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Bankers
magazine
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JULY. 1896.
BANKERS MAGAZINE RHODES’ JOURNAL
8STA8L1SHCO 1848 _ ESTABLISHED: U37X
THE
BANKERS MAGAZINE
Journal
OF
JOKING
FIFTIETH
CONTENTS
YEAR.
The Coming1 Election— Leading Issues of the Contest - Why Congress Does Not Pass Any Financial Legislation An Inequitable Decision of a Banking Law Point State Bank Notes— Persistent Efforts of the South to Issue Them McKinley as the Candidate of the Republican Party
Tide of Public Sentiment Strongly In Favor of Sound Money and Adequate Revenues.
Leaden-Footed Prosperity— Waiting for the Popular Verdict Banking Law— Full Report and Digest of Latest Decisions Practical Banking and Commercial Law Questions Credit, Credit-Man and Creditor
Practlcal Hints About Extending Credits, by an Expert Banker.
World's Production of Gold and Silver for the Year 1895 Batik Taxation— Injustices aud Inequalities , -
A Dollar Worth One Hundred Cents ----- Foreign Banking Systems— Continued -
Republican National Convention— Financial Plank
Speech of Senator Teller -Pro test of the Silver Minority.
State Bankers' Association— Reports of Conventions Summary of General Banking News— TJ. S. and Foreign New Bauks, with Changes in Officers, Failures, etc. *
Financial Review- Trade and Government Statistics Stock and Bond Quotations, with Comparisons of Prices -
Including Valuable Statistical Tables. Comparative Prices, and Quotations of all securi- ties Listed at the New York Stock Exchange.
PAGE.
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publii^
bv
COPYPHOHT, 1..., «v BRADFORD MHOOCS.
Bradford Rhodes & Co..
78 William Street. /Nev/York.
pive
pOU-ARS A yEAR.
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THE
Union National Bank
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.
PAID-UP CAPITAL, - - - $500,000.
H. F. BROWN, President.
GEO. E. MAXWELL, Vice-President.
A. F. KELLEY, 2nd Vice-President. W. E. NEILER, Cashier.
Collections carefully made and promptly accounted for on moderate terms.
We solicit accounts of Banks and Bankers, and invite correspondence or a personal interview with a view to business relations.
First National Bank of Milwaukee.
United States Depository.
Capital, . . . $1,000,000.
Surplus, $200,000.
FARMERS’ an d MILLERS’ BANK, 1853.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK. 1863.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK, Reorganized, 1883.
Transacts a General Banking and Foreign Exchange Business. Collections promptly made and remitted. Correspondence invited.
F. G. BIGELOW, President. F. J. KIPP, Cashier.
WM. BIGELOW, Vice-President. T. E. CAMP, Asst. Cashier.
F. E. KRUEGER, 2d Asst. Cashier.
DIRECTORS:
H. H. CAMP, F. G. BIGELOW. WM. BIGELOW.
C. F. PFISTER, FRED. T. GOLL, F. VOGEL, Ju.,
E. MARINER, H. C. PAYNE, B. K. MILLER.
BANKERS’ MAGAZINE.
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THE
Bankers’ Magazine.
i/
RHODES’ JOURNAL OF BANKING AND THE BANKERS’ MAGAZINE
CONSOLIDATED.
VOLUME LIII.
JULY TO DECEMBER,
18 96 ;
NEW YORK:
BRADFORD RHODES & CO.f Publishers, 78 WILLIAM STREET.
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/.S3
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INDEX
July to December, 1896.
