Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, July 31, 1877, Page 4

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: TUSDAY, JULY Bt, 1877, Dye Tribune, TERMS OF SURSCRIPTION. DY MAtt~-18 ADVANCR—POSTAGE PREPAID: nt pam tii] hb 508 2.00 Run Oo One copy, 31:28 owt tate Soo Glut it teenty. . 20.00 menen event delay and Mutaken, be sure and elve Port- address 1H fll, Inclndlog state and County. mittances may iw mae either by draft, express, Pont-Oftice order, or tn reptstered letters, at our rek. RMS TO CITY SuNscit in week. er week. Corner Madison and Dearborn: Orders for the dellvery of THR, Fnvlewend, and Hyde Cark tert in ‘will recelye prompt attention. AMUSEMENTS. = Hooley’s Thentre. Randolph atrect, between Clark and LaSalle. En- gagement of the Unton-Square Company, ** Les Dan- Icheff.” Mesare, Thorne, O'Netl, Btoddart, etc, : Mes- dames Fanny Morant, Sara Jewett, Katharina Hog- ers, etc. Adetpht Theatre. Monroe street, carner of Dearborn. Taverly's Minstrels, Add Ryman, Willy Mice, Billy Carter, ete, Exposition Balding. Laka Shore, foot of Adams street, Sammer-Night Festival by the Thomes Orchestra. SOCIETY MERTINGS. ASKLAR LODGE. No, 508, A. F, and A, M.—Regne Jer Meeting thisevening {0 ‘thelr ‘ball. 74 Monrne-st.. for business ani work on the M. Ms Degree. The tra sernity cordially tnvited, C.n. CRANE, Bec. APOLLO, LODOR, No. 42, A. F. nol thelt Stxth Anonal Plenle, Thar ANG hy aarp: sophia LAT aIatiowe between that y arp. stopping aL al f Anil Engiewoods “Alt Navone and their friewde are core diatiy tavited, TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1877. OWICAGO MARKET SUMMARY, ‘The Chicago produce markets were modorately active yesterday, and rather steady, Mess pork cloned 2150 per bri higher, st $13.20 for Augnet and $13.40 for September. Laul cosed easier, at $8824 for Auguat and $0,024 for Septem- ber. Meats were a ehade firmer, at Se per fh for Joore rhoulders and 6%c for do short ribs, Lake freighta were quiet and firm, at 4c asked for corn to Buffalo. Highwinen were steady, at $1.08 per gallon, Flour wan qulet and steady. Wheat closed firmer, at $1.20 coh and $1,12% for + August. Corn closed steady, at 48c cash anil A74c for Auguat. Oste closed 1e¢ higher, atc cash and 27%¢ for August. Hye was firmer, at BGtzc. Barley rold at 7l¢ for new No, 2 xeficr Reptember. Hoga were duiland weak, Heht welghta sclting fe lower. Salen wera at $5,005.25. Cat- tte were dull, and 25@50c lower than Friday, with eaten at $2.50@0,50. Sheep declined 1525. One hundred dollars in gold would buy $105.60 in greenbacks at the close, change yesterday closed at 4}. Ovor one hundred thousand bnehels of corn arrived in Chicago yesterday by way of tho Winois & Michigan Canal, Joliet Iron and Stecl Mills will be sold by order of the Cirenit Court for the purpose of immedintely satisfying the claims of unpaid employes, 80 far an the amount to he renlized may accomplish that formidable undor- taking. Lord Dourrentx, Vicegerent ond com- fortable cnstodian of the few vestiges of divine right surviving on this part of the earth, yesterday left Ottawa with somo cir. eumstance, Ho goes to Manitoba, and is compelled by the asperities of the direct route to travel thereto circuitously, by way of Chicago and St, Paul. It isto be hoped that Mayor Hearn and the Brooklyn Eugle enn extract some com. fort from the mortuary stntistics for tho week ending Saturday, July 28,—Riot Week, There was a decrensa of cight from the deaths of the preceding week, showing that rioting in Chicago is a healthy recreation and conducive to loug life. It would bo 9 delicato compliment to Gen, Pui Snenrman if tho mob should reorganize for afow momenta and march post his head. quarters, Had Seeman boen in Chicago lost ‘fucaday there had been no riot, and ft is no mory than common decency for the crowd that ho would have cleaned out like rats in 5 pit to pay some little attontion to tho gallant officer who has come so far to find bis serv. ices aro out of demand, Though unier strong guard, Pittsburg has dropped back into her old insignificant posi. tion, and affords no farthor oxciting intel- Jigeuco than that arrests of ringlendera in the battle of tho mobs are being made daily, Freight and other train aro running on all tho ronds that have apy tracks left, and the prospect i4 good that Pittsburg will soon sink bsck into the respectable obscurity from which she temporarily omergod. ——<—<— ee ‘There was nothing about tho city yenter- dsy to show there had ever been a riot here, tave perhaps the formality of holding to bail afew battered-up ringleaders of ihe mob, Everything was quiet and peaceful, and even the Looming of the Rodman gun, the shrieks of tho thousands of dying, and the yell of raging soldiery as they tore through the flery rioters, were hushed, and a beautiful calm fell with an equal splendor upon the mount. ains of tha dem and the Chicago correspond. ents for outside papers, The citizens of the Eleventh Ward aro en- tirely level-headed on various questions con- nected with events just past. They very sensibly determine to enroll and equip a company to add to the First Regiment, in- atead of organizing a nondosoript local Com- mittee of Safety; and they also politely but firtoly refuse to put themselves on