Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 27, 1876, Page 4

Page views left: 0

You have reached the hourly page view limit. Unlock higher limit to our entire archive!

Subscribers enjoy higher page view limit, downloads, and exclusive features.

Text content (automatically generated)

TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION (PAYABLE IN ADVANCE). Postage Prepald at this Office. Daily Edition, postpaic,] yeaT.eezessesssssasens 13.00 Parts of year st ssme ate. 506 Aaj dress FOTR WEEES x A e O aras and sl S 3.00 Wi [ Parts of year at same rate. 'WEEKLY EDITIO! POSTPAID. Qe eo ear. Clab G{’fl'm 00y, Clab of twenty, per coi "Ihie postage is 15 cen! Specimen coples sent free. i Th prevent delas and mistakes, b suro and givo Fost- OBiee address in fall, inclading State ad Connty. Remittatcos may be made either by draft, express, Post-Oftica oxder, or in registerad letters, at our TEENS TO CITT SUBFCKIBERS. Daily, delisered, Sunday excepted, 25 centa per week, Dadly, delivered, Sunday inciuded, 30 conta per week. Address THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, ‘Corner Madison and Dearborn-sts. . Chicago Iil. AMUSEMENTS. T0-paT. cCORMICE HALL—North Clark street, corner of Kinsie, Lecture at 3 p. m. by Horace White, Subject: “* The Financial Crisis. FOURTH TNITARIAN CHURCH=Corner of Prai- ioavenue snd Thirtieth street. Lecture at 8 p. m. by Prof. Gunniog. NEW CHICAGO THEATRE—Clark strect, between and Randolph. * Der Vellchenfresser.” To-MORROW. WOOD'S MUSEUM—Monroe street, between Dear- born snd State. Afternoon, * Madelaine.” Evening, Fanchon.” MCVICEER'S THEATRE—Madison street, between Dearborn and_State. Engagement of John T.Bay- mond. * Col. Muiberry Sellers.” HOOLEY'S THEATRE—Randolph street, betwoen Clark and LaSalle. Tho California Minstrels. ADELPHI THEATRE—Dearborn Monros, Variety performance- ¢ strest, corner — SOCIETY MEETINGS- -ATTENTION, SR ENIGHTS!—Of Chlcago Com- usndery, No. 19, K. T.—You are hereby requested to nsscmble at the asylum on Mondsy, Feb. 23, at 2 o'clock, for escort duty. There will be a Special Con- Ccon in the evening, at 7:30 o'clock, for work on the .7, Onder,” Afull attendance i3 desired, Visitiog Sur K 118 courteo! vited. }y oraer of B e ¥ IV JOTN MCLAREN, E. C. CHAS. J. TROWBRIDGE. Recorder. THOS. 3. TORNER LODGE, No. 409, A., F. M.—Stated Communication Thursday Evenizg, rat n's Hall, 12 East Monroesst. (Am. Exp. $10g.), for wosk on AL 3L Degree. Visiting brethren ‘e Sobrdially invited o meet with ue. Ly order of WAL WALLACE B. DOGGLAS, Sec. and A, March ALASONIC—There will be a regulsr assembly of Vaa Rensseluer Grand Lodge of Perfection on Thursdsy svening next. Work onthe Fourth and Fifth Degrecs, E. P. HALL, TPe.Go M ED GoODALE, Gr. Sec’s. PALESTINE LODGE, No. €33, A, F. and A. AL, smeet at their lodge room, at the corner of Adsms aud TaSalle-sts., every Friday evening, and all members of the Order 15 good standing are invited to attend. By order of the Worshipful Master. » R. B.-RIGDY, Sec. LAFAYETTE CHAPTER, No, 2, R, A. M.—Hall, 72 Mouroest—Stated Convocation Monday evening, Feb, 23, 2t 8 o'clock, for business and work. By order of the IL P. E N. TOCEER, Sec's. The @hicage Tribune, Sunday Mormng, February 27, 1876. Greenbacks, at the New York Stock Ex- change Satarday, ranged at 87 @Siie. The Collector at Sitka, Alaska, has written to the Secretary of the Treasury that the Deputy Collector at Kodiac reports that 1niners of the Kent River hed been making from $4 to 6 per day in coarse gold. ‘This letter was received in Washington Feb. 15, and the 1.-0. has not yet printed any flaming headlines or urged the credulous to sell out their effects, purchase an outfit, and start for Alaska to dig gold. This failure shows a re- markeble degree of negligence upon the part of the organ of speculators and land agents in looking after their interests. —ee 1f Washington is not o healthy place, it is not for want of o vigorous and formidable Board of Health in the Distriet. It com- prises 3 commissioners, 1 health officer, 1 hief clerk, 14 inspectors, 1 analytical chem- ist, 1 attorney, 9 physicians; and 12 apothe- cories. Besides this, the President of the Board is an AL D., LL. D., and the Secreta- rys LL. D. With such o hygienical follow- ing as this, what might not Dr. Bey Mrze sccomplish? At the hesd of such a little army he wounld march of et armis against the Bridgeport stenches and overcome them ina —— We have reason to believe that the efforts to prejudice the President against Secretary Brisrow, Solicitor Wirsoy, and other officers ~who have been most efficient in the prosecu- tion of the whisky-thieves, have failed, and that the President is abundantly satisfied, af- ter thorough examination, that all the cases iave been and will be prosecuted solely with reference to the public good. If this infor- 1mation be correct,—and it comes to us from a source worthy of all credence,—it is a matter for universal congratulation, and it is also an assurance that the Chicago cases will be prosecuted as conscientionsly and forcibly as the St. Louis cases have been. Itisgood news for the Republican party and the whole country, for it will leave 3lessrs. Bristow and Wirsox frea to complete the good work which they have so successfully begun. — In the cross-examination of the President when making his deposition in the Bancocx case, he testified, it will be recollected, that « Seversl Congresswmen had busied themselves in urging him to interfere with the Cornis- sioner of Internal Revenue; but Le thought it not worth while to name them." The cross-examiner said, in that case, he would not press the matter. But in this he was derelict in his duty ; he ought to have press- ed the question for their names. The coun-" tryshould have the names of the Congressmen who are prowling around the White-House in the intercst of the Whisky Rings and using their influence with the President to have him interfere with the orders and efforts of the Treasury Department to stop stealing the revenues of the Government. The names should have been obtained and made public. The President might feel o personal reluctance to tell who they were, but the attorney for the prosecution had no such em- barrassment holding him back, and .nobody would have