Conservative *
secured it by the whole produce of their
soil , including the great cotton monopoly ,
a necessity for all the world ; they sup
ported it by no end of penal statutes and
patriotic resolutions ; they made it a
felony for anybody to refuse to take it
at par ; and they pledged the whole tax
able resources of ten millions of people
for its redemption. They were con
strained to support it by every motive of
interest and of patriotism that could
influence men ; and yet , with all these
aids , the Confederate currency , amount
ing to $054,4(55,9(58.50 ( ( , never was re
deemed , and never will be redeemed.
Even had the confederate arms suc
ceeded , no people would have submitted
to the taxation requisite to the payment
of so vast an emission of irredeemable
currency.
Not less than fifteen hundred distinct
notes ( including in that term the series
and their-letters ) would be needful to
make up a complete collection of Con
federate currency. This , too , exclusive
of the countless collateral issues of the
notes of separate states , cities , corpora
tions and individuals. Very shortly
after the heavy issue authorized by the
Confederate congress , August 19 , 1801 ,
of $100,000,000 in treasury notes , to run
until six months after peace , this cur
rency began to depreciate in value. In
less than six months some of the prices
current in Richmond were as follows :
Coffee , $5.10 a pound ; calicoes , $2 to
§ 2.25 a yard ; printing paper , $2 a pound ;
writing paper , $45 to $80 * a ream ; lard
and bacon , 85 to 45 cents a pound.
( From the Ilichland Enquirer , March
20 , 18(52. ( )
In April , 1802 , General Winder is
sued an order regulating the prices ot
all country produce in the markets of
Richmond. The papers of that date
complain of this order as unfairly dis
criminating against the farmers by put
ting down their prices , while no simihu
attempt was made to regulate the prices
of groceries and dry goods by martial
law. At that moment salt was held by
the Richmond merchants at $25 a
bushel ; sugar , from 00 ( o 80 cents a
pound , and molasses at $1.40 a gallon.
But the marketmen soon found out a way
to nullify General Winder's martial law ,
and fix their own prices. They retal
iated by charging their customers Gen
eral Winder's prices for their produce
and then charging another price for its
delivery , which just about doubled their
receipts in rag-money , over what they
would have been but for this ingenious
subterfuge. By the month of June
1802 , bacon had risen from 45 to 00 cents
a pound , eggs were 00 cents a dozen
fresh meat from 50 to 00 cents a pound
butter $1 a pound , and lard 00 cents a
pound.
The following lines on the Confeder
ate paper currency were written by
Major S. A. Jonas , of the Texas brigade
shortly after the surrender of Lee'
army , at Appornattox court house. They
mvo been printed on the backs of many
of the Confederate bills.
IN MBMORIAM.
Respectfully dedicated to the holders of Con
federate1 treasury notes. ]
Representing nothing on God's earth now ,
And naught in the waters below it ,
AH a pledge of the Nation that's dead and gone ,
Keep it , dear friend , and show it.
? oo poor to possess the precious ores ,
And too much of a stranger to borrow ,
We issued today our promise to pay ,
And hope to redeem on the morrow.
[ "ha " days rolled on , and weeks became years ,
But our coffers were empty still ;
Coin was so rare that the treasury ( { linked ,
If a dollar should drop in the till.
We knew it had hardly a value in gold ,
Yet as gold our soldiers received it ;
It gax.ed in our eyes as a promise to pay ,
And each patriot soldier believed it.
Ceep it , for it tells our history all o'er ,
From the birth of its dream to the last ;
Modest , and horn of the Angel Hope ,
Like the hope of success it passed.
Are we not of
THK UIKFKHKNCK. . . . . ,
the same blood
as England ? or if any difference , is it
not that we have the same blood in all
rts elements , and more ? If England is
; he one nation in the world that has
over succeeded in extending its govern
ment over all climes and distances , car
rying freedom hand in hand with order
and progress wherever she went , who
dare question our capacity for the same
glorious work ? Behold ! we have all
lier advantages , and our own beside.
No one so far as we know , at least in
America , has ever doubted our innate
capacity , for this and other new things.
But it happens that the question is not
one of capacity , but need. Not what
we can , but what we want , is surely the
rational matter. This if we look into ,
we are likely to find it 99 parts in pos
session of ourselves , to one of anything
beyond. The immense disproportion of
homo territory between the two coun
tries one an Europe in itself , the other
an island patch on the border of Europe
need hardly be mentioned ; but the
still more practical distinction is , that
England's advances have been made not
because she had a capacity or a mission ,
but an occasion. Lrvmg largely on the
sea , she needs a station here and there ,
a harbor and adjacency , on that sea.
Be the occasion selfish as it may , ant
the mode of working it often unscrup
ulous , at least it has been something
actually experienced , not an abstract
notion. Becoming minister of com
merce to the world , she needed to estab
lish that commerce on whatsoever
shores it could root in , and extend the
domain of it through all forms of pro
tectorate and conquest. Here it was
fish , there furs , elsewhere mines , pro
ductions or manufactures of whatever
nature , that attracted her inclination
in each case it was step by step , a steady
growth according to requirement
Sometimes indeed a struggle inevitably
Irawu on with another great power
vould throw some larger territory into
icr hands ; but equally it was a matter
of necessity relatively to her actual
tate of affairs. When we look at our
own situation , and inquire , first , what is
our need of new territory , and then
vhat its relative profit is likely to bo
vhen we have to create in largo meas
ure the appliance for working it , in-
tead of having this already to our
muds , we may get some useful light on
such expansion.
"Imitation is suicide , " it is said.
Only the new course which actual oc
casion leads , can flourish ; when it is
only "mo too , " it is sure to fall behind.
The more so , when it is but such a fag-
end and remnant of foreign conquest
ihat seems practicable1 for us in any
case.
This very truth is made the argument
of imperialism , in the contention , that
row we have got our situation , we must
not back out of it , but do as it requires.
Yet there is still a margin of question ,
what it does require ; and at all events ,
there is a day after today. While we
are in brain fever , we may not be able
to proceed as if in perfect health , but at
least we may provide what remedy and
prevention we can for brain fever. Wo
may "take" some islands , but will hope
so to prosper that there may be as little
of that dose as possible.
There are things , and great things , in
which we can take a front rank. There
are greatest things , in which we may
live to take the foremost place of all.
Shall we prefer the tilings in which wo
can play but a dull second ? There are
those who seem to appreciate our high
destiny , but say this is the way to it ;
the duty that lies nearest. At the fork
of the road , the wrong way is as
near as the right ; it may look larger
and more arduorrs ; that does not make
it the way for us. At the present fork ,
the chances of the broader way proving
the better one , are about as those of
farming the world iir general compared
with farming ample acres of oirr own ;
or of getting to Heaven by a similar
choice.
It is rather surprising
CUDAN
.SCHOOLS. prising to learn
that tire existing
schools in Santiago were found to be so
good that the United States officials
thought it best to keep hands oil' . The
schools were free , to the children of the
poor Cuban as well as to those of the
aristocratic Spaniard , and attendance
was furthermore compulsory. 'A visitor-
states that ho had "never in his life seerr
happier , cleaner , better-dressed collec
tions of little children. " The girls are
taught artwork and the boys natural
science ; but there is no provision for
physical training. Is the ambition for
muscular perfection for one's self and
one's children characteristic of the
Northern peoples ?