Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, December 6, 1874, Page 8

e There willbe s 2t7:30 sharp. THE CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE: SUNDA DECEMBER 6, 1874---SIXTEEN PAGES. TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. 1874 L RATES OF SUBSCAIPTION (PAYABLE N & '$12.00 [ Sunday... e 00 [weidy o & your at the samo rate. B rerent delay and mistakes, bo sure and give Post- ‘nddress in fall, including State and Countr. fitances may bemade cither by draft, expreus, Post- CXco order, or in registered letters, at our risk. TERAS TO CITY BUDSCRILERS. Datly, delivered, Sundas excepted, 23 cents per week. Dally; delivered, Suaday included. 30 couts per weok. Address THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, ‘Coraer Madison sad Derbora-ais., Chicago, Tll. 2MY OF MUSIC—Halsted straet, botwees Mad- A D oo, Bagagementof Frank Afavo, -+ L Crockett." N1 ) PERA-HUUSE—Clark _streek, o) posite GORAND, OPERATIOUSE Cluck Moar ¥oraad Dutch 8. HOOLEY'S THEATRF-—Randolph strost, betwees Clarxand LaSalle. **School. " % z ATRFE—Madison_etreet. between D e agsgemont f Joba Brougham. “*The Lottery of Lifo.” TREET OPERA-HOUSE—Corner Tl AL T OF Slrrinsey & Soore's Harp o SOCIETY MEETINGS. ENTION!—A reqular meeting of mg‘\n!fl?fl]:s'&'m‘m ‘will bo beld at Bacehior Hall, 18 e} Halstedat., on Wednoeday evening, Dec. ¥, &L arelock, ebarp. Dyorderof S. M. AL & F. ETT! TER, NO. 2, I A. M.—Hall T2 AT A avocation Moady scosing, Dec. ? X on the R. A. Decree. By order Giglock, Lur work oa the R. A. Degree LY ord s —Regul: nthiy meetiog will be beld A most intcrosting mesting mey ba ex- \d attend. R L itHOUGHS, Secretarr. A.F. andA. M.—Spe- {6 their bail, 62 North kst y evening, for for the instailadon of ofticors. Members requested 10 at- teud. Visitors fraternally fovitod. J. H. DIXON, W. M. BEN. F. PRINCE, Sec PLEIADES LODGE, NO. its members is requoste ¥ G MOWELL, Secyy. KEYSTONELODGE, No. ciul communication will bo_hel 7:30 o'clock, mest, A.F. & A. M.—Called LODGE, NO. 4, I. 0.0, F.—Members are roastarod T haly g State-et., Sanday: Doc. & 24505, m. cham, wartend by (unersl of 126, All P.G. of Tromoat Lodge, Lostu Srabor: lodges aso tnvited. A BINNEWELS WAUBASSIA LODGE, NO. 160, A. F. £A.31 't for the election of offi and e b head at Ortontal Hlall, 3 Bursdsy graniaz, 7, 187 by notified 1o ha pres- ool 15, Tort. Members aro hochy fotlied, o by e £, S7. JOHN, Seo. MASONIC—The time for jolntng the Forthwostern Masonic Afd Assuciation in clubs, 2t reduced rates, ex- plrosJan, I ALl who wish 1o aval themscives of this ad- tage shonld move at unce. ¥or furiher information ca'i on ar nddross J. A. STUDDAKD, Socrotary, Room § Aajor Block. ASHLAR LODGE, NO. 3@.—The Thiid Dogree will Ve workod in this Lodge on Tucsdsy cveaing naxt. Other Bsincas of Impurtaus will be prosenta and » full mooi- ng 2 . Visitors eondial invited. Redgmae, GO CRARE, Seo. RORTHERN_LIGHT LODGE, NO. 4, I. 0. O. F.— Rebecea Dogree moeting held in tha hall 1038 Clsbourn-av., oa Ve By order of —_— The Chitage Tribune, Bunday Morning, December 6, 1874. WITH SUPPLEMENT. THE GAGE CASE. The trisl and acquittel of David A. Gage, ex-Treasurer of the City of Chicago, hus produced a profound sensation in all ranks of the community. Asone of the wit- nesses stated on the trial, Mr. Gage was, perhaps, the best known man in Chieago, and, up to his retirement from office, was universally respected and esteemed. He possessed the unlimited confidence of the public. Ten or fifteen years ago he was elected City Treasurer, and discharged the duties of the office with acceptability and fidelity. In 1869 he was elected to the same office by a large majority. There had pre- viously been much -discussion concern- ing the emormous profit; supposed to have been made by the City Treasurer. The practice had been for the Treasurer- elect to make some arrangement with a bank, or several of them, whereby the officers of the banks signed his bond, and thenceforward the city money was kept by the Treasurer in these banks. ' The average deposits at that time were probably about £800,000. At that time, also, the city was not authorized to use the money belonging to one fund for other purposes. It was therefore no uncommon thing for the city to have half a million of dollars belonging to various funds in the City Treasury, and yet, to meet some demand on enother fund, would have to borrow at 10 per cent. It was notorious that the Treasurer was paid, directly or indirectly, 4 or 5 per cent interest on the average deposits in the banlk, and the aggregate of this interest was esti- meted at from £40,000 to $50,000 per year. A reform in this practice was mede an issue in panic had fellen on the country. We believe 2Ir. Gage and his friends did put forth every possible effort to obtain the money to make good his deficiency, and while, had there been 10 panic, this would have been an easy thing for him to do, it was more,than could be ac- complished during the financial depressjon and alarm at that time. He could neither sell property nor borrow money on it, while three months before he could have raised the whole sum without difficulty. When the time arrived for him to deliver the money and other property to his succes- sor, he was short in the sum of $308,000 (not $582,000, as was incorrectly stated yes- terday), including interest. The city authori- ties at once repudiated any responsibility under the implied sgreement with Gage in 1869, and held him pecuniarily responsible for the whole deficit, and criminally re- sponsible for gl that he failed to turn over to his successor. He vacated the office late in Décember, and was indicted on the 5th of January, first for perjury in swearing to his monthly accounts, and, sccondly, for mnot turning over to his successor 308,000 of the city money. The first indictment was pro- nounced defective and quashed, and it was on the second that he was tried last week, and acquitted. On the trial the defenso offered to prove the fact of Gage's proposition in 186970 ; | tho favorable opinion thereof by the Finance Committee and Corporation Counsel ; the no- torious fact that Gage proceeded to act upon the implied assent of the city to that propo- sition ; that Gage in good faith actually paid into the City Treasury about §130,000 inter- est-money ; that the city accepted that mon- ey; and that no one on the part of the city then, or until he left office, objected to the arrangement; that of his deficit, $115,000 was locked up in a suspended National Bank, and that §15,000 was otherwise beyond his reach in another bank; that he had conveyed all his own property of every kind to a trus- tee, to be held and sold when possible, and the proceeds applied to liquidate hisindebted- ness to the city. All this evidence -was ex- cluded by the Court, but it was that kind of evidence which addressed itself to the question of the moral intention of the no- cused officer. Legally spealking, the Court was right, but the equity of the defense was not thereby lessened. Moreover, in the amount with which he was charged with not handing over to his successor was the $130,000 interest charged against himself under the very im- plied agreement now repudiated by the city, and the evidence of which was excluded from the jury. The amount charged against him as §503,000; this included the £130,000 of deposit interest, and the $115,000 in tho sus- pended National Bank, and the £15,000 of other items, making in all $260,000, leaying his actual deficit of public money about §248,000 morally due the city, and claimed by him to have been invested under the gen- eral license for the use of the city, and to secure which he had transferred all his property. Though the law under which he was indicted does not mako the act a felony, nor require, asin the case of larceny, that a felonious intent be established to complete the crime, the jury evidently, if their verdict was an honest oms, took in the whole ex- cluded defense, gave to it all the weight that it could have had if admitted, and, believing that Gage had an implied warrant and agree- ment with the city to lend the money for the use of the city, at his own diséretion, and that he never intended to keep a dollar of it, and would have rcturned it all had he mot been overtaken by the sudden and unex- pected financial panic, gave him an acquittal. The rigid exclusion of the entire defense, strictly legal as it may have been, had the ef- fect, perhaps, of giving to that defense an influence much greater than. it was en- titled - to, and greater than it would have received had it been admitted and then confroverted by all the facts. It is hardly necessary to moralize on this trial and this verdict. But it is pertinent to ask wherein is the business of the office of City Treasurer administered now any differ- ent than it was under Gage's proposition and assumed agreement with the city in 1869, ‘Where is the law underwhich, if the Treasurer defaults, there can be a eriminal prosecution? The Revised Code, Chnp. 38, Sec. 74, dcfines embezzlement to be larceny. Any officer or person employed by a private corporation, bauk, broker, commission merchant, or rail- road company, who embezzles or converts to his own use money or property is to be pun- ished as for larceny. Any State, county, township, city, town, or village officer who embezzles or fraudulently converts to his own use any public money or property, on convie- tion, is to be imprisoned from one to fifteen years in the Penitentiary. Ordinarily this the electior of 1869. Mr. Gage promised that he would account for the interest and turn over the proceeds of all his deposits to the City Treasury. The salary of the Treasurer was $2,500 a year, with no ellowance for clerks. Shortly after his election he notified the Common Council that his bond was signed by persons in no way connected with the banks, and he was therefore able to getone- baif of one per cent more, or four and & half per cent, interest on the city deposits; that he would use his legal salary to pay his clerk 3 and that out of the interest he would deduct $10,000 a year for his own compensation, and poy the rest over to the city. This proposi- tion was generally acceptable. The Common Council had power to designate the banks in which the Treasurer should deposit the city money ; but to do this, in the opinion of the Law Department, would release his suretics from any loss that might result from such designation, and thercfore the Council refrained from exercising that pow- er. While the city authoritics were fnvo}ab!e to Gage's proposition, there was no ?fiwfl recognition of it ; yet no one ever ob- jected to it, and the city subsequently re- ceived $132,000 from Mr. Gage as interest collected by him from the banks on the city deposits. §o acceptable was this sdministra. ton of the office of Treasurer that Mr. Gage ‘was, by universal consent, re-elected in 1871, just after the fire. Up to this time itis as. sumed that Mr. Gage was all right in his money affairs, alihough others claim that . more than £200,000 of the city funds were 1ot deposited in the banks at the time of the fire and before his re-election. However this msay be, he had construed his own arrange- + ment ml.h the city as suthorizing him to loan the public money to the banks. He then, or before, assumed that the logn of this money hence the Riverside and perha i ps oth - vestments. Mr. Gage was n wen!l.lxyc;;:, though the fire had seriously crippled him and ought to cover such a case; but would it apply to the case of a City Treasurer authorized by long usage, implication, and consent to lend the public money at his own discretion for the use of the city, and who loses a portion of that money by the failure of such investment? Is not the time come when the city should abandon this interest business altogether; when it should with- draw all sanction or authority to any lending of the public money, and should hold the Treasurer directly responsible on his bond and criminally under the law for any deficit ? The city cannot demand of the Treasurer interest on the deposits without assnming the risk which any loaning of the public money necessarily involves. THE CONDITION OF WABASH AVENUE. Tho present condition of Wabash avenuo is a disgrace to the city, in the first place ; in the second, it is the cause of infinite annoy- ance and delay to the thousands of people who are obliged to travel over it twice a day. 1t is now the main artery of travel in the South Division ; but it is so frightfully torn up that it is torture to man and beast, and an enormous expense in the wear-nnd-tear on wagons, carringes, and stages. Some- thing ought to be dona sbout it. There are two great drawbacks to its immediate improvement. A large amount of the property fronting on the ave- nue hasno present salable value. Much of it remains unimproved since the fire; the business-houses which have been erected in portions of it are untenanted; the residences north of Twenty-sicond street, occupied by business within a year or two after the fire of 1871, are now undesirable. As the expense of repaving the street would have to beborne by the owners of the adjoining property, they are naturally indisposed to incur this outlay at a time when their property isearning little or no money. Another renson elleged for the non-improvementis the prospect of s horse- railway. - Whoever obtains the right-of-way eventually destroyed the Riverside o tio) He managed, however, to keep a mxpe::w:_" until the eve of thie election of 1873. Rumors that the Treasurer was in default were circa. lated, and, despite Mr. Gage's protestations to the contrary, they had a serious effect on the sasult of the eloction. In the meantime, the for a horse-railrond on Wabash avenue, if it is to be ceded, should be made to assume the expenses of keeping the entire street in per- fect rcpair. This right-of-way is a valuable franchise, and neither the people at large mor the owners of the Wabash ave- nue property should be asked to cede it without some valusble consideration. For the former there should be adequate protection against the abuscs of monopoly. It should be provided, for instance, that every car shall have a conductor for the pro- tection of the public, and that every passenger shall be entitled to a seat for his fare, The owners of the property should likewise be relieved from the tax of periodical repaving. As the horse-railway would oc- cupy the centre of the strect, it would throw the other travel on either side, and the pave- ment on both sides the track would wear out just twice as soon 88 if there were no horse- railway there. It would be s manifest in- justice to ask the property-holders to repave twice ns often as they otherwise would for the spacial benefit of a corporation enjoying so0 valuable a franchise. If thereis to be & horse-railway, and without any reference to the parties who securo the right-of-way, let us have these safegunrds against abuse. And ‘whether there is to be a horse-railway or not, jtisin the interest of the property-owners on Wabash avenue, and of tho city generally, that this handsome thoroughfare shall be put into a decent condition at once between Con- gress street and Twenty-ninth. CHICAGO'S DANGER FROM FIRE. Mr. Francis Jackson, who has been & resi- dent of Chicago for thirty years, and Curing that time has been an acute observer of fires, bas just issued a pamphblet for private circu- lation, in which he reviews the peculiar dan- gers of this city, and criticises Gen. Shaler's method of meeting them. It should be stat- ed that Mr. Jackson is a large property-own- er in Chicago, and cannot therefore bo justly regarded as an alarmist. He sets out with the statement that the same causes which have contributed to the mar- velous growth of Chicago have also contributed pari passu to its danger from fire. Among these may be enu- merated the level site, cheap pine lumber, high winds, and heterogeneous population. To these might be added an, implicit faith in the glorious destiny of Chicago, which, be- ing deeply imbued in the hearts of all its citizens, has been the occasion of tho general ignorance of danger. Supreme confidence has engendered supreme indifference. The result is that, aftor the awful experience of Oct. 9, 1871, and the great fire of July 16, 1874, the same causes exist to-day as exist- ed prior to these trials, and there is the same apathy among the people as to the impending danger. We persistently close our eyes to tha fact that we are aslikely to burn now as we were in 1871, or last sum- mer. ) Mr. Jackson's objections to the present policy for overcoming the danger are prac- tically the same as those urged by Tur Tris- UNE in commenting on Gen. Shaler's recom- mendations, viz.: (1) We are putting too much confidence in the sovereign power of the man, and (2) that man [Gen. Shaler] wants to spend mouey above ground when it ought rather to be spent below ground. Mr. Jack- son goes into practical details in regard to our water-service. Unlike most cities, ~we do not depend upon elevated reservoirs and the force of gravitation for our supply.. We have an inexhaustible reservoir, but it is practically on a level, and the water must be distributed by force-pumps. Mr. Jackson contends, in the first place, that the main pumps should be located in the geographical centze of the city, which he locates about the corner of Polk street and the South Branch. If the principal works were here, we would have, along with thoss now at Chicago avenue and those in progress at Ashland ovenue, three sets of pumps about two miles apart. Add a second ecrib and tunnel off Thirty-first street, and con- struct auxiliary pumps sbout the neighbor- hood of Michigan avenne and Twenty.ninth street, and another set at Clybourne bridge, and Mr. Jackson believes we would have every arrangement necessary to secure & proper pressura at all points in the city., He believes that a standard pressure of 50 pounds to the square inch ought to.be maintained in all parts of the city, and very reasonably wonders that there has never been & systematic test to ascertain whether the standard of pressure and supply s sustained at any given point. Mr. Jackson bolds that, with a minimam