record as indorsing the blank-cartridge and hbigh-fring policy, These are Mayor Heata’s neighbors, and their action of last evening is none the Jess significant on that account. —— From all partsof the West the farmers send words of cheer about the growing crops, Warm, dry weather is rapidly ripening the spring wheat and oats, both grains promis- ing (the finest yield for years; und the same favorable conditions are enabling the reapers to put in full time in the rye and barley ready for harvest. A short time hence and all the railroads centering in Chicago will be profitably employed in moving to market these enormous crop¥,—provided, of coume, the ruilroady are kindly permitted by their ewployes to transact the business of the country, Aud it looks just now as though they would be pennitted. Av ordinance focreasing police force to 800'men was offered in the Common Coun. cil last evening by Ald. Kizx, preceded by a petition for such action said to bave been aigued by 1,500 people representing €15,- 000,000 of capitel It is also proposed to, Lorrvow $110,500 with which ta psy the ex- tro force until an appropriation has been made and a tax levied in due form. An at- tempt to suspend the rules and pass the or- dinance forthwith waa defented hy a tia yote,—16 to 16,—-and the ordinance was very properly referred to the Committee on Po- lice. It is well thatthe Council shonld take time to consider whether an emergency now exists which justifies: the heavy drain upon the taxpayers contemplated by the or- dinance; or whether, on-the contrary, the events of the past week havo not demon- strated the practicability of an equally efficient and far less cortly method of pro- cedure in cases of emergency. The man who for some unaccountable reason recoived a majority of the votos cast for Governor of Indiana at the elcotion Inst October atill continnen to diegrace the Ex. ecutive office of a great State by refusing assistance to the focal authorities in their efforts to put down mob rnle, Firat having telegraphed the Sheriff at Fort Wayne to know whether he needed hélp, and having received an affirmative reply, this pusillani- mous spology for a Governor refused to ordor a solitary soldier to the reacuo, and the strikers, becoming mord obstroperous than ever with this enconragemont, pro- ceeded at once to detach from a passenger train a refrigerator car fonded with frnit from Chicago for Now York, and loft tho car on a side track and ita contents to rot. ‘There appeara to have beon 9 sort of an agreament at East St. Lonis betweon the State troops and tho rioters, whereby no se- rious loss was to be visited by either upon the other, while the war was to be contin- ued in order to nccuatom the troops to active service, and at the same time tench the rail. road companies that tho strikers ara thor. oughly in earnoat, This hypothesis ia sup- ported by a varioty of dispatches from tho littlo Principality of East St. Lonis, owned and rn by his Honor Mayor Bowatan, which are to the effect that the mob have beon sev- eral times repulsed, always withont casnalty, and always to turn up agnin fresh and ready for another attack, Thore is nothing nt present to indicate how long thin pastime is to continno, bnt, as itamnsos tho spcotators, it is perhaps regarded na cruel to interfere with the fon. F The utter, complete, and contemptible absence of courage inn mob has been mag- nificently demonstrated in St. Lonis, where the Commune called for an army of volun- teera, arrogantly demanded of tho Mnyor an explanation of his action in asking citizens to obay the laws, and then broke and fled in all directions bofore the charge of a fow colored troops and tho police. The Mayor and people of St. Louis should remember tho announcoment of the Communists that “all offera of work dnring this national strike cannot be considered by na as 1 rem. ody under the present circumstances,” and refuse to permit them to work, and then jail them for vagrancy. Such people are en- titled to no consideration, and the sooner they find their way inte the BState-Prison the sooner thoy reach the condition towards which they inevitably tend. — A test onght atonee to be made in the courts of the question whether the Connty Board Ring can be prevented from consum- mating the steal which was resolved upon yesterday. By nvoto of 7 toGtho Board unlocked the Treasnry vaults to a favorite contractor, anthorizing him to construct the foundation for tho Court-House dome at his own figures, Architect Eoan is roped into the fraud by aclause making the compensa. tion subject to his valuation.” Everybody knows what attention is paid by the Ring to auch valnations; tho Hansa extras and tho Warren thick-stone job are proofs fresh in mind. Mr. Eaan should promptly decline to bo made a cat's-paw for the Ring thieves; and with equal promptness a temporary in- junction shoutd be obtained ponding the nd- judication of tho question whether a body of corrupt men can vote away the people's money in this high-handed fashion. — Timely warning was given to the strikers throughout tho West that thoy must keop thelr hands of the property of railroads in the custody of Receivers appointed by United Btates Courts, and that any interforenco whatever with snch roads constituted con- tempt of conrt, A party of cight rioters who nndortook to run things on the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad were yesterday arraigned before Judge DnumMonn, and wore givon twenty-four Roura in which to prepara their defense—if they have any," as the Judge sententionsly observed. ‘Thene men are now in a serious diMleuity. The round. abont process of trial by jury will be dia. pensed with in their caso, and if it is shown to the aatisfnotion of the Court that they wero guilty of the acts alleged they will find to their sorrow what it costa to defy tho anthority of s Federal Court.’ They deserve no sympathy, and will receive none; and thelr punishinent will servo asa warning to future atrikers to give the National Govorn- mont a wide berth, NATIONAL LEGISLATION FOR RAILROADS, ‘The recont railroad strikes have suspended, directly and indiroctly, the operation of at least 20,000 miles of railrond, representing an invested capital of probably $1,500,000,. 000; they have thrown 150,000 railroad mon out of employment, and a million of men engaged in other pursuits which were neces. sarily abandoned for the time being; they have led to riots, bloodshed, fncendiarism, terrorism, and plunder; they stopped the commerce on which a population of 30,000,- 000 depend either ay producers, manufactur- ere, merchants, or transporters; thoy have actively extended through twenty States, and in neasly all of the States the power of the General Government has been invoked either by the Governors in a State appeal for aid, or the United States Courts in the case of bankrupt roads, It ig impoasible, in view of thesu circnmstances, to re- gard the railroad strike os eithors private business calumity or local State lawleseness, Tt bos beon abundantly demonstrated that a concerted railroad strike is 8 national evil; and, the procedent having been set for this violent assault upon commerce, the national credit and the national welfare require na tionut legislation that shall tend to avert tho Teourrence of the disaster, aud provide gu. thority for the prompt and efficiont interven. tion of the General Goyornment, It will be the duty of the new Congress to give this subject immediate and earnest ak tention, ‘There can no longer be any ques? tion of the constitutional power of Congress to extend national protection to the railroads, ‘The Constitution expreaaly provides that the Congress shali have power to regulate com- merce between the States, This applies to railroads that lie partly within the bounds- ries of two or more States as well as tivers. ‘The railways have been ja- dicially devignated os publichighways. ‘The Supreme Court of the United States has held that railways are public corporations to the extont that they may bo subjected to reguls- tion by State laws. ‘The same principle cer- tainly entitles them to protection in a moro direct nnd specific manner than ts afforded in a general way to private business; and, if to State protection, thon to United States protection, because they are Inter-State insti- tntione, If the pnblio welfare exncta that tho railronda shontd bo restrained by low from making exorbitant charges and from denying their facilities to any portion of the people, then public wolfare exacts in a still higher degree that tho railroads shall not be violently assaulted nnd forced to snapend, to the shock of the entire commerce of the country, It is as much the duty of the General Government to assure the freo opera. tion of the rnilronds as to keep open the rivera and lakes, and to remove aud punish the unlawful obstruction of a rail highway ns well asthat of a water highway. What is reqnired most of all is national legintation that will dianense in time of necessity with the red tape and fatal delay that aro now re. quired to invoke United Staten protection when the transportation business of the conntry is throttled. Of course no onc desires the ennctment of any law that shall in the least impair the right of tho laboring inen to demand higher wages, or to quit work whon they are dixnsat- isfied with their pay. But while railroads aro recognized by the Conrta an qnasi-public corporations, and rince it has beon demon. strated by the recent troubles that the aus. ponsion of their operation moans an inter. ruption of interState commerce, the laws must provide for mode of settloment in caso of differences between the rail. roads and their employes which shall prevent the former from - suspending by a sudden dischnrgo of all their cmployes, aud the latter from enforcing o suspension by nandden and genoral refusal cither to work themselves or to permitothera to work, To this end national legislation should not only provide for tho direct intervention of the nations! powor to snppross o Iawleas effort to obstruct tho railroads, but nleoa national system of arbitration for the settle. ment of disputes between employers and em- ployes when the operation of tho rnilrondy isin question. This system of arbitration will requiro careful considerntion. It may safely be placed under the control of tho United States Courts, like tho bankraptcy systom or any other inter-State commorcial relations. It would be safe and proper to require by general law that tho inter-Stata railways shall make