Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, July 8, 1877, Page 4

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, JULY: —SIXTEEN PAGES Thye Cribune, TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. BY MATL—IN ADVANCE—POSTAGE PREFAID. Patly Ediion, ane yex ¥12.00 Partsof & Mailed to 'y dress Tour weeks for Specimen coples seat free. To prevent delay and mistakes, be sure and give Post- Oftice adervss in full. Includivg State and County. Jtemjttances may be made efther by draft, express, Post-Ofice order, or {n Texisiered letters, ot our risk. TERMS TO CITY SUBSCRIDELS. Daly, delivered, Sunday excepted, 25 cents per week. Duily, delivered, sundzy included, 30 cents per week. Address THE TRILGNE COMPANT, Corner Madison and Dearborn-sts.. Chicago, IIL SOCIETY M N CHAPTER, NO. 1. O. o aion 1 e held t u.mmn. 'Nos. 112 and for_work Welcows LAKESIDE LODGE. A F. R O, S Oint orser. of Taics 3 - Honda¥ evenlng, June @t 7 eular, Communication at cluck . . Dexree. Vi uitors cordiaiy th: FRED W. CEOFT, Sec. iy 3 Visitinie brettren cond M Secretary. ey Degree on tvo candidates, Welcomned. A0 D LODGE OF PER- FECTION NI work om the A and. sil Dexrecs usday afternoon, commencingzat4 velock. fnthe cvening Uiere will be work on ihe Gih, 7ib, aud sl Degrecs. b n 3 51 Starp. Work ub tne M. M. dv: o o i bretbrep coHaTly favited. - v order of i GOUS CLYOCHTO, Secrotars. NIGHTS TEMP- harnr on the crenios. of hirday of the present week. 1. DUNLOY, Lecorder. tention. Sir ing. Jois 9. 1677 Bir Knights cord work 0n . uym—d of 0. 1. Si¥Eony, E € i on” Yonixy ¥ iy M L. Conve¢ .\l o Mondry event Hfl. kit r'x'";'.}’lfix 51 lock. o ‘L\,u-ilnmrdmm ork. Ve ted 1 stzen order L end By Qe ke, 1. P WAL B, WARREN LODGE. NO. 209, A. F. AND AN —ferular Communiestion on Satvrday evening nest, Juls 14, at 8 o'clock. prompt. Bueincss of {m- pordnice and Wwork. B order of the, AL P, Seretary. X0. 62, . A M.—Tegu- cuing. July 9.~ Work on By crder o CRAWFURD, . P. CORINTHTAN CHAPT 1ar Convocation Monda e M. and P. M. Degree. 3. 0. DICEERSOY, Sec. FILWINNING LODGE, XO. 311, A. F. AND A . —The sanual ic plenfe at shooters' Park, Tucaday, July 17 18v7. Traln leaves depot cormer Clinton and Carroli-ste. at9a. m. SUNDAY, JULY 8§, 1877. In New York on Saturday greenbacks were worth 941@95 ceuts on the dollar. The subscriptions to the 4 per cent loan Tmve reached the sum of three millions and a quarler. The sudden disappearance of ‘the Nez Perces from Salmon River is unquestionably sttributable. to the present activity in the XNaval Department. Five steamers sailed from New York yes- terdny, 4ll besvy laden with passengers for Europe. Afiss Faxxt Daveseorr, the Hon. Jonx A. Kassox, and Trxopone TruTox, with the remuant of his family, were among those who propose assisting in more firmly cestablishing the fraternel relations between England and America. Deacon Ricmanp Ssrrm cummenced o specch on the resumption question in-Cin- cinnati yesterday, which, by the aid of his friends, was finished before midnight, to the delight of the other Deacors, who gravely feared a desccraticn of the Sabbath. A summary of his remerks will be found in our tulegraphic columns this morning. Co‘ J. K C. Fom:m, a local but eminent poet, presents in another column a stirring gem, suggested by Gen. GRaT's reception “ in London. It is to be hoped that this poem will completely cradicate any feeling that nay at present exist between the nations, and cement the bond between them as secarely as Col. Fomnesr is bound to the poetical muse. The London Z%mes is opening its gnns on the American Commissioner to the Canada Fisheries arbitration, and is inclined to bat him over the hend because he won't agree with the English idea of the cxtent to which the United States is linble. It demands that the discussion of the question be conducted 80 s to reflect “* honor " upon Great Britain, even if it secures no wealth. —— The War Department has issued & circalar forbidding the reappointment to West Point of those cadets reported as deficient in con- duct or studies. This is a very proper order. Cudets who cannot behave, and those whom Dsture did not endow with average mental abilities, shonld by all meansgive place tothose differently constituted. The States provide idiot asylums and bridewells for them. Advices irm.n ‘Washington mdxmea that the filibusters nud adventurers, who are loaded down with Mexican claims purchased at the rate of one cent on the dollar, sim to provoke a conflict between the troups of Oep and Duaz on the Rio Grande, with the idea of crossing the border and involving the two Republics in a quarrel, in the hops that eveutually the claims would be paid in fall by Mexicoas & portion of the war indemnity which would nudon\)wdly be exacted. Evidunfly the Democrats are badly scared by the rumor from New Orleans that Sraw. 1EY MaTrnEws ghd Secretary SmEmway are accessories to the nct of the Returning Board. They assnme that the accession of Judge Sporrorp, the Bourbon Senator-elect, 10 his seat depends now entirely upon the action hatheads, and thoy counsel cool and not far in the distane that Mr. Haves is not legally the President, and hence has no power to make appoint- ments until his claim shall have been estab- lished by the Supreme Court. Among the parties alleged to be mived up in - the plot are Gen. BUTLER, SoN CarzroN, and JAMES G. Buarne. Miss VANLew declined to enter into ‘the scheme, which consequently fell through. There has always been a mystery hanging Gver the issue of certain unauthorized bonds of the Union Pacific Railroad, almost as much as there has boen over the sudden aund unsatisfactory termination of the inves- tigation thereinto. Two hundred and fifty- four of the first-mortgage bonds of the road and 110 United States carrency sixes were surreptitiously issped by the Trustces under the AMEs contract, and, though the Company received no equivalent, the interest has been paid regularly. Secretary Scmuzz has bent his eyo upon the matter, and now proposes a thorough investigation. - Tn an effort to blind the anti-war party, the Chancellor of the Exchequer offered a rumarkably empty explanation of the reason for locating the British fleet in