pressure of 50 pounds per square inch, Chicago would need no more fire-engines; and that hose-carts, by attaching the hose directly to the plug, would then do more ser- vice in extinguishing incipient fires than en- gines do mnow, since they would reach the spot sooner and get to work immediately. Hose at houses, stores, or in the neighbor- hood, could likewise be rendered serviceable even before an alrm could be sounded. Mr. Jackson criticises the insurance authorities for recommending 8-inch pipes, and be- lieves that there should be no pipes smaller then 12 inches on any considerable street. Certainly economy suggests this plan, as the large pipes cost no more for the laying, and, if properly mnde, will do service for many generations, Finally, in regard to the cost of the thorough system of water-service which Mr. Jackson advocates: He believes that the cost of moving the main pumps would be saved within nine years after the removal by the use of soft coal, which is now virtually prohibited by the residence sur- roundings of the present works, and by dis- pensing with cartage, as the fuel could be de- livered by boats on the spot. The addi- tional cost of the large mains, and that of the other accessories included in the pro- posed system, must look for compensation in the saving from losses by fire. The furnish- ing of water in itself is a profitable business, since the cost of fuel for pumping purposes is only 1 cent for every 1,703 gallons, while the metro rate charged is 1 cent for every 100 gullons. A% Mr. Jackson’s pamphlet, as the work of a man who has practically investigated the ob- ject of which he writes, is worthy of attention from the officials in charge of our Pab- lic Works and Fire Departinents, and also of all who are interested in the safety of the city. We do not ses our way clear to the provision of the gigantic improvements which he recommends, under the present enormous rate of taxation and the constitu- tional prohibition of an increase in our debt. But we are confident that Mr. Jackson is on the right track. Whatever money is to be expended in the future to provide against the danger of fire, let it be in the way of pre- vention. Let us have an extension and im- provement of ourwater-service before we Uuy any more water-exhausting machinery. Let us have a standnrd supply and pressure as soon as possivle, Let us have ordinances providing penalties for reckless waste of water. Mr. Jackson has given many prac. tical suggestions to this end which we have not the space to enumerate. But we would commend the perusal of his pamphlet to Gen. Shaler, as 8 hint of the right direction in which reform should be started. Its pub- lication is also timely, as it is not unlikely | that the return of the insurance companies, with the over-insurance likely to grow oat of their cumpetition for business, will increase rather than diminish our dangers from fire. EXIT THE OLD COUNTY BDA.KD.' " The ** old Board " of County Commission- ersis a thing of the past. Its term hes ex- pired. It is dead, done for, defunct, and the fact will cause general relief. Its last official act was an organization into 8 Committes of the Whole for the purposes of mutual admi- ration. The Board admired the retiring President, and the retiring President admired the Board, which is some compensation for the faot that nobody else ~dmires either in their official relations. The President was courteous and efficient. All retiring Presi- dents are. The Board had been kind and indulgent, he said, and incorruptible. All Boards are about the time they are breaking up. Under the genial influences of this mutual -admiration he thawed out and gushed, and at last stated his conviction that “to.day we command the admiration of the world.” It seems & pity to disturb him in his rhapsody of sdmiration, or to doubt that the South Sea Islanders, the Patagoni- ang, and the Esquimaux, as well as the civ- ilized nations of the world, are to-day lost in admiration over the results accomplished by the recent Cook County Board of Commis- sioners. The. hallucination is excusable enongh, since it is very universal, and greater men than the DPresident of the Board have indulged in it, and thereby min- istered to their love of admiration and vanity. Even Napoleon leading his troops through Egypt had to stop at the Pyramids and inform his_soldiers, not only that all the world was looking at them, but forty centuries of desd ard gone mortals also, when in foct there was nothing in the world looking at them but those huge monuments of masonry and the mummies of the monarchs they com- memorate. Whenever any numlfer of peo- ple congregate together for any set purpose, be it for a military training, to de- bate some tedious generality, to organize a bricklayers' strike, to elect a ward constable, or to fix the price of peanuts or green ap- ples, they at once imagine that the world is looking at them and ndmiring. them, when it is doing nothing of the sort. It ceres no more for them than for the wind that blows. The President of the Board, therefore, when ho climbs upon his pedestal with effort and strikes an attitude, and exhibits himself to the world for inspection, should reflect upon these facts and remember that only the few people who can gather about the base of the pedestal are looking at him, and even they may not admire the spectacle very much. ‘While the President of the Board an- nounces that he shall alwayslook back “ ppon our relations and friendship with feelings of pride and satisfaction,” it is sad to observe that he cherishes some vindictive feelings and tlat his happiness is traversed by a fine vein of melancholy,—in fact, thut he is saddest when ho smiles, Seys he: We have been found fault with by some, and charged with corruption in office Ly others, wiich charge I Dhave to-duy, standiug in this plare, derounced as fulre and crucl, &nd as 2 libel upon us and our people, and Durl it back in the face of the author ond circuiator, Mob law should at all times be deprecated, but, sconer or later, this community will have (0 moaf the iasue in arder to protect its homes, character, familics, and common decency. Considering the fact that all the world is lost in admiration of the Board and himself, and what they have done, such a condition of things is mowrnful. It is to be hoped that none of the dreadful things hinted at by him mny come to pass. It is to' be hoped that they are only the reflections of some of -his ‘morbid moments, and that, when they have disappeared, he will no longer anticipate howling mobs, nor fear that the time may come when we may have to strike for. our firesides and our homes because the re- cent Board of County Commissioners has been charged with corruptions. There are two facts in connection with the recent Board, however, which entitle it to admirution. First, that it did not expend its genius in erecting 2 monument to itself in the Court-House Square ; and second, in the words of its President: ‘ We have reached the end of our officiel three-years' term.” These are the most grateful words he has ever spoken. Beyond them, there is little or nothing in the records of the Board to call for any special ndmiration. THE CONSUMPTION OF W00D. Two years ago, England wasiu a panic over the idea of exhausting her coal-supply. The economists chanted jeremiads over the bad time coming, until the geologists showed that the coal-seams known to exist would “meet all demands for 1,027 years, 4 months, 3 1.2 days, or thereabouts! provided the conl could be mined. The more mournful Britons have since wasted some time in com- miserating the woes of their descendants in the year 3000, which is the date fixed for the failure of the conl-beds, as aforesaid. Dlost of the present generation, however, are philo- sophical Micawbers, who believe that something will turn up before the world reaches that age, and that at any rate thereis no use in grieving over inevitable sufferingas long as somebody else is to be the sufferer. Now that England has got over her scare, we are beginning to baveours. She was troubled sbout coal ; we are bothered about wood. ‘We bnrn an enormous quantity of it. It is said by statisticians that 10,000 acres of forest go into the furnaces and stoves of this city every year. Many other acres of forest are used here annually for fuel in another and an indirect way by the erection of squares of wooden buildings, which serve as the prey of the first chance spark that has a southwest wind to fan it into flame. The fencing of the country represents miles of forest. The sleepers, bridges, and rolling-stock of our railroads keep axes at work forever. The supply of our furniture involves an enor- mous demand on our forests. It is cal- culated that 8,000,000 acres of forest-land are clenred every year, and that only 10,000 acres nre planted. Within the last decade, 12,000,000 acres have been burned over simply to clear the land. In Wisconsin alone, the Kansas and Nebraska trade takes the growth of 50,000 virgin acres every year. In one notable year, Wisconsin cut a billion feet of ‘timber. Some figures of the lumber trade in this ecity will give the reader an idea of the enormous consumption of wood that goes on without let or stay. The Lumberman's Directory for 1874-5 says that the trade here annually handle 1,350,- 000,000 feet of lumber, shingles, and lath. This sggregate, enormous as it seems, is but a tenth of the annual consumption -of the country. - The Chicago capital used in the trade is nearly $33,000,000. The compiler of the Directory thinks that there is no dan- ger of a timber-famine, but the fig- ures we have already given show that, unless - the present ratio of conmsumption to production is materially changed, “he famine is & mere question of ume. Two causes, peculiar to this country, in- crease tho consumption of our owa wood beyond tariff, which, by taxing foreign competition almost out of the market, concentrales our demand upon.our vanishing forests. The second is the fact that the price does not rise and 5o check demand. The reason for this is, that transportation is the chief element ?I cost in thewood delivered at ourdoors, and this decrenses so rapidly that it counteracts the otherwise inevitablerise in price. Thedestruc- tion of our forests is an evil, not only be- cause it threntens to deprive the country, ere long, of an indispensable raw material, but because it hasa bad climatic effect. It is vigorously denied that forests influence the rain-foll, but the facts are the other way. Their capacity to greatly increase the annual rain-fall has doubtless been exaggerated, but they guard the ground from the scorching rays of the sun, and 5o preserve its moisture, and thus, indirectly atleast, resultin more rain. The remedy for these threatened evils is in tho creation, by law, of large forest-resei:2s, and in the enconragement of tree-planting by the State and the individual. Nebraska has already done a good deal in the latter way. She offers rewards for forest-culture, and ap- propriates, we believe, an annual sum for tree-planting by her own officials, appointed for that purpose. The Kansas Pacific Rail- road Company has set out a number of trees along its line, where it was said no tree could grow, and has had the satisfaction of seeing a large proportion of them thrive. Other ‘Western railroad companies and other West- ern States would do well to follow these ex- amples. SEX AND EDUCATION. When Dr. Clarke published his little book on this topic, he called out a multitude of re- plies. Most of them consisted of two parts,— virulent abuse of his opinions and complacent parade of the writer's own. It did not seem to occur to anybody, at first, that facts were what would settle the question. The tide has turned at last, however, and educators are be- ginning to investigate what has been done for the sake of secing what shopld be done. instead of evolving both sets of ideas from their inner consciousness. The Atlantic for December contains an account of an admirable system for the higher education of women, which has stood the test of sixty years' trial in Paris. This system was devised by M. Cclart. His successor is M. Remy. The classes meet only once a week, and the session lasts only two hours. It is an examination rather than a recitation. The lessons are given out one week beforehand. Their mastery requires an average of four or five hours of daily study. The girls sit, during recitation, around along table. Their governesses or parents are at one end of the room, where rows of chairs are placed for them. The first exer- cise is essay-reading. 3L Remy reads one or two of the best of the essays handed in the week before, and comments upon them. A recitation of about forty lines of poetry fol- lows. In this M. Remy skips from name to name, allowing each pupil to give only a line or two. This is the only verbal exercise, Everything else is in writing. A question is asked, and each pupil writes in ber exercise-book the answer. The as- sistant-teachers, who are women, inspect the answers, and give the succeseful pupils a small counter apiece. This programme is pur- sued through the two hours. When the ses- sion is over, the number of counters received by each pupil is recorded. The standing of each is thus fixed. M. Remy teaches in this way two elementary, four middle, and three superior classes. The first set is for girls from 5 to 7 years old; the second for those from 7 to 15; and the third for those from 15 to 20. A girl who has passed through his classes may fairly be considered as not only a cultivated, but a cultured, women. The marked feature of the system is that it does not make those daily demands upon the feminine physique which Dr. Clarke regards as so fatal. The pupil can rest whenever she ought to do so. In giving her this privilege, the Colart-Remy plan is unique. THE SUNDAY-LECTURE SOCIETY. Chicago can congratulate berself that she is the first American city to support a course of first-clnss lectures on the people’s holy day and holidsy. The Sunday-Lecture Society, which opened its first course lnst spring, in a small, cheerless ball on the West Side, has had a carecr of substantial success. It was organized by three or four persons for the benefit of the community, and the commu- nity has naturally allowed the organ- izers to control it and make up its deficits, If a man wishes to be thoroughly let alone, all he needs to dois to play philanthropist. However, the deficits have not been large, and they ceased to exist at all some time ago. About a dozen lectures were given in the spring to sudiencesranging in number from 60 to 330. The second course was opened this fall, in the Grand Opera-House (Kingsbury Hall). The audi- ences have been from 230 to 1,000 strong. The average Las been over 600. Tho lecturers so far have been Prof. Nathan Sheppard, the Rev. Robert Collyer, Prof. Colbert, Mr. H. W. 8. Cleveland, and the Rev. Dr. Thomas. The variety of subjects has been great, even in such a small number. The gentlemen named spoke, respectively, on * Physical Piety,” « The Human Life of Washington,” “ Tho Moon,” * Our Streets,” and *‘ The Agencies which Control Society.” Still another chord ia to be struck to-day in s lecture by Prof. Mathews, on ¢ The Mock-Pearls of His- tory.” The course is to be continued through the winter. Lectures will be given by most of our prominent speakers as well as by gen- tlemen from the East and Europe. A feature of the course which will be of especial inter- est to Chicagoans is the promised delivery of two or three lectures by early settlers here on Primitive Chicago. ‘The Sunday-Lecture Socicty may now be considered as firmly established. Its audi- ences are large, and it is paying its way., It is doing the latter, despite the facts that its admission fee (10 cents) is ridiculously low, and that its expenses for advertising, hall- rent, and services of lecturers, are heavy. The offer of its present quarters without charge has been withdrawn, and the Society is now forced to spend a good part of its re- ceipts in order to secure a place of meeting. While it asks for the services of res- ident lecturers, it is its custom to pre- sent each speaker with as large an honorarium s its exchequer will allow. No person con- nected with its management receives a cent from it in any way whatever. The charge for admission has been fixed at a figure which will just cover expenses and do nothing more. There is no charity-about the enterprise. It simply aims to provide the public with first- class lectures at cost. The Society has been incorporated under the laws of Illinois, and is, therefore, prepared at present to receive legacies of any amount. It deserves a per- manent endowment, and will doubtless get ere long. 1t should be remembered that the Sunday- Lecture Society is emphatically not an irre. ligious organization. The names of its hon- orary officials would forbid such a belief, if & better proof of its aim were not given by its practice. It has fixed the hour of its lectures at atime when church-attendance will not be interfered with by the possibly superior at- tractions of the Grand Opera-House. It does not furnish sermons to its anditors, because they can hear them elsewhere without paying anything for the privilege, but neither does it provide thinly-disgnised rationalism and infidelity. It neither attacks nor defends religion, leaving both these functions to fitter hands. It preaches knowledge, not faith. 1t aims to put literary, artistic, historical, and scientific facts within the reach of everybody in Chicago. Itopens the doors of its lecture- room on Sunday simply because that is the one day on which the multitude have leisure to learn. Its course has been wisely conserv- ative. It has done solid good. We are glad to know that it has met with the support and the success which it deserves. PRACTICAL WORK FOR TEMPERANCE RE- % FORMERS, If the people who ure interested in *‘ tem- perance reform” really desire to make their work practical, let them go at tangible and well-defined objects. We will suggest one to begin with: Let the clergy, and the women, and the temperance organizations, unite in inducing the manufacturers, builders, shop- keepers, and others who employ large or small numbers of people, to change their pay-day from Saturday to Monday, or some other day in the early part of the week. Let them prepare pledges for the employers to sign, binding the signers to make this change. It is a reasonable request, ‘which no fair-minded man can refuse, if heis persuaded that it will result to the benefit of the clerks, mechenies, and workingmen. He pays out no more money, and pays it no more frequently, and with no more trouble to him- sclf. He simply changes the day of payment, and if, by doing so, he can contribute to the welfure of others, and of the city, he cannot refuse. Hero is the argument for the practical reformers to use. Before the panic there were 3,000 saloons in Chicago; to-day there are only ,500. This reduction is the direct result of workingmen of all classes being thrown out of employment, receiving reduced wages, or having little money to spend in the grog- shops. If, then, the reformers can divert the money which now finds its way to the grog- shops from men who still have employment, they can close up more saloons. We candid- Iy believe that the change of puy-day from Saturday to Monday would force 500 more grog-shops to suspend, and enable their own- ers to turn their attention to productive pur- suits. The reason is obvious. When men receive their money Saturday afternoon, it is with the p.ospect of a holiday before them. There are two nights end s day intervening before they are required to resume their Inbors. They are in a social mood. The boliday affords the opportunity, and the sa- loons the temptation. A couple go off to- gether for o social drink. They meot a dozen others doing likewise. This leads to infinite possibilities in the way of debauch. A drunken spree, an arrest, a night in the lock- up, a8 Monday morning’s fine, and a loss of a day or twd of employment, mors than ex- hausts their weekly stipend. Or, as one drink leads to another, so & number of drinks may lesd to the small gambling-houses that are spread about as nets to catch just such fish, and so the earnings may be squandered. Or a night's carouse which is not slept off may be renewed next day, and a prolonged spree may be the result, which does not end till the wages- money is all gone. The process may vary, but the result is slways pretty much the same., If employes were paid, however, on Monday morning, there would be nothing for them to do but enter upon their work. They would have a week's labor before them. Tired out at night, they wouid separate, and go home to their families, their money in their pockets, as naturally as they donow. The difference would be a happy home, with fuel, and food, and clothing, in- stead of a desolate household of wan women and starving children. Here is a chance for good work. The plan is not entirely experi- mental. Wherever it has been tried it hes worked admirably. In England it has been put in operation very generally, and always with good results. In many of the large cities and manufacturing centres of this country it has been insugurated to advan- tage. But we do not know of any systematic and organized movement to bring about a general change, Here is the chance for the temperance reformers in Chicago. Let them fix a date ahead,—say Jan. 1, 1875,—prepars their pledges, and start out their volunteer agents simultaneously in the various parts of the city. Theonly objection they are likely to meet is & selfish one on the part of certain employers, who will complain of a necessary cessation from work for a short time Monday or Tuesdsy to pay off the men. This may be answered by saying that the loss of a few minutes’ time will be very small in each indi- vidual case, and will be far more than made up in steadierand better work from o set of men who do not go on sprees o’ Saturday nights. If the temperance societies of Chi- cago want to close 500 grog-shops, and save a million a year of the wages of the working classes for the use of their families, this is the way to do it. WEAT WOMEN ARE DOING. That very useful, elastic, and suggestive article, the United States Census, furnishes some very interesting facts which have a di- rect bearing upon nearly all the phases of the woman question now agitating the communi- ty. Theso facts, in addition to their bearing, present some very unique and carious infor- mation. It has been ome of the chief grounds of complaint upon the part of the advocates of women's rights that the various trades, professions, and occupations are mo- nopolized by men, and that the women are kept out of lucrative situations which they are qualified to fill. The census furnishes some important testimony upon this point. In the following table we give the principal occupations of females in the United States, with the numbers severally employed : Agricultural laborers. Farmers. Music-tesche Saleswomen, Cotton-mill o Employes manufactaring estabilshmen 2,53 Hat and cap maki 8,360 2,559 £110 Paper-mill operatives. Sewing-machine o Tailoresnen . ‘Woolen-mill opers 5 nelude ous other occupations in which w.,;:;m"' ary very commonly engaged all o T8 critilonn whioh o1 b, ::,;:“nm“‘“’?- abose table is, that it includes oogyes® ,wh}ch have always been open to :nfiam which, while they are very Taborio, o by 00 means Incrative, aud that gy them are ocenpations in which men et of engage. The census, howwer, iz “mm:m less, and fornishes a complete answey 1o " criticism. In analyzing its tableg e this thet there are in the United States 330 &, moking xopes; 1495 selting type: miners; 2,539 mechanics; 10 meut_m’k 4 190 manufacturers; 495 ©Operatives in ers; works ; 35 fishermen; 6 distillers of Ty " GO carriers; 8 brewers; 102 bmqunfld::; 25 agricultural-implement makers. 0 b~; Lkeepers; 32 commercinl travelers; 579 5 brokers; 20 undertakers; 7 criers of 1;“11. papers; 1,215 hucksters; 15 ban!;ers.a; whitewashers; 4 sculptors; 7sextons; 5;__,'.