Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, July 30, 1876, Page 4

a THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, JULY 30, IST6—SIX'TEEN PAGES, When prickly heat begins to crawl down The Tribyne, TERMS OFflBECK[PTIOZ‘L PATABLE IN ADVANCE—POSTAGE THIS OFPICE. 3 paid, 1year. 1'arts of a year, per month. . WEEKLY EDI One copy. per year. i of e Specimen coples sent free. To prevent dekay and mistakes, be sure and give Post- Cfiice address In full, including State and County. Liemittsuces may be made elther by draft, express Tost-Utfice order, or in registered letiers, at our risk. 7ERM3 FO CITY SUBSCRIBERS. Tenlly, delt rered, Sunday excepted. 25 cents per week. Lugly, deifvered, Sunday included, 30 cents per week Adilress THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, + Corner Madison and Dearborn-sts.. Chilezgo, Il TRIBUNE FOR THE SUMMER. Partfes leaving the city for the summer csa have Tue DatLy TRNCNE forwarded to any address upon tesving orders atour counting-room. The paper will Le promply matled in s single wrapper, postage pald, 3ur §1 per month. SOCIETY MEETINGS. NSISTORY,.S. P. R. S.—Speclal N C A 1 Onay EveninE; Aug. 3. at Cousistorial Monroe-st. Work 03 3 by 1l 2d f s degree by 1l 2 Litne. Comsangernit, 1 Pond. - There will also be ¥peclal meetings for drill prior 1o the excursion 1o Phil- venings of Aug. 2 5.7, 5, and 11. All Bblime Db des tarendiny: to 000, The excarsion are re- hese erill meetings. Iy order of queated 1o astend these Gy Ree R ALY 0. Commander-{n-Chief. JAMES A. T- BIRD, 324, Grand Secretary. SUNDAY, JULY 30, 1876, At the New York Gold Exchange on Satur- day the ragometer indicated 89} to 893 cents on the dollar. ‘The darkey’s description of his ’coon-trep applies exactly to the Democratic State ticket of Illinois as contrived in Springfield. He said: “It's got a spring at bofe ends, end can kotch de *coon a-gwine or a-comin’.” In the letter of our New York special cor- respondent, published in this issue of THE ‘ToisTxE, is told in graphic style the true story of Miss Exara Asporr, the new Amer- ican soprano, whose recent successful debut at Covent Garden markss her as the rising star in the operatic firmament, destined, ns the London critics predict,' to win the first place emong living prime donne. To Chicagoans, who have reason to feel an especial interest in Miss AnBotT, since sheis anative of this city, the story of her strug- gles, end disappointments, and brilliant triumph at last, and sll accomplished too so early in life, will prove most readable. 1t is an unsavory topic, that dealt with in ¢he carefully-prepared article which will be found in our columns to-day, upon the nuisances which pollute the atmosphere of Chicago and poison the citizens as oiten as the soft southern breezes blow. But it is a topic upon which, especially during this summer weather, depends in large degree the comfortand bealth of a half-million people. When the water supply drawn from nearer the shore of the lake than now was found to be contam- inated by the garbage outpourings of the river, Chicago did not stop until, at an ex- penditure of millions, an ample supply of pure fresh water hod been obtained. An ipexhaustible: supply of pure fresh air s not less indispensable, and must be secured in place of the fetid ~vapors burdened with all sorts of decaying nastiness which are wafted over the city from the nuisances described in our article of to-day. The practical question which it raises is, how this shall be done and how soon. ) Tke Chicago produce markets were irreg- alar Saturday, and rather active. Mess pork closed 15@174c per brl higher, at $18.70@ 18.75 for Augyst, and $15.673@18.90 for September. Lard closed 15c per 100 Ibs higher, at $10.85@10.87} for August, and £10.973@11.00 for September. Meats were stronger, at 7ic for boxed shoulders, 9Zc for do short ribs, and 10ic for do short clears. Lake freights were firmer, at 14 @1jc for corn to Bufizlo. Rail freights were unchanged. Highwines were quiet, at §£1.10} pergallon. Flourwas dull. Wheat closed 1@24c lower, at §63¢ for August, and 92ic for September. Corn closed a shade casier, at 45}c for August, and 45%c for Sep- tember. Oats were firmer, closing at 29ic for August and 29{c for September. Rye was stezdy, at 55@56c. Barley was easier, clos- ing at G9c for September. Hogs were in light supply, in good demand, and firmer, selling $6.25@6.65 for poor to choice. Cattle were quiet and easy at $2.50@5.00 for poor to choice. Sheep were scarce and nominel at $2.50@4.50. One hundred dollars in gold would buy £112in greenbacks at the close. —— Toe TerevNe this morning lays before its readers a most interesting contin- uation of the reminiscences of Saver J. Trpes. These remarkable papers, origi- nelly published in the Chicago Z'mes, form an invalusble contribution to current politi- cal history. They are evidently from the pen of Mr. Storey himself. Their fearless, outspoken independence; themerciless analy- sis with which ispunctured the pretensions of the great sham reformer ; the fine invective, with its vein of rare blasphemy,—all prove incontestably thet to him is to be accredited the authorship of that series of eble articles. The fearless fidelity of Mr. Stozey to the truth at sll times and under all circemstances needs no indorse- ment by Tme TemuNe If there be any- thing whick he is not afraid to do, that thing is to tell the truth. In these articles Mr. Storcy has told the truth sbout Saxver, J. Trpes, about whem it is season the Asnerican people knew the whole trath. To the inexorable logic of facts, Mr. SrorEy, with characteristic keen apalysis, adds a wonderfally accurate estimate of TILDENS political character, which no voter who wants o be well informed should fail to read, The letter of our St. Louis correspondent, which wiil be found in another column, pre- ~:nts » dismel pictore of hard times, conse- quent upon the general business depression eud shrinkage in real-estate values there. Hard times were never so hard in Chicago that real esiate nssessed at £27,000, with 4 bnilding on it that cost $33,000, wes in- sufficient security for a loan of twenty thousand, and on foreclosure brought but cineteen thomsand, 8 our correspondent