL'GIir. SOLOMON AND TUPPER TWISTED TO SUIT A MODERN TRADE. The WMam of the hra and the Wit of the Miuci, Even the Work of the M itHtionarU-a, Are Urikt ia the Mill Thejr Are Poached UKiii by Authora and Advertiser. WhHhfT Kuluiiiun iu rented nil his prov erbs or giitheri-d theiu fmiu many murn wsili a ni-er muse uf permanent worth tlinii Mr. Tapper cxertmcd in his biter . in m i i i hi it and ever will t an ojm-u question. S. jli 1 1 ikj ii a cop) right ran out long before Tupper's time, ami both "" rmw iM.mlifd iikiu with impunity by ail iIuhsu'ii, from uuihiim to advertieia. Hut, taken by tbcmitelvea, proverbs well repay careful atuIy. Student of ethnology find in the proverbs of the different race the leareat proofs of tlieir real character iatiea. for they are the shrewdest and Jet moat animate expression of their daily life. Judged by the comparison of these homely saying it will lie found that all oatiutia are of one kindred, pueiiig common needs, eoliiinoti aspirations, and seeking aiunlar relief from toil and labor. On the diiHtleat shelve of our librariea may be found collection of all the prov erb of the different nation, quite a large proportion of the work having- ru ulted fruw the interest which iuinioii ariea have taken in tlieir earueat atudiea of the uurivilizi d people whom they aeek to Inatruct. That the ahrewd saying of the Hootch or the bright hit of the Irish should be carefully collected give little cause for surprise; but a collection of Abyssinian proverbs, of those of the Tamil language, of Icelandic lore, of the Haosorit, South Hea Island, Chinese, aud Hottentot Solomon does excite curiosity. The missionaries have found it a pleasant Ha well a a profitable task. It delve deep into the Idioms of the languuge, tells with unerring accuracy the mental ten dency of the people, and by introducing the foreigner into the inner thought of both borne and trade shuw him the real life of those who adopt them aa every day expressions. Jt is Impossible to rend the well-collated proverbs of the Chinese without realizing that a homo life exists In that flowery kingdom which rivals that of many more civilized countries. So Solomon, no de scendant of Abraham, could eclipse the trade proverb of the Chinese. They touch on trade with a keenness and thor oughness which prove them to be mus ter In that school. The baser life of 1 1n; Hottentot, the loose moral of the felkji, inde ,(.t HI,irii f t,t. Briton, nro ail crystallized in their national proverbs. In Ktiglaud and many other countries it was formerly very usual for a tradesman to select some proverb as his motto, and thus post hi principles plainly over his shop door. It remained. However, for an American house to appropriate the pro verbs of the world en iiiasse, and use (hem for their own advancement. New Yorker w ho ride on the elevated roads, or people who In less favored lot-slHic still jog along in the slow street cars, are familiar wito lite blue and while proverbs which proclaim ihe merits of Supolio to the World. Every omnibus in i.onilon ami al most every "tram car" in Kugluud is sim ilarly adorned. They made their first appearance on the Kroadway omnibuses, were gathered nut of over 4,ix pages of the World's collec tions, and twisted to suit the case. .Many of them are beyond easy recognition in their new dress, many are entirely orig ins!, but these are also printed between in verted commas, which lends ti glamour of antiquity to them. To day we are told that over 2H,"' of these blue cards are displayed in public conveyances tarrying over ti.iUKi.iHHi passengers daily. Condensed thought generally require padding to make it intelligible to the masses, just as the stomach of the horse must be distended with hay to make the oat digest readily; hut with proverbs it l qilte otherwise. Tlieir popularity is only reached because they have passed muster as being clear to every mind. They tell Iheir story wilh a directness anil brtAity which pleases the public, a the dictionary did the old Hootch woman -"They air braw stories," she said, "hut unco' short." Turned to tell the practical story of Sapolio, they often acquire now interest Who reads the advice, "He pa tient and you will have patient children," without a n innate respect for the advice wiiun iollows. not to fret over house denning, but do it easily with Knpolio? And who can repress n smile when the Sapoltonle artist pictures the patient father and the impatient twins defying the proverb? Hut the mother will be back sootier if she follow the advice. Uur fa miliar "The pot calls the kettle black" lakes a new interest in it Italian form. The pot any i to the pan, 'Keep off