Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, April 4, 1875, Page 4

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNF: SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 1875.—SIXTEEN PAGES, a ' _ i _ - : e = :, ‘- .. P Py TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. " TATES 6F SUEBCHIFTION (PAYARLT I¥ ADYAXCE). Pestage Frepaid st this Office. -813.00 | Weekly, 1 yezr....8 1.G3 ©6-50 | Five copiss. - 1468 rmnf 2 yoar at the same rate. 'WANTED-—Une active agont i each tewn and villags. Bpecial arrangements made with rach. Spocimen copics sent froa. Yo prevent delay aad mistakes, be sure and gire Post. * Ofice addroas in full, ineluding State and County. Remiitances may be mads elthor by draft, express, Post- "Ofcs order, or in registered lotters, at our risk. TERMS TO GTT SUBSCRIBERS. Daily, delivered, Bunday exceptad, 25 ceats por week Datly, delivered, Sunday Included, 30 cents per week. Address ‘THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Cornar Madieon and Dearborn-sts., Chicago, Il TO-MORRDW'S AMUSEMENTS. MVIOKKR'S THEATRE Madises ‘Dbnrbam md‘ghn Engagement of Lotta. 'l'hl !.Il- ACADRIY OF MUSICHalsted strostbetwace Mad- d Mouroe. Engagoment of Jossph Marphy.. (OOLEY'S' THEATEF—Randoloh street, between Ill!rxmugdh. “ Tho Virgiziaa." l!Axvl) ERA-BOUSE—-Olark stroet, site i Bona. Haly & Looc's Miastres. TEirbe AD, THEATRE-Dearborn corner Men- rom Variets catertainment. ** Jack wa." North Clark Kin- {ACGORMICE HALL-alorth Glack trect, carner SOCIETY MEETINGS. ST. omm;z's BEI!;KB\:OLE!\T ASSOCIATION— R ek Thets Mot 167 Wosiagonve 5 ek Ny A meotie is “lbotion of GBaers 1o tha waxt yoar will takn G, 3. BURROUGHS, Seoretary. TTENTI( ENIGHTS !—Stated conclave of An‘: Ome;-;.u?z::eé, No. 15, . thfindf,“ evm‘x'nl mfiflw M B: n:flerol the EE Q XDONIAN CLUB.—Ths cmcmfi{‘m. Cicb will be held ia Cale onh it., 'needsy, the 6th inst., at § e e S CHARE, Foari Chlsfiaia The Chicagne Cribune, Bundsy Morning, April 4, 1875. THE CITY CHARTER. " 'fhe bill ongmnlly prepared by the Citi- zens’ Association providing a new general law under which the City of Chicago may be- come incorporated has passed both Houses of the Legislature, and when approved by the Governcr will be a law, and in force after July 1. The low provides for a special elec- tion to be held on the 10th of August next, ot which tire the people of the city will vote for or against the adoption of this charter. The opposition to the passage of this law hesbeen an extraordinary ome; it has been ‘bitter, malicions, defamatory,. md mendacions. There were serious and strenge combinations aguinst it. The bill hed for its object the Teorganization of the City Governmentupon a responsible basis, It had for its purpose the lifting of the City Government out of the rats into which it has been sinking deeper - every year. It proposod to dispense with the various independent Executive Boards, and" satablish one Executive and responsible head. It proposed to reduce the present absolute ruthority of amajority of the Common Coun~ 4, by providing for the election of two Boards, .each having a negative upon tha other. The present Common Council natu- Tally were opposed to being legislated out of office, and opposed to having any changes made in the City Charter which would lessen their influence and control in the City Government, and by an almost unanimous vote protested against the bill. For some time the Staats-Zeitung, of which Mr. Hzs1ye is chief proprietor, opposed the char- | ter; but after it had been modified and amended in varions important particulars be- came a supporter of it. From that moment, the Chicago Z%mes, which for years has borne testimony to the vicious system of govern- ment provided by our hotch-potch charter, became an unscrupulous opponent of the reformed charter, and sppealed to the meanest prejudices by representing that the new charter was designed to make Mr. Hraixg Mayor! The Chicago Journal, which onght {o have been on the side of Reform, bas an inssne prejudice agsinst any recogni- tion of mirorities in the Government, and ussumes that majorities ought to be supreme and absolute, and that the result of all elec- tions ought to be all onething orallthe other. Sooner than’ ellow the minority to be repre- sented in the City Government, it nreferred to cling to the old charter, with all its hideous deformities. The Jnter-Ocsan, which is the mere official organ of the Commen Comncil, and lives upon what that body doles out toit, of course followed its patron and denounced the hill 23 soon es the Council set the exam- e, The new charter has been thoroughly dis- tussed, both in' Chicago and in the Legisla- tare; it has been from time to time modified and amended, and we think, nupon the whole, improved. It was impossible to frame in ad- vance a bill of this important character so as to meet all the views even of those who fa- vored reform. The discussion was beneficial to the bill. It led to the carrection of imper- fections, and to the elimination of objection- able details, without weakening the fundn- mentsl -principle of the bill,—which was of- ticial responsibility. The bill provides for three Aldgrmen from each ward instead of two as now, and a Board of Councilors of fifteen members,—the voters to heve the privilege ‘of cumulating their votes, thus securing to the minority its fair representation. The Board of Council- ors is to be elected by general ticket through- out the city. The Board of Aldermen retains its powers to originate all financisl legisla- tion. The affirmative action of both Boards is necessary to all legislation. The Mayor is tlothed with a veto power. Instead of the present Boards of Health, Fire and Polics, and Public Works, there,is o be & single Commissioner for each of thess departments; all of these Commission- | s except the Commissioner of Health gre 1o ba appointed by the Mayor, with the con- sent of the Board of Council. The Mayor, Comptroller, Corporation Counsel, City 2.1~ torney, Commissioners "of Fire, Polivs, Health, and Public Works, are required to hold public meetings once & week, at which |. the condjtion of all the departments of the city will be examined. All proposalsfor con- tracts for all departments must be opened and compared beforae this cabinet of heads of departments, and no contract can be let with- cut the recorded assent and zpproval of a ma- Jority of the officers. Here are publicity and responsibility secured: Each of these cight officers must have official knowledge of all lettinge of contracts not only for his own, but all -other departments, and a msgority of the whole must concur. At pres ent .each Board does its own busi- ness, withont any responsibility i any one, and withont the kmowledge or ap- proval of any other branch of the Citiy Gov- ernment. The proceedings and transactions of the meetings of this cdbinet will be as public as are those of the Common Council, The elections will take place, ss now, in ‘November; and, if the charter be adopted in August, the Mayor and other oflinm will be -elected this fall. The charter contains two provisions which will commend it to the approval of every reputable citizen. Theso are thet the salary of no officer shall exceed $5,000 a year; and that the annual tax-levy shall not exceed fifteen mills on the dollar. ~This last restric- tion is sbsolutely necessary, and will operate most beneficially to tax-payers. It wil result probably in making the -one and s half per cent the permanent rate of taxation, and within the revenue produced by tbat rate all expenditures must be confined. It will necessifate economy, it will cut off costly jobs, and will force the City Government to live within its income. Now the Common Courcil has sn almost unlimited discretion, aud muy levy a tax of thres per cent whenever it pleases. The new charter does not abolish the old one save in those particulars where the two areinconsistent. The City Government retains 2l its old powers, subject to such modifica- tions in the agencies and modes of executing them s are provided in the new. The public have four months in which to consider this charter before voting to accept it. The main and only objection urged against it is that, u‘ the people elect a dishonest and. corrupt lt!:gym-, and ¢f they elect a corrupt, dishonest Bozrd of Council and Board of Aldermen, then the ocorrupt and dishomest Mayor, with his legislative associates in the Government, may do the city more or less damage. While thisis true, it is equally true of the old charter, and would be equally true of any charter that could be framed. The possibilities of election are in no wise changed, and the opportunities for fraud gnd corrup- tion are much greater under the present charter than under the new one. Now, every- body in office is independent; each officer runs his own branch of the service free of all responsibility to any other officer. Under the new charter each man is accountrble for all his acts to the rest of the Goveynment, and can exercise no uncontrolled power or authority. e — BT, LOUIS AND TAXES, St. Levis has a new directory, which sup- plies & basis for new calcnlations as to popu- lation and business incresse which ere very gratifying to the St. Lonis people. The new directory contains 118,820 names, and St. Louis papers estimate its populationat 490,000 by multiplying the numberof names by a fraction over four persons for each name. -The last Chicego directory, which wes issned nearly a year 2go, contains 151,918 nzmes. These were multiplied by S}, as the average number of persons to each name, and gave Chicago 531,713 souls, to ‘whom 30,000 more were added for the soburbs, making a total of 561,713, We have an idea that both directories considerably exsggerate the facts. An estimate of three parscns to every name would give St. Louis 341,510 (113,520 nanes), and Chicago 455,000, or about 25 per cent more. We haven't much confidence in the accuracy of directories for estimating popula- tions, and we should mot be much surprised *if St. Louis had nearly as many people as Chicago, though some allowance in the mat- ter of the United States Census should be made in favor of Chicago on account of the enormous influx of prople within a year after the fire of 187l This difference may, per- haps, give Chicago o, majority of some thou- sands at the present time. Admitting the population of the two cities to be about the sanry,—suy 425,000 to 450,000, —we must concede 7o St. Louis a decided ad- vantage in the mal.t2r of taxation. ~ Our com- parison is made on the basis of the Comp- troller’s report receatly printed in St. Louis and the report made by the Comptroller of Chicago one yuar ago. The first notable difference is forad in the .taxJevy, which is as follows : Texable value of propersy $12,012,095 Eighteen mills fiereon.. 5,617,913 Chicago therefore levies a tax of 8 mills moze then £+ Louis, on property valued at nearly twice ns much, to defray the expenses of a people perhaps not any more numerous, and certainl not more than 10 per cent more pumerous. If the full meaning of this con- trast is apprecisted, we think that it will mske sorre new converts in favor of the pro- posed reform charter, which limits the tax- levy to 15 mills Concerning the difference between ‘the valustion of Chicago property and thet of St. Louis property, we will' not say thnt the former is not somewhat more valuable than the Ilatter; the larger rents, and larger business, and the nwirierous advantages of Chicago in loca- tion, mnavigation, railroads, ete., give the properliy of this city a greater value; but it cannof; be twice as much, which is the pro- portion of the valuetion made for taxable pur- poses. A part of this excess must be attrib- whed. to the speculative practices of land-own- ers in Chicago, and the inflated prices inci- denf;‘thereto ; and & pert'must be laid at the door of the enormous expenditures of our Citiy Government and consequent necessity for a high valugtion for taxable purposes. ‘We msy pursue the comparison with the sarce general result, except s to municipnl iridebtedness; St. Louis seems to owe a little more money than Chicago. The debts are as rinessnensaneitaens 10,421,739 The statement of Chicago’s debt is taken from the last apnual report of the Comp- troller. From this statement thers may be deducted the sum-of $4,581,000 water. -bonds, which will be discharged eventually by the income from the water-works, which was' $730,144 in 