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Too Much Power For One Man

Too Much Power For One Man image
Parent Issue
Day
25
Month
April
Year
1873
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Ihe worldVhistory furmshes no parallêl for tÜe absolute power ofooetnai tira abjeet humiliation of a whole people .i's exhibited to-d,iy in thia country. One man sitting in Washington ia eudowed ■with larger powers than was ever auy cfther in any country since the world Ik:in. IJa bolda the liey to the inda commercial, r.gricultur.U, rrTEchanioal, banking - in short, althe intèresta of the country that hare p-ny relations with inoney or currency. On bis broabh hang; in greater or less d"gr3t', the welfare and prosperity of forty millions of people. The po .var to m vke money soarce or plentiful ; to expand or contract the crtroncy of the country; to increase the value of the miserable ra.c; that undortakes to represent a dollar in the pookets oï the citizen, or dilute it to a Mnalk-r iQsasure still, rests all in bis caprice. íápeculation rides rampant on the chancee of his fickie will. Values riso and i'all. Men aro rich to-day nnd poor to-morrow na be may dictatn. The country lies at lus fèet. Qould the y)eoplo sit doivn for one single thonghtful moment in front of the great sbaine of this situation and con(iider the amazing possibilitios of power in the bands of tuis man, with their own utter helplessness bnforo bim, thore would Biirely be a revolnticn. lo sur:h power over all the monetíiry iwteresta o? so man y ïnillior.s rns evor in any age intrusted to a: 3Í-ngla individual. It is nat in the possibilities of human wisdom to adniiniater kucIi a truit wisely. No man who ever lived f ould administer it bonestly. T'nere is not virtuo enongh in human nature to ■vvitlistand all the hmnnrerable fubtlotios oí temptatioi that must asail tbc holder of Buch euormous power. Tlie privilege of debasing the coin which' hè isometimeê boen exercised by scvorcins :ind pirliamenta ñ ■ ' v.'tb tlie (jiwalffllt jealousy, and tlio instancea in -.rbich it bas been dono are roekoneil landmarks of national folly and sel up as the wavnings of bistory. But hëre in this nineteenth centnry, in the Midst of wha't we boast as tho bigbest civilizition, wc clothe one man, or rather allow him to olothe himself, witb a power to d the currency ov appVeciate it at lus own swecfc will; and wo hardly so rauch as put up a protest against it, while trade and commerco and abo ut evcrythinsr exoept the actual drawing of our breatfa aro at his morcy. Tulk about tho tyran nies and dospotisms of the Old World, of the suppression of freo thought and free spocch, of the absolute control exeroised by despots over tho' persons and li' of their subjoets'. They are liaidly to be compnred Wlth the tremendoris power of the Finance Minister who holds b: I his thumb and tinger the busiuess iuterests of 11 whóle continent. It was urged as an ■' } ton to tho old United States Bank ïhai cold incney cheap or dcar at will, by contraction or expansión of paper luoney, and this, it ."is saiil, gave it an iramensa pulltieal power that was dangeröus in the extreme. It': power was dangeröus then, vben ttte country was Brnall, population sparee, and business limitad, vvhat ühall bo said of tle present coiiditions w.hcn ono man, insteod ot' a Corporation, controls more absolrrtely the vastly extended business interests of tho country, and conimerce and trade depend entirely upon tht' ii.it of Uis viü? Curupai' the present Bscrétary of t!ie ïieasarv and his pwer, the iofluenoe of i United States litii.k was as that of a puling infant to a full-grown Iluiculea. Is any deraonstration needed of the terrible dangers to which wo are momentarily oxposed by this wild bestowal of authority ? Witness tho effuct of this inan's action during tho Presidentiul cauvass, vuen, with no authority exccpt what lie ïtimself asauraad - and, for th:it matter, may at any timo asaume again - ha diluted the curroncy by expansión to tbe es tent of ïnillioua for political and partisan Íurposos, and by that means contiibutod .rgoly to ths purpctuatiun iu power of tiie Adininistration of which hü was part. ■ '. , 1 I i i ' lllíi com. industrial and I a -: ís oí Lhe ,. vvil :: i !:■ i v.'iish and abor and destroy public confiietioe. Tho miachief of it 1 plain I rf. Tbere is pxf!;iï( for it. Tt: Ö5 rency , I ii of 1 ne war, it i lot npcpssary to ofutimin ü or ni iprpetual. It9 i ; 1 was Btiytliinfl moro i han a tominv.-iw ex] '■' Arn i ti i sí r 1 1 . 'pted it a1 i eetfled flnanciul Roliey, nnd insí meliorat'nfï'itytb ha ■ filf to lunkc t worsc, iimt ppssibly thi ' peretnuting itseíf in powor. Theroalwiiy uit of tíi ! dilEcnlty, of course, iaiei ion. lint while this condition lutts oinofliing sbtTttld bo d-one to impart nn lomout t' (reríftinty tü the cnrrencT nnd afee it Ottt of the power of one man to nflate or contract it at 'ntíH. That powt woulil bp bad enoitgh nnd dangerous jtiougb in fíif hands oE ■ st;ttvPnian; in ha handa of Mr. Eicnnrrfson it is proa; nrmt with untolJ. mÍ3chiuf. - jY re Tvrí, me. Comparativo Dfuurer of Oeoan Travel When thefé happéBS a terrible matine catastrop' e 'i! e ti at v.hrrp the A1iit;H crow.led wiih unsuspecting, sleeping pasBeugera w:is hurlod ujion ttie pitüeSBTOCks of an iron-bound coast, and the icen, wonen and children awake tor a brief nionent of ngony in the reíxlization of the lortible dcívth which the ncxt instant ivcrtakcs them as they aro enmulft d in ;he hungry wavea, a!l the dread ngonios wuo ave lo-t and the bioed-oui !- narrations of the few surviTors, sfre relatcd at full length in hih eolors, to the cxoited jubliu, and thw imprt'stsion :iecomes indi lible that they who go down o sea in shlpí run extraordiiiary riska. When, thvreuiteir, a sea voynjje rjeeomss a necessity for ttny of that multitud?, it fo undertaken in fear and trembliug, with constant apprclu-nsioii wliile the journey .asta, and a l'eeling of inexpressible relief when iït last the íirni land is again reached, Of eoviïse, ba impression like this,once Srnvly fixed Í8 practicaily 'unalteraftlf, d yet au exainination of the statiatics of travel, eapecially sinoe the introdaction of steam, will show that it is as safe, if not safer thun almost isy othcr species of eonveyance. Takinij; Uta coiratry at large, many more accidenta occnr in the ordinary course of business, indutriaí and domcstio liíe thau do in ccaan transit. The majority of the great linos of steamers date their origin to within a year or two of ÍS") i, bnt some of the lines weie established ten yexrs lafer. Below is given a stnnmary of tlieir operations and their loases: The Williams & Guión line was Btarted in 1819, has pix smps, has carnea altogethor about. 200,000 passengers. Tv.o vossels ha?a boen sinds ui tix passcngers lost. Tho Canard lino was started in 1810, and has sinco thon carried froin GO, 000 to 73,000 passenirers yearly, without losing a lito. Two vessels have been wrecked. The Anchor line has twenty-nino wetsols eniged in the passenger trade. löéó, 437 trips huve bctn made, l.")O,77O peesamgex orriwi, md three shipa snnk, with a total of 2-30 lives lost. The National line bas been in operátion rince 18fi6; 411 trips have been mude, 271,001 p'isTOiigers cur.icd, áiíd ■ loat. Tho I;:.':!i" liiie waa esifiMisbod in ; rn 1 !!)s;ii!i'iK.,.ii;iir. only losa was úu Citj of Boston with 1 77 pa The Haniburg-American Packet Cornpany dates pir.ee 1833, and lias transported safely 181,650 passengerH. Ono vessol has been lost but no pasw ngeis. The North Gorman Lloyds catne int) axistenoe in 18,38, and has sincetben conv;-yci scrosstbe water 4 ï-, 000 passenger?, without lósina í' singla life. alt!:cugh wjo vcssel i-as wnoked on 1 lio öcntcb co;i8t. Tho Baltic Lloyd's is a new line, starled in 1871; i'-i,ll") passengera Ii ave been carried without loss of lite or ves. e!. ïhe White i'tur Line has bèeu in operatícra sí e 1 'Ti, daring whioh time seventy-thrco trips havfe been made ni 01,SpngftTS cairjöd. Tho Atiawtic acüidwit is tbe only mii: wiiich had oecunvt] and the estimated loss of Iife by it is 545 The Freueh line Ikus bpcn running since lesengíTS havo bnen carried, without loss. The grand total of nassongors carriot' foots up 2,628,800, and th loss of Iife

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus