BROADBRIM'S NEW YORK LETTER.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 11201, 23 February 1891, Page 3

BROADBRIM'S NEW YORK LETTER.

- - ■ r-* [Special to Chbonicle.] - Just after the panic two weeks 'age ' Jay Gould in conversation with son* brokers, at the Windsor Hotel, did no seem to think '.that the financial dehigi that overwhelmed Wall street was mucl of a shower, after all. Perhaps it wai iv-' ' not' to Mr, Gould, for common rumom credits him .with having from -ten ; to fifteen' millions in good solid gold lookec up in banks and .trust companies where he. cfculd lay his hands on it at a moment's Acs •so it ,is not fat. all singular that the littllß financier thought that the weathei ■was ''uncommonly ' fine, and that prospects.were exceedingly, good.. But.'daj after day comes the news of financial ' aisiUter, and' we are now beginning to realise how far-reaching was the ruin of •■ those 1 evil November Ides, nor has. the end yet cbine. In the present condition of affair sit is impossible to foretell when the clouds will break. Last week came a'shipment, of five millions in gold, and it' was hailed with delight, as the sinking wretch at sea grasps at <v floating -.spar. Who got it ? Where did it go ? In a few days it had vanished as completely; bs if * it had' been dropped in the ocean. There ia no lack of gold or silver in New York to-day; tha vaults of our banks and trust companies' are' piled high with it, the collaterals are abundant with which 1 gold and silver are secured, but the keys are turned hard in the locks, and the rates of interest 'have steadily risen from week- to week; till at last it has reached a point where borrowing, means absolute ruin.. No wonder, then, that the men who have ' gold locked tip think that the skies are .. brightening; for gold— always powerful— . speaks now with a terrible significance that it never did before. Within a fenweeks by its aid Mr Gould has completed Jus connections all over the west and "across the Continent. Mr Rockfeller ' holds a majority of the Northern Pacific andatß feeders. / C. P.lHuntirigton domi- ' - nates the lines to the south, and .the roads leading through Texas and California; bo that the internal commerce of tfiis. Great .Republic 'is 1 "virtually con- • trolled by three men. - Never in the history of the world was.'such a tremendous power entrusted' in the hands of such a triumvirate. The power of life and death held by the Czar of 'Russia is not more absolute than the power held by these three men over the people of. the United. ; States. ; It amounts to ' a lien on every ' industry ifa the Union, and a mortgageon every farm and factory in the hind. They control atwill all the avenues over which come. the food supplies for millions of I . people,and they absoliitelycbntrol an army larger than that which put down the Re : bellion.i It seems to be the eulminatieri of the /Trust system which for' the past few jears has ; been developing in our •midst,' and which' is leading us, the Almighty himself only knows where. There is hardly 'an/ article entering into - , human use or human consumption to-day, bnt is(Cpntrolled bys a 'trust/ /either ontside'or inside the pale of the law, Pork, "«Jeef, flour, .eggs, butter, bacon, tea, coffee, sugar/ woollen goods, cotton, shingles, brj^ksj^wjieafc, . .corn, potatoes/ milk/ or . whatever enters into human life or human comfort has been seized upon by some private king, aaSall the people are compelled to pay. tribute for. the poor and simple privilege' of living. 'The sea was supposed to;be the world's preserve which men could £0 more fence in than they could fence in God's free sunlight or God's free air ., But here, in New York the free bounty of God's free gift to man is cut off, and' not a pound of fish . caii come in from the sea save by the per- ' mission of -the trust that reigns supreme at Washington and Fulton markets. The ' consequence is that fish has gone up from four and five to ten, twelve, and as high as twenty-five cents per pound, and one of the cheapest and' most healthful sources of food supply has-been cursed by the imposition of a trust. In New - York and; Brooklyn., -associations are . formed by grocers who meet every day and fix the price on all, staple articles. ' Thebntchers'assemble each week and fix '. the price of your ''rib roast, your porter house and sirloin steaks, your legs of "■■jlanift andgyottfniutton" chops ; your milk- ■' - man f§lls. into line and' he tells the farn er that he will'give him three cents a quart for his milk, and he tells the con- '' stuner that he must pay eight or ten cents . a quart for it. ■ No wonder then that we • are in a state of incipient revolution, and •no wonder that the poor man is in a state of chronic;rebellion. ' Yet the hod carrier ' or the.cai'penter, the tailor or the black- - smith seem as ready to go into trust as anybody. If the baker or the brewer re- . fuses to pay tribute to the boycotter, the „ boycotter maims him or kills him or : sturves. him. to. death. The millenium is . yet some distance off, and if the supply of angels .is dependent ■ on tte present •■ generation, I am afraid there won't be enough left to raise a respectable hallelujah—when I get ready to go. Speaking of angels, I see that Dr. ' Abbott has resolved to keep, the forger and thief, Albert H; Smith, as a member . in full standing on the rolls of Plymouth Church- during his incarceration of eighteen years in States Prison. It may be. that I cannot properly appreciate Chris- ' tian forgiveness or 'Christian charity; perhaps lam not good enough, and I am not quite sure that I ever shall be; but there are certain, things; that make my blood'bbil, bad as it is, and one of them is the keeping, of that despicable thief , arid forger with, the members in good Jk. standing onthe rolls of Plymouth Church. What would bet hought of a business man ■■■ who 'should endorse the note of a . well- . known thief and forger, and send him to the bank to raise, money ? . Mr Smith sat in his Bpiendid[ home ipr eight years, and every week committed some act of despic- - abja ajid heartless villany, which." helped tdflrag his trusting friends down to ruin. While he was stealing and forging, he at- - tended ' Plymouth Church, occupied a ' prominent seat, and every prayer meeting was loudest in the lead,' and a star performer in prayer. He never showed the first sign of repentance till he, was found outj State prison is full °^ just such repentant sinners as Albert H. .Smith. Even Dr/ Talm'agein his Friday night meeting speaking of Parnell seemed to - ' take the side of the ill-starred amorous Irish -leader, and wanted tp . know why Parnell Had not acknowledged his fault, ' . andtben it would have been all right. No easier way 1 of f settling accounts was ever 'devised- than this. When a thief or an : adulterer gets found out after 'long years of misdoing, let them say publicly ' thattheyaresbrry their sin was discovered, and hey presto, fly, they are wasted as ■white aWobl.' • This week the Rev, jMr Millen whose scandalons record nearly tore his'con'gfegatio'n in' pieces two years ago, turned up in the city, of Brooklyn', from whicb place he had been driven in disgrace. '.When the call for repentant sinners came' he went up to the altar and he:was received with open arms. ' He has tried various kinds of business -since he . left off preaching ; but has 'failed miserably in 'all. Will he be allowed to preach again ?= I hope not for the sake of common decency and the pure and spotless gospel of Christ. Dqn*t understand me to say that sinners are not to beforgiven, fop that would leave me in rather a bad fix.-I'hope' and trust they are, but I . don't go a nickel on that class of reprobates who are not sorry till they are found out, or for fine gentlemen like Parnell, who are not sorry after they are found out. The action of Plymouth Church in carrying a convicted felon on itarollßofChristianfellowshiphas lowered the. high standard of Christian character which finds its highest exemplification in the person of the lowly Nazarene. lam not n'nmin'dJEul of the fact that he said to the woman who was taken in adultery, "go and sin' no more." He dismissed hertb'Bilerice and repentance, and she no more appears in Bible history. Millen fought his cphgregationfor months, when the^respectable memberß, disgraced by his conduct^ sought to drive him from the pulpit he Tiad shamed. Albert H. Smith t sat alongside of the partners he had robbed and ruined, and sang hymns and delivered religious homilies for eight long years. Let the Lethe of forgetfulnesa and silence flow over their sins and shortcomings, but let them stand outside the porch' of the Temple, the character of which they have stained asd the honour of which they have disgraced. The Irish envoys who landed on our shores a few dayß ago so full of hope for #ie future of their unfortunate country, took their departure' with, heavy hearts, and the morft sorrowful prospects that erer disheartened a good cause, .with the black prophecy of ruin and disaster. Wm 1 O'Brien's life' has been' one of stormy tria