or you'll smutch me." The universal toil of the world finds expression in the Catal an phrase, "Where wilt thou go. Ox, that thou wilt not plough '" Almost all na tion poiaei n proverb which declare that "If you forbid a fool a thing, that he will do," and with confidence In the good will of the public the advertiser of HajKilio put It In this form; "Forbid a fool a thing and that he will do." So we say for variety; "Don't use Kapolio hut then you're not a fool." "A touch of nature which make all the world akin" spring out of the quaint thought that "A needle; though naked ilself, clothe other." Who can hear It once aud ever ee a needle without recall ing it? Who fall to recngniie the pic ture it iifget of the aid given to the poor by the poor, and of the help which 1 everywhere (allied from the humble! of assistant? Slang never caa be confounded with proverbial phraaea. It seems universal, but It Is merely a local form used to ex press a transient but popular idea. Years ago, when general nab t hotel keeping resulted in many failures, ths slang ran: "He's a Terr food man, but he can't keep a hotel." All sock phrases are local and temporary. The d not survive Indeed, rarely possess merit enough to reach a second year wltboat evident decline In popularity. Ws bavs noticed that none f the advertisements of Sapolio maie tee of slang, and probably for this rsason. Naturally many of the best proverbs used In this connection relate to Iioui hold cleanliness, ami all the original uoe are framed to that end. "Ilirt in tin house loiu. Is the highway to beggary." deserve recognition, despite its origin Household sayings, in the sense of four walled buildings, full of furniture, are quite lacking in many Eastern tongue. We tnlu-ve that no reference to clean housekeeping tan be found in the Koran or even in the Bible, except that of the worn.;; who swept the house to find iter lost coin. Shakspeare rather slights Ihe atibji-ot. lint whether because it was not deemed important in that intellectual i'tit dirty age ot lieeause he soared lo grateler thing's, we will not discuss, but the Fug land of to-day well says of home. "Tlit cleanei 'tis the cosier 'tis," aud our Auu-ri can advertiser improves the opportunity to add that humble homes made bright with .SajKilio are better than tawdry pal ace. Ala, for the thoughtlessness of the miiri who forgot to ask whether his bride used Sapolio. The Scotch proverb records his case; "Ye hae tied a knot wT your tongue ye wimio loost) wi' your teeth." Coyotes and ("at lie A novel scheme for wiving his cattle from tin? droves of coyotes that Infest the region has been lilt upon by u rancher of Clen Hock, Wash. He bus placed bolls on the neckH of a great number of cattle In his herds, and the result luiH lieeii to scare the coyote away. In the two months since be belled bis herds he Iiiih not lost a sin gle iiuliniil, while pruvlously his lo-s averaged at leant one Bteor u tiny. Coyotes nre becoming; more of n per-t every season In many part of Wash ington mid Oregon, despite nil the efforts of the cuttlomen mid farmers to exterminate: them. Thousands of dol lars are spent every year 1,1 waging war on the beams, but with little re sult, l'olxim avuiled for a time, but now tin? coyotes refuse to touch the polaone.l carcasNes of steers kI.vmii about for their consumption. Tin; only way of killing them is by Kimotlnj? thorn, and Ibis Is u feeble and wholly Inadequate men ih. Occasionally the ri'slileiils of a ilislrict combine and have a grain! round tip bunt, driving the coyotes toward the center of a circle ami slaughtering them there, ami this is the only mi-atiH of Appreciably thin ning them out occasionally. In some re gums tin; pni-K.H oi gray wolves are as numerous ami froubiesomi as the coy otes. Jin; coyotes are particularly adept chicken thieves, ami, Indeed, are a general pent around the farm yards. A (reot I'itiaiicier. An obi negro down In (ieorgia was lately telling something of bis condi tion as a property holder, and seemed quite pleased that he wan so well off. He said; -Ise bought film olo marsler oil hitch er groun', en lxt got all flat under cultivation Yep' 'bout -Kl acres, en I bought tie groun' fori?"