1878-74. The floating debt is largely offset, too, by the taxes past due but not paid. Chicago is fortunately restrained from increasing its debt; St. Lonis probably is not. The current expenditures for Chicago are Likewise groasly in excess of those of St. Lonis. The appropriations of last. year m Chicago for five departments were os fol. lows: \ . epul Comptroller’s rsport does not give the de- partments in detail, bat we assmme this aggregate o cover the five departments we have enumerated for Chicago, since we do not find their expenses charged under any other caption in the report., If this assump. tion be comrect, we &ve spending nearly twice as much for current department expenses as St. Louis, a3 well as raising twice as large & tax. Another significant item is that, while our appropriation for gas was $499,316, Bt. Louis spent something less than $200,000 the last year for lighting its streeots. Now, ecaiceding the popalation of St. Lonis to be only a little, if any, larger than that of Chicago, @a question naturally arises—why ? Some allowance may be made for theincrense of expenditures necessitated by the destruo- tive fire of 1871. "It is also true that we are improving our condition more rapidly, as a comparison of certain public works will show. For instance : 8t. Louis has 160 miles of water-pipe ; Chicago has 851 miles. 8t. Louis has 162 miles of sewers ; Chicago has 197 4-5 miles. St Louis has 220 miles of mhcadam- ived streets, which are the growth of fifty yeas, but only 10 miles of Nicolson pavement ; Chicago has 102 miles of improved streets, about three-fourths of which are of the wood- en-block pavement. ‘There is one discrepancy in the St. Louis statement which we do not understand. The expenditures are stated es follows : . nx-xavy. ‘Ticenses, ronts, eto.. $1,647,319 From this it would seem that St. Louis must have added $1,647,519 to her perma- nent debt, though this does not appear in the abstract of the Comptroller's statement which ‘we have seen. It may be that a small propor- tion of this difference was raised by special taxation ; but, if St. Louis is increasing its debt at-the rate of $2,000,000 a yeer, it will soon be worse off than Chicago. The differ- ence in our public improvements, however, is not sufficient o account for the difference ir our expenditures and taxes. While the latter are double those of St. Louis, the conclusion is inevitable that we have an extravagant mu- nicipal government, since the total expendi- tures in St. Lonis are $1,200,000 less thaa our taxlevy. Only s small part of the blame for this can be laid at the door of the officials themselves; a large share is to be traced to the irresponsible system we are living under whereby half a ‘dozen different cliques of officcholders are permitted to run up the expensés of each of their departments, re- gerdless of the requirements of the others and of the oppression of the tax-payers. Another conclusion is that we are living too fast. Chicago cannot lovy a larger percent- age on twicy as large a valuation of property, and collect twice as mnch in taxes, without suffering in its reputation abroed and its material prosperity at home. This reckless extravagance cannot be checked any too soon. The dangersincrease with every year it is pro- longed. Under our present charter govern- ment it is simply impossible to turn the tide. The expenses will continue to increase in- stead of decressing, The independence of all the depnflments trading and jobbery in the Common Council, made up of ward-bum- mers; the constrained imbecility of the occu- pant of the Mayor's chair, and the degrada- tion of local politics,—all conspire to defeat the people in any effort st reduction under the present system. If it is retained, the time will soon come when the burdens of taxation will be greater than people will care to bear, and then there will be an exodus to other cities where the taxes are not so large by one-half. THE DEAEB! STREET EXTENSION. There is an apprehension gaining ground that the city is in danger of being muleted in an enormous sum,—one that will throw the recent condemnation damages of the Colehour tract into the shade. In that case it was Hyde Park, Lake, and South Chicago that was ‘‘stuck.” In this it is the whole city which is in danger. The case is the con- demnation and assessment of the rear of lots fronting on Third and Fourth avenues, which are given 8 new front on Dearborn street by the extension of the latter. Dearborn is now open from the river to Jackson street; it is also open from Fourteenth street snnfl: Between Jackson and Four- teenth there is a 12-feet alley running north and south on the extension of Dearborn. To open the street to a width of 80 feet it is necessary to take about 34 feet from the lots on each side. The owners of this property were almost unanimous in their expression of a desire that the street be opened. It was remarked at the time the petition was filed at there had been rarely, if ever, a case in which so large a proportion of property-hold- ers agreed upon & proposition which affected their interests one way or the other. The petition represented nemly every property- owner in the entire tract, and all believed that their property was to be enormously benefited. That they were right is proved by the sudden and material rise in the prices of this property aftex the opening of the street was ordered. ; Something more than a year ago, in a con- demnation suit, the amount of damages to ench lot was ascertained, and the Commis- sioners then proceeded to estimate and fix the resulting benefits to the same property. Some of the lots, of course, were more dam- aged than others, particalarly the corner lota. A few of these fronted on the cross-streets, and the taking'of thirty-four feet from the side left them an insignificant frontage. The purpose of the assessment was to divide the damages fairly, and it was supposed, as o matter of coursey*that the full amount would be paid in fair proportion by the property benefited. The total amount of, damages footed up $1,094,211. It is now a question of assessing the benefits. From the proceed- ings thus far there is serious danger that the assessmentof benefits will not exceed $400,000 