Tweed is convicted, and no one has done more than you to bring this about. There is not a good security in the United States that is not worth more to-day than it was yesterday. There is not a knave in the country that has not reason to fear you:-there is not an honest man that does not owe you thanks. J. B. Brown. Newport, R. I., Nov. 20, 1873. The Spanish-Cuban question, involving the capture of the American steamship Virginius and the shooting of her officers and crew as filibusters by Spanish authorities in Cuba, called for liberal pictorial comment. That the Virginius was a filibuster could hardy be doubted, but the slaughter of one hundred and fifty men, after little or no trial, was a drastic measure which came near resulting in the war which followed a quarter of a century later. The panic of 1873, brought about by the failure of Jay Cooke & Co.-due to their inability to carry an over-burden of Northern Pacific securities through those troublous times-resulted in the failure or suspension of a score or more of other important houses and a second" Black Friday "-a day of madness on the Stock Exchange. It also inspired Nast to fire a direct shot for his hero, Grant. A committee of brokers had urged the President to relieve the situation by lending the treasury reserve of $44,000,000 to the city banks. This, Grant had declined to do, as being without warrant of the law. He offered as a substitute to buy as fast as offered the 5-20 bonds of 1881-a wise and conservative measure which went far to reduce the financial fevers of an overwrought and over-bought market. Grant, as "Watchdog of the Treasury," was Nast's summary of the situation, with a placard bearing the words of his reply to the brokers. "You can violate the law; the banks may violate the law and be sustained in doing so, but the President of the United States cannot violate the law." The press united in applauding Grant for this action. The Herald forgot its cry of Cæsarism and joined in the general approval. In an editorial it said: The policy of the government has proved as wise as it was moderate. We cannot too much praise the course of President Grant, for it has probably saved the country from a great financial crash. Yet in spite of the President's commendable panic policy, he received a liberal share of blame for the depressed financial conditions which followed. When times are unprosperous, whatever may be the cause, it is natural to cry out against the and a day's pleasure in rainbow pursuits. Against this imaginative contingent were arrayed those who were for specie payment, dollar for dollar, at the earliest possible moment. Both Harper's Weekly and Nast were firmly for resumption, and the "Inflation Baby -a money bag which blows itself up until it bursts BY INFLATION YOU WILL BURST UNCLE SAM-" You stupid Money-Bag! there is just so much Money in you; and you can not make it any more by blowing yourself up." been frequently used 66 sounder basis The Salary Grab " bill-a measure championed by General Butler-which increased the pay of congressmen and senators from five thousand to seven thousand five hundred dollars a year, with back pay for time served, had proven a most unpopular bit of legislation and its repeal was imminent. The situation of certain members who had drawn the back pay and were now asked to refund was humorously depicted by Nast. The law was abolished early in seventy-four, except in so far as it concerned the President, whose salary had been doubled, and the Supreme Court Judges, whose increase was considered just. Many members had not drawn their back pay and most of those who had done so returned it. Thus was public indignation appeased. Seventy-four was a year year big with events-some of them great, others small, but often fore THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY IN DANGER. shadowing the larger happenings of the future. The cartoons were many, and the fact that during the first half of the year Nast was on his lecture tour did not lessen them either in number or effect. Financial conditions continued troublesome. General Butler, the genie of the "Salary Grab" and Inflation, was portrayed as a menace to "The Cradle of Liberty," frightening Massachusetts with his grim and growing power. Again, as one of the evil shades conjured by the press, he was shown declaring that "Grant will not veto the Inflation Bill." But this was a mistaken sentiment on the part of Butler, for the expansion measure which, under the lead of Senator Morton of Indiana, Logan of Illinois, and General Butler, had been carried through both houses, met with a prompt veto from General Grant. Roscoe Conkling, its leading opponent, avowed that the bill "spurned the experience of all history and trampled upon the plighted faith of the nation." Stewart of Nevada added that the day of its passage was "the saddest he had ever seen in the Senate, and would long be remembered by the American people." The President's veto of this questionable financial measure was declared by Curtis to be the "most important event of the administration." Nast recorded it in the "Cradle of Liberty Out of Danger," showing the genie, Butler, bottled again. Once more the New York dailies for a brief moment united in their approval of Grant. Even those who had been most critical were unstinted in their praises. Yet Grant himself was desirous of some measure of financial relief. Earlier in the year he had expressed a belief that the amount of circulating medium was unnecessarily small, and had suggested "free banking" as a possible remedy. To a layman it is difficult to understand how this would have helped matters, as, indeed, it is always difficult to understand any method of financial easement, whether of government or individual, which does not proceed from the sale or pledge of some property of undoubted value in exchange for a me dium whose integrity is unquestioned and likely to remain unimpaired. THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY OUT OF DANGER The Blue Blood of Massachusetts flows freely once FO |