Besika Bay. Ho spoke of it as central, and blandly de- scribed the facilities afforded for communica- tion between the Admiral and Lavasp at Constantinople and the Government at Lon- don. Thefact is, that, though Brsika Bay is central, there are less telegraphic accommo- dationsthers than at the point just aban- doned. The placing of the fleet where it is is looked mpon by the Conservatives asn 1hreat against Russia, and a prophesy of war Grent erpa ions have been basod upon the reports of the Delaware peach crop, and the various railway companies have. made prodigions preparations for transportation to all parts of the North and West. Seeing this, | the pig-headed farmers of the Peninsula have congregnted around the various whipping- posts, and, concluding that there must be a Sencgambian in the fence, propose such rminous freight rates, that it is feared the companies will draw off aund leave the growers to their own devices. The various Granger lodges have control of the matter, and so far have defeated every effort at adjustment, thereby promising o greater calamity to the raisers than would have resulted in an almost total failure of the crop. ONE GREAT CAUSE OF HARD TIMES, One of the factors in any account of the country’s prosperity or distress, its wealth or its poverty, is the great railroad interest,— its debts, its earnings, and its means of doing business. The railroads of the United States now measare 73,508 miles of track. In the thres years ending with 1876, there were laid 6,656 miles of track, despite the general crushing outof credit. Of these, 2,500 miles were constructed in 1S76; the others were, however, not so much new roads as links and connections to make previously-con- structed systems complete and available for business connections. The immensity of this great property must at present be measured by the amount of the money invested in it, including under the general term debt the stocks, and bonds, and other linbilities, which foot up $4,468,591,- 935. It is not easy for the ordinary mind to measure such a sum of money as this. We can only understand it by comparisons. It is twice the amount of tho national debt, inclnding in the latter the greenbacks. It greatly exceeds twice the sum of the inter- est-bearing debt of the United States. This railroad debt underlies tho entire business and domestic economy of the country The interestof the whole peaple, of all occu- pations and all classes, and especially of the wages class, is involved in this vast invest- ment. The fact that this aggregation of debt, representing an equmal aggregation of mvested capital, is disturbed, threatened, and slready largely annihilated, is of itself n literal explanation of the slowness, amount- ing in some cases to torpidity, which marks every effort to recover from the gen- eral prostration. In 1873 this $4,000,000,000 of railrond bonds and stocks formed the basis of a eredit which was not confined to railroads, but extended to all branches of production and commercial activity. In the first pince, it was the credit on which the railroads did business,—on which they extended their lines, repaired their roadways, supplied their stock, purchased their materials, and paid their vast army of laborers and mechauics, The gross receifits of the business done by the roads on the capital represented by these debts were $520,319.935 in the year 1875., These stocks and bonds were in like manner’ the basis of credit for the operntions of the coal and iron mines, for the iron furnaces and rolling-mills, for the ear factories, for the furniture and other establishments sup- plying the railrdads. Recewving these bonds and stocks, they deposited them with Dbanks, insurance companies, trust companies, and private capitalists, and trustees and execntors of estates, and, obtaining money thereon, carried on their various manufactures and irsdes. The im- mense capital invested in all these mines and manufactures drew its profit, as well as the means by which the business was done, from the credit of the railroads, which was availa- Dble as cash. In turn, the capital invested in banks, savings banks, trust compauies, and fiduciary estates was made profitable by the active employment given to it by the de- mands of the manufscturers and miners. The owners of this capital, as well repre- sented by railrond stocks and bonds as by manufacturing stocks and bonds and by banking stocks, as well as those of capital ie- vested in other forms, received their profits and incomes, which in turn were invested in other productive pursuits, the circle of in- vestment and income spreading wider and wider at every turn. The income and earn- ings obtained from the production putin motion by the capital invested in railroad and all. the other closely-connected industries furnished labor and wages and the means of living to the multitudes of all classes en- calm deliberntion—the inevitable retreat of | 62804 in industrial occupations. The wages the Dénocracy—rather than rash and hasty action. It is extremely doubtfulif the Bour- bons will take any such course asthat indi- of the miners, of the iron-workers, and of the car-bailders furnished the means of buy- ing shoes, clothing, and Lousehold furni- cated. The story is unquestionably put out.