February 18, 1888





The   Record  and.  Guide.





203





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Vol. sli.





FEBRUARY 18, 1888.





No. 1,040





What a curious comtneutary ou our political methods is thia
incredulity which has been shown at James G, Blaine's declination
of the Kepublican nomination for tbe Presidency. Around any
man who has run for the Presidency will rest a host of illusions.
The indiscriminate praise on one side and the indiscriminate
obloquy on the other distorts his personality so that his true char¬
acter cannot be judged by the average citizen. Is it not enough
that Mr, Blaine gives his followers his personal permission to
discuss the merits of any otber candidate, and have they not
begun to do so. His Brooklyn friends have already expressed
their preference for Chauncey M. Dapew, and from this time forth
Mr. Blaine will disappear as tbe central candidate in the Repub¬
lican canvass. From present appearances there is little probability
that he will be nominated, though be will undoubtedly be
mentioned when the Convention meets.





We doubt if Chauncey M, Depaw will ever be seriously considered
as a candidate by the Republican National Convention. It is a
pity that tbis ia so, for be is really a man of mark. He bas
decided capacity for affairs, and ia as wise as he is witty and
eloquent. He would make an excellent chief executive, but be has
tbe misfortune to be a railroad president and an unexceptionally
clever man, and these two facts will discredit bim with the American
people. The average voter detests tbe business men of the country
associated with railroads, and he wil I not cast bis ballot for an able,
brilliant or eloquent statesman. Hence in the past tbere has been
no show for the Clays, Websters or other first-class statesmen and
lawyers. Our voters insist upon a rather dull, commonplace but
safe, second or third rate lawyer as chief executive. On rare occa¬
sions military men of a solid, substantial kind, like Taylor and
Grant, are chosen Presidents; but there is no chance for tbe
Blaines, Depews, Thurmans or Bayards. A good deal is being
said about Abraham Lincoln nowadays, but if tbe American
people had suspected tbat he was as wise and able a man as he
turned out to be he would never bave been chosen President.

The division of opinion which was manifested in the Legislative
Committee of the Real Estate Exchange, on the subject of personal
taxes, was to have been expected, for tbe question is a puzzling one
and not easily determined, It is unquestionably true that the bulk
of those wbo pay real estate taxes regard it as monstrously unfair
that all the local burdens should be put on their shoulders. It ia
intolerable that tbe owner of a small house should be forced to pay
his hundreds of dollars yearly in taxea, while the millionaire whose
ample means are in securities should not be asked to contribute a
cent for maintaining the police, the courts and the city improve¬
ments which protects bis person and property and adds ao much
to the comfort of bis life. Some way should be devised by whicb
all wbo are benefited by the acts of tbe community should con¬
tribute their quota to tbe taxes that are yearly levied. We hardly
think that the twenty-one gentlemen who voted on this matter in
the Real Estate Exchange had any right to commit that institution
in so important a matter. Every one of tbe five hundred members
of the Exchange should have had a chance to say yes or no in a
matter so vitally affecting their interests,





An outcry has been raised because the new proposed public
buildinga will cost $;35,O00,O3O if they are sanctioned by Congress
and approved by the President. But we have got the money in
tbe Treasury and do not know what to do with it, and to what
better use could tbe public funds be put than in supplying court¬
houses and post-offices for this rapidly growing country. The
buildings are needed, and their construction would give employ¬
ment to builders and working men, wbo will not have too much
to do this year, We have urged that a Building Bureau should sit
in Washington which should determine the relative importance
of the various appropriations for proposed public buildings. These
$, re now a matter of log-rolling; that is, private bargains are made

y members to support one another's schemes irrespective of the





merits of the various propositions. However, we suppose there is
little danger of these various appropriations becoming laws.
President Cleveland will veto thom mercilessly, and be will get the
applause of the unthinking for so doing. There is always a loud
chorus from tho lools who always applaud executives in putting a
stop to any expenditure, however necessary. It looks so virtuous
to say " no " in sucb cases, Mr. Cleveland was warmly commended
last year for vetoing the river and harbor bill, which appropriated
only $11,000,000, barely enough to keep tbe more important public
works in repair, yet he ought to have been universally censured.