no gencral reduction of wages without 8 definite notice, that the employes ahall make no general demand for an increase without a similar notice, and thnt, 8 failure to accept on either side shall carry the dispute to the tribunal of arbitration for review and settlement. Tho ways and means for avorting the dead. lock on commorco must he determinod by Congrera. ‘There will bo demagoguos ready to oppogo sich a echomo, ostensibly moved by thoir sympathy for the workingmen; but it will have become pretty evident, oven to the most ignorant classes before tho mecting of Congress, that the Interosta of thé work- ingmen, even more than those of capital, de- mand the protection of commerce against tho andden and arbitrary arrest of transpor- tation, ‘The demagogues will make a serious mistake if they oppose national legistation to prohibit and prevent tho forciblo sns- pension of the railroad business. ‘Thoy will find themselves without a constituency, for the pant few days bave snfficed to domon- strate that the railway system constitutes the very heart of the commercial, agricultural, and industrial systems, and that it is not safe to leave to tho individnal nction of the States tho protection of inter-State commercial in- atitutions, All this is now so obvious that it is stiply a question an to the best menos foe providing the requisite national protec. lon, THE SOUTH DURING THE STRIKE. We have not been regaled daring tho Jast fow days with any graphio descriptions of tho horrors certain to be entailed by Presi. dont Hares’ policy of pneification toward the Sonthern Staten, Wo have scen no accounts of the imminout danger of another rebollion on account of thé withdrawal of tho United States troops from the Southern Btates. We have not heard of any general uprising of the whites of tho South to slaughter ond ox. terminate tho blacks while the North was en- gaged in putting down mobs at homo. It may havo occurred to komo poople that, for some days paat, the oxtreme South hos heen the most peaceable and quiet section of the country; that it hav had no emantes to deal with; that there have been no as- saulta upon thp transportation interosts ; that there have been no conflicts between the authorities and lawlcas gangs of intimidatora; that, infact, outside the States of Maryland and West Virginia, which recog. nized the authority of the General Govorn- ment by invoking its aid, the Southern States have been in o position to tender the Govornment thoir assistance. The first State which notified the Preaidont that it wonld respond generously to any call for volunteers, aud furnish well armed and equipped and drilled men for national service, was the State of Virginia, and the entire South haa evinced a fidelity to the Government and a respect for law through. out this emergency which attest more pointedly than anything that has occurred since the War the restoration of the common. sentiment of nationality, Does not tho experience of the past woek fully confirm the wisdom of the course adopted by President Hares toward the South? If this strike had oo curred during the thine the United States troops were engaged in sustaining the carpat- bag Governors of Southern States, hateful to the people aud tolerated only under aub. mission to superior force, would it have been anfe to use the United States army for the suppression of domestic violence in the Northern States? If there were the same condition of affairs in the South to-day that existed during moat of ex-President Grant's two terms, with the same ugly and but par- tlally-snppreased wectional hatred among thé native whites that was kept alive by the {inposition of the carpet-bag Governments, who can doubt that the results of the railway strike would have been tenfold more serious than they are? The General Government would have been in odilemms, If it had recalled the troops from the South, it would hava been confronted with the cer- tainty of an insurrection in several of the Southern States against the carpet-bagg. and pousibly a frightful race-contlict; if*it had left the army to guard the carpet-bag- gers of the South, it could not have re- sponded to the appeals of the Northern States for assistance, and several of the large cities would have been st the meroy of the mobs. ‘This calamity has been averted by President Hares’ policy of recog. nizing the Southern States ase part of the natiou, and his refusal to treat them as con- quered provinces; it was this policy which liberated the army from acting as sectional police, and enabled it to come to the rescue of the North in time of need. ‘There is more promise now than there has been at any tine in twonty yeara that the war of rectiona and the war of races in this conntry isover. For the first time rince 1860 the Fourth of July waa celebrated ag a national holiday thronghont the entire Sonth, The recent tronbies at the North havo bronght ont oxpressions of sympathy, prof. fera of asniatance, and ovidences of good feeling, ‘The policy of conciliation har bronght forth good fruit even sooner than was hoped for, and tho arraignment of Pres- ident. Hares by the Implacallos will hence- forth be mote np-hill work than ever. THE CONFISCATION OF REAL ESTATE. ‘The events of the last ten days hava but intensified