and suffering. Every sacrifice cheerful; borne for the sake of the people ] ie Berve't and the country he loved, and now to bi called a traitor by the man who b iasely be trayed the sanctity and violated the rnos sacred law of hospitality of his , friend'i home, is . worse than the bittt irnesg .o: death. It may be that Willian i O'Briei and the fellow envoys who sai Jed witl him last week, may fail for th c present in their effort to secure for thejj r country self-government; but the cause for whicl they are now fighting will suryit eMr Par nell and his reckless followers , and Mi O'Brien and Justin McCarthy may live to see the dawn of a brighter day. It those sorrowful missionaries w bo sailed away last week, 'should in God I's providence visit us again, they may ; always be sure of a brothers greeting — witl ha" Cead MilleFailthe.". . ; Quite an excitement was c saused in Brooklyn last week by the la .ying of a builder s lien on Doctor ! I'almage's hew ' Tabernacle. A short f Sime ago the many' troubles of the 1 .'abernacle Trustees was thought to be o ver when Russell Sage in the kindness ai id charity of his Christian heart loand thi a trustees one hundred and twenty-five! thousand dollars at five per cent., but it ; ippears to have been swallowed, up, ,and .; now they are in trouble once more. The, trouble I think lies just here, in the a ttempt to build a three hundred and fifty thousand dollar church with one hun dred and thirty thousand dollars. Afte; r the Old Tabernacle was burned down, they had one hundred and thirty thousa nd dollars in hard cash and assets. Instea* d of being satisfied with achurch that the} 'could pay for, they started one that whet a finished would cost more than double i that sum. There is no doubt but that f lie church will be finished some time. Tl 10 trustees declared that the Bum borrc iwed from Russell Sage a month ago ft /oald complete it, but there has been a h' itch somewhere for the past tw6 weeks , and it is said that "Doctor Talmage lab< mred very hard to keep the skeleton in. the closet out of sight. But while funds appear to be -scaree — his services each Sunday in New , York, and Brooklyn on the Holy Land are crowded. to the dooi -s. He occupies, two theatres on the Sal )bath — the Academy of Music in Brookl yn in - the morning, and the Academy on 14 Street, New York, in the evening, w here Denman Thompson for the past t hree years has delighted hundreds of thi rasands of New Yorkers; anil I was go) Jig to say millions of their hayseed frienc Is, with the sweet and -pleasant pictures 1 of the Old Homestead; ' ' Speaking o'f the "Old Hon lestead," I thought its lease wouidhave a spired long ago, but it now looks as. if it n light go on till Denman Thompson eithe r gets too rich, or too tired to act," or ; dies. The hard times in theatricals do I Qot appear to affect Denman Thompson .. On the street there is no more of the p rofessional about him then there is about; his Joshua Whitcomb. He lopks, off the < stage, like a well-to-do merchant or. a banker, who was at peace with himself ai nd all the world, and 'in his leisure hoii rs affected prayer meetings, Foreign M! ssions, and and Young Men's Christian Associations. •-<■" ' i ■■■•■ One of the' stirring events 0 f the week was the formal opening of tl ie Pulitzer Building — the future home <! >f the New York World. The exercises 1 jegan early on Wednesday, morning witli flights of carrier pigeons ; they bore it] ie mebsage of the opening to all parts of i ,he country. All through the day thousai ids availed 'themselves of the privilege o) : inspecting the buildings, and the evei liing- closed with speeches by distinguis! fied orators and a grand banquet. It is 1 beyond all question the finest newspaper 1 building in New York, if not in the wo" rid. — Yours truly, BROiLDBRIM.