reflected on the President for divolging their names when actingas s wit- ness and under oath. The Chicago produce markets were irregu- Jar on Saturdsy. Mess pork was more active, and15@20c per brl higher, closing at $21.22} @?21.25 cash and $21.523@21.55 for April 1ard wasquiet and 10@124c per 1001bs high- er, closing 8t $12.723@12.75 cash and $12.873@12.90 for April Meats were quiet and easier, closing at 8c for boxed shoulders, 11¢ for do short ribs, and 11jc for do short clears. Highwines twere quiet and un- changed, st $1.06 per gallon. Flour was dull and steady. Wheat was active and ad- vanced 1c, closing at §1.02} cash and 98jc for March. Corn was dull and 1c higher, closing st 413c cash and 420 for March. Oats were quiet and Jc lower, closing at 31@ 31fc cash and 314cfor March. Rye was dall, st 64@C5c. Barley was quiet and 1@1ic lower, closing at 53¢ for March. Hoge were dull and 100 lower, closing weak &t $7.75@ Cattle were in 8.50 for common to choice. fair demand, and were steady at Friday's quotations, common to prime selling at $3.00 @4.65. Sheep were figm, at $4.25@5.75 for common to choice grades. One hundred dol- lars in gold wonld buy $114 in greenbacks af the close. ——— All signs show that the back of winter is ‘broken, and that we are emerging upon the activity and new life of spring. Builders are already at work upon new foundations, arch- itects are busily drawing plans, and soon the work of building will commence in earnest. Navigation will open earlier than usual, and all along the docks the vessel-men are getting ready for trade. The roads have beenso bad all winter that not much grain has come for- ward, but they will soon be settled, and the farmers will be alive with business again. In every direction thero are signs of forth- coming activity and every indication that the season will be en unusually busy one. The columns of Tae Trisrse this morning, which are always unerring indications, show that people have eeased to hibernate, and are now bending down {o the work of the year in s ‘manner that shows Chicago will soon bealive and stirring all through her vast hive. e The death of the distinguished French printer and publisher, AMBROISE Freymy Dmor, which was announced by cable a day or two since, brings to notice the history of this remarkable family. The firm was estab- lished in 1713 by Fraxcis Dmor, who pub- lished many noted works. His two sons, Fraxcors Ayproise and Prerne Foaxcols, succeeded him. Among their standard pub- lications were the Collection d'Artois and the Collection des Classigues Francais, issued by order of Louis XVL Hexzi Dmor, the son of Prerre, made microscopical types, from which he printed volumes of remarkable besuty. The sons of Fracors succeeded him, and becarme noted as tho publishers of the Editions du Lourre of the French and Latin classics. Fmymy, one of the sons, Te- vived stereotyping, and bronght the process almost to perfection. The AMBROISE Freaax who has just died was a son of this Finyay, and, with his brother Hrac¥TE, succeeded to the business. Their principal publica- tions are Monuments de UEgypts et de la Nubie, by Craxporriox the younger; Yoy- age de Jacquemont dans TInde; Expedition Scientifigua des Francais en Moree; the Thesaurus Lingu@ Greca of HENRY STEPHENS, and a cheap edition of the Greek writers. The present generation of DoTs will be represented by ALFRED and Pavz, sons of the deccased. e — It is said that the Board of Trade Trans- portation Committee is in possession of evi- dence which shows that the Southwestern cross-lines are cutting rates as badly as ever, and it is now believed that the recent tariff was made up by the Eastern pool lines simply to quiet public opinion and enable them to pursue surreptitiously the same diserimina- tions against Chicago as before. We have not much doubt that there is a good deal- of truth in all this. Now, we suggest thet the very best way to counteract thess discriminations for the present is to reduce all the terminal charges at this point to the minimum rate. We do not hear that this movement is being pressed with the vigor that onght to be used. The subject has been sufficiently agitated, and the injury of the present terminal charges amply demon- strated, to secure their reduction. The basis suggested of 1 centa bushel for first storage charges (to be paid by the railroads) and the sbandonment of the switching, side- tracking, and ** trimming " charges, will make asaving to the shipper of between 4and 5 cents o bushel, or equal to a railroad pull of 100 miles. A reduction in charges to that extent can be made without any co-operation on the part of Eastern pool lines, and it will attract grain to this point that might be otherwise diverted by the catting of rates st interior points. In this far, at least, the Chicago people can help themselves, and the Board of Trade should insist upon the reform immediatel; THE CITY FINANCES AND DEBT. 1t is with no pleasure that we again refer to the question of the legality of the out- standing certificates issued by the city. Nor do we consider the discussion of the subject 25 necessarily fatal or injurious to the credit of thecity. We can imagine no measure so calenlated to destroy the credit of the city as the persistent issue of illegal and unau- thorized paper after the illegality of, that paper is established ; and we contend that the best way to maintain the credit of the city is, upon the discovery of the mistake or blunder, to instantly stop the repetition of the error, and to take up as rapidly as possi- ble the unaunthorized psper that has been issued. We have been furnished with a copy of an opinionby Mr. Jony M. BINELEY, of the Chicago Bar, which holds the issue of the certificates of loan to be legal, upon the re- markable ground that the constitutional and charter prohibitions against becoming in- debted “in sny manner and for any pur- pose,” beyond 8 certain smount, was intended and, in fact, applies esclu- sively to bonded indcbtedness! And this, after all, is the only legal defense that can be offered under the present charter for the jssue of these illegal certificates. All other things pleaded in extenuation of the issue of such paper are but weak subterfuges. If the Constitution prohibited any and every