the nuxicty of the whole popula. tion of the country in regant to tho gonert condition of business. Wo have frequently discusned this subject, and tho existing facts may be briefly stated. ‘The so-called Resumption act, passed in 1875, provides that on tha Ist day of Jann. ary, 1879, the outatanding legal-tonder groen- backs shall be redeomed on demand in com. In the meanti:ne Congresa haa domonetized silver, prohibited its coinage, and reduced togal coin" in thia country to gold, Con. sequently, the groenback® are to bo redeemed in gold. The country hna lad for yenrs an average of over $704),000),110 of papor money, the greenbacks being legal tender, and the bank-notes being payable in. greenbacks, so that practically the whole have been fegal tender. All tho businens' of the country has beon done in this paper. All debts have been contracted on paper valies, All forms of indebtedness are pnyable in paper, From the denrossion following tho financial orash of 1473 the country has never recovered. After the first year or more arevival of business wan expécted, but it haa never taken place. On the contrary, since 1874 the depression and stagnation have con. tinued. Gradually capital has beon with. drawn from investment, and has been hoard- ed; money has been abundant, but it has not sought investment;. alocks and bonds have perished, or grown weak; manufac. turea have ceased to he profitable; merchan- diso has beon s snore; confidence has taken winga; the market has continued to fall; and bankrupteica are as nomorous ns when the hand of the panfo rested directly upon the country, Tho gront and unasunl fact has oxisted that propery of overy description has been and is yet losing its valno in money. Monoy Ie rising in value as com. pared with atl othor descriptions of property, and the rise is no great that thosa who have it can hold it idte and unproductivo, and ex. poct to make n profit in the end, Men will buy nothing that they can do withont; mon who buy proporty to-day cannot got as much for it to-morrow as they paid for it. Prop. erty, thereforo, is falling on tho hands of avery owner. Thia is poculinrly the case in all forms of real estate, Ordinarily, and by long-catablished tnwe, the Innd has always been worth all that man has put upon it, OF all tho proporty of men, tho land has al- waya bad half the value. Every dollar of value puton the Iand in tho shape of im. provements, stock, buildings, or property of any kind, haa added n dollar to the value of the land itself, The basis of all property isthe real estate, and tho value of even tho precions motals has been at times measured by thoir powor to purchnso real estate, There is commercial depression in Europo as woll as in the United States, but the raluo of roal eatato has not been affected anywhere as it has been in this country, Instead of being recognized as the basis of all wealth, as the most imperishable and indestructible of all property, ond therefore having a greater permanence of value than any other prop- erty,—with being tho foundation on which all other property deponds,—wo witncas now inthe United States the oxtraordinnry cir- cumatance that, as measured by money, reat estate has fallen far more than all other de- scriptions of property. It has fallon so low, and so continues to fall, that uo man will invest a dollar in it. Mortgnges exccnted at 40 or 50 per cent of low valuations made since the panicare not even uow worth the money loaned. Men who two yeara agn bought real cstato, improved city property, and paid half the purchs#e money, cannot now eell theanme property for what 1a due on it. Heal estate has been always tho most desirable aud most sought after ecourity for loans. It hag al- ways had precedence over allother securities, It ix now in thia country of the lonst value, It has fallen below all other property. Its decline is continuous and more extensive, There is a couse for all this. Wo forbear any catimate of the amount of the ontatand- ing mortgages on the real estate of the coun- try, but it oxtends up among the thousands of millions of dollars; this property is now so nearly forfeited fur what ia due on it that there is hardly a hope that ite owners can releom it. The value of money has been so increased that unless thera be n change in the downward tendency of property the great bulk of the real ostata in tho United States will pass into the hands of the fow money-lenders, and there will be » Innded monopoly here os groat aa in other lands, Congresa will meet in October, and, to break up thiy revolution in the value of money as compared with other property, it must remove tho canse which Las produced this extraordinary condition of affairs. The law roquires that savonteen months hence the graeubacks rhall be redcemed in gold. This will demand an amount of gold which, withdrawn from other countries, will produce n acarcity that will advance gold beyond any point it haa reached for years. All our debts, public and privato, being payable in gold, will have to be paid in gold thus inordinately jncrossed in value. ‘The groonbacks will be retired. The banks, not willing to wait until compelled to buy gold to redeem thelr notes, will withdraw their currency. Long before Jan, 1, 187), the paper currency will bo withdrawn from clrcutation ; all debts will be payablo in gold, ond the gold will command a largo premium in all other descriptions of property. Con- fiacation will then be inevitablo, If real es. tate cannot command a price now, what will be ita value in gold then? General bank- ruptcy and ruin must take place, and the real estate of the country will be concentrat. ed in a fow hands at amall cost, ander the foreclosed mortgages. This must be averted, asit can only be averted, by the prompt action of Congreas; 1, Hopealing the date fixed for the redemp- tion of greenbacke in gold, thereby repeal- ing also the date after which all private debts rust be paid ingold. 