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

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7 ,- 1875.—SIXTEEN "PAGES, ————— TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE BATRE OF ETRSCRIPTION (PATAELE IN ADVANCE). Pontage Frepaid oo this Oftice. ‘Daily Edition, post-paid, 1 yeor..... Parts of year at sams Malled to any addrens POTR WETES for.. Sundey Kaittoa: Literary aad Keligi 13.00 Spectmen copdes seut free. To prevent delsy end mistakes, be sure and give Post-Office address in full, including Ststesnd County. Eemittances may be made either by draft, express, Post-Office order, or in registered letters, at our risk. TERMS TO CITT SUBSCRIBERS. Dally, delivered, Sundsy excepted, 23 cents per week, Daily, delivered, Sunday {ncinded, 30 cents per week, Address ‘THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Corner Madison and Desrborn-sta., Chicago, IiL TO-DAY. MCcCOBMICK HALL--North Clark strest. corner of Eione. Lecture st 3 p. m, by Moncure D, Conwey. Bubject, ** The Devil.” ADFLPHI THEATRE—Dearborn street, oorner Mooroe, Concert by the Tennessce Jubiles Singera, ‘WOOD'S MUSEUM—Monroe strest, between Dear- Sorn and State, Miltonian Tablesux. = Afiernoon and tvening, TO-MORROW. HOOLEY'S THEATRE—Randolph street, between g“hfl.\nd laSslle, Eogagement of the Californis nstrels, ADELPHI TREATRE—Dearborn strest, carner Mouroe, * Lispet.” XEW CHICAGO THEATRE—Clark street, between Z2andolph and Lake. Eagagement of Chariotta Thomp- won., *Jane Eyre.” THEATRE—Madison street, betwecn . * The Mcrry Wives of Windsor,” V5 the Chicogo Liederkranz, WOOD'S MUSEUM—3onroe street, between Dear- sorn and State. Aftirnoon, “ Uncle Tom's Cabin.” Zvening, 4 Griffith Gaunt,” TN10N PARK CHURCH—Lecturs by P. T, Burnum® * The Warld, and How 10 Live in It.” SOCIETY MEETINGS. EEYSTOKE LODGE, XNo. 639, A. F. andA. 3L Bpecial Communication sill be held n theirhall, 62 5d G4 North Clark-et., for work on the 3d. 'ALL merubers are requested to be present, a8 o3 of importance will be presented. Visitors are earnestly iaFited. " Time of apeniag, 7:% 0'clozk, . w. IXON, W. AL DEN F. PRINCE, Secrefary. EILWIKSING LODGE, KO. §I1, A, F, & A M.—A social reunton of the members of this : will be 1cld st Cortatbian Hell 167 Esst Einziest, on Thurs: fay evening next, 11th Inst. opening at T:30 o'clock. A fenerud invitztion 8 fraternally extended to each and wery member. LOUIS §. CHARLETTE, Sec. ‘COVENANT LODGE, No. 626, A F. & A, M.—Mem- sers are requested to mest at their hall. 267 Kinzio-st., 48 Sunday morning, at 10_o’clock . 1o atiend ‘e funeral of our late Bro, Peter A. Berry, Members 0 sister lodges cordially fuvited {0 attend. By order the W, M1, ‘WAL EERE, Sec. ATTEXNTION, STR KNIGHTS !—Special conclave of tzicago Commandery No, 19 K. T., Mondsy evening, sov, 8, 1875, for work on K. T. Order. Visiting Sir tnights courteously invited. Ey order of the Em. lora. G. A. WILLIAMS, Recorder. LADY WASHINGTON CHAPTER, No. 158, 0. E. 8. —Third Annual Party to be héld at Carr’s Hall, north- @t corner Madison and Halsted-ats,, Moncay evening, Kov. 15. Tickets, §1; to be procured of any of the wembers, B. M. FLOUENOY, Sec. The Chitagey Teibune. Sundsy Morming, November 7, 1875. At the New York Gold Exchange on Satur- sy greenbacks ranged from 80} to 87, the pulk of the business being at the former Bgare. s A clergyman urged the aundience gathered 1o hear Moopy yesteerdsy morning at the “Brooklyn Tabernacle to stop patronizing gro- zers, butchers, barbers, or street-cars on Sun- dey. Brother Moopy stopped him. He didn't want the Sunday question mixed up with his vevival. The New York Democrats nominated an old Republican for Secretary of State and elected bhim by 12,000 to 17,000 msjority. Last year their leading candidate had upwards of 50,000 majority. Next year, at this rate of progress, their ticket will be swamped under 25,000 Republican majority. A sensational morningjournal yesterdsy an- nounced thatthe unfortunate Rockford & Rock Island Railroad had been sbsorbed by the Chicago & Northwestern, by which it would hereafter be opersied. From the interview with Mr. OsTerBERG, the representative of the German bondholders, which is published in another column, it will be seen that the report is wholly without foundation. The RBockford & Rock Island Road will be operat- ed for the bondholders by Mr. OsTEREERG, ‘who assumes control to-morrow. : Tive Congregational ministers of New York and Brooklyn are to it in judgment upon Mr. Beecnre. As & ministeriel trisl never con- vinces anybody, there seems to be little use in stirring up the scandal in this way. Has Dr. BacoN been prodding up the brethren? Plymouth Church, not to be outdone, has ap- pointed a committee to consider Mrs. MovL- TOX's charges. The community conld hear of 8 few deaths in Brooklyn with great equs- nimity. Happy the Americans of A. D, 2500. Their blissfal ignorance of the Bxecaes case will insure their happiness. Thers has been some improvement in the unpaved spaces left on Wabash avenue sinca we referred to the subject a couple of weeks ago, but not as much as there ought to be. ‘There should not be 8 foot left unpaved. The ‘wvenue, when finished; will be one of the most beautifal streets in the world, and local pride as well as tho prospect of profit from incressed values and rentals should prompt every property-owner to do his share. It msy be that some persons are still holding back to pave their portion of the street themselves. In this cass they should lose no time in doing it. It is possibe that they can arrange to do these little strips more cheaply than the contractor’s price; Jout, inany event, it will bea common disgrace a~1d commoninjury 10 leave any of these spaces unimproved. The Railroad Company has dore ell its part, and we believe more than is required of it by law; it is also running this best class of horse- cars ever introduced in Chicago. The road- bed has been widened, the greater part of the etreet s paved, and there only remsin the oceasional