Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, March 7, 1875, Page 4

ren wtreeanteuccnt THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 1875.--SIXTEEN PAGES. 4 eee ene eteneseeeeeene eer a Ser er eee eee ‘The next thing was toprevent the Sovereign's | tory, and ‘either German, Latin, or Greek light and Coke Company in view, that this | known, and it is beeanse of this relationship Jarge loan bas been negotiated? The Com- | that we think our correspondent made 2 mis- TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. ‘RATES OF SUBECRIFIION (PAYABLE Df ADYAXCE). Fo ¥repaid at this Office. Daily, L year, 13.00 | Weekly. 1 e haa 8 Peet ES Soub.eshost.-. 3,00| oP Parta of 2 yoar at the same rate. ‘Waxrep—Une active agent in cach town and village. Special arrangements made with such. ‘Specimen copies sent free. ‘To prevent delay and misiekes, bo sure and give Post: Offce address in full, including State and County. Rerciitances may bemade eitherby draft, express, Post- OsBes onder, or in registered letters, at our risk. ‘TERMS ZO CITY SUBSCRIBERS. Daily, delivered, Sunday excepted, 25 cents per week. Daily. delivered, Sunday incladed, 30 cente por weok- Address ‘THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Corner Madison and Dearborn-sts., Chicago, ID. TO-MORROW’S AMUSEMENTS. GRAND OPERA-ROUSE—Clark streo! to Sherman tows, Kelly & Lend’ Minstrels: *?he Belles of the Kiteben.” A ISEUM—Monroe street, between Di wovnusd Sites U Fao Soames ae ACADEMY OF MUSIC— Halsted street. between Mad. i and Munroe. Ei at of John T. tee a saa .T. Raymond. NVICKER'S THEATRE—Madlson street, betwoen warhaen and Suto, Pacugement of Lice: Soby, eDwixt Ax and MOOLEY'S THEATRE—Randolph street, between lark and LaSalle, **Lone Mouse on the Brides. ADELPHI THEATRE—Dearborn strest, corner Mon- roe. Variety cntertainms=t. ‘' The Poor of New York." SOCIETY MEETINGS. ORANGE LNSTITUTIO! yin Rlue Loyal Orange Lodge, 5c ‘Arch Parpiomoeting, also otieers, at the ball. S. 3 Burearate. ee comer of a and Van ., to-morrow (Monday) evening, March 8, at 8 wim, aarp. Meabera are hereby summoned to attend. Rising brotren cordially invited. J. W. BASTOW, W.M. ED. HULSE, Secretary. NAL LODGE, No, 6, A. F. 2 A. M-—Stated ornoeinentie aid Peeedey evesine, Saree 3s Tock, Serre heeaty ‘otifed, to bo Peloek A Hoe preigat as Dasiness of traportacce will bo brougbt before ‘heLodes. By order of ane W. Mo bbes: NIGHTS !|—Spectal conclave of cretion Sm GETS tuto 22. Sir aederof the te. Cok oa AVITELAMS, Hococd BUSINESS NOTICES. LARED—ONLY $8 TO THE NATIONAL reise eet reece arises ae Bebel ee Soe taney prices. Katisinctlon given or mosey ro Felunded. Comor Clark and Bandolph-ste. The Chicags Tribune. Sunday Morning, March 7, 1875. ‘The indications are that old Bex Wane will certainly be the Bepublican candidate fer Governor of Ohio next fall, in opposition to Fog-Fom Bux Azzes. Thin will be a note- ble contest, if it comes, and it will bring out the most formidable array of party speakers ever gathered together for a State campaign. It is announced in Washington that the Re- publicans are already making their prepara. tions for the most vigorous effort to rescuel the State. We believe that they will be suc- cessful, and overwhelmingly so if Mr. Wang is their candidate. He will develop on his side all the peculiar strength which Antex was found to have among the Democrats ; and, if all the Obio Republicans vote, there can be no doubt about the result. It is not wholly unlikely that the Washing- ton rumor that Mr, J. D. Waxp is to succeed Mr. Grover as United States District Attorney in this city may prove to be true. The re tirement of Mr. Grover, who has been an industrious and excellent officer (if he does retire), will be owing to his chronic health ; and the appointment of Mr. Wan may be due in part to his agreement with the Presi- dent on the Arkanses question, which was certainly exceptional enough to call for some reward. The appointment, nevertheless, will not be an unpopular one in West Chicago, ‘where Mr. Wanp has many friends, as the defeat of Mr. Harntson two years ago, when ‘Wazp left him out of sight, and last fall, when he rana couple of thonsand ahead of his ticket and almost beat him again, amply demonstrated. Among the items of political gossip brought back from Washington by returning pil- gtims is that Police-Superintendent Bem, who visited Washington during the pendency sf the Tax bill, and who has gone further South for his health, will return after the special session of the Senate, commissioned ss Collector of Customs of Chicago. It is anderstood, as part of the above story, that Mr. Jupp, the present Collector, is expected to resign, or will shortly doso (?). We have no other information on this subject than she report or rumor stated, which is circulat- ing in certain’ political circles. It is known that Mr. Rem has contemplated resigning his present office of Police-Superintendent for some time, 28 he and one of the Commis- sioners do not get along very well together, but itis not generally known that he intended Yo rotate into some other office. ‘There was for atime some question whether certain new Senators elected by bolters from Bepublican cancuses—such as CuamTuncr of Michigan, Caxterox of Wisconsin, and Papvocr of Nebraska—would go into the Re- publican caucus of the Senate. All these gen- Hemen made a virtual declaration of allegiance to the Republican party by entering into the caucus held in Washington yesterday. It is not unlikely that their prospective places on the Committees had something to do with this action ; for, had they refused to go into taucus, they wonld have had no party claims, and might have found themselves at the tail end of the Committees to which they had ‘been allotted, As it is, these gentlemen are eutitled to fall and equal party consideration. Axprew Jomxsoy has followed the independ- ent, free-lance course he marked out for him- self, and has refused to enter either Republi- can or Democratic caucus. Hay py man } ‘The advisability of minority representation is being vigorously debated by the Missouri press, The good example of Dlinois has its effect. The St. Louis Globe prints two tables, which show that a large part of the voting pop- ulation wes practically disfranchised, at