form of increased debt, then these certificates are illegal ; if the Constitution merely prohibited debts in the form of what is called bonds, then the city may become indebted to any ex- tent to which the Legislature or Common Council may suthorize it. Under these cir- cumstances, the act of 1865 may be considered in force, in defiance of the present charter and the plain words of the Constitution. o assume that the Constitution was in- tended to restrain municipal corporations from incurring debts in the form of ““bonds” only, and that they were to be at liberty to run in debt to any extent in any other way, is to essume that the Constitation in fack sanctioned and suthorized the very evil which it intended to arrest. Thus it pro- hibits the creation of any debt within the 5 per cent limitation, unless a tax be levied at the same time equal to the payment of that debt with the interest at maturity. Under the forced interpretation placed on the Constitu- tion now that the prohibition applies only to ‘bonded debts, municipal corporations may suthorize loans, and appropriate the proceeds thereof, and levy no taxes therefor, and thus ‘build up s mass of indebtedness far exceed- ing any bonded debt they could imcur. A public debt, whether in the form of bonds or certificates of loaus, or in any other form, if legal, isequally obligatory, legully and morally, upon the community. The obligation to pay is no stronger in the case of a twenty-year bond than in the six-months certificate of in- Jebtedness. It is, to our mind, impossible to gay that either is any more a ¢debt” than THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 76—SIXTEEN PAGES the other, and we fail to comprehend how & city can *“ become indebted " by issuing to & creditor a bond payable st the end of ten years, and not become jndebted by issuing 8 certificate of indebtedness payable in ono Ear. % On this very point—that only bonds are in- debtedness in the eyes of the Constitution— Jr. Epwarp Rony, who is estecmed good authority on questions of this kind, says, in his commanication to Tug TrIBost of Friday last : Upon the certificates of indebtednesss quibble is at- tempted by the name to exemrt them from tho de- nomination of city bonds. This is not correct, Any written obligation for the payment of money seaied with the sea! of the corporation, or even signed by its officers in » manner suthorized to create an obligation to psy, or *writing obligators,” f8a bond within the general meaning of tho terms. Countles, cities, snd private corporations rarely give penal bonds, snd oftener give merc promissory notes than aothing else. Yet in raiiroad foreclosures it has never been ‘doubted that the mortgages in terms given to secure the bonds of the Company &id, in fact, secure these writings obligatory by that description. These cer- tificates of indebtedness constitutea bonded debt of the city or nothing. The BivLEY interpretation of the Constitu- tion, as embodied in the charter, necessitates that it shall be read that the city shall have power— To borrow money on the eredit of the corporation for corporate purposes, and issue bonds therefor, in such amounts and form and on such conditions as it shall prescribe,—but shalt not become indebted 1n the form. of bonds to an smount exceeding, etc. But the way in which the provision does read is: To borrow money on the credit of the corporation for corporate purposcs, and issue bonds tuerefor, in sach amounts and form sd on such’ conditions as it shall prescribe,—but shatl not become indebted i any manner for any purpose to an amount oxceeding, ato, We submit that the latter form, which isin the words of the Constitution, cannot be tor- tured into menning what is expressed in the first form given. There is something to be done, however. There are several millions of these certificates outstanding, and there are more millions of taxés due and unpnid. The certificates bear interest. Taxesare alienontheproperty, and have to be paid at sometime. No property can besold and a clear deed given without the pre- payment of the taxes due thereon. These certificates can be received in payment of taxes from now to the 1st of June. The city will accept them with tho interest that will be dne nest June, so that the holder of these certificates can save on the payment o his taves the amount of interest that will ac- crue. No better opportunity can be had to pay the long list of taxes in nrrear. On the 1st of January there was due and unpaid on tho tax-lists prior to 1875 the sum of $3,828,- 717 The payment of these past-due taxes would take up four-fifths of the outstanding certificates. For theso back taxes the city Lolds deeds of tax-sale certificates of the property to nearly o million of dollars, which can, therefore, be readily redeemed by the payment of the taxes in the city certificates. If, in sddition to these back taxes, property- owners would pay the taxes of 1873, the city would not only be able to take up ol this il- legal paper, but would be under no necessity for issuing any other in any form. We commend to tax-payers, therefore, the wisdom of purchasing these city certificates, and using them to pay the arrearages of taxes due on their property. Payment in that form will have a premium. The tax on the property, of which the city holds tax-sale certificates and deeds, increases at the rate of 25 per cent per annum, which, with the cur- rent taxes, must be paid at some time. The shortest, most economical, and most certain way of extricating the texed property and the credit of the city is for the tax-payers to uso these certificates in the payment of their due and unpaid city taxes. Instesd of pay- ing money into the City Treasury, to be ex- pended by the City Council, let them return these questionable certificates, which, once returned to $he city, can not lawfully be is- sued again. THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. The tax-payers justly insist that every ex- penditure of money for municipal purposes shall be cut down to the lowest possible notch. It does not follow, however, that the schools should be closed, the firemen dis- charged, the Water-Works stopped, the police force disbanded, the street-lamps extin- guished, or the Public Library shut up. There