."'). Hat's all paid off. Yep' 'bout .flio. Hen I bought it mule fur .f."D, eu I gin mail notes fur ilat. Hut I swapped de mule off for n steer, en tic ole fool nicer be goes an' gtl.s snick In er bog an fo" I lines 'im flat steer he je's up en tiled tlah. sab. Still en nil, Ie got de notes on tic mule er ninnln' yet, en tley's iiins'ly paid up Yep" 'bout $!.", en am glttln' 'long mon sl'otis well, I thinks, fur tlese yar bard linn s. Olo liinrse, ho say, cf I keep on lak ills I Kwtiii to be er rich man fo' do m'lleiilmum eome-w lintHineVer dat Is, sail en be nay, furder, bp did, dat am slcli er motiKt'ous good liamwer dat I oler be Hiiwtah mix up, some way, w bl tie naslilnnl debt. Hut den Ihp got er nuff to ten tor dmit foolln' 'long whl other folkses depts." Thought. Thought of any kind, tu be valuable, must be conservative Unit Is, It must hold with a firm grasp all the truth that the past has handed down. It must accept humbly ami reverently that which the wisdom of the ages has stored up, find so thoroughly Incorpor ate It that It limy form Its very bone and miisclu. Only thus, can It acquire stability or pormniieiioe. At Ihe same time H must be vxpauslvp, It must have the power of growth, it must be hos pllable Vi new trutlm and fresh thoughts, willing to pursue Inquiries., to attack tlitlicultles, to solve knotty problems. Thus only can It hand dowu to posterity a ethlng worthy of Its acceptance, autl pay to the future the debt It oivci to the past. Ilia Memory's t'se, Philadelphia Times tells a iia- The tin t lo atory of poor, patient little Xcd, who hail Ih-pii kept after acliool again itini ngnln lo learn a simple mania Vi lilt h all the rest of the class had mas tered. At last he broke dowu and sobbed, "I can't do It, Miss tiray; 1 Just can't do It. l'atber says it's because 1 have such a poor " "A poor what, Ned?" "You know what It Is," a glimmer of light flickering In his face; "the thing you forget with," No Itoubt About Her Meanlna. "Cheer up, old man, A woman's 'No often nieana 'Yes,' you know." "Rut the didn't say 'No.' When 1 asked ber If aba would marry me shs Mid, '1 will, I don't think.' I didn't van get treated with respeot'WaV dlanafolla Journal, ' NOTES ON EDUCATION. MATTERS Pit OF INTEREST TO AND TEACHER. PU- Beneflta of a byateai of Individual In etruction - bond Teaching tccurc Good Th akin;-Advice to Thoau Who Arc Food of tteadiuif. Itibtructiou In Algebra. On the firm day of the term the li class of the high school was informed that no lesson would be aobigned iu algebra. Kuch pupil was requested to study the siioject in bis own individual interest, begin at the place dicta tetl by bis best Judgment, ami lie prepared, when culled upou, tu pass examination on any part over which he bad gone. During the recitation period the mem bers of the class were culled separate ly to the teacher's desk, their written work examined, their ability testetl, ami the page recorded to which each was found proficient. If one lacked knowledge In what may be termed the mechanical part, be was directed to the principle involved In the ques tion ami asked to review ami apply them. If h,. ,n(j uot comprehend tba meaning of some statement It waa sim plified. Slany have been able to master the subject thus far with little assist ance from the teacher. With such It was necessary simply to test their knowledge ami direct their study; wlfh others additional Unite wus required to give the neeMed explanation. At the close of the first month the pupils wera all studying different parts of the subject- fractions, simple equations, Invo lution, evolution, radicals and quad ratics. What are the bencnis of this system? First, It compels the pupil to study the text-lsiok more thoroughly and refer lo It for assistance, rather than to tbu teacher or other pupils. In the ordi nary recitation many things fire ex plained which the pupil will discover If encouraged to tlo sn. Second. This brings each pupil under the teacher's special attention, reveals his peculiar tliflicultlPH, ami permits him to study In harmony with bis own development. Some may think that pupils classed together for several years and Instructed in a similar man ner would meet the saint! dillleuliies ill pursuing a new subject. Kxperience contradicts this. Kven the grades do uot equalize children's ability. There are loo many homo, autl outside intlu- eiicew. Kuch must bo taught as an In dividual. Personal effort Is an neces sary for successful Instruction as for other business. Third. Class instruction Is saltl to en gender cntliiisj.-iNiu. It is t ho Judgment of those who see many kinds of classes that enthusiasm emanates from the teacher rather than from class spirit. Tho truly enthusiastic teacher does not need the element of competition among pupils to (irons)) mi Interest and create a detdre for well-prepared lessons. A single pupil can be awakened and urg ed to bis utmost by a lonelier really In terested. Hy this method the bright pupil's Interest. Is not diminished by being compelled to listen to some sim ple explanation over and over for the benefit of a few. Ho Is busy mastering new principles ami bis enthusiasm lias no opportunity to wane. Fourth. Do the pupils receive ade quate drill? If they have mastered the subject there is no necessity for fur ther drill so essential In the lower grades. Kat b must drill himself. lie is compelled to tlo this of fail. Does this method allow opportunity for thorough explanation? Can the teach er have the knowledge at bis com mand? This depends upon the teacher and his previous training. He must; be familiar with the entire subject. The effort to accomplish this will render him a bettor Instructor. Ills mind Is fresh from constant reference to the various (II visions of the subject, find lit is better prepared to furnish clear and definite explanations than If he bail ren dered only a small portion. No ambi tious teacher will long llnd the extra preparation a burden. This Is not a new n.ul untried plan. Fifteen years ago Ir. Harris used It In St. I.ouls. Supt. Hogers Introduced It Into the grammar grades of the Mar shaltown, la., schools last year and sitvs his teachers would not return to the former method. In the )'uctlo schools this plan is followed In all the grades. Pupils nro t hissllletl for con venience, but in it obliged to trend In the same grade. It seems calculated to produce good results n in! Is certainly feasible for advanced pupils. Hy It we shall not expect every pupil to become scholar, tint cadi may exert nil his powers un trim led by other m-mbors of the class. This will produce. In ac cordaiice with mil nre some nit hundred fold, some sixty and Home thlrly.-- Iowa Schools. t'orrettlnit 8Hln; Papere. The examination of spelling papers Is a alow and tedious process and most teachers allow the pupils to exchange papers and correct each other's exer cises. A belter way. where the sense of honor la strong enough, would be to let the pupils correct their own pa pers. In most cases, however, this plan Is not advisable as It lay a heavy temptation on a boy or girl who stands well In the class but has neglected to study a particular lesson; and we should always carefully avoid giving the children a chance, fo cheat or de ceive, A thoughtless person might ny I that the teacher could look over the pa- peri arterwards to see ir they were correctly marked. This, however, would be a very bad plan, aa it would abow the children that you suspected tbem and they would be likely to reason that It waa not wrong to cheat If they could do It without detection. In almost every class tbere are a few bad apellers; bad spellers not from the constitution of their minds, hut lie- coua they are careless and do uot study their lesson. This Is a dUtlm Uoii lu poor ticholars which should sl waya btt borne lu mind, and the hard working, but dull, pupils ebould not lie punished for their failures, but bright, though lazy or thoughtless pupils must be u.uiltj to tee the error of their wujs. JiotT'e tor KeaderH. Don't read In railway trains or iu ve hicles In motion, l'oii't read lying down or in a con- SliulUetl position. Hoii't iiiiil by firelight, moonlight or IWillglil. llt.li't read by a flickering gaslight 01 candlelight. Don't read books printed on thin paper. Don't read books which have no space between the lines. Don't read for more than fifty min utes without stopping whether the eyes are tired or not. Don't hulil the reading close to the eyes. Don't study at night, nut In the morn lug when you are fresh. Don't sehrct your own glasses at the outset. It would almost seem as though some of these rules were too obvious to re quire mention, but practical experience shows that myopes abuse their eyes Just In the ways stated. Heading by firelight or by moonlight are favorite sins. Heading lying down tends to In crease the strain on the accommoda tion, ami while traveling tires the cil iary muscle because of the too frequent adjustment of fix-us. in short, any thing which tends to Increase the quan tity of bhsitl In the organ favors the Increase of the defect, leading In ex treme cases to detachment of the retina and blindness. Tlio Canada Lancet. Bloomer Glrla Weep. The Professor's Hecltatlon Made Them Cry, anil They Had No Hand kerchiefs. Twenty-live girls tu the Northwestern University, members of the junior class In oratory, appeared In tin? class room In bloomers. With out exception they belonged to wealthy families. Many of thorn are preparing for the stage. Prof. Ouinmock was In the class room when the girls appeared. Their suits were black or dark blue ami were trimmed In yellow. The bloomers were gathered just below the knee and black stockings completed tho outfit. After he had recovered from the shock Prof. Cumnock took the stage