2, The regtoration of silver asa tegal ten- der, and provision fomgts free coinage. 8. The continuance without limit of the law for the retirement of $80 of greenbacks for evory $100 of additions! bank notes issued. . 4. The repeal of all of the war taxes on private capital invested in bank circulation, aud tbe encouragement of bank circulation by permitting the issue of notes equal to the par value of the secerity. At prosaut the country is threatened with afamine of cnrrency, all to be reduced to gold coin, in which all debts must be paid. Money hoarded now will in January, 1879, if there be no change of law, bo worth 20 lo 24 per cont moro than in Angust, 1877,—a most profitable indnucemont for not inverting itnow, ‘This famine must be averted by providing for a permanent enrroticy, secured by the pledge of national bonds, and capable nf expansion as it may be needed. With those changos in the Inw, the expectn- tion of the gold famine and gold payments in January, 1879, will be dissipat monoy will lose that extraordinary vi in all other forms of. property. acceler RAILROAD 8TRIKERS' WAGES. Now that the mob violence which has char- acterized the ratirond strike {r over, it is. im. portant that we sit down coolly and consider the caunes that have led to the strikes. While there have nndonbtedly been casen whero corporations hava treated their employes with unnecessary harshnoss and in some isolated tnniaacos ave pushed prices down below liv. ing enteg! thesa ought not ta be considered at tho presont timo, ‘The strike laa general one and has affected the whole country, and tha proper question, therefore, to consider fn the averago of wages paid by railway com. panies, Upon thia point tho Buffalo Com. mercial Advertiver ins. collected statistics from oMicinl sources which will throw much light upon the subject. In Now York the tronblo commenced on the Erie Railway, the canse boing an ordor redncing wages 10 per cent. The following table shows the averagu pay of ongincors and firemen on that rond during the past twelve montha: Enqneers, Firemen, acerage” arePage amonnt, 1876—~Inly.. 187—angnat. Septem retoher. Yovembe! A7U-~Necember, Average month ....... ‘. With 10 per cent off... 07.12 From this table it appears that during tho past twelve months, constituting the most unprofitable yonr tho railronds have ever had in this conntry, during which timo many of the roads have been forced into. bankruptey, engineers earned an average of $107.90 per month and the firemon $64.57. ‘Tho 10 per cent reduction would have given them £97, 12 and $58,12 per month, respectivoly, which is moro than the average laborer in cognate branches of industry reocive. On the New York Contra! Railrond. engi. neers, & yoar ago, received $3.50 per 100 miles, and now get 23,16, Their trips avor- age 150 miles, for which they wore paid $5.25, and now get $4.72}. Firemen’s pay is fast one-half this amonnt, Switchmon and yardmen get from $25 to $70 per month, according to their work. Brakemon are pnid $1.90 for a trip of 150 miles, againat £2.15 last year, and conductors receive £2.60 for the samo trip, agninst $2.87 Inst yenr. On the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway tho men were paid during 1870 na follows: Engincere, per trip of 88 miles. Conductors, per trip of BR mile Firemen, ner trip of 84 miles. Brakemen, per tein of B8 mil Niwht-yard conductors, per moi Niuht-yard ewitchmen, per mont! Day-yard conductors, per month, Day-yard awitchmen, per month... ‘Tho rama classes of workmen now receive the following raton: Enelneees, per trip of 83 miles. Condneture, per trip of BA mite Firemen, per trip of 88 miles. Krakemen, per trip of #8 milon. Night-yard conductors, per mont! Night-yar awitchmen, per mont! Day-yard condnetors, per month. Day-yard awitchmen, per munth. 34.00 ‘Tho Now York Tribune furnishes the fol- lowing general tablo of tho present rates, which willbe of interest in thia connection; DAILY WAQES, MONTHLY WAars, Firen Ena. Fire'n 1.5 $1.00 $41, 9712 92,78 88.00 on 11,00 Dingle Cen. (Fre't) . Chi. & Alt. (imax) 5.50 4 Chk & Alt. (min) 3.0 9.00 ie ie Chi, Barl'n. &Q. we 00 81.00 52,00 Offsotting thene rates against the receipts of tho railroads, and compnring them with the wages paid in 1860, the Tridune finda that, ‘Swhile the railronds got leas than half os much pay for the enme service na they re. colved in 1860, thoy still propose to pay their workmen in the vory lowost case 35 per cent and from that to 00 per cent higher wages than they then received.” The following ta- blo of receipts for transportation per ton per mile on five of tho leading roads is an illus. tration of this declaration: 1878, New York Central, 1.6L Erle .. 