is, we regret tosay, an ignorant faction in the Common Council inimical to the Library from every point of view. The Library affords no pickings for anybody, and it does disseminate useful knowledge,—two very potent reasons in the eyes of a certain class for abolishing it entirely. The sums appropristed to it heretofore have been so small that little progress could be made in the way of purchasing books to add {o the munificent English donation that game to us after the fire. Nevertheless, it hos been kept open, and has been of great public benefit. Complaint has been made of the large number of works of fiction kept on hand, and of the .prefer- ence of the majority of those freguenting the Library for works of this kind. This is true not only of our Library, but of every other Public Library in the country, and of every Public Circulating Library in England; but it is mot true that this department is the only one eager- ly sought after by the public. More than 75 per cent of all the works of history, biogrophy, and natural science in the Library are out in the hands of readers all the time, and there is o great demand for duplicates in these higher departments of literature. As to the novels and so-called * trash,” it should be remembered that the persons who resort to the Library for these works would prob- ably be spending their spare time in ways much worse than novel-reading if they had not a Library to go to, and, since nothing of on immoral or corrupting tendency is kept in the Library, it is to be presumed that those who read novels exclusively at first will soon acquire a taste for something better. No, it will not do to close the Library for want of the funds to pay its current expenses, its bills for binding, and the subscriptions for jts readingroom. We should be sorry to stand in the shoes of any Alderman or other public officer who should incur the odium of voting for such a policy. The people who visit the Library and who enjoy its beneficent influence are a very large number. They will make it a personal matter, and we shall help them to do so, if the Council shall refuse the really necessary support to the institution, —ee The Philadelphia papers are putting on firs with their old Centennial big skow, and are beginning to flatter themselves that they will soon cease to be a suburb of New York City. The Press,in & burst of exultation, says: In coming sears 1876 will be noted 88 that date on which Philsdelphis emerged from ber own provincial- ism, from the territorial limitations of a single na- tion, 2nd took her rank as the first city of her own 1and among the first cittes of the world. Tho two- fold influence of the Centennial Exposition is already daveloping itsel with marked force, Itis desection- alizing and deprovincializing ourselves, and it iz bringing us properly into the view of Europe in our true character, 18 the repregentativo city of Americs, —that city presenting the best and most distinctively American festures, that city which best reflects the true and better life of our people. To the European mind, henceforth, Philadelphia will be the city of America, and Montreal, Boston, New York, Trenton, Germantown, St. Louls, Chicago, and San Francisco outlying towns of more or less historic or locsl interest This is all very well, if—. But suppose the big show ends in a bust, suppose that it doesn’t pay expenses, and exhibitors get de- frauded, sud people don't flock to the show like doves to the windows, and o on, and 0 on, and Philadelphia hos to take down the sign and put up the shutters, what ‘then? ‘Wonld it not have been better for her to have remained an outlying suburb of New Yorl, with more or less historic or local interest? Philadelphin should not halloo until it is out of the woods. Its most eminent citizen has just failed to bolster up a Centennial show in London, or draw a baker's dozen to it, andis coming home. Having included Chicago in itslist of possible suburbs, we feel warranted in advising it to *“Pull down its vest,” and in suggesting to it that, if such a possibility should oceur, Chicago would be the liveliest suburb that Wrtrase Peny, BENsayrx Fravz- v, Col. Forxey, and the other people of that town, ever dreamed of. — THE ELECTION FOR MAYOR. Tt is understood that the Council Judiciary Committee may report to-morrow evening on the question of calling a city election for next April. This Committeo should certainly xec- ommend to the Council, in view of the gen- eral expression of public opinion on the sub- jeet, that a special election be called for the same day to fill the office of Mayor for the succeeding year. Such a recomfmendation from the Committee will unquestionably be followed by the Council's acquiescence. There is, without doubt, & majority sentiment in favor of this courso in the Council as well as among the people. It is felt that there is no justice in permitting 3r. CoLviy to hold the office of Mayor eighteen months beyond the term for which he was originally elected. Nor can the Aldermen sce why the new char- ter should be so construed as to enable Mr. Cowvrx to hold his office one full year beyond tho extension of their terms, when the char- ter expressly provides for calling 8 special election in the case of Mayor. Added to this naturnl indisposition to sustain the Mayor in so unfair & construction of the charter, the Allermnen know that the great mass of their constituents, without reference lo’pmy, de- mand their constitutional privilege of electing their own Mayor. There is no doubt, then, that, if the Alder- men follow their own inclinations and con- victions of right, there will be almost a unan- jmous vote in favor of calling the election for Mayor on the same dsy that the people vote for the other city officers. Some of the weak- kneed may feel restrained by an opinion given by Judge Dickex when he was Corpo- rotion Counsel, and by the refusal of the Supreme Court to command the Council to do its*duty, which refusal was owing to Judge DickEey's subsequent election to a position on the Supreme Bench. Bat it must be remem- bered that the"Council still retains full power to call this election, and that it is a duty to the people all the same that such election be called, It will give the voters of Chiengo the