the last election, on account of the Iack of any pro- vision for representation of minorities. The first of these tables shows wha’ the political complexion of the present Legislature would be if the votes cast at the polls ‘were correct- ly represented by the votes cast in the Sen. ete and House: Democratic votes, 149,566... ‘Bepablican votes, 112,104... Democratic majority... ‘The second table shows what these votes really elected : 1 Joint | some | House, | Ballot, — Rescamsste 28 a | 19 6 | 40; 46 2 a 3 ‘Thus, while the Democratic voters of Mis- souri are less than three-fifths of the whole, the Democratic law-makers of the State are nearly three-fourths of the whole. Their ma- jority on joint-ballot should be 21. It is 7. If Missouri had had minority representation, a different Legislature might have had enough fair-minded Democrats in it to send Cann Scuurz back to the Senate, instead of dis- gracing the State by substituting for him an unknown piece of ex-Rebel mediocrity labeled Francis M. Cocxnent. It is not likely that Bourbon Missouri will follow the example which has made Republican Illinois famous. Still, a Constitutional Convention is soon to assemble, and may prove unable to resist the apirit of the age sufficiently to keep on dis- franchising a minority of 999 and letting a majority of 1,001 gag and keep them powerless to influence what purports to be the action of the whole people. ‘The difference between the Forty-third Congress and the Texas Pacific subsidy is, | that the former has got through and the lat- terhasn’t. The country is to be congrata- lated on both facts. Tox Scort’s chque has worked for this subsidy with the desperate energy of «company whose protested paper and bankrupt Constraction Company could both be saved only by prodigal doses of Gov- ernment bonds. They threw out Fremont, and used the latter's El Paso ‘‘retaining- fees” to influence legislation in favor of the Teras Pacific. They cajoled the Grangers, hoodwinked the South, and set the Louisville Courier-Journal at work pulling their chestnuts out of the fire. All Scorz’s schemes miscarried, at tho end. Congress, overawed by the popular will, de- clined to plaster the sand and stone of New Mexico and Arizona with subsidy-bonds, and the Digger Indian and the grasshopper must wait awhile for the railrond that was to be but isnot. The Republican party has resist- ed the temptation to give $365,000,000, in principal and interest, of the people’s money to a reckless railroad speculator. It remains to be seen whether the Democratic Congress of next December will display the same amount of virtue. THE DANGER OF A FLOOD IN CHICAGO. ‘The apprehensions of a flood in this city in case of sudden thaw and heavy rains are cer- tainly warranted by the experience of 1849 under very similar conditions. The flood of that year occurred March 12, and not in April, as has been erroneously stated. Any preparations that may be made to meet the possible disaster should not, therefore, be de- layed. Indeed, the early agitation of the danger in the columns of Taz Trrmunz has already induced the dock-owners and the wholesale merchatts to take every individual precaution in their power; basements are very generally cleared of goods, and ware- house employes have standing notification to be on hand at any sudden rainfall. The Board of Public Works are also on the alert, and ought to be prepared with prompt and efficient means for breaking sway nny ice- gorge that forms of such size and character as to threaten danger. If a flood comes this year, it will come as it did twenty-six years ago, and from the same source. The seat of the danger is the Aux Plaines River near Summit. It was an ice-gorge which formed in this river about half a mile west of Summit that caused the flood of 1849. The usual channel of the Tiver was thus cut off, a torrent of water overflowed its eastern banks, and found an easy outlet over a large swale located north- east of Summit. The waters spread out over the low land between the Aux Plaines and the city, and found a channel in the South Branch, thence rushing down into the main channel of the river, carrying away docks, shipping, goods, bridges, ete. There are certain circumstances now which render an overflow of the Aux Plaines River more dan- gerous than formerly. The first of these is the excavation known as the Ogden Ditch, which is connected with the very swale which furnished the principal outlet for the flood of 1849. The Ogden Ditch furnishes a direct connection with the South Branch, and would supply a natural channel for an overflow of considerable water from the Aux Plaines at any time its own channel is closed anywhere southwest of Summit. There is a fall of full 9 feet between this swale ond the city limits, a distance of about four miles, and the Ogden Ditch would carry a large body of water at a tearing rate into the South Branch. Another circum. stance which would probably contribute to the danger is to be found im an island formed by a deflection in the river to the north of Summit. The channel at the eastside of this island has been dammed up at both ends by the owners of the adjoining property, wheth- er rightfally or not. ‘This cuts off one of the natural channels of the river, and to that ex- tent increases tho train upon the other chan- nel in case of a torrent or large bodies of floating ice. The Dlinois & Michigan Canal, which runs parallel with the Aux Plaines River, will not help much to carry off the surplus water. It will be’ remembered that the canal was deepened for the purpose of changing the current of the Chicago River, and to make it empty into the Tlinois River through the canal, instead of into the lake; but the fall in the, bottom of the new canal is only 3 feet in, 30 miles from Bridgeport to Lockport. Now, the surface of the water in the new canal is below the bottom of the old canal, and thus the new canal acts practically as a drain for the land along its line. It has been noticed by the inhabitants living along the canal that, in spring time and in time of heavy rains, so much water rans into the new canal by underground channels from the Jand on both sides, but especially from the Aux Plaines side, that its force overcomes the fall of 3 foet in 30 miles, and the water turns the