anil proceeded as thovigh bloomer girls In the class room were un every-diiy affair. After calling the roll lie called upon Miss Dewey to take the platform. Miss Dewey was clad In a bloomer cos tume that came dangerously near be ing plain knickerbockers. She was embarrassed and finally stammered out an excuse that hIid was not prepared to recite. He called upon several other blooiiioriles. but all pleaded the same excuse. The professor said lie would occupy the hour himself. lie deliver ed a pathetic recitation, which brought tears to the eyes of vno girls, but un fortunately lliev had no handkerchiefs and were forced to allow the tears to trickle down their faces. The reason given for the bloomer display was that It was the gymnast hour and the girls did not expect to bo called for elocu tion. I'd ucutlonn) Notea. Normal t'lilversily at Normal, 111., will have a new $-10.01X1 building for physical training and society purposes. There lire -10.000 women attending the colleges of the United States. Thirty years ago not a college In the country was open to women. The ladles of Lexington. Ky., have elected four members of the City Hoard of Education. In Newport ami In Cov ington the women were defeated. Eight thousand, three hundred and forty-three are entitled to lecture priv ileges at the I'liivernlty of Herlin. The largest attendance of eny similar Insti tution In Uio world. There are 5.IHH) students In the nor mal schools (intl their attached model schools In Pennsylvania. Those schools hare had a total of 120,(HK students, and noaHy 10.(hi0 profcsHiou.il teach ers have graduated. Twenty-four Ynssnr graduates write, for magazines, only six for newspapers, five nre professional Journalists, four are professional editors, while only j four nre novelists. Twenty-live havej taken the degree of M. I),, ami are most- i ly practicing physicians. The Hoard of Education of Stockton, I Cal., has re-elected .las. A. Harr as' superintendent of selusds ami Increased , bis salary by $.'00. The figure Itself Is I mil startling. $2,000 being, If anything, below the average for a city of HO.O(K) poople. The slgnlllcant fact lies In the! voluntary action of the board. ; Miss Etlllh Oa key graduated from the Yetcrlnnr.v College of Toronto, Cnn-I atla, being the llrst woman to win aj diploma. She has hung out her shingle at Sandoval. Ohio, In the center of a rich grazing country. Diseases of milch cows have been Miss Onkey's special study. She has done well and employs ' three male assistants, who relieve her of much of the manual labor. It Is a strange commentary that in our ungraded schools throughout the country children attending school from four to six months per year for a period of from six tq eight years are better educated and prepared to enter upon the ordinary duties of life than the ma jority of children after taking the full course of eight years of ten months per year. President Felkel, flrand Rnp!dn. Mich., School Board. One of the worst festures of our American life la Its Invasion of prt Tacy. There Is frequent complaint that Individuals with ua have bo security, and that the pencil of the reporter and the camera of the photographer may re cord with Impunity tbe doings of Indi viduals without possibility of redress for those who suffer. Indiana polls Xewa. WHAT Uii) IT' CHEAP DOLLAR IDEA CHECKED. Rlrat of Property AttacloMi b)r SIHrr tie FsUmcIm aod Fale Statement ol silver Mine Dwd, rit Expueetl. Various causes have been given for the rapid decline in the free fcilver sen timent, which le.-s than a year ago teemed destined to sweep everything be fore it. The masterly expoi-itiun of the f untlameiilal principles of the currency quest iou by Secretary of the Treasury Carlisle in a series of speeches has doubt less done much to check the fre coinage idea. In the southern states an advance of over 60 per oent iu the price of cotton destroyed the sole argument of cheap cotton on which the silverites relied for their support by farmers atid planters. Throughout the whole country the educational work of sound currency clubs aud similar organizations, aided by the sound money pre-s, has exposed the fallacies and fah-e statements through which the agents of the silver mine owners had secured a following for the cheap dollar scheme. These different agencies have all con tributed to the rout of the 16 to 1 sil erites, but a more potent influence than auy or all of them was the recog nition by the American people of the right of property and the hope of every citisen to be some day a property own er. In tbe progress of the currency dis enssion it soon became evident that the free coinage agitators were really