| ture; the demand and the money paid for asa feeler to test the temper of tho disaf- fected Republicans, and see how far they. will suppori such an attack upon the Admin- isiration. ' It is cleverly devised, and it re- mains to be secn who will be roped in. - The machine politicians die hard. They squirm and wriggle like a ratilesnzke over whose neck is throst the forked stick. The 1ost issue of the Richmond Guide and News gwes the detsils of a plot concocted by pol- ticians in that ity and elsewhere to serions- 1y embarrass the President. They are charg- ed with having tried to induce Miss Vax Trw, the Iate Postmistress of the Vir- - ginia Copital, rot to tum over the pfficer $0. her_euccessors= on..4he- ground umse enabled the manufacturers of clothing and of leather goods, earpets, and domestic necessaries to employ other men and em- vloy other capital in the production of these. The large incomes and profits from all this active industry enabled men to build stores “and dwellings, to purchase largely and lib- erally of everything produced: The demand for products was so great that increased means of transportation became a necessity. Thus the $4,000,000,000 invested in railroad securities became duplicated and- triplicated in the shape of credit giving employment and stimulating production. We repeat these fomiliar things to show how closely inter- woven were the railroad interests of the coun- try with the fiz}nncel.. and how intimately dependent thereon was the accumu- lated savings of the pecple invested in all' other forms and in all other kinds of industry. When the wreck came, —when fraud, corruption, and extravagance lind rushed this credit system to destruc- tion,—the collnpse of the railroads involved the collapse of the manufacturing and min- 1ng companies, and the wreck of these car- yied with it the banks and trust companies, the insurance companies, and all gthers that 1ad lonned their substance on the shadowy notes, bonds, and stocks that had made up the credit system. Each of these carried with it the sources of income, large and small, on which men and women lived and did business ; the collateralson which money had been loaned were valueless; the sav- ings of generations wero lost; the mesns of cargying on business were destroyed; in- comes and wages—.he means of buying brenl—perished almost without a hope of recovery. 1t is unnecessary for the pur- poses of this article to trace through all the ramifications of investments dependent on the substantial charncter of the fourthousand millions of dollars invested in railroad bonds and stocks. It is only necessary to point to the million or two of men and women suddenly deprived of labor and of wages. How complete the wreck of these invest- ments, equaling perbaps that invested in railroad securities! Let us see what has be- come of the latter. Of the obligations of the rnilways of the present dny, amounting to §4,468,591,000, there aro in round num- bers $2,000,000,000 on which interest and dividends have defanlted, and may be deemed _ practically terminatod. A Inrge portion of the mifeage represented by this defaulting capital! has practically reached bankruptey ; the mortgages have been foreclosed, the property sold, the capital stock annihilated, and nothing left to show for the original in- vestment but the first batch of bonds, which may be said to represent the full value of the property. If this were the ond, there might be congratulations that the calamity was no worse; nt the work of winding up is still going on. Day after dasy ronds that borrow monmey to pay divi- dends sud interest are getting deeper and deeper in insolvency, and for themn there is but the ono inevitable end. It is not ex- travagant to assume that of the aggregate railroad obligations, stocks, and bonds, and other forms of debt. as they stood in 1873 acd since, the total sum actunlly and to be extingnished and blotted out will not fall below 32,700,000,000, carrying with it prob- ably as much more of debt which presently or remotely was counected with the rail- ronds and wrecked by the wreck of these. The loss of direct investment in raiiroads, if these figures be not exaggerated, will equal so much of the cost of the War as is repre- sented by the public debt as it stood in 1869. If to this be added the loss of investments, direatly or indircctly due to the collapse of the railroad securities, we mny judge approx- imately of the money-loss from which the country is struggling to recover. Any person who will estimate how depend- ent the production, industry, and business of the country are upon the 73,508 miles of railway now in operation, will understand how neccessary it is that this great interest shall recovor financial credit and financial ability before there can be a general recov- ery of the somewhat dependont interests. The railroads must get through with their bankruptey ; they must scttle with their creditors, and must begin anow. This work has already begun, and the growing pros- perity of rsilroads generally is the most certain of all indications of a return of gen- eral permanent prosperity. The railroads have, as a matter of necessity, abolished the extravagant and wasteful systems of expend- itnres which prevailed before the panic. Thus, in 1873 and 1576 the .gross and net earnings compare as followr : Groes earntans. Nel earnings. §183, 810,562 186,459,752 Another sign of improvement is, that des- pite the fact that mileage roprosenting nearly one-half the railrond stocks and debts is in default, unable to pay interest or dividend, the other ronds paid & dividend of $08,- 039,668 in 1875, against a total divi- dend of £67,1204709 from all the roads in 1873. The rates of transportation being greatly reduced, the gross earnings of 1876, though less than those of 1573, Topre- sent a largely increased amount of transpor- tation, which is another sign that there is a continued improvement in the exchange of commodities. Now, when these defaulting railroads. shall all have gone through the same process of bankraptcy, and have got down to a substantial Lasis of value, the rail- rond revival will be complete, and in that revival all other of tho great industries will share. 