Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, December 26, 1872, Page 4

wroxsraay ASIAVEALAIIUANT &V, 10K TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. TERMS OF swacmnogs é?AYAEL‘: o™ ADVAFC;).EO Natly, by mail.....S12.1 and: S2.. TiiWeed S1E00| ey 3588 Parts of 2 year at the samo rate. To prevent delay and mistokos, be sure and giva Post including Etate and County. uzde citber bydralt, cxpross, Post Ofico order, or in rezistercd lotters, et ourrisk, TERA(S 30 CITY EUBSCRIDERS. deliverad, Suuday ezcepled, 25 ccnts per wook. ciivered, Sunday inclnded, 30 cents per wook. 238 THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, ‘Corner Madiscn aud Dearborn-sts., Chicago, Il TRI2USE Branch Office, No. 469 Wabash-ar., in the Bookstere of iesers. Cobb, Andrews & Co., whers edvertisements and eubscriptions will bo reccived, 2nd will havo the eamo ationtion 25 if left at tho Main Offce. CONTENTS OF TO-DAY’S TRIBUNE. FIRST PAGE—Telcgraplic Nows—Adrertisemonts. SZCOND PAGE—New Orlesus Letter: Gazarro, tha Historizn of Louisiana—Warm Foet, and How to eop Them So—An Aboriginal Medusa: Singular Csllection of Livo Reptiics—Mrs. Somerville—Saved by His Wifo: How a Plucky Kentucky Woman Out-~ witted the Vengesnce of a Wronged Fatherand Son—Wagers: Carfosities of Betting. THIED PAGE—Clinton (Is.) Letter—Secarity of tho City [Communication]—Thorwaldsen's Loves: How & Splendid Italisn Brunotto Eathralled Him~ Poetry of Gems—Hsperbole of Different Nations— Reilroad Time Table. FOURTIL PAGE—Editorials: Tho Christmas Holocsust; Public Loaas end Syndicates; Some Bills Beforo Congress; Italizn Fire-Proof Buildings—Current News Items—Notes and Opiaion. FIFTH PAGE—A Wintor's Talo:, How a Bay in Blue Paid His Hotol Bill, and the Calamities that follow- cd—The Cemsns: Religion and Occapation—The New York Tribane: What it will be in the Futuro— Yieturia C. Woodhull: Her Denunciation of Moral Cowardice and Modern Hypocrisy—Adsertisements. SISTH PAGE—Commorcial Mattors—Obitaary: Georgo Pezbodly Putnam—Stage-Slang: The Technfeal Lan- f tho Theatre—Obi: Witchcraft Among the B 1o Vieana Exposition. SIVENTH PAGE—Periodical Literatare—Mr. Greo- as & Political Editor — Suicide in Japan— A b Don Juan — An Intoresting Document — A ‘Woman's Lavo — Daplicatos of Rare Works —Small Advertisomonts : Real Estate, For Salo, Waniad, To Jent, Ete. T PAGE— Christmas at Evanston —Porsonal ms~Christmag {n Chicago—Terrors of the TO-DAY'S AMUSEMENTS, ZPVICKER'S THEATRE-Madison stroot, between c zod Doarborn. Engagement of Miss Charloite -*Goy Manncring.” siann, HOOLEY'S CPERA HOUSE—Randolph street, be- trcen Clark and LaSalle. Now Comedy Company. **Tie Lancashiro Lass.” ATKEN'S THEATRE—Wabash avenue, corner of Con Etranl Engagement of Lawrcuce Barrett. ACADEMY OF MUSIC— Halsted strest, south of ladison. Engagement of tho Carroll Family. New Soa- sational dram, entitled ** Our Mother.” ¥ MYERS' OPERA HOUSE-Monroe strect, between Stae and Dearborn. Arlington, Cotton & Komble's Ainstrel and Burlesque Tronpe. GLOBE TEEATRE—Desplaines stroet, between Madi- ronand Washiagton. Tie Leon Brothers. **The Union Scout.” N1XON'S A PHITHEATRE—Clintonstreet, betwaen Waskizgton and Randolph. Engagementof Zoo. BUSINESS NOTICES. RUYAL HAVANA LOTTERY. GRAND, EX- inary drav wholo tickets ‘860, J. B. &°CO., Badkers, 10 Wall.st.” Box 4685, P. O., New York, BATCHELOR'S HAIR DYE. THIS SPLENDID 0 i the best in the world. Tho only true and por- e. Harmless, reliable, and instantznaous; nodisap- poiatment: no ridiculous tints or unploasant odor. Ramo- lics tbe ill effects of bad dyes and washes. Produces im- ‘modiately a superb black or natural brown, and leaves the Bair cloan, sott, znd beautiful. Tho gendine, signed W. - Batciielor. ' Sold by all _druggists. CHARLES BATOREEOR, Proprioror, B T - TheThicago Teibuwe, Thursdey Morning, December 26, 1874. As the weather report predicted, Christmas was cloudy, and milder than the days preceding it. To-dzy we are to have northwesterly winds and colder weather again. i King Eamehameha of the Sandwick elands is dead, and a movement, which may end in revo- ution, has at once begun, for a freer form of government in the island. By the terms of the bill read in the Cortes yes- +4erday, slavery is io cease in Porto Rico in. four montls from the time the measure of emanci- pation is passed, and thoslaveholders are to be Taid for the human property thus confiscated. Roscoe Conkling, a3 & Presidential candidate, is said to have been one of the elements in the game of batiledoor and shuttlecock lately layed with the New York Zribune, The pres- ent ovwners are not for Roscoe. Nor is Senator Morton. Tke Chicago produce markets were generally izoctive yesterday, as the Board of Trade was not in session ; that body adjourned in honor of Christmas. There wes a little treding in wheat, on the curbetone, and the market advanced i4c, closing at $1.193¢ eeller January, and $1.213¢ seller February., Other markets were neglected. ago express on the Indianspolis, hicago Railroad wss thrown off the track by & broken rail yesterdsy, eighteen miles from Tndienapolis, and twenty persons injured, of whom at least three will die. A similar ac- cident occurred to = passenger train near Cin- cinnati, with what loss to life, if any, does not sppear at this writing. At Newton, Kansas, a trein imbedded in & drift was run into by & freight train, and the conductor and one other coan killed. —_— Alr. Rickard Schell informs a reporter of the New York Herald that a suit will certainly be brought Ly some of the stockholders of the Tnion Pacific Railway fo recover the eighteen millions of “swag" taken from it hy the Credit Mobilier. Wken the eightcen millions are re- covered by the Union Pacific Company, it will be a wise thing for the United States Government to recover the same amount from the Union Pacific. This it can do without troubling itself with 2 lawsuit. A determined movement is now going on in Baltimore, on the part of the temperance people of that city, to suppress holiday drinking. Masa meetings are being held nightly at the Maryland Institute, aadressed by such men ss Hon. Schuyler Colfax and Hon. Henry Wilson, with the express purpose of discountenancing drink- ing at this season of the year. Their efforts are directed against the fres liguor and egg-nog of the bar-rooms on Christmas, and the equally free liquors in private residences, on New Year's Day, eupplied for callers. The horse-disease, which has of late been revaging the United States with suck havoc, hes now reached the West Indies, and mede its appearance recently in Havana. Correspondents witing from that city state that the mortality s much greater there than in the United Btates, owing to the miserable stables, even the wealth- Zest residents having but very poorly venti- cted places for the keeping of horses. The mmules heve been atiacked even more severely then the horeel;.and, as there are but very fow veterinary surgeons in Havans, and only ons or +wo of them seem to have any knowledge of the fpissnse, the mostelily I8 Pecoming Yery est Tke epizootic attacks American ond creole horses alike, the former having it lighter, as they are better treated. ——— The London gas-stokers’ strike was a dismal failure in all respects except ono—an old lady fell off a platform of tho Underground Railwway, in the darkness, end was killed. Tho strike was not upon & question of wages, but of discipline. A dispute arose in one of the gas works, between an engineer and a workman, npon a very trivial matter, and the workman, refusing to obey the orders of his superior, was discharged. His comrades sided with him, and declared that they would strike unless he was reinstated. He was reinstated for the moment, but was again dis- charged the next dey. The.-Stokers’ Union thereupon ordergd a general sirike iu all the gas works of the great city, and the order was obeyed by some 4,000 men, who had no cause of grievance, and who have one now in the fact that they are ont of employment in the middle of a tight winter. In the great Secor caso of fraud, whereby the Becretary of the Navy paid $91,000 without authority of law, it appeared that the Mosars. Secor built certain vessels for a stipalated price, and that Mr. Miles Greeniood built other ves- sele of the same kind for 2 like sum. Both con- tragtors made claims for extras, and both re- ceived pay therefor, the sums baving been fixed by a Naval Board of Examination, and the ap- Ppropriation having been made therefor by Con- gress, with s stipulation that it should be & final settlement. The Secors having, however, engi- neered their claim for $91,000additional through the Navy Department, it is not singular that M. Miles Greenwood should now appear beforo Congress asking to be placed on the same foot- with the Secors. We do not eee how those who have justified the Secor payment can refuse to extend the seme favor to Greenwood. The hints about *lamp-post justice,” made a few weels ngo by the New York papers, at tho time when King killed O’Neil, bore fruit the oth- erdsy in a plot to lynrL Simmons, the murderer of Duryer. Torty friends of the victim planned amidnight attack upon the hospital where the assassin was confined by & broken ankle, with the intention of gagging the attendants, taking Bimmons out, and, in & collective fit of emotion- al ineanity, hanging or ehooting him. The cold westher delsyed their action, tho police got wind of the affair, and the mur- derer’s life bas been saved from perhaps its only peri. Efforts are being made to arrest the would-be lynchers. They may be caught and punished, and Simmons be scquit- ted. In Californis, day before yesterday, a murderer was hung by the populace the very day he committed the crime. Reov. Dr. Talmsge's fire-proofchurch, in Brook- Iyn, was burned to the ground in less than ono hour. Ttwasbuilt with corrngated-iron walls, fastened upon wooden supports, and the iron- roof was sustained by wooden columns. It was filled, of course, with Wooden floors and pews. In fact, there was rather more wood-work in it than in an ordinary stone or brick building of equal size. A grest deal of indignation is ac- cordingly vented on iron as a building material. It ought to be easy enough, however, to seo that the iron did not burn the church, end did not contribute in any degree to the ca- tastrophe. Nobody attempts to kindle a fira with iron, whether i be the corrugated variety or common pig metal. Qur own experience in builling and burning teaches us that & building is liable to be destroyed by fire in proportion to the amount of combustible material which it contains, and not in proportion to the amount of iron, or even of Tllinofs limestone, that enters into its compo- sition. Nor has that useful scape-goat, some- times called ‘“‘outside heat,” and otherwise Inown a8 “peculiar atmospheric condition,” any effectupon non-combustible substances. A build- ing burns because it contains fuel, and for no other reason. Dr. Talmage's church contained rather more fael than churches generally, and, therefore, burned more readil THE CHRISTMAS HOLCCAUST It was particularly sad that the newspapers of yesterday, of all days in the year, should have been compelled to chronicle & succession of hor- rors altogether mnparalleled in any provious issue of the year. Fatal accidente by rail, by water and by fire, murders and suicides, wero reported from &ll parts of the country over the telegraph and through the mails. TxE WEEELY TrBUxE issued on Christmas Day, figured up on sggregate loss of $3,334,000 in property destroyed by fire, estimatiag only such confla~ gretions as included $15,000 worth of property each. Taking the smaller fires inta account, the total destruction of property by fire during the week would amount to not less then $3,500,~ 000. These heavy losses may be traced direotly to the excessive cold, which has thus caused desth by thie extremes of freezing and burning. The large fires which became necessary to keep people warm tested the flues and boilers; and churches, and hotels, and museums, and resi- dences were consumed st & rate which should make the hearts of careless builders and incom- petent architects quake with remorss. Corru- geted iron used 88 & mere veneering for a large mass of framework, has proved to be anything but fire-proof, and Barnum’s ‘building in New York succumbed to the flames on Taesdsy as Talmage's Tabernacle didin Brooklyn on the previous Sundsy. The build- ing which was occupied by Barnum's museum and menagerie was that formerly known as the New York Circus, situated on Fourteenth street, nearly opposite to the Academy of Music, which ‘was simultaneously threatened with destruction. The loss of all the animals, except two elephants end one camel, was & serious one both finan- clally and a8 & means of popular edu- cation. Tho collection of the wild and rare specimens of the brute creation, which constituted the chief attraction of what was Imown 28 Barnom’s ¢ Great Bhow,” is & work of time and labor; and the replacement of the an- imals thus destroyed will be no easy task. Ele- phants, gorilles, camels, dromedaries, lions, tigeis, panthers, &esls, bears, leopards, yak, gnu, monkeys, pelicans, ostriches, spakes, birds, and beasts of sll descriptions,—chained or caged so that escape was impossible,—wers ‘burned up fogsther, the very ferocity of their nature having turned sgainst them to preclude every means of self-help, gand their cries and shrieks of torture assuming glmost & human tferror. A million of dollars’ worth of property was destroyed at the same time; 150 persons are thrown ount of em- ployment, and twenty or thirty women, in an- other part of the city, narrowly escaped the frightfol death that was visited upon the poor servant-girls of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, ‘Thig gatastroohe becomes one of comparatiys- Iy trifling importance, however, by the side of the railroad horror that occurred on the Buffelo, Corry & Pittsburgh Railroad a few hours later. Within eighty rodsof a station, where safety ought to have been aesured, if we are ever to look for safety on a railroad, & passenger train was thrown from the track by & broken rail, and over & trestle-work, causicg the death by burn- ing of twenty-five persons, and seriously wound- ing and maiming thirty-five others. No graphio telegrams are needed to picture the hortorsof an accident like this. It occurred in broad day- light, within sight of a station, whore the travel- lers could bhave scarcely creamed of the pos- sibility of danger. Many of those on the train were probably ready to alight at their homes, and to meet the friends waiting to wel- come them to Christmas festivities. To be suddenly seized, 28 by some monster, under cir- cumstances like thesc ; to be thrown a distance of thirty or forty feet down into a yawning gulf; to be thoro roasted alive amid struggling and and shrieking humanity, seems to be the very culmination of horrors, If presumption of guilt be justifinble at any time, then it is fair to presume criminal negligence in this case on the part of the railroad company that must answer for the slanghter. Supposing that tho breeking of the rail was attributable to tho severity of the weather, and, therefore, una- voidable, there is yetno good reason why cars should catch fire whenever they ara turned over. The safest way by which railroad cars can be kept warm is by the use of hot-water pipes. These pipes can be heated with one stove or furnace, located at an extreme end of the car, and protected by iron railings and braces at the sides. Still farther protection is sfforded by a contrivance uzed on many cars, especinlly sleap- ing coaches, which furnishes & reservoir of water, placed directly under tho furnace in such a wey that the turning of the car floods the stove above, end extingmshes the fire it conteins. The arrangement seems sim- ple enough, and its sction would appear to afford certain protection against sot- ting fire to the car in caso of accident. It is sefe to assume that the burning train on this road was not provided with such protection. If not, is not the management guilty of criminal negligence in its failure to provide such protec- tion for human life as lay within its reach. Added to tho Pennsylvania Lorror, there was & freight troin thrown off the track 20 miles from Louisville, on the Indianapolis & Jeffersonville Road, by a neglect in turning a switch, killing soveral men. An accident also occurred on the throngh train from Washington to Philadelphia, not far from Baltimore, in which many persons are reported to have been in- jured,—two of them fatally so. There wero two cases of 1oss of life by burning, one from the explosion of & kerosene lamp, another from®.n overheated stove. Men and animals were frozen ina train blocked upinIndiana by the lack of water, which had congealed all along the lino of the road. Another railroad accident was re- portéd from Iows, in which only one human being suffered, as good fortune would have it in this case. Still other trains wero frozen up else- : where, and steamers were damaged by the rise of the waterin the Ohio River. Several cases of death by cxposure were reported simultaneously, and from all parts of the country came the in- telligence of misfortunes constituting, altogether, the most unwelcome Christmas present within our recollection. — PUBLIC LOANS AND SYNDICATES, Tho Treasury of Francohas a way of doing ‘business that might safely bo adopted in this country. The New York Erening Post com- 'mends it, and wo thinkit is entitled to serious cotisideration, The French plan may be best understood by first examining our own. MMr. Boutwell has had authority for two years past to borrow money upon bonds bearing interest re- spectively at 5, 43¢, and 4 per cent, and to apply the proceeds to the extinguishm-nt of an equal amount of the debt bearing 6 per cent interest. ‘He has authority at any timo to give notice that after a certain day interest will cease on such bonds as ho may describe by date, amount, and number, and theso bonds thus specified may be rodesmed on demand. Ho is, however, prohib- ited from increasing the public debt. In 1871, the Secretary insisted upon exchanging & por- tion of his new 5 per cents for outstanding 6 por cents,§ and forthwith proceeded to do so through thoagency of the Syndicate. This Syn- dicate received the 5 percent bonds, upon depos- iting thoir own checks upon themselves for the amount, and three months later they delivered to the Secretary the 6 per cent bonds to an amount equal to the sum of the 5 per cents sub- scribed for by thera. During this three months they received interest at the rate of 5 per cent on $130,000,000, new bonds, and slso received interest at 6 per cent on £130,000,000 of old bonds for the same period. This was either an allowancs of interest for three months 2t 11 per cent, or was an increase of the public debt, and without any consideration for the same time. A Committeo of Congress appointed to investigate the proceedings, reported that there was no other way to make theexchange, and, therefore, that the Secretary was right in doing s0. The plan followed in France is not to offer a bond bearing any specified rate of interest, but to announce that the Government will recsive &' given sum, say §200,000,000, upon the best terms thet may be offered. Any person, therefore, ‘may offer the Government any amount, great or small, himself fixing the rate of interest and the time of the bond. These offers the Government is at liberty to accept or decline, or it may accept 80 much of the money offered s it may consider advisable. This places the loan before the whole country. Any man may offer his $50, or $100, or any other sum, and state the rate of in- terest b 18 willing to take, and the duration of the boud he desires. This offer for proposals may be kept open all the time, with monthly awzrcs. The Government is not under the ne- cesgity of paying 5 per cent interest so long a3 there are people willing to lend money at & less rate. It involves no expense for agents or Syndicates; when an offer is accepted, the money is deposited and the bond issued; there is no doubling of the debt for a certain period of fime, no confusion, ng deception. This process is, of course, objected to by the brokers who make money by acting a3 intermediaries between the Government and those whogoe money they lend. Itis a very sim- ple proceeding, essily understood, and inexpen- give. An examination of the current prices of TUnited States securities, and the prices of gold, will chow that the Government 6 per cents, dur- ing the last £wo or more years, have not yielded more than 53¢ per cent interest on the invest- ‘ment, and, at times, the yield has been less. To take & new bond at par, bearing 5 per cent inter- est, and having thirty years to run, is, therefore, a better investment than to buy & 6 per cent Lboud 86 & premium, snd lisble to be called in at any moment. Now, Mr. Boutwell will advertise that he wants to borrow several hundred millions of @:lzrsupon the faith of tho Government.a=d will award the loan to the lowest bidder. 1. lntter to specify in his bid the rate 6 L:.ciest he will take, it is possible he might make a far more extensive, and certainly less costly, loan than the onewhich he managed through the Syndicate. At all events, the public will know what he is doing. — SOME BILLS BEFORE CONGRESS, The literature of legislation is voluminons. One of Colonel Benton's objections to the pub- lication and circulation of the debates in the Con- gressional Globe, was that the reading of them was calculated to debase the style of American composition end vitiate the public taste in litera- tare. The debates have not improved materially since the days of Benton. Congressman Snapp hardly fills the place of Corwin a8 & classical scholar; Chandler does not make good the loss of Webster; Sewyer succeeds in reminding the visitor that South Carolina was once represented by Calhoun, and the carpet-baggers generally are evidence that the Senate has suffored as well 18 the country generally by the rebellion. In rending the files of the current publications of Congress, there is much that is interesting, much that is curious, and an immense deal that is worthless. We have before ussfile of the current publications of bills, reports, and com- munications during the first two weeks of the present session, and in the mass we find some curiosities that ought not to porish. A distinguishing feature of the legislation proposed by the new tribe of Congressmen from the reconstructed States is the preamble. They ‘write out a sort of speech, which they cail a pre- amble, and affix it to the proposed bill. Thus, Mr. Duke, of Virginie, offered a bill repealing all taxes upon’ tobscco, which taxes he recites in his preamble aro “most unjust and oppres- sive” to the people in the tobacco-growing Btates, and he then adds another * wherens” to the effect that ‘‘ tobacco is largely consumed by the working classes, who, in consequence of this tax, are compelled to pay much more than their just proportion of taxes,” The game gentleman offers & bill to ropeal all taxes on Ticorice, and upon medical books imported by physicians. " Mr. Movgan. of Ohio, thrusts a bill into the Honse “to secure justice to the wool-growers of the United States,” which bill turns out to be a proposition to increase the duties on clothing, combing and carpet wools gonerally, and upon Australian and South American wools particu- larly. General Morgan, by thisbill, proposes, prac- tically, to exclude foreign wools, and this he calla doing justice to the wool-growers of the Tnited States. The only injustice these wool-growers labor under is, that, for the empty measure of protection on wool, they are taxed upo:. every- thing they use, even upon the woollen 1=snufac- tures they consume. They are the shegp that aro fleeced by the tariff. Gn the same day, Mr. Snapp offered a bill di- Tecting the Secretary of the Tressuryto psy Peter D. Posey, of Maryland, 30,000, for tho destruction of his property daring the war. Nothing in this bill about the Civil Service humbng, or Nemesie’ shirt. Mr. Duell, who ropresents the Onondaga Dis- trict, has two native productionsunder hischarge, one of these is salt, and the other is a briar known 88 ‘‘teasels.” It seems thatthe last timo the tariff was tinkered, teasels, by some accidont, wero placed upon the free list, and Mr. Duell proposes, by bill, to have foreign teasels pay a duty of 10 por cent. Why teasels ehould have been put on the free list when salt is atill heavily texed, is probably a mystery to Alr. Duell's constituents, Mr. Killinger, of Penn- sylvanis, aftor telling all he knows about chesp transportation, proposes a general railroad law, under which any ten persons may form & cor- poration in any State or Territory to build and operate narrow gauge railways. They may take whatever land they choose for track and depot purposes, paying therefor, and are to have a general right of way all over the continent. To aid in this matter the ssme bill proposes tho establishment of s Nationel Railroad Bureau attached to one of the departments. i The rage for new Bureaus continmes. Mr. Chandler has 2 bill to establish a National Bu- reau of Immigration, and Mr. Patterson a Bu- rean of Sanitary Science. The Commissioner of the Department is to have general charge of the health of the country, and is to have a force of chemists and clerks. It is to be agort of Nation- a1 Board of Health. The bills for the extension of patents are nu- merous. - Josoph Fox has had apatent for s ma- chine for making crackers, and has enjoyed it for twonty-one years, and he now wants seven years more. Thomas Walker has had for four- teen years a patent for apparatus for gonerating some kind of gas, and wants seven years moro James C. Cooke wants his patent for an im-" provement in menufacturing webbing extended. ‘The legal representatives of Nicholas G. Norcross want his patent for en improvement in plan- ing machines extended. The biggest thing of this kind, Lowever, is the application for the renewal of the Wilson patent for a *‘feed motion” to sewing machines. This patent was obtained as long agoas1850, and, despite the pro- test of the country gererally, has once been ro- newed, the last extension expiring in 1871, The inventor swears that his profits from this one item have only been $67,000 1 The fact is there are now scores of sewing machines of varions designs, all of whomhavehad, for 21 years, topay Mr. Wilson a heavy toll for his ‘‘feed motion.” He admits that he na had & profit of $87,000 from it, snd the country, withont inguiring further, will conclude thot he has been well paid forit. The patent has expired, and thia bill is torevive it. Itis a remarkable fact that, though sewing machines are an American invention, they cost more in the United States than in any other part of the world. Theples of increased wages for labor i8 of 1o ayail a8 an explanation of this outrage, becsuse the American-made ‘machines are exported to Europe and elsewhers, and there sold for lessthan the retail price in this country. The fact is stated that, exclusive of the table onwhich the machine is placed for operating, the machine itself does not coat more than $7. The difference between this sum and the price paid by purchaserg is divided zmong the makers of the wood-mounting, the holders of special patents, the commissions of agents, end the profits of the manufacturer. Every manufacturer of a sewing machine who uses this * feed motion,” pays Mr. Wilson a fixed price on every machine he makes and sells. As there are perhaps twenty or more improve- ments, of small details, patented, each patentee compels all others to psy him & royalty. In this way it is possible to know how many of these machines are made annually, and it is not vynressonsble to estimate that the Patant foes paid smmually wmouny i3 & million of dolls. Who pasy these fees? There are hundreds of thousands of me- chines sold every year, and they are largely paid for by those to whom five or ten dollars in the cost is a sorious matter. The sewing-machineis now an indispensable article in every family, and more particularly among that class of women-laborers who live by their scanty earn- inga. While we admit that inventors are enti- tled to some compensation for their invention, therois & limit to their claims upon the public. It sewing-machines made in this country can be gold in England for 30, when 350 or $66 is de- manded for them here, we think the equity of the inventor who for 21 years has enjoyed the monopoly, is fully satisfied. This particnlar in- vention is now free to the world, and we see no reason why Congress should go backward, and renew the monopoly, and again compel the-pub- lic to pay Mr. Wilson a royalty for his feed motion. ITALIAN FIRE-PROOF BUILDINGS. “The destructive fire in Boston, following so closely upon that in Chicago, and the destruction of the Brooklyn Tsbernacle and Barnum's Mu- seum in New York, both iron buildings, give ad- ditional interest to the question of the best man- ner of constructing buildings of fire-proof ma- terial. Just at this time, therefore, a letter pub~ lished in & recent issuo of the Providence (B.1.) Journal, from Professor George I. Chase, the Professor of Natural Philosophy in Brown Uni- versity, and one of the clearest and most practically scientific men in the United Btates, will be regarded as of special importance - for gome val- usblehints it conveys relative to the manner of constructing fire-proof buildings in Florence, Italy, where he Is now stopping. The hints therein conveyed are partly from his own obser- ‘vations, and partly from those of Powers, the well-known American sculptor, who has for many years beon a resident of Florence. Pro- feasor Chase considers that the Italiaus ate far in advance of us in the art of construction. Ho claims not only that thoy have better ‘materials, bat also that they use them more skilfully than we. The Italian principle of constraction is to make every room in 8 building an air-tight apartment, formed of incombustible materials, so that, wherever the fire may originate, it shall be confined to that pert of the house, and, having no egress, shell smoulder there for hours, and even days. To secure this end, the Italians make all their walls and dividing partitions of brick and stone, and 2180 make the ceilings and roof equally tight, eand of materinls equally incombustible. Their theory s that the fire must be bricked down a8 woll a8 bricked in, 25 the tendency of fire, whera it can find vent, ‘is always upward rather than lateral. Every room is, therefore, given 2 vanlt- ed ceiling of brick, springing directly from the four walls. Vith regard to the manner of con- struction, Professor Chase says: The lower stories in all the best houses here are built fn ('3 way, the upperstory being sometimes finished w_.h flat ceilings, The bricks usedin con- structing the 7aulted ceilings are from twelve to Afteen inchesin len: . Ly about six inches in breadth, and only one and . half inches in thickness ; they are saffi- cieatly baked to give them power to resist pressure, and free from vitrification of surface, which would prevent the firm adhesion of tho cement by which their edgea are united. In a room twenty by twenty- four feet the centre or highest part of the dome need motbe more than threa feet above the baso line or springing of the same. On first stepping upon sucha dome, T confess to a feeling of insecurity, but its ring under the tramping of feet quickly ssuredme of its strength, These bricks are laid in mortar, and, to forma good floor, a gecond layer is laid over tho firat, tho bricks of the former crossing those of the lattor at right angles. The surface of tho up- per layer is then lovelled by grinding it down with a slab of sandstone. A eolution of glue, thickened with plaster of Parig, is then spread upon this surface, which is absorbed by tha bricks, and, when dry, this is polished. Lastly, a coat of boiled linseed oil is applied, and, after drying, this is rubbed down, when the floor be- comes a8 hard and durable as marble. The roof is treated in the same way as the ceilings of rooms, the rafters being bricked across, from centre to centre, and the tiles or elates laid immediately npon the brick work. A roof thus built stands in little danger of fire from the outside, and will smother for & long time from & fire within. The chief point, therefore, in the Italian con- struction, is not only to make each room of in- combustible material, but also to make it a closed chamber, without communication with any other room, and thus to keep the fire in the room where it originates, and delay its progress from room to room. Prof. Chase also urges the necessity of open squares at no great distance from each other, but sufiiciently apart, to give the firemen increased facilities in subduing the fire, Professor Chase says in this connection : ‘T am told that firesare of as fre- quent occurrence here as with us, but they very rarely extend beyond the spartment in which they originate. If you pass along the street where ono of these fires hes occurred, all that you see is & room with blackened walls, and fur- niture more or less charred.” The points of construction urged by Professor Chase are worthy of consideration by our archi- tects. To make them available, however, it would be necessary that the mode of consgtrivi- tion should be gemersl. No buildings can withstand the heat of a general conflagra~ tion, aswas sufficiontly shown in the Chicago fire, and hence & fow buildings made after the Italian fashion, here and there in a city, would not furnish & fair test. The principal object must be to prevent a general conflagration, and it seems to us this point would be gained in the Italian construction. Any mode of building which will confine = fire in the building whera it originates will be fraitfal in good results to our cities. The Italian method of making each apartment air-tight, and isolated from all the other spartments, would seem to. be the very foundation principle upon which to erect a fire- proof buildinj The untrustworthy character of the evidence of medical experts in murder trials has been even more forcibly attested inn recent frial in’ Belgium than it was in the Wharton and Schoeppe cases in this country. A man-gervant, named Agnel, was arrested and placed on trial, in Bruges, for the murder of his master, M, Rigaud. The circumstantial evidence of his guilt was very strong, Master and man had had » serious difficulty on the day of the former’s denth. M. Rigaud had left Agnelthe sum of 4,000 francs, a2 will made before the trouble, and Agnel was known to be in urgent need of cbont this sum to clear off debts that were press- ing him. It was shown that Agnel had, on the same day, procured some arsenic at a neigh- boring drug-store, for the purpose, as i said, of killing rats. When, in addition to this cir~ cumstantial evidence, medical experis came in and testified that AL Rigand had died from poi- soning by arsenic, there seemed to be a positive tested the presence of sufiicient poizon %o cause death, were M. Girault, of the Imperial Labora- toxy, Paris, and M. Conde, celebrated amlytic- al chemist from Brussels. These gentbmen demonstrated the presonca of arsenic in the stomach of the dead man by s subtle pro- cess of anslysis, depending mpon ithe test of afinity. Against their ovidetce, M. Coterie, also an eminent chemist\of Brussels, came in and testified that this ‘process was not only inadequate to prove the presente of the poison, but that it was oné which woulg generate arsenic by its own operation. By s preconcerted arrangement between the counsel for the prosecution and the counsel for the de- fenco, the final evidence establishing tho inno- cence of the accused had been withheld until the testimony o7 the medical men had all been tak- en. Then it was that s letter from the decoased was produced, of the genuineness of which two persons gave evidence, which confessed that M. Rigaud bod produced his own desth, not by arsenic, but by a dose of antimony. The case will probably have its influence in determining the weight of testimony given by experts. Ino 1atest foreign papers contain shetchos of the newly-created Peers in the German Parlia- ment, by which help the Government succeeded in carrying through the Counties Reform Bill. There were twenty-five of these Poers in all. Five of them were from the army proper, in- cluding General Von Bteinmetz, the fighting General ot 1866, who was deposed after the bat- tle near Metz, in 1870, and Von Peucker, the suthor of a work on *‘The Military System of the Ancient Germans.” Nine of them are from the Ministries and their dependencies; three from the Ilanded interest; three from the ‘‘inactive civil service;” two from the diplomatic service, Von Magnus, formerly Minister Resident in Mexico, and Von Eichmann, Ambassador at the Court of Saxony ; ono from the provincial Aministration, Von Bar~ deleben, President-in-Chief of the Rhine Prov- ince; and Wever, Attorney General of the Bupreme Court, and Henrici, Vice President of the Court of Appeals. Nearly all of the new peers are octogenarians and are considered by the European press as mere bureancrats selected to carry out this special purpose and nothing more. Tho real friends of reform in Germany consider that this addition to the Upper House- is no reform st all, and are unanimous in assert-, ing that the Government has adopied-romly s, half-measure. The Cologne Gazetle pronounces the confusion of opinion to be chaotic. e e e The new California code is 2 very pecaliar one in its relations to home and the family. As it establishes uniyersal equality in the married state, it leaves the husband and wife at full lib- erty to sue and contract with each other as be- fore the matrimonial state. Should any contro- versy arise between hisband and wife leading to their separation, the two can pay intoa com- mon fund certein contributions from their pocket-money for the support of the children, who, in turn, are not in the distinctive custody of either parent, the law saying: When hus- band and wife are living separate and apart, the father, as such, has no superior right to that of the mother to the care, custody, or control of the children.” As the law also eaya “the marriage of minors changes their status from minors to adults,” there is nothing to hinder neglected children from going off and getting matried, and thus becoming as good 88 the grown folks, with equal rights to sue each other and make as much matrimonial confusion as their elders. In fine, the Code virtually does away with all the distinctive rights of sex, and opens a Paradire for such dis- contented individuals as Woodhull, Claflin, and Train. ion of 200 Vermont State Prision, has reised_quta ber of cotton plants in the garden to the State, 5 sample of which ho Montpelier fo be put in tho cabinzt a¢ ko Capix ney to Bavaria that Thorvaldsen had, at &n intelligent and firm Bnpgurt of the Republi- Paniateis an attitnd o oot Srtlae BAL) naintain an attitude of perfect inde; 2 Ai‘x’} 12‘»1:1 Times. 