current back into the Chicago River. In case there were a flood from the Aux Plaines, the relief from the canal in carrying off the over- flow would not amount to much, for the rea- sons here named. As an offset to these additional sources, which did not exist in 1849, it must be re- membered that the grade of Chicago has been raised from 6 to 10 feet higher than it was at that time; that the river has been deepened ; that the bridges and docks are higher and more substantial; ‘and that there is practically amuch larger, broader, and. deeper channel for any floodin the Chicago River to pass off into the lake.. There are but-two'or three things which the Board of Pablic Works can do: The first isto be in readiness to break away any ice-gorge atthe mouth of the Chi- cago River, snd likewise’ any. ice:gorge that may fe ine-the, Aux- Plaines River within ile‘ either north or west of Summit. The “latter is more im- portant: than the former, since the ice- gorge in the Aux Plaines would be the starting-point of the flood. It may also be practicable and worth while to construct an embankment across the Ogden Ditch where it joins the swale of the Aux Plaines River to the northeast of Summit, thus barrieading the natural channel which a torrent would find through this swale and the Ogden Ditch, and thereby assisting in the destrac- tion o¥ the ice-gorge, and forcing the waters of the Aux Plaines back into their natural channel. If these things ate done, the Chi- cago River can ensily carry off, below and above the ice now formed in it, any unusual amount of water that comes into it from the low land or the canal, and from its own water-shed. ‘The prospects now are for a considerable amount of rain in the spring, and.also for a rapid thaw ; but there is also a prospect at this writing for a southwest wind, which would materially aid in the breaking-up of the ice-gorge at the mouth of tho Chicago River. Altogether, the danger is by nomeans remote, and it is well that it has been sufi- ciently canvassed to enable the public author- ities and private citizens to take every precau- tion against it that lies in their power. A SCANDALOUS BILL: ‘We publish én article from the New York World concerning certain pending insurance legislation in Illinois. We understand the facts tobe: That in this State there are one or more life-insurance companies organized and doing business on a novel,—or, as the World styles it, the “co-operative” plan. ‘This plan of insurance is peculiar, and un- known and unrecognized by the laws of the Eastern States. Owing to this fact, and not to any objection on the ground of being a “foreign” or Illi- nois company, it is not authorized to do any business in New York, and perhaps in several other States. To meet this, a bill has been proposed in the Hinois Legislature which in substance provides: That if any State shall prohibit any life-insurance company charter- ed by the State of Mlinois from doing business in such State, then no life-insurance company chartered by such State shall do any business in Hlinois! We are further in- formed that this bill is represented in the Legislature by the attorney for the single corporation in whose interest it is proposed, and that the attorney of the Company is not only s member of the Legislature, but Speak- er of the House of Representatives! We submit to the Legislature that, apart from the ridiculous and unjust principle of the bill itself, the introduction and urging of such a bill is, under the circumstances, special legis- lation of the most scandalous character. Be- cause the State of New York, or any other State, refuses to recognize the mode of doing business of a single life-insurance company chartered in Illinois, therefore all the life- insurance companies of such States shall be excluded from this State, is a most prepos- terous proposition, which needs only to be understood to be rejected. THE PEOPLE'S GAS COMPANY. We publish this morning an interesting sketch of the progressive prosperity of the People’s Gaslight and Coke Company (West Side), showing the wonderful success of that Company. It obtained its original charter in 1835, but did not practically begin business until 1860 or 1861. Its original “plant” was the purchase from the South Side Com- pany of the mains and service-pipes lnid west of the river, and the exclusive right of serv- ing gas to the West Division of the city. How much was paid for this “plant” we do not remember, not perhaps exceeding $50,000 inal, The area of the West Division at that time supplied with gas was not very large. The population was very ascattere#l, and the consumption of gas quite small. The Com. pany, however, established its works for the manufacture of gas, and after paying its ex- penses expended its surplus eurnings in loy- ing new pipes and enlarging its service. In the fifteen years that have elapsed since then, the West Division has increased in popula- tion to 146,718 in 1870, being 30,000 greater than the population of the whole city in 1860. ‘The population of the West Division is now, in 1875, probably 225,000. ‘We are heppily informed by official state. ments made by the Company of the wonder- fol prosperity that has followed its enter- prise. The original “plant” has grown into giant proportions, furnishing the amplest evidence of the financidl skill and untiring ability of the executive management of the Company. On the Ist of December, 1874, the Railway Share Trust Company (Limited) of London put upon the London market a first-mortgage loan of the People’s Gaslight and Coke Company of Chicago. The loan is for £20,- 000, 6 per cent sterling gold-bonds, having twenty years to run. They were offered to subscribers at 90,—bearing interest from Nov. 1, 1874. The bonds were all taken by the Ist of February, 1875, realizing about $2,150,000 in currency. The Company putting this loan on the English market had, of course, to furnish evidence of the character of the enterprise, and this evidence consisted of the following: 1. The certificate of Mr. Auyzep Urwanp, Gas Engineer of London, who had personally visited Chicago and examined the works and property of the People’s Gas Company. 2. The certificate of Messrs. Price, Warze- nous & Co., public accountants, who, through an expert, had egamined the books and accounts of the. Company in Chicago, with a view of ascertaining the revenue of the Company. 