'Che railrond interest with its thou- sands of millions of invested capital restored to n henlthful and vigorous condition, all other branches of industry will resume their activity, and in due time the prosperity and recovery will be general. Capital that es- caped the calamitons wreck of 1873, and has been jealously hoarded ever since, will again seck investment, and the wheels of labor and industry will again be put in motion, OUR WDODEN PAVEMEHR. The streets of Chicago are in s most lsm- entable condition. There is no doubt about that. ~There is scarcely one of them, evon of those most recently paved, which is in anything like perfect condition ; and then they vary through all degrees of badness to the impassable state of an old country road. When streets that have been pavéd within two or three years already give cause for complaint, it is no wonder that people begin to lose confidence in the Nicolson pavement, and contemplate a return to the older styles of Belgian and bowlder pavements, with all their noiso and discomfort. Ohe reason for this is, that no pavement is so exasperately disagreealle when in abad condition as a dilapidated Nicolson pnvement; and, that being the present condition of most of tho Nicolson pavement in this city, it is gaining a reputation for perishableness which it does not justly merit. The blame for the wretched condition of Chieago streets rests primarily npon the city :mu.oriu'ex,. The Nicolson pavement goes to pieces guickly, “simply Dbecause, after it Las been laid, no attention is paid to it until it has gone to preces. Then it is too late to repair the damage, except by repaving. Even if the Nicolson pavements were lnid with more care thau is usually bestowed upon them, single blocks would always begin to give way almost as soon astravelcommenced. One or two blocks sinking or getting out of Ievel, from that moment there is o constant succession of hard knocks, with a force in proportion to the weight of the lond going over it and the veloc- ity of the wheel striking it. In the very newest Nicolson pavement, then, there are always spots slong the street where the formation of breaks and holes is in process. Neglected, these defective places onlarge rapidly and constantly, The one block displaces that next .to it; these dis- place others ; then there is a depression of several feet in circumference, which be- comes jagged, and the blocks are broken and chipped off by'the wagons and carriages thet thunder over them. When no effort is made to arrest this destruction of tho pave- ment, it is not surprising that, even within a few months, there are patches of uneven and ragged places along the whole street. Even then no effort is made by the au- thorities - to restors the povement in these places; ~nothing s dome till they have becoma great holes, when perhaps they may be filled up with broken brick and rubbish of all sorts, which generally makes them worse than they wers before. Now, the remedy for all this is in a system of prompt and thorough repairing of the Nicolson pavement from the time it is first Iaid, and thenceforth all the time. By pro- viding a street—say Wabash avenue, West ‘Washington, or North Dearborn street—with asquad of three men and a plant of gravel, tar, pick-ax, and a emall supply of blocks, a new Nicolson pavemeut can be made to last ten years, in fair condition, which would otherwise go to ratk and rmin with- in half of that time, and for two or three years before final abandonment would be unfit for city travel. It should be tho duty of ench squad to go up and down ihis street constantly, and, wherever adefect is found, raise the blocks with the pick-nx, and adjust them at their proper level with gravel ; when necessary, new blocks can be substituted, though, as a rule, the old blocks readjusted will do ns well. Every other large city that pretends to keep its streets ina re- spectable condition—whether ~they have blocks, gravel, asphalt, or Belgian pavement —has found it necessary to do this, and Chi- cago cannot neglect it without suffering the annoyance of ragged and rough streets. There will be some expense attached to this system, but it will bo trifling as compared with the system of neglect that now prevails, by which n pavement is per- mitted to perish within half the time it ought to last, and must then be renewed at 2 cost of $40,000 or $50,000 per mile. The Council, therefore, cannot plead the poverty of the city or the desire to economize asan excuse for not taking the precautionary measures we have suggested. It is not econ- omy, but neglect and wastefalness, to allow streat-pavements to be torn to pieces and then rot away for Inck of proper care. Every penny used for prompt, judicious, and con- stant repairing will save a dollar to the tax- payers in the renewal of pavements. This is o matter to which the Council should give its immedisate attention, doing what can be done for those streets already badly worn, and providing the new system for all the new pavements which the property-owners may lay from now on. THE CITY GAS CONTRACTS. We understand that Mr. Briiuios, the President of the West Side Gas Company. has about concluded to make terms with the city rather than carry on the legal war m which his Company was so badly worsted by the decision of Judge Drusnoxn. If this is true, it is a wise decision. It will be a use- Jess gratification of obstinacy, and bring Mr. Brrurves’ Company no profit in the end, to appeal 'from Judge Drnunosp's decision. Besides the exceptionally high standing of the Court, and the recognized learning, soundness, and accuracy of the Judge, the principle of the decision commends itself to the common sense of justice, and is in keep- ing with the principles laid down by the United States Supreme Court recently in tho Railroad nod Warshouse cases. This princi- ple, simply stated, is that the public has rights which eannot bo barterad or mort- goged away indefinitely by its transient agents, whether as members of a Stale Leg- islature or a Municipal Council. Applied in the case of gas contracts, it mesans in effect thnt the city cannot be lawfully bound to a contract for lighting streets extending be- yond the term for which appropriations are mnde to carry it out,—a term which, under the laws of this State, is limited to ono year. Any othor construction of the Iaw would concedo the right to any set of irrcsponsible or corrupt Aldermen to bind the taxpayers of a city to a bad contract extending far into future generations. The negation of such a doctrine is not likely to o sot aside in this counntry. 