2. 1.00 Pennsylvania, BOS Lake Shore. oH Pittebury, Fe 02H AVEERZO OF Bila eeseeee sone 200 DOH In discussing the question whether wagos sre at living rates, the 7'ridune comp lea the following very valuable table, in which the pricon of over sixty articles are averaged ac- cording to the proportion sold, the first col- umn showing the #um required to purch the same quantity each year, and the second the proportion of each year's average to that of 1860; 2 = eels porerererey azeze8: ay 1k75—May 187—May 1... 1877—Jen. 1... see We submit these tables to our renders with. outdisoussionat present, They furnish a basis for argument after people's heads get cooler, and really Ne at the very founda. tion of tho iswmes between the strikers and the companies, As we have before intimated, there are unques- tlonably minor details in which the corpora- tions might romedy the condition of their employes without hardship to thomselvoa or Projudice to stockholders; but the main points in conflict reat upon, and it woems to us may be satisfactorily settled by, tho Proper opplicstion of the facts contajned in these tables, ‘They possess spocial interest for the companics as well as for strikera, Tn atelogram to ‘Tus ''ninung of yester- day it was atatod that the remains of the of- ficers killed in Gen. Cusrea's fight last sum- mer were brought down from the battleficld ina“ bungling” mauner; that, before be- ing placed on the steamer Fletcher, ** in the Yellowstone,” they wore thrown into an open shed, and left there come time; and that the remains of Geu. Custxn and Col. Tou Cus- Tx were not identified, but only guessed at. We are informed, and believe, that these stutemonts are false. The remains brought in by Col. Suxuwan wero ideutitiod by Capt. Howtasn, of the Soventh Cavalry, —tirst, by 4 diatinct recollection of the «pot whore each body was buried, antl arcondly, by a atake driven into the ground at the head of enoh Bravo at the time of the burial. Each stake bore on ita number that correaponded with a number marked on a sketch of the grounds murveyed and drawn «ndor the supervision of Lieut, Enwann Maouine, and afterwards lithographed by ordor of the War Depatt- ment, ‘The remains were disinterred as earofnlly as possible, and inclosed in pine coffins, They wera bronght in wagons to Post No, 2, and remained there under gnard. fn tho only building at the Post for two jays. Thoy were then placed on the steamer Fletcher in the Big Horn River—not the Yollowstone, ns stated in the dispatch—and bronght to Fort Lincoln, where they were temporarily interred until caskets vould ar- tive from Chicago for thoir reception, As soon as the caskets arrived Lhe remains wore transferred to them and ahipped to their various destinations by the United Statos Express. This statoment of the facts dis. pores at once of the dispatch in yesterday's’ ‘Lamone, and of various stories to thy same purport in the New York Jerald, which paper claimed to have a correspondent with Col. Suentpan when tho comaina were disin- terred. Tho truth is, that tho only corre. apondent present was Mr. Prion, of the Philadelphia Heening V'elegraph, and ho has represented no auch horrible state of afuirs as reported in other quarters, THE RUSSIAN DISASTER IN ASIA. Now that the cruol war at home is over and poace broods over the land with her snowy wings,” as some of the dispatcher glowingly announce, it will be of interest to our readers to resume onr interrapted carn. munications with the conflict between Ruasin and ‘Turkey. While the Russians are pure. ing their march southward from the Balkans towards Adrianople, and, pending - genoral ongagement in Roumetia, the most impor. tant feature of the war is the disaster to the Russian arms in Armonia. In the middle of Jano it seemed certain that tho wholo of Armenia would be in the speedy possersion of the Russians, but suddenly one wing was doubled up and defeated, nnd almost as aud- donly tho wholo army was on tho retreat, and is now awaiting reinforcoment. There acom to bo two principal causes for this dis- aster, ‘ho ono is the heedlessness with which the Russians rushed into Asia, taking no account of the strength of the Turka, of their defensive capacity behind intrench- monts, armed with breech-loaders that eatried further than the Russian guns, and of the physical obstacle of the country, Tho second cause, and one upon which the English military men Iny Great stress, in the manner in which the Ruasians divided up their forces, until evory division was nemerically weak. Estimating thoir force at 100,000 men, 80,000 wero ro- quired.to invest Kors, 18,000 were engaged in fruitless endeavors to capturo Batoum, 10,900 wore requirod to hold Ardalan ond Bajazid, 20,000 wore recalled to qnell the in- aurrections in the Caucasian districta, ‘This left all told but 22,000 tren in the columns pushing on towards Erzoroum, which was in reality the invading army. This force finding itsclf unable to carry the strong mountain positions beforo Erzeroum, thera wns only one rosourco left, oither to retreat or to hold ita ground until roinforce- monta might arrive. Before it could do eithor, Momatan Pasta had beon reinforced