I. Editorial Comment
American Bankers’ Association 386
Bank clerk, the (Louis Siemans) 658
Bankers as public educators (Geo. A. Madill). 644
Bank of England’s discount rate 537, 648
Bank reserves and deposits, reduction of 271
Bank taxation— injustices and inequalities
(J. C. Mabry) 48
Battle of the standards (Isaac Roberts) 290
BimetaTism— experience of civilised nations.. 280
British silver currency, the. 380
Bryan, nomination of for the presidency— the
free silver platform 113
Business men in politics 272
Cannon, James G. (Credit, Credit Man, Credi- tor) 34
Checks, use of as currency 502
Coin, an international 17
Commission on the currency 638
Co-operation among banks 392
Crane, Parris A Co. r ». Fourth Street Na- tional Bank 8
Credit. Credit Man, Creditor! James G. Cannon) 34 Credits and collections, improvement of laws
relating to 9
Currency, reform of 629
Delusions, financial and other 387
Draft paid through clearing-house— liability of bank when depository bank failed 8
Section, result of 497
Farmers and the silver movement (H. L. Nel- son) 330
Farmers, why they are for free silver 116
Financial and other delusions 387
Financial crises and the currency 16
Financial legislation 498
Financial legislation, failure of 7
Financial policies of the Presidents 125
Free silver and the farmers 116
II. Banking and Financial I
Assessment against stockholder— set-off. 521
Assignment-death of assignor— right of wife
to claim dower and homestead 33
Banking corporation— not authorised to con- tract for the operation of a mine 146
Bond, action on— embezzlement— burden of proof— incorrect entry o81
and Leading Articles.
Free silver and the panic of 1893 275
Free silver, effects of in other countries 382
Wold and silver, world’s production of. 1895... 4]
Gold contracts— Supreme Court decisions. 265
Gold, importations of and speculations in. . . 505-6- Gold, Inflow of from England 507
Hard times and their causes (Herman Jtksti).. 297 High prices and prosperity 885
Jnsti, Herman (hard times and their causes).. 297 Loans of the United 8tates 610
Mabry, J. C. (bank taxation) 43.
Madill, Geo. A. (hankers as public educators) . 644 McKinley, nomination of for the presidency. . 13-
McKinley’s letter of acceptance 260
Nelson, H. L. (farmers and the silver move- ment) 330
New Vork State Bankers' Association, resolu- tions of on the gold standard 119-
Parity of gold and silver 378.
Parties, attitude of on currency and tariff 633-
Political parlies, attitude of on the financial
Issue 1
Presidents of the United States, financial poli- cies of 125
Prosperity, necessary conditions for the re- turn of 50!
Public opinion and financial Issues 383
Roberts, Isaac (battle of the standards) 290
Russian currency ret orm 635
Silver enthusiasts, inverted logic of 122
Silver, future of as currency 640
Silver, redeemable in gold in certain contin- gencies 378
Silver under free coinage, its value 277
Standards, battle of 290
State bank notes bases! on silver bullion 11
wr and Replies to Questions.
Bond of officer— change of employment-
knowledge of bank 403.
Cashier— authority of to bind bank 32
Cashier of National bank— term of office— by- laws 674
Certificate of deposit payable to either of two
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depositors— right of surviving depositor to
claim 33
Certification of a note— liability of certifying
bank 320
Check as assignment of deposit 678
Check, indorsement of— omission of * 8r.,”
Check— lack of funds to meet— when a criminal
offense 683
Check payable in exchange 324
Check payable to John Smith, Sr.— indorse- ment 324
Check— remitting to drawee bank— delay in
presentment— payment in part 20
Check, right of bank to refuse to pay where
customer indebted to bank 18
Check sent for collection, payable in exchange 32
Check— time of presentment for payment 402
Chemical National Bahk vs . Armstrong 528
Clearing-house not a mutual bank 18
Collaterals, call loans on— rate of interest may
l»e agreed on— New York statute 676
Collections— Indorsement “ for collection ” 28
Collections, indorsement for— authority of
bank to sue 680
Collections— liability for default of correspon- dent..?. 670
Collections— liability of bank for agent 682
Collections— liability of forwarding bank in
case of failure— negligence 407
Collections— negligenoe— draft sent to drawer. 30 Collections— presentment of draft for accept- ance 683
Collections— sub-agent responsibility of 29
County funds— deposit of not a loan 311
Crane, et al. vs. Fourth Street National Bank. 18
Deposit, application of to payment of note 520