3. The certificate of legal title of mortgages and charter, by Nortox, Rose, Nonron & Barwze, solicitors, of London, who by one of their firm personally investigated the charter and its amendments, ‘These certificates show that the Company has works making 822,000 cubic feet of gas per day, and capable of supplying 1,420,000 cubic feet of gas per day, without farther ontlay ; and that within five years the rate of consumption will be double the present amount. The accountant certifies that the books of the Company show a net income or clear profit for 1874 of $420,000, gold. All this must be very satisfactory to the public, many of whom hare possibly been under the impression that this Company has had great difficulty in making “both ends meet.” ‘We learn from the prospectus of the loan that the Directors of the Company are Cor- xewius K. Gargioy, of New York; Wniuar B. Gaantson, of New York ; A. Mf. Buxixes, J. D. Wann, and C. N. Hone, of Chicago. From the same prospectus welearn, also, that the capital stock of the Company is $8,000,- 000, of which $4,000,000 has been paid in fuil, and that 30 per cent of the remaining $4,000,- 000 hes also been paid up, making an actual paid-up cepital of $5,200,000. ‘The question will naturally occur to the reader, what 8 Company which has increased its cash or paid-up capital from $50,000 to $5,200,000, and with a net revenue or profit already of $420,000 a year, an@increasing at the rate of $10,000 a year, wants with a loan of $2,100,000 in gold. If the loan were let at 90, the net proceeds would be $1,890,000 in gold, equal in currency to $2,078,500, ‘What grand enterprise has the People’s Gas- pany has works capable of supplying twice the amount of gas it now furnishes, without any additional outlay. So the loan cannot be for the purpose of enlarging those works. ‘The prospectus states that ‘these bonds have been created to replace first-mortgage polls paid off, and for other purposes.” Whatever debt the Company previously owed was merely nominal, so the loan is substantially for “other purposes.” What are these purposes? ‘The People’s Gaslight and Coke’ Company can engage in no other business than the manufacture and sale of gas and coke. For this purpose it does not want any money in its present business, and the irresistible conclusion would seem to be that the People’s Gaslight and Coke Com- pany and the Chicago Gaslight and Coke Company area to be united, the West Side Company to swallow the other. It may be, however, that, as the charter of the People’s Gaslight and Coke Company covers the whole areaof the City of Chicago, andas they areeven now capable of making and delivering twice the amount of gas they do deliver, they pro- pose to cross the South Branch and deliver their gas to the people of South Chicago in competition with the old Company at lower rates. The negotiation of this loan is an evident indication of developments in the gas business of Chicago of a startling charac- ter, and the success of the People’s Company in negotiating the loan shows that it hasa solidity of capital and a financial credit that will make it a giant in the grand fight of the Gas Companies. The people will hail with hearty epproyal any action that will result in cheaper and better gas. “THE BLACK HILLS FEVER. All the indications seem to point out that a8 soon as the season is sufficiently advanced, and the weather grows favorable, there will bea grand rush or stampede to the Black Hills gold-mines, as frantic, and furious, end extensive as that which took plack to Pike’s Peak nearly twenty years ago; and the result of the one rush may be as disappointing as that of the other, inasmuch as,thus far the unfavorable testimony is quite as authentic and trustworthy as the favorable. This, how- ever, wil make little difference. The im- pression having been widely circulated that there is gold in abundance in the Black Hills, there will be a rush and a crush from every part of the country to that land of au- riferous promise, It is intimated that the Government, in fulfilling its relations to the Indians, will attempt to prevent this movement by interposing its troops. The expectant Croesuses, therefore, will have the swords of the United States troops on the one hand, and the tomahawks and scalping- lnives’ of the redskins on the other, as the principal obstacles to their advance. The Indians will be easily overcome. A demi- john of ‘‘forty-rod” whisky will buy off In- dian claims like magic. So far as the troops are concerned, we fancy that their ‘efforts will be about as effective as the exploits of Abs. Parrinetos with her broom in sweep- ing out the Atlantic. The army of the United States, all told, numbers but 24,000 men, and probably not more than half of them could be utilized for Black Hills guard- service, even in ease of the direst emergency. As opposed to the thousands upon thousands of insane gold-hunters who will-swarm to the Black Hills liks ants from every point of the compass, this handful of men can accomplish but little. The mining multitude will rush through, around, and over them, as grasshoppers go through a cornfield. They will go through them, and round them, and get into that country like a flood torrent, and eannot be dammed or forced back; and once there they cannot be dislodged, if the gold reports should prove half true. It is the manifest destiny of the Black Hills country to be-settled by white men, and the fact might as’ well be recognized now as at any other time. The talk about “‘ Indian rights” is simply sentimental. The Indian has about the same right there as the buffalo, for he makes no’ better use of the country, and he will have to get out as the buffalo does. If there is gold in the Biack Hills in paying quantities it will be useless to argue against the right of white men to go there and get it by citing fine. spun notions of Indian treaty-rights and Government obligations towards the savages of the Plains. The savage does not trouble himself to observe any rights of white men, and does not allow any treaty-stipulations to interfere with his prerogative of taking a white man’s scalp whenever the opportunity or temptation offers itself. If he should