or $500,000. The law provides that the damages awarded shall be assessed to the extent of benefits upon the property espe- cinlly benefited ; the remainder is to be paid by the city out of general tazation. The pro- gramme of the property-holders is to force the city to pay from $500,000 to $700,000 for their benefit. That is, the property-own- ers, on competing streets like Clark and State, must be' made to pay for the opening of competition, and the residents of the West and North Divisions must contribute for the extension of a street in which they have not the slightest interest. Thisis the programme, and the parties chiefly interested are in o fair way to carry it out. L The Commissioners appointed mnder the Iaw have assessed the benefits st something over $1,000,000, and left the remainder to be paid out of the general taxes. Inview of the focts that the general tax-payer has no inter- est in the opening of the street, and that the property assessed enjoys the great bulk of the advantage of this opening, this sssess- meont seems to be entirely fair. Yet the very men who clamored loudest for the extension of the street are now contesting the assess. ment in court, and, with the aid of the best .the city. We have given thé matter promi- tax-fighting lawyers, hope to get all and more than “their property given for the street is worth, and to pay little or nothing for the advantage of having the street. They. want a front on Dearborn street, whereby the value of their property will be improved from $1560 to $200 a foot, but want other people who get no bexefit from it to pay the cost. -This project may be defeated if the city can com- mand the proper testimony. But, while real- estate denlers are anxious enough to testify in behalf of the property-holders, it is next to impossible to drag thembut in behalf of nence at this time in order that tax-payers may not plead ignorance of the proceedings. Let those who are interested in saving the city half a million or more in general taxes come to the front and take some tction in the matter. Let large property-cwners go in person to the Board of Public Works and volunteer their evidence as to the just distribution of the benefits and damages. If they fail to do so0, we do not want to hear any whining abont the ‘‘outrage” after it shall have been consummated. Something may be done now to prevent it, and if the opportunity be neglected there will be no help for it later. The tax-payers at lorge will be mulcted in the sum of $500,000 to $700,000 to open the street for the benefit of people on Third and Fourth avenues. A RELIGIOU3S ROW IN OHIO, The Legislature of Olio recently passed a bill placing all religious denominations apon an equality as to tha privilege of - ministering to the wants of all prisoners detained in the prisons, Houses of Correction, jails, or public ssylums; such privilege to be exercised under such regulations s the managers may prescribe, and without any cost to the State. It was explained that there is but one Chap- lain in that State appointed by law. Tho officers select such clergymen as t.hey may see proper, to the exclusion, we assume, of all others. But the passage of the bill has served ag an occasion for a grand display of religious zeal in Ohio, and it is claimed that it provides for the ercction of the ‘““altar and the confessional” of the Roman’ Catholic Church in all the institutions of the State of Ohio. The following is the bill itself : SroTIoN 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That as liberty of conscience 18 not forfeited by ressor. of conviction of crime, or by rea- son of deteation in any penal, reformatory, or cleemo- synary inatitation, or any house ot refuge, work- house, jsil, or public asylumin this State, no person in any such institution shall be compelled to attend religions worship or instrucfions of a form which is sgainat the dictates of his ‘or her consclence ; and it shall be the duty of every Director, Trustee, Superin- tendent, or other person havingin charge any such institution, to furnish araple and equal factlitfes to all auch persons for receiving the ministrations of the au- thorized clergyman of their own religious denomina- tion or persussion, uader such reasonable rules and ragulations a8 tha Trustees, Directors, Mansgars, or Superintendents ahall make; butno such rales ahall ‘be no cunstrued o3 to prevent the clergyman of any denamination from fully sdministering the rites of his denomination to such inmates; provided such minis- tration enil o expenss oa the public treasury. The Constitution of Ohio, like that of Ilki- noie, provides: ““No person shall be com- pelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any form of worship, against his consent.” *‘No preference shall be given by law to any religious society.” The bill seems to us to be free from any objec- tion.on the part of any body of religious per- sons. It simply directs the officers of these institutions that they shall compel no person to attend religious worship against his con- scientious objections ; and directs the officers, without any cost to the State, to permit all inmates of such institutions to have religions ministrations. of such character ss they may desire. We fail to seo anything in this act dangerons to the liberties of the American peoplo~-1t may permit Roman Catholic pris- oners to have Roman Catholic worship in the prisons; but, as all prisoners of &l other de- nominations have their choice also of wor- ship, and &5 no person is compelled to take part against his will, we do not ses any dan- gerous innovation in the la THE SPELLING MANIA. Dr. Moss was asbout right when he said, at the late spelling-match between the two Christian Associations, that the man jsn't en- titled to much respect who cannot spell any word in the English language in more ways than one. There are certainly two ways in which every English word may be spelled,— one as it is pronounced, and one as it is writ- ten. But conventionality is a dreadful thing. The man who pronounces an English word as it is written makes himself about as ridiculous as the man who writes an English word as it is pronounced. One would think that so palpsble a contradiction as this might be correctsd in the interest of more than 100,000,000 people. The English language is spoken and written by more people than the language of any. other civil- ized people. Yet none other is so barbarous in its orthography and orthoepy., The language is a jumble, from the complex char- acter of its origin. A mixture of Anglo- Saxon, Norman-French, and German, ac- quiring its Greek through the Latin, and its Latin through tho French, it is a composite of richness and irregularity. We have de- parted from the almost universal rale of cul- tivated tongues: in the relations between spelling and pronunciation. Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, Itslien, German, Spenish, are all written as f.hey are prcnonm:ed and pro- nounced as "they are written. Having zc- quired the organic sounds pecaliar to the dif- ferent nationalities, it is an essy matter to spell the words correctly in any of these lapguages. Even in the French there are rules which govern the discrepancies between orthogra- phy and sound. Not so in English. Hence the English-spesking peopls are necessarily “bad spellers.” To spell English correctly comes by nature much more than Doaperey's reading and writing, for the sccomplishment is the résult of a retentive memory, as well as long epplication. The most serions applica- tion will fail without the assistance of this natural gift of a tenacious memory. The new amusement of spelling-matches, old and familiar in the country-school dis- triots, has, in its present form, a wide field of usefulness as well as entertainment. Asifin keeping with the contradictory character of the langusage, nothing brings one into ridicule as quickly as bad spelling. The printers and the proof-renders get an excess of abuse which they do not merit. If they would put into type and pass every word as it is written in editorials, local articles, advertisements, and communications (espeaially the latter), the issue of a large morning daily would be a mors wonderful orthographical prodict than the wildest efforts of Josm BrLLiNGs or AxTe- o8 Wagp, To spell well is an achievement not included under the general head of edu- cation. Lawyers, preachers, and scientific men sre notoriously bad speliers. = It is not unusnal that men of great research and vasi | reeding produce models of cacography that would put & primary pupil to the blush. Yef the world lsughs and holdsits sides atthe mis- spelling of a printed letter as it wonld ata ide-splitting farce. The public spelling. ' f matches, therefore, have a mission, and a noble one. They attroet large audiences, so that the benefits of the practice are not con- i fined to those who take part. They are re- ported in the newspapers, and make very en- tertaining reading-matter, and thus thousands of people have the *‘ hard words”™ brought to their attention every day. The interest of the publicis centered on the subject, and spelling-bocks and dictionariss - will be brought into more general use than formerly. The result can scarcely fail to be an im- provement in American spelling,” which is worse than English spelling. We do not think the spelling-match will ever lead to a general correctness in orthography, but there will at any rate be less deviations from the dictionary standard than thexe has been. After the spelling-matches Lave lost some of their novelty, pronouncing-matches may be introduced with almost equal benefit to tta public. The words may then be spelled ont by the Chairman, and pronounced by the con- testants. The only difficulty with this prac- tice is, that authority may be found for al- most any pronunciation of a given word. The Toledo teachers have already begun tke pronouncing tests. Here is a sample of one of the sentences which ‘they submitted, tHough almost any sentence might be taken with the same results: Ho was an asprrant after the vagaries of the exor- cists and an' inexorable coadjutor of the irrefragabla et exquisite FaxraGo, op the subsidence of the des- picable finale and the recognition of ths recognizance. In this single sentence not less than eleven words sre variously pronounced, viz.: As- pirant, vagaries, oxorcists, inexorable, cond- jutor, n’zefrngnble, a:qumf.e, subsidence, finale, and reeogmznnce ‘With the aid of ‘Wenster, WoncesteR, and Joewsos, and ‘perhaps some other authorities, it would not be difficalt to find a warrant for any pronun- ciation that we might he committed to in any pnrhculm' word. There is one featurs abouc these spelling- matches and pronouncing-matches that ought not to be overlooked,. They have generally supplanted the church-fairs, with their lot- teruas, raffles, and other fraudulent devices for taking money out of the pockets of peo- ple who do not want to give it. If there Were no other interest in the new entertain- ments, this alone would be sufficient to jus- tify an encoursgement of their continuation. As a matter of fact, they are more amusing than amateur concerts, and more harmless than church-fairs. ‘WEAT WE OWE T0 SCIENCE. Readers of Bucsre will remember that able, intolerant, and partial anthor's famous argument that, since religious truths do not change and intellectual ideas do, all progress must be due to intellectual advancement. Drarer, whose mind closely resembles BuceLs's, takes very nearly the same view. It is not our purpose, however, to compare, with him, the relative inflgence of theology and science upon human advancement, but simply to show what the condition of man- kind would be now had not the scientific discoveries of the last three centuries—those since the Reformation—been made when the human intellect was unfettered after an en- chainment of twelve long, dark, dreary cen. turies, In the first place, then, we should have no blast-farnaces, rolling-mills, or steel-works, end no steam-engine. The one made by Hego, 100 years before Christ, was a mere toy. Modern science rediscovered and ap- plied the forgotten principle. The steam- engine does our pumping, weaving, spinning, drilling, mining, transportation by land and ges, and thousands of other useful things for us. Thatis, it hasenabled us to do an in- calculably greater amount of all sorts of work with & much smaller amount of Iabor. With- out it, the comparatively