Depositor, Insolvent— right of bank to charge
note 678
Directors— liability— action by depositor 309
Discharge of mortgage, forged— liability of
bank acting as agent 535
Dividends— discretion of directors 142
Draft, discount of before acceptance— what necessary to constitute bank a bona-fide
holder for value 3»7
Draft— indorsement to flotltlous payee 136
Draft payable to John Jones, sec’y— indorse- ment 324
Draft— presentment of for collection 683
Embezzlemeut— action on bond 681
Fidelity and Casualty Co. vs. Gate City Na- tional Bank 403
Forged check— liability of drawee bank— modi- fication of general rule 534
Forged endorsement— drawee bank may re- I cover 147
Indorsement for collection— authority of bank to sue 680
Liability of stockholders— enforcement of 680
Doans to National bank— authority of officer- use. of proceeds 672
minor, stock purchased in name of— liability of stock holders 671,672
National bank— authority of officers to borrow
money 525
National bank, Cashier of— term of office— by- laws 674
National bank, insolvent— suit to recover
dividends unlawfully paid 26
National bank— liability for deposit of post- master 26
National bank— liability of stockholders—
stock held in trust 135
National bank, loans to 672
National bank, loans to— custom— authority
of officer to borrow 528
National bank— preliminary business— lease.. 133
National bank— sale of collateral— agency 140
National bank— suit against directors— Juris- diction of court 537
Negotiable securities, sale of— Implied war- ranty 144
Notary’s certificate of presentment— suffi- cient evidence of demand 319
Notice to bank— knowledge of President 667
Notice to bank -newspaper read by officers.. . 396
President— authority to assign Judgment 679
President, knowledge of— notice to bank 667
President, knowledge of —notice to purchaser
of note 676
Promissory note— accommodation indorsers... 408 Promissory note, application of deposit to
payment of— where duty arises 520
Promissory not e— bona-fide holder— giving
credit 323
Promissory note, certification of by bank-
liability 320
Promissory note dated ahead— death of maker 32 Promissory note— effect of provisions in mort- gage 400
Promissory note— interest not accrued 148
Promissory note— interest paid before matu- rity of principal 324
Promissory note made payable to order of
bank— indorsement— protest 408
Promissory note, past due— right of bank to
set off against deposit 534
Promissory note— payment and receipt of dis- count—discharge of sureties 148
Promissory note— presentment of at trust
company when- made payable at a bank 141
Promissory note— right of bank to charge in- solvent depositor— check as assignment of
deposit 678
Promissory notes— seal 23
Promissory uote— stipulation for attorney’s
fee 317
Promissory note— stipulation for exchange. . . . 314 Protest— when it may be made 534
Receiver, suit against— removal into Federal court 669
8et-off— assignment- lien of bank on bills and
notes deposited for collection 147
Set-off— note not due 316
Stockholder, assessment against— set-off. 521
Stockholders, liability of— how enforced 680
Stockholder, liability of— stock purchased in name of minor 671
National bank— agent of shareholders 393 Trust company— presentment of note at 141
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INDEX, JULY TO DECEMBER , 1896.
v
Trust funds— recovery of after Insolvency of
bank 31
Usury by National bank— action to recover penalty— who may bring— assignee for creditors 24
Usury— New York Statute— agreement for
options 676
Usury— private bankers— New York Statute.. 398 Usury— recovery of penalty from a National bank 535
III. Banking Miscellany, Reports, Etc.
American Banket s' Association:
Call of States, responses to 425
Declaration of principles 422
Executive council, report of 417
Express money orders, report of commit- tee on 423
Hendrix. J. C., remarks by 449
Lowry, Robert J., address by 448
Officers and members of the executive
council 449
Practical banking questions, discussion of 432
Protective committee, report o! 419
Pullen. E. H. (president’s annual address). 411
Secretary, annual report of 421
Social features of the twenty-second an- nual convention 541
Entertainment committees, portraits of
members of (inset) 544
Thomson. Wm. H., portrait of 540
Van Blarcom, J. C., portrait of 543
Thompson. Wm. H., address of welcome... 410
Treasurer, annual report of 420
Twenty -second annual convention 409
Bank examiners, small pay of 570
Banking and Financial News:
July, 66-72; Aug., 209-212: Sept., 340- 342; Oct.. 456-460; Nov., 573-576; Dec., 718-724.
Bank of England, suspension of specie pay-
ments by 545
Books, notices of 466
Canada, banking and commerce in (with ta- bles of banking statistics) 206, 551
Cleveland, Grover, currency views 717
Comptroller of the Currency, Annual Report:
Bank Act, amendments to 705
Bank notes, issue of by Government and
banks 710
Banks. National, State, private and 8a v.
ings, statistics 699
Credit instruments, use of in daily pay- ment* 704
Failures of banks 702
Gold, amount of, in banks 700
National bank circulation, profits on 711
National banks, earnings and dividends. . . 697 National banks, revenues received from... 712
National banks, statistics of 695
National banking system, growth of 701
Private banks and loan and trust compa- nies 6.99
Savings banks, condition of 698
State banks, condition of 698
Currency reform movement, the 714
Democratic National convention 84
Director of the Mint, abstract of annual report 692
Failures, suspensions and liquidations,
73, 213, 343, 460, 577, 725
Foreign Banking and Finance :
Agricultural credit in Europe 546
Austria, gold resumption in 452
Bank of Austria-Hungary, charter of 451
Bank of England, circulation of 827
Bank of England, discount rate 451
Bank of France, charter of 327, 452
Bank of France, new charter of 660
Bank of Germany, condition of 663
Bank of Scotland. London branch 452
Bank of Spain, situation of. 549
Coraptoir d’Escompte, liquidation of 664
Europe, demand for money in 549
General banking notes 550, 665
German banks of issue, statistics of 663
German bank, the Imperial 328
Germany, bank of, condition 663
Great Britain, banking development in 662
Great Britain, investments in 548
Italy, banking situation in 463
Japan, financial measures in 664
Mexico, banking law of 547
Russian stock companies and Savings
banks 329
Russia, stock companies in 661
Scotch banks, criticism of 54B
Spanish bank In London 462
Foreign Banking Systems:
Canada 51
Mexico 52
Gold dollar, bullion valne of 48
Gold, highest and lowest premium, 1872-74... 463
Japan, banking progress in 326
Lincoln's Toiub. visit of bankers to 555
Ludlow, Arabut, sketch of (with title illust a- tion) 324
National banks in reserve cities, condition of.
221, 583
New banks, changes, failures, etc.,
74, 213, 345, 462. 578. 727 New York Savings banks, report of condition 454 New York Trust companies, report of condi- tion 455
Open Letters from Bankers :
Currency suggestion, a (Chas. Sleeper) 339
Economy, suggestion in interest of (Robert
D. Kent) 338
Gold, why it goes abroad (Chas. E. Judd).. 338
Practical Banking Department:
Reconciling accounts between banks.. 684, 685 Daily statement, concise form for 684
Republican National convention 54
Republican National convention— protest of
silver men 57
Republican platform, financial plank of 54
Secret service, report of chief 666
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8taie Banker*’ Associations:
Illinois State Bankers' Association 558
Kansas State Bankers' Association 569 |
Kentucky State Bankers' Association 562
Minnesota Bankers' Association 61
New York State Bankers' Association:
Cannon, Janies G. (president's annual
address) 169
Dexter, Seymour, address of on the col- lection of country checks 181
"Dexter, Seymour, sketch of 153
♦Gold standard, resolutions in favor of.. 191
-Griswold, Stephen M.f sketch of 154 !
•Group meetings 59
•Group portrait of delegates (inset) 172 '
•Group seven, annual meeting of 715 I
-Group work, summary of— portraits of j
group ohairmen 155
Kennedy, John A., address of, on bank
examinations 185
Kennedy, John A., sketch of 155
Kilburn, P. D.. address of 186
Nelson, S. G., address of, on restrictive
endorsements 174
Portraits of officers 151
Resolutions in favor of gold standard. . 191 Sloan, Geo. B., address of, ou uses and
usefulness of banks 193
Third annual convention 149
Van Inwegen, Chas., sketch of 154
Ohio Bankers’ Association 564
Tennessee Rankers’ Association 62
Wisconsin Bankers’ Association 204
8tate Banks, Reports of Supervising Officers :
State of California 571
State of Vermont - 691
Teller, Henry M., speech of, on leaving the
Republican party 54
Treasurer of United States, annual report of.. 686
World of Finance 731
IY. Money, Trade and Investments.
A REVIEW OF THE FINANCIAL SITUATION.
-COMPARATIVE PRICES AND QUOTATIONS OP ACTIVE STOCKS, RAILWAY, INDUSTRIAL AND
GOVERNMENT BONDS.
July number 83
August number 236
September number 349
October number. . 496
November number 600
December number 732
July number
August number
.September number.
BANKERS' OBITUARY RECORD.
112
264
376
October number
November number. December number.
568
628
760
1TOTIOB.— The Bankers' Magazine having been consolidated with Rhodes’ Journal, of Banking the volume number of the former only is retained.
BOUND VOLUMES.— Beginning with July, 1895 (consolidation of the Bankers’ Magazine with the Journal), the volumes comprise the numbers for six months.
Price, bound in cloth with leather backs and corners •3.50 a volume. By mail or express, prepaid, 25 cents additional.
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Bankees’ Magazine.
RHODES’ JOURNAL OF BANKING and THE BANKER8 ’ MAGAZINE Consolidat'd.
Flttikth Tear. JULY, 1896. Volum* LHIm No. 1.
THE COMING ELECTION.
In a country in which democratic institutions prevail, where the sovereignty of the people is recognized, no other way of carrying on the Government, determining its personnel, and pointing out its policy, than by a division of the voting citizens into parties, has yet been found practical.
The necessity of this method was recognized in the republics of antiquity. According to the laws of Athens the citizen was compelled to join either one party or the other. Neutrality upon questions that concerned the welfare of the public was loathed. Independence except under party lines was not permitted. The man who did not act with one party or the other subjected himself to punishment.
Of course parties, being made up of fallible human beings, are not infallible ; they are actuated often by very low motives ; professing high ideals they do not live up to them. In every community there are those who from natural or acquired qualities are superior to the average man both in knowledge and in moral character. These citi- zens are apt to have higher moral and intellectual standards than their fellows, and their judgment and their conscience cause them to shrink from many of the methods employed in party organization to move the masses of the citizens in any given direction. They are averse to yielding to influences that appeal neither to their minds nor their moral nature.
In this superiority, however much to be admired and sought after, has to pay a penalty. It is the old story. In religion the virtuous and aspiring soul is necessarily leagued with and bound to a base and grovelling body. In art the winged Pegasus had to earn his daily bread and with clipped wings draw a heavy utilitarian cart, fre- quently very badly. So the longings and reachings out of the spirit
i
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THE BANKERS' MAGAZINE .
are ever thwarted and bound by the heaviness of the flesh. Such are the limitations of existence.
The superior citizen, to be effective, to have his virtues have due effect on the average mass, is compelled to act with them and to use methods they can understand. The independent or mugwump is out of place in a republic, except as he manages to make his ideas intelli- gible and admirable to the multitude.
The true attitude of the intelligent and conscientious citizen towards party has been well defined by Dr. Johnson. After remarking that it was wrong to stick to a certain set of men on all occasions, he said : “ I can see that a man may do right to stick to a party, that is to say he is a Whig, or he is a Tory, and he thinks one of those parties on the whole the best, and that to make it prevail it must be generally supported, though in particulars it may be wrong. He takes its fagot of principles, in which there are fewer rotten sticks than in the other, though some rotten sticks to be sure ; and they cannot well be separa- ted. But to bind one’s self to one man, or one set of men, who may be right to-day and wrong to-morrow, without any general preference of system, this I disapprove.”
The comments of a portion of the press at the present time seek to lead the public to believe that all partisanship is wrong, and that inde- pendence of parties is the true attitude. They describe the great parties of the United States as devoid of all principle, as combinations of individuals, who instead of being the servants of the community make a league for advancing their private interests. To be sure they hold high the notion of political honor and profess ideas of principle by which honest minds may be caught, but in reality the bond between them is no better than that by which the lowest and wickedest combi- nations are held together, “ the cohesive power of plunder,” and that they have reached the last stage of political depravity. But this is an exaggeration, the result arrived at by fixing the gaze too intently upon the rotten sticks in the party principles and actions. It is one extreme to tie one’s self to men regardless of principles, but it is another to refuse to admit of laudable purposes of party and to show undue bit- terness towards men selected to carry out these purposes. There can be and is as great exaggeration in the one direction as in the other.
But however deplorable are the defects of party management and however conspicuous the failures to promptly reach the ideals proposed or even the failure to reach them at all, it is certain that party man- agement, while there is still room for great improvement, has not retrograded in real devotion to principle during the last fifty years. The checks thrown around the abuse of power have increased, and it is much more difficult to apply corrupt methods, considering the great increase in the means of corruption, than it was a half century ago.
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EDITORIAL COMMENT.
8
The wealth of the country has augmented one hundred fold ; there are thousands more of interests and employments affected by politics than there were thirty years since. As “ Falstaff ” justly observed, “ the more flesh, the more weakness.”
If the political methods of the present time had not been greatly improved by the checks thrown around them, and the corruption of to-day bore the same relation to its opportunities and temptations as it bore in former days to the temptations then existing, it would be almost impossible for any one to be honest and thrive.
To point out one most palpable check in the growth of civil service reform by which the incumbents of power are deprived of opportunities of rewarding corrupt services, is sufficient to indicate what is meant.
There are certain criterions of judging as to the party to which the individual citizen should give in his adherence. The first is the party platform itself ; the second is the record of the party made when in power, and the third and perhaps of least importance is the man selected as the candidate.
The records of the Republican and Democratic parties during recent years have had more or less reference to the revenues of the country. The Democratic party has endeavored to reduce taxation and lighten the burdens of the people by contending for a tariff that shall be first for revenue and only incidentally if at all for the protec- tion of home industry. This it is claimed will confer benefits on the greater number of citizens. It is not alone what the party has accomplished in the direction marked out that should altogether influence the voter. The tendency of the policy and its real sound- ness should be considered.
On the other hand the Republican party claims that by adjusting the tariff so that foreign competition with home industries shall be averted, that an increased revenue will be the result, but that this will not be any additional burden on the citizens. In fact the advantages of the removal of foreign competition will outweigh the burden of increased taxation. Moreover the revenues, being in various ways returned to the people, help and advance them. The contention against this is that the people are divided into classes and that some classes are more favored than others. It may however be remarked that these class distinctions insisted upon so much are in truth rather vague. The rich and the poor, the capitalist and the working man, the creditor and the debtor, these divisions probably could not be sat- isfactorily made with the actual people. If tellers were appointed, and the whole population passed through their hands, there would be great difficulty as to classifying capitalists and working men, or cred- itors and debtors. As to rich and poor there might be less difficulty at any given date, but there are po many chances of loss and gain
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under the workings of our social economy that a new division would have to be made every day.
The recent records of the two parties and their assumed influence on the prosperity of the country are before us. From 1889 to 1893 when the Republicafa party was in power the condition of the United States Treasury gradually deteriorated. This deterioration was due to the unwise legislation as to silver which increased the demand obli- gations of the Government, and the fear of a reduction of revenue through a change in the tariff.
For the first both parties were equally to blame in that they weakly yielded to those of their members affected by the silver craze; for the second the Democratic party is responsible. If the correctness of the principle of relaxing the protective tariff be admitted, was it wise to insist upon it at so critical a point in the currency troubles of the country? When increased revenue was needed, a reduction was threatened and finally made, resulting in a necessity for the increase of the interest-bearing debt. For over thirty years a protective tariff had prevailed, and a better time might have been chosen for so radi- cal a reform. The change at the time it was made was just neither to the country nor to the cause of free trade itself.
The Republican Administration, in view of the rapidly decreasing revenues and the depletion of the Treasury reserve, was preparing to sell bonds early in 1893, and had they not been anticipating the end of their power on March 4 they probably would have done so and averted the panic of 1893.
The Democratic Administration may be justly blamed that they did not take up this course as soon as they came into office. Had they done so the run on the gold reserve which precipitated the panic might have been stopped. Their fault was a desire to prove the cor- rectness of their revenue ideas and to test them without a due regard to times and seasons.
The men selected as candidates are of less importance than is usually assumed. The platform is as a rule made up by the united wisdom of the party and in essential particulars is generally observed. But while the platform is supposed to be a guide for the nominee after his election, yet many causes combine to put him in an attitude of inefficiency toward it. The President is only one branch of the Government. He must execute the laws as they stand even if they are diametrically opposed to the party platform, unless his party has been strong enough to have a majority in the legislative branch wil- ling to change the laws. Most men even of strong character find themselves in the presidential office so hedged in by the laws and tra- ditions of the past and bound by their previously given pledges that their course on almost any point can be safely relied on. There have
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been very few if any instances in American history of a President failing to carry out the law as it stood or of his warping law to meet personal ends. He is limited in every direction, and is there- fore of less importance than is usually assumed.