strips of. 25 or 50 feet ; we hope that neighborhood irfluence will shame the owners of these strips into doing their duty. The Chicago produce markets wers stead- ier on Saturdsy, evsoept in provisions. Mess pork was moderat ely active, and declined 25 @050c per brl, closing at $19.50@19.60 for November, and §19.12}@19.15 seller the year. Lard was dull and easier, closing at $12.35 per 100 1bs cash, and $12.073 seller the year. Meats wersin good demand and steady, at 81@ 8}c for part salted shoulders (boxed), 11}@ 110 for short ribs do, and 113c for short clear fic. Highwines were moderately active and irregular, at $1.12@1.12} per gallon. Lake freights were nctive and essier, at 6@6ic for whest to Buffalo. Flour was quiet and un- changdd. Wheat was quiet and a shade firmer, cJosing et §1.073 cash, end $1.07§ for Decomber. Corn was in better demand end a #19ds firmer, closing at 52jc cash and 5030 for November. Osts wara in fair de- =AD'EL but emsicr, olosing at 8020 cxsh axd 810 for December. Rye was quiet at 65c. Bar- ley was active, and advanced 2jc, closing at 87c for November and 85}c for December. Hogs wers active and 10c lower, common to prime grades selling at $7.30@7.60. ~Cattle were inactive and wesak, with sales on & basis of $2.75@6.00 for common to choice. There was bat little doing in the sheep market, at $3.00@35.00 for poor to best. One hundred dollars in gold would buy $115.50 in green- backs at the close. | _An important decision was rendered yester- day morning by Judge Bropaerr on the ques- tion of the right of the City of Chicago to levy a tax on vessels as personal property. The chief objections were that the Court had no jurisdiction; that the tax was 8 duty of tonnage, and ‘against the provisions of the Copstitution of the United States; and that the tax should have been against o person and not o thing. The Judge revisws all the points at length, and disposes of them, holding that the owner of a vessel, being required to list his personal property of every kind, and failing to do so, cannof take advantage of his own wrong and escape taxation by his neglect of duty. The question is entirely new and very important, both to vessel-owners and to the city, which has been so often deprived of portions of its revenue through bungling and unconstitu- tional statutes, that it can illy afford to lose more. Since the election certain of our morning contemporaries have so industriously labored to impress upon the public that the result twas to be reversed by the Board of Canvass- ers a8 to excite suspicion that the object was to frighten people into acquiescente in the counting-in'of Mr. Hesixa. Interviews had with Justices Harves and Hawnmun (who with County-Clerk Lizs will constitute the Board), published in tLis issue of Tar Tams- UNE, show that such apprehensions are un- founded. They each state that, in pursuance of their duty as defined by statute, they have not changed their opinion of the power of the Board since last year, when they held it conld not throw out precincts, but weas simply there to foot up the returns, which is all that has ever been done by the Board of Canvassers. They do not claim, nor will they ettempt to exercise, the right of rejecting the vote of any precinct. That question, it will be remembered, was raised in the FARWELL- Lz Morxz contest as to one of the precinets of the Eighteenth Ward and one of the Evanston precinets a year ago. The opinion of the Hon. Lreaxarp SwETT was then taken upon it, and he pronounced any such action on the part of the Board as clearly"illegal. This opinion has never been dissented from by any reputsblo suthority, and will he ac- cepted by the majority of the Board asto the canvass of the retmrns of Tuesday’s election. Messrs. OpADIA Jacssox, J. L. Hiox, and W. P. Braox, Special Committee of the Chi- cago Bar Association, have drafted an impor- tant bill relative to appeals and writs of error from a Circuit Court of the United States held by the District Judge, which will be pre- sented to Congress st the next session, and will be found in full in another column. The Dill provides that in cases where the matter in dispute exceeds $500, and where no pro- vision is made for appeal to the United States Supreme Court, appeal from the final decree of & District Judge sitting as a Circuit Judge may be taken to the regular Circuit Judge, and shall be prosecuted on the original papers. - Also, that from finel judgments of a Circait Court held by a Dis- trict Judge, in civil cases, where the matter in controversy exceeds $3500, appeal may be taken by writ of error before the United States Circnit Judge, who may reverse, af- firm, or modify the judgment of the District Judge. The bill limits the right of appesl or to sue out writ of error to sixty days after rendition of the judgment or decree, with the usual clanse saving the rights of infants, par- ties in duress, or non compos, ete., and ‘further provides for appesl from the interloc- utory orders and decrees of a Circuit Court held by a District Judge to the Cironit Judge. It supplies an important omission in the practice acts, by which in many cases the judgment or decree of a District Judge hold- ing the United States Circuit Court is now final and sbsolate, CITY GOVEENMENT BY POPULAR VOTE. The problem of municipal government un- der a system of universal suffrage is certainly the most difficult and important that con- fronts the American people. It includes not merely the political evil of utilizing the vicious elements in election, but the still greater evil of unbridled extravagance and public plunder. The latter phase of the question has been forced upon us frequently of late by the statistics of local indebtedness and the startling increase of both local debt and local taxation within the last half-decade. The former is revived by the recent elections, and the evidence they afforded in mearly all the large cities,—notably New York, Balti- more, and Chicago,—of the formidable strength of that class of voters who uniform- ly range themselves against the {ax-payers. The Nation for the current week examines the question again under the significant title of “Boss Government.” It refers to the gromnd it took in 1871, when the enthusiastic reformers persuaded themselves that they had put down the corruptionists once for all; at that time the Nation held that *Boss Government” i3 the outgrowth of the condition of & city's voting population, and that, so long as the present system con- tinues, new Bosses would appear on the scens from time to time. The prediction was ful- filled sooner, probably, than the Nation an- ticipated at the time it was made; for, in less than five years, the people had to be aronged sgain to put down another Boss, and only succeeded, as before, with the assistance of blacklegs and gamblers like “Jnpre?” O'Bnixx and Jory Morrissey. Nor is Kxruy, though beaten now, any more likely to be the last’ of the Bosses than was Twrep; the same classes who are responsible for Twesp and Kery will set up new Bosses in the'| future. ‘What ig true of New York is likewise true of Chicago and every other great city whose government is controlled by popular vote. A closs estimate, compiled in New York ats the time the effort was making to defeat Twezp, showed that there are 60,000 voters, or pearly half tho voting population of the city, that would always go with the Boss and corrupt and cxtravagant administration. Our experience in Chicago has been very much the same. The *‘Boss " here was only defeated by a defection in his own ranks, and the Ring, though smashed for the time ‘being, will certainly coms forward again and make a8 desperate an effort for snccess as it hag in the past. The trouble is that the tax- payers and voters with personal in. terost et stake me lmited a5 to sumber sud soon wesry of vigilance, After one determined effort, their andor cools. and they drop back into their customary indiffer- ence. The constituents of the Bosses, how- ever, never tire. They array hemselves on the side that promises a license to the saloon- classes, to the gamblers, and to the danger- ous and vicious classes generally, because there are certain interests in ‘common, and they will vote eerly end often, and work hard and late, for any Boss or Ring from whom they expect a free and easy disbursement of the public moneys. Notwithstanding the exoeptionnlly grent effort made in Chicago last Tuesdsy, the Ring ticket counted in two of their candidates in the very teeth of the people. ‘What is the remedy? The Nation sug- gests two, one of which it concedes to be impracticable for the present, ‘and the other we fear to be equally so. Thi first is, that the municipality shall be converted into a business ‘instead of political corporation, and the administration of its business left to the mén who pay the taxes; in other words, that a property qualification be required for all voters in municipal elections. Without stopping to discuss the benefits and disad- vantages of such a plan, it is sufficient to re- member that such a condition conld ofily be instituted primarily by means of a popular vote, which simply places it out of the ques- tion. The other suggestion is such a simplifi- cation of governmental machinery that it may be run without professional qualifi- cations, and without necessiteting an aban- donment of private affairs by those who consent fo servein a public capacity. Such a sclieme means concentmtion of power and responsibility; and, concerning the practicability of securing it, we need only refer to our charter election last spring, when the mob cerried the day by stuffing the ballot-boxes, and thereby defeated an honest and intelligent effort made in the very direction the Nation suggests. In view of this experience, the outlook is anything but encoursging, and ‘““Boss Government” js a standing menace in every large city in the United States. The only effort that can be made for the present is to speak publicly the sentiments which are uttered so commonly in private, and to unite the industrious and in- telligent classes by refusing to pander to the disreputable and thoughtless classes who are responsible for oar city * Bosses.” THE NEW ALDERMANIC DISTRICTS. One of the acis incurabgnt upon the pres- ent City Council of Chicago is the reappor- tionment of the city, under the new charter, into wards. The whole number of Alder- men to which the city will be entitled is thir- ty-six, and two -are to be elected ineach ward, thereby necessitating the redaction of the number of waids to eighteen. The charter provides that in. the formation of wards ¢ the population of cach shall be as nearly equal and the ward shell be of as compact and contiguous territory ‘'as practicable.” In a large city where the resident districts are constantly changing, it is not practicable to divide wards by population and have the equality contimme very long. The original di- vision of the <ity was into six wards, three of ‘which were irt the South Division, two in the North, and one in the West. As late as 1857, the city contuined only nine wards, four of which were in the South, three in the North, end two in the West. In 1857, the Tenth ‘Ward was created in the West Division, be- ing all the territory south of Harrison street, giving the Wost Side three wards. Later, the city was divided into sixteen wards, and, later still, inte, twenty wards. These divisions were all made: by the Legislature, and asa general thing were shaped for political pur- poses, and nat with sole reference to equality of populatiors. The presen t apportionment gives the Sonth Town six war:ds, the West Town nine wards, and the North 'Town five wards. The recent comparatively ifull vote may be accepted as very fairly indi cating the present population of the several uxisting wards. The vote by ‘wards, comparexd with the vote of 1873, will show the tende:acy of the increase of popu- lation. The fbllowing is the comparative vote of 1878 and 1873, by wards: Wards, Decrease, Incregse. Tiisss < 59 498 14 HE R HE 2,527 Total... 