opportunity of choosing a Mayor for them- selves. If they want Mr. CoLviv, they will re-elect him; if they do mot, they will elect somebody they do want. The Council may rest assured that whoever shall receive & majority of the votes will have the office, for the Courts have never yet ven- tured to set aside the verdict of popular suf- frage when rendered in a lawful way. If Acting-Mayor Corviy thinks he is entitled to the office in spite of an election, he cannot reasonsbly urge any objection to having an election called and a Mayor voted for. This is the only fair way in which his elaim can be properly contested. It cannot be definitely and finally determined whether Mr. CoLviv has a right to the place until it shall be con- tested by some one elected by thepeople. If he holds it without any such test, he is sim- ply a usurper, and the Aldermen who enable him to hold it in this way are merely coward- ly adherents of a usurper. If they follow their own independent notions of right and fair-play they will not hesitate to furnish an opportunity to test the case. PROGRESS OF GREAT BRITAIN IN TWENTY- FOUR YEARS. 1t is an American characteristic to boast of progress. Itis peculiarly & Western charac- teristic to institute comparisons of statistics, year by year, and to vaunt onrselves upon our growth and incresse in all directions. Latterly the English have been instituting some comparisons of statistics concerning their own growth, and one of these compari- sons, made by the London Zimes between the material condition of the Kingdom in 1851 and 1875, thus covering s quarter of a centary, gives a color of truth to the assertion of the Pall Mall Budget that ** We may fairly concluds that no nation in the world ever previously enjoyed & quarter of a century distinguished by equal prosperity.” The sta- tistics printed in the London ZTimes certainly warrant this stetement, and are so remarka- ble in character that we reproduce a few of the more important of them. The population of the United Kingdom rose from 27,393,337 in 1851 to 32,737,405 in 1875. England in that time increased 5,851,610; Scotland, 598,199; while unfortunate Ireland decreased 1,166,741 on account of excessive emigra- tion. Paupersge also shows a decrense, not- withstanding the large increase of population. The number of peupers in the United King- dom in 1851 was 1,184,453 ; in 1875 it was 1,002,475, showing o decrease of 184,433, ‘Tho criminal statistics are even more remark- able, In 1851 there were 56,645 persons com- mitted for trial, or 1 person in every 483, while in 1875 there were 22,125, or but 1 in 1,430 of the population. In the primary schools of Great Britain there were 271,126 children in 1851, while in 1875 thers were 2,039,754, showing that, while 1 child for every 79 persons was receiving instruction in 1851, 1 child for every 13 persons was receiv- ing instruction in 1875. Thus much for the incrense of population, industry, and educa- tion, and the diminution of crime. The financial and commercial statistics present results which are guite as striking as the foregoing. In 1831 the gross revenue of the United Kingdom was $257,599,850; in 1875 it was $374,609,365—an increase of $67,000,515. The gross expenditure in 1851 was §252,243,685; in 1875 it was $371,640, 200—an incrense of $119,396,515. The gross amount of the annual value of property and profits assessed to the income tax in 1851 (Ireland excepted, where the income tax was not then collected,) was $1,286,963,615 ; in 1872 ({reland included), it was $2,569,037,- 535, or slmost exactly double. The total salue of exports for 1851 was $372,243,610; in 1875 it was $1,117,472,850. The value of jmports is not given, as they were not ascer- tained in 1851, but the quantity retained for home consumption greatly be seen by the following tabulated statement of a few articles, the amounts being given per head : Gallons. 0.33 8 0.4+ Wio. X 053 The above figures speal very well for the temperance cause. It will be noticed that the consumption of ten has more than doubled, while the consumption of liquors Thas only increased from 1.20 to 1.80 per head, or by, 40 per cent. In 1851 the capital of the o0ld Trustee savings banks was §151,388,270 ; in 1675 it had increased to $207,529,745, snd the capital of the Post-Office savings banks was $115,787,345. The Pall Mall Budget sums it all up as follows : On tho whole, then, it may b said that the populs- tion of the United Kingdom increased in the quartor of & century about 26 per cent; that the people living in 1874 were, on an average. at least twice 1a well off - 88 they wera in 1851; that they drank in 1874 twicoas much tes and eugar as they drank in 1951, and 40 per cent more spirits, wine, and beer; that they had saved tiwice as much, and traveled nearly fivotimes asmuch; fhat, taking the increaso of population into account, serfous crime had deoreased by mearly 70 per cent, pauperism by moro than 25 per cent; while primary education had become six times a5 general, i This wonderful increase, representing such vast trafic, is aoll the more remarkable xll::n we consider the small space in which : activity is crammed. We could have some idea of its character if it were concentrated in Illinois, Indians, and Michigan, with which three States, so far as ares is con- cerned, the United Kingdom mey not inaptly be compared. Tho population of the United Kingdom is nearly four times as great as that of these three States, and, although the latter excel in the capacity for agricultural and mineral production and have the vast inland seas for water facilities, they cuta small figure when brounght into comparison with the great industries and activities distributed over an equal ares in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Our English brethren certainly have reason to exult over the material and sociel progress of the last quarter of s century in their tight little island, and it may not be unpatriotic for us to congratulate them, although this is the Centennial year. KELLEY ON CUBRRENCY, CREDIT, AND COK- TRACTION. The Hon. Wrrmx D. Kerrey has been making another speech on the currency. This effort, like all that have preceded it, shows him to be, in the Ianguage of the Hon. Bardwell Slote, a P. L G.,—a perfectly