small population of the earth would be almost wholly engaged in producing food. The area of settlement ‘would be almost confined to ses-boards and the valleys of navigable waters. There is searcely atonvenience of modern life which is not partly due to steam-power. We should have almost no time for mentalimprovement. The struggle for mere en'.stenca ‘would absorb our every @nergy. Without printing, 'book! save the costly manuscripts of the medimval monks, would be unknown. There would be practically no means of reaching the intellect of the masses. The daily newspaper, the flower and fruit of modern progress, would not exist. Enowl- edge would creep slowly and painfully into being. Railroads, and telegraphs, and steam- boats, by annihilating distance, make great nations possible, but they do so by carrying Imowledge fcom one point to another. - Were ' printing still unknown, levery so-called nation would be a bundle cf petty principalities, speaking different dinlects and often differ- ent tongues, and with nothing -but a vague sentiment of reverence for an unknown cen- tral power to bind them {ogether. The frail bonds would often snap. ‘Without science, we would have no saw- mill and so no wooden floors, no cheap- and comfortable houses. Without the scientific improvements in the manufacture of glass, our dwellings would have no windows, and could not be lighted. Without the scientific invention of chimneys, the smoldering peat or wood-fires in the centre of dirty earthen floors would make health and cleanliness im- possible. Without science, we should have no paved or lighted streets, no drains, no sewers, no gas, no looking-glasses, nd clocks, no stoves, no white bread, no forks, no tes, no coffee, no sugar, no carpets, no spring cabs or hacks, no sagricultural machinery worth the name, no insurance companies or fire engines, no vaccination, no surgical or medieal skill, no scientific inskraments,— the implements of constant advance,— no post-office, mno sdvertisements, con- sequently very little business; no rational methods of treating crime, pauperism, and ignorance, scarcely any of-our countless manufectures, or the countless machines which make them posnhle. Woman would ‘be deprived of the sewing-machine, and man of the powerloom. Rocks would not be torn by powdsr, nor could tunnels - be driven through the bowels of mountains. Our lives would be one-third shorter. We should be ignoraant of the wonderful:revela- tions of geology, and of animate and inani- mate chemistry, of natural philosophy, hy- drostatica, pneumatics, heat, light, electricity, and correlation of forces and conservation of -enetgy. There would be nio America, save & ‘continent abandoned to savage misery in the north and south, and barbarous, cruel mag- nificence in the centre. ‘We have sketched s little part of the eco- nomical gifts of science to modern man. ‘We have scarcely touched upon her intellec- tunl gifts. Yet this hrief catalogue is so astonnding that the pnssionate zeal for sci- ence which reallyrules the world to-day seems reasonable and right. There is trath in the saying of the witty Bostonian who preferred ¢ literaturc per s Jo science purblind ”; but- the reason for progress in the present and the hope of progress in the fature ssem bound up in the one word,—science. With- out it we shorld be poor, wretched, weak, and hopeless,—groping in the dark, shudder- ing with superstitions fears, and but a short Temove @‘om the brute in thought or purpose. o THE NEW CHARTER, 6 T¥mes pretends Lo say tha’ the legislative power 18 Sraple b wmend oF ottty it ach Hiacorpotion ack of 1872), oz to topeal i and pases new ack. The Zimes slto pretenda. to ey, ut even & dunce with hia gy opea ahould bo sbin 10 sce, that what the Legis- \ture proposes to do ia not o amend that act, nor to modu mtu‘,nm 1o repeal that ant,hnthpllll sweond ot and 1o provida thst % ois and that sct sbal each bon force a2 4 general law.” Tho Times further pretands to say that it is in the very naturs of things impossibla for any legisiative power, not su- perior to the power of Almighty God, to do aucha thing. Way? Bocause two bodies canniot occupy the same space &t the same time,—V. F. STOREY. This is sheer nonsense. The general act of 1872 provides two forms of governmant, and leaves it to the people of each ~ommunity to organize under either. Chicago, under that act, may organize as a city, or as a village, adopting whichever end of the act of 1872 it may think proper. The act of 1872 further provided, that the people of any city might adopt a certain portion of that act without adopting the whole, and Chicago, a year and the act of 1872 withont adopting the whole, and it is now o part of the present City Charter. a The Legislature of Illinois may enact any number of general laws suitable for any class of cities. The law of 1872 provides for two classes of municipal corperatiors; the law of 1875 provides a third form of incor- poration ; and it is optional with the paople of each city to adopt either of them. Until adopted, the law has no possible application anywhere ; when adopted, it has no applica- tion beyond tho city adopting it. A large number of small places have reorganized un- der the actof 1872; other places have not adopted it, because it was unsuitable to them. + The law of 1872 contained no provision for & second Board in the Municipal Legisla- ture; it provided for no restriction upon sal- aries nor upon the rate of taxation ; these are contained in the general act of 1875, together with a variety of other provisionsnot contained in the act of 1872. The Legislature has pmvided the meqns by which any city can or- ganize under a charter with these provisions, or under a charter without them. How can that charter be speciel legislation for Chicago, when'eny and every other city in the State can, if they choose, organize under it? The Constitution reads : ‘The General Assembly skall not pass Iocal or specisl 1aws in any of the following enumerated cases,—that is tossy : For Incorporating citiss, towras, or villszes, or changthg or amending the charter of ny town, city, or village. The assumption of the Zémes is that every city in'Tllinois must have the same charter without the change of 8 word. The authori- ty of the Legislature is unrestricted in the it may prescribe as many forms as the necessih'es and pecaliari- fomnfm-ehnrtefi ties of the municipalities may require, leaving it optional for any city to adopt whichever form of charter it may deem best suited to its peculiar wants. So long as any and every city in Mlinois may adopt the charter of 1875, thig charter cannot-be said tobe *local or special 7 legislation. To say that every city in Tllinois must have fwo Boards in the Coun- cil, or shall never have but ons; or that the rate of tax shall never exceed 15 mills, or may be unl.umtefl~ and that the Legislature can not leave it optional with all cities to adopt either form, is the sublimity of stupidity. The Constitution required no suéh cast-iron legislation. It prohibited local amendments to charters; it prohibited special amend- ments to charters; it did not in any way restrain the Legislature in conferripg upon the municipalities any powers or form of government needed for their existence save that such powers and forms of governmnent should- apply generally to all cities that might think proper to adopt them. The Legislature might have added the act of 1875 to that of 1872, and added any | other form of government to the act of 1872; it mig;ht in asingle act provide half-a-dozen varyicg forms of charter, and left it optional with the people of any® city to adopt either of themr or any part of either of them. As,we have smd., the act of 1872 does provide that any city msy adopt certain portions of that ‘‘general” law, and not adopt the'rest of it. If the Legislature could provide two forms of char- ter in one act, why not three or four? and if it could provide three or four varying snd different charters in ome -act, leaving it optional for tho cities to adopt either, why may it not provide these varying charters in tyo or any number of ects ? GRAMMAR, The opposition to the study of technical grammar in the public schools seems to be gaining strength. We read of it on all Kides. The Cincinnati experiment made a profound impression. In that city two divisions of pa- pils, equally advanced in their ‘studies, were directed to write compositions. One division had been trained in technical grammar and the other had studied the art of language on- ly by reading passages from noted books. The second set made no- more mis- tokes in technical grommar than the first, and wrote in a much better style. This mtereshng experiment should be repeated on & larger scale. There can be small doubt that the trial would show that Gorosurre and IRvNe are better text-books in grammar than any and all technical trea- tises on that theme. Chrigtian Union, Gan Haxirrox quotes some remarkable passages from a grammar which has been written for school-use, and is now, we infer, studied in a numbeg of schools. Early in the book is this mtemgxb!a, nnd in- teresting, and valusble ‘series of staterdents ; Any change which Yaries the spplication or meaning of the predicate, whether produced by sltering either of the words (copuls or attribute) which represent 1t, or by adding other words to i, is callsds mod{ica- tion of the predicste, (a) As it is the chief object of ths subject to repre- sent same person o thing as the basis of an afirma- tlon, 20 it {x the principal office of the predicats to de- note what is afirmed. But, like the subject, it can be made, by certain changes, to represent other roper- ties ot easential £o 1t a3 predicate. When the modificstion takes plare by mniting two. verbal forms, or by altering the form eitber of the copula or attribute, 1t 18 called an accident, or an goci- dental property of the pradicata; and the varistion {8 callod an tnflection, *Mode relates to the mamner of {he assertion, not to that of tho thing asserted, and therefors affects the copuia rather than the attribute, Hence, when a verb contains the copuls and attribute united, mods should ;uptd.d- affocting the assertion, and not the on. - The infact brain is informed that pro- nouns are divided into personal, relative, in- terrogative, sadjective, compound-personal, double-possessive-persenal (1), compound, doublezelative, responsive, indefinite, indi- rect-interrogative, distributive, definite, and Teciprocal. The infant memory, after swal- lowing, bos-constrictor fashion, this absurd Tist, is required to digest the fact (7) that sen- tences sre composeéd of elements which are simple, compound, modified, unmodified, in~ dependat, principal, subardinate, counestive, more ago, sctually edopted a large part of In a late number of the’ co-ordinate, correlative, ‘composite, declar. ative, Interrogative, imperative, exclama. tory, affirmative, and negative. Making 3 child of a dozen years learn, or try to learn, such stuff is sheer cruelty, as well as waste of * time. The lmowledgu, when gained, is utier. 1y useless. There is probably no suthor, prominent in literature, who knows or cares to know the “ grammar” his children study aopmnfnl.ly Must time be wasted in thig ‘way in our public schools forever? Sflp'poaa 2,000,000 children .devote an hour apiecs s day, during nine months of the year, to study. ing and reciting grammer. There are 200 school duys during the school year, Thers is, then, an aggregate loss of 400,000,000 hours of precious time each year. A great amount of valusble knowledge might have been gained during that time. The other studies of the present curriculum might have been mors thoronghly mastered, or some new study. such as political economy, might have been introduced. The classes shonld learn grammar from their readers, nof from text-books. The chenge we suggest will doubtless be opposed by the innumerabla army of writers, publishers, and sellers of so- called * grammars,” but their self-intarested clamor should not blind educators to the truth. Ban Francisco papers oontaining Mr. Jawes Lick’s revocation of his magnificens trust-deed, and reciting tho circnmstances which indnced the reconsideration of his intention, have just come to hand. Mr. Lick says the deed was exe- cuted hastily and nnder the influencc of mental depression, caused by failing health and appre- ° hension of a spaedy departure from this life. He now desires to make sunitable