55,734 The seat’ of population was permanently unsettled by the fire of 1871, and the falling off in the vote of the Third Ward is due to the fire of July, 1874. Any radical change of the present ward boundaries will be embarrassed by the fact that the legislative districts are all based upon the present ward lines. Thus the First Senatorial District embraces the territory in- cluded within the present Wards 1, 2, 10, and 11; the Second District includes Wards 3, 4,a0d 5; the Third District, Wards 6, 7, and 8; the Fourth District, Wards 9, 12, and 18; the Fifth District, Wards 14, 15, and 18; and the Sixth District, Wards 16, 17, 19, and 20. Taking the total vote of 1875 as the basis of population, we have the following results : Total clty Vote......veer . Ratio for each of eighiesn West Division polled votes.. Nine wards, each 3,{00... Surplus vats. ..., South Division polied Five wards, exch 3,100, Nortn Dirion, Four wards, each 3; Deficlency...... 07 It will be seen thet the spportionment of nine wards to the West, five wards to tho South, and four wards to the North, is almost exactly according to the population 5 repre- sented by the'votes last Tuesdsy of the re- spective divisions. This simplifies matters very much. It leaves the Council nothing to do but to drop one ward in the Somth Town and one ward in the North Town. This change in the Sounth Town can bo readily accomplished by uniting the present First and Second Wards. Their territory is contignous, and their joint population is just equal to a ratio. Their union will in no wise complicate their position as part of the First Legislative and Senatorial District. The pro- priety of that course must be evidentto all. The operation on the North Side is, perhaps, mors difficult. The present Nineteenth Ward is o small one both in terri- tory and population, and, compared with the others, must remsin so. It has been suggest- ed that it be added tothe Eighteenth, but the Eightesnth is now the most populous ‘Ward in the North Division, aud its inhabit. atts are larjély Sncreasing: I moreover it saben by law a part of a separate Legislative and Sennatorial District. It has been also pro- posed to attach it to the Seventeenth and also to attach it to the Twentieth Werd. Both of these wards have less than a full ratio. But the Nineteenth Ward msy be easily divided on the line of Oak street, and the north half attached to the Seventeenth Ward and the south half attached fo the Twentieth Ward. This arrangement would bring both. of these wards up to the ratio and divide the North Division aceording to population into four almost equal portions. This plan would accomplish the re- districting of the whole number of wards, without producing any confusion in the pres- ent State apportionment for Legislature. It will leave the present division of wards on the West Side undisturbed. That thero are inequslities in the present West Side ward populations is true ; but no apportionment that can be made now bat will be unequal a year hence. 'The apportionment by divisions is 80 nearly exact that the inequalities in wards may readily be overlooked. The new apportionment will not take effect until April, 1876, and four years Iater there will be o Fed- eral census and new Legislative and Congres- sional apportionments, when there can be s general rendjustment of ward and district lines. Whatever is done before 1880 must of necessity be temporary in its character ; so the present division of wards may be left as they are except in the two cases mentioned : the consolidation of the First and Second ‘Wards, end the apportionment of the present Nineteenth Ward between the Seventeenth and Twentieth Werds A GIANT IN TROUBLE. The Cardiff Giant is vedivivus. After thegyp- sum gentleman left the workshop in the North Division of thiscity, where he was fabricated, as common rumor has it, by a cunning Ger- man, he had a surprising series of adventures. He turned up among the savans, and they discussed his age and antecedents in most learned manner. ' The archmologists handled him with curious scrutiny, and wove many yarns concerning him, where he lived, moved, - and had his being in the good old primeval times, *‘ when there were giants in those days,” and the megntherium and mastodon, ichthyosaurns and plesiosaurus, had but just passed away. ' The giant traveled from city to city and received ovationslike a conqueror, which ke took in stony silence. Poets wrote odes to him. Philosophers rev- eled in scientific probabilities. Women and children flocked to sec him. The newspaper men wrote most learned treatiscs concerning him and his times. Sometimes he traveled with circuses, sometimes he turned up in hells of science. A few times he barely es- caped the pressing attentions of the Sheriffs in various counties where he was temporarily stopping. Atlast he disappeered from public view. Whether he hed gone back to his native swamp to lie awhile longer and acquire o better appearance of antiquity, or whether some ruthless iconoclast had hammered him to pieces, was for a long time uncertain. ‘When last heard from, he wes a Pheenician gog and now he furns up in the Boston courts as the friend of the plaintiff inan action for libel against the Boston Herald. It appears that the owner of the Pheenician god hind made an arrangement to sell an un- divided in‘erest in him to a dentist in that city, when there suddenly appeared in the Herald an article making fun of the Phoeni- cian deity and broadly insinuating that he never saw Pheenicia; that he was neither god nor giant, but an unadulterated hum- bug. Thereupon the dentist refused to con- summate the negotiations, and the original owner brought snit for $50,000 in currency a5 compensation for the injured feclings of himself and the giant. The jury heard. the evidence, retired, and ten minutes after- ward brought in a verdiot for the defendant. ‘What the giant will now do, or