[Illustration: THE GREAT ROUND
WORLD
AND WHAT IS GOING ON IN IT.]

VOL. 1 APRIL 8, 1897. NO. 22


* * * * *

The President has sent his first message to Congress. In it he says that
he is very sorry to call an extra session of Congress, but he feels it his
duty to do so, because he finds the money affairs of the country in a very
bad condition, and thinks it is necessary for Congress to take some
immediate steps to find a remedy.

It would seem that since June, 1893, the yearly, and even the monthly,
expenses of the country have been greater than the receipts.

We all know what a statement of that sort means in our own homes and
families. It means that bankruptcy is coming, unless something be done to
prevent it. If a man spends more than he earns, he is obliged to borrow to
make up the difference; and when he can no longer borrow, he has to fail
and turn all he owns over to his creditors.

This means that the people to whom he owes the money--his creditors, as
they are called--will take his home and his furniture, and everything he
possesses away from him, and divide it all up between them, and that he
must begin life again as best he can.

Sometimes when a man has a good business that will enable him in time to