Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 10, 1875, Page 8

8 i TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION (PAYAELE IN ADVAKCE). Postuge Irepaid at this Office ’13.00 Xsu:du Partsof u)u.rnnh"-umnm Te provent delay and mistakes, be sure and give Post. Ofoe address in full, including Stato and County. Remittancesmzy bemada eitherby draft, express. Post- : ORcoarder, o in registered letters, at our isk. 4 TEDNE TO CITY SUBECRIDEES. H Dally, delivered, Sunday excented, 23 ceats parweek Daily. celivered, Sunday fncluded. 30 eants por week THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Chicago, IL i Address i TO-MORROW'S AMUSEMENTS. i ADELPRI THEATRE-Desshorn stre Mon- 1 Toe. Varisty entetainment. kb ¥ ,CHICAGO MUSEUM-Moncos stroct between Doar- *“Three Years in a Man-Trap. ACADEMY OF NUSIC—Hz!stad street. between Mad- aonand Moarss. Engagement ef Charlotio Thompeca. 1 acs Exrem HOOLEY'S THEATRI—Randnloh . strect, between Clarkand raSalle. **Lestin London.™ M'VICKKE'S THEATRE—Madison street. betwoen Engagemsnt 3 ST e Dearborn_and State. of Ben De Bar. ** Heurs IV.™ GRAND OPRRA-HUUSE—Clark _s'reet. opposita Sherman House. Kellil& Lcon's Minstrels. **His Graco Lis Duks.™ SOCIETY MEETINGS. '—Spenxl conclava of s 2io0dsy creuing, . D; 'erdug‘nnax_ C; ATTENTION SIE ENIGH i N t H £ ‘ayeite Chapter, No. 2, . A. AL, L Moaday 3t 73 oclock, for business. Visitors attend Byorderof the It P. TUCKER, Bec. i T Y WAR DECLARED ON HIGH PRICES.—RETURN- d to spscie baris: €8 for full st best gam testh. First- class nlling roduced onelalf. ' Satifaction given or fony reluhded, W. B. MCCHESNEY, coraer Clars and Handolps-sta. The Chicags Tibune, Bunday Morning, January 10, 1875. i Atty.-Gen. Wirrraxs will, in the course of a few days, commence suit against the Cen- : tral Pacific Railroad for 1,836,635, and ? sgainst the Gnion Pacific for $1,040,000, and 1gainst other roads smaller sums, aggregating 3,250,000. The demand for these sums is based upon an act of Congress requiring an annual report of their earnings to the Secre- tary of the Interior, together with the pay- ment by them of 5 per cent of their net earn- ings to the Government. These provisions H bave been ignored, and hence the suits. The i day of grace has expired, and Mr. WriLiavs : will commence suit forthwith. It is just pos- sible thet the roads, having disposed of their ne! earnings to individuals, will feel disin- clined to pay over their share to the Govern- went. A correspondent, whose communieation ‘was printed in our last issue, alluding to the indecent ¢ Can-Can ” performances now going on in the Sonth and West Divisions, claims that the dens of vice known as the variety theatres are even worse than the former. As <= he has visited both places he certainly isin a position to know. There is but one remedy, and that is to shut up the whole batch of ~ them. They sre a disgrace to the city anda burning shame to its name and reputation. As they gre the direct outcome, however, of the reform (?) measures of thePeople’s Party, which has fraternized, sympathized with, and defended, the thieves and gamblers of the city, ond as the Mayor and Police Commis- sioners see nothing wrong in them, they will probably continue to give their disgraceful, licentious, and beastly performsances without protest. Bishop Swexey, the Catholic prelate of Bt. John, N. B., has set an example to the clergy of the diccese to resist the payment of their school-tax, on the ground that “No Catholic citizen can conscientionsly and will- ingly contribute to the support of schools in which his religion is attacked and insnlted.” The consequence was that some of the epis- copal property was seized and sold at auction to satisfy the tax of §217.10. Three other clergymen found themselves similarly situ- eted The ground of complaint would be perfectly remsonsble were any disposition shown to introduce religious teaching into the schools at all But, so far as is known, there is no provocation of the kind. Bishop BweesEY's complaint, therefore, that the schools are closed against Catholic children, falls to the ground, and the refusal to pay taxes is Quixotic.” A few weeks ago TrE TRIBUNE, in an arti- cle upon New York extortion, claimed that the rates charged by the hotels of that city ‘were Ligher than they should be, and had the %o of driving away business when it could possibly be transacted elsewhere, This grasping principle is having its legitimate ef- fect. Fifteen of the largest hotels in the city have 4,632 rooms, accommodating easily 6,030 guests. At present their daily average is 33 per cent less than their capacity, being but 3,925. Their failure to reduce prices to their proper figure has already worked to their detriment, and will continue to injure the business of the city so long as they still main- tain their lofty disdain. They must do one thing or the other, come down or go out of business. Better accommodations are to ‘be bad in Chicsgo for $3.50 a day than in Hew York for §5. ‘We print this morning Gen. SErRmAX's of- ficial report of the proceedings at the State House in New Orleans on the 4th inst. His ' account of the proceedings within the hall is elesr and circumstantial, and shows that the action of the militery throughout was merely in the interest of law and order. First, they were stationed near the building to preserve the peace. They did not enter until re- quested by a committee of Democrats ep- pointed by Speeker Wirrz ; that they then i entered only to restore order, which being done they retired. They were next invited by the Governor, at the request of fifty-two members of the Legislature, to protect the legal members from the introduction of others who were not legal members. They performed this duty, and when they had done this end retired the Democrats left the hall. He gives it a= his opinior that, bad not the military been present, there would have been 8 general sscrifice of human life. He also states that he was not in command et the time, nor did he take command until that night. He presents the facts so clearly that Do one can question the propriety of the gction of the military under the circum. stances. The intelligent compositor who chenged the phrase * detective police " into ** defec- tive polics,” did & wiser thing then he knew. Itis becoming appsrent that the whole of our police system throughout the United States needs cbanging; that, in fact, all large cities mre in the hands of a geng of feceivers, who transect business for, are in lasgus with, and share, the profits of the pro- THE CHICAGQ DAILY TRIBUNE: SUNDAY.. JANUARY. IU, 1875.