where he wall next turn up, is alike uncertain, but the last thing he should do in future is to try to get 850,000 out of a newspaper. It is unbecom- inga Phenician god from North Chicago. Even if he be 8, stony-hearted and adaman- tine-cheeked giant, he should be honest. The newspapers igve made him what he is and set him up in business, and, had it not been for them, he might still heve been soaking in the swamp where he obtained his antiquity and attributes of Pheenician divinity, Go on with your travels, Joux Camprer, but don't try to pick up the newspapers; they know you too well. 5 As we held during the rocent local cam- paign, the most important question involved was the status of the County Board for the ensuing year. It was hoped that the five new members to be chosen would all be of a character to join with Messrs. Burpiox, GuENTEER, and Busse, and give a reliabls majority in the Board in favor of honesty and economy. In the case of two of the can- didates put forward for this purpose— Messrs. Nersox and Joxes—there is no doubt that they were counted out by the ‘““held- back?” precincts, whose vote was arranged with reference to the majority necessary to be overcome. Notwithstanding this swindling operation, there is a hope that the tax-payers will be better represented as a whole than they were in the old Board, ex- | cept that they will lose the vigilance and pluck of Mr. Crouax, who, though always in the minority, defeated some of the proposed steals by the bluntness and obstinacy of his opposition. But, in the vote, the cause of honesty will perhaps be es strong as it was before, if not stronger. The composition of the Board this last year was as follows : City. Citr. Country, Busbicx, HoLD; Cowvy, Crovas, Cango Brase, Joxes, Hsmine, © GUENT Loxenoax, sompT, Crawron, JoRNEON, NICCAPFBEY. RUSBELL, Of these there were only six votes that .| could be counted on with certainty against jobbery and in favor of honest contracts and the economicel administration of the county finances, These were: Bumpioz, Crovcs, Joxes, Bussg, Guentmer, and HerTING. Sometimes this minority vote dwindled down to five. The new Board is constituted as follows: city. city. Country. Burolow, BOLDEN, Coxvy, Crmarr, Canrorr, Brssz, 2orroz, UenTING, GuEsTHER, Towenoix, Scasor, Arans, Jorxsos, AcCarrasy, ‘TapoR. Of these we think we may count with cer- tainty for an honest administzation upon Alessrs. Brapics, Bosss, GUENTHER, Avasns, Tasor, and perhaps HrrTive,—six in num- ber. Wo are also inclined to include Crzany in this classification. We thirk that the Ring may find they have ** caught o Tarter ” in Creany. Heis aman of personal means and a gentleman in his instincts, and ought to be on the side of honest government and with the tax-payers. We shall not be surprised, therefore, if the Rousrnes and Prriorar erowd find Mr. CLEARY opposed to them and their system of plander. He has an oppor- tunity to earn the gratituds of the peopls, 2bd do himislf mdch zood in the comimunity, by adopting this course, and his best friends will strongly urge it upon him. If he listens to this good counsel, there will then be seven honest votes in the Board. There needs but ‘one more to give the tax-payers a majority, and the msm of all others who -ought to seize upon this opportunity is Mr. LoNerGax., If he can es- cepe certain personal influences that have misdirected his vote in the past, he may com- mand the respect and confidence to which his private life entitle him. Mr. LONERGAR can take a stand in the new Board that will save thousends of dollars to the county with- in the next year, and redeem the reputation of the Board. v ‘We understand that it is the programme of the Periorar and RouNTtaEE crowd to elect HowpEx Chairman. Such an event would be the first sign of the intention to run the new Board as the old has been run, except worse. It is here, therefore, that the reform element should begin to essert itself. There is no hope of electing a good Chairman by the po- litical divisions of Republican and Democrat- <ic, or Republican and Opposition. Those in the Board, therefore, who desire an adminis- tration in behslf of the tax-payers willdo well to elect some man to the chair who has gen- ernlly been counted among the *Bean” crowd, but who may be rescued possibly from his bad company. Why not Mr. Lox- EncaN? The tax-payers have certainly more tohope from him than from Horpex. It would be better, of course, to continue Mr. Brrorok in'the chair, if that can be done; if not, we are confident that Mr. Burpick will join the reform element in any plan to defeat the PenroraT crowd. The choice of Chair- 'man, both on account of the formation of the committees and s an indication of the futurs conduct of the Board, is an important point ; and if the “Bean” crowd can be defeated here they may perhaps be kept down. A RUSSIAN BAILROAD.KING. ‘The United States is supposed to contein a goodly number of “railroad-kings,” but we never have had a Grorce HUpsoN or a Dr. StrovstEnG on this side of the Atlantic. The first once practically controlled the whole railway system of England. He began life extremely poor, beczme incredibly rich, and died in poverty. His career has been repeated, with an important veriation, by STROUSBERG, the fallen railroad-king of Rus- sia, of Austris, of Germany. One Empire was insufficient for his vaulting ambition. He grasped at three, overreached himself, and fell. Hupsox had this same experience, but he is believed to have been an honest man. STROUSBERG is not ns gently treated by rumor. His method of procedure, too, differed in kind from that of Hupsos. The latter was a financier first, a contractor after- wards. The former reversed this order of things. While he gambled in the stocks and bonds of every European railroed, he prefer- red to make his money by bidding for con- tracts and taking secaurities, instead of cash, in payment. In this he resembled Tmouas Brassey, and he may rise to wealth again, as Brassey did after