a head-on approach to a problem

The air has been gay with waving plumes and resplendent beauseants; the streets of the Monumental City have echoed with the measured tramp of six thousand gallant Knights, gathered from all parts of the Union[…]

'They haven't no more philosophy nor political economy about 'em than that,' said the beadle, snapping his fingers contemptuously.

Their wages wouldn’t even get them out of debt to my grandmother, not to mention the staggering bill that waited on them at the white commissary downtown.