There is a great deal of complaint at tbe deceptive way in which
Congress is induced to sanction the erection of needed public build¬
ings. It has been found tbat at first only a small appropriation is
asked for, and then year after year comes in a deficiency bill. Our
New York Post-offlce was to have cost only $3,000,000, but the
various deficiency bills brought it up to over $6,000,000. In St,
Louis the first appropriation was only $1,000,000, but tbe final cosfc
was nearly $6,000,000, and so for otber building improvements in
other places—they generally averago double the cost of the origi¬
nal estimates. But for this way of doing public work we are in¬
debted to fche demagogue in Congress and the newspaper critics
outside. An honest appropriation at the first would be objected to
by the Holmans and Randalls in Congress, and by all the leading
papers of the country, quite irrespective of the merits of the case.
Hence Congress and the country has to be tricked into supplying
proper public buildings, eo as to circumvent the demagogery inside
and outside the national Legislature. Tbe establishment of a
Bureau of Public Buildinga, presided over by competent architects,
would do something towards correcting this perverse way of doing,^

public business.

—'■       •--------------------------------------------------

The Interstate Railroad Commission bas done some good, but ita
usefulness is threatened by its inability to dispatch business. The
accumulations of unsettled questions are ho large that there is no
bope of tbe present commission being able to clear its dockets.
When originally organized we criticised the composition of the
board because it was composed almost exclusively ot lawyers. We
predicted it would break down, although ackaowledging that the
members of tbe commission were both able and honest, but legal
training in this country incapacitates the avetage man for trans¬
acting buiiness promptly. All our courts get into arrears with their
business. Any suit entered in the Supreme Court of tbe United
States cannot get a bearing until three years and a half have
passed. This matter has been called to the attention of Congress
session after session, but the swarm of lawyers in our Legislature
cannot be made to understand the necessity nf expedition in the
busiuMS of tbe country. When Congress met last December every
one outside of its walls understood that it was imperative it should
act promptly on tbe question of the surplus in the Treasury. But
three months have nearly passed and not a thing baa been done.
It is safe to aaythat in nine-tenths of the courts of the United States
the regular legal business is far in arrears. This is why our great
Exchanges have cut clear of the courts in transacting their busi¬
ness. They are forced to depend on their arbitration committees
to settle tbe disputes between tbeir members. Tbe grain, cotton
or stock broker can now seeure a decision within a week for from
five to twenty-five dollara, when if be applied to a courfc be would
nofcget judgment for years, while the cosfc might amount to tens
of thousands of dollars.





There is, of course, not the slightest hope that Congress will pass
any amendments to the law to make the Interstate Railroad Com¬
mission any more efficient than it is now. That cannot be expected
from a body composed exclusively of lawyers. There ought to be
some provision by which the minor and less important disputes
could be referred to tbe various State Commissions for prompt
settlement. Then general rules might be established and the inter¬
pretation of them given to some executive officer of the commis¬
sion. But the main thing to do, after all, would be for all the
lawyers save oae to resign and new commissioners appointed who
were trained in business and were thoroughly acquainted with the
management ani needs of our railroad systems.





And now ifc is proposed to issue paper fractional currency ; that
is, to give us a supply of half-dollar, quarter-dollar and dime in
paper certificates, baaed on the deposit of silver. Should this be
done our small coins would vanish, and in a few years gold and
silver would be practically unknown in retail trade. We bave
never approved of the issue of silver certificates under ten dollars.
Indeed, it would be better for the country eventually if we had
got rid of all notes under twenty dollars. This would leave an
opening, not only for silver, but for gold coin, of whicb there is
an abundance in tbe country. Thanks to our silver coinage law
we bave now nearly seven hundred million of gold against less
than two hundred million ten years ago ; we have also nearly