his disastrous failare. But STROUSBERG is at a disadvantage. A prisonis a poor place from which to retrieve one's for- tunes, and the deposed monarch is in prison. Ho was, we believe, of Austrian extraction. For n long time he made Vienna his head- quarters. The smooth roads and the sub- stantial stone bridges of the Austrian railways are lergely due to Strouseere. He built not only largely, but well When the era of internal improvement dawned upon Russia, Steovusseee was resdy to profit by the new-born zeal for rail- ways. His bids were promptly filed. It is said they were sometimes weighted with gold, and that he therefore got contracts without much regard to the price he asked for his work. Be this as it may, he gotthem. He laid hundreds of miles of track on Rus- sian soil, While he wasbusily engaged there, Germany fell a victim to the railway mania. ‘What more natural than that a great con- tractor, who had successfully served two em- pires, should now serve a third? An army of workmen marched across Germany, marking their way with iron rsils. It was Srmous- pERG here, SrnousBerc there, StroUsBERG everywhere. Lesser speculators hung on his lips and besought him for * points.” The “Big Bonanza” is a8 mere adintation of a German play, and the latter was born of the speculative era which Srrousseze led. He went too far. Supposed to be fabulously rich, he saw his wealth evaporate. He was loaded down with stocks and bonds. The bonds could not be sold. The stocks shrunk in value day by day. One desperate expedient after another failed. The crosh came. Dr. SreovspEmc was arrested in St. Petersburg. Dr. Strovs- BERG has been imprisoned at Moscow. Dr. Srrovsnera has heen sued by his créditors in Vienna. He is about to be adjudged a bank- rupt in Berlin. The evil he has done is shown by the rush of failures in Russia and the panicky state of the money-market in Austria and Germany. Our dispatches of yesterday showed that even London was dis- turbed. Dethroned monarchs, like ex-Presi- dents, rarely amount to anything. It isnot probable that we shall hear again of the King whom the railways of three Empires owned. A great many respectable people were dis- posed to excuse Mr, HesiNG's ungentlemanly behavior at the Farwell Hall meeting, on the scors that the resolutions, which reflocted somewhat severely upon him on the eveof the clection, in the excitement of the moment provoked his ill-temper, while, bad he' bhad time for reflection, he would not have so out- rogeously violated all the proprieties. But since his performance of yesterday, no such charitable allowances can be made for him. Tho occasion being the insuguration of the lake-shore drive, to celebrate which 8 large number of gentlemen, inclading prom- inent members of each of the political parties, were gathered together, Mr. Hesive was called upon to respord to a toast. Instead of rejoining in an appropriately pleasant vein, he embarked in a savege diatribe against those who voted against him at the Iate elec- tion, and bad the indecency to single out for violent attack one of the gentlemen present. Hereafter Mr. Hestvo cannot complain if he be set down for what he proves himself—a bum- mer; and the most thatcan be said in ex- tenuation of his public exhibitions of himself in that character is that he can't help it, for it is his natare to be so. The English victims of the Eris Railway sent Sir E. Warkiv to this country,.a couple of months ago, to inspect that road. He submitted his report to the stockholders and bondholders st London a few days sgo. It is not a cheerful document. The Erie is not earning enough to pay interest on its bonds and settle the floating debt. Moreover, it is in n wretchedly-dilapidated condition. The Nation estimates that it needs $10,000,000 worth of repairs, It wes built—and man- sged—in what is sometimes called o ** broad, genervas Way,"—the broad way thab leadeth to destruction. ' It needs a narrow-gauge, swmaller cars, steel rails, new locomotives, and & few other million-dollar changes. It isun- likely that the stockholders will ever get any- thing out of it. Their investment is pretty nearly, if not quite, & dead loss. The bond- holders may perhaps get the road and then get enough ont of it to pay the interest and gradually cancel the principal of their bonds. But even this may be t0o sanguine a view. THE REVEN . The Grand Jury of the Northern District of Tllinois on Friday returned into the United States District Court indictments against some forty or more persons accused of violations of the Revenue law. These include parties doing business at Peoria, but most of them are residents of Chicago. - The persons in- dicted are distillers and rectifiers, and also revenue officers known as Gaugers and Store- keepers. The result in St. Louis isan indi- cation of what will follow these indictments here. The evidence of deliberate, systematic, and long-continued fraud thers was so over- whelming that the majority of those impli- cated, after bravely contending fora while, voluntarily appeared in court and confessed their criminality. The more corrupt officials took the chances of trial, and have been convicted. We understand that in a largs number of the Chicago cases the evidence at the service of the Government 1s as conclusive as it was in the St. Louis indictments, and that convictions must follow as a matter of course. . ¢ This is no case of ordinary fraud upon the revenue. It was a wholesale ome. It was a combinetion and a conspiracy to violate the law, defraud the revenue, and for purposes of profit. Its smccess included the corrution of Federal officers, the forgery of books, the second, third, and fourth use of stamps, false accounts, perjured reports and certificates, and a general system of dis- honesty. ‘We know that in certain circles—and they are by 1o means small ones—a moral code teaching that it is no crime to defraud the Government has been extensively cultivated. When the whisky tex was §2 a gallon this sentiment prevailed