provisions for par- 8008 having natural claims on him. This is sub- stantially the statement made by telograph sev- eral days ago. We had hoped to find soma mod- ification of it in the instrument actnally re- corded by Mr. Lick, but are unable to do so. The truth sappears to be that Mr. Lick thought he was- going to die, and, not being able to carry away his money with him, and having, perhaps, some sins that especially required absolution, he sought to mske his peace with Heaven and preserve for himself a place in the memory of posterity. Bat inatesd of dying, he recovered his health. Ho then found his property in the hands of Trus- tees, who maneged it without consulting his wishea or prejudices. Mr. Liox soon becsma jealous of the Trustees, reqnested tha most acts ive of them to resign, and attempted to govern the romainder. He was fically driven into a conrse of decided opposition to them, which has ended in this attempt at a revocation. In order to s complete understanding of the facls it tn necessary to know, in the fSist place, that the original trust was conferred in two deeds mada #ix weeks 2part; and, secondly, that the legah- ty of the deed of revocation is doubtful, and will be strenuonsly contested in the conrts. Tha common opinion among the people, Esst and ‘West, will be that Mr. Licx has been donbly unfortunate, first, in deeding his property swag, and next, in trying to get it back. ‘The opinions of the venerable Dr. Marx Hon~ N8, ex-President of Williams College, 38 to the sphere of woman, have been widely published, as well by the graduates of that college as by Lia ‘various works on moral aod social science. Ths modification or softening of his views is, theve- fore, s matter of wide-spresdinterest. We leermn from the Springfeld Repudlican that ns lataly delivered !eetun at Vassar College, in whick he said : X would at this correct m; *The Law of mva"wmflmmhn::;u“m_u- 1y the sphere of woman, and clvil government that of man, 1 now regard the home as th Joint sphere of man znd ‘woman, and the sphere of civil government more of a0 open question a3 between the two. It 18, however, to be hmanudth“mml ay.tation concerning the rights of woman is =0 much & matter of “ rights ratber than of “dutics,”as tho reformof the lstier ‘would fnvolve tiie former., This is high authority, and especially deserv- ing of attention because it must have resalied from a conflict in which pride snd pérsonal ine: terest fought on the losing side. —_— % American potatoes have been shut out rrom France, Prussis, and Austria by Government decrees; and England would doubtleas foliow the example were it not for sa apprehension of incressed discontent among the lower classcs. This sction bas been taken, not<in consequercs of adesire to protect native industry, or to zp- propriate an unfair share of the world’s wealth, butin order to prevent the importation of the pestilent potato-bng. That is & product of American industry which European nations da nos care to interfere with. Batof course thay can’s do without it. The potato-bug is bousnd te have its European tour as complete and regarl. less of expense as ever was taken by prouder devizens of this great Republic. Let it goia the fallness of its insolence and pride: Americs i8 ot big enough to hold it. Then let the worid determize whether America, in giving the potato. Lug to Europe, has npt made a fair swap for the ‘potato-rot, which Europe gave to America. A large part of the intelligent public, sup pozed to be sitting 18 & juryin the Becxa case, floats placidly with the current, and ties up, a8 may be most convenient, on either side of the stream. This improved system of navigation has its sdvantages, but it is alow-going acd ez- pensive. The vest argument that can be ad. venced in its favor is its absolute safety. Those who practice it sometimes find themselves in queer places, where thoy expected the least in the world to be. Just now they are in a position to say that one” thing has been proved by the testimony of Bessiz TueNEB and the colored servams of Mrs. WooDHULIL, viz. : that TruroN himself ia uiterly undeserviog of sympathy. Bo, for the time being, Mr. T~ TON is in the same situation as the editor of cthe Times,—held in some respeci becauss of his 8pecial griovances; but, on general principles, condemned snd despised. Two plous colored persons went to one of tha fashionable churches of Washington last Sun- day. Although informed that souls incased in black bodles must be saved, in that church, in & separate gallery or not at all, they insisted apon sitting down stairs, They were promptly eject- ed, however, 80 ‘that the devout bélievers in (whits) brotherhood and uiversal love for (whita) men were enabled to continue their wor- ship. What will these Christiang do when they moeet Baxmo and Drvam “on the other side of Jordan ®? Perhaps, however, they won't meet them there. The destination of the two sots of davotees may be different. —_——— A fow days ago, when Yoxg Wi held np b's hand befors & Hartford (Conn.) court and b~ cxme a voter, there wasa litle cloud no bigger than & man’s band in the political horizon which, when 1t breaks, may be big with blessings or with curses to America. Yuxa Wrxa is probably the first Chinaman nsturalized m this country. He graduated from Yale in 1854, has held bigh offices st home, and is now at the hesd of the Educationsl Commission of China. Will his conntrymen resident and to be resident in fhe Unitsd States follow his exampls 2 e ———— A new artist in head-lines has been specially engaged by ths Burlington Hawkeye for fifty ears, or until the conclusion of the Brecfrs trial. He began to serve the day that Mr. Brxcuzs msde his first appearance on the wit- ness-stand ; and - this is the kind of work he turned out : ** *‘Dear Father’ Rushes Out and Begins His Narmtive—He Starts Olear Back to the Time He Was Weaned—And Hasu't Got Up Yet to the Dsy He Did Anything Wrong,” etc., ete., otc. Mr. BxgcHEB a0d his counset are not chasing after that day as if they wanted to catch it A . A corner in kercsene oil 1s scarcely among tks poasibilities, both becsuse our facilities for pro- duction are 80 great, and becauss say consider~ able incresase in price would “raise eui*-—s