—SIXTEEN PAGES. fessional thieves whom they could and are bound to render powerless forevil. The fact is plainly evident. Boston is mo better off than New York, Chicago, or any other large city. The reader will remember the Milford (N. H) bankrobbery, by means of which some - £112,000 worth of bonds and negotinble paper was stolen. Boston detectives were putupen the track. With every opportunity for unearthing the thieves, they failed to do more'than obtain & clew. Finally the Directors of the bank became so thoroughly impressed with the fact that the Boston police were in league with the rob- bers, that they compounded a felony, gave 8 reward of ${0,000, and discovered their property,~—thus susteining a loss of more than one-third in addition to the expenses of paying the detectives, who, as & matter of course, got their share of the re- ward for not betraying the other thieves. -1 It has now come to this, that stolen property can only be recovered by the offer of a re- ward and a pledge not to prosecute. The following sensationsl dispatch came over the cable Friday night : A poectal to the London Standard from Derlin says 0 Bank Commission passed s rexolation that tho Im- perkl Bank buy gold in Iots st 1,393 marks 50 pfen- 4 sings ver pound, i arderto compete succesifully ‘with the Amencan Government, and attract gold to Ge:mny ‘Tais action is taken in view of the contem- piated reaumption of epects payments in the United There can be no troth in this, so faras competition with the United States'is con- cerned. The Empire of Germany adopted the gold standard some time since and pro- vided for the issue of gold coins from Jan. 1,1875. It used the bills of exchangein which much of the French indemnity was paid to accumulate a stock of bullion, which it has been coining for some time. It now has at least two-thirds of the necessary gold coined and in process of issue. It is quite possible that the Empire needs more bullion, and means to buy it, but Defore our demand for specie increases to much extent, Germany will have all the gold she wants for home use. She will not there- fore compete with us, except that shq will do what she can to prevent us from diminishing her circulation in 1879. Her present de- mand may, however, prevent the negotia- tion, for the time, of the remainder of the mnew 5 per cent loan. She is doing us good, on the .other hand, by driving her enormous silver coinage out of circu- letion. This silver is so much debased by alloy that it can circulaste nowhere, now that the Empire has rejected it. It will have to be melted into bullion. ' Its nominal value is over $400,000,000. This amount, thrown on the morkets of the world, will so depress the price of the metal that it will be comparatively easy for us to procure the sil- ver needed for the redemption and replace- ment of the nasty torn and greasy fractional currency. Asfor the gold, it is to be remem- bered that we produce about $75,000,000 of specie every year, and that the increased de- mand for it a5 carrengy will tend to keep itin the country, as the time set for resumption draws nigh. We may not be obliged to com- pete in the Earopean markets for specie at ll, but may be able to supply ourselves. THE REBEL WILTZ'S MAKIFESTO, The malicions partisanship of the Bourbon Democracy, save in its sympathy with Seces- sion during the War of the Rebellion, has never been more clearly manifested than in its howling denunciations of the Administra- tion. The whole Bourbon pack, headed by the “Fog-horn” Governor.of Ohio, old Petti- coat ArreN, the most venomous hound in the pack being the newspaper founded by Horace Grerrey and owned by Jay Gourp, is in full cxy, and the universal character of this de- nuncigtion is simply infamous sbuse end malicious falsification of facts. The animus of the Bourbon newspepers, and the Bowbon politicians and bummers at- tending upon State Legislatures in quest of spoil, is so apparent that it is not worthy of serious argument. They present no facts, and argue no results. The only statement which has yet been mode upon the Bourbon side, worthy of attention, is the WiLTz manifesto, emanating from the Bourbon faction of the Lonisiana Legislature; and this because it comes from an effcient source, is presented without heat or abusive Ianguage, and makes the strongest showing which can be made of that side of the ques- tion. This manifesto begins with a misstatement : “The House of Representatives of Louisiana, duly orgenized in accordance with the laws of the State.” The House was not organized in accordance with law, bLut was grossly, irregularly organized, as has been shown repeatedly, and asis stated in Judge DrenLe’s calm and moderate view of the situation. A number of men claiming to be legislators assembled in the Houss, and one of them suddenly moved that Mr. ‘Wirrz be declared Spesker, and the motion was declared carried by & ¢ioa voce vote inthe face of & storm of noes. No credentials had been presented, the ayes and noes were not ollowed, and Mr. WiLrz was declared elected without proof of apy sort, without any pa- pers to show that those who had voted were members, The whole lobby might have voted, and perheps did, without question. MMr. Winrz was sworn in in & hurry, and the very first action was the pofsage of a resolu- tion declaring five men members of the House who had no credentials or papers of any sort,- and were