at tacking the right to hold property, and that thair arguments against the gold Standard and the "creditor class" were directed against the natural right of lenders to receive back from their debt or as much property m was loaned. The Popnlist papers and the (speeches pni pamphlets of tbe more rabid silver ites were filled with denunciations of capital, rich men and bankers so that the iiwue between gold and silver was generally dropped for the wider ques tion of the poorer classes against the wealthy. Fortunately for the cause of sound money, the great majority of the people of this country own property or hope at some time in the near future to be prop erty owners. When they were asked to support a financial policy which would enable all the debtors of the country to repudiate one-half of their obligations, thus practically taking by law half of the property of all creditors, they promptly answered "No. " Those who had a little money loaned out, to a bank or to individuals; all who hold pre miums in a life or Are insurance compa ny or were in any other way creditors, Baw that they could ouly be injured by the adoption of GO cent dollars. On the other hand, those whoso busi ness was carried on by borrowed money knew that although they might be tem porarily benefited by financial repudia tion, yet when they again wished to borrow no one would leud, while all who look forward, as every American should, to being themselves owners of property were convinced that their best interests would be served by maintain ing a current system which recognizes the rights of every man to all his pos sessions. They argued that if the pres ent silverite and Populist demand for the confiscation of half of the property of creditors should be granted, it would not be long before there would be an other socialist agitation for the confisca tion of all property, aud they therefore refused to favor a scheme which threat ened to destroy all their hopes of a pros perous future. It is for this reason above all others that schemes of repu diation and attacks on property owners can never secure a permanent rootiug in this country. Would Benefit the Wealthy Only. j St une of our states and very many cities and comities and nearly all rail road and manufacturing corporations who have outstanding bonds, together with many individuals, have borrowed money, agreeing to pay principal aud interest in gold. All of them who sur- j vived the panic which would ensue (from a drop to the silver standard) would have to buy gold at a premium to pay their debts. , 1 Question,, Why did these states, cities, corporations and persons agree to pay in gold? Answer. Because by so doing they got money at a lower rate of interest, i ud in some oases could obtain the loan in no other way. t Question. Would the free coinage of silver help those in debt? j Answer. It is certain that the great majority of persons who owed debts Would be ruined because of an immedi- lite demand of their creditors for the money due. A national bankrupt law Would speedily be passed. If any debtor could hold on until values were read justed, be would pay off his debts in lilver. Question. What classes of persona would be injured least aud what classes injured most? Answer. The persons of independent fortsne owing no debts would be injured least. The persons owing debts and per sons who work for wages and fixed sal aries would be injured most. R. Weis linger in "What Is Money?" Ilorkalir bear Oa the tree-lop; When the wind blows The eradle wtll reek ; Wbea the boegk break The cradle wttl tall, Dewa will eea baby, lead) sad en. Bat II Woa't Break. "MONEY AND BANKING." Aa EEcelieat Treat! aa th S1-m as Money br Horace Wail. One of tie most complete works of its kind ever published iu this country is "ilnney and Banking," by Horace White. It is Villi historical and philo sophical, aud because of logical arrange ment of subjects and topic, incidental definitions and explanations of words and terms used, and wide scope em bracing discussions of nearly every kind of money cud banking system tried or proposed it is as well adapted fur the use of college students aud general read ers interested iu economic subjects as fur professors and exjjerts on financial questions. A quotation from Mr. White's preface will give an idea of this latest and very timely work on money: "On the 25th of February, 1S62, the government of the United States made its paper evidences of debt legal tender between individuals. The cation was thus sent upou the wrong road, aud has been toiling iu a wilderness ever since. In addition to the injustice which it wrought, the legal tender act filled the public mind with misconceptions and delusions on the subject of money. 