5 s AMr. Croly, who lately resigned the managin editorship of the World, is said to be mémg for the publ:cngion of an ilustrated daily paper. seems tobe o wild story. But I mw: have heard Mr. Croly ot e 8s not impracticable. the truth when they ssy that managing editorship of Mr. Godkin's Daily Na. tion. “This new enterprise, & daily editior. of they Nation, Mr. Godkin is said to have determined. to start with a capital of s handred thousand: - dollars. He is a courageous gentleman, and hag: & wonderfal faith in tho American-resdin public, if he does so. The idea ho .has, ? “nderstand, is a sort of an American Pall Mall Cazete. Mr. Raymond, of tho Zimes, nsed to Gbam of such an enterpnse, and oncé or twice Wait 50 far as fo consult with his editors con~ gerling the feasibility of issuing an evening edi- ton ' the Times, modelled after the Pall Mall Gazetn “Then another daily newspaper nter~ prise istalked of,—a great dailyon the co-opera- tive plan Ten or twelve ‘journalists of braing and entehrise” shall pat in 2 small amonnt of money anttnke half of the stock, and ten or twelve cavhalists shall put in s big amount of money anl take the femining alf of the stock. ten or twelve journalista patin theircork at good salaries, and make equal profits™T don't Losr mach of th entor- Pprise DOW. \ther entorprices industriously talked about artweskly papers. The indefatipe able gentlemen ¢ the Sun, headed, I beliave, by 4mos Cummings,:ho maraging editor, and Dr. Wood, the night citor, one of the most persist- :;111’: gx}:g' g;nggzaél gt ewspn.pag workers, are ar- la great Sundey papor, far shead in scope andenterprige of mp;fl:in at mem in_existence, The Sunday .stamfird, t over the inglorimg prave of John Russell Young's Daily Standad. 15 thesickliest of sheeta. Its first number, last Sinday, was notable for g:fl;d gmmvmma}r_;, fl}:régfd rhetoric, and bad ==\ TR Dorre )1 R Eoston Aduertiser. prreponiemon Of <y GmRAL NBEWS ITEMS. A commodity exists in th immediste vicin of the I’Anse slale quarles, which is gO! enough for lithographic stoieg, | © —The Cashier of o Peoris\aper attacked the ',’;fig‘.‘éfi hc»ghLm r;l, the tmf.:m at Peoris, 5 e aid of a constal i collected £2,50. X Fnd bRy olves; —Tt is expected that 1,00 Isoorers from Earope, to work in the iron miles of Marquetta and Houghton Counties, Mich., vill bs en roufe for Liake Superior before Februay next _—Colonel W. S, King, ofMinneyoliz, and sago- ciates have concluded contract th the Northe orn Pacific Railroad Company foithe construo- miles of tho west end a the road. —The Squamscott Honse, 1 Frater, N, has been purchased by the truste of Pi * Academy for the sum of 225,000, tohe used as a hell for study and boarding by the shdents, —James A. Pollard, Superintendnt of ‘the 2 num- Yelonging Grried ta —Captain Blakely, of the Alinnesoty Staga Company, announces that the horzeshf fho Company have all recovered from the epiootic, r stage service has been resume and the re(;guln from St. Cloud to Brainerd, Alexandria, and other points in the northern and western ‘parts of the State. —Superintendent Wellen, of the Gracd Rap- ids & Indiana Railroad, roports that so far as Ko is informed, the injuries of the ledies who wera 80 serionel; o the 18 i e trapper who wes eo seriously hart could not ll}a}eamed, and it is not haowy;l whether he is hart by the accident near Reynolds inst. were no fatal. The nama of ving. —-5lniel D. T. Warner, ono of the owners of the Clifton (. Y.) Springs Hotel and Air Curo, is on trial for ason in the first degree, as tho au- thor of thefire, Tracks in the snow from Wamer'a housa to the hotel and back to his house aro ona of the evidences of guilt clo cution. There is about $50,00C the hotel o be contested hereafc d by the proso- insurance on An Anecdote of Two [amous Sculps tors. It must have been about the time of his jour or- And now comes Egypt, waking up from the | ence a singular interview with Bartolini. Ho sleep and lethargy of ages. Progresshas atlast | had i.m§ been personally acquainted: with the found its way to the banks of the Nile. As | famous Italian eculptor, whose life was & con- showing this, we are permitted to copy the fol- lowing eentences from & private letter, dated at Alexandria, Nov. 10, to Captain Benjamin Rich~ ardson, of Now York. The Captain visited Egypt several years ago, and will be remembered 23 the benevolent capitelist who, upon certain conditions to be performed by our citizens, has devoted his large property on tho cornor of Forty-third street and Eighth avenue, New York, to found the Richardson College of Mining in this city. The writer says: Great improvements have taken place in Egypt ainca the date of which you speak, and I have no doubt you would enjoy a visit here very much, The Viceroy is an enterprising and enlightened Prince, who has done, and i doing, much for his country. Cairo ia now well paved and lighted, presents much the appearance of & Europesn city, with fine hotels, opers, theatre, and oth= er places of nterest and amusement. A carriage road leads to the Pyramids. Steamers run on the Nile regu- larly during the winter season. Vessels occasionaily go direct to New York. I can procure and send to you the sheop you wish, if you will give particular instruc- tions as 10 variety, cost, &c.” ey Maryland clings to the old system of punish- ‘ments for criminal acts, and notably in retaining the penalty of hanging for the crime of arson. It is said that this punishment is still justified by the law of New York State, but there, as else- where throughout the country, it has long since been discontinued, and the extremo penalty for the crims of arson consists in imprisonment for life. In a recent case in Maryland, s boy of 14 was tried for arsom, and the jury was compelled to return s verdict of guilty on the evidence; but, considering the youth and ignorance of the culprit, the punish- ment was fixed at seven years’ imprisonment in the Penitentiary. But the Judge informed the Jjury that their verdict was not in accordance with the law, and they were obliged to change it and sentence the boy to be hanged. grest artist owes to another. hurt by it, that he enjoined npon his when you are through with i of the house stant and terrible struggle, first with poverty until his fine talent wes at last recognized, and a struggle not less obstinata with incessent per- secutions instigated by envy after he had gained for himself o high position in art. LorenzoBar- tolini was, moreover, not of a temper to shun tho combat; his iudependont spirit rofosed 0 8too] acter ligerent hubits into which ho seemed to ba forced by circumstances. Thorvaldsen was in Florence, and h expected to to the arts of pleasing, and his chara ook & coloring from the elmost bei- He bad heard that Teceivo one of his earliest visite. The Danish artist, howeer, having for several Gays neg~ lected to present himsolf at the afelier of Bar- tolini, the Italian regarded the delay a3 & mark of indifference, and a failing in the courtesy one Ho was so much pupils, in case Thorvaldsen should finally make Lis appéar- ance, to tell him that ho was not at homa. He: did come at last, and wes told that the master vas absent. Ho insisted, and gave his name; the reply was the ssmo. *But it is impossi- ble for Signor Bartolini not to be at home to me! Bo kind enough to tell him that it is the Cheva« lier Thorvaldsen who wishes to see him.” Bar- tolini was keeping aloof in & small alelier ai the end of the large room in which his pupils were working, and overheard the colloquy. ' Irritated Dy the persistenco of ono with whom he thought ho had reason to b offended, he half opened ths door, and, thrusting out ks head, “No, sir, 1 am niot at home to you!” he cried ont, and shut the door. Thorvyaldsen, who was used to being everywhere recoived with the greatest respect and attention, retired, stupefied a_this stranga behavior, which seemed to him s piece of inexs plicablo eccontricity, the cause of which he prob~ ably never knew.—Zrom the Life of Thoredl by E‘ugene Plon. e A Little Composition on the Yheela barrewr. The Danbury News man says: If occasion to use n wheelbarrow, ou haya eave i, in fron with the handles toward i s e the door, 4 wheelbarrow s oo most com licated i to over on the face 10 NOTES AND OPINION. Sarih, A mas, will Tall oyer ono When heworld There-is no new feature in the Louisiana troublo to-day, but the longer the outrage is permitted to live the more hideous and revolting 1t becomes. Judge Bradley is not to go to New Orleans; af least that appears to be the present Ascision’ at Washington, and it is announced by the Republican organs as s peartisan triumph. The pecple asked that he might be permitted to do 80, in order that the alloged illegal and arbitrary action of Judge Durell might be sub- jected to, his calm and fair revision; but their Teasonablo request is refused. They are to be left under the heel of a Judge who has trodden never think of falling over anything else; he never knows when Le has got through falling over it, either; for iv will tangie his legs and his arms, furn over with him of him, his gelf, it takes a new turn, and scoops more skin off.of him, and he commences to ovolute anew, and bump’ himself on frosh places. never ceases to full over a wheelbarrow until it turns completely on its back, or brings up sgainst something it cannot upset. most inoffensive looking object there is, but is more dangerous than 2 locomotive, and no man and_rear up in front in him- and profanity Just to 2s he panses congratulate A man It i3 the on the neck of the State, and now holds it help- | is secure with one nnless he has & tight hold of less under his foot, with & Fsderal beyonet at ita throat. Witha refinement of tyranny, tho people of Louisiana are told that the, their remedy m an appeal from Judge Durell's final decision when that shall be reached, while at the same time it is announced that the pro- ceedings hitherto had before that convenient Judge are only interlocatory, and hence not subject to_appeal! Meanwhile the prees—the only remaining safeguard of the Libérty of tho citizen—is_suppressed at the. will of those who raged the laws, and defied tho Conpstitution, and the Administration at Washington looks ap- provingly on, and issues_its edicts that the usurpers shall be regarded as the only lnwful authorities of the Stato. Could these things have happened before the Presidential election ? ZNew York Herald, 3 ‘We have not for 2 lon; tga seen g m&ra tg; ting newspaper article than one in the lasi fis!;l;m gf the Na}:r York Independent, written by William Llnyd Garrison. It is a sharp criticism of Presidont Grant for attending the funeral of Horace Greeley. And we can speak 21l the more frankly on this subject because we have just squarely snd thoroughly fought & stout battle with Mr. Greeley and his friends. The article is simply vindictive and heathenish, Unless Mr. Garrigon has a personal quarrel with the dead which he cannot_bury in the grave, we cannot conceive any motive that should have instigated this attack. The fact is, our reformers get so in the habit of meuling that, when they have destroyed the evil they were raised up to de- stroy, they cannot lay by their cudgels.—St. Zouis Democrat. § - Good Mr. Ames tells the Credit Mobilier In- vestigating Committee that he distributed tho stock among Congressmen without any expecta- tion of services or favors in return. Let us its handles, and is sitting dosn _on_something. A wheelbarrow has its uses, no _doubt, but in ita ave | leisure momentsit is thegreat blighting curse on true dignity. The German Emperor Gives o Erench P R Cannon to an American Church. From the Titugville (Penn.) Herald, Dee. 17. At s meeting of the Building Committeo of 8t. Paul's Reformed Church, it was resolved to ask of King William one of the French cannon have already overthrown the Government, out- | taken by him in the late war, for the new edifice. Charles H. Meyer, the German Consul at Philae delphis, tells C. 2. Bausch, Esq.: to be cast a3 a bell The following letter, from 6 result : ParavELPmm, Dec. 12, 1872, Tam burp fo efato to you that His Iojosty, the Emperor William, in Teply to the petition o St. Paul's Reformed Church, at Titnsville, presented one of the cn%tmd French cannon to them, weighing abont 2, please communicate the factto the congregation, and also state to them that this piece of artillery is DOW awaiting transportation at tho depot in Berlin, I am ready to forward it ot your cons venience, I have the honor to be your obodient servant, Meyen. heg 000 pounds. You will Cmas. H. ] e Cause of Power in the Right Hand. In a paper read before the Chirurgical Society of London, Dr. Ogle states it as his belief that the superiority of the right band, in works re= quiring strength and skill, is not due merely to custom and usage. His reasons for this opinion sre that the superior power of the right side ia not confined to the arm, but extends fo the log, and that it commences in the arm before use ot education begins, and continues in spite of all efforts to resist or divertit. This superiority has a resemblance to some malformations, inase learn from him the art of enriching onrselves by | much as it is hereditary and is met with more charity. Here is aman who is worth ten mil- Tions,—every dollar of which he acquired, no doubt, by giving ewsy thousands, withont ' ex- pectations of favors or services, It is sb once touching and encouraging to think on't.—st. 2ot Agoel's guilt. Among those wWho at- | Louis Democrat, 5 The Times will be devoted, as in the past, to | ceives, frequently in tho male #ex, not only in men, but in apes and parrots. The suthor farther asserts that the left side of & right-handed man s greate er than the right, ané zice versa, and he suggesta that this greater development of the left side ig due to the greater quantity of blood which it re«