not on the list of ‘the Rchzrnmg Board, which alone had the lawful, constita- tional authority in the premises ! There was nothing to show that these men were mem- bers.of the House ; nothing to show that they ‘were even citizens of Louisiana, They wern thrust into the Legislature by force and in violation of all Parlinmentary rule and uscge, and without any precedent in Parliamentary procoedings. This is the way in which the Legislature was * duly organized according to law.” Aguin, the Witz manifesto says: ¢ Having organized permanently according to Iaw, their Spesker and a majority of the members were ccmpel!ed to retire by troops of. the United States.” In answer to this falsehood the fects show that the troops did not inter- fere with the Speaker or & majority or a mi- nority of the members, or with any member who had o certificate of lewful election. It is admitted upon sl sides that the Democrats and WLtz himself first called upon Gen. Dx Teonriaso for troops fo eject all persons who wero not members of the Houee ; and they did so. They drove them ozt at the request of Wirrz and the Democrats. The President is no more responsible for this then he is for the sabsequent use of the troops. Gen. SEERIDAN cannot be responsi- ble for it, for he was not then in command of the Dopartment. The reqaest was not even made of Gen. Extory, who wes in commend, but of Gen. Dz TroBriawp, a schordinate. After these men were driven out by force, at the request of Witz aud his Democrets, the House crgnmzed with five bogns membez-a in it. At this juncturs, £fiy-two Republican — e members, duly elected, and who hed their certificates of election, demanded of tho Gov- ernor in writing to eject these five spurious members who were holding seats for which ‘they .had no credentials, and in contravention of the laws of Louisi- ans. The Governor sent the request to Gen. Dz Tropruxp, who had just obeyed a similar request npon the part of the Demo- crats, and he acted in accordance with it, ejecting them with a squad of soldiers. Ho did not eject the majority or the minority, or guy members who were duly elected. They ojected themselves. We pass over the threats which were made against the Repub- lican members that, if they attempted to leave the House, they would be killed, and the violent effort which was made by the White-League banditti to prevent their leav- ing, and who were only restrained from their usual programme of cssabsination and mur- ; der by the presence of the troops, end come to the most important qnesuan growing out of these illegal acts upon Lhe part of the Rebel Democracy. Who is responsible for fl.\s use of the troops ? Isit the Federal or the State offi- cials? Gen. SHERIDAN gave mno orders in pursuance of the Democratic request to eject the lobby. He gave no orders in pursuance of the Republican request to eject the five bogus members. The metter was not brought 1o his attention at all, and he had no more to do with it than the General of the Germau army. Ho was not in command of the troops at that time. Gen. Exory hed no more to do with it thon Gen. Smeemaw. He was not consulted in the premises. The President had no more todo withit than Gen. SrEnmax, or the man in the moon. He is no more re- sponsible for the use of the troops npon Gov. Krrroce’s request than for the use of the troops upon Wirtz's request. He cannot be held responsible for it, except by that por- “tion of the Bourbon press and politicians who, for base partisan purposes, are de- termined to misrepresent, distort, and falsify all the facts. The only order the President has given is for the sta- tioning of troops in New Orleans to preserve the peace. This he has the legal and con- stitutional right to do. He has the same per- fect right {o station the gunboats off the city. The Government can station the army and navy where it pleases, else there would be no such thing as a Government. A Gov- crnment without the power to enforce gov- ernment is an impossibility, and no doctrine of ‘“State Rights” or any other Dourbon dogma can limit this right. It can place its troops in New Orleans, New York, Chicago, Boston, on the Plains, or wherever it plenses, and.can call upon them to pre- serve the peace. In the present case, it has been shown that they wers first called upon by the Democratic members of the Legisla- ture and Speaker WiLrz; in the second, by the Republican members and Gov. K£LroGa ; and that neithéer Gen. SHERIDAN nor the Pres- ident hed anything to do with it. To hold the President responsible for these uses of the troops, therefore, is simply absurd and malicions, and the fact that he is so held by the Bourbons plainly shows that they ere dis- torting and misreprasenting the truth in the case with malica prepense. The talk of im- peachment of the President, who has given no orders at all in the prem- ises, is simply the talk of swash- bucklers and partissn incendiaries. However violent & man may de as a partisan he shounld at least keep withia the limits of ordinary consistency and probabilities, and not make o blatant, demagogical exhibition of himself, as the Bourbons ars now doing. Let us tell the whole pack that, instead of making votes by their inflammatory lies, they will disgust multitudes of feir-minded Democrats. THE COURT-HOQUSE AND CITY-HALL. The conference between the Doard of Pub- lic Works and & committee of the County Commissioners on Friduy was an important one, and the spirit of the discussion was creditable. There is no well-founded objec- tion to the rebuilding of the Court-House sug City-Hall, except that the means of so doing heve not been available without a resort to toxation, ond extra - texation is a' grievous burden to 8 community that, in the midst of fiscal deprassion, within the short space of two-and-a-half years, have been compelled to rebuild the city, resorting in part for the means to do so to loans at a high mte of interest. This; objection, which is altogether o reasonnhla one, has been supplemented by the epparent