Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, November 12, 1898, Page 7

. —— EXPLOSION IN eee old « THE CAPITOL exten STATES SUPREME COURT ROOM WRECKED. Priceless Documents in the Record Reom Waderneath the Court Room Almost Totally Destroyed—Explo- sion Shook the Immense Structure to Its Foundations—Fire Followed the Explosion and Much of the Damage Was Caused by Smoke and Water—Valuable Law Library Seriously Damaged—The Loss Will Pe Very Heavy. Noy. 8. — An explosion o'clock last evening wrecked the supreme court room and he rooms immediately adjoining it on floor of the capitol. The ze is enormous. The entire cen- tern part of the great marble the main floor to the subter- basement, practically in a of ruins. The force of the ex- ploston was so heavy that the coping s on the outer walls, just point where the explosion occurred ve bulged out ne ly two inches; ndows in all that part of the build- ing were blown out and locked doors ed from their hinges quite ed and fifty feet from the scene Fire followed the explosion so simul- The explosion shook the im- ucture to its foundations and ds several squares from the capitol. It occurred in a small room ightly enclosed by heavy stone walls | in the subterrane basement imme- ! diately below the main entrance to the pitol buildin: In this room was fed from the gas as is used in that , but at the meter which Very little f the buildin ad not been turned on at the ‘The meter itself was wrecked. flames resulting from the ex- The plosion darted up the shaft of the ele- vator, which had been completely de- st of | d by the force of the explosion, | | Five hundred cars went from this j assigned for the deed. | td communicated with the record room of the supreme court, the- office of the marshal of the court and the upreme eourt library. Before the ‘mes could be subdued the priceless ' dot nents in the record room had pod! almost totally destroyed and seri ous! > had been done in the mar- sha'S Office and some minor rooms in th. mmediate vicinity. The library of preme court, located immediate- h the supreme court room, ily damaged by fire, smoke and wit? pre ally destroying the great ‘lection of law reference books. The library contains about 20,000 volumes i was used not only by the justices the supreme court, but by members f « yers practicing be- fore the supreme court. Justice Har- lar last night that the library ‘ was very valuable. Many of the it contained would, he thought, Diticult to Replace. The most serious damage, in the n of the justices of the supreme t, is to the records stored im the )-basement. These include all of the cords of the supreme court from The room cont rec- »s and opinions rend fathers of the judicia tedly the volumes in this base- u ‘e either totally destroyed by fi r so damaged by water and fire as to be utterly worthless. Justice { Harlan d that while the loss was } irreparable, it was fortunate that the later reports of the court, which were { kept in the cflice of the clerk, on the } main floor, were not injured. As doe- uments fer reference at this time Jus- tice Harlan thought they, were of more ue than the Cocuments destroyed. 1 Vertunately the cl s office was not { the least damaged by fire and the ex- . plosion did no damage in it except to i blow out one window. James Mc- Kenr clerk of the supreme court, ex- pre’ i the hope that some, at least, of i the documents, priceless from the view point of the historian, ceuld) be saved. While many theo are offered as to the cause of the explosion, it seems beyond doubt to have been due to es- HAD PLANNED TO MURDER. A Negro Culprit in Anantago County, Atn,, Is Lynehed. : ie Noy. 8..— News ofa neal, etree ‘ ~~ hegemony lynchir Anantago cour has been received here. Mrs. Streidlock, wife of a merchant and justice of the peace at Jone’s Switch, while preparing to retire discovered a negro under her bed. Upon her screaming for aid the nD sprang for the door and made his escape, leaving behind a strip of iron with which he intended to do his mur- derous work. A negro, living near by, was suspected. He was tried and com- mitted to jail. The constable started for Prattville with him, and when a mile from Jone’s Switch was met by a crowd who took the negro and swung ; him to a tree. R)bbed for Years. Toledo, Nov. 8. — William Beck, a Lake Shore employe, has been arrested for systematically robbing express car His house was stored full of silverware, clothing, silks and satins. He confessed that he had been steal- ing for years. Goods to the value of $5,000 were recovered. ¢ Another G. A. R. Lexington, Ky., Nov. 8.