Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 26, 1873, Page 6

6 THE CHICAGO' DAILY TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 1873, B TERMS OF THE TRIBUIIE. 1 TERS OF SUBSCHITTION (PAYADLE IX ADTANCH) aily, Ly mall.....S 12.00 | Sundas 32.50 Trted o lfi.uo l \\'r'.?m. 200 Purts of & year at the semo rato. To prevont delay andmistkes, bo suro and givo Post Offce pddross in full, including State 3nd County. Kemittances may be made either by drat; express, Post S Offce arder, or in ragistered lotters, at onr tisk. hi ! TERMS TO CITY EUBSCRIBERS. Daily, delivered, Sunday excepted, 2 cont . Didly, delivered, Sunday mchaded; 3 conts per week: Per w THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, ‘Carnor Madisan and Dearbarn-sta., Chicago, 11l BUSINESS NOTICES. ROUGH SKIN MADE SMOQTH DSNUJU\X‘PER Ter Sonp, manufactured by, Casw New ‘WINE OF THE ALLSPICE IS MADE IN THE IS- 1aadof Jamaica from the juico of tha ripa alizpico berry. Tt s ot en alcobolls o whiskey componad, bt do Zht oic cordial and a_remedy for ivdiestion, bowel mnhlnh. eto., eto. Sald by ail dm:thl. FOR DYSPEPSIA, INDIGESTION, DEPRESSION of X irila and General Debllity. the ‘orro Phosphorated of Callsaga Bark Callinys Barg wnd Trom, 1 Lo ¥, W: touie. F 2ard & Co , New York, B SISy D The Chiage Tribune, Sunday Morning, January 26, 1873. COUNTY LEGISLATION. *he County Commissioners of Cook County ; concloded, a few days ago, their schedulo of g salaries. We hardly know which was most con- spicuous, their ignorance of thelaw, or their con- - tempt forit, s shown by the Board. Thus, inthe matter of the Judges of the sevoral Courts, the . Commissioners fixed their ealaries at $7,000 each. Thatis tho legal ealary of the Judges, but it is notall o be paid by Cook County. The Judges of the Circuit and Buperior Courts of this county receive €8,000 each from the Biate and €4000 each from the county; ‘but the Consmissioners voted them 87,000 each, = possibly in ignorance of the fact that they ‘i drow the same salary from the State that is paid ‘i tootherJudges. Sointhe case of the State's ® Altornoy; they rated him at 87,000 in like igno- rance of the fact that ho is paid part of his sala- 1y from tho State Treasury. ‘But these things are comparatively harmless ; the officers in question will take care to draw from the county only somuch of the salaries votod a8 maybe due them from tho county, but when the Commissioners came to fix the com- pensation of the Bheriff they uttérly dis- regarded tho law. Thoy fixed the com- pensation of the Sheriff and his doputics .. from the boginning of the tferm of <. office, the aggregato reaching almost $36,000. These ealaries arc to be paid out of the County Tressury. Tho Sheriff has heretofore been paid by fees,—fees collected from the county, and from parties to civil suits. Wo understand that the fees horetofore collected by the Sheriff from X, o5 Cook County for county work have amonnted to \ .. 10,000, . From this sum, and from the fees col- a3 Lord Guernsey was 21 ycars and G monils old when he mado the nsurious contract. The Vice Chancellor held, however, that thero is no magicin a twenly-first birthday which can in- stantly convert a simpleton into & rational be- ing. Of courso, this remark lefi tho Judge open to criticism for not deflning the exact ago at which experienco may be assumad tomake aman responsible for agrecing to pay sa exorbitant rate of interest. -This would be ox- tremely _ difficnlt to do. The counsel for the money-londer also insisted that tho Vice Chancellor, if he decided agaiust Lis client, should determino what rate of interost, in tho absence of laws fixing it, a money-londer might charge & man of lawful age. In spite of theso rather embarrassing sugges- tions, the Vice Chancellor was not disconcorted, but proceeded to give some good reasons why & Court of Equity should exercise discretion in dotermining the estent of esorbitant interest. In tho case of s financial crisis, & commercial man might reasonsbly pay a rate of intercst for a day, a week, or a month, to bridge over tempo- rary difficulties, which would be absurd and sui- cidal.to pay for a term of years. In the present case, the money-lender did not expect to receive his pey until the young Lord should come into his father's estate. The father was only 44 years old, and might rensonably have expected to live many years more. At compound interest, ac- cording to the contract, young Lord Guernsoy would have owed & quarter of a million for the use of £6,800, if his father had Lived ten yesrs, while his estate would have been but £20,000 & year.” Another point which the Vico Chancellor mado was, that the lender and borrower weronot on equal terms. Guernsey was obliged to borrow, while Morris was not obliged to lend; end Guernsoy, though of legal age, was in pressing cirenmatances, that promptod him to make obli- gations which no man of sonud mind would make with careful consideration. The Vice Chancellor held, therefors, that it was the duty of money-lenders to inform them- selves whether & man who agrees to psy an exorbitant interest, to be compounded for a number of -years, is doing so with & full understanding of the obligation. In other words, it was Lield that money-lenders have no right to take ‘outrageous advantage of a bor- rower who does not appreciate fully the nature of the contract he makes, whether by resson of imbecility of intellect, tho inexperience of youth, or other sufficient cause. He acknowl- odfed that no definite rules could be laid down to govern cases of this kind, but that oach indi- vidual caso must be left to the judgment of the Court. ‘The pmdant thus established is an argnment in favor of tho abolition of usury laws. Itisin consonance with the ides that the rates of in- terest shonld bo governod by tho cironmstances which affect the value of moncy. A man pays lected in civil sniu, the Sheriff has paid all his deputies and assistants, and has had an annual profit of not less, perhaps, than $20,000. The County Commiesioners now report that the probable amount of fees collected by the Sheriff, in civil cases, will bo sbout £8,000 & year; this sum, added to the fees due the Sheriff by the . county, if 10,000, will make his aggregate re- H ceipts $18,000. The Constitution and the stat- ¢S ute of Tinois kg svssin e b Shrvifs il L B O A eos “ actually collected.™ There is no more power in the- County Commission- i ers fo vote the Bheriff a dollar out of Ly the County Treasury in excess of his fees = “‘actually collected,” than there is for them to vote it out of tho Stale Treasury. Yet fl:a Com- missioners have voted salaries to dotble the amount of thege fees. 1t is & remarkable thing how the receipts of the Sherift's office have collapsed since they have ‘been required to be paid into the County Treas- % ury; anditisss remarksble how the “neces- . gary” expenditures of that office have expanded since they have hoooma payable out of the County Troasury. ‘«, In fixing the salaries of the eficel of Bheriff . ! snd Coroner, the Commissioners seom to have : acted upon the theory that the fees of theso : offioers for servicos rendered the county have been repealed. The fact is, those officers are entitled to charge the fees allowed by law to all other Sheriffs and Coroners, U these fees they are required to keep an accouat and make ro- i . port, and both Constitution and law require that in no event, and under no circumstances, chall the malary or other compensation of either officer - exceed the foes of his office during the current year. In the case of both of these offices, the County Commissioners bave sot this law aside, and have voted each of them an allowance from the County Treasury, ' independent of all reference v the amount of feew, and, according to the estimate of theCom- miseioners, far in excess of those fecs. 1t is hardly necessary to + 3, that, haviz.g dis- regarded the Constitution :nd statute in order to make a score of woll-salaried places for indi- © viduals at the public expense, the 'Commis- sioners disregarded the law which fixes their own pay at $2.50 per day, and .voted themselvea : &5 per dsy. The only answer or explsnation i which the majority of the Commissioners make ,\ ' '+ tothese flagrant violations of law is that given +. = byBoss Tweed when first charged with. his offi- 3 7 ; sisl crimes, and that was, “Wuu, what are you H going to do abont it?" i ‘ USURY IN LAW AND IN EQUITY. - Itisveryevident, from a recent decision'in the « . British Chancery Courts, that, in spite of the ro- : peal of laws prohibiting usury, the Courts of _- Equity will exercise s discretionary power to . prevent the collection of ontrageouslyexorbitant _ ates of interest. The casa which called for the -+, docision that promises protection of this natare : was the result of youthful aristocratic profli- gacy. Lord Guernsey, when a minor, had con- tracted debts to the amount of £4,000. To can- cel these and provide himself with funds, ho ntracted with a money-lender of the tradition- name of Xorris to pay 60 per cent interest on £8,000, on which he received £6,800, three onths’ interest at this rate havingdecn deduct- “'ed trom the principal to begin with. This con- ‘4ract was made after Lord Guernsey had become nf legal age, the money being advsuced upon ‘bis expoctations at the = doath of his Tsther. The father died within year, hough & man of middle age, and Lord Guarn- y became Lord Aglesford with an estate of {£20,000 per annum. Upon attaining Lis property, ‘he young nobleman. offered: to pay Morris the annmpfl. infull and interest at the rate of 15 mr cent ‘per snnum ; but the money-lender, {rusting to the repeal of thd usury laws, insist- 3 upon his bond, and sued. Lord Aylesford ‘Therenpon asked the protection of the Court of ‘hancery, and reccived it. There is ah English }.sw for the protection’of *infants”. sgainst’ more rent for a honse one year than he wonld pay another year, for the resson that rentable homses are scarcer at certain times than st others. Boaman will and should pay more rent for the use of money when money is scarce than when it is plenty. At the eame timo, the ‘English decision shows that the absence of pro- hibitory laws sgainst usury will mot emsble money-lenders to take advantages that aro op- INCREASE OF RAILWAYS TO THE EAST, The opening of easy and sufiicient communi- cation with the Atlantic seaboard is & problem domanding speedy solution. We aro mot in ‘pressing need of more railroads West. Some of those already built have but precarions exist- ence, and others are being strangled in conrse of construction. This result is due to the fact that, during the past decade, néarly every county in the West has been intersected by railrosds, without auy torresponding or appreciable effort having been made to provide sdditional trans- portation to the Esst. The consequonce is an sccumulation of business at Chicago beyond the carrying capacity of the Eaatward rail and water routes. Two months sgo, the Western railways converging here had business enough offered, for Eastern points, to block the four trunk lines to the ses, and still leave & surplus that would have fully taxed ten addi- tional throughlines to carry. The Cbicago & Northwestern alone, with its far-reaching branches, could have given the Esstern lines all they could receive. There being no adequate means of transfer, orders had to be despatched throughout the West suspending shipments until the “ blockade™ could be raised. This has not yet been accomplished. Meantime, the un- conscious farmers indignantly protest sgainst the arbitrary conduct of the railways." The future is more promising. The recent completion of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad furnishes another connecting link between the Mississippi Valley.and tide-water. The all-rail dicuance, by s 2ewr roat, from Chicago to Richmond, Va., is 833 :uiles. The selief it vill afford us is not likely to by . sry eyprecishi. It sitaply sdds one move to the four great com- ‘mercial highways, which, with their connecting net-work of 18,000 miles of railroad and 20,000 miles of navigable water, cannot promptly han- dle the enormous traffic that the prodigious ac- tivity of our producing States annually yields, Incroased transportation is demanded ; and grat- ifying efforts are being made fo meet the re- quirements. The pressure of trade from the Northwest forced upon the conservative Baltimore& Ohio Railrond the necessity of securing direct con- nection with Chicago ; and, from a pointon their ZLake Erie Division, 80 miles north of Newark, 0., aline has been located to this city, a» dis- tance of 280 miles, It will have the double sd- vantage of low grades and singular directness. The entire line will ehortly bo placed under con- struction, and will certainly bo in operation dur- ing the spring of 1874. But the line dostinedto afford the most speedy and effective reliof is the Caneds Southern. The organization controlling it comprises two corporations: The Canada Bouthern Railrond Compan§, whose road extends from Buffalo across the International Bridge over Niagara River, along the morth shore of Lake Erie, through Ontario to Trenton, on the Detroit River; and the Chicago & Canada Southern Railroad Company, whose road will extend from Trenton, in s direct line, to Chicago. This route will possess many advantages. The track will be firmly ballasted, and Iaid with steel rails throughout. It will have no grade excoeding 18 feet to the mile, and will be eingularly free from curves, 96 per cent of the road be- ing .om & porfectly straight lLine. It will have fuperb equipments, and an in- dependent entrance into Chicago. Its easy grades ‘will enable it to haul a train of fifty loaded freight cars from Chicago to Buffalo without ¢ breakinig,” which a rosd of heavy ‘'he rapucity of ‘money-lenders; but *F:30 present case could not come under that law, | ‘grades cannot do. Ita track will bea fast one, l-?d-‘b;aing much shorter, it ought to make con- siderably better time than its rivals. Tho Cana- dian portion is about completed. The line westward to this city is not so sdvanced, but is graded s distance of 100 miles. Thonow line will e comploted in timo to share in tho fall grain movement. A majority of its Directors aroalsoin tho Dircctory of the Rock Island, Northwestern, and Wabash Roads, and control their policy, {hus assuring to the now line all tho business it can iake from tho start. < Eastward from Buffalo, Vanderbilt proposes to tako care of all the business. Lo intends to put the New York Central in such superior con- dition thatno competing lino can offer equal facilities. Its freight capacity will be trebled during the ensuing summor. Itwill thon bea four-track railroad . through to Albsny. The now double-track will havo the considerable ad- vantage of ensior grades, by running round Bochestor and Syracuse. These increased facili- ties might seem to call for corresponding addi- tions to the capacity of the Hudson River Rail- road; but that road is now able to do four times its present business. This is accounted for by the fact—not generally known—that 70 per cent of the businoss sent over the New York Central is destined topoints inNow England, leaviog only 30 porcont for Now York City and the River Rosd. The proposed increase of capacity will diminish the cost of transportation. Two of the four tracks will bo reserved for passengor snd the other two for freight trains. This will allow of ench freight train boing run to its destination at s rogular rate of speed. At present, freight trains have to side-track out of the way of pas- Benger trains, causing expnns.\vu delays, and com- pelling them to run at hazardons rates of speed, when they got theright to theroad. Freight will then have quicker and uninterrupted transit, and thero sppears no reason why, when these facilities are provided, trains should not be for- warded in 88 rapid a succeesion as it is practicable to load and moke them up. Woaro this four- track system extended to Chicago, so that freight trains could be made up and sont out every hour, the problom that has eo long per- plexed us would be satisfactorily solved. The day of delivorance is dawning. The Lake Shore Road will goon have a double track be- tween Chicago and Buffalo. The Michigan Cen- tral i Tecovnizing the eame nocessity; while, eastward Liv Dotroit, tho work is progressing favorably. The Grand Trunk Railway hus xo- cently effected a change of gauge on it line bo- tweon Port Sarnia and Buffalo, which enables it to transport through freight without breaking bulk; and the Great Western “loop line,” from Glencoe to Fort Erie, opposito Buffalo, has just been comploted. When the Intérnational Bridge is finished, next summer, the volume of business that iill seek the north shore outlet will doubt- less be trebled. The Erie Railway Is also fraught with good in- tentions. Instead of roducing its broad gauge tothe standard 4 foet 834 inches, it is proposed tolay s third rail from New York to Buffalo, snd toadd 200 locomotives and 4,000 freight cars, narrow gauge, to the roiling stock. There are two other corporations industrions- Iy working in the samo profitable direction. The Now York, West Shore & Chicago Bailroad Com- panyare engaged in locating a lino up the west baok of the Hudson River to Jaynes’ Corners, TWeNTy-IWO mleB aDOVe Uatsgul, where it diverges westward, throngh Central New York, to Buffalo—s distance of 425 miles from New York. It will be a parallel routo to the Hudson River & New York Central, with the slight ad- vantsge of being fifteen miles shorter. Engi- neers are at work, and it is oxpected the line will bo in operation-through to Buffalo by the 1st of May, 1874. ‘The New York & Oswego Midland Railroad is the other candidate for Chicsgo business. In connection with the Lake Ontario Shore Rail- rosd, it will—when the short, intervening gaps bave been supplied—farnish a through line from Jersoy City to Buffalo. The rosd has been built in disjointed soctions, but, by the lessing of old and the construction of now lines, the wholo system betwoen New York and Oswego will ehortly be in successful operation. The foregoing enumerstion betokens an activi- ty in railrosd extension that is warranted by the domands of the growing West. They will not injure the existing railways. There is sufficient surplus businds for all the projected lines; bosides, each new route creatos local business foritself. The Wost has long been cramped be- causo of unsupplied communications ; but the ‘prospective addition of 8o many needed facili- ties will enable all partios concerned to endure more patiently present inconvoniences and losses, knowing that reliof in surely coming. DR. STRATSS' " OLD AND NEW.” The indication of tho general scope of Dr. Btraues’ new book, entitled * Der Alie und Der Neuo Glaube,” has already beed givenin the columns of Toe Tewose. It is sufficient for the purposes of this articlo to recall the fact that it traces the growth of infidelity, and carries the license of free-thinking to the most extrumo lir’t that has ever beon touched. It is gignificant of the interest which this volume is exciting that Mr, Gladstone should have felt himeelf called upon, when making a speech to some studonts, a few weeks ago, to denounco it. That eo busy 2 man as the leader of the British Government must necesaarily be, should have taken the time to read a volume entirely foreign to his sentiments and pursuits, is suffi- cient to provoe that Dr. Btrauss has presented his theme with power enough to create the most general and vivid interest. It is equally signifi- cant of the growth of liberalism in England that Mr. Gladstone should be criticized in turn for undertaking to answer Dr. Strauss at the timo and in the mannerwhich he chose, - Though the excuse made by English journals for re- buking Mr. Gladstone's speech was, that neither the occasion nor the scope of an - educational ad- dress warranted anything like a refutation of Dr. Strauss’ views, yet the tone of the criticisms ahows an indispoition o accept & mere general protest as o sufficient answer to & man like Strauss, who , studies history faithfally, and adapts his-reasoning to facts, no matter what ‘his conclusions msay be. The tenor of Mr. Gladstone's comments on Dr. Btrauss and his followers. is that too com- ‘monly adopted by tho ministers of the Gospel in meoting the deductions of the scientists and rationalists. His answer was, that the free thought of to-dsy sppears to be “roving and _vagrant more than free ;" and his advice to.his hearers is to hold fast that which is good, after the manner of . Bt Panl This kind of treatment is not what was tobe expected of a man of Gladstone's calibre. It may serve the purposes of an address to school-boys, in whom it is thought expedicnt to instil traditional and conservative idess of religion. It maybe the proper pabulum for peaceful village congrega- tions, when servod up by enthusiastic itiner- .and growing in conviction, who are ot to be led ‘ated many friends, sod the alienation reacted _wife obtained & divorce and lett him, with her . fire, without covering, and without attendants. ants, where & pious dovotion is the common mo- tivo of ehepherd sud flock, undisturbed by tho ad- vance of readon and science. It is not, oweve er, the kind of argument that will check the progress of thonght from out of the thraldom of church dominion. Thls dominion msy be right, and heslthful, and desirablo; but, if itbo all this, there are still dissenters, increasing in numbers back by general assortions, or by fcoble warn- ings that thoy are on ground that-is both dan- gorous and uncomfortnble. There are fow people who havo advanced 8o far in the domain of frce thought as not to be willing to concede that abiding faith is the safer and mord cheorfal harbor, if they could always steer for it.* The troublo is, that whon adverse winds come they cannot always be dissipated by tho ‘breath of o clergyman or the protest of a British Primo Minister. * It is not probable that Mr. Ghdntonn and Dr. Btrauss woulddisagreo onthe general proposition that it is well to hold fastto the truth. The dif- ference is a8 to the truth itself. -Mr. Gladstone has been reared in the' belief that Christ is tho YLord and Savior; his mental character has beon such a8 to. rest content with what his Church has taught him; his pursuits have been of akind that did pot bring him into conflict with the precepts of his youth. Dr. Strauss, on the other hand, has been a searching student in science and philosophy. He has lcamcd tore- gard the same porson who is 80 sacred to Mr. Gladstone a5 a young Jewish philosopher, who was put to death for political reasons, and who be- came the principal personage of a legend, whose oxact relations to fact can no longer be demon- strated. Hore is onecase.. We may find another conservative religionist who has faith that the Council of Nice discovered tho truth, and that thore ié no appeal from its decision. Oppozod to him, we find & rationalist, who has followed the Iater discoveries in science, and the later de- ductions in ressoning, who cannot accept the de- crees of the Council of Nice as final. Botweon these twowe find queermixtures of faith andrea- son, which reject certain articlee of faith because they cannot compreliend them, and accept others which are equally comprehensible. These persons, to bo consistent with themselves, must bo incon- sisteht enough to the restof the world to admit that faith thea is, in some measure, the dspend- ent of evidenco which' nppeals to the reason. “Ihe subject becomes confusing enough when wo think of the number and variety of the relig- ious doctrinaries. Tho point which scoms to be made prominent- 1y, however, is, that tho orthodox religionistsare not vanquishing their opponents by the use of general denuncistion. It is notable that the scientific or rationalistio religionists do not adopt this veapon of warfare, and it is evident that they e not afraid of it. A large body of the Christizns, including very many who would still adhere tothe Roman Church, wore scan- dalized at the (Ecumenical proclamation of tho Pope's infalibilily. We do not ses, how- ever, -that this mew dogma was - any- thing more than a movement for strength- ening the foundalion of arguments which *aro used by orthodoxists in general when they are callsd upon to confront the scientists and- rationalists: It wasa wall, behind which the Catholic Church could intranch itself and make faith with the Church not only traditional, but lasting and progressive. Those Christians wha decry infallibility in the present seem to moet the infidels with the infallibility of the past. Neither argument, if it may be called argument, sorves the purpose for which it is in- tended. We certainly believe that the growth and spread -of liberalism in all di- rections will force the orthodox religionists from their fas:cnesses_to como out and explore tho new gromd that has been gone over in science, resenrch, and reasoning. Dr. Strauss may be all wrong, but he will never be con- vinced of it by the mere telling; nor can doubt- ers be restored to faith, a8 a rule, by either threats or warrings. ¥ MUBICAL CHARITY. Is there no charity among musicisng? A re- cent circumstance, of peculiar sadness, which happened in this city, makos the question an ap- propriate one. Three years ago, William Grosk- curth came to this city. Ho was & musician of more than ordinary ability, ‘and a conductor of excellent talent. He had served as s leader of orchestra in Italisn Opers seasoys, at the East, and was competent to drill singers and place an opera wupon the stage in good style, as waa proved by his romarksbly suc- cessful presentation of the- ‘1Aagic Tlute,” assisted by the Concordia Maennerchor and solo talent of this city. The professional iroupos never gave a more remarkable perform- anco than did poor Grosscurth, with this ex- tremoly difficult work. He made s name and repuiation by it at once in Chicago, and fors short time everything was rosy. But he was not »man who could enduro success, nor was ho s m.n who know how to. improve success, He waa visionary. Jis head was full of wild, im- practicable schexes. He was e. ‘cssively nor- vous ir tempe:siaent ana very eccentric in habit,—so much so that' those who could not understand him knew not how to make al- Iowances for him. He wzs a thoroughly unbzl- anced man, and, ontside of the technical know!- edge and duties of music, his mind was unset- tled. Such men are always rude and brusque, and make violent enemies, but they suffer most themselves. And g0 it happened that he alien- upon himself. He knew nothing of, and cared nothing for, money, and squandered it as feet as ho got it. Then misfortunds began to come, and they camo in s storm, as they always do. He found himeelf without employment, wit.hmn friends, without pupils, and without money. His child, and thus the only thread which connected him with life was severed. It made his future a blank, and it made him utter]y careless and reck- less. So he went down, down, down, with fear- ful rapidity. It is unnecessary to dotail the steps. It would be unkind to Lis memory to- day, sleeping under the snow at Rosehill; and, 28 the enow covers him, so ehould 'a kind indul- gence cover his foibles and faults, from which ‘e suffered mpre keenly than any other. 5 First, desertion by-everyone, then poverty, then sickness, then insanity came. One day, by the merest accident, the Manager of the Mu- sical Academy, in -yhichhe bad taught throo years ago, and who had been_compelied to re- move him, beard of his condition, and went to him. It was one of the most extremely cold d&yl of this winter. He found him sick and ont of his mind, lying upon an old lounge, without- ‘He had him removed to 8t. Luke's Hospital, and ordered that he ehonld have the bestof care. Tt was too late, however, for any ministrations. " Ads, the poot'a dsughter. Ho lingered o weck or mora in great sufloring, raving about his wifo and child, now conducting an orchestra, and then singing snatches of songs. 1% dicd on Sundsy last. His funeral wason Thuraday, in the midst of the fearful storm. It was s very simple funeral—a vory gad faneral. Although the time of services had been an- nounced in both the English and German papers, just four persons found their way to the Hos- pital, upon whom the deceased had no’ claims except those of common humanity. By the {ime they arrived, tho sersico had been already read, not & friend or acquaintanco baving been predent, and thoy four then took charge of the body and placed it upon tho cars for Roschill in charge of the undertaker's assistant, and poor Grosscurth went to his grave alone, in the midat of that pitiloas storm, which was a fitting type of the storm which had beaten upon his lifo, and swept him out of it. Whatever his life may have been, whatover. his faults may have been, could there ho a more pilisble story than this? In a whole city full of acquaintances, with hundreds here who had clung to him while he was in his fortunate days, and were willing to elevate themselves by means of his fame, With many relatives, oven, rosiding here, he dies in a hospital; without a friend at his bedslde, and gocs to his grave with 1o one but an undertakor's assistant to see to “his burial. Is itan improper question to ask, whother thore is any chanty in music? Since his death, the four who provided for hia burial have decided to purcliaso a lot in Roschill Cemo- tery, where friendless musicians and artists of genius may be décently buried, and some me- morialof their lives be preserved.: Itis the inten- tion to remove Mr. Grosscurth’s body to this lot and erect a stone over his grave, and also to re- move the remains of Henry Ahner from the old City Cemetery to the same spot, and ever thercafter to keop this lot eacred to those who die helpless and almost friendless, in povorty and noglect, as died Alner and Grosso- carth.. This is 8, matter which appeals not only to charity, but to common humanity. It is an act of tardy justice, which musicians should take into their own Lands. 1t will require buta small smonnt to effect thispr-pose ; and we there- ' foresppeal totho Singing Societies, and toall who _profess an intorest in music, to lond a helping hand. Any contributions to this end may be for- wardod toFlorence Ziegfeld, Esq., at the Chicago Academy of Music, who will hold them in trast and apply them as the Committeo shall hercatter dosignate.. Burely, if thero is any charity in ‘music, this much ehould bo dono for tho sake of common humanity. .Great Britain has in hor system of taxation s remarkable scale of assessments upon what may be'classed under the gencral term of luxaries and amusements. Thus the owners of race- horsés paya tax of 318 per horse, and thorevenue received amounnted to 347,000. The dogs of the Kingdom wero each taxed $1.25, yielding an ag- gregato of revenue of £1,209,930. Ovar $300,000 was roceived -from 124,939 persons for the priv- ilege of carrying & gun. Nearly half a million of dollms was paid for licenses to kill game. The manufacturers of playing-cards sold 931,000 packs, for which they -paid o tax of 6 conts per pack. Including the imported cards, the consumption for the year was over one million of packs of cards. Four- wheeled private carriages paid a tax of 310 each, and other carrisges of $4 each, both yiolding over two and a half millions of ‘dollars. There is an additional tax of 310 for any armorial design painted on the carriage; but inferior heraldic designs are taxed only £5 cach, snd 60,000 porsons paid ome or tho other thess taxes, the revenue amounting to $425,000. The ,taxes on horses and mules is 83 per head, and 859,321 animale paid the tax. The licnse of & horse dealer is $62.50 a year. Male servaits pay & tax of $3.75 per -head, snd the tax was collocted of 275,506 persons. Dealors and manufactarers in gold and silver plate paid nearly half a million of dollars’ tax. Almost ss much revenue was paid on patent medicines. Included in the list of amusements or luxuries are divorces, the procecdings of which consumed 15,223 stamps, at an averago cost of &1 per stamp. The purely civil mar- riages paid for licenses, at thorate of $2.50 each, only 925,000 The aggregate tax from race- horses, dogs, guns, game liconses, playing-cards, private carringes, use of coats of arms, horses and mules, horde dealers, malo sorvants, dealors in plate, patent medicines, divorce stamps, and civil marriage licenses, was over $10,000,000. —_— There i a member of the Illinois Legislature who need not pursue the shirt of the Happy Man, .He is without politica—not a solitary pol- itic, as a similar beatified individual once ex- pressedhimself. A man who has no politics and serves in a State Legislaturo is certainly s good deal of a curiosity, but his condition is not so anomalous aa the circumstance that such a man ehould have boen elected to the Legislature. He was neither Democrat, Liberal, nor Radical; he +was not Masonio nor anti-Masonic; he did not act with the Temperanco party nor against the Temperance party ; he did not pledge him- self to vote for a Republican or for the Opposi- tion'in the case of Benator. Yot he was elected, and openly declares that he has no politics. ‘This could have happened under no other sys- tem than that of Minority Reprosentation. ‘The matrimonial misories of the Byron family did not end with the death of the poct. A suit is now pending in the London Divorce Court of Wen*worth vs. Wentworth, Buscariet and Argaiz. Lord Waatwortk:, the plaintiff, is a Peer in right of succession to his graadmother, Lady Noel Byron, aud is the cldest surviving 8ot of Lady Wentworth is tho daughter of & clergyman, who, two or. thres years ago, attracted great attention in London by her besuty, snd was very extravagant— £o much 80 that Lord Wentwo:ih was obliged to advertise that he would not be responsible for her dobts. The charges against Leraroofa & much graver character, however, thanmereex- travagance, and are creating & great excitement in‘London. —_————— The British system of sppeals is even more technical and complicated than our own, and is just now the canso of much well-founded com- plaint. First, there is an sppeal from Judge and jury to the full Court; second, from the full Court to tho Exchequer Chamber; and third, from the Exchequer Chamber fo .the House of Lords. The process is described as exceedingly dilatory, and it is certainly clumsy and unfair in the circumstance that two Judges may over- rule two subordinate Courts consisting of nine Judges. This system of appeal, along with the hereditary slowness of the Chancery Court, offer good subjects for reform, concerning which the legal minds of Great Britsin are agi- tated justn A physician conneoted with Guy's Hospital, in- London, has discovered a new method of treat- ‘ment for'cases of hysteris, which is gravely pub- lished by Guy's Hospital Gazelte. -He states that he bas found by experience that, when a young woman goes into hysterics and com- mences yelling and refuses to be comforted, all that hins to bo done is to seize her by the throat and choke her, and the fit immediately paeses off. This may be a very good remedy for ‘paupers; but tha physician who tried this reme- dy npon wealthy patients would undoubtedly set the wholo family into hysterics, and find himsel? ejected trom the hotse by the hyaterical pater- familias in the,most snmmary and hysterical manner iiaginable. ‘1o election whatever? “former carries the day by five to one. GRAND WORDS. BY PROFESSOB WILLIAX MATIEWS, OF THE UNIVER- ,BITY OF CHICAGO. Among the “peculiaritics by which we are wont to jndge of character, few are more signif- icant than the language which a man habitually uses. No one is at 3 loss, for instance, to deter- mine tho character of a man who clothes his thoughts in the plain but expressive garb of the Anglo-Saxon idiom, and eschews the bad French and worse Italian which are affected by literary dandies and cockneys. + Nor is one puzzled for & moment to characterize the opposite class,—per- 08, as Selden calls them, “ of squeamish stom- achs, who would rather choose to live in ignor- anco of things tho most useful and important, than to have their delicato ears wounded by the usoof & word nnknown to Cicero, Sallust, or the writers of the Augustan age.” Dot what shall we think of a third class, growing daily more and moro numerous, who, apparently des- pising the homely but torse and telling words of their mother tongue, never use a Saxon term if they can find “a long-tailed word in osify or ation” to convey, or rather darken, their mean- ing? Isit from a consciousness of their poverty of thought that they try to dignify their truisms, and lift them out of the limbo of commonplace, by tricking them in glittering wordsand phrases? Or is it because they share in the universal mania for tho sensational,—the craving fornovelty nd excitement, which is so common in these days, that they never call things by their proper names? Was Talleyrand wrong when he said that langusge was given toman to conceal his thonghts ; and was it really given to hide his want of thonght? Isit, indeed, the main object of expression to convey the smallest possible amount of meaning with the greatest possble amount of appearance of meaning ; and, since nobody can be a8 wise as Thurlow looked,"” to look as wise a8 Thurlow while uttering the veriest truisma? Bo this 88 it may, the persons of whom we epenk donot regard the simple Baxon aa good enongh for their purposes, aud 8o they array their ideas in *big, dictionary words,” de- rived from the Latin, and load their style with expletives as tasteless as the streamers of tat- tered finery that fluttor about the person of & dilapidated belle. Provided that s word is out~ ot-the-way, nnusual, or far-fetched,—and especi- allyif it is one of many syllables,—they care little whether it is apt and fit or not. The beau- tifol English words “boy” and “girl” they have pearly banished from our tongue. ' Boys and girls have .transformed 1nto “‘juveniles” and “juvenilo members of the community;” workmen have become ‘‘operatives;" and men and women generally are now ‘ individ- uals.” “Individual” is & "good Letin word, and serves o good purpose when it distinguishes a person from & neople or class, asit. sorved s good purpose in the acholastio - philosophy ; but would Cicero or Duus Scotus have called a great man an eminens individuum ? Theee *1ndivid- uals,” strange ‘to say, are never dressed, but always “sttired;” they never take off their things, but * divest themselves of their habili- ‘ments,” which 18 80 much grander. ‘Agnin ; the Anti-Saxons, if we mav &0 call them, never tell ns thata manwas zsleep, but gay that ho was “locked in slumber;" they deem it vulgar, and perhaps cruel, to ay that a criminal was hanged ; but very elegantto eay that he was “Iaunched into eternity.” A person of their acquaintance nevar does g0 low a thing aa to break his log ; he “ fractures his limb.” He is not, when dead, placed in & coffin, and buried in a graveyard ; bit—oh! refinement of cru- elty,—"the individual,” whon *defunct,” is ¢ deposited in a burial casket,” and * interred in & cemetery.” Our Latin friends—fortunate souls—never have their feelinga hurt, though it must be confessed that their ** sensibilities” are sometimes dreadfully ‘““lacerated.” = Above the necessities of their fellow-crestures, they novor oat o menl; they slways © partake of arepast,” which 18 so much more alegant. They never do 80 commonplace & thing 88 to tske s walk; they destrian excursion.” A conjuror with them is a “ prestidigitator ;" & fortune-toller, a * vaticina- tor.” As Pascal says, they mask all nature. There is with them no King, but an august ‘monarch ; no Paris, but a capital of & Kingfom. They sct upon the advice of Boileau : Quolque vous ecriviez, evitez 1a bassesso : Lo style Io motna nobla a pourtant &3 noblesse; and, to avoid the undignified, according to them, it is only necessary not to call things by their right names. ‘The most deplorable effect of this oy of speaking, aside from its moral aspects, is thet it is depriving all the sound, storling part of the English lsnguage of ita pecuiiar significance and force. Words that are rarely used will at last inevitably disap- pear, and thes, if not speedily chocked, this grandiloquence of expression will do an irTepar- eble injury to our dear old English tongue. Can any person account for the apparent antipa- thy which many writers and speakers have for the good Baxon verb *‘to begin?” Ninety-nine out of every hundred persons one talks with are gure to prefer the French words *to commenco™ and “to esssy,”. and tho tendoncy is strong to profer *to inaugurate” to cither. Nothing in our dayis begun, not evendinner; it is “ insugu- rated with soup.” In their fondness for the French words, many persons are betrayed .into solecisms. Forgetting, or not knowing that, whilo “to begin ” may be followed by an infii- tive or & gorund, “to commence” is transitive, and mast be followed by & noun or its equiva- lent, they talk of * commencing to do” a thing, “ oggaying to do well,” &c. Another of these grand words is * imbroglio.” It is from the Italian, and means an intricate or complicated plot. Why, then, shoulda quarrej in the Cabinet at Washington, or & prospective quarrel with France or England, be called “an imbroglio " Why, sgain, should “donate” te preferred to ‘‘give,” ‘'balance” to ‘‘re- mainder,” or “elect™ to *‘ choose,” whenthereis Or why should one say “rendition " for performance, ‘‘ennctment” for acting, *decimate” for thinned, or “nude” for naked? MMore offensive than any of these gran- diose words is * intoxicated” in place of drunk, which it has nearly banished. A man can be - toxicated only when he haa lost his wits, not by quantity, but by quality,—by drinking liquar that has been drugged. *Intoxicated,” however, bas five syllables; drunk has but one; 8o the No doubt, nine-tenths of thoss who drink to excess in this countryare, in fact, intoxicated ; still, the two words should not be confounded. . - Solomon tells us that there is nothing new under tho sun; and this itching for pompous forms of ‘expression—this contempt for plain- ness and simplicity of stylo—is as old as Aris- totle. In the third book of his Rhetorio, dis- cussing the causes of frigidity of stylo, he speaks of one, Alcidamas, & writer of that time, as “employing ornsments- not a8 seasonings to discourse, but aa if' they were the only food to live upon. Ho does not say ‘sweat,’ but ‘the humid sweat;' aman goes not to the Isthmisn gamés, but fo ‘the collected sssembly of the ' Isthmian SolemMity;’ lsws sare ‘the legitimate kings of commonwealths;’ and a race, ‘the incursive impulse of the soul’ A rich man is not bountifal, but the ’artificér of universal Iargess.”” Is it,not curious that our modern refiners of language, who often pride_ thomselves npon their taste for syelling words- |. ‘sud phrases, and their. ekill in using them, should have been lntu’_\plu)d by Alcidamas 2,000 years ago ? - The abuse of the Queen’s English to which we bave called-attention did not begin with Ameri- cans. It began with our trans-Atlantic cousins, ‘who employed * ink-horn" terms and outlandish phrases at a very early period. In Harrison's Chronicle we are . told - that af- tor the Norman Conquest *the -English tongue grew into such contempt at Court that ‘mpst men thought it no small dishonor to speak any English there; which bravery took his hold ot the Iast likewise in. the country with.every plowman, that even the very carters .began to e ve—— to speak French, which was. then counted no small token of gentility.” We are all familiar with Dr. Johnson's fondness for words of learned lengthi and thundering sonnd. “'The great lex- icographer,” as the fine writers call him, had & dialect of his own, which has been wittily styled Johnsonese. Goldsmith hit him in a ynlnerabla spot when ho eaid, “Doctor, if you were to’ write a fable about little fiskes, you wonld make them talk like whales.” And yet, whed ono day the Doctor took up a new tranalation of the Teatament, and in place of the words “ Jesua wept,” g0 touching in their simplicity, resd “Jegus, the Savior of the World, overcoms with grief, burst into a flood of tears,” ha threw down the book in a great rage, exclaiming “Puppy!” and, had the author been present, would probably have thrown the book at his head. Our readers need not be told how much Carlyle has done to Tentonize our langusge with his ¢ yardlongtailed” Gorman compounds. It wasa just stroke of criticiam when & New York auctioneer introduced a miscellaneous lot of books to a crowd with the remark : ‘“ Gentlemen, of this lot I need only say, six volames are by Thomas Carlyle; the seventh is written in the English language.” Some years sgo, a learned. Doctor of Divinity and University Professor in Canada wrote & work in which, wishing to stato the simple fact that the “rude Indian” had learned the uso of firing, he delivered himself as follows : . “Jo had made elave of the heaven-born ele- ment, the brother of the lightning, the grand. alchemist and artificer of times, though as. yot ho knew not all tho worth or magical power that was in him. By his means the stardy oak,. which flung abroad its stalwart arms and waved. ita Toafy honois defiant in the forest, was mado. to bow to the behast of the simplo nbonglneu. Bhade of Pop Emmons! what “an awfu’ sichi o' words 1" To such a writer we would say ag Falstaff said to Pistol : ‘“If thon hast any tid- ings, prithee deliver them like s man of thix world!” . A similar request we would make ta writers like Harrison Ainsworth, with whom & dog's tail is always *‘his caudal sppondage,’ and a fish-pond s piscine preserve.” When shall we learn that the secret of beauty and of force in spoaking and writing isnot to say sim- ple things finely, but to say fine things ss sim- ply 28 poesible? Fitz-Greeno Halleck tells ua that some years sgo & letter fell into his hands which a Scotch servant-girl had written to her lover. The style charmed him, and his lLiterary friends agreed that its stylo was fairly inim- itable. Anxious to clear up the mystery of ita. beanty, and even elogance, ho searched for its suthor, who thus solved the enigma: “Bir, & came to this conntry four years ago. Then E did not know how toread or write. But sinces then I have learned how toresd and write, buk “make & po- |, I have not yet learned how to epall ; 50 always. when I sit down' to write a lotter, I chaoso those- words which are so short and ‘simple that ¥ am. sure to know how to gpell ‘them.” This was tha. wholp secret. The -simple-minded Scotch girk: knew more of rhotoric than Blair, Campbell, and. Whately. Hor roply condonses volumos of in- struction into a nutshell. As Halleck forcibly* says: “Bimplicity is besuty. Simplicity is _——— A printer in New York, named McGruder, ehob- s fellow printer. on Monday last. A quarrel arose between the two.the. day. befors, but- McOruder declared -that -ho would not fight on. tho Sabbath day, but would shoot the other down like & dog Monday, and he Lept his word. A great many curious phases of opinion con~ cerning the observance of Sundsy have been developed of lato, but the ideas of the murderous printer are certainly tha most singular of all. The amount of venera- tion which he scems to have had for Sunday, and of contempt for Monday, involves the nicest de— gree of distinction which has yet been made in the discussions of tha Sunday question. It is. to be boped, however, that notwithstanding his queer views on the subject, ho may never again. bo allowod to use tho ** shooting-stick.” e The discovery of potroleum is roported &im-- ultaneously from Alabama and from Ecuador. I: comes at o time when these two districts arz: scarcely to be congratulated on their new sta- ple. When the Pennsylvenis oil producers ate forced to stop pumping, gnd to plug up their flowing wells, there is not much hope thai Ecuador or the State of Alabama will profit very extensively from their acquisition of petroleum deposits. Fortunately, the reported discovery cannot ressonsbly be regarded as a meana. adopted to secure immigration. It may be that: the peoplo of Ecuador and the State of Alabama: do not want any influx of strangers. If they da. not, they could not have adopted & more certain. means for keoping people away. Tho American, public has been too severely burned by oil om ene occasion to go near its fires again. The application of Miss Sussn B. Anthony & be discharged from custody, inwhich she is held on the charge of illegal voting, has been denied, and the lady has thus been given the de- sired opportunity of carrying the question, whether or pot women have tho right to vote, to the Bupreme Court of the United States. There is no reason to regret that there is thus a prospectfor a decision from a tribunal which will put a check to tho abortive little attempts that are made by women to vote at every election that occurs. The practice has rendered martyrdom altogether too common; so much so, indeed, that even Miss Anthony has. failed to attract any special attention in her lato sacrifice of personsl liberty for the good of the Cause. Thé example of M. Alexander Duval, wkashot himsclf becanse the notorious Cora Pearl would not continue to shower her favors upon him after his money was gone, has been largely imi- tated in Paris. Whenever a man has the slight- eat difficulty with a woman nowadays, he pro- vides himself with n revolver, forces himsel into her presence, and scatters his brains ovex her silk dress, The women of Paris have nof yot entered any general protest against the cus- tom which M. Duval inaugurated, in spite of the dangors it offers to theiwr good clothes. They probably consider it less cbjectionable than tha American custom of shooting somebody clse under similar ciroumstances. The plan submittsd at the Boston Institute of Technology for making the Mansard rocf fire- proof seams entirely feasiblo, and is very sim- ple. Itisan iron frame, Instesd of & wooden frame, slight in consiruction, and susceptible ot as much exterior ornamentation as the altitudi- nous lumber-yard which is ordinarily psed. With tho adoption of this system of construction, thero soems to be no reason why cities should ba deprived of the rich and handsome ornament which the Mansard certainly furnishes. We should say, too, that such s roof cunld be mora easily pulled to pieces than the style now in use, —and this mode of fighting fire at a great height is more efficacious than the use of water. peia e s It is #aid that Alr. Henry Ward Beecher earna 45,000 & year,—$25,000 salary from his church, 810,000 ealary as nominal editor of the Christian Tnion, and $10,000 additional income from the New York Ledgtr and his occasional lectures.. Mr. Beecher probably accepts this Iarge sum of money aa an inducement for tho enlargement of his profession. Ambitious young men who con- template entering the miuistry should take time to consider, howeyer, in simple justice to them- selves, that"where thereis one minister who - earns $45,000 s yaar, there are forty-five who do not earn & thousand a year, and so 6n in propor- tion.- It is the old principle of “poor preach— A very eerious disturbance has been caused in American gociety by the fact that Josephine Mansfield has engaged s pew in the American . Episcopal Church, in Paris. She goes to the church every Sunday, and, it is stated, buries her head in_her prayer-book with all the devo- tion of a'eaint., mba church was established to save souls, thers is an opportunity for tha wax weary of their mother-tongus, and labored American Episcopal Church worth improving.