effort to make the construction of the;bmldmg a corrupt speculation and a swindling job—by which the handling of alargesim of public money might be committed mth great profit to cer- tainparties and factions, This attempt by porticular vings to geb poscession of this costly work. has been pmparly a grave objec- tion to any action towaxfls beginning the work. The objection to raising the means to build the Court-House by taxation at this time is conclusive. Itwould be an oppression of the severest chargcter. That being out of the question, what other means are within the rench of the city ? By the act of the Legislature refunding to the city the amount expended on the cansl, one-fifth of the whole sum, say some $630,000, was required to be kept as a fund ap~ plicable exclusively to the rebuild. ing of such City-Hall buildings as had been destroyed by the fire. This $630,- 000 is nominally in the City Trensury, but it isin fact not there. Over half a mill- ion of dollars of that sum is included in the Gace defaleation, and the rest has been other- wise temporarily nsed. That money, there. fore, is no more available at present than if it had never existed. Until the financial mar- ket becomes more settled, and dealings in -real estate are again brisk, GaaE's property cannot be sold with any promise of refund- ing the loss to the City Treasury. It is now generally considered that a proper building in every way can be constructed at a cost of 82,500,000, or less, as labor and materials ars wery cheap. The share of this falling to the city will be $1,250,000, which will have to- be paid in instolmenis covering a period of three or four years. The city has a Iarge amount of real estate for which it has no use, and from which it has no in- come. The railroads four years ago offered (and actnally paid the first instalment) $800,- 000 for that portion of the Lake Park mnorth of Monroe street. The changes in the busi- ness districts of the cify made by the fire have removed the objections which were then urged against the acceptance of that offer. 1ts sale now should meet with no ob- jection; on the contrary, the conversion of that unproductive property into cash, and its addition to the taxable property of the mty, is 8 most desirable policy. Assuminz thatit can be sold for the sum of 500,000, == per- haps o little mors, there will be immeg....ely availablo two-thirds of the share of the city in the cost of building the Court-House and City-Hall. That sum wounld be Ikely ! cover the required expenditure of the city on that work for at least three years, or until 1878, and, in the meantime, the probabilities are that the whols of the Guacrz defaleation may be recovered by the rise in the value of his property, and thus put the city in condition to completo its expenditure without resort to extrataxation, The county has available for its share of the cost $600,000 of bonds, which it has cuthority to issue and sell. In addition it has the twenty-five acres of land formerly known as the Reform School grounds. This s estimated by one of the County Commis- sioners ag worth $600,000, but could not be sold now for half or two-fifths that sum. Before the fire, and when the grounds were first vacated by the Reform School, the prop- erty might haye been sold for $£00,000, or more. But it'will, in all probability, within a few years, bo selable again, and when the proceeds of the sale of the $600,000 of bonds have been exhausted, say in 1877 or 1878, the land, or a portion of it, can be sold as the money is needed, and thus the county may meet the great part of its share of the expend- iture without a resort to texation. We think it is desirable that the work should be begun, and that in 1875 the foun- dations for the. whole building should be Inid. In the spring of 1876 the work might bo continued, not hurriedly, but to such an extent as the means on hand and the certainty of having the work well done would justify. The present low prices of building material and of labor offer strong inducements for beginning this work this year. Itis anin- ducement that appeals strongly to the econom- ical necessities of both city and county. ‘Whatever be done, however, care should be taken that the whole business should be kept out of the hands of any corrupt rings or factions, either of architects, contractors, Aldermen, or Commissioners; and for that reason we commend the suggestion that the work for the city be done by the Board of Public Works, and that, instead of contract- ing for the whole job and materials at one time, only each year's work be contracted for, thus keeping the control of the progress of the building in the hands of the Board of Pablic Works, and under the surveillance of public eriticism, until completed. AN UELY CHAPTER IN THE CITY FI- NANCES. It has long been the custom of the Munie- ipal Government of Chicago to spend its money before it collects its taxes, and then to collect only a part of them. The tax-levy is made June 30. On July 1 the full amount of the tax is supposed, by s plessing official fiction, to be on hand in the Treasury, and the different departments of municipal ad- ministration set at work forthwith to spend it, which they do with avigor and decision in mark- ed contrast with the way in which they collect it, nine monthsor a year afterwards. When six months have been occupied in paying out money, and January has come, a feeble be- ginning in collecting borrowed money that hes been already spent is made. In the pres- ent month the City Treasury will receive, in driblets of afew hundred or thousand dollars per day, a small fraction of the taxes levied lost August. 