It may be generally stated that the prosperity of the country can be restored by increasing the revenues and regulating the currency. The party most apt to do this from its avowed principles and its rec- ord is the one that should be elected.
The attitude of the average voter of the country is one that in this connection deserves to be carefully studied. The principle adop- ted for many years by the leaders of the people has been to secure some one prominent idea and to harp upon it until it acquires promi- nence in the public mind to the exclusion of everything else. The average voter is treated as if he was capable of but one thought at a time. Sometimes this is directed towards a man and sometimes towards a cause. Before the war it was the abolition of slavery; during the war the preservation of the Union. Since the war there has been a lack of striking causes but there have been men — Grant, Blaine, Garfield, Cleveland — who have proved attractive to the public mind. But in the lack of some one great cause, there have been a number of minor ones which have been agitated with an inten- sity out of all proportion to their national importance. There is prohi- bition, and socialism and silver. The fierce agitation in favor of each of these causes has tended to divert the attention from larger and more universal subjects. The gazing too long on one object is sure to destroy the just power of comparison with other objects. The flea held close before the eye seems as large as an elephant, a mountain or whatever you please.
This habit of intensity of thought until the power of comparison is almost wholly lost is fostered by the agitation of one question to the exclusion of another. It is the same in morals as in politics. The agitators of the temperance cause have made it so prominent in the minds of the people, that intemperance has come to be regarded as the chief of sins, although not mentioned in the ten commandments. Total abstinence is a virtue that covers and condones all other sins. A man may cheat and backbite, slander his neighbor, and be full of envy, and yet if he is a total abstainer he comes within the ranks of good and virtuous men. On the other hand the possession of all other virtues is nullified by the one fault.
In politics the dwelling on single causes, however much their importance in their proper place may be acknowledged, unfits the citizen from taking a broad view of the necessities of the country. Like David in the cave of Adullam, adherence to the one cause out- weighs a multitude of deficiencies in other respects.
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THE BANKERS* MAGAZINE .
This concentration of effort on one object has of course its suc- cesses, but they are in the end detrimental in their influence in train- ing the voter. Concentration of effort on one object accomplishes wonders, and by this accomplishment people are led to attempt the impossible and absurd. Because the slavery agitation was suc- cessful it must be possible to convert every citizen into a practical total abstainer by prohibition. If we only agitate the silver question enough, we can relieve ourselves from the burden of debt, we can make dishonesty honest, and upset the multiplication table and the rule of three. It is thus that the voter by degrees becomes unfitted to take such a survey of all the questions concerned as will enable him to make a just decision between the different parties.
The probability is that in the next election these voters of one idea will count for but little. They are not party men in any true sense. They will give up the whole fagot of principles on account of one rotten stick ; there is no compromise in them — and without compro- mise there can be no party organization. The attempt to introduce the currency question in the Prohibition convention indicates how lamentably these men fail to agree when diverted from their accus- tomed pet idea.
The spirit of disintegration of party is also encouraged by the so-called independents. Too often a man considers himself indepen- dent when he is simply bound fast to one idea, and that idea often a negative one. This particular thing ought not to be, and therefore I will not vote for the candidate of this party or that. There is really no thought as to what ought to be and how to accomplish it through such means as are at hand.
The mass of voters are sure to ascribe the misfortunes of the times to the party which happens to be in power. This is generally unjust in one sense, though not when it is considered that every party assumes power under just this contingency. Knowing in advance that they will be censured for every misfortune that comes to pass during their incumbency, they cannot complain if they get what they had reason to expect, inasmuch as they always obtain or take credit for every thing fortunate that occurs.
But the Democratic party to-day is weighted in the race by the fact that the four years it has been in power have been years of marked financial depression and manufacturing and trading lassitude. All this is laid on their shoulders, and must count against them. Cleveland, their strongest candidate, wisely shows no inclination to secure a renomination. He has been so much stronger than his party as to excite envy and disagreement. The bourbon element who learn nothing and forget nothing seem to be on top. There is therefore at present every reason to believe that the Republican party will have
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EDITORIAL COMMENT.
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the advantage in the coming election over the Democratic party pure and simple. If however the bolters at St. Louis go over to the Dem- ocrats, and the