shows was the case in St. Louis. Neither has a hundred thousand dollar property in this city ever had to be bought in by the mortgagee to save s loan of forty thousand. Nor has either of the great insurance companies lad to take two and a half millions of unsalsble mortgaged property to save its loans thereon, and then establish a land-agency to unload the prop- erty because it proved utterly unproductive, —ths which has harnensd in the fntura great city. These are matters which no- body in Chicago could be so ill-natured as w gloat over in the style in which St Louis papers are wont to do over fictitious Te- ports of hard times here. But there is a moral in the condition of affairs at St. Louis. Itisthat the slow and sure style of the solid city St. Louis was always boasted to be is altogether too slow and solid to soon recover from the effects of a general de- pressior of business. In the solid town there is no market for real estate, because none of the solid men of the fown have the enterprise to invest for a rise, nor the sagacity to mske the improvement that would at least avert the decline. A wnter in one of Storey's two papers, both daily, makes a frantic appeal to the Republican voters of French extraction (of whom he says there are 40,000 in Illi- nois, when thers never was one-tenth of that number) to abandon their party and join the Bourbons and Confederates. He rests his appesl on two grounds: first, that they do mnot get enough offices ; and, second, ‘““that the French are Catholics, and the Republicans are of the Puritanic faith,"—that is, Protestants. This writer slurs over the fact that there are two kinds of Catholics in France and Ameri- ca, as well as in other countries. One class is Ultramontane, and the other Liberal. The former in this country vote the so-called Democratic ticket solid, and always have and always will vote it. The other class of Catholics, the Liberals, believe neither in a union of Church and State nor of subordina- tion of the political'to thé clerical element,: 2nd are very generally Republicans, and are not likely to be carried into the Democratic camp until they first turn Ultramontane, and that will not be soon. As to the offices, they will take their chances with all other Republicans. The people residing in the southern por- tions of the city aro again complaining bit- terly, and with reason, of the nauseating stench which the western and southwestern winds bring them from the slaughtering and rendering establishments in Bridgeport. If the nuisances could be positively located it would be an easy matter to abate them by process of law. One trouble in doing this is the natural disinchination, even of those who suffer, to take the pains to run down the smells, and then to appear before a Grand Jury and afterwards before a Petit Jury with the evidence to convict. Another trouble is that it is not easy to trace the smells specifically, sinco the noxious gases, being hot and light, rise when they are just let off, and only settle down some distance away from their starting point, and after they have cooled off. There is one way, however, in which evidence can be collected. Let the Council suthorize the Mayor to offer a good, substantial re- ward, and let this be suppleménted by a reward from the Citizens' Association, to be given to any one who will furnish evidence to convict those who are responsible for the nuisance. This will excite the personal in- terest of the police, of private citizens, and of the employes of the establishments where the smells are generated. The health and comfort of the city demand their suppression and the punishment of those whose esteb- lishments emit them. BLUTFORD WILSON'S NARRATIVE. Mr. Buurorp WiLsoy, who was Solicitor of the Treasury from the very beginning of the war on the Whisky Ring until Mr. Bristow retired, and who was the only official ia Washington intrusted with the preliminary and secret movements to apprehend the frands, is better prepared to tell the story of the conspiracy and its prosecntion than any other man except the ex-Secretary of the Trensury himself. Mr. Bristow de- clined very, properly to recount to the Con- gressional Committee the action of the President and the Cabinet, becauss it came under the head of privileged communiecations. But Mr. WrzsoN was under no restraint so far as his connection with or knowledge of the prosecutions went. It is worthy of notice, however, that in all his narrative ke has refrained from revealing what passed between the President and Mr. BrisTow as Secretary, and has confined himself to such events as came within his own personal and official knowledge. Alr. Wrisox'’s narrative is chiefly valuable at the present time as showing the enormous influence which the Ring exercised in one way and another, and the formidable opposi- tion the Secretary of the Treasury had to encounter at every step he took in the work of smashing it. There is no doubt that it was the most gigantic conspiracy ever organ- ized in the political history of the United States, and that it embraced hundreds of men of position and influence in various States. That some of the persons who had s guilty connection with it have escaped punishment isscarcely to be questioned in view of the cheracter and extent of the in- fluence brought to bear from all sides and upon all quarters in behalf of the Ring. The wonder is that, in spite of this influence and the determined effort to defame the men who were chiefly instrumental in breaking the Ring, the Secretary of the Trensury and his asdocistes in the work succeeded so well as they did. He was fortunate in hav- ing the co-operation of men like WrLson and WasmsunN in Washington, WessTer and MarrEews in Chicago, and Dyer and HexpERsoN in St. Louis, all of whom were as energetic and enthusiastic as himself. They kept their temper under the most exasper- ating circumstances, and remained at their several posts of duty at times when their personal inclinations and interests suggested desertion. Mr. Wiusox’s narrative shows very clearly that the President was fully in accord with the most persistent prosecution of the Ring to the bitter end up to the time when his mind had been poisoned by agents of the