to the extent that buta very small percentage of the tox was col- lected, and Congress yielded to it so far as to reduce the tax to 70 cents on the gallon. But the dishonest sentiment was not satisfied ; the corrupt officials were found who were will- ing to share this tax with the manufacturers. The honest distiller could not compete in the market with the men who paid no tax save what was paid as oleckmail to the corrupt officers, and in this wey the manufacturers who might have been willing to pay their tax and do an honest business were in a manner coerced into the combination. But the crime ‘was not the less‘flagrant, the fraud was not the less scandalous and disgracefal, and the end not the less ruinous. There is no excuse for rational men, occupying respectable social and commercial stations, engaging in this business. If they could not carry on business without fraud and corruption, they should have abandoned it. There can be no more excuse for fraud, forgery, and perjury in the whisky trade than there is for a resort to these artifices in the dry goods or grocery trade, in banking, or in any branch of manu- factures. ~ The pnblic will regrat that these dis- closures involys 50 many persons hitherto re- spected in the community, and, however strong may be the sympathy, there will be a general approval.of the rigorous measures adopted by the Government. Justice will insist on a conviction and such pecuniary compensation as may be possible to the reve- nue ; whatever other penalty may be im- posed must, of course, depend on the person- al conduct of each person. For the officers who betrayed their trust, whose connivance led othersinto crime, and who for dishonest gains proved false to the public they were sworn to protect, there will be no sympathy, and whatever penalties may be imposed will not be regarded as too severe by public opinion. AN 0SCULATORY RAILROAD. By going awsy from home te find home news, we have discovered that the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company has kissed a blooming * maiden. At least, MMiss Eagry FarraruryL’s paper, Woman and Work, says s0. The Company was obliged to perform the pleasing act by the mouth of an sgent, inasmuch as a corporation is not only a soul- less but a bodiless being, and therefors has no lips of its own. The sgent, a self- appointed one, was a conductor. He was the kisger. The kissee was, let us say, a Miss Blauk, She whiled away the tedium of the journey by slumbering. The conductor saw her pouting mouth, her cherry-red lips. He was but human. His eyes vied in brilliancy with the $5,000 diamond on his shirt-bosom. He temporarily ceased from his voca- tion of taking fares and touched the fair. The resounding smack awakened Miss Blank. She sprang up and said that one of Ler sweetest kisses had beon stolen from her. Three courses of action were open toher. She counld shoot the rifler of her lips, she could faint, she could sue somebody and get damages. The lack of a revolver prevented the adoption of the first expedient ; the lack of a convenient and good-looking man was fatal to the second; there re- mained only the third. With the intuitive sagacity of a Grapger, she decided to sue. She borrowed a pencil and .took down the names of the offender and the witnesses of the offense. The conductor shuddered and went his way. Within a few short days the legal records of Illinois were burdened with the name of a new suit. It was BLANK va. The Chicago & Northwestern Railway Com- pany. Subpenas went flying north, south, east, and west. The witnesses were gathered together., The result of the trial proved the irfinite shrewdness of the victim of osculation. Had she sued the con- ductor he might, perhaps, have pleaded irre- sistible temptation, and been lightly mulcted by a sympathetic and envious jury of his fel- low-men. But she gued the Company. Her attorneys set forth that the conductor was but the agent of the corporation; that he was serving as such at the moment when he kiss- ed her; and that, therefore, his\act was the act of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, which had feloniously and deliber- ately kissed the lips and left a wound that needed a greenback plaster. This Company is composed of a baker's dozen of Directors and nearly 10,000 stockholders. When, there- fore, the verdict of the ‘jury and the decree of the Judge obliged the defendant to pay Miss Brasx the sum of $1,000, the action was tantamount to declaring that the thir- teen Directors and the ten thousand stock- holders had kissed the plaintif and must pay for the pleasure. The verdict was at the rate of $83 per Director and 10 cents per stock- holder. The latter figure seems very low. Kisses are usnally quoted at much more than 10 centa apiecs. But does the wife of each of these erring paxsons lmow that thare is a judicial record of the fact that her hughay, in company with his 9,999 mxuwwfi ers, forcibly kissed an innocent girl who traveling to her home? Probably not . :1: our divorce-courts would be even bu‘er' than they are. And what do the Grangers think of this new, development of railway ragesy; ty? Things have come toa pretty Pass in. deed, when & railroad not only charges ity passengers high rates, but kisses the Ppretty patrozs besides. ‘We would not advise our readers the records for the report of h “:: Woman and Work is responsible for the truth of the story.. We merely give it Prominence, —— ] TRADE-UNIOR FOLITICS, A new element has lately been introdngey into the politics of Engiand. It is the trada. union vote. The unions have becoms great political clabs, and their federation mal these clubs exercise, in many districts, 5 .:.s riblo strength. They ara ready 1o vot g, Whig or Tory indifferently, provideq either will work for the laws they demand, Some of these laws are needed; others are wilil sbsurd. It has been gravely proposed dm all imprisonment of workingmenfarmng_ fense should be abolished, becausa sy man; of them had been jailed