8o it came to pass that although we adopted irredeemable paper with tbe greatest re luctance we were willing to flounder in it 14 years after the supposed necessity for it had passed away. Then, partly by design, partly by chance, we resumed specie payments, but the people had to large extent lost sight of the funda mental principles of money. The mia souceptions and delusions remained, the most dangerous and widely prevalent 'jeing the Dotiou that mere quantity is desirable thing and that the govern neutcan produce quantity and ought to. "It is the aim of this work to recall attention to first principles. For this purpose it has been deemed best to be gin at the beginning of civilized life on this continent aud to treat the subject historically. The science of money is much in need of something to enliven it. If anything can make it attractive, it must be the story of the struggles of our ancestors with the same problems that vex us. The reader will find an abundance of these in the following pages. Indeed a complete and correct theory of money might be constructed from the events and experienced that have taken place on the American con tinent, even if we had no other sources of knowledge. This may be said of the science of banking also. All the wisdom and all the folly of the ages, as to those two related subjects, have been exploit ed on our shores within the space of less than 300 years." Mr. White believes that it was a great mistake for the government to engage in the banking business and that the normal and proper business of the treas ury is the collecting and disbursing of public revenue. He sees but little pros pect of banking and other reforms or even for clear thiuking on currency questions until we retire and cancel the legal tender notes and restrict the treasury to the duties for which it was originally and solely designed. HOW RATIOS WERE FIXED IN 1792. Proportion of Values Between Gold and Hllver I a Mercantile I'robleiu. When our mint was established in 1792 and was about to be opened to the free coinage of both metals, the main question was, What shall Ihe ratio be? All agreed that if must, be the commer cial ratio. Hamilton, in his celebrated report on the establishment of the mint, said, "There can hardly be a better rule in any country for the legal than the market proportion. " Thomas Jefferson said: "Just principles will lead us to disregard legal proportions altogether; to inquire into market prices of gold in the several countries with which we shall be connected in commerce, and to take advantage of them. The proportion between the values of gold aud silver is a mercantile problem altogether." And so they made the mint ratio 15 to 1, which at that time was the commercial ratio. Besides, certain powerful commer cial nations, among them England and France, were at that time coining both metals free at practically the same ratio. How different the situation now, when the commercial ratio is 82 to 1, and the mints of all the commercial nations aru closed against the free, coinage of silver. Certainly there is no precedent of any country, or of any combination of coun tries, by mere acts of legislation dou bling the value of the world's entire stock of silver bullion and coin. Yet to raise the ratio from 82 to 1 to 16 to 1 would be to double the value of the world's eutire silver stock, for the price of silver is fixed in the markets of tbe world and is practically the same in all countries. Firman Smith in New Or leans Picayune. Coiry's "i.ood Road" Scheme. General Jacob S. Coxey of the late army of weary walkers was the badly defeated Populist candidate for gov ernor of Ohio. His platform was "Greenbacks and Good Roads," and he would have been content witb a mftdest $000,000,000 of fiat currency for a starter, the money to be expended in building good roads throughout tbe country. Has Statesman Coxey reflected on the certain result of better roads? Will not improved facilities for getting to mar ket mean cheaper transportation? Will that not mean cheaper farm products? And can it be fossible that any true Populist favon, a scheme which will make things cheaper? It must be a ajUtake. What the late general really wants to do is to tear np all the roads now existing. This will make things scene and dear. Everything will go np. Kven the chickena will roost high when the army of the ooa-' moawealth is on tbe march. Tba Idea that Coxey wants thinga cheap must be goldbng lander, for tbe burden of hid plea for free sliver aad greenbacka ia tbe complsiat that prloea re now lot L-i A HTf rStatiHl .. .--' Vf.k. , .