'This process of collection will drag on until the end of the fiscal year, in April. Then preparsations will be made to sell out delinquent property. Some time during the summer the Council will pass an order to ask the Probate Court fora judg- ment against the delinquents. After that some more people—those most easily fright- ened—pay up. After which, say in July, & year after the appropriation, the Court grants o judgment against all except the tax-fighters, who escape throngh loopholes, techniealities, informalities, or some legal quibble, and, failing in that, take appeals to the Circuit Court, and from the Circuit Court to the Supreme Court, and eventually manage to pay no tases—nothing but lawyers’ fees. As to the others against whom judgments have been obtained, half or two-thirds pay in their taxes. The remainder let their prop- erty be sold for the delinquent assessments. The per cent penalty not being high enough to tempt tax-title purchesers, the city is obliged to buy in the property and hold it till such times as the delinquents see fit to re- deem it,—one, two, three, or more years thereafter. The tax-sales are held in August or September, and thus, fifteen months efter the City Council meds the appropria- tionsand commenced spendix':g the money, are the taxes, or a part cf [them, paid into the Treasury. During all this interval what is the city do- ing for money? Why, borrowing from spe- cial funds, from the banks, shinning, and issuing certificates of mdebbedness payable on the 1st of January foflowxng About four-fifths of fl:e tax-levy is finally paid into the Treasury betwean Fv{:mry and October, and is used to redeem the certifi- cates and help the City Government cripple and kite along the bestit can. Formerly, o Comptroller, who could be employed for $4,000 per annum, could manage to borrow enough money to shin along. Now, it takes a higher grade of borrowing genius and re- quires an $8,000 man to do the necessary shining and borrowing. Before long the case will become so com- plicated and difficult as to require a financier who will cost $12,000 or $16,000 a year. From 10 to 15 per cent of the taxes levied ench year are never collected, but are lost to the city, through the successful resistance of the real-estate tax-fighters and personal-tax absconders. But the money representing the delinquenoy has already been spent to the last cent. The paper representing it, there- fore, swells the floating debt. It was once the custom to fund this float- ing debt, from time to time, in bonds. The Constitution of 1870 fixed a limit, however, to the bonded indebtedness of the city, snd that limit has . been reached. We canno longer fund our certificates. So this resource fails, There has hitherto been another resource, which is also about to fail. After the Con- -stitution of 1870 was adopted, and before it took effect, the city issudd 8,739,000 of bonds for the following purposes : Sehiool and oftier buiidinge. The sale of these bonds furnished a fund which served as a pool from which the city borrowed money to meet its needs between July and the time the annual levy was real- ized upon. It thus got temporary loans with- ont paying interest, and replaced them with the proceeds of the yearly tax collected in August and September of the year fol- lowing. This pool has steadily grown smaller, as the improvements for which the bonds were issued were pushed for- ward. The river-improvement, sewerage and tunnel, and school funds have been ‘wiped out. Only a small fraction of the water fund isonhand. The public buildings fund, re- ceived from the sale of the cansl lien to the Btate, which also sexved s a pool, was pretty nearly exhausted by the defalcotion of Mr. Gace. Itappears, from a statement of the amounts nominally to the credit of the special funds, furnished us by Comptroller Haxes, that the only money whick can now be borrowed by the city for any length of time without interest is as follows : Water fund , $ 98,300.63 Bridewell fand, AL Total.... 120.155.30 This is 8 mere nothing in comparison to the annual civie expenditure of five or six millions. It will not be long before this scanty pool will be wholly dried up. Then the city will have to borrow (and pay inter- est) as it goes, or pay as it goes. It cannot do the first long. Our borrowing capacity de- creaseswith every addition to our floating debt. If we persist in issuing certificates of indebt~ edness to meet our running expenses, we shall swell this debt, nob only by the difference between the tax as levied and the tax as col- lected, but by the whole interest on ‘these certificates. Our inability to carry our debt, then, becomes a simple question of time. Municipal bankruptcy is the sure result. ‘We are treading in the path over which New York has already passed. The message which Mayor Wickmax sent to the Common Council of that city is full of suggestions for us. He says: *“ What the linbilities of the city really arz, I am not at present in a position to inform you. The Comptroller states the total debt ot $110,187,080; but there is a floating debt of from $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 besides. . . The time has come when the actual flnmcml condition of the -city should be definitely ascertained and published.” This time has also come here. The time has ‘come, moreover, When we should adopt a sensible system of taxation, and collect our money at legst as fast as we spend it. 'We must stop this child's play of making the appropriations equal to the fall face value of the year’s taxes, when experi- ence proves we cannot collect that face value by 10 to 15 per cent. When the State needs 23,000,000 net, and experience has shown that the cost of collection is 10 per cent, the Auditor makes alevy of $3,300,~ 000. If this yields only $2,900,000, he makes up the deficit next year by levying £8,500,000 or 33,600,000, or whatever amount is sure to yield the requisite revenue of that year, pay the cost of collection, and cancel the deficiency. Our Common Council pro~ ceeds on aradically different plan. If the city needs £5,500,000, our sapient Aldermen authorize the Departments to spend that full amount and then levy a tax of $5,500,- 000. Of this, the city gets, within the year, perhaps $5,000,000 net, or less, and has to pay, aut of this, the inter- est on the money borrowed for six to