inde- pendent gentleman,—independent of logic, the truths of history, or the political economy of hiscountry ; independent of common sense and of his party, which oughtto send him back to private life by a large majority.” Itisan jdle task to follow the Hon, WitLrax of the increased, es will | 3 Wisp through all his false trails, but some of the fancies and fallacies of his speech deliv- ered in Congress on the 19th inst. are amus- ing enough to be noted. Passing by the unseemly skill with which this tariff thimble- rigger shuffles on to the currency the ‘“‘sad condition” of the workingmen of Penn- sylvania, betrayed by * Protection,” and pausing only to express a well-founded doubt whether Mr. Krriey needed to go so far from home as to father upon Huem: Mc- Curroc, Seccretary of the Treasury under AxpREW JoHNSON, the responsibility for the swollen recruits to the ranks of the Insane Asylums, Houses of Correction, police-sta- tions, and Foundling Asylums, in the vicinity of Mr. Kerey's home, we will consider briefly Mr. Kxrrey's extraordinary assertion that the panic of September, 1873, was caused by the contraction of the currency. Evidently, Mr. Kerxey does not know what o crisis is, nor what constitates a contraction of the cur- rancy, nor what cwency is. Excepting in these points, he is perhaps as well . qualified a3 o Pennsylvania high-tariff Protectionist could be to express an intelligent opinion on an economic question. Mr. KELLEY states that the volume of legal tender was, June 30, 1865, $668,910,800. To show how not at all these figures appertain to s comparative dis- cussion of currency, it meed only be said that Mr. Keurey includes $191,721,470 of 6 per cent compound-interest notes; $8,467,- 570 of one-year 5 per cent motes of 1863 ; 37,715,950 of two-year & per cent notes of 1863 ; 34,441,650 of two-year coupon notes of 1863. ‘This aggregate of above §244,000,- 000 of interest-bearing Government securi- ties has no more right to a place in an enu- meration of currency than Mr. KELLEY to 8 seat smong the immortals. Mr. KELLEY can- not produce o banker to testify that any of these securities circulated as money three months after their issue. In comparing the volume of currency in 1863 with that in 1878 Mr. Keriey, with the artfol carelessness of a SEnrroLE in pecuniary matters, skips over the circuletion of the National Banks, which was only $109,800,332 in 1865, but had risen to $319,621,202 in 1873 Ho utterly ignores tho essential point on which the wholo currency question turns, viz.: the purchasing valae of the cur- rency. It is not the number of pieces of pictured paper that determine its worth, bat their purchasing power. If it were the former, the Confederacy would have been so far ahead of the Union in the sinews of war as to have beaten us out of sight. The *‘law- ful money” of the country had an actual purchasing power in the markets of the world of sbout 68 cents in May, 1865; in September, 1873, of abont 8G cents. Admit- ting this suppressed but allimportant fact into the calculation, how does Mr. KLy come out? Taking Mr. Kerrey's figures, for the joke of the thing (nobody would take Mr. Kerrey's figures in earnest), and allowing him in 1865 $99,000,000 of lawful money,” including the non-circulating com- pound notes, and adding thereto $110,000,000 of National-Bank currency, which he omits; and turning then to 1873, when there was $400,000,000 of *1lawful money” and $320,- 000,000 of National-Bank notes, let us see when the country had the most currency; that is, the most purchasing power,— for currency is useful only to buy things with, In 1865 $509,000,000 of paper, worth 68 per cent, had a purchasing power equel to $550,120,000 of gold. In 1873 $722,000,000 of paper, worth 86 per cent, would buy $621,000,000 of gold value. If thisis con- traction, we will admit that contraction caused the panic. Butitwasan actual ex- pansion of $71,000,000 of gold value of the carrency, and that, too, after including more than $244,000,000 of interest-bearing paper that never circulated from hand to hand as money. So much for Mr. Kerrey's figures: the facts tell much worse against him. The actual circulating medium or currency of the country, in 1865, was, counting green- backs, fractionals, and bank-notes, only $565,000,000, with a purchasing power equal to $364,200,000 of gold. In 1873 it was 721,000,000, with & purchasing power of ,000,000. Was this incrense of both quantity and value contraction ? Ormust we admit the unpleasant fact that the only con- traction Mr. Kertey hasproved to existis that of his own veracity and intellectual faculties ? Mr. KeLrEy certainly does not understand the arithmetic of the currency question. His logic, however, is as romantic as his figures. o says thet the contraction—as illustrated above—cnused an undue expension of credit, and hence the collapse of 1873. He follows this up with a philosophieal induction in the style of the Pig-Iron school. He says “‘ That nothing is taught with more constant reitera- tion by the experience of England and the United Stetes than that a protracted con- traction of tho'money of a country is the gure precursor of wild inflation of private credit.” Here the will of the wisp chases itself to its own destruction. The ani- mal that disappeared in its own stomach loses all interest besides the P. L G. who shows that the panic was caused by a col- Inpse of credit caused by a contraction of currency that caused an inflation of credit. You contract the carrency and extend credit; you contract the carrency and credit col- lapses. INSURANCE AND CURRENCY. We printed a few days ago an claborate re- view of the insurance business of the United States, or at lenst of the 205 insurance com- panies doing businees in the City of New York. Of these, 102 companies are of the State of New York, eighty-nine companies of other States, ten English, one German, and three Canadian companies. It will be re- membered thet these companics include only those doing business in New York, and out- side of this list is o very large mumber of companies with large lines of insurance and risks in various parts of the country. The total risks of the companies doing busi- ness in New York amount to the enormous sam of six thousand three hundred and twenty-threc millions seven hundred and thirty-two thousand five hundred and twen- ty-one dollars (36,928,732,521). Thatis the amount of the hazardous and combustible property of the citizens who have insured in {hese 205 companies. That is the amount of money pledged to them as a gunrantee ageinst loss by fire. It is three times as great as the national debt; it is greater than the combined debt of the naiion, of the several States, of all the municipalities, with the capitel of the National Banks added thereto. To secure this guarantee the owners of property, in 187 aid no less than £60,000,- 000 on_their policies. They purchased the guarantee at that price. In case of disaster to any of them, they are fo be paid their losses. The contracts cre all payable in legal tender. The value of the guarantee is affected by every change in the value of the money in which it is payable. Do these people who ara so blatant in demanding ‘»cheap money "—money so chesp that it +will take two or three paper dollars to pur- chaso what one peper dollar wili now buy— consider the effect which the success of their scheme would have on the value of this pur- chased investment? The fall in value of greenbacks from 90 to §9 cents on the dollar reducos the value of the insurance $63,237,- 320, To reduce the value.of the greenback 5 cents on the dollar is to reduce the value of the insurance fund for the protection against loss by fire over$316,000,000, orasum excecding tho ontire loss of property in Chi- cago by the fires of 1871 end 1874 In other words, the reduction of 5 cents on the dollar in the value of greenbacks would be a greater Joss to the people who are insured, in case of tho destruction of their property, than the total Joss by the unpracedented fires in Chi- cago. If, howe'ver, the shinplaster lunatics should succeed in reducing the value of greenbecks 20, or 40, or 50 cents on the dollar, the reduc- tion in value of this guarantee fund would be proportionately greater. To reduce the value of the greenbeck from its present value 0 50 cents on the doller would reduce the value of the insurance fund for the payment of losses in an amount greater then the whole public debt of the United States, greenbacks end 2l People who think of joining shinplaster clubs, to aid in reducing the value of such notes to the least possible sum, will do well to consider how far they are destroying their own interests, as well as the interests of their neighbots, by such incendiary proceedings. i It has been very generally noticed that Judge Poeres, in his speech to the jury in the Bancock case, forced home to them the conviction that it was not Banpcock alone, - but the President of the United States, who was on trinl. The following is one of many sentences in his speech that urged such ap impression : Though they do mot ventare to assert, they do mot hesitate to insinuate by innuendo, that the President himsolf was privy to the conspiracy, These covert insinuations should bo brought from their hiding- places, Let us meet them face to face. President GRaxT either was or was mot privy to the St. Louis conspiracy. If he was, it shouid be proved. Though the District Attorney endeavored to counteract the effect of this course of ar- gument to some estent by telling a jury that the defendent should not be permitted to screen himself behind the President, he failed to characterize this line of defense in proper terms. It wasan outrageous piece of business. Bascock’s counsel had no right to drag the President’s name into the trial. The statement in effect that the President was guilty if Bancock was guilty was not war- ranted by any of the evidence introduced, and the Judge should have rebuked Judge PorTer when he made it, and should have compelled him to desist from that lino of ar- gument. There is little question but the ef- fect of this sort of talk was favorable to Bascoc. If persuaded that Bamcock’s con- viction would be s stain upon the highest official position in the Government, a jury of American citizens would be naturally averse to giving a verdict of guilty if it could be reasonably avoided. But no such inference was warranted by any evidence that has ever been produced ; bat, on the contrary, all the evidence tends to show that, whether Ban- cock was &nowingly enlisted in behslf of the whisky thieves or not, the President never had the slightest cause to suspect it, and the argument of Judge PorTeR in this respect was at once an injustics to the President and s deception. A correspondent “Where will Jupiter be on Monday morning, at the time of his con- junction with Beta Scorpii 7" We answer: The planet will rige in the east to southeast octant & few minutes before 1 o'clock to-morrow morn- ing, and will be vizible from then till near tho time of sunrise, weather permitting. —_— There are two Aldermen in the Common Council of thenpame of Sroxe. R. B. SToNE represents the Fifth Ward acceptably and well, and we are glad to see that he has been re- nominated by his people. R. STONE represents the adjoining Fourth Ward, but his course in the Council has not always wasmived the appro- bation of his constituents, who are now eqg;, about for & successor. The Fifth Ward gy, is often nonoyed by censure cast apog bil Ay votes he was sapposed to bave given, whm r? fact it was the Fourth Ward SToxx who vfllu objectionable votes. The Republicas gf o Fifth ara lookiog to their brethrenof the B! to rectify the czuse of these mistakes n,:fl 2 :oucepu{‘mzs a8 the twWo men are lllcge',h!;:; erent kinds of rock,—the Fif! = clear grit. Uy 0 Wacder beig The Republican Club of the sohd ar i e od reliab]y old Teath Ward have followed sait, 2nd Resolved, That the Aldermen of the Tenth Ty and are hereby Tenuested touse every meags fon® ¢ power to liave cailed by the Bosrd of Aljssaey S8 due motice given of 2 general. ciecion n Arti 2ot e sald of S, i A me sald oficers, as provided, including Mgy Ald. Woopuax and CLARKE repressnt {he Tenth, and we have no doubt bat they y hearken to the voice of their constituenty i vote to include the Masor in the officers toby electod. —— There is s report, which lacks confirmat Presidont GRANT has dismissed. G:x:nglucaca:' = Tuia position 5 private socretary. Under the grnd stances, he would b justyjied 1 downg this, butif continues to bave conildence in his pertonal {ateme: he will probably not do 1t.