The Passion for Speculation.
So much has been written and said about the speculators and extortioners since the American Union was dissolved that it would be indeed difficult to write or say anything new, or anything that would touch a heart that has no emotion save that excited by the rattle of lucre.
Yet we find occasionally some passage in the history of by-gone times that applies so directly to a class of vampires now sucking out the life-blood of the nation, that we cannot resist the temptation to copy it, even though it proves that mankind at every stage of the world's progress has been prone to the vice which we now so freely condemn.
The following is an extract from
Botta's History of the
American War, vol. 2. p. 212;
‘"There sprang up a class of men who sought to make, their private advantage out of the public distress.
Dependence or independence, Liberty or no liberty, were all one to them, provided they could fatten on the substance of the country, while good citizens were wasting themselves in camps, or in the discharge of the most arduous duties; while they were devoting to their country their time, their estates, and their very existence, these insatiable robbers were plundering and sharing out, without a blush, the public fortune and private fortunes.
All private contracts became the object of their usurious interference and notorious gains; all army supplies enriched them with peculations, and the government often paid dearly for what it never obtained.
This public pest grew wider every day, and it had already gangrened the heart of the republic."’
We doubt, however, if any age of the world has witnessed a spectacle like that now complained of by our own soldiers, growing out of the difficulty of obtaining settlements, which has led to the establishment of offices in this city (as we are informed) where they go and have their claims
shared and cashed.
Whether this arises from the neglect of high officials or from the arrogance of the underlings, it makes no difference.
Certainly it be a matter of pride and pleasure, as it is the business and duty, for every official to extend kindly aid to all persons seeking their just dues from the
Government, and particularly such as are inexperienced.
The people expect this at their hands.