nine and twelve months or more to antici~ pato the collection of the tax. Mayor Cor- vov's last message, submitted to the Council Dec. 7, shows that the outstanding certificates of indebtednem, to be paid between that date and the 1st of next June, then amounted to $3,186,015! On nearly all, if not all, of this-large sum, the city is paying from 7 to 10 per cent interest, How much of this three and a quartermill- ions of floating indcbtedness has been created by the annuslly increasing and accumulating delinquent taxes? Since, say, 1869, we are not able ot this moment to state, but it must exceed ten millions, which have been thus lost and on which interest is paid for'bor- rowed money to fill the vacuum. Yet the sapient, reckless Couneil take no notice whatever of this rapidlly inérensing floating debt, but go on heedlessly expending the full amount of the appropriations ! The Mayor’s message informs us that the uncollected taxes of 1872 amount to §838,- 962.26, and that 20 per cent of the tax of 1873 *“stands on appeal and in tax certifi- cates”; but what cares the Council for this ugly showing? The evil demands guick remedy. The Citizens' Association, which has been recommending the city to spenda ‘million of dollars in extra fire expenses, will do well to wake to the fact that we are not meeting our ordinary expenses by a large amount; that the difference between our income aud outgo grows ‘greater every year; aund that our floating debt rolls larger, like a snow-ball, and will, ere long, equal that of New York, unless some- thing is speedily done to reform this loose, reckless course. What we need is u careful examination of the civic finances by an ex- pert, in order that we may know precisely what we owe; such a change in the tax- system that we may get our money before we spend it; and a limitation of appropriations to the amount which the annual tax-levy will really cover. We ask the attention of the Citizens' Association to this grave and import- mpsbject THE CORRUPT LOBBY AT WASHINGTON. ‘The plea of Inwx, the agent of the Pacific Mail Company in the distribution of the $750,000 paid out for procuring an annual subsidy of $500,000, *‘That his health was such that his imprisonmept in jail, and the consequent mental disturbance, would se- riously'injure him,” was very properly treated by the House. This man Irwry ncknowl- edges that, as agent of the Pacific Mail Com- pany, he obtained that money to influence legislation in favor of the subsidy; that its ‘payment was conditional upon the success of the legislation; that upon the passage of the law he did pay out the money; bat he refusés to disclose to whom he paid it. Without any aid from Inwry, the Comnmittee have discovered that a portion of this money was paid to the Hon. Ricmaep C. Parsoxs, M. O., at that time Marshal of the Supreme Court at Washington; to Brtr Krva, at that time the Postmaster of the House of Representatives, and now a member elect of the next Congress; and to Mr. at that time an ex-member of Congress, and a Democratic member of the present Con- gress. All three of these persons, by their official positions, were entitled to go upon the floor of the House while it was in session. InwiN refuses to disclose the names of those to whom he paid the money, because he was acting as the ‘* attorney of the Company " ; and these persons state that they were acting 83 the * attorneys " of Inwi, and refuse to tell what use they made of the money. The privileges of an attorney are well defined. They extend to any confidential statements or papers made to him by his clients. But the attorney cannot plead his privilege when he was employed to do &n il- legal act. Thus, an attorney receiving money to bribe a jury, or the Court, or the Sheriff, and expending it successfully for that par- pose, cannot plead his privilege when called upon to relate what he knew of that transac- tion. He might plead that he was not bound to criminate himself by his own testimony, but he could not plead his privilege as anat- torney. The privileges of an attorney do not extend to the commission of crime. The law recognizes no agencyin crime. 'The manwho commits the crime I8 equally guilty with the man who employed lrim. Both are principals. Itis established by incontestable proof that this money was pluced in the hands of Inwry,-to be wnsed at Washington to produre this legislation. He employed Pamsoys, Kmvg, and ScHUMARER to assist him, d#d placed money in their hands to be used by them in procuring the passage of the bilk. He employed others, and refuses to give their names, or the names of any to whor ho paid money. Parsoxs pleads that he was sn “attorney.” Somuvaaxen does the same. , Qoth refuse to tell what they did with the mesey. Thay, being members of Congress, are privileged from arrest. Ko cannot be founcl. Inwrs refuses to answer, and is put in jail, where he will be kept, unless he sooner amswer, until the expira. tion of Congress on the 4th of March next. The next Congress can then take up the case and pat him i prison until the 4th of March, 1877. We that trust this will be done, snd that no plea of bad health will avail to re- lease this scoundrel more than any other rascal charged with crime. Bribery is the evil which contaminates the legislation of Congress. It is incidental.to and inseparable from the business of sub- sidies. “Hero is & company, in the receipt of an annnal subsidy of $500,000, that paid out §$750,000 cash to purchase an increase of that subsidy to $1,000,000 a year for ten years. They purchased a gratuity of $5,000,- 000 by the expenditureof $750,000, and every- body concerned in the transaction, principals and attorneys, as well as the recipients of the money, was guilty of a crime against thelaw, agninst public morelity, and againsts the honor and credit of Congress, and should be exposed and punished therefor THE COLD SNAP. Tt is perhaps unnecessary to call attention to the fact of the present cold snap. Any person who has occasion to be out of doors has sufficient reminders of it in stinging fingers, toes, and ears. Those who are in doors have found it out from frosted panes, bursted water-pipes, cold chambers, and im- potent furnaces. Those who have not found it out of themselves are-very likely to be ro- minded of it by their friends and neighbors, who nnnounce the fact as if they were the original discoverers of it. Cardrivers and *bus-drivers are probably ready to go before any Notary and make affidavits to the fact. There is one compensation in the fact that misery loves company, and has it in this case. ‘When the thermometer stands 85 below at ‘Wilmas, 30 below at McGregor, 17 at New Hartford, 16 below at Madison, 28 be- low at Des Moines, 17 below at Omeha, 26 below at Cheyenne, and 81 below at Fort Laramie, it shows that these little favors which started at Fort Garry bave been distributed with the most regular and cheerful impartiality. The promptness and celerity with which Fort Garry started and propelled its wave are also very remarkable. To have covered so much space in so short 8 time, the storm-centre, as the scientists call it, must have traveled at least 40 miles per hour, or much faster than a railrond-train moves, and have blown over icebergs, glaciers, and snow-fields the most of the way. Of course it is the duty of every man to accept the weather that comes, as the Shepherd of Selisbury Plain did. This is philosophy, however hard it may be for a man with a frozen ear and stinging fingers to accept it. It is cheering to Inow that Old Probabilities is at his post doing his best to. regulate the thermometers, barometers, and storm-centres. It would be still more cheering if he could discover some way of reguleting Fort Garry, and inducing that frigid frontier fortress to keep its waves to ifself hereafter, or send them in some other direction. A few waves of this sort sent in the neighborhood of New Orleans would be admirable specificn to allay the storm-centre at that point. No people can be belligerent with the thermom- eter at 25 below zero. Meanwhile, it is pleasant to know that the thing can’t last, and that Fort Garry rarely gets up more than vne wavein a season. ‘Be- fore the meteorologists get through hunting for the causes and tracking its cours:, the ‘wave will have passed, and Old Probatilities will be elevating his thermometers and push- ing his storm-centres farther east. We need not urge the reader to keep cool until that happy time. FANCEER'S FANCIE: ‘We know of no lady in so fnvomblen con- dition to receive the congratulations of the New Year as Miss Ross, who has just been awarded $10,000 for Mr. FaNcuer's breach of promise. It is rarely that a maiden lady of 31 years, with so little confidence in her personal charms that she prefers to keepon a veil in the presence of twelve jurors, can get the munificent sum of $10,000 as her award. Jurors do not usually take so much on trust. But Miss Ross is not only to be ‘congratulated on receiving $10,000 at her sge and under these circumstances,. but also because she gets this snug lit- tle nest-egg without the incumbrance of Mr. FavcEEr's company throngh life. We should say that $10,000 without Fancmr is many times better than the §i300,000 with Faxcier, which would have been the painfal ‘result if Faxcmem had kept faith. We have 1o mehns of knowing just how fond of money Miss Ross is, but we should say that she made the discount of $290,000 not only will- ingly but eagerly. On the other. hand, we are not sure but that the bargain was a good one for Faxcmen. If the alternstive were submitted to us either to take Nfiss Ross for better or worse during the declining yeers of & mature life or pay her $1¢),000 to break the contcact, we should part with the $10,000 with cheerful xesignation. e would never ask an appeal. The Ross-FANCHER breach-of -promise case was conspicuous for its franlmess. Most breach-of-promise cases are sentimental frauds. This one was not. The jury are generally asked to assess some tender-hearted and soft-pated old ess for lacerated heart- strings. The verdiet is ordinarily expected to be made up an a schedule of $14 for every sigh, $52.50 for every sob, 17 cents forevery love-letter (which swells the damages enor- mously). and $2,500 for every sensible, correctly-spell:d word of esteem or af- fection (which rarely adds a cent. the verdict). But here were no sighs, nor sobs, nor heart-breakings, nor in- nocent prattlings, mor hard-hearted decep- tions; no loveys, dearies, nor tootsy-tootsies, not & tithe of sentiment nor maudlin re- piping. Though both parties hail from the country that produced JoaQuiN Mrrrem, we have not o pastoral nor a sonnet. There was no appesk on account of the lady’s tender years ; they wero not tender. There was no influer.ce brought 0 bear upon twelve sus- ceptiole jurymen by the lady’s besuty; for she was not beautiful,—at least we infer as musth from the fact that she refused to show hes: face. Thore wes no effort to value the 1o dy’s loss at the parsonal worth of the defend- ant; for the defendant had no peculiar attrac. tions, and his loss in a8 matrimonial sense counld only bo her gain. The only point that conld be possibly construed in the way of setiment. alism was that Miss Ross was an orphan | but then an orphan of 31, whose travels span a continent, and whoso experience embraceg o Fancmer, scarcely appeals -to the senti. mental weakness of a jury. Here was g A breach-of-promise ease, therefore, that came to trialon its genuine merits. As the connsel for the fair comp]mmn: aptly remarked : It was simply for the jury to determing ‘whetheror not there was a breach of Ppromise, . and,, if not, whether Faycmer hadn't had £10,000 worth of fun. The jury thought he had. We doubt 'this, but still we think the verdict a fair one,—as fair as the complainant in one sense and s the defendant in another, As arule, we have no faithin breach-of. Ppromise cases. They are, generally spenking, 8 species of - blackmail, creditable neither {o the