CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 TO DEC. 31, 1876 Tri-Weekly, per year... Tri-Weekly, delivered by carrier, 10 cents per week. 448 L July 7:8/3,4 Yesterday a party of Chicago and Cook county, Illinois, officials, together with several architects of that city, arrived here by special train from the west. The company was on a tour of inspection prior to submitting a report as to the kind of stone to be used in the construction of the new Cook county court house, to be located in Chicago. On the arrival of the party at the Union depot, it was met by members of the different stone companies having offices in the city, and at once taken in carriages to Wade Park and other places of interest in Cleveland. (2) About six p.m. the company was given a supper at the Weddell House by the Wilson and Hughes Stone co., after which the party entrained for the west. The contract which will probably be let in accordance with the report of the party is a million dollar one and would, therefore, be a good lift for the stone companies of northern Ohio. 449 L July 14; ed: 4/1 "Mr. Thomas Scott flatly contradicts the testimony of Mr. Rockefeller, who has been down at Washington telling a Congressional committee that nearly all the leading railway men of Cleveland are dishonest and disreputable men. From the reports of his testimony, as published in the eastern papers, Mr. Rockefeller has said a good deal that will trouble him to prove, and which will be still more troublesome to him if not proven. He belongs to a party of Cleveland and Pittsburgh patriots who are fighting the Standard Oil Company." 450 L July 14; ed: 4/2 - "Since it has been the custom so much of late to complain of the business prostration, the lack of employment, and the general 'hard times' here in the United States, a few words on the thriftlessness of other countries may not prove, uninteresting, for misery loves company, and it is sometimes consoling to know that one's neighbors are no better off than we are ourselves.... The question as to whether the business interests of the United States are really in the demoralized condition that many believe them to be, depends greatly on the relative prosperity of the nations with which we are most intimately connected by commercial and financial ties. (6) "These countries are England, France, Germany and Canada. If they preserve at the present time the same degree of commercial prosperity and progress relative to us, that they did in the flush and stirring times of 1873, when they were far behind us in the race for riches, we need not be dismayed, as a nation, with the apparent dullness that bas clung to our business interests during the past three years. (2) CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 TO DEC. 31, 1876 Abstracts 451 - 452 ECONOMIC LIFE & INSTITUTIONS (Cont'd) "This is the case in each of the countries above named.... More failures are reported now-a-days from London itself than from the whole United States, and as every close reader of the telegraph knows, they are among business firms of no mean rank and reputation.... Such, also, in a more or less degree, is the case with France and Germany, which are, however, more warlike, and, consequently, less to be quoted on commercial subjects than England. Coming nearer home-to Canada--the same dullness of trade, insecurity and general prostration are again found.... "Now balance the books, and consider dispassionately the real condition of business and the laboring classes in our own country, and it is impossible to arrive at anything like a just conclusion without being of the opinion that America, after all, is the most prosperous and happy of all nations." 451 L July 17; ed: 4/2,3 "The effect of the silver bill, which has (21) "One effect of this bill will be to arrest the decline in value and the demonetization of silver.... The silver bill just passed authorizes Congress to purchase $20,000,000 of silver direct out of its surplus revenue, which will aid France in absorbing the silver set afloat by the German demonetization. The use of silver as a circulating medium would thus continue uninterrupted, and probably increase. The tendency to make gold the single standard of value would be arrested, and that metal would be thrown in immense quantities in England and Germany, where its presence in large amounts would tend to reduce its value. This may make it easier than it would have been otherwise for the United States to return to specie payments. "Although such seems to be the logical result of the use of silver, yet the bill in question does not give silver any legal character that it did not before possess.... As passed the bill simply gives the country a sound, durable and satisfactory circulating medium in place of the fractional currency so apt to be torn into tatters, and so easy to be worn out. (11) 452 - L July 19:7/1 - Yesterday forenoon, U. S. Marshal Prentice sold at public auction, the steambarge MORNING STAR. The purchaser is John Fetter, whose bid is $3,050. At the same time the marshal disposed of the schooner SENATOR in the same manner. Captain H. Rumage bought this for $3,600. CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 TO DEC. 31, 1876 Abstracts 453 - 454 ECONOMIC LIFE & INSTITUTIONS (Cont'd) 453 L July 19:7/2 In a letter to the editor, J. H. Devereux says: On June 13, at my Cleveland office, I was served with a subpoena to appear on June 16 in the chamber of the committee of commerce at Washington to give information concerning the oil traffic of the Atlantic and Western railroad. In the necessary preparation of an impending lawsuit in the court of common pleas at Akron, it was not possible for me to go to Washington. The situation was explained to the special messenger, Isaac T. Moore, and my readiness to attend the wishes of the committee at some more convenient season was frankly stated to him. The suit at Akron terminated on June 30, and on July 3 I again met Mr. Moore and learned from him that Mr. Hereford, chairman of the committee, had received my explanation and fully accepted it. I then notified Moore that I was now free to appear before the committee. There rests the matter of my failing to appear before the committee, and I have had no other or further communication from said committee or its officials. I regret that the opportunity was not afforded me to appear before the committee, for it would undoubtedly have obviated the necessity of a letter which I wrote to the committee on July 10, denying the charges of Frank Rockefeller of Cleveland that I had been receiving a portion of certain rebates said to be paid to the Standard Oil co. 454 L July 19; ed: 4/3 A very characteristic example of the methods and purposes of the investigations which have been conducted at Washington by the various committees of the House during the present session is furnished by the recent testimony of Frank Rockefeller of this city, given in the recent inquiry into the question of railroad freights and rebates. Mr. Rockefeller stated that he believed that Gen. J. H. Devereux