Ring as to the purpose of the Secretary and Solicitor of the Treasury. The base insinus- tion that GeavT himself was implicated was anatural incentive to throw all personal in- fluence and official power to encourage tae most thorough exposure and punishment of all concerned. We know of no single in- stance better illustrating this than the ap- pointment of Gen. WessteR Collector at Chi- cago, whom he personally knew to be as hon- est and clear-headed & man as lived, and aggressively hostile to every species of froud. But from the moment that Ban- Coox’s tracks were discovered in the con- spiracy the Ring began & series of ingenious devices to work upon the personal sympathy of the President. Gen. GraNT Was naturally inclined to believe Bancock innocent, as the latter had been attached to him for years in the most intimate and confidential relations. It was Bascocx’s tactics to persunde the President that he was the victim of a mali- clous prosecution, the real purpose of which was to reach the White-House and bresk down the President. Stories wers invented and events distorted on all sides to maks thig appear. WirsoN was accused of setting spies on the President’s track when the latter visited St. Louis. It was also reported to the President that an effort was being made to indict OrviLte Gravr, his brother, and Col. Faep Grawr, his son. AMr. HENDIR- soN’s speech was misconstrued as a means to his removal, because he was especially dangerous to BaBcock. Bascock wormed out of the President the evidence which the Government had agsinst him by the reiterations of his innocence, and bis expressed willingness to esplan all suspicious circumstances. He induced the appointment of a military Court of Inquiry, and had & man appointed Judge- Advocate who had been engaged in settling up Basncocr’s Black Friday gambling losses. The purpose of this was to get all the evi- dence from the St. Louis attorneys, and when this failed their refusal was cited as another instance of their hostility to the President. Meanwhile the Ring were working upon the President in another direction. They were persusding Logay and Farwery that Bristow and WiLsoN were trying to catch them, and directing their indictment without any evidence, and making offers of immunity {o those who would furnish evidence to con- vict them. Thus Messrs. Locax and Fan- WELL were convinced thet the Secretary and Solicitor of the Treasury, for personal con- siderations, were endeavoring to break them down. It is not strange that their influence with the President, directly or indirectly, should be exerted to convince him that Bristow and WrisoN were trying to con- vict innocent men, snd this naturally “confirmed the suspicions that had been instilled into him by Bascocz. This nc- counts for his sudden interference in the policy of the Secretary to secure the evidence of co-conspirators,—the only way wheraby such & conspiracy could be laid bare,—and his direction to the Attorney-General to in- struct the various District-Attorneys not to sct upon the testimony of informers nor show uny favor to those who confessed their guilt. The real purpose of those who in- duced the President to take this ground was to break down the prosecutions, hough he was ignorant of it; this is sufficiently proved by the. prowpt publication of the lstter through the instrumentality of Bapcock’s attorney. It wasintended to serve as a notice to all guilty persons that they would gain nothing by furnishing information to the Government, but would only assist in bringing punish- ment upon their own heads. Thus it is plain, from Mr. WrLsox’s account of the prosecution, as was suspected at the time, that the President was made the dupe of men who had abused his confidence, and that he was persuaded to do things to pro- tect innocent men, as he was led to believe, which materially interfered with the plan of reaching all the men who had been guiltily connected with the Ring, and of bringing all of them to punishment. Why, it appears that the President did not lose faith in Bancock until it was demonstrated that tho fellow had been the means of bring- ing the Administration into suspicion by joining in Jar Gourp's most disreputable ‘Wall street speculations. There is nothing in Mr. WiLso¥’s true version of the Whisky- Ring prosecutions which reflects upon the President’s honesty of purpose, but it is evident that he was deceived and betrayed into acts and instructions which rendered the prosecution of the whisky-thieves even more embarrassing than it would have been nat- urally, and which may have permitted some guilty men to eseape in spite of 4 injune- tion to the contrary. CHICAGO IN THE LEGISLATVRE. It may seem like the repetition of an old and familiar ery, but nevertheless we warn the people of Chicago, rich and poor, tax- payers and non-tax-payers,—all who are in- terested in the well-being of the City of Chi- cago,—that it is imperatively necessary for every man of every party to do all that he can to have this city honestly and ably repre- sented in the next Legislature. Cook County is entitled to twenty-one Representatives and seven Senators. Of these, four Senators hold over, leaving three to be elected. Are there not twenty-four men in Chicago who have the proper qualifications, experience, learn- ing, aud ability, who will consent to serve this city, now reduced to helplessness, through misfortune snd bad government? 1t is not difficult to find men willing to go to the Legislature; candidates for nomination will be ss numerous before November as the falling leaves. But the condition of Chicago =dmits of no complimentary politics. It needs men capable of business. The emergency which demanded a new and better Common Council in April last now demnnds even more strongly a new and better class of Representatives in the Legislature. The fact that this is a Presi- dential election year, and that a Senator of the Tnited States is to be elected by the Legislature, does not change the situation in the least. Twenty-four intelligent and com- petent citizens can vote for Semator just as wisely s can an equal number of = different class. Becauso it is desirablo to elect & party President and a party Senator, it does not follow that these ends may not be &s well promoted by having men as candidates for the Legislature who are fit for the duties as by the nomination of men who are not fit. The fact is that in the election of members the chances are all in favor of that party who shall propose the better class of men,—men whom the voters would prefer to employ personally to attend to their own business. Of necessity there must be party nomina- tions. Of the seven districts, the Republic- ans bave a majority in the First, Sec- ond, Fourth, Sisth, and Seventh. The loss of some of these districts in 1874 was due to causes which do not exist this year. Senators are tobe elected in the Second, Fourth, and Sixth Districts. Bat it will not be sufficient merely to elect Republicans ; it is important that the men themselves should be proper persons to represent the city. The Third District is hopelessly Democratic. The Fifth District is debatable. In the five Re- publicen districts the Republicans will have 10 members and the other side 5; and in the Third District the Democrats will have 2 and the Republicans 1; in the Fifth District the contest will be over the odd member, The 24 persons to be elected will stand, po- litically, 3 Republican Senators, 12 Repub- lican Representatives, § Democratic TRepre- sentatives, and 1 doubtful. With this polit- ical division almost an ascertained fact, it oughtnotto bedifficultfor the Conventions of both parties to select men who ought to be elected. i The circumstances of the city are such as to appeal to the patriotism of both parties. Men are wanted, of both parties, for an urgent and important work. Legislation of the most important character is needed. The city must be represented by men informed 88 to the public necessities, and able to pre- sent them intelligently to the Legislature. It s no time, and the Tasidlatura no vlica. for mere sticks and stones ; men, living, earnest, competent men, are demanded, and both parties should labor to serve the city, and to serve their own interests, by sending that kind of men to the Legislature. Better have no Representatives there than to have men ignorant of the public wants, and in- competent by word or influence to aid the city. SOME FALSEHO0D3 REFUTED. The Whisky-Ring Organ, in its frantic mal- ice against ex-Secretary Bristow and all those who assisted him in his persistent and fearless discharge of the onerous work he took upon himself, is doing neither itself nor the Republicen party any service by its con- tinued attacks upon all those who were niost active in running down the thieves. It now charges that Tre Trmoze was cognizent of n scheme on the part of Secretary Bristow to conviet innocent 1en, which is as false as is the assertion that there ever was such o scheme. As far es anything Tre TRIBUNE hassnid concerning the Whisky-Ring Organ’s position as the organ of the Whisky-Ring, its utterances have merely reflected popular judgment, and the evidence furnished by 1ts own cditorial page every day since Seerctary Bristow began his war on the thieves. The Whisky-Ring Organ will probably find it hard to convince this community that the Inte Gen. WEBSTER was 2 party to any such scheme, or cognizant of it. Yet it appears from one of Gen. Wepster's letters to Brr- rorp WiLsox, produced in the latter’s evi- dence before the Congressional Committee, he had as much resson to suspect that the Whkisky-Ring Organ was managed in the in- terest of. the Ring as Tae TrizoNe and other people had,—perhaps more. Here is the language be used in regard to it : 1s it possible that Barcock has lent any coun- tenance to a proposition for an attack on Bristow? Will he confess his own infamy, and try to drag down the Secretary with Limself! What other ex- planation is there for the Zuter-Ocean’s attack? I suspect that the Ring has got the entire control of the 7.-0. 'They are desperate, and will farnish all the money necessury {o getnn English orzan, as they have a German one in the Staats-Zeitung. If the Inter-Ocean desires to convince any- body that it has not been used as an instru- mont of the Whisky-Ring, as Gen. Wrasrer and many others have suspected, it cannot do so by continuing to vent its melice against Secretary Bristow, who stands out more conspicuously and honorably than ever, now that Brrrorp Wirsox hes told the inside story of the prosecution. And if it has any desire to be eflicient in the cause of the Re- publican party (which there are many rea- sons for doubting), it will not constantly strive to belittle the grandest work the Re- publican party has accomplished since it put down the Rebellion, and to impugn the motives of the men who were most prom- inent and efficient 10 the movement. As to the alleged circulstion by Mr. Wazp in Washington of the story that he was instructed to indict LogaN and Fan- wELL, and Parxen and Hay, two Whisky- Ring editors, we have already exposed the falsity of the yarn by quoting Mr. Warp’s own words last December, when he said, “ Wirsox was merely working for the indict- ment of parties against whom there was probable cause,” sud that *he alluded to such parties in a general way, not singling out Mr. FARWELL by name.” Mr. Warp was subsequently indicted himself, after having been removed from the office of District- Attorney; and that he was not tried was through mno fault of Brurorp WiLsoy, who insisted that District-Atiorney Baxcs should g0 on with the case. The Whisky-Ring Organ further asserts that Brororp WiLson has been proved a liar, Decause he telegraphed during the Mo trial that “no promise of immunity had been made to Reux by the Secretary of the Treasury,” and that Mr. DexTek, an es- sistant of the District-Attorney, made an op- posite statement. It is not true that Mr. DexTER made an opposite statement, *¢ Im- munity ” means absolute freedom from pun- ishment in consideration of valuable evi- dence, but all the Government counsel rgreed, in stating Renw’s cese to the Court, thet the only promise made to him was that he should not be sent to the Penitentiary; and this promise was made by the Government counsel, and not by the Sccretary of the Treasury. If the Whisky-Ring Organ keeps up this sort of misrepresentation in order to make war on the ex-Secretary of the Treasury, and those who aided him in smashing the Whisky-Ring, it must not be surprised at a general suspicion that it is the Whisky-Ring Organ. THE CITY RETRENCHEIENTS. The proposition of the City Gas-Light Company, whose territory includes the North and South Divisions (which was erroneously attributed yesterday to the West Side Com- peay), will ensble the Council to nchieve the full amount of retrenchment which reasonn- ble people have expected from it, and all that can be undertaken without injury to the best interests of the city. This proposition is to reduce the price of gas to the city 50 cents per 1,000 feet, to light the lamps later at night and extinguish them much sooner in the morning, and to substitute 3- feet burners in the street-lamps instead of the 5-feet burners now in use. The West Side Gas Company will scarcely dare to hold out against the force of public opinion, now that the Company controlling the other two Dirvisions of the city have, of their own mo- tion, offered this concession to the city. The city will then pay %2 per thousand, instead of 50 per thousand, which it has been paying, and there will be a reduction of two-fifths in the amount of gas consumed, in addition to the saving by the new schedule for lighting and extinguishing the lamps. Thus 50 per cent of the expenditures for gas will be saved, or as much as if one-half the lamps had been extinguished, but in a more satisfactory way. The City Gas Company is entitled to the credit of making the offer. The reports from the various departmenis in which the reduction of salaries is ordered are to the effect that the situation will be ac- cepted as inevitable by the émployes, who will submit to it without any effort at resist- ance. Indeed, resistance would be useless, since the law-officers agree that the action is entirely legal, and since it is only in thisway that the various departments can be sus- tained and the employes paid at all. In the Police and Fire Departments there will be the same system of curtailment as that suggested by the Council for the police force; that is, a saving of about 10 per cent will be made by reduc- ing the number of men, ard 15 per cent will be taken from the pay of those who remain, givingthem then asmuch compensationasthey Teceived at the higher rates before the panic, when $1,000 could not buy as much as S will buy now. The work of cutting down in the Board of Public Works will be herder, in 5o far ns twice the reduction is provided for thereas in the Police or Fire Department; but it will be the easier, on the other hand, because it does not all come from areduction in the number of emploves and their pay. A large part of the curtailment will, be in the suspension of such public improvements as are not absolutely necessary at present; but the employes of this Department have been 80 numerous that less damage will result to the public interest from adischarge of a large part of them than in any other branch of the public service. The Commissioners, we are convinced, area unit in the effort to make the reduction thorough and equitable. By means of these various provisions the City of Chicago will save this year $2,000,000 from the exorbitant appropriations levied by Corviy’s Council. There is mo doubt that the city hereafter can be run on the reduced scale, and it will be, if the people will only elect as good men to the Council as those who compose the majority of that body at the present time. In that ovent, and after the floating debt shall have been paid off, the texes of the City of Chicago will be reduced two-fifths from what tlhey have been for the past two or three years, and no single action could be taken which would contribute so largely to the prosperity of this community. CONDITION OF WHEAT IN STORE. The Chicago Board of Trade, and its con- stituency in the outer commercial world, heve been very much excited during the past weel in regard to the condition of the whest now in store in this city. It was said to be in bad order by some, while others alleged that it is all right ; bnt the great wmejority were uncertain, and the market was nervous and weak in consequence. The Stnte In- spectors and the warehousemen all claimed that there were no grounds for alarms but the anxiety “to know ” was so great that a committee of the Board was appointed in the latter part of the week to investigate. They reported Saturday; and the pith of their statement is given in our commercial columns, Taking this statement, with those made by prominent parties in the trade, it appears that a small percentage of the No. 2 wheat in Chiengo is slighly heated, or soft, but that none of it is damaged to an extent which would justify the posting of it as ‘“‘out of condition.” There is also good reason to be- lieve that the wheat is in no worse order than the average of past years at this season. Probably the month of July hss never yet Iapsed into history, during the life of our grain trade, without some wheat being ob- jected to as **soft,” and refused by the ship- per. The wheat thus declined has generally needed nothing more than an exposure to the air on the next cool dry day to put it in merchantable condition, and tiere is no No. 2 whent now in store here which needs more attention than that to fit it for shipment. The outery here is but on echo of that raised in New York, under completely dif- ferent circumstances ; and it is due to the trade that the difference between the two sets of circumstances should be widely known. The whent-crop of last year was harvested in bad weather, as & rule, and a larger proportion of the whole than usual wars damp when gathered ; while the unpre- cedented competition among the railrosd companics has reduced freights to a very low point this year. The inspection stand- ard at Chicago hss been rigidly maintained in regard to the “dryness” necessary to make the wheat grade higher than No. 3. Owing to these things a smaller percentege of our receipts than the average has been admitted into the upper grades; and vast quantities of wheat which it was feared were not dry enough “to pess” here were shipped through to the seaboard by reil, avoiding the Chicago inspection alto- gether. The very high temperature of the first helf of July would have proved to bea severo trial for strictly dry grain in transit in railrond cars, and it was too much for the damp wheet which was not dry enough to be graded as Chicngo No. 2 Spring. Hence, New Yorkis loaded down with hot wheat, while Chicago is free from the article,—the condition of our wheat being such that it can be easily kept in good order by.ware- housemen who understand their business. The facts in the case show thet the buying of grain in the country for the purpose of avoiding the charges for inspection and bandling in Chicago is not always a gein to the Eastern purchaser. This year the opera- tion has been a saving at the spigot and a losing at the bunghole, whatever it may be in the future, if again attempted on so large & scale. St e THE CENTENKIAL IN MIDSULCMER, Itis s relief to lewn through that very exact channel of news, the Associated Press, that the weather in Philadelphia has assum- ed 2 more benignant countenance. The re- ports that have reached us during the month of July, and until within a very few days, have been so burdened® with lamentation at the cxcessive beat thet our souls have been moved to the very depths of philanthropic commiseration for the unfortunates who have been condemned to daily tortures in the Main Buiiding and Machinery Hall. It might be proper in this connection for our ministerial friends to inquire what distine- tive sius have been committed by Phila- delphin that such a fiery dispensation of Providence should have beer visited upon that municipality. No doubt the police csl- endar would farnish as admirable an array of crimes as would the records of New York or Chicago. 4 To our mind, however, if theso pranks of the thermometer are due to any human or superhuman agency, they would be chargenble rather to the little peccadilioes of the inhabitents, as shown in their extra ates for lodging and eating, rather than to any vast iniquities. Of course, it is not for us, who are not professional expounders of the moral law, to say that such is the case. Indeed, from this far distance we can gaze upon these trifling wickednesses with as much composure as the Genethliacans, or as ZoroBaBeL or PrERrcYDES, exhibited in making observations on the Pleiades. At any rate, it was hot weather. A very graphic and terse correspondent of an East- ern paper, after describing the miseries which the animel creation underwent, summed up the whole matter by estimating that during the week succeeding the Fourth of July the average number of deaths from heat was nine and one-half men to one horse. What became of the other half man he, singularly enough, neglected to relate. Taking the statement as it stands, however, without any qualms of disbelief, one is im- pressed with the very much greater endur- ance shown by the horse than by the man, suggesting again the question-of Divine in. terferenco; since it is evident that there would be no justice in visiting the sins of the people upon their domestic animals. | In regerd to the Exhibition, it can only be said that the heot has been a most unfortn.- nate drasback. 3en and women like to see wonderful things. They can admire the quaint character-peintings of TeNTERS, marvel at the Watteau tapestries of Goperiv, laugh at the Japanese gimcracks from Tokio, study the repousse ware from Birmingham and Moscow, revel in' the clash of the JAcQUARD loomis from Livons.—but not in hot westher. one’s back, and the moist drops to roll down one’s shirt-collar, then Art begins to weaken and the Beautiful ‘to fail in power of inspiration. Over the gate of Mars at Rheims are - inscribed the words ‘ Sts, viator!” But what traveler, however senti- mental, would be persuaded to stand in the middle of the road when the thermometer marked 105 in the shade? Thus it has hap- pened that during the past month the vast nisles of the Exhibition have been compara- tively deserted. An attendancg of 18,000 persons is not sufficient to produce a visual effect of liveliness, and, considering the large space over which that number are scattered, cannot be said to rise to the dignity of a crowd. In the beginning, the prejectors of the enterprise dreamed of wonderful re- sults. Having been associated day and week for sovernl years with the Exhi- bition in erecting the buildings &ad securing Government aid, they naturally had acquired on interest in its success that was personel, and, therefore, extraordinary. From their standpoint no one in the Unit.ed States could afford to miss the opportunity of sceing the show, and they felt contident that nearly everybody outside the abject classes would make it visit. In estimating the probable attendance, their figures ran crazy. Members of the Board of Finauce openly stated that the avernge attendance would probably be about 100,000 daily. How far from-the result were those conjectures ! Except on the opening day of the Exhibition, there has never been an attendance greater than 50,000, and the average is scarcely more than 20,000, Allthis, however, does not prove, nor is it intended as a proof, that the Exhibition is undeserving. On the contrary, it is pro- nounced by experts to be the grandest World's Fair that has ever been held. Within its ‘boundaries all things may be learned of art and industry. One may not prove by it that at Zarifa the frogs do not croak; that at Reg- gio, in Calabria, the crickets do not sing ; that the boars are mute in Macedonia ; that thers are many rabbiis at Majorca; or that the horses die at Ithaea; but one may see by using his eyes properly how the tiny minute repeater is made in Switzerland ; how chocolate is mixed at Toulon; where the fleet of Russia is sirong and that of Ger- many weak; why the silk-worm dies in twelve days at Rio Jeneiro; and a vast amount of information that is invaluable, be- cause it can be obtained in no other way, nor at any other place. It is therefore pleas- ant to learn that since the weather hss be- come cooler thera is aninercass in the at- tendance. THE LIER FCE THE TAX G¥ 1878 AND 1874, ‘The recovery and collection of the £1,300,- 000 of city taxes on real estate for tke years 1873 and 1874, for which the city friled to obtain judgment, and which the owners of the property claim the city can never col- lect, are matter of deep financial concern to aoll tax-payers. The loss of that much rev- enue creates a deficiency, which deficiency must be made up by special and additional taxation. It will be remembered that the Supreme Court declared that the city tax law—Bill 300—urder which the city at- tempted to assess, levy, and collect the taxes of those years, was unconstitutional end void, and hence there had been no legal levy of tex, and therefore no tax could be col- lected. The Court further decided that there was no revenus law in force in the State of Illinois, and had pot been since July 1, 1872, but the General Revenuo lawy of that date. This General Revenue law, in Sec. 58, states that all real property in the State shall be listed and assessed for the year 1572, and yearly thereafter, with reference to the amount owned, on the first of May in ench year; and Sec. 59 provides: * The owner of property on the first day of May in any yeer shall be lizble for the taxes of that year.” In Sec. 253 it is provided that **Taxes assessed upon real property shall be a lien thereon from and including the first day of Jay in the year in which they are levied, until the same are paid.” The szme act pro- vides that the assessment or valuation of the property, the county aad the State equaliza- tion of the value of the property, and the levying of the rate of tex, shall all take place subsequent to the 1st of May. Here, then, we heve the law of the State subjecting the real property to a liability for the year's tax, and mekieg s2id tax a lien from the 1st of May, which tax is to be subsequently ascer- tained and apportioned upon a valu- ation made long after the lien and liability therefor have attached to the property. ~ All this establishes the fact that all real property becomes subject on the 1st of May in each year to all State, county, city, town, or other taxes for that year which may thereafter be imposed thereon, The law makes these arnunl taxes a lien on the real property, not from the date of the assessment, or the equalization of valustion, or the fixing of the rate, or the distribution of the tax, but the lien ante-dates all these and attaches on the 1st of Mey. It can make no difference when. the rate of tax be specifieally levied,—wkiether it be one, two, six months, or longer : the property becomes linble for the tax that may be imposed for the year, and the lien attaches therefor on the 1st of JMay. This licn cannot be dis- charged, orreleased, orset aside, except in the manner provided by law, acd the law de- clares that the tax shell remain o lien on the property from the 1st of May, *vvrm TER SAME IS PAID.” ‘The County Court and the Supreme Court have not, by word or suggestion, declared that this property was not lawfully subject to the amount of tax charged upon it, or that the tax was not for legitimnte purposes, within the power of the City Government, Neither Court in any way impeached the taxation upon its merits. The Court simply declared that the machinery which the city employed to collect the city toxes which ac- crued on the 1st of May, 1873, and on the 1st of May, 1874, was not thet provided by law ; and the Court left the property just as it stood on the 1st of May in'each of these yeers, covered with a lien for the city taxes, which lien the Court did not set aside or release, but left to continue, in the words of the law, ‘‘until the same s paid.” Now let us see where this leaves the property which owes this 1,300,000 taxes for 1873 and 1874: The Constitution pro- vides that the public revenue shall be raigsed by taxation; “‘so that every person and corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his, her, or its property.” This excludes the legal possibility of euy property escaping taxation. The Revenue law of the State seeks to carry out this principle, and is s0 framed as to prevent any Property escap- ing payment of & tax in proportion to its legally ascertained value. - The Revenue Izw, for this purpose, among other provisions, fixes the 1st of May in each year, on which day all the taxable Pproperty in the State, real and personal, becomes lia- ble for all the taxes,—State, county, city, town, or other, which the legal 2uthoritieg may levy for the support of their Tespectivy Governments for that year. The tax dogg not attach by virtue of the subsequent —the valuation and declaring the rate ofavtg’;' merely fixes the precise amount of the lien . but the tax, or the linbility for the tux, gpq the lien therefor, attach by operation of law on the st of May. The genernl Iny Of thy State declares that on the 1st day of Mayin each year all the taxable property in Minoig shall become liable to all taxes imposed fop the support of the Government for thatyesr, ' The lien for the tax begins then; all sypg,, quent proceedings are to ascertain ang the amount of this lien; but the land op that day becomes linble, and continnes t0 by 50 until the tax is paid. On the 1st of May, 1873, and ag2in on the 1st of May, 1874, this real Droperty in thy City of Chicago beczme responsible for whag, ever taxes for the sapport of the City Goy. ernment that might subsequently be legally imposed. The city failed to have the rate of tax needed to produce its required revenns for these years applied to the valution of this property as lawfally required, and hence hes failed to collect the tax or to obtain judgment therefor; but the lien for the taxes continues undisturbed. The lay doeg not admit the legal possibility of any prop. erty pot peying its share of taxes; such g thing isnot contemplated; and hence the lien for.taxes can never be removed, and must - follow the property * until the same is paid* ‘When the owners of this real estate, thers. fore, congratulate themselves npon their es. cape from 51,300,000 of texes, they are tak. ing to themselves a satisfaction which Incky substance. This tax is due by the Property, and under the law cannot be relieved of thg- lien except by payment of the tax. In due time the city will take the proper steps to enforce that lien, and when the question shall be brought before the Courts upon the merits of the tax, and upon the naked issue whether this property shal) escape taxation for lawful purposes, the Court will tell these gentlemen that there jg no principle or letter of the law by which eny property shall escape the payment of such tax 25 may be foumd to be its fair pro. portion of the expense of government Upon a plea to avoid texation the universal* langunge of the Courts is to the effect that— The citizen and property-owner owes to tha Government the duty to pay taxes, that the Goy. ernment may b enabled to perform its fanctions, and he is supposed to raceive his proper and foll compensation in the protection which the Gover- ment affords to his life, liberty, and property, ang in the increase to the valuc of possessions, by th use to whick the money contribnted is applied. There is no objection to these taxes on the merits, and when the question is redaced-to the simple one of payment or non-payment tizere can be no doubt as to the judgment of the Court. TAE BOSTON PUBLI0 SCAIR, The Boston School Board have just pub- lished their report,and from it the following statistical information is compiled: By the State census of 1575 the population of Boston is 341,919. The whole number of different s enrolled in the school registers for the year was 55,300. Theaverage daily membership of the city high-schools for the year was 2150; of the grammar s=hools, 23,070; of the primary schools, 15,665; of tiie evening schools, 2,734; of the evening drawing schools, 6325 and of other special schools, 231; making the averags daily membersbip of all the schools 43,463. The number of teackers fnall the city high schools was 95, in the grammar schools 607, in the primary schools 415, in the evening schools 150, and in the drawing and special schools x, making a total of 1,205 teachers. The number of pupils to exch teacher in the high-schools was 27, in the grammar schools 47, and in the primary schools 4. Of the Boston public school teachers 203 are men and 1,033 are women, and of these 51 are classed as special teachers. The valuation of the real and personal prop- erty of Doston is $793,767,090, showing a wealth of $2,321 to each person of the population. The total amount of city appropriations for all pur- poses voted by the Council for 1575-'6 is $12,- 300,000, and the amount assessed for State, county, and city taxes for the financial year 1875-'6 is §10,523,000. The expenditures for public-school ‘purposes were as follows: For salaries ~f school officers, $33,490; for salaries of teachers in the city high- schools, $189,251; for salaries of all other pub- licchool teachers, $1,003,267; malsing a totalfot salaries of 31.217,203. The incidental expenses of the schools were 507,334 In addition ta this, §856,660 were expended for school-honses and lots, making a grand total for the Public School Department of $2,031,043. The cost per | pupil of the public schools for the year, based. on salaries alone, was $26.30, and the annual cost per pupil, based on the entire expenditard for schools, was $26.55. = SR The first railroad in China is actaally i operation, and the effect of dead-head favors upon the Celestial officials has been to incline them to regard the enterprise with favor. Itis not much of a railroad, is 3 narrow-gange, and but 7mites long. But it is most important as the inauguration of the railway system that must ultimately extend throughout the Ermpire, and, if such a thing be possible, must very much revolutionize that amazing conservatism that worships the ashes of the dead, and has ar- rested all progress in China for -thousands of years. Theroad, whichconnects Shanghai with the important suburb of Kangwen, was built by English merchants, under privilege obtained for “ an improved roadway,” withont specifying the kind of road; and then it was found impracticable to do anything without purchase absolutely of the land through which the road passed; and that done, and the rails laid, it was exceedingly question- able whether the authorities would permit the runuing of trains. That difliculty seems, how- ever, to have been surmounted, and the era of railway construction can scarce be far distant in China. With it, of course, will come that of stock-watering and of eredit-mobilier thievery, and, if Chinese conservatism be proof agalnst these, then is it indeed invulnerable. —————— The aggravatingasi 7 of Minister PrERRD PONT’S speech at the July banquet in London is more clearly apparent upon reading of what he said than all the denunciation possible would make it. Remember that he had Jjust landed, that he had not yet been formally recognized ab Court, and that ex-Premier GLADSTONE holds quite as high a place in the esteem of the En- glish people, though he be an * ont,” as do any of the other great Ppolitical leaders, and then imagine how, to a company of Englishmen, this ‘‘smartness’ of PIERREPONT'S 8t GLADSTONE'S expense must have sounded ; Another. Prime Ministerof England lately wrote a hook which I tried to read with much caze. | 1t8 name I do notnow remember. I remember that “ome of tiie sentences were somewhat involved and parenthetical, and it puzzled me o little to under- etand them. The English people, being less crade and more gnhsued than the Americans, sy un- derstand what all those phrases mean. The book has something to say sbont T believe it : America. relates to the induence of the relicions pictures of the Vatican on the civilization of America, bat, if 1 am mistaken about that, no doubt the first time [ meet the late Prime Minister, Mr. Gr.apstose, he will explain to me what 1 do not now understand. o PARKE GoDWIN'S Jetter on the Independent Con- ference has been reprinted or commented upon by gvery journal of standing in the country. Tus TRIBUNE of this city Las Been so busy star.gazing that it failed to get » glimpse of it, even when - produced in the Times. it is **mighty intercst- ing reading. '~ Cricago Times. PARKE GODWIN'S letter was so manifestly un- fair and partisan that we preferred to pass [t in silence than to speak of the writer as he de- served. We had longheld him in estcem, and did not care to express the optnion of his white- Wash of TILDEY that his letter would evoke. Sax Bowwcs, of the Springfield (Masa.\ Renub-’ S SRS e e A e T ' e o