-(1 ; tors; 5lawyers; 173 pmf&immlmm'dm c;. clergymen ; 2 hostlers ; 2 hunters ang £ pers ; 35 journalists ; 24 dentists ; 2 ob; odists ; 1 architect ; 285 artists ; §92 actors 417 dairymen ; 45 stock-herders; 12 s tioneers ; 865 hotel-keepers ; 11 Livery.stabj keepers ; 100 showmen ; 196 teamsters . I soap-makers; 239 millers; 7 powde'{.nmk’m, 5 steam-boiler makers ; and thonsands g gaged in buying and selling all kinds of o tions. When women find no diffienlty iy preaching, hammering boilers, pleadingm packing beef and hogs, curing the sick, pall ing teeth, doctoring corns, catehi keeping hotels, making statues, burying the desd, lending money, whitewashing fences, raising stock, driving hacks and teams, edit, ing newspapers, and hunting wild beasts, noy to mention an endless catalogue of other masculine occupations, what henom;sof the absurd plea of the women's-rights advocates that they are not allowed to enter the ficli of labor in competition with man ? There is one inference to be drawn from these statistics which is inevitable, The census includes a vast number of occupations in which females are engaged, filling several pages of figures, which we have not included in our selections. Those which we hav given are in almost every instance underes. timated, sometimes extremely s0. For in. stance, there are almost as many women whe make their living by music in Chicago as sre get down for the whole United States Thy total number, therefore, must be much lurger than is stated in the census. Theré are also numerous methods of labor which are not given in the census at all, which must oc. cupy many thousands. The remainder of the women of the country, with the ex- ception of one class, are engaged in housekeeping, and find enough to do to fill the ordinary daily hows of work, The exceptional class to which we have alluded seem to be the female sdvocates of women's rights, who are the only unemployed women in the com. try. They are idlers, while their millionsd sisters are busily at work in every conceive- ble field of Iabor, from plain sewing to stetm. boiler making. As the census shows tha! every field of work is open to woman, it would appear advisable that théy should no longer act the part of the drone, but enterin and occupy some department. Judging from the noise they make, steam-boiler manufss turing will be a favorite occupation with - them, EDWIN BOOTH’S ENGAGEMENT. Mr. Edwin Booth, the distinguished sctor, ‘begins at McVicker's Theatre, a week from to- morrow night, the first engagement he bus played during the preseot dramatic sesson. It is also the first new engagement he has made since he went into bankraptey ; and it was with extreme difficulty that he was persuaded to re- rume his professional career at the present time. Like most true artists, Booth bas beex & recluse in private lfe, and has scquired the acate sensitiveness of s hot-house plant. His financial embarrassments have preyed upon his ming to 8o extent that almost induced hun to abandon the stage in the very prime of lifs and in the heyday of his success. He could ot scps- rate his baukruptey from disgrace, and conld uot reconcile himself to earning money for bimsell while he was bopelessly in debtto others. Hiz misfortunes are really the result of an over-zeal- ous devotion to the dramaticart; and, if he be blamed at all, it1s onlyas we msy blame sy other enthusiast who over-estimates his capsd- ty for elevating the public taste. B Booth been & selish. graspiog, @ money-making man, he wonld never bavt known pecupiary embarrassment. There haa been Do time within the past ten or 23 years that be could not earn & clear hnn'.fld thousand s year in the pursuic of his profeisia. He is 3 man of excellent habits and sunple melt of living ; and, deducting from his possiblesiti- ings tus cost of living, he might have been pok sessed of s large fortuns, like many other mea bers of his profession wirh much less tatent. B built his New York thestrs with th_B P poso of providing the metropolis ¢l the country with a fit dramatic teoace sod he produced the legitimate dnzd in the most artistic and historically aceorstd setting that it ever enjojed. The patronsge ke Teceived was liberal, but ot equal to Lis 4% bitious striving aiter excellence. The buldizs of this theatre cost him very much mors L.S he had reckoned op, snd he persistently refc to resort to tawdry sham in order to save hin:c) inhus productions. Like maay other enunc! men in his profession, notably Cbarles Kess m‘ Macready, he desired that Shakspeare shoald & presented to the public in a style fully &2 mensurate with the exaited character of b workis. In thus Booth succoeded besood alB predecessors, but it was at & great pusonflE: rifice. His own engagements in Now York %67 always remunerative, and thelage uummfiw3 mones he earned throughout the country : o conecientiously put into his theatre- Bat o could makeno headway upon the u;nmnh-u-r debt, owing to the enormous cost of bis prod! tions, and, afcer & heroic struggle of &7 years, he gave it up. Under such nfi:: stances, bankruptcy can scarcely be regar humiliating. = We aro glad that Mr. Booth has beeqvf;q suaded out of his despondency, sud tast cum.,} 3 will bethe first city to show him that mw;'c his misfortunes he cannot connt tha. -mfs i all,—tho loss of friends, The American 5327 cannot afford to lose 3ir. Booth. With d’? :; tirement of Charlotte Cushman from tae !-“z“_ Mr. Dooth will be the most eminent repm“”m tivo of his art in this country, He has never ¥/ wandered into the by-ways of dramaticlite tare, but has kept closo in the i) path of the legitimate. It is not aloo® o personal presence that is valnable, nuza - excellent influence which he exerts. So loog * Edwin Booth can attrect large sdience? biw constancy to art, there will bean 02c0u3z% to others to strive after the ideal. Tho & 0“; always subject to vicious aseaulta from 1077 people in the introduction of meretricions P ,;z: peeds sucha model. His finsncial um““-"m ments cut no figure in - the case. ihfl:wm‘ brought on by unwise ventures, which it duced by an ambition which i itelf was & ] one. But after he bas made every HOVE effort to pay his debts, snd has suffered & 2! iiled 1o 19 penalty for his enthusissm, he 18 ‘antitied 1o 18!