and the leading local officials of the Lake Shore and other railways had corruptly conspired with the Standard Oil co., the terms of the conspiracy being that for certain personal compensation the railway officers should pay back to the Standard Oil co. heavy rebates of freight and thereby enable it to undersell other refiners. Here was a direct charge against men whose characters have been hitherto spotless, made upon the conjecture of an interested party and telegraphed over the country as part of the report of the doings of Congress. Immediately afterward Colonel Payne, the treasurer of the Standard Oil co. was put upon the witness stand and denied the charges unqualifiedly. "In a body like the Congress of the United States there would naturally be expected to exist such regard for justice, such consideration for the reputation of prominent men not in political life, as would have prompted the publication of Col. Payne's testimony, at least to the same extent that Mr. Rockefeller's suspicions have been circulated. Was it so published? By no means.... On the seventh page of this morning's LEADER is given the reply of Mr. Devereux, which sweeps away every vestige of suspicion in his case. To those who know him, no such vindication is necessary. To the public which knows him only as a leading railroad manager and the custodian of enormous interests, it (15) CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 TO DEC. 31, 1876 Abstracts 455 - 457 ECONOMIC LIFE & INSTITUTIONS (Cont'd) is due that the suspicion which a Congressional committee has permitted to be cast upon his integrity should be obliterated, as it is done by the card to which we refer." (11) 455 L July 20; ed: 4/3 "Notwithstanding the woeful picture of failures revealed by the recent reports of the commercial agencies during the first half of 1876, there are certain underlying symptoms which indicate that the lowest point of depression has been reached and the gathering forces of recuperation are already actively at work. These testimonials of business health rest upon the fact that during the past six months this country has marketed an unusually large amount of raw material, almost every staple product of our mines, forests and fields having been thrown into the markets in greater quantities than at any time since the tidal wave of depression overwhelmed us in 1873. "Admitted that during the same period the number of bankruptcies has been unparalleled, and that there is reason to expect that the number of failures will not seriously diminish for some time to come, there is yet cause to anticipate from this time forward steady and gradual revival in business.... "The bulk and body of the business community...can but feel the effect of the great sales of raw staples this year and be invigorated accordingly. To be sure, low prices have been the rule, but low costs counter-balance them. Transportation has been at such low rates as were never before known, while labor of all kinds is almost down to the prices of Europe in her flush days." 456 L July 20; ed: 4/3 The latest report of our foreign commerce shows a larger falling off in our import trade than has been chronicled since the panic of 1873. For the first 11 months of the fiscal year just ended, the value of merchandise imported into the United States was $426,400,000. For the same period of the preceding year it was $490,500,000; for 1873-4, $579,000,000; and for 1872-3 $594,000,000. This shows a decrease of $168,000,000 of the year just closed over the year 1872-3 immediately preceding the panic. (12) "This continual decline in exports is due to a number of causes, among which are conspicuous the scarcity of money since the panic, and the general uncertainty prevailing in all branches of business.... With the revival of business, which cannot be long delayed, it is quite probable that the United States will have a healthy excess of exports over imports." Not 457 L July 20:5/1 In a letter to the editor, E. D. Stark says: on account of the resumption act have debtors fair ground for censure of our law makers, for whether the act is promotive of resumption or not, the end was desirable enough, and at the time it seemed appropriate. The effect of the act and the promised effect of its repeal are no doubt greatly over-estimated often wilfully exaggerated for partisan purposes. (8) CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 TO DEC. 31, 1876 Abstracts 458 - 461 ECONOMIC LIFE & INSTITUTIONS (Cont'd) But the law of 1873, which seeks to take away the full money character from the silver dollar, is a practical fraud, of which the debtor class and the country at large have a right to complain. It is legislation in favor of funded capital, of which a suffering debtor people ought to complain in a way our legislators cannot fail to understand. 458 L July 24; ed: 4/1 - "Every few days there appears in the cable The (8) (2) 459 L July 26:7/3 In a letter to the editor, E. D. Stark says: restoration of the silver dollar is not "debasement of the coin," and only crude thinkers and disingenuous talkers will so impute. It is no part of the business of the government to fix the price of commodities or the purchasing power of coin. The attempt to do so yields us legislation always futile--generally mischievous. It is enough if government, having once defined just what the sensible, physical thing is, which the word dollar stands for, shall then interpret and enforce contracts accordingly. No one has a right to complain, of the fluctuations in the price of the metals any more than of othe: commodities. so those fluctuations are not induced by the arbitrary act of government. For government, by changing the standard to save the owners of dollars from the consequence of a normal decline in the price of the precious metals, is not only the most odious form of class legislation--it is cherishing accumulation at the expense of the sources of wealth--is to destroy the spring in a frantic effort to save the cistern. Verily, the fallacies of the demonetizers are only less astonishing than the unwisdom and injustice of the act of 1873. 460 L July 27; ed: 4/1 "And now, wonder of wonders, the Cincinnati ENQUIRER blows its fish-horn in favor of silver, and claims the honor of being the first to suggest the feasibility of paying the bonds in white metal. It says 'the earth is full of silver, and it is getting cheap. We are for cheap money.' The ENQUIRER seems to have just discovered that coining a silver token worth only 81 cents in gold in the money markets of the world, and calling that token a dollar, would be in reality an act of inflation." 461 L July 27:8/3 Nearly a week has elapsed since the assignment of W. H. Kelley and Company, private bankers of this city, and there is still very little information -which can be given to our inquiring public. Under the direction of C. W. Noble, Esq., assignee, the books have been looked over and a statement of the condition of affairs will undoubtedly soon be made. Meanwhile, the creditors are on the alert, and there (7) (2) |