1t is obvious, therefore, thatitis in the mutnal interest of the city and Mr. Brurives to agreo upon terms. The city needs gas and ought to.be able to purchase it at better ad- vantage from an established company than by chartering a new company ; Mr. BiuuiNos has gas to scll, and can botter ‘afford to sell to the city at a rensonable prica than .lose his heaviest consumer. Thé Gas Company controllicg the territory in the North ‘and Sounth Divisions of the city recognized the force of this argument without awaiting a decision of the Court invalidating the old contract; it will be Tolly for the West Side Compsany to counteud any longer. At the same time, it is proper that the City Council should recognize all the equities which BMr. Brmumos -can fairly claim for his Company. Judge Drusdonp, in his decision, said that the ncquiescence of the city in the old contract was so long continued, and the equity of * the Gas Compuny 8o strong, that he would be inclined to hold the city to the contractif he could do 80 with- out affecting the rights of the public. Itis proper that the Council should take some ac- count of the extension of the works, mains, and pipes under orders of the city into dis- tricts where there is little or no private con- sumption. Mr. Bruxes claims that his Company has now forty-eight miles of pipe Inid where there is not o single private con- sumer, and that the waste of supplying these pipes solely to provide for street-lamps, which burn only three feet and are located 200 or 300 feet apart, is so large that he is entitled to a price considerably in advance of that paid on the North and South Sides. This difference has always been recognized, and to what extent it exists may be dem- onstrated to the Council by Mr. Brumas, if ke chooses to show his maps and books. A settlement of price ought to bo made at once, and, of course, this should be the rate for the city to pay from the time of its noti- fication that it would no longer be bound by the terms of the old coniruct. So long as $1.50 per 1,000 feot is regarded as a-fair and reasonable price for city gas in the North and South Divisions, $2 per 1,000 is certainly enough to pay for the West Sido gas. Some of the Aldermen think that $1.75 would be a reasonable rate, but we think a majority of the Council would agree to pny $2 per 1,000 feet. Mr. Brams, we understand, thinks his Company should Teceive $2.25, but it will be unwise on his part to contend for this obstinstely. Wo do not think the Council will agree to the payment of any such price, and certainly the people will not approve of it; for the pay- ment of $2.25 to the West Side Company would warrant the Sonth Side Company in asking $1.75, as the difference in cost of manufacture and the outlay in propertion to the return has never been estimated at more than 50 cents per 1,000 feet. But we be- lieve it is generally conceded that $1.50is a fair and reasonable price to the South Side Company, so that Mr. BrruiNas ought to ac- cept his $2 gratefully, under the circum- stances, if the Council will agree to that rate. CHURCH DEBTS. ‘We dircct attention to a statoment of the chnreh mortgagesin Chicago which has been collected by the Alliance, and which we re- publis2 this morning. It affords matter for the serions consideration of all who are in- terested in the well-being and advancement of religion. There is a grand total of some- thing less than @ million and a half of dol- lars of church mortgages, and, if the state- ment is not entively accurate, it probably fulls short of the facts instend of exaggerat- ing. Of this large sum the Presbyterians owe the most ($256,898 and the Catholics the lenst (:$3.000 only), though we believe the rule of the Catholic Church is to pay as it goes, and owe nothing. The Unitarians, Hebrews, Episcopalians, Universalists, Lu- therans, Baptists, Methodists, and Con- gregationalists owe from $6G,000 to §214,000 respectively, - This enormous church debt has been contracted mainly since the fire of 1871, and its extent is owing in large part to the destruction of church property. Yetit is well koown that the mania for gorgeons churches had set in be- foro that time, and that the churches built since the fire are on a scale of magnificence surpnssing even that of the business and public buildings that have been rebuilt, and that they have been erected at a cost grossly disproportionate to the ability to pay among congregations stricken first by a great fire and then by a terrible financial panic. ‘What has been done in this way cannot be helped, and it only remains for the churches to add example to precept by honestly pay- ing their debts as rapidly as they can. But it is to be hoped that the exhibit of debt wmow made may act as a deterrent in the future from continued extravagance aund debt-contracting by re- ligious organizations. There is a moral con- sideration which alono ought to be sufficient to prevent church - congregations from going into debt for structures that cost more than they are able or willing to pay, viz.: a church debt is a repellant force in religion. It keeps men from joining church, and drives out others who ars already members of church. It needs no demonstration to establish the truth of this assertion. It is well understood among the members of those churches which are heavily in debt that the tax for pew-rents and the assessments to make up deficiencies in the interest-account are more exacting than men of ordinary in- come can afford. A modest pew in a fash- ionable charch carrying a debt costs more per annum than the rent of a good house for a family, and the choice pews as much as the rent of a first-class residence. This is making relig- ion too costly for popular use. It does not proselyte, but drives people away from religious observances and practices. Yet we know of one instance where a church is out of debt, and has consequently a large and contented congregation, but where the min- ister of that church is begging, badgering, coaxing, and threatening his congregation to abandon it, scll it for what they can get, and tun in debt for a new and unnecessarily gor- geous temple. 