— Saturday night there was a society inaugurated ' in this city which aims to be for the soldiers who enlisted for the Spanish war what the G. A. R. has been to the Union men. The plan of organization was.conceived by Capt. I. H. Daveney. ‘or a Handsome Synagegue. icux City, lowa, Nov. 8.--A contract thas been closed here for the erection of 2 Jewish synagogue, to be one of the finest structures of the kind in the West. | of here, some time SIGN UNDER PROTEST. Possible Outcome of the Peace Nego- intions, London, Noy. 8.—The Madrid corre- spondent of the Daily Mail says: “Spain will sign the treaty of peace under protest.” Madrid, Nov. 8—In political circles dt is assured that peace will be de- clared the coming week. An impor- taut politician here says in reference to the question of the Philippines that there exists an official note from Spain to the United States in which the former demands recognition of her sovereignty over the islands. At heart Premier Sagasta is glad to get rid of the expense, trouble and drain of his life which the Philippines have continuously been to Spain, and in his mind the future government of the country will have been rendered in- finitely more easy when her rebellious colonies have been disposed of. Papers Called Of. London, Noy. 8. — The Berlin corre- spondent of the Standard says: “The semi-official papers have received a hint to stop their attacks upon the Americans. I have good reason to be- lieve, however, that Germany will doft her reserye so soon as the powers seek a share of the spoil in the Philippines. Germans Are Sore. London, Noy. 8. — The Berlin corre- spondent of the Times, after giving ex- tracts from a long and violent article in the Kolnische Zeitung, declaring that the fate of the Philippines cannot be a matter of indifference to Ger- many, expresses the opinion that such utterances will only stiften the atti- tude of the United State A BRUTAL MURDER. Aged Man and Wife Killed for Their Money. Two Rivers, Wis., No . John Bahls, aged s' -five and ix years respectively, were tally murdered in the village of Mishicott, about ten miles northwest last night. Mr. Bahls was killed in his barn and his wife was slain in their cottage. The faces of-the victims were hacked to pieces with an ax. Robbery is sup- posed to have been the motive. Ernest Messmann, a laborer who had worked about the village and whe had been al- lowed at times to sleep in the barn, has been arrested on suspicion of hay- ing committed the crime. Good Stock Business. Pierre, S. D., Nov. 8. — The cattle shipping season is practically over for this part of the country this year and about the average number have gone out from this city, while the country for sixty miles east of here has greatly exceeded shipments of past years. —Mr. and point alone, and probably as many more from the small stations for sixty miles east of here. Blunt, Highmore and Miller have all been heavy ship- ping points this season, while many have gone from the smaller stations. Dying of Diphtheria. Lisbon, D., Noy. 8.—One of the most distressing cases of diphtheria has just been unearthed in the north- vn part of the county, a whole family, consisting of father, mother, five children and the hired man being down with the disea and practically dying for want of car A three-year- old child ha osed. ‘The season sissippi has Navigation C La Crosse, Wis., Nov. of navigation on the M closed here, and all boats quarters here will go into winter quar- ters. The Bart EB. Linehan, Sam Atlee and Inverness have gone into quarters in Black r The Mountain Belle will also winter here. Killed the Coachman. St. Paul, Nov. 8—A switch engine 1nd a box car ran into the carriage of ‘Thecdore Hamm last night at the Uni- y avenue crossing, near Minneap- ling the coachman, Fred Gra- ham, and injuring Mr. Hamm and his nephew, William Hamm. Strange Suicide. New Hampton, Iowa, Noy. 8.—John Clary, a well-to-do and much respected citizen of this county, who lives near Boyd, four miles south of this city, eut his throat with a razor and died half an hour later. No cause can be Mine Shipments Begun. Biwabik, Minn., Nov. 8. — The Elba mine has commenced shipments and will continue the balance of the sea- son. The company will make repairs and erect a number of buildings this winter. It expects to be a heavy shipper next season. * Stole a Horse. Elroy, Wis., Nov. 8.—P. H. King, can- vai : for a portrait house, is wanted at Necedah for horse stealing and jumping a board bill. No trace of him has yet been found. Killed in a Runaway. Pierre, S. D., Nov. 8—The remains of Elba Patterson, a ranchman who was killed in a runaway out on the range, were brought here for inter- ment. Paying off the Twelfth. New Ulm, Minn., Nov. 8.—Paymas- ter Cumming is here and the Twelfth is being paid off and given their dis- charges. American Marines at Peking. Peking, Nov. 8.—The force directed to protect the United States legation has arrived. Lumber Mill Destroyed. Ashland, Wis., Nov. 8.—The Benoit Lumber company’s mill at Benoit, about twenty-five miles from here on ! the Omaha road, was ' destroyed by | fire. Loss, $10,000. The fire caught from sparks from the planing mill. Staples Goes to Prison. Washburn, Wis., Nov. 8.—The jury in the Staples case returned a verdict of guilty and Judge Fish sentenced him to eighteen months in the peniten- tiary. He is the present member of the legislature. GOLD IN OLD ROME. AN OBJECT LESSON THIRD CENTURY. FROM Conditions There Were Similar to Those Now Existing Here—Gold Men Would Not Surrender and the Empire Crambled to Dust. That the United States can and should by legislation immediately re- store silver to a parity with gold at the ratio of 16 to 1 is made plain by a well-authenticated object lesson in Ro- man history that occurred 1,600 years ago, in which the financial facts and circumstances involved presented the same issue that is presented by the similar financial facts and circum- stances that are to be dealt with in this country, and by which it is shown that silver was then and there remon- etized with perfect success by the greatest of constructiontsts, Diocletian. Upon assuming imperial power, A. D. 284, this peasant-born military leader found the empire paralyzed and disin- tegrating under the benumbing and crushing effects of the single gold standard. He set things booming by simply restoring silver to the coinage at the old ratio of 12 to 1, with the same legal tender power as gold. Both Mommsen and Lenormant say that Au- gustus established the double standard of gold and silver, and that in the course of time, after many modifica- tions, the single gold standard had been adopted. Our quotations about this change and about the restoration are from the Encyclopedia Britannica, Article “Numismatics,” by Reginald L, Poole. It appears that “under Elag- abalus the taxes were paid in gold alone.’ That “this was ruinous” will not surprise any one who will consider American experience with greenbacks. The two issues of them that were re- ceivable for government dues always kept even with gold. But those that were not good enough for Uncle Sam went down until gold was at a prem- ium of 185 per cent in 1864. The em- perors between Elagabalus and Diocle- tian were all unfriendly to silver, so that finally it was no longer used in the coinage. We have not space to re- peat many interesting facts incident to “the depreciation of silver, which has ceased to have any real value.” During Diocletian’s reign and “before A. D. 293, the coinage of silver recom- mences with the denarius of the stand- ard of Nero.” ‘The denarius was the unit of reckoning.” No more was heard of depreciated or worthless sil- ver, Thus by Diocletian silver was rehabilitated to its old place with gol4, there to remain yoked together until 1873. Yet what he did was but a prac- tical application of that most profound of currency principles which long pre- viously had been thus announced by Aristotle. “Money (nomisma) by itself is but a mere device. It has value only by law (nomos), and not by na- ture, so that a change of convention between those who use it is sufficient to deprive it of its value and of its power to purchase our requirements.” By virtue of voluntary convention, money (nomisma) has become the me- dium of exchange. We call it “‘nomis- ma” because its efficiency is due not to nature but to law (nomos), and be- cause it is in our power to regulate it. “The function of money” (nomis- ma), said he, “is to measure value.” In all this the wisest of Greeks is in harmony with the wisest of Ameri- cans, Dr. Franklin, when he said that “gold and silver are not intrinsically of equal value with iron. Their value rests chiefly on the estimation they happen to be in among the generality of nations.” Diocletian made many other great innovations and reforms in the constitution of the empire which were of such an enduring character that they gave form and direction to the affairs of state until the fall of Constantinople in 1204. De Quincy said he was “doubtless that man of iron whom the time demanded.” How- ever, after a reign of. twenty-one years, he voluntarily retired to his farm in Dalmatia. To one who would have him return to power he wrote, “Were you but to come to Saiona, and see the venetables I grow in my gar- den with my own hands, you would no longer talk to me of empire.” Diocletian at Salona cultivating his garden reminds us of the farming of some of our statesmen in retirement. Jackson at the Hermitage, Jefferson at Monticello, and Washington at Mount Vernon. Parton tells us of Jackson’s sunset days that “he lived the life of a planter, carefully directing the op- | erations of his farm.” took the keenest delight in a flourish- ing cotton field, and loved a fine horse as much as he did when he brought That “he still Truston home from Virginia thirty years before.” The same author says of Jefferson at this period of life that he “loved gardening and farming, the fields, the orchards, and his asparagus beds.” Lossing remarks of Washing- ton’s closing years that “he rode upon his farms entirely unattended, open- { ing the gates, pulling down the ‘bars,’ and inspecting with careful eye every agricultural operation.” The late Mr. Custis has left on record a description of one of these occasions, in the latter years of his life, which he gave to a | gentleman who was out in search of | Washington: “You will meet, sir,” said young Custis to the inquirer, “an old gentleman riding alone, in plain drab clothes, a broad-rimmed white hat, a hickory switch in his hand, and carrying an umbrella with a long staff, which is attached to his saddle bow; that person, sir, is Gen. Washington.” FRANK K. RYAN. PLENTY MONEY CREATES, CIVILIZATION, On Page 8 of “An Honest Dollar,” by E. Benjamin Andrews, president of the Brown University, I find the state- ment made that the national debt on Sept. 1, 1865, amounted to about two and three-quarters billions of dollars, and that at that time it would have taken 18,000,000 bales of cotton (the human toil represented in 18,000,000 , bales of cotton) to have paid the whole | debt, and that after this debt had been | reduced to a billion and a quarter—in other words, after there had been a | payment of 55 per cent of the entire debt and all the interest due—it would have required 30,000,000 bales of cot- ton (the human toil represented in 30,- 000,000 bales of cotton) to have paid the balance, or 45 per cent of the orig- | inal debt. If Messrs. Horr and Laugh- lin, both monometallists, are correct, if “human toil” is the measure of val- ue, how can any honest man insist that there is any semblance of justice in compelling the payment of twice as much of “human toil” in the shape of cotton on a bond now as it would have taken to pay it when it was issued. In an address made by President An- drews before the Manufacturers’ Club of Philadelphia, which was published on the motion of Senator Cockrell, as , a document by this body, this state- ment is made: “Between 1870 and 1884 the “ae debt decreased not far from thyee- | i quarters of a billion of dollars, say seven hundred and fifty millions, Yet if we take wheat, corn, beef, oats, coal, cotton, and iron together as a stand- | ard—and they did not make a bad standard—the debt did not decrease, ut increased not less than 50 per cent. Mr. Horr’s standard, then, of human toil “shows distinctly that the burdens of the people have been enormously increased by the silent and unseen op- eration of unjust laws which do not deserve longer to disgrace the statute , books of this great republic.” The era of a lessening volume of money from the coming of Christ to Columbus was one of growing ignorance, tyranny, degradation; it was a period of retro- gression, notwithstanding the power of the Christian religion which had just been revealed to man. When an in- creasing money supply created com- merce, aroused mankind, stimulated ambition, created civilization, which in time widened into a system of edu- cation and enlightenment, it showed itself to be the most powerful aid to the great cause of -Christianity and more good, more advancement, was ac- complished in the four centuries suc- ceeding the discovery of the gold and silver mines in America by the Span- iards than was accomplished in all of the fifteen centuries preceding it. The constantly decreasing value of money proved a great blessing to mankind, perhaps more than compensating for the injuries which had been -entailed by the opposite condition of a con- stantly decreasing volume of money during the first fifteen centuries of the Christian era.” JAMES K. JONES. Silver Night Schools. The organization of free-silver night schools is progressing rapidly. The prize offer of the Farm, Field and Fire- . side for the correct solution of the problems 5 and 6 has been thrown open to the general public. Leaflets containing the problems will be sent on application (enclosing stamps) to any address. ‘ ah se an, 7 HOW ABOUT THE DOLLAR WHEAT ORGANS STILL SILENT. If the Republican Party Gave Us Dollar Wheat What Wretched Party Is it That Now Gives Us Fifty - Cent Wheat? In this fall’s election the Wall street organs were persistently silent upon the subject of wheat prices; yet fifty- cent wheat was a political problem | this year, and low prices, which are sure to continue as long as we are afflicted with the gold standard, will undoubtedly arouse the voters before the next presidential election. The following, on “silver and wheat,” is from the Nevada State Journal: “Last year wheat brought a dollar a bushel in Chicago. The gold men said the advance in price was due to the legislation of Mr. Reed’s congress, and the silver men attributed the advance in price to the failure of the grain crop in the great wheat producing countries of Europe and Asia. Now wheat for future delivery is selling in Chi- cago at 66 cents per bushel, though Mr. Reed still rules congress. Hereto- | fore war caused an advance in the price of cereals; now with 216,000 men changed from producers to consumers there is a material decline in the price of wheat, though the laws enacted by Mr. Reed’s congress last year remain ! unchanged. Because of the scarcity of breadstuff in Europe last year the gold men ridiculed the idea that the price of silver had any connection with the price of wheat or cotton. Now, in the time of war, wheat goes down to meet silver, until an ounce of the white met- al and a bushel command very nearly the same price, as they did for years before the: failure of the grain crop in India and the Argentine confedera- tion. The remonetization of silver would benefit the farmer as much as the miner, as the price of a bushel of wheat, since India and South America became exporters of that grain, and silver was demonetized, always ad- vanced or declined with silver, except instances when war or crop failures caused a scarcity of the grain.” A farmer of Grinnell, Iowa, com- ments on the foregoing as follows: “That’s right, and it is probable the wheat raisers of the United States by this time see that the Republican ad- ministration and the tariff had nothing to do with the high price of wheat last year, but that it was due to the great failure of the wheat crops in nearly all other wheat producing countries, in- cluding especially India, South Amer- ‘ica and Russia, and due, also, to the great Leiter wheat corner in Chicago. With increased but less than average crops of wheat this year in foreign countries, wheat is flat, and getting flatter. Good wheat, raised in Grinnell township and sold in Grinnell, has lately brought 50 to 52 cents per bush- el. “Other crops, corn, oats and pota- toes, though this year below average in yield, are so low that the renter don’t know how he is going to pay his rent and have much left to live upon. Wall street don’t want silver remonetized because it wants to buy the farmer’s crop at low prices; wants dear money H and cheap property. ’Tis time the farm- ers were working for cheaper money and higher priced property. It now takes too much produce to get a dol- lar.” IN SOUTH AMERICA, Gold Standard Will Compel a General Bankraptcy. The bimetallists of England are still fighting and fighting hard for siver. They are powerless against the Roths- childs and other great international bankers, but through such papers as The | the Manchester Guardian they contin- ue to force facts on public attention. The following from a recent issue of that paper is of the highest impor- tance: To the Editor of the Manchester Guar- dian: Sir—while all sympathy is due to the unfortunate holders of Chilian gold bonds it is advisable to accept the brave lesson that is taught by Chili’s suspension of gold specie payments, and to draw a moral from the misfor- tunes of others. The lesson that Chili teaches is based on three economic mistakes that have followed each other in quick suc- cession. Her first mistake was to close her mints against the free coinage of silver—one of her most valuable pro- ductions, Hér second mistake was her attempt to adopt a gold standard and currency, and, that having failed, her third mistake was to adopt a paper and inflated currency, causing gold to go toa premium. Argentine seems to have taken alarm at Chili’s failure, as the premium on gold has since ad- vanced considerably, while Mexico looks on with indifference from the standpoint of her silver currency, Mex- ico has plenty of silver money and is proportionately prosperous and pro- gressive. It is impossible that this state of things can pass unnoticed by | students of currency questions. Events demonstrate that there is not sufficient gold for the requirements of the world; the scramble for it is be- coming day by day more intensified; all that is dug out of the earth on the one hand is on the other bought for continental treasuries, where it is lodged and held more securely than when it was in the original matrix. The Bank of England reserve is grad- ually growing less and less, and the rise in disccunts is the only available ble than the fascinations of theory and under the