complainants’ nor their attorneys. Buk we regard this case as an exception. Whilg we do not beliove that blighted affections can ‘be restored with money, nor outraged feslings soothed with greenback-plasters, we are hon. estly convinced that Mr. FAxca=R ought to by made to pay $10,000, and that Miss Ross hag earned her money,—that is, what she shall ra. ceive of it after paying lawyers' fees, costs of - appeal, reversal of verdict, new trial, etc. The relstions of Ross " and FoNcaer were peculiar. Ross was poor, Faxcmer rich. Faxcmer evidently found some sort of gratification in sitting on a sofa with his arms wound around Ross, and ho never gave a quid pro gquo. It will not do to say that Ross had compensation in the privilege of winding her arms abouni FANCHER, because nobody who has resd of Faxcree will admit there was any pleasure in this. Then Faxcrer took Ross and traveled across the continent. They entered tha sleeping-car ‘and occupied the same statc- room. They stopped over at Salt Lake and slept in the same apartment. They traveled logether as man and wife, which they cex- tainly ought to have been under thess circumstances. Yet Favcuer, with his 320,000, required Ross, withont a cent, to Pay her shexe of the co-operative traveling expenses. As she had not the money to sct- tle up day by day for her share of the sare room, her proportion of the sleeping-car berth, or her part of the breakfast, this pre- cious old deceiver made her put up her rings and watch as pledges that he should be reim- bursed at some future time.. We cite this as a specimer of combined meanness and ** crss- ednass” that defies rivalry. If $10,000 will repay Miss Ross for exhibiting herself befora the public, and playing the parfin private, of wife to such & man, we say that stais fully entitled *to "it, and that the verdictisa just one, which ought to stand. THE CEECK-BANK SYSTEM. There is an institution in London knoywa as the “*Check Bank,” which has had an ex- istence of something more than a year. Tka system upon which it does its business i novel. Whenever it receives a deposit, it is- sues checks of various denominations to tie depositor, whigh are equal in the agaregnte to thie amount deposited. These checks are Ppayable upon the indorsement of the holder, and are issued to be used gg & currency. Tko inducement to depositors is the return of checks in smsll and coavenient amoants, which may be sent away in payment of ac- counts, the bunk having established & cor- respondence with 98¢ banks in the TUnited Kingdom and 596 abroad. The bank riaka its money by placing the funds it receives on deposit in, other banks which pay intorest thereon; the lomger the checks circulate, therefore, the more money the Check Brok makes. The scheme is admittedly ezperi- mental; and, while there are indicatioas of its enlargement and extension, we cannct-. help regarding the system as defective and dangerous. The points which occur tc us in the consideration of the subject may be Lriefly | stated as follow: 1. If the system is to be practical and gen- eral, these checks will become ciren!iting notes. As such, their velidity depends solely on the individual honesty and business man. egement of the men who issue ther. A failure in either respect would instantly con- vert them into wor'hless shinplasters. An extension of the system throughout anmy country would be an element of panic a$ any time of commercial trial and financial strin- gency. 2. If they do not become a currency for general circulation, then"they foil of their purpose, and are in no wise an improvercnt upon the present medium of exchange fur- nished by the regular benkers of the country. They simply take the place of certificates of deposit, bills of exchange, or certified checks, which can be purchased from sny bank doing general business, and used in the payment of accounts at & distance. 8. The security offered for these circulat- ing notes is not of a character that ought to gain public confidence. The money depo.it- ed to offset the issus of these checks is placed - in other banks to draw interest. Thereisa constant temptation held out to the mana- gers of tho Check Bank to place their funls where they can get the largest rates on d>- posits, and, as a rule, the banker who offers the largest rate of interest on deposits is tha least able to pay on demand in time of genar- ol financial distress. 4. If these checks become currency (whmh is the sole purpose of their issue, and ail that distingunishes them from other bank-checks), they produce an inflation precisely to the extent to which they are issued. The money which they represent is reissued by the banks with which it is deposited on interest, and circulates alongside of the “private currene cy.” To the extent of the inflation, therefore, it will contribute to the fluctuation snd in- stability of the general currency, and, in thab respect, it will be an unmitigated evil. The- experience of England asa commercisl na- tion has been that, thelarger the business, the smaller the proportion of sctual currency e~ quired to transact it. The issue of circu~ lating checks is in diréet contravention of this experience. 5. This check eurrency is neither so safe for transmission as postal orders, nor so well protected against counterfeits as bank-issues. If it gets into anything like general circals- tion, it must be indorsed in blank, and one might with equal safety inclose a bank-note in an envelope to send it away. The coun- terfeiters would have easy work; for, after printing the forms, the mgnatnres conld be readily imitated, and the necessary variations in the sppearance of different checks would be of great help in the circulation of comne terfeits. Altogethér we cannot see anytlung in the system which commends it to imitation. It appears to bs ome of those novelties which are constantly evolved out of the visionary desire so many young misn entertain of doing things infinitely better than the accumulated . experience of ages can suggest. I msy be