'We presume there are other suoh cases that have not come under our observation, and we do not hesitate to char- acterize all of them as irreligious, because they injure the cause of religion, and as 1m- moral, us far as religion contributes to mor- ality. If the church debts in Chicago amount to $1,500,000, the cost of church property probably does not fall short of $10,000,000. What is not owing on the churches has been paid largely by men who could notafford their proportion, and this enormons capital is in- vested for use on one day of the week, when the half of it would have furnished more churches just as comfortable, and atéracted more people to religions cxercises, If the church property of Chicago represented a cost of one-half or one-third what has actu- ally been exponded onm it, the congregations would be larger. and more numerous, and a great number of people would now be .church members and regular attendants who have been driven out because they could not afford to pay the pew-tents and assessments, or who retire:d because offended pride would not permit them to retain positions in church equally desirable with those they had formerly roccupied. Prof. Swia's new method is de- cidedly best, where good seats can be ob- tained in the number desired, and at reason- able and equal cost, because the structure ocenpied carns during the week a large part of the interest on its cost. Prof. Swine's congregation is always equal to the capacity of his church. WHAT IS ECCENTRICITY ¥ The London Saturday Review of June 23 contains & paper mpon eccontricity, the writer, of which defines as its elements, “a stubborn will, & limited logical faculty, n sense of failuro in life, and a very narrow imagination.” The eccentric man has not had what he thinks is his share of the re- spect and affection of his kind, so he arrives at the opinion that his fellow creatures must be all wrong, and of necessity must act oddly. The writer then goes on fo'trace the difficul- ties of cccentricity, one of whichis that, after years of intolerable fretfulness, he finds himself ‘‘as much alone as a creature so superior to humanity should be,” and again that *“no two common-place citizens are s0 absolutely like each other as almost any two eccentric people.” The writer's dislike of eccentric people seems to be limited to two classes: on the one hand, the male recluse who likes dogs and the female recluse who likes cats, and on the other, the eccentric person who sets fashion at defiance, upon which he says : It may be taken for certain that an established Iaw makes cccentric peojile express their condition in their dress. Clothes, which, as we know, are the outward symbol of the inner man, have alward been a fsvorite vehicle of eccentricity. The learn- «d Mr. Tutes, or some other student of his calivre, has published a very stout volume full of anccdotes of **oddities.” Nothing can be much more mo- notonous than a book of this sort. Just as cer- tainly a3 the ordinary man, abont whom no one writes, puts on the usnal garb of his period, 8o surely the cceentric person departs from that fash- fon In accordance with fixed laws. Perhaps he adheres steadily to the dress which was the mode when he first set onton the vain and fruitless seacch ufter hisown way. Fashions flect and go by, but he s unchanged. If he does noi adopt this plan, he hits on some violent combina- tion of colors, or goes about in one brilliant hne, tike **Peagreen HayNE,” or shows his superiority to popular prejudice by mere untidiness and con: sistent disdain of soup snd orushes. Among sc- centric persons, Mr. ‘‘Redpost” Frses. of Devonshire, really dererved some notice for his creditable ioventiveness. Instend of dressing himself in a fantastic way, be painted all the gates on his estate with & warm vermilion, thereby showinz a good deal of originality for an oddity. Itis very evident that the Saturday Re- viewer writes from prejudice rather than from & calm, philosophical standpoint. He has evidently been annoyed with the nocturcal coneerts of a neighboring spinster's cats, or lins had his person putin jeopardy by the next door bluff old bachelor’s bulldog. It seems to us that he has sought rather to un- derrate and abuse the eccentric than to seek for causes. Never once does he consider, in the course of his very long paper, that originality mey often lie at the bottom of eccentricity, nnd that the recluse in his cave orthe anchorite in society who passes through the crowded streets of the great city, one of the multitude and yet apart from them, may have derived his eccentricity from a con- templation of Nature, and the discovery that ehe is mever twice alike. No two sunrises or sunsets are alike, no two trees in the whole world of trees. are alike. Her functions of storm and wind, rain, snow, and hail are always ex- ercised diversely. No two animals are ex- actly slike. Every man's and woman's fea- tures differ. Diversity, therefore, being Na- ture's principal chearacteristic, why should he, tho most important of Nature's products, differing from all other men in his physical build -and features, act and dress like other men? Why not follow the great law of Na- ture, and strike out in a path for himself ? Any one can do as others do, without thought, imagination, or even the exercise of ordinary sense. It may be claimed asabsurd that & man should take pains to dress differ- ently from others; but is it any more absurd then that we should all dress alike? Refer- ring the discussion to gemeral principles, why should JoxEs come oat in o white neck- tie and swallow-tail becsuse Browx does? Why should he not dress differently if he 50 pleases? And why should he be termed eccentric on that account? Seeing that in every other department of Na- ture diversity is the rule, is not the man who apes some other man the eccentric one after all? Is he not the one who is showing “a stubborn wili, a limited logical faculty, a sense of failure in life, and a very narrow imagination”? To blindly follow a fashion, to do exactly as others do, really docs not re- quire any exercise of will, logie, or imagina- tion. Certainly, if there be any symbol of failure in life, it is that melancholy being at adress party who has done exactly as cut and dried form prescribes. Again, the Satur- day Reviewer seems to have overlooked the element of happiness that the eccentric en- joys. The aged spinster, bereft by a variety of sufficient causes of the love and comfort of man, must have an outlet for her affec- tion, howerver dried and withered it may be. In investing Thomas or Tabitha with the wealth of her love she makes the animal happy, avd tiae feline happiness in turn makes her happy. It is not eccentricity. It is comfort and happiness for the poor soml sitting in human solitude, notwithstanding the vulgar projudice that exists against the object of her devotion. A man may dress in an emerald coat, sky-blue vest, and yellow breeches and not be eccentric if he is happy. There ars various sources of happiness in this world. Some find happiness in old books, old coins, collections of bugs, bottled snakes and centipedes, or in going to the thentre to see the drama of the present, and yet are mot eccentric. The King of Dahomey, when he has achieved a great victory or is particularly satisfied with himself, chops of the heads of a thonsand of his faithful subjects and piles them upin a ghastly pyramid, not because he is eccentrie, but beciuse he is happy, and must show it. The great aim of life is to be happy, but no two find their happiness in the same direction. One woman is happy in petting her husband; another in petting hercat. One finds it in Waeyer's *Tril- ogy™; sanother in a ballad. One goes to the circus ; the other to church. One hunts for it in & balloon ; tho other on terra firma. One lies in bed until nooun ; the otheris up with the lark. One shuls herself up, re- ceives no letters, and never goes out; an- other gads all over town, and is never so happy as when she is in her neighbor’s house. These people have no idea of boing eccentric. They are only searching after happiness, sad they usually succeed in finding it, notwithstanding the Inment 6f ScaUBERT's song that ¢ Happiness is where thou nrt not.” What this reviewer deems as eccentricity is only the effort to be original and happy,—the effort to enjoy one'’s self in one’s own way. - His snarl at eccen- tricity is only an echo of the snarl of ““gociety,” which protests in this manner at any one who does not-sacrifice his * wiil, logic, and imagination,” and move in the common groove of fashion and form. Even the anchorite who contemplates a skull year after year in his subterranean sbode, and the saint who .stood for years npon a pillar, did so because they were happy in doing so, not because they wished to be eccentric, and, from their standpoint, they probably con- sidered every one else eccentric. Prince GorrscuAxorF has been looking over the sitnation, and from his summary the chief difficulty of the Czar has been to avoid Servia’s officious assistance, lest her in- terference precipitate n general misunder- standing and bring the other European na- tions down upon Russia.. Such an interven- tion he thinks would be unfortunate at pres- ent, and says at the conclusion of peace the interests of every nation will be protected,— or, in other words, there will be a square di- vide. As to the appearance of the field, he entertains decisive views, and intimates that a fair fight in Bulgaria will complete the Russian task almost immediately, while if the Turks fall back to the Balkans, the war will drag slowly, owing to the excellent nat- ural positions the Turks will secars, and the tronble of fecding the Russian army. The peculiar phases of-cceentrivity, or fnclpi- ent insanity, in patients of a recticent natare, afford & more puzzling study to psychological observers than do the wild outbreaks of a dis- tarbed mental orzanism. -In Brooklyn, a man appears daily before the City-Hall clock at precisely noon, and in Baltimore, at 1 o’clock, Fravcis FARTHING takes his station at a pump, and counts those who drink until the number reaches scventcen, and then departs for his home. Both men are remarkable for the rega- larity of all their habits. They rise, breakfast, dine, sup, and retire with the same method that characterizes their eccentricapplication of them- selves to a fixed Quty at a certain hour of the day. Therc is but one action on the part of either indicative of defcclive reasoning facultics, and this so harmless rhat it attracts attention onlyby the pertiaacity with which 1t is carried out. Itwouldbean advance in the science of peculiar cerebral discases if these men were examined aud the nature of their ailing given to the world. ———— “I told him,” said Mr. JUDSON JARVIS to a Sun reporter in an interview, speaking of the arrest of Ringster CosyoLLy, “I told him I thought he could escape from anywhere; I told him I belicved he could climb up a forty-foot ladder with a bushel of cels in his arms and come down amafn without dropping one of then.” In all probability, Mr. Jupsoy JArvis Hed to the Sun reporter, for though he was the order-of-arrest clerk in the Sberiff’s office, and made the arrest, he did 1t in the most cowardly method he conld devise. JARVIS was & member of the Ring, and was prospective son-inlaw of MATT BRENNAY, the then Sheriff. Wheo he re: ceived the order of arrest he sccured the assisg. ance of four men, read the document to Cox: NOLLT, gave him a copy, with the afidavity oo shich {t was issued, aud then skipoed, leay; ing his man in charge ot the deputies. Jarvis had been in bad odor for some time, and Brzy, NAN had threatened his dismissal, and when CONNOLLY wascaught JARVIS hesitated whether torun the risk of exposure at the Rlnmer'n hands or sbandon his duty aud leave the u,vm, ———— It s a popular error that {na moment it phys, jcal danger the minister of the Gosgal is 5 natural coward. By the very natare of: minjs¢ terial work a man of God is Iulled into 3 pas- slonless feeling that, When distupted,; leaves him entirely at sea and brings the dominany fear to the surface. But that there are excep- tions to this, and exceptious which eitablisk the rule of bravery, s testified in the aétivn of ‘Widow Vax Corr at Sea ChI receotly, who, when. the minister fled fn fright, remsined at her post and quieted the andience. It ias not the minister’s fault that he ran. 4 plaiély-per. ceptible physical fire, not to be met with theo- logical demonstration of its want of necessity, 1oomed up, and he left, while the weak womagp stood her ground and saved a panie. It was oot cowardice on the part of the parson, for he re- tired from contact with an element not provided. for otherwise than Iri aspiritual sense. Buatther) was a heap of braveryon the part of thejwoman, ————— Take courage O ye underworked ‘and nven- pafd reporters. The following-named gentle- man, a representative of the New York Croxista, has just died on a salary of $25 a week: Joss Fernzr o Corro, Knight of the Grand Cross of Isabel la - Catolica, Kniwht of the Military Order of San Fernando, Rnight of the Hahitodz Santiago of Portuzal, Knight of the Oriler of Caxros IlI., Knight of the Order of Military Merit, Officer of the Imperial Mexican Order of Guadaloupe, decorated with the medal of the Cuban Volanteers, member of the Economicai Society of Madrid, member of the Geographicat Society of Mexico, honorary member:oi thi Casino Espanol of Havana. ————— - A recent writer upon Acoustics says: ““Sound, - from a physical point of vicw, may be defined as vibration appreciable to the ear. Its lighest limit is variable. owing to physiological differ ences betiveen different cars; but 73,000 single or 83,300 doublte vibrations per second probadly represent the highest note ever heard.” Such are the physfological diffcrences between the ears of the cditor of tne Milwaukee Sentinel and all other ears that he is casily capable of hear- inz anote represented by 266,500 single'cr 153~ 400 double vibrations per second, and ft' {s in this key that‘GaiL Hamirrox would pri;lpablv address her husband when he staid out iate, it she had one. i ——— The St. Louis Directory was gotten ‘aut be- fore the peoplebad moved for the year, so thatas a guide-book it was valueiess; it didn’t show » popwiation as big as thatof Chicago by 146,000, 50 that as a compendium- of consoling tipher- inzs it is worec than useless. A conveniion of prominent citizens will shortly be called to sea what in thunder the book s good for adshow. Meanwhile, if the publisher’s hiding-place shouldbe discovered, we may exppct a massacre beside which the hcmpcr County affair witl ap- pear but as a lovers’ spat. 5 A Harvard man is out with a remarkatile ex- ‘New planation of the reasons for snubbing the York reporters at the recent races: ; Sfany of the papcrs send men to repert thes * races who are totaily ignorant of rowing, while others bave men whoare coliege graduates,’ who would receive the greatest coartesy -from the ‘Har- vard crew, and so would any reporter who would ask sensible questions, and not bother the' Captain when be 13 busy with his men or the:boats. 1f this does not operate toran apology, it may do the spubbed some good g5 a lesson in gram- matical construction. ; : —————— A contemptible act was that of the 5!- Lodl Republican accusing the Globe-Democrat oi using BLAINE'S speech as a ‘¢ special Le_legmm," when BLAINE had magnanimously sent pmofs to all the papers. If we thus show up Mr. BLAINE'S anxiety to get into print, what chance ;will he have with the honest people who control the country! We Republicans should hjde the foibles of partyleaders and assist them ln hood- winking the people. 2 Under the New York law, it is neccssary to keep an inn and bave three bedsin the houcs pefore a drop of liquor can be solil over the bar. A recent spurt on the part of the authoritics is making trouble for the New York Tribune, whose managers are now called upon by the pro- prietorsof the gin-mill underncath to make its guaranty good or pay aamages. The Tribunels not s0 much a Temperance paper as it Was. —— $ Manifestly it is time to annex. All Canadals torn up because the Captain of a steamboat hauled down the Papal flag and raised tha Union Jack. He was badly lcked and. pearly lost his life; and, though be has been presented .by a few admirers with a gold watch, vet itis not scttled whether a stcamer’s fors shnn.ld respect England.or Rome. ————— ‘Whether or not sudden conversions nni ko result of a mania, has puzzled the revivlists as well as the world’s people. Perhapsscime soln- tion of the question may be gleaned from the action of FRANK DODGE, a telezraph operutor at Newburyport, who, upon conviction, cast -him- self under a raflroad train to avoid backalidiog. ————— v A love affair which has been going on for nincteen years at St. Louis has at last beea brought to a happy termmation by tie’ tardy swain falling at s portion of the feet of the Dulcinea and confessing his flame. The Yeaunti- ful girl reddened with delight part of the way up her ears, and accepted him. e = Mr. PACKARD, in his Omaha (nterflew. says that it looks as if all the courage of the Repub- lican party had centred in those ‘‘two noble men,” GRACE GREENWGOD and GAr Histz- ToN. Is Tur TRIDUNE'S surmise that (:LILLS Jit, then, correct? —————— The New York Herald force fs struzeling to prove “thatan American is a8 pood asuit En- glishman anywhere on the soil of this Conti- nent.” The next step—perhaps alittle mors diflicult of demonstration—is to prove that the Herald force is American. ————— The CAMERONS are going to meet the Dcmrxk racy at White Sulphar Springs, and it {s not im- probable that Simox will receive the appoint- ment of Sergeant-at-Arms to the next Koue, in payment for Pennsylvania. —— The time has been that when the brains were out the man would dic, but now he stems to liveand write articles for the New York Herald declaring that the Republican and Democratle parties are both dead. ——— ‘When the unclean spirit hath gone out of » party it roameth through waste places, and taketh unto it severa: other unclean spirity like unto itself, and setteth up an independent po- litical organization e ———— SHAESPEARE knew all about the fight e may see at the extra session, for did he not say ;O “Julius Csar 7z I hear a bustling ramor, like 2 fray, © ! - And the wind brings 1t from the Capitol Ao b Eight out_of ffteen **political notes ™ in the New York 7ribune relate exclusively to Ohto pui itics and Ohio politicuans.—Cincinnati Luyuirer. What's the odds? TiDEN got the other seven,—his fair proportion under the decision. e i ‘When a prominent citizen ‘of St. Louls comes in looking sorrowzul and dejected, his family know that he has not kicked an iron Ju" but that he his been comparing directories. e ——— “Glory to Gop in the lowest,” euthfl!h_!tk‘m! K exclaimed a 8t. Louis editor when be looked at the Chicago Directory and saw that the Gmien City was only 140,000 ahead. . —— Ard so HORATIO SEYMOUR mtej raost of Attorney-General Faircmiid's stafemend 4 sipyiy TR et e TR TR, T T