thlhthayvmbz_ ginning to feel no shame about it! This g, gument is worthy of a housebreaker or 4 highweyman, but not of honest Persons, At present, the English trade-unionisty are much pleased with the Tories, Their annual Congress met at Glasgow lest month. On the second day of the session, one of the leaders, a Mr. Howzyy who h1s hitherto been a bitter opponens of the Conservatives, moved a vote of than'g to Disearrr's Secretary of Home Affairs, 3y, Caoss, for the Iabor legislation of the last session of Parliament. The motion wag sup. ported by Grorce ODGER, the ex-President of the International, and a Radical It met with some opposition, but was carried bya large majority. This was a great featherin Mr. Cross’ cap, but he has since dragglad the plumage somewhat by an injudicious attempt to improve upon BeNTHAM'S famous phrase, ‘“The greatest happiness of the greatest . number.” Waited upon by a delegation cf mechanics; he made a speech, and said thay thoaim of Government was *“the preatest happiness of the greatest number, as faray consistent with the pctual rights ‘of the few.” This unlucky sentence provolkes the query whether ‘‘actual rights” are the er. clusive privilege of the ‘“‘few”? Stil, a word cannot outweigh facts. The Tery Ministry has framed and passed two or thres laws which suit the trades-unions, and the Intter are therefore ready to vote the Tory ticket. If the Liberals offer anything better, however, this very independent vote will swing from one party to the other. The inside politics of the English trade. unions are somewhat unsavory. The newly- enfranchised freemen seem to have a pain. ful hebit of censidering votes as and an election as an auction, at which the highest bidder naturally succeeds. Grorox OpGER, speaking at the Congress, eaid there ‘wero hundreds of workingmen to te found as representatives of labor; but, **if they me not prepared to pay, there is no use in talk- ing of sending them to Parliament.” A M:. Eavesaid: * Donations of £50, £100, or £500 make far more voters than the most eloquent speeches.” Georax Porrer mournfully con- fessed that workingmen could not fight rich candidates. *‘ There are thousands of work- men who will only vote on being paid for doing s0.” The PallMall, quoting thess sayings, observes, tartly but with some tiath, that workingmen “ want to be elested, but have not maney enough to buy their own votes.” Since the trade-unions, as 8 whols, declare their readiness to deliver the work. ingman’s vote to whichever party will give most laws of a certain kind in exchange for it, it is not so very surprising that individual unionists should offer votes to whichever candidate will give most money in exchange * for them. The distinction between the two cases is an important one, but they are both instances of bargain and sale. Concerning the projected colossal statut of Liberty which the French propoess to erect by subscription and set up in the New York harbor, with brilliant lightsilluminating the head at night, the Nation suggests thal New York, with its official thieves, its ex- orbitant taxes, its corrupt Judges, and the protection afforded to thieves and mrurderers, is hardly the place for a symbol of liberty 100 feet in height, on a pedestal of ancthe 100 feot. The proposition is a very pleasanf one, and evidently well intended, but per haps it may as well be deferred at that par ticular point until * Liberty” shall becomt something better than a symbol. The investigation, now in progrets, of in management of the Kings Comnty (. Y.) I sane Aeylum furnishes snother illustraticn of the necessity of frequent searching inspeciion of such inetitutions. The abuses thus far di¥ closed are not of that flagrant sort whicb, by very reason of their atrocity, conld not long bs con- cealed, and exposure of which wonld lead o theit promptcorection, yot they were simply outraz ous. Violent luoatica were frequently beatsn by the attendants, in punishment for their mania; others were punished for their insanity by b:ok shut up in solitary cells and kapt all day without food ; & female lunatic, in ill-healtd, having once torn the blankets on her Ded. a3, for the remainder of the cold season, lett with- ont bed-covering, and suffered geverely from the exposure ; a madman, who in his frenzy tort his coat, was uomercifally beaten for the ch and s sane patient, who by fraud bad been placed in the asylum, was knocked over the bead for oxpressing astonishment, by bis looks, 3% the beating af the victim. Inshort, the tresi- ment of the mad people appears to have beis that of refractory criminals and fit Inbju:l.lfl punishment becsuse of their insane halkzciot- tions. As, of course, tho gentlemanly oficislt koew nothing of these sbuses, or if they heard of them, took no troubls to.im vestigate them,. the show nnn'll_ '"a keptin good order for exhibition to visitors and in their splendidly-farnished quartars the officers and medical atteodants were never 4 turbed at pight or at dinner to attend to sick of dying patients. There would hsve ‘been 20 investigation, and whatever was told b’nd- charged pationts would have passed a8 men's delusions, bug that one of them I:: ‘was able to establish beyond peradventure i eanity and bad infinential coonections foroed by his commaunications published in the Brook~: 1yn and New York papers. What has hapo in the Kings County Insane Asylam is lisble 10 happen io soy other, and the like sbuses msY bave longer escsped exposure. Tbe investigs tion into the Kings Couoty Asylam MW‘"‘ strates the folly of dismissing the W“fl patients ss the mere delusions of msd-folk o the fatal omission of neglecting to provids 7 the sharpest scrutiny of ihe ‘mansgemant such institations. While the Louisville Courier- orn of thsb tinues its werfare acainstthe gambl city, and daily prods the police for not mord oronsly enforcing the law against the Nldu:n people gifted with memories unchasitably that Mr. Warrznsos ranks high a8 s professc® of poker, and want 30 know abost 1he