—Evening Journar, ‘This is shooting to bit it if it be a deer, buty misa it if it be 3 calf. GraNT to Bascoci: **Cassio, I lovs ‘but never more bo oflicer of mine.” PEESONAL Mr. Dayard Taylor has become n editoriy writer for the New York Tribune. Sardon is sick with the influenza and the fa. ure of his pew picce, *Ferreol”to mug 100 nighta. Gen. Sheridan is warmly congmu'mgdb,,n liis friends. It is a girl. No war fortha negy generation. The Mobile Register 8338 the ofics-seskers from the South at Washington are for ths most part vagabonds. Sothern once piayed ‘ Dundreary” in Paris, and the Frenchmen who followed him wita librettos thought ne was a raving lunatic, A achool-girl in Lawrence, Mass,, foil on thy ice while skating and forced a sharpls-pointed lead-pencil into ber right log tos depth of threy thny inches. The Prince of Wales is now s Field Manbal, ‘His compznion in promotion, Sir John Fitzger- ald, has seen seventy-four yoars of service, aud 18 90 years old. Charlotto Cushman’s gravs is in a retired cor. ner of Mourt Aubnrp, within full view of ths City of Boston, ber birthplace, and the widest part of Charles River. It costs 20 ceots to get into = St. Loy «dime ” lecturs.—Journal. To Milwaukes the charge for the same kind of entertainment is 15 cents. Tho dimeamite fiends have fall smy only in Chucago. Alr. James H. Dowlend, of Chicago, dramstis and humorous reader, has completed s lecturs op *Charles Dickens—His Mission and Hy Works,” copiously illustrated by readings ad character sketches. Tne Rev. Mr. Hammond bhas formed spu- nership with a einging pilgrim, and he proposss to aeo whether the Hammond Combination bu not rights that the Moody and Sankey Combing tion is boand to respect. The crew that is coming from Eogland to ca- test the four-oared championship with Amerits seems to have no particular right to the itls it self, thongh it is composed of representadn onrsmen, with Robert Boyd at the head. Five young women of Hoboken have coor plained to 8 Jussice of thet city that s welb Jmown resident has seduced each under promis of marrisge. The resident has fled the toms, and the young women sppesl in vain for pabli sympatby. The wifa of Thomas, the Bromerhavan dvoa- mite fiend, was entirely ignorant of her husbandt history before she married him, and of his cor nection with the dyoamite plot until it was voaled. Sheis now in Nesw York, wich her for children, in destitute circumatances. Solon Robinson, for many years cattle-marmu reporter and agricultoral writer in the New York Tribune, is now at the point of death ¥ Jacksonville, Fla. He was once famous ssiht anthor of the trashy book which worked on the sympathies and purses of the poor entitld « Hot Corn.” The book had & tremendous mls Thereis s womsn in Massachusetts who bu spent but $11 yearly in dress for several years and another of * high social position™ who s+ serts that her annual expenses for clothing, &% tor's and dentist’s bills for the last eleven year have averaged less than $7 per annum. We verr ture to assert thaz each of these women is o 80 years of age or confinedin a lunatic ssylm David A. Wells declines to be a candidate fa Congrees in the Third District of Connecticts Put he ssys he is & Democrat, if Democrsy mesns hard money, taxation for revenus onlf and such & restriction of the powers of the Fed eral Government that it saall neither donat propoze to do anything for the people which tht people are sble and willing to do forthe selves. A complimentary benefit was tendered to Y& W. H. Crane in Sacramento, Cal, on the % inst., by tha Governor of the State and eight] membors of the Legisiatare. The houss il crowded and many were turned awsy. The pant were “Psgmalion and Galatea™ sad *Lxios in both of which the beneficiary afforded &4 greafest merrimont by bis ludicrous makevps2t comicalities. It is known to some of Tns Tamsoxe's reudet interested 1o chess that r. Alberooi, of Ne¥ York, hes lately been in the West, aod bss bet playmg & series of games with Mr. ‘Hosmer, ! membor of the Chicago hess Club, st Chuli TIL., the home of the latter plager. Tha soor & Thematch was very creditable to the West beiog! ‘Hosmer, 5; Alberoni, 0; drawn, 2. QOpe or it of the games will probably be given i3 T TRIBUNE'S chess column next Sunday. Mr. Bliss Whittaker, the popular Tressutet of Booley’s Theatre, waa nob forgottea by hit friends in the hour of his rejoicing. e told them ot to forget him, aod they i They wouldu't, of courss, if THE TRBISE b said nothing about him. The mceip:u‘mmhfl benofit on Washington's birthdsy, which been about all collected, show a ner b o hia favor of over $300. Besides this, & UBbe" hus friends last night presented him s fin watch ana chain, valued at $200. o Gen. Cnster was interviewed by the editor © Toledo Sunday paper recently, and is reporte 8 saying, apropos of the meotion o 1 man for the Presidency :. * Capita! enggestio? He 188 trump any way you take him- Yery telligent viewa of men and afairs, sad AU - tionably s great General. He woold 12 B;u steor.” As for Sherman's Indian POLeY elected : *Thero would be one grsad war aod then there would be no m ore Indusct- Tt would settle the Indian question beso! ‘tomfoolery of Quakers and ‘gentimentalistd b':: don't seem to knowthat every Indian everywot is simply & brute. You can't civilize an 1u s any more than you can teach & zooster 0 goose-eggs.” : Mr. Coucher, of London, Eag., bss bad “’;’; teen months’ experiencs of conoubisl blise came home the other night and found bis absent, The inner mau beiog clemorod, ventured to brow for himself 8 cap of tes - the midat of his pioas labors, Mrs. Cou:h“" e tusned home “rather drunk.” She ¥if T tated by the interference of ber bustasd © 0 the domestic economy, and, seizig biT® by ol bair, she strack him in the face with ber fish then offered to cut off bis head with 82 . - g neighbors interfered, and pravented tho carryist out of her intention. 3lrs. Concher 8373 -MM + silling to hang for Coucher,” meaning Mnm will submit to be choked to death for killing. sod bois willing to have her heoged (o0 meaning that he would be glad 0 from her death.

Other pages from this issue: