Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, May 24, 1874, Page 8

8 THE -CHICAGO DAILY ' IRIBUNE: SUNDAY, MAY 24, 1874. the lowest stratum is volcanic, is boiling over proparty. Peoplo who think in fignres ot ¢, TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. TERMS 0¥ SURSCRIPTION (PATABLE I¥ ADVANCE). - $12.00 | Bunda $2.50 Pl ftt R s 2.00 Parts of & year at the zame rats. To prevont delay and mistakos, be sure and gire Post 0, ce address in full, including Statc znd County. Remittances may bo made either bydraft, express, Post OFice order, or in registered lottere, at oorrisk. TERMS TO CITY GUDSCEIBENS. Lefls, delivered, Sunday excepted, 25 conte per week. 1aily, aclivered, Bundas incladed, 50 cents per wook. Acdrees THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Corner Madisen 2nd Dearbora-sta., Ubloago, L TO-MORROW'S AMUSEMENTS. between J - streot, MVICKER'S THEATRE—Madison streot, betwoen Dozrborn and State. Engagoment of Maggls ** Pearl of Savoy."! DEMY OF MUSIC—Halsted streot, batwreen Wed- gt el Engagement of the Vokos Family- ¥ Belles of the Kitchen ™ bash _sremuo ADELPHI THEATRE—Corner of Wabash, o na Cungrees stroel. yarioty perforpance. Shenronn burlesque of ** Bad Dickos.’ | EATRE—Nos, f18-221 West Madlson g-fi‘g’.”flgag’.fmmmu, aite Sisters, Mlle. San- seab, etc. 2 ¥ BUILDING—Lakeehors, foot of Adsms RO O et Afiacoooh aad oresing. FOREPAUGH'S OIRCUS—State strect, corner Twon~ -dhiird. SOCIETY MEETINGS. IAGO MMANDERY, No.18, K. T. ST Knlgg(n-fipsdll concleyo Afonday 'kt 70 clock, for work on R. . Ordo r Knighta courteously invited. By order of the Lo COVGED. F. BINC: Hecorder. B CHAPTER, No.2, R. A. 3 —Hall 2 &t 8 o'clock, for buainess and wo: M. Drgrbg:é‘, y order of the H. F. HOME LODGE. No. 415, 1. 0. O. F.—Ofcars and members, 5ou sro francsted 5o fmset at sour hall, corner T Clark and Wastington.ts., this (Suadas) mo 10 o'clock, for tho purpose of atte: Brother Philip . Anderson. 2 ially tnetted. s brotLor, ¥. R. & 2re favited to meet at same piaos st 11 of the N. G- > QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY will be celobrated atT. TP QU \Feat Mzdisonat, on dondsy, and the ‘sl ftound of Beof will be servod up, and a quoit match wiil take place for a nrizo, open to all comers. Quoit The Chicags Gribune, Sunday Morning, May 24, 1874. = THE BWING-PATTON AFFAIR. The whole aspect of the Swing-Patton case has changed, asourreaders know, within a couple of days. Prof. Swing has withdrawn from the Presbyterian Church after vindicating his right to remain in it, and after his orthodoxy was vouched for by the Chicago Presbytery. Ho fought, and won ; he came, Liesaw, and conquered; but rather than continue the fight any longer sur- renders all the advantage that he had obtained. Prof. Patton, too, has gained all that he started out in search of. He wanted to demonstrate Swing no Presbyterian. Mr. Swing leaves the Prosbyterian Church; but Patton, having got his hand in, is bound to fight somebody, @0 he fights the Prosbyters of Chicago and their decision in the Swing trial The question is very npaturally askod: What is Prof. Swing going to do now? Tt ia not, per- beps, generally known that Mr. Swing is not the pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church. Shortly after the fire that church, being without 2 clergyman regularly installed as pastor, invited Mr. Swing to occapy its pulpit, and theinvitation wes amccepted. Since that time he has ‘been, not the pastor of the church, but what is known in Presbyterian parlance 2s “‘stated sup- ply.” Thisisaposition whicha Congregationalist may, consistently with Presbyterion usage, fill, 28 long as the Session of the Church are agreod. If Mr. Swing joins the Congregationalists, he may, therefore, if the Fourth Presbyterian Church secs fit, continuein his precent position. In other words, there is npothing in Presbyterian dis- cipline to interfere with Alr. Swing’s relation to his present congregation, thongh ke should be- come s Congregationalist, while they continued Presbyterian. But Mr. Swing can neither leave the Presbyterian Church nor join the Congre- getional withont formally severing his con- connection with the former,—i. e., obtaining 5 letter of dismissal, stating that he is a member in good and regular standing. To leave without this document, to ignore the Church, or take “ Frenchleave ™ of it, would be to submit himeelf to another controversy. The question has been asked whether the Presbytery can give such a let~ tertoProf. Swing while there is an appeal pending in which he is interested. So far aswe have been sblo to learn, there is nothing to prevent the Presbytery’s certifying to Prof. Swing's good standing in the Church, if they feel so disposed ; and, constdering that they havo just scquitted him of the onlycharges that can be bronght to impesch his good standing it would seem that they will feel s0 dispos- ed. The appeal pending is no clond on Prof. Swing's orthodoxy. As Prof. Patton say8, he i8 not even a party to it,—no more a party to it than if his nome had never been mon- tioned in connection with it. The case now is not Patton sgainst Swing, but Patton against the Presbytery. Prof. Swing is not even repre- sented by counsel in the appeal,’ To refuse him & letter of honoralle dismissal becanse there is an appesl of tho kind pending would be to prejudge tho case and usarp the place alike of the 8ynod and General Assembly. As far ag the matter has gone it has been a testimonial to the good standing of Prof. Swing, and a rebuke to Prof. Patton. With a letter of dismissal show- ing his regular standing in the Presbyterian Church there isno doubt that the Congrega- tionallsts wonld receive him gladly. TAKING TEE BULL BY THE HORNS, The Southern Methodists, in Conference as- eembled at Louisville, have taken a very bold position on the temperance question, and one which is much more radical than any Northern Church has sssumed. ;By a very large voto,—325 to 88, being more than the nczessary two-thirds, —a minority roport that any person making, bufng, eelling, or using as & beverago intoxi- cating liquors shall be, upon conviction, de- barred from membership in the Church, was adopted. This action will be sent round to the local Conferences, and if the .majority of threc- fourths concur it will become n law. The vote wes preceded by & long and excited discussion, io which all the points which have 5o bewil- dered our local clergy were canvassed. As there was no apparent possibility that Scriptural texts could be reconciled, or that the views of delegates wonld sdmit of any compro- mise, they decided to take the bull by the horns and throw the animal out altogether. The whicky-mannfacturer, the whisky-setler, ‘the whisky-buyer, and the whisky-drinker were all clarsed under the same head, and the ban was pronounced.- As s tfestof the feeling in the Conference, ono of the most prominent mem- bers declered himself in favor of this special legislation, even if it struck 50,000 members frem the roll. This action does not ad- mit of equivocstion, and the Methodist Church South has dome itself credit in tokiog ea Attitude which canbot be misunderstood. If the Churck is to take any position at all it should take & radical one. If all drinking 1s an evil itis folly for the Church to | compromise with it. The teachers of virtue have no right to meot vice half way. By this bold sction the Church South will no longer have to squabblo over fermented and unfermented wine. It will no longer have to apologize for the con- dnet of Noah, Joseph, David, Solomon, and tho rest of tho drinking patriarchs, It will not have to adopt triturated currant jelly 48 » substitute for grape juico and the extracts of rye and corn. It will mot have to explain that miracle at Cana of Galilee. 1t sets tho acal of its disapproval upon sll such practices, It pronounces these old and erratio patriarchs &8s unworthy of membership in the Mothodist Church SBouth. Nevertheless, tho Conference is to be credited with courage in throwing ont alcohol sltogether. Now, will the Methodist Church North bave the courage to followin the steps of their Southern brethren, and leavo the products’of tho vine and tho distil- Iations of the cereals to the sinners, and forever cloar their skirts of responsibility, snd set an ex- ampls to the children of darkness ? e THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. The act of the Legislaturo chartering public libraries in the cities and townsof Illinois author- izes the mupicipal authorities to Ievy a tax not exceeding one-ifth of & mill on tho dollar of valuation for the support of such libraries. The first levy for ths Chicago Library was in 1872; tho next in 1873. None of the first levy was evaileble until late in 1873, and the bulk of the second will not be reccived until August of 1874 Tho cxpenditures for the Library, first in fitting up the reading-room in the City Hall and Tank, and sccondlyin the present quarters at the corver of Madison street and Wabash avenue, have drawn largely upon the availeble funds. Tho reading-room has become already one of the institations of the city, and is largely attendod. The circulating department has at once grown into high favor and usefulness. The list of new applications for books is at tho rate of one hun- dred each day, and it will not require many months before tho number of applicants will equal the number of volumes in the Library. The books purchased were scarcely enough to begin with, and of many of the popular books & half-dozen copies sre in demand st a time. This work of putting the circulating library in operation with only a lmited number of books, and with few duplicates, is one of dif- ficnlty, and can only be accomplished by a rega- lar and liberal addition to the volumes for circu- lation. The estimato presented to the Common Council for the year 1874-5 was 50,000 for the support and increase of tho Library. This estimate the City Comptroller has reduced to $20,000. The recading-room attached to the Library is an extonsive one, and is well supplied with papers and magnzines from all parts of the United States and Europe. It is open from early morning until 9 o'ciock at night. It requires several attendants for this department alone. The cost of attendance, fuel, light, stationery, and other expenses, will reach, if not exceed, Comp- troller Hayes' estimate, thus leaving Lthe ibrary without any fonds to make additions to the Library. It is not likely that the Directors would have opened the curculating department at all unless they bad had assurance that the small stock of books held by them would be in- creased ; and, if there are no moro books to be bought, it would perhaps be better to close the Library, and abandon the attempt to farnish books to the peoplo of & city like this from tho comparatively paltry collaction now on hand, or procurable with the money now available, The Common Council have to act upon the recommendations of the Comptrollor. While the public heartily agrce with Mr. Hayes in his plan toreduce the expendituros of the current year to a million less than the appropriations for last year, this proposed reduction in tho case of tho Library is neithor ggonomical nor expedient. It the members of the Council will examine the list of names registered for books they will be gratified at seeing among them a very large pro- portion of young men and women who are at labor all day, who have no means to buy books, end whose only hope of obtaining reading-mat- ter for pleasure or instruction is in this Library. 1f tho books csn be furnished, there will be within & year 60,000 names registered, and no moncy can be 80 profitably expended as in main- taining this great public benefaction. ‘THIS WEARY WORLD, It is a troublesome world. No one appears to be satisfied. Forty crusadersin Pittsburgh, forty in Cinciunati, aod forty in St. Paul (why always forty 7), hsve been arrestod, brought beforo Police Courts, admonished by magistrates, and sent home with iostructions notto be caught again breaking the law by blockading sidewalks 80 that shopkeepers cannot transact business, and by riling up honest beer-drinking Tentons. And yet, having escaped the punishments of the 1aw which they haveviolated, they aronot happy, but eing the Doxology with the gall ofbitterness in their hearts. Prof. Swing has got out of the Presbyterian Church so far that he will remain astho **lawless minister of the Fourth Church,” and yet Prof. Patton is not happy, al- though his purpose all along has been the cject- ment of Prof. Swing from the denomination. Bo he etands oo his side of the fenco sbaking his finger ot Prof. Swing on the other side, and threatening to lack out the palings. The snobs at Washington are still fretting and fum- ing becsuse they were not invited to Mrs. Bartoris’ wedding, and when they have weddings they won't send her any cards. But porhaps tha most mournful cage of all is that of the Duchess of Edinburgh, Mario Alexandrov- na, whose gocial troubles are once more re- vivedl. Shoe and her husband were rocently absent from the Queen’s érawing-room. Will the Eastern question be brought up again ? ‘This is the conundrum which is vexing all England. Tho Duke of Edinburgh ranks next to the Prince of Wales; but does the Duchess of Edinburgh rank pext to the Princees of Wales ? When tho Princess Louise and the Marquis o Lorne go to the drawing-room they have toseparate, the hus- band going to the rear among the gentlemen in waiting. If this i8 the case, by similar etiguette the Duchess of Edinburgh ®would probably go to the rear samong the ladies in waiting. This is hard; bat it is no harder for the Duchess thanthe Mar- quis, and if he can bear it she cught to. Bat the poor Duchess has another grievance. Clar- once House, which eho is to occupy when com- pleted, stands in a backward position. It has St. James Palace on one side and Sutherland Houso on the other, but this is no compensa- tion, 80 long as her houzo bas 8 backward posi- tion. This also is hard. Xt is tough to bave to g0 in the resr yourself and see your husband go up to the front, but perhaps it is still tougher to have vour house 2o to the resr | avd see your betters looking out at you from their back windows, and to catch the dustof their ashes, and to have nothing to look at all day long bat your neighbors’ butcher, snd milk- man, and huckster, although you have the ad- vantage of knowing what they have for dinner, and how much, which is no small consolation to the average femalo bresst in time of afflic- tion. Thus this eccentrio whirligig of the world goes wrong all tho time. Even the Czar of all tho Russiss, tho moment his back was turned mpon St. Petersburg, found himself annoyed. For did not his nephew ab- stract his mother's diamonds, when the good old 1ady was out calling, and squander them upon & strolling actress? If ono wera the Czar of all the Russiss, the world might whirl s it pleased, for, if heis g0 disposed, he can tako his nophew's head . clean off his shoulders, and send the actress to . limbo, and Do onme can question: the propriety of the procecd- ing. But, 88 we saro mnot all Czars of all tho Russias, let us cultivate a spirit of philosophical contentmont, and accept all the complications of fate with a grin. Let the cru- sadors stay at home and attend to the beef- steaks, and the babies, and the stockings, snd find happiness in these homely but extremely necessary occupations, Let Prof, Patton pos- sess his sonl in patience, and study tho text, * Blessed are tho peacemakers.” Lot tho Wash- ington 8noba forget tho Presidential slight, and vote for somebody the next time who is sound .on wedding etiquetie. Let the pretty Duchoss of Edioburgh, meditating upon her present lot, thank all her stars she wasn't born a scallion, consigned for life to wash down the stairs of St. James Palace and the Satherland House. ARMY HEADQUARIERS, The City of St. Louis has been praying and begging the gods these many years to send it something which might servo to distinguish it; something to attract psople to it; to cause peo- plo to talk of it—something, in fine, which it might be proud of. Failing to convinco the peo- ple that it is the Futare Great City of the World, and to get the National Capital there, it eoothesits disappointed prido with the prospect of securing .Gen. Sherman and his hesdquarters. Te Deums are being sung in that city of cathedral stiliness over the early advent of the General of the Army. We congratulate Bt. Louis that it is on the point of increasing its population; and, also, that it is to bhave at least one thing its citizens may boast of when they go to other places; and s point of interest to show to strangers when they visit their quiet town. Of course the St. Louis journals will admit of no reason for Gen. Sherman’s choice of 8t. Louis as a residence ‘but that in the eternal fitness of things heshould be there. Bt. Louis, the General of the Army, and his headquarters were made for one another. Hence the St. Louis Demo- crat puts little confidence in the rumor that the removal of the army headquarters to St. Louis is proposed bocause of any unpleasant- ness between Gen. Sherman and the Secretary of War, or because of any plot to make Sherman President or keep him from being President. These may not bo the reasons for the chango ; ‘but, if they are not, neither are the reasons sur- mised by the Demdcrat conclusive why St. Louis should bo chosen for army headquarters. The Democrat reazons thus ¢ The romoval of headquarters from Washington fs demsndod by common sense. Our armics aro mo longer statfoned along the Atlantic coast or the Canads border, a8 they were in olden time, Theyaro no longer masescd in Southern Btates between the Mis- sissippl and the Atlantic, aa thoy were during the War 804 107 sume years arer its clogo. They are employed 2lmost wholly in the Far West, hundreds of miles be- yond the Mississippi. Army headquarters wonld be almost as conveniently locatod at San Fronclsco as at Washington. The cost of communicating with the mavy distant pointa is very much greater now than it would be with headquarters here ; the coet and delay of rexching them for inspections is much greater, and the inevitable tendency is to transform the army into & mere dependency upon the petty political squabbles at Washington. It ought to be kept, a8 far os possible, frea from such influences, organized, disciplined, and maintained toenforce the authority of the United Etrtes, no mattor by what individual or party that suthority may from time to time be rightfully wielded. :We presumo that considerations of this charactes have Ied Gen. Sherman, who is eminently distingnished for his practical common sense, toask tho transfer of headqusrters, and that the same considerations havo led the President to authorize it. Granting that cormmon sense demands the re- moval of the headquarters of the army from Washington—rwhich wa are quite roady to grant— it does not follow that common scnse demands their removal to St. Louis. We do not say that there are not good rezsons for Gen. Sherman’s removal from Washington. Wo suppose thers are, since ho has made tho change, but wo ean imagino very zood reasons why the army head- quarters should continue at Washington, as long at least a8 it romains the Capital of the United States. There is not, perhaps, a single instance in the civilized or uncivilized world whoro the seat of government is at one place and the army head- quarters at another. If the argument of tho Democrat proves anything, it proves that Gen. Sherman's headquarters should be situated in the *‘¥Far Weat, hundreds of miles from the Mis- sissippi,” say at Denver City. Nor fs there any reason why the army leadquarters should be whero the srmy happens at any time to be massed. The army may be massed to-day in the Far West; but how long it will be there no one can tell. It may be necossary to mass it to-mor- row in Louisiana, or Arkansss, or New York, or Maine. We do ot think that the Democrat accounts eatistactorily for the change. We nono tho less cheerfully congratulate St. Louis on its acquisi- tion. It is going to have something notoworthy at last. St. Lows owes its good fortune in gotting the headquarters possibly to the fact that Chicago has Lieat.-Gen. Sheridan alroady, and it would be hardly fair it should ask for Gen. Sherman. Chicago is too magnanimous to demand both. ‘WABASH-AVENUE RAILWAY. Whether it be wise or unwise for the Common Council to grant a franchise for s stroet-railway in Wabash avenue, it is incumbent on that bedy to see to it that the contract does not run longer than the existing contracts with the Chicago City Railway. These contracts were made in the year 1859, to continue for the term of twenty- five years. Fifteen years have already expired. Two-thirds of the franchise has already *fallen in,” and fortunately it is not possible for the Council to take any action extending it until within one yeer of its expiration, and then only by a three-fourths vote of all the Aldermen elected. If the existing South-Side Railway conld get their franchise partially extended by taking Wabash avenue and resigning Btate street at the end of the time, they would prao- tically accomplish what they intended to accom- plish by the celebrated ninety-nine year bill, which canged so much excitement and slew go ‘many politicians in the year 1865. The point to be watched most narrowly by the public i8 any attompt to procure an extension of horse-railway privileges beyond the year 1884 The present valuoof theso franchisesin thodiffer- ent parts of the city is measured by tho value of the stock of the several companies, minus the value of their iron tracks, their cars, horses, and stablos. It may be set down at not loss than 2,000,000, and st tho expiration of the term, when ten years’ growth sbail have been added to the city, they will perhaps be worth double tho sum. Itisprobable thata handsomebonuscouldbo obtained now for the right to lay atrackin Wabash avenue. Whother it shall be deemed advisable ten years from now to sell the strect-railway franchises {0 the highest and best bidders, or to mako new contracts with the existiog companies for areduced rate of fare, it is sll-important that no step bo taken to hamper or complicate the rights of tho public in theso important and valuable privileges by moking contracts on parallel streets which shall run looger than the original ones. HULIORS OF THE TARIFF. To mwost peoplo the tariff presents but dry rezding, but the laws of the United States are 80 fearfully and wondorfully made, and present somany and extraordinary sbsurdities and in- consistencies, that the careful student of the American tariff will find the ludicrous and the stupid everywhere commingled. Thero are many legenda rolated of our logisiation on the tariff. One of these is that somo filty years 8go the printer, in sotting up the list of articles in the free list, nccidentally *‘ pied " a stickful of the matter. Ho was ablo to correct all the lines excopt onc, and into that ho put all the type that was left without any referonce to the order of the letters. The word thoy producod was of sesquipodalian length, sud it was duly published in the law. Every timo the tariff was amended and re-onacted, this unpronounceable name of sono unknown articlo was ropeated in the free list. When the War broke out, and the protectionista got control, thoy took it from the froe list and put a duty of 20 per cont on it; in subsequent acts, the duty was increased to 30 and 40 per cent, nader the theory of protecting homo industry, and thus it contind until a fow years ago when the origin of {0 mysterions article in tho tariff was made knov™=sad then the name was dropped from tho law. Mr. David A. Wells, in a loiter in a Now York paper, relates gome incidents in tho way of tink- ering the tarilf even in the carlier days of the Republic, and gives tho true version of the im- portation of leaden statuary in order to avoid the tariff Iaws. Ho prefaces it with the story of thelaw enacted by tho authorities of a French town to the effect that ‘*no citizen should walk out after dark without a lantern”; and how a citizen was arrested undaer this law and escaped punishmont by proving that ko had a lantern with him, brt whick countained no candio. The law was amended S0 as to require both lantern and candlo, and tho same man eecaped punish- ment by exhibiting his lantern with sn unlighted candlein it ; the law was egain amended so 28 to require lantern and lighted candlo, and the same man again defeated tho law by using a dark lan- tern in which was concealed a lighted candle This story was a burlesque upon the incapacity of the rural Frenchmen to make laws; butit has been substantially repeated by the United States in their attempt to put & tax on imported lead. From 1816 to 1825 there was low duty on im~ ported lead, and the manufacture of white lead 48 & basis for paints bocame & great American jndustry. About this time occurred the dis- covery of the lead mines at Galena, and the belief existed that these mines would be able to supply the entire world. The next thing was (o protect American Iead {from competition, Thoreforo, the duty was doubled, and in 1528 the duty on lead in pigs and bars was increased to 8 cents a pound, boing an addition of 200 per cent. The law, however, did not change tho dnty on white lead, and tho American manu- facturors wore threatened with the annihilation of their business, and therefore they put on their spectacles to find somo defect in tho law. They found that, while Congress had put o tax of 8 centa a pound on pig lead, it had left tho dutyon *old lead ” at 15 per cent. Agents were at once sent to Enrope by the houses engaged in the importation of metals to purchase nll the old lead that could be found. So sharp was the search that the supply was exhawsted and con- tracts were actuslly made to furnich now lead in exchangs for old; old roofs were taken off and new ones put on without cost to the owner,— the American tariff actually mskiog old lead more valuable in this country than new. Old lead, in time, reached this’ country in immense quantities; the Custom-House suthorities were sstounded at tho tender of 15 por cont daty, aad refusod it. The case was sent to Washington, and decided in favor of the merchants, the law being defective, aud its speedy amendment was promised. Tho morchants, upon further examination of the tariff laws, diccovered that any person im- porting musket-balla or leaden bullets should pay & duty thorcon of 15 per cent or the goods should boforfeited. They theroforo instructed their agents in Europe to buy up 21l the musket- balls and leaden bullets they could find, and to have others manufactured, all of which in time wero received in the United States. There was another row at tho Custom-House, but the authorities at Washington were forced to decida that lead in this form was only subject to tho Quty of 15 per cont, but declared that the law would be amended. Then followed an extraordinary interest in getting hold of new sets of standard weights, the weights varying frcm hal? an ounco up to fifty-six pounds, and also clock-weights and leads msed by navigators for deep-sea somnd- ings. Lendin all these forms was extensively imported, and the Custom-Houses demanded fho duty of 8 cents per pound. This being refused, they soized tho “clock-weights,” “acale-weights,” aud “sounding-leada ™ that were imported. The case was Leard at Washington, and again it was decided that the law, with sl the amendments, did not cover theso articles, so the importers ro- coived their goods at 15 per cent duty. Some time after this, a New York merchant im- ported, for a publisher, an iavoice of stereotype metal, which was then on the free list. The metal came over in pigs and bars, and 83 it consisted merely of lead mixed with & emall proportion of antimony and bismuth, the Cus- tom-House anthorities regarded it as another trick of the lead dealers, who would undoubtedly separate. the constitueats, and gell the lead separately. Tho invoice was seized, and suit was entered in the courts. The trial was & short one. Dr. Chilton, a chomist, wes the first and only witness called. The Government insisted that the metal was imported in that formin order to avoid paying the duty. Mr. Wells gives the report of the trial as follows : District-Attorney—What is your profession? Dr. Chilton—A chemist, Q.—Where wero you educated ? A.—In Edinburgk, and heve followed for many years my profession in New York, Q.—Have you made an snalyels of this imported metal [at the same time referring to one of the ‘bars included in the invoice] 2 A.—I have. Q.—Of what does it consist? A.—Of some 80 per cent of Iead; the remainder antimony, bismuth, snd tin, 2 1t possible to separate thesa several constitu- s, 8¢ thus mixed, so as to use and sell them scparately? A.—Perfectly 8o, Q.—Please tell the Court what in your opinion would be about the expenso of the operation? A.— Bather more than all the several materials are worth. There was silence for & few moments, Tho Dls- trict-Attorney did not scem to be possessed of far- iner inquiring spirit. Ifwiss warm summer’s dsy, and the Judge (Betts), after mopping his face with his Dhandkerchief, stretched his head forward, and, somo- what brusquely, asked if Mr, Prico had any rebutting testimony, and on receiving & nogative Teply fell back inhis chair, with the remark, “Then the case had better be dismissed.” And dismissed it was., The lesd merchants, upon further search of the tariff Inws, discovered that “‘metal statuary and busta " were admitted free of duty. They therefore resolved to cultivate a taste for fine arts, and ordered from Europe busts—mainly colossal—of Washington, Lafsyetts, Napoleon, Moses, and the Prophets, with reproductions in load-of all the works of antiquity. At firat these did not attract much attention at the Cus- tom-House, and Mr. Wells saya: But when Washington came np out of the hold of .the vessel after a rongh voysge with his noso punched “in, and Napoleon with his eyes sufficiently zakew to require an operation for strabismus, and Moses look- Ing very much like n subject on whom the law ought 1o be administered rather than sn suthor and admin- istrator of tho law, suspicion was naturally excited, #nd forthwith the statuary was seized and held for forfeiture by the customs authorittes. Ono of the merchants had an invoice of these busts landed at Boston when @ case was made up and tried before the courts. Alr. Webster appoared for the importers, and the Court in- structed the jury to find for the defendants. During all theso years the vigilance and skill of the customs officials and of Congress had not been ablo to frame a law that would successfully impose a higher tax than 16 per cent on imported lead. Mr. Wellsadds to the story of the im- portation of lead in busts the following ex- planation : As this curfons story has beon heretofore toid, the importation of the leaden atatuary has been popularly attributed to the agency of the well-known New York firm of Phelps, Dodge & Co. This is, however, aa error. The firm of Phelps, Dodge & Co. was not at tho time of the occurrence of thesa ovents in existence ; and the old Arm that preceded them, namely, that of Plelps & Peck, although large importers of metals, were not concerned in this matier of the leaden images Tho humors of our tariff legislation are not peculiar to lead, but have been repeated in reference to many other articles. Tho tariff of 1846 imposcd a duty of 20 per cent on flaxseed, and in 1857 this duty was reduced to 15 per cent, and linseed wes mode free. The result was that the importation of flaxsced suddenly stopped and that of linseed began. In 1872, Congress reduced the duty 10 per ccnt on “‘metala and manufactures of metals,” watches and jewelry excopted. ‘‘Watch-cases” and the movements are not ©* watches,” but both are manufactures of metals, and entitled to the reduction of-10 per cent. Consequently, watch-cases and the watch-movements are imported separately at 10 per cent less duty than the watches. In this way our legislation, beginning back in 1789, is & snccession of make-shifts and patches to com- plicato and restrict trade, replete with incon- sistencies, imperfections, and absurdities. Many an honest man has been ruined by an unguarded phrase in the tariff law, and many s protoctioniss “ Lioist by his ovm petard.” WIOY THE COMMUNE IS POSSIBLE IN AMERICA. An atlempt to organize the Commune presup- poses a peculiar mentsl or moral state. A man, in order to try it, must beliove the jingling lie that property is robbery, or he must think that every tro-legged animal withont feathers has o natural right to be alaw unto himself, and to act exactly o8 he wishes. Very many Americans telicve these two things already, and we, 88 a nalion, are perhaps drifting towards that belief. Tako tho reguired mental state. The supply of quantities of irredecmable 'shinplasters is boldly advocated by many political leaders in speeches that are, in some cases unconsciously, based on the maxim that property is robbery. More greenbacks, they eay, will make monoy cheap. That is, they will make it possible to pay debts with less value. In other words, cheating his creditors will bo put within the dobtor's power. This redaces property-robbery to practice. ed, in papers and platforms, by tho plea that it gives employment to skilled work- men. This implies that it is the duty of the State to give them employment. It thisis go 10 valid objection can bo urged against the plea that it is also its duty fo provide work for the unskitled. The crowds that demanded employ- ‘ment, last wintor, of the civic authorities in New York, Boston, Cincinnati, and Chicago, were but the complement of the majorities that have pass- od the high-tariff bills through Congress. Tho copstituents wero butcarrying tho Congressmen’s arguments to their legitimate conclusion. Now this is but the maxim: “Property is robbery” putinto practice. For if overy man has a right to his own, neither ho nor his representative, tho State, can justly be called upon to share his property with another man who bappens to be in peed. Our tendency towards the Commune is accel- crated by four main causes. The growing digbelief in creeds tbat were formulated con- turies ago induces thinkers to try to for- mulate new ones, adapted to this age, but lends tho carcless into contemptuous rejection of all the idess, moral and otherwise, on which the old creeds wero based. It is char- acteristic of ignorance to go to extremes. In the second place, the momentary triumph of the Commune in Paris, and its struggles elsewhere in Europe, have drawn attention to the subject. 1t is said that Berlin workingmen agroed to pro- claim the Communb at the same time with their Parisian fellows, and were only prevented from doing so by the untimely discovery of their plot. The red flag waves now in the clab- rooms of the German * Social-Democrats,” and their daily greeting is: “Wie geht's mit der Theilung ?"—*How goes it with the division [of property] ?” After s thing has failed it is very easy to think you sce why. No doubt the reasons of the collapee of the Paris Commune have been conned over in thousands of brains. Men imagine they could carry through sucha echeme now, and arc impatient to try. Again, " the great influx of foreignera has implanted on American soil the ideas that have been the out- growth of centuries of European want, woe, and wrong. The circumstances here are not 2s favor- able to their growth, but they grow nevertheless. The leaven is at work. It may ye: leaven the whole lump. And, finally, the growing galf between rich and poor, the sharply-marked di- vision between the two in & country in which cash and caste are aph to be cause and effect,— this is creating a social etzatification in which The tariff, again, is support- | with hate of its condition and rage at those above it. When this is the caselook out foran explosion. It is not strange that a workingman, sitting in an undrained, nnsunned tenementon a back- alley, should bitterly contrast his fate with that of his employer and srgue: “I amasgoods man as he; why should he have everything and I nothing? Why should not my matesandI gcize upon the houses, tho farniture, the food he has bought with the product of our labor? Might makes right. There is no militia to meat us. Hurrah for the Communel” Such vague gropings after reason, it acted upon, would put the wealth of any large city into the hands of the poor ere nightfall to-day. The growing tendency must be checked. There is but one way to do this. The working- man must be given comfort, mental and physi- cal. Putsewers in overy strect and you check crime and communism. Ventilato every house and you check them again. Build school- houses and fill them by compuleion, if need bo ; put knowledge, by cheap lectures,and museums, and public librarics,—librarica sot in tho heart of districts in which poverty lives,—within the reach of young and old ; secure the workingman a larger share in the product of his labor by en- ocouraging oco-operation, and you make the Commune impossiblo. We caunot wash our hands of this matter. If we do we sow the wind and leave our children to reap tho whirl- wind, ' After us the deluge” is o neatly-sound- ing ‘phroso compared with “After the Com- mune.” gl THE CORDITION OF IRELAWD. There i trouble in Ireland. The extremists, disgusted at tho firm front which Disraeli op- poses to their schemes, are attacking England and English rale through press, and pulpit, and Parliament. A Fenian periodical, the Flag of Ireland, has been foremost in the attack. It spoke of Victoria as ‘‘a forelgn woman who held possession of the country against the will of the people.” It declarod that “tho desporate hopelessness of obtaining Home Rule by peace- ful means” was evidont. It lauded tho Fenian rebellion. It gloried in the British losses in Ashantee. Its wholo fone has been seditions to the last degree. Allowing it to pursue such a conrse would bave been, 80 Englishmen thought, like leaving = fire-brand in & barrel of powder. Disracli found an extin- guisher ready to his hand. The Glad- stone Administration passed the so-called Co- ercion act, which allows the Government to seize any paper which disregards a warning given it by the Lord Justices of Ireland. So the Flagof Ireland has been warned aod will probably be seized, inssmuch as it waves 28 deflantly as ever. It is not alone in the use of violent langnage. Br. Isaac Butt, M. P., has openly said that it will be impossible to maintain peacs in the rural dis- tricts of Ireland; thereis too much bad blood. His colleague, Mr. Ronyane, has declared that Ircland is *seditious and disaffected,” and that “concessions are only granted when sedition threatens civil war.” These statements have been made on_ the floor of Parliament. Bimilar ones have been made, with more im- mediate effect, from the pulpit. An attempted murder of & landlord in Queen's County is charged to have been urged from the steps of the altar. It will bo remembered that the testi- mony taken in the recent Galway conteated election case showed that the peasantry had been incited to arson, riot, aud murder by un- ‘worthy priests. The Home-Rulers in Parlinment have been defeated by the Government, and have paid the latter back in its own coin. The firat question at issue was the purchase of the Irish railways. They have been grossly mismanaged. Jobbery has ruined them. Theircharges are exorbitant and their trains are few. The full Irich inca~ pacity for united action shows itself hero. There are a multitude of little roads, each burdened with the support of a vast number of orpamental and mneeless offi- cials, and esch msnaged independently of all tho rest. Their shares aro, of course, down, down. The Home-Rulers demanded that the British Government should buy the lot at about '15 per cent above their value, shonld put them in order, and sbould then ran them at aloss in order to benefit Ireland. The Government's re- fusnl was backed by 235 votes against59. The next question wes the Irish fisheries. English, Seotch, and French fishermen throng the Irish const and make much monoy by the pursuit of their trade. It is not guite clear why the un- happy sons of Erin could nct do the same thing themselves. It appoars, howaver, that a loan of £20,000 to Hibernian fiah-catchers is an absolate necessity. The Home-Rulers said so, at least, and got it. Disraeli's opposition was in vain. Many M. P.’%s wero away, and the job had & ma- jority of two votes. These facts, and the many similar ones that might be cited, are probably colored more or less by English projudice. After sl allowance bas been made for this, the picture is still a dark one. Ireland hates English rule, and yet gives daily proof of her utter incapacity to rule herself. FPASIGRAFHY, Tro centuries ago Cave Beck wrote a book ex- plaining his scheme for an universal language. A publisher ventured to print it, but the work fell still-born from tho preas. The elow-going world has at last caught ap with Beck. “ Pasigraphical Unions,” ‘designed to put his plun into practice, have boen formed. They are most numerons in Gormany, ecspecially in Bavaria, but they also exist in Hungary, Russia, Italy, England, snd France. Attempts are now boing made to organize unions in Monreal and San Francisco. The plan is as follows: Figures are used for words. Detwoen 4,000 and 5,000 words in common nse.sre written alpha- betically and numbered in order. A pasigra- phist bas but to write the figures corresponding to the words he wishes to nvo, and overy other pasigraphist can translate the messago into his” own language. We quote a lattor recently sent to Dr. Anton Bachmaier, President of the Munich Pasigraphical Unmon: 2987, 1534, 9255, 700, 2409, 1545, 1805, 1442, 703, 1708, 533, 1153, 709, 4293, 320, 201, 470. Tranalated into Eoglish, this reads : Drar Sm ; When you call here, Thave somo small books for you. Yours trury, SaMUEL Bmen. The lino under 553—wkich means book, buch, licre, etc.—shows that it is inthe plural. A figure denoting a verb, when marked tkrough the contre, means tho paat tense. When overscored, it means the future. The plan seems quits a good one. The list of 5,000 words, once learned, must suffice for all or- dinary purposes. Mezzofsnti considered himself able to speak anylangusge 28 soon 28 he had learned 750 of its words. The English agricul- tural laborer is said to use only 450 words in his daily talk. Pasigraphy will scarcely, however, make the great works of hterature common cannot readily put their thoughts into that represent words. Imagine Colerign, ing: v T3, 836, 73, 327, 575, 200 3 954, 375, 515, 11, instead of Az 1dle 25 3 palated ship Upon a painted ocean, COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN KEw 1 The Empire Stato has mado education cpyet sory. The law to that effect comes inig ,?“‘ 3a0.1, 1875. Tt containaten sectons, T provides that every child botwoon the zgsey and 14 years, not physically or mentally i S ble of study, shall be instructed, at homs g, school, at least fourteen woeks of each by eight of which shall be consecutive, in Lo reading, writing, English grammar, Beogrgsy and arithmetic. The only study in thiy ™ 4 which objection can be mado is grammay, 11: best educators are beginning to dropit. p, second section forbids, under Penalty of !: fine, the employment during schog] b of any child Who Das not ey Bchool fourteen weeks of the year. The third directs School-Trustees toe. amine the manufactories of their diatrict, order to see whether this rule is obeyed. ™ fourth i8 unimportant. The fifth uthorizn, Trustees to enforce the preceding soctions, vy fizes the fines for keeping children from Rl at @1 for the first and 5 for esch week. These fines cannot, however, e oallactyy for more than thirteen weeks. The sixty e tion empowers the Trustees to BUDDY for, books to poor children. The seventh Provds that children shall be olsssed 28 habituy) t, sats on the written statement of e perents that thoy caonob miks fy g0 to school - The eighth gives Try tees and Boards of Edueation the oy to make rules, subject to tho approml oy Justice of the Supreme Court for the Di for catching, confining, and tesching itig trusnts. " The ninth settles questions of furs. diction. The tenth provides that two weaky attendance at & half-time or evening schoolshy] be counted a8 one week at a day-school. DOUBLE SUICIDES. ‘Buicide in Paris isnot such & novelly th it should attract much attention. The aring Parisian, when the world goes wrooy, or ks mistress proves unfaithful, or he finds himesif withont a sou in his pocket to buysbentks, takes to the charcoal-brazier or the Seins, s the event croatos nomore of & ripple than tyy fact that the late deceased had been sccustomed to go to his dinner at a certain hour. The py world of Paris takes it 88 a matter of cours, when one of its members drops out, ths he bas made a sudden journcy to etemity by some fast-oxpress route, rather thah by tho old-fashioned slow-coach route of nstun 1t gives the matter no farther thought, uls the decoased has been mmusually ingeniowia bizarre in the manner of hus going, in wid case it accords his memory the meed of ress fol admiration: however, is beginning to attract somo sttefiz oven among the blase Parisians, Inetosdd going alone, as heretofare, seata aro now orderd. for two, and the curiosity of the fashioniatist it has been eet by the English. Recatl an English couple, a Miss Levison ad a Mr. Brown, drowned themselves in th Seine, in consequence, it is suppoged, of alors: quarrel. Their bodies wero placed in the Rtorgne in such a dilapidated and unpresentabls shsps that they would bardly have committed the at if they had kmown what a spectacle they wers: destined to present to a fastidions public. In- mediately following this double suicidecaze another one. The parties wera also English, s hero being Mr. Charles Hall, who had besms banker's clerk, and tho heroine, his wilg tho daughter of a musician at Bath. Belws: marrisge the husband was a hearty studest and an extraordinary gymnast, Having infarel. his knee in themgymnasium he gave up k. clerkship, and soon after married. 'The Mgy pair went to Ifracombe in July last, and cele- bratod their honeymoon by trying to commd suicide at 8 hotel with laadanum. They s about their workin the coolest possible macner. On the previous evening they packed up b whole of their parcels and luggage, neatlyfeds their clothes, directed letters to their frismds set apart a soficient sum to compeniis the landlady for the extra trouble e were about to make, and then Lept s disrrd their experiences during tha operation. T laudanum, however, did not do its work, 8 both recovered. The horo was thersupon &8 to prison. Afterho was released the twowet to reside with a brother of the husbend. Afir a short residence here tho wife went to Lo~ don to take & situation in a milliner ostablishment. A week later her b band followed her. Then tbey &R peared, and, the mext heard of them, they were found dead at the Hotel Bt Peters- burg, in Paris, locked in esch other's arms. 0f the causes of this joint ezeunt nothing i3 knowa; and, 28 nothing pleases a Parisian mora thaa & dense mystery with a suicide at the core of i all Pans is in raptures over the affair. 5ozt 0 that it has hardly given heed to ths subeo- quent suicide of Octavo Tassacrt, the celebratel Frenchi painter, who suffocated himself wild- charcoal fumes because ho was too old to psist The mystorions bank clerk and 3° any more. sician’s dsughter are the lions cf the* hour in Faris, and wo may expgfi ero long to eeo them dished Up kS poetry, served up in thrilling feuilletons, aod elaborately prodaced upon the stage in that aifr- and stolen from thence to be reprodrced ia ¥ dragglod costumes in New York. kether e Perisians, with their proverbial dislike of 8¢ English, will adopt tho fashion, remains {0 b soen, but it will at least bo s sore temptation, 31 something uniquo and recherche, Shouldib B adopted doublo suiciding will bocome the PE% and sad havoe will bomade amopg the Pie® and Clochettes. As the mortality rate in Fran® is already 80 largo, and tne birth rate so smals that the populationis diminishing, the dontie” suicide practice hasa gloomsy look to 8070%f but'a Parisian. A now 1dea for & Centoonial celebration B3 been suggested. The credit of it is dueto ”n.‘ . 8. Ward, of New York. He proposes b’ individuals and municipalities shonld have®®" dependent celebrations of their own by * &6 ing or endowing some monument, I‘J*‘_‘j' school, library, museum, or other memarid - which sbould be recogrized’ss s Gentensiil gift and remain a lasting monument of & -i:::' ous patriotism.” The suggestion has o borme fruit. Mr. Gordon Burnham, of Ke York, will celebrate the Centennial by ar““";' 5 of Dapiei- in Central Park, a colossal statue ynbh‘w Webster. In towns which have 5O ¥T' librares, the endowment of omo WO be the nmost fitting possible wl:;: ial,—1 8 k of & rial,—st once mer] o i e in the past sud & means of promo The Iatest fashion of suids |’ \,