stand in the way of the gold-hunters, he will prob- ably lose his own scalp. So far as the army is concerned, if it does not catch the fever and go gold-hunting itself, it will be irretriev- ably lost in the great multitude, whose name is legion, seeking for gold. THE ILLINOIS BANK-EXAMINATION BILL. ‘We think our Springfield correspondent, in giving the proceedings of the House in re- lation to the reporting of Mr. Boave’s bill providing for responsible examinations of sayings and other banks, may have done Speaker Hasszs injustice in attributing to him a disposition to prevent that bill being reported or passed. The bill supplies an im- Portant omission in our statutes, There are very many banks doing business in Illinois under special charters, and there is no law whatever creating any responsibility, or pro- viding for any investigation into their affairs or management. Under these charters banks with nominal cepital have been started, and the people bare been led to deposit many millions of their savings in them. Tho banks are only responsible to the amount of their nominal capitsl, and the least the State can do is to provide ordinary precau- tions against fraudulent mismanagement or appropriation of the money, nine-tenths of which is deposited under the belief that the law does protect them against dishonesty and wismanageinent. This bill simply provides that all these banks shall be examined at any time by a competent State officer, and his reports of their condition made public. This regulation has been fSund indispensable in the cases of insurance companies as well as National Banks, and all the reasons for such examinations in such cases extend with ten- fold force to State stitutions, and particu- larly savings banks. So valuable is sucha law that we are sure there is not a respectable or well-managed savings bank in ‘theState which will not prefer to have such examina tions made from time to time. Mr, Joux C, Hanszs is a member of the State Senate; he is known to the people of the State as a successful banker of many Years’ standing ; he is President of a large savings bank in this city, which stands in Public estimation among the best in the State. His own personal character has given addi- tional strength to en institution which enjoys the fallest confidence of the public. The personel relations between Senator and Bank- ex Humes and Speaker Hames are well take in assuming that the Speaker was trying to defeat the Boats bill. He could not do this; he could not oppose or defeat that bill without creating the presumption that his brother in the Senate was also opposed to the ‘bill and was anxious to defeat it. To create such a presumption would be unjust, because Mr. J. C. Harves’ bank is not of that character that fears the fullest and freest examination ; and to have such an examination would be to exhibit by contrast how much better it de- served public confidence than others less able to make a like exhibit of its affairs. A pro- test bya bank doing business upon the vol- untary and unsecured deposits of-the entire savings of its depositors against any investi- gation or examination of its affairs by State officers would not be assuring to the public, and we feel confident that Senator Harves’ bank, which enjoys public confidence to a high degree, will not make any such protest, but will substantially agree with the follow- ing letter by a Chicago banker, read before the Committee of the House: Orrioz IntrNo1s Taust & Bavinas Bax, Cxtcaco, Jan, 23, 1876.—The Hon. George M. Bogue: In reply to your inquiry regarding my opinion of the bill in- troduced by you, providing for reports and examins- tons of banks doing business under State laws, Ihave to say that I have examined it carefully, and, so far as Tam able to judge, it will, if it become a law, go very far toward establishing our State banking-system on & sound basis. Its provisions are similar to those for a Hike objoct in the National Bank act and in the ola State Bank lawa of Indiana, Missouri, and Towa. ‘Whilo it would be impossible to frame a law that would give perfect security to depositors in all cases, the bill you have introduced would, I think, put a stop to the irresponsible system that has grown up in this State under the entire absence of any statute for reg- ulating the management of the numerous banks doing business under special charters, which wero granted to whoever asked them during the few years prior to tho adoption of the new Constitution. The abuses bave become ao great, and the failures of banks so numerous, that the enactment of s proper law, as directed in the Constitution and recommended by the Governor, appears to be imperatively demanded for the protection of the peopla and good name of the State, which, having granted to banking corporations the special privilege of doing business with mited responsibility, ahould at least adopt the ordinary meas- ures for protecting depositors from loas, particularly as it will cost the State nothing, and isin fact no hard- ship to any bank honestly organized and doing busi- ness in o manner that would entitloit to the confidence of depositors, A law requiring ststements without examinations by competent Btate officer would, I think, do more harm than good, as there would be nothing to prevent the officers of any bank from making such a statement as thelr exigencies might re- quire without fear of detection. Probably a majority of all the State Banks now in operation do a Saving business, their deposits coming for the most part from persons of, small mesns,—me- chanics, laborers, women, and children, and others “who, having but a Umited knowledgo of business, are but poorly able to judge of the character and responsl- Ulity of the different banks to which their little eav- ings are intrusted, and on whom loses, when they do come, fall with the greatest severity, andare a class of people who are certainly entitled to the very best pro- tection that the State can give. i have talked with a great many stockholders in this ‘bank, and each ons of them, as well x all of the offi cers, approve of the bill, and are perfectly willing to submit to its requirements, preferring to incur the little inconvenience attending such examinations, for the sake of the stability that will thereby be given to the entiro Stato bank interests, Respectfully yours, L. B. Srwar, President, THE DANGERS OF THE REPUBLIC. Prof. W. G. Susmzr has followed up his lecture in the Yale post-graduate course on the nature of the Republic, upon which we commented a short time since, with one on the danger of the Republic. Ho makes three especially noteworthy points, ‘Tho first danger is the lack of a good op- position. For want of if we are drifting to- 4 wards ‘‘democracy,” which, according to Moyrzsquzeu’s famous saying, either sweeps everything beforeit with its hundred thousand arms, or creeps tardily along with its hun. dred thousand feet. Under a democracy, equality and the absolute rule of a numerical majority prevail. The minority has nothing to do but submit, Arbitrary rule is an evil, whether it is that of the one or the many. ‘Tho opposition in this country should act as it does in England. It should argue, per- suade, and convince, and so modify the measures of which it disapproves. Legisla- tion in England is a series of compromises. It is never too fast and rarely too slow. This isthe result of intelligent opposition. We have not this. check in this country, and we must have 2t in order to maintain a constitu- tional, as against a democratic, Republic. One thing that prevents it is the abuse of the “previous question” in the popular branch of Congress. It stops useless and often inter- minable talk, to be sure, but it stops useful talk, too. The decline of debate and the growth of the caucus are contemporaneous facts. A meeting of the majority decides what measures shall be passed. Tho decision is made by a majority vote. Thus a majority of 8 majority, which is almost certainly a mi- nority of the whole body, shapes {egislation. ‘This leaves no scope for intelligent opposi- tion, because the moving of the previous question as soon as the question is before the Honse cuts off debate and prevents amend- ments. Under the present rule, a day is given for debate, but Prof. Suxen thinks that the House should imitate the Senate and gag nobody who has anything tosay. This is the practico in the British Parliament. It is possible that the filibustering which so often delays legislation in America is more the result than the cause of the gag-rules. It might pass away, in a great measure, with tho rales. The people would not suffer any party to delay business with impunity, if the delay did not generally seem like a gallant protest against restricting free speech. ‘The second danger to the Republic is the influence of moneyed interests. This is the threatened despotism. ‘‘Cmsariam,” go far as the Executive is concerned, is a weak bug- aboo to-scare very timid souls with. No President could make himself supreme, nor even take the first step thereto. Moneyed interests, however, can and do rule. They combine with each other to secure special legislation, which is usually opposed, as its name implies, to the public good. The “ protective tariff” is the most gigantic in- “stance of moneyed despotism which has yet been developed in this country. It taxes the masses for the benefit of the few, robs a thousand for the sake of ten. Despots can do little more. The third danger to the Republic is the abuse of elections. We have been electing too many officials, and msking their terms too short. Officials should serve long enough to know how to discharge their duties. Too frequent elections, moreover, weary and dis. gust the people, and so throw politics into the hands of wire-pullers and professionals, There are multitudes of officers now elected who ought not to be elected at all, but ap- pointed. Among these are, first and fore- most, the Judiciary. English historians, from Haru to Kyrcut, concur in call- ing the severance of the tie between the Judiciary and the Sovereign in that country one of the greatest constitutional mesures: secured by the expul- sion of the Stuarts. Soon after the accession of Wrii1am and Many, the Jadgos’ terms were made to continue “during good behavior.” interference with their salaries. A bill fixing their pay was passed in 1692, but was vetoed by Wruras,—the last case of a veto by an English monarch. In 1701, however, the independence of the Judiciary was final- ly established. This is needed here. Our Judges should be independent of our sov- ereign. An elective Judiciary is too apt to contain Carpozos and Banxyanps. Adminis- trative officers ought not to be elected,—ex- cept chief executives. Responsibility should be fixed upon executive officers, great and small, by having them appoint their subor- dinates, as the President appoints his Cabinet. Then an evil-doer or an incompetent person can be got rid of, for pub. lic opinion can force the executive to remove him, If Ricmanpson had been elected Secretary of the Treasury, he would The rule should be to elect the Governor, and let him appoint the ad. be there now. | ministrative officers of the State, and be re- sponsible for their conduct. Even those who radically disagree with Prof. Susser will find food for- thought in his sketch of the dangers which hedge about @ Constitutional Republic. He is a reformer of the right sort, who studies politics before talking about them. SUGGESTIONS ON RESUMPTION. . ‘The New York Graphic publishes a long in- terview with Sir Franors Hrvoxs, ex-Minister of Finance of Canadas, in which Sir Fzancis suggests a scheme for resumption somewhat like that of Senator Sumer and Mr. Gasa~ Lie, Braprorp, and yet with s touch of nov- elty which makes it worth reproduction. ‘This plan involvesthe issue of about $100,- 000,000 of notes, redeemable in gold on de- mand at New York, and receivable for cus- toms. From ten to twenty millions of these would be issued each month and sold for greenbacks to the highest bidder. Tho Treas- ury would hold a reserve for the redemption of the new bills, consisting of 50 per cent of their face-value in gold and 50 percent in Government 5 percents. The gold reserve would probably be sufficient to meet all de- mands for redemption; but, in case of need, the bonds could be sold and their proceeds used in the same way. When $100,000,000 of the coin notes had been issued, the green- back circulation would have been cut down about $110,000,000, and the legal tenders would, he thinks, probably then be at par. The National Banks would then be deprived of their privilege of issuing notes, getting some compensation therefor, and all the paper afloat would be issued directly by the Government. The English joint-stock banks, which issue no notes, declaré annual divi- dends up to 22 per cent, so that it is evident that a bank doing business only with its capital and deposits would pay. ‘The similarity between this plan and those of Messrs. Braprorp and Sustver stops with the suggestion about the National Banks. Its goodness stops there too. There are minor differences before that point is reached. Sir Fhancrs would have notes redeemable on de- mand’ issued. Mr. Braprorp would have them redeemable two years from the date of their issue. The latter plan is the better, be- cause it would not be necessary then to accu- mulate at once by added taxation a great sum of gold in the Treasury, The best, and by far the simplest’ plan, however, would be to issue 4 per,cent gold bonds, running thirty or forty years, and au- thorize the holders of greenbacks to convert them into such bond. The greenbacks would then gradually disappear, and private capital would shonlder the burden and re- sponsibility of resumption, as it should do. It would never be necessary to gather a great heap of it in the Treasury, because these bonds would form part of the National debt, and be gradually discharged, as the rest of the debt is. If it were too difficult to pay them by taxation thirty years hence, they could bo re-fnnded for thirty years longer. We regard Sir Fraycts’ suggestion as un- qualifiedly bad. There should be an abso. lute divorce between Governmert and paper money. If the circulating medium is under Government control, two great evils are in- evitable. In the first place, it will be neces- sary forthe Treasury to keep on hand a vast reserve of specie, which will be so much dead capital withdrawn from productive em- ployment, and necessitating heavy taxation. This involves an entirely useless demand upon the popular purse. The second and the greater objection is, that every Congress would be importuned to med- die with the currency. A shifting body, exposed to numberless temptations and selected without reference to financial ability, is unfit to be trasted with suche charge. There would be continual tinkering with the currency, as there is now with the tariff. Government should fund every greenback in gold bonds, and leave’ the Na- tional Banks, under the Free Banking law, to supply the country with all the currency it needed. We should then havo a paper cur- rency of uniform valub; convertible into coin on demand, without trouble to the Govern- ment or loss to the people. HIGHER jCATION FOR WOMEN. A few years ago, the English universities opened a series of examinations for women. ‘These tests of study have been held, not only at Oxford and Cambridge, but at other cities throughout the British Isles. The universi- ties furnish examiners wherever a local com- mittee provides rooms and applicants. There is a preliminary and a final examination, the latter of which is open only to those who have passed the former. Degrees of three different grades are given, according to the proficiency shown. These degrees are of sub- stantial value to the recipients, for they are the Open Sesame to good positions as teach- ers. They aid them, too, i any occupation. The honor they confer is enough in itself to pay for a good deal of hard work in getting them. ‘The examinations have had a gratify- ing success in England. The number of sta- dents has rapidly increased. Last year, Harvard College followed the example thus sot by Oxford and Cambridge. Unfortunately, American women showed their usual inability to do anything except talk. ‘Tue Tareune atthe time urged the forma- tion of a local committee here, but the prose pect of actual work was too ter#tfying. Nothing was done, here or elsewhere. Thus the only examination was at Boston. Seven young women entered it and six passed. At least two of the six will try this year at the final examination. We have received a circu- Jer from the Woman’s Education Association of Boston, which conteins some interesting details about the examinations of 1875. They are to be held in the latter part of May, at Boston and at any other city wheres committee can be formed to’ take charge of the neces- sary local arrangements. The preliminary examination, which is open to any woman over 17 years of age, will be on English, French, Physical Geography, either Ele- mentary Botany or Elementary Physics, Azithmetic, Algebra, Plane Geometry, His. é The advanced examination, oper only to those who have passed the preliminary one, is divided into five sections, in any one az more of which the candidates may enter, ‘These sections are as follows : : ae anette Cestlaaiae ates ms¥. offer any to of tht Hala, Zati, Sec ee 2 Naturat Seience—Candidstes may offer any two of the fol 3 weeding subjects: Chemistry, Physics, Botany, 3, Mathematico—Candidates mist present soli Geometry, Algebrs, Logarithms, and Plano Trigonom. ony, a es ee the three following subjects: ofr and Aatronodiy, N Tilemaon. 4, History—In 1875, candidat the two following subjects: ‘The History of peel nental Europe during the period of the Ref 1517-1648 ; Engiiah and American History from 185310 the end of the eighteenth cantury, 5, Philosophy—Candidates may offer any three of the following subjects :- Mental Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Logie, Rhetoric, Political Economy. Harvard will give a certificate that the can- didate has passed, or passed with distinction, or passed with the highest distinction, to the successful applicant. ‘The Woman’s Educational Association hag taken charge of the preparations in Boston. Candidates must send their names to tha Secretary by April 1. The Preliminary ex. amination will cover parts of two weeks; the advanced examination will not be as long, ‘The fees required are respectively $15and $10. The Association will provide cheap board and lodging for candidates. It will give pecuniary aid to those who need it. ‘This sketch of the local work shows what the subsidiary committees need fo do. If such a committee is formed in Chicago, the Papers and examiners will be furnished by Harvard. The examination would be s stimutus to the higher education of women here. We trust that the prominent ladies of Chicago who lost the opportunity of last year will not neglect it now. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SUIOIDE Whatever future generations may think of Heway Taowas Buoxxe, or of his conception of history, few will deny that he is an eminently suggestive writer; or that, howeverha may hava erred in exaggerating the influence of external circumstances on mad, he gave utterance to many interesting and profound traths,—traths not’ perhaps original with him, but of which ho world. He may, or may not, have been right ‘when ho wrote that, since the actions of men are determined solely by their antecedents, they must have a character of uniformity, and, always, under preciaely the same circumstances, issue in precisely the eame resulta. ‘The trath or falsity of this bold enunciation can nover be determined; for tho actiops of men, so far as they are determined by circumstances at all, are determined by thousands, and it may be doubted whether any two men hava for one moment of their lives been under precisely tho same influences. It is not only the present circumstances that muat be taken into account, but past as well; snd, how= ever similar the present may be, antecedent ones,—ante-natal, hereditary, and others,—it may be eafely ssid, are nover entirely the same. But if Buckle’s dictum be nota whole trath, itis a half trath, or borders on a truth. This much there is an abundance of facta to demonstrate. Some of them he adduced himself. The crimes of man he showed, as others had showed before him, are marked bya uniformity of sequence. ‘The number of letters misdirected in the Paria | and London Post-Offices is so nearly the same from year to year tnat it may be predicted in ad- vance without any danger of falling below or going beyond the real figure. Nor is this, after all, so very strange. The failure to direct a let ter is only an evidence of the writer's inadver- tonce or carelessness ; and what reason is there to suppose that letter-writers shall be more carefal this year than last, or that their care Jeasness should not manifest itself this year in precisely the same way as Inst year? The aver age morality of a people during = number of consecutive years we would naturally expect to be about the same. The strange thing would be if it were different. The science of statistics shows that it is not. : ‘ Among the moral and social phenomens to which Buckle applied his theory is that of sui- cide, and here, if nowhere else, he was justided in the application. Even the emineat suthority Prof, Alexander Von Octtingen, in his Moral-sta~ tistik, acknowledges this; and ngainst him the objection of Rationalism cannot be advanced as it was against Buckle, for Von Oettingen is a Professor of Theology in tho University of Dorpat, and writes, as he expressly says, from an Evangelical standpoint, and bas issued bis Jwok to illustrate the significance of moral ats- tistics in general for Christian social ethics. The work is such sone as rarely proceeds except from s German savant, exhaustive, thorough, fall of information, with scarcely a superduous line from beginning ta end. Few parts of it, how- evor, are so interesting as that which treats of what we may venture to call the social law, or rather laws, of suicide. Tho fact of suicide has often been advanced as the moat cogent proof of the existence of free will Who, it has beon frequently asxed, but a freeagent—we are not speaking now of those who deprive thomselves of fife ina fit of insanity— could, actuated by an exalted motive such as moved the stoics, or 28 now moves the suicide Buddhist, deliberately put an ond to his own ex- istence? What completer demonstration can there bo that man is maater of himself, and thst circumstances are not? We do not feel called upon to answer thia question; but whatever force it may have as applied to individoal msn seems to be lost when avplied to man in tho sg- gregate. And may it not still be true that, while agglomerations of men have little freedom, ime dividual man has? The statistics of suicide aro more complete than those of any other moral or social phenom- enon. The names of distinguished statisticians who have explored this region alone would make along catalogue. Oettingen has reviewed them all, and gives us the substance of their obsarra- tions, 2s well as the general laws on the subject deduced by such men as Quetelet, Dufau, d Ee pine, Bondin, ‘Lisle, Legoyt, Donsy, Carr, Le Ray, Boismont, Kayser David, Casper, Ocsterlen, Loenenhsrdt, Salomon, Wappaens, Frantz, Engel, A. Wagner, and others, older workers in the field. If the old saying that Votuntariamors ritiorum asytum be true, the labors of all these writers show beyond ® doubt that vice is on the increase under our very compler civilization; for the first and most startling fact whicn they eatablish ia, that the number of those who seek s refage from the ills to which flesh is heir is conatantly—us} ‘larmingly—progressive. Nor will this surpis® ven the most unobservant reader of our daily journals. Scarcely a paper wo take up but chronicles the self-destruction of some unfor tunate human being. At first it was claimed that suicides appeared more frequont ouly because the record of them ws more complete. Later, it was said thas their greater frequency was to be attributed to the growing centralization of population in large cities. Moro recent facts show that neither of these positions is tenable. Of late years, he statistics do not grow in accuracy, while tho number of suicides does, and it has been proved besides, that in the rural districts it is greater year after year. Tho mere pleasure-seekers of shodern days constitute = great part of the rio tims,—seve in cases of insanity,—which draws from Oottingen the remark that “the teritle uniformity of its periodic progression looks like the eneering taunt of a skeleton, which holds up its finger at the frivolous, pleasure-eeckiDg crowd.” How much of the crime of the wdi- vidual offender attaches to society, end may be Jsid at the door of each one of us, Omniscienoe alone can caloulate, But certain it is that sock became the exponent to the English-reading, ‘ARTS EE VER TPE EIT RITE PRI NT NTR IEE OSA