influence of the hungef’ for gold it is probable that the misfor-| tunes of Chili may fall to the lot of, others. The lesson taught by the cape riences of Mexico and Chili is that sil- ver is at last asserting its rights as @! currency metal, and the longer thig right is denied the more widely will currency difficulties and the premium; on gold spread, with the aerianle consequence of monetary misfortunest while the sooner mints are opened to the free and unlimited coinage of sil-| ver, the sooner will certain bankrupt! nationalties be able to square their! gold indebtedness. What Mexico can do any other South American nation: can do also. It is for the holders of Chilian gold bonds to bring their in- fluence to bear on those who control; the finances of that unfortunate coun! try. Yours, etc., EDWARD LANGLEY. London, Aug. 8, 1898. What the Country Blossomed With. A New York labor paper, the People, thus comments upon the prosperity claims made in a recent speech there by Attorney General Grigg: “With McKinley’s election, said he, the country has blossomed like the rose. No doubt there has been a ‘blos- soming,’ but it is undeniable that there has been a ‘blighting’ also. Bast, West, North and South; in mines, rail- road yards, shops and_ factories— everywhere wages have tumbled, and shutdowns, together with improved machinery, have thrown upon the pavement thousands of the working- men. But these, evidently, are not the ‘country’ in Republican estimation; in the Republican mind, the ‘country’ consists only of that small percentage of our population that toils not, neither does it spin, and yet Solomon in all his glory is not comparable with — the CAPITALIST CLASS, These have been enormously enriched by the spoils of the middle class and of the working class through that process of capitalist system—as natural as cholera is to starvation and filth; and it has been aided, wherever it wanted aid, by the zealous ald of Republican legislation and interpretation of law.” Supply of Money and Interest Rate. The contention that a low rate of; interest is indicative of an oversupply of money was thus disposed of by Sec- retary McCulloch, in his report for Dec. 4, 1865: “It is a well established fact, that has not escaped the atten- tion of all intelligent observers, that the demand for money increases with its supply, and that this demand is frequently most pressing when the vol- ume of currency is the largest. Money being an unprofitable article to hold, very little is voluntarily withheld from active use, and in proportion to its increase prices advance, increasing the demand for money; on the other hand a reduction of it reduces prices, and as prices are reduced the demand for money falls off.” This is also a strong affirmation of the quantitive theory of money, by an authority that our gold standard friends regard as infallible —Farm, Stock and Home. The People Want Postal savings banks— Free coinage of gold and silver——_, Greenbacks, as good as gold or sil- ver and redeemable in neither— Municipal ownership of light, water and street railway plants— Public ownership of all monopolies— A single tax upon the value of land— The right to vote YES or NO upon every law which proposes to govern them— To run their own railroad, telephone and telegraph lines— To declare “unconstitutional” the Standard Oil company and all of its kin— In short, they, the people, want to run the United States government, and very shortly they will.—Nonconfor- mist, Omaha, Neb. Nit. When the wheat is in the granary And the bins are full of rye, And the farmer taxed on everything *Cept his mansion in the sky; When the city fellers squabble For the farmer’s views and votes To elect some man to office Who does nothing but shave notes; Oh! it is then that the farmer Is a-feelin’ mighty blue, With his ten-cent corn to greet him, And the market shaky, too, ‘And the Wall street robbers of the east " A-looking fat and well, When the corn is in the corn-crib And the price as low as h—. —Chariton Herald. Government by Injunction. “Government by injunction” in which peaceable processions are forbid- den to march, and “government by massacre” whereby a sheriff shoots down unarmed marching miners, are all so many surgical operations, lift- ing the scales from the eyes of the poor and rich alike and piling up proof that politicians and money makers between them own what we have been fond of calling “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”—Frances E, Willard. No Slave of Party. Perhaps I do not know what I was made for; but one thing I certainly never was made for; and that is, to put principles cn and off at the dictation cf a party, as a lackey changes his liv- ery at his master’s command.—-Horace-- Mann.