and fell upon them at Zewin and Delibabn, ‘Their retreat was @ rout, and in consequence the whole army had to withdraw to reorgan- ize on its frontier. Their main force is un- broken, bat if must now awnit reinforco- ments, which have been ordered to tho front, and do its work all over again. If they como upin time, and the Russians can do- font the Turks in the open field, it will go far towards qniéting tho disaffocted regions of tho Csucanus andegeinstating thom in Armenia, Or thoy might gain n great ad. vantago for another campaign by the roin- vestmout of Kara and starving it out during the fall nnd winter, as they have done be- fore, If they fail to bring on an open en. gogemont in the fleld vory soon, the most that can be done is to get into good position for tho campaign of next season, * THE REGULAR TROOPS. A study of the lato social disturbance would be incomplete without a consideration of tho part the troopa havo taken in sup- pressing disorder, Wherever the regular troopa have appeared in fdtco, rioting has ceased, and yet it isa singular fact that not a shot has been fired by the regulars, On the part of the moboorats there fins been everywhery shown a healthy respect for the fighting qualities of the soldiers, and on the part of the soldiora a wide knowledge of what guopowder and lead are, and the cir- cumstances under which they should be used, Moreover, the conduct of the rogu- lars under strong provocation has bien a ood: illustration of the value of discipline, In Martinsburg, Baltimore, and Pittubury, the rogulars wero stonod just aa the militia had boen, but they did not return the firo because thoy received no orders. The consequence was that they marched to their quarters with no worse damage than a few broken shins ; and the subsequent action of the mob was ovidenco that the reserve of the soldicra did not diminish the reapect of the rioters for their courage and offectivences, ‘The principal loason to be derived from the action of the troops thronghout these riots is that fighting is a trade, subject to the same conditions as other skilled labor as regards competition and experience. When we op. pose regular goldiers to rioters, wo are marely matching one kind of labor against another, There is this differonce, how- ever, between the troops and the rioters— the former are engagod in work that they have been taught todo with the utmost no- curacy and expedition, while the latter are handling tools to which they are unaccus- tomed. The efficlenoy of the soldiers com. pared with that of the rioters, under ciroum- stances like these, must be as ten to one, even if the cquipment of both parties were the same, If the soldiers should go into the yards and attempt to supply the places of the strikors, they would hardly be worse of than the rioters are when they attempt, at a moment's notice, to take up the trade of the soldicr, ‘Tho rpgulars have another advantage in any conflict with citizens—they represent something, The something they represent is not merely theoretical und legal authority, but a power back of law and the Constita. tion which is able to make these operative. We have considered of late saveral times the expediency of making this power more for- midable by increasing the army ; our present inquiry is dot so much tho mathematic. al value of the force ax the fact of its ex- iytence and its nature. The knowledge that there isan army, however emall, in itsclt constitutes @ protection against lawless vio- lence. One company of blue-custs sugucate to the dullest iningination 20,000 men of the samo stripe, and the consclousners that there are plonty moro where they cama from acts as n chock npon the most’ oxnberant Communist, Hore, after all, is tho secret source of the army's atrongth. It draws lifo sand Inapiration from tho tax-paying poopie, Thoy clothe and fend the roldiers, and instinct, prompta the soldters to protect their inter. ests when tha emergency ariser, A mob isa monnce to the irade of n soldicr, Mobs do not maintain armies. ‘Tho growbh of the Federal iden nmong the people wns nevor more strikingly rhown than in the reveronce that has of Inte years been paid to the regular soldicr. In tho South, during the recent troubles, tho curses direoted against the soldiers were, it In true, deep, but they wore not lond; and thero never wns a timo in Now Orleans, after tho close of the War, when a solitary soldier conld not with sntuty visit any part of tho city. At the same time, the local police were in constant danger of unprovoked and murderous nasoult. The same sontimont hos beon exhibited in our streets during the pnst fow days, when the singular apectaole bas beon witnessed of half 6 million of people hailipg’aa their deliverers and protectors two companies of travel-worn and wenther-benten men. The cheers that went up on the arrival of tha first detach. ment of troops: were addressed to the Na- tional Government, and were a complete acknowledgment of tho domination of tho Federal iden. The moral should not be lost nor the fact be forgotton whon the okt question of State-Sovercignty comes up again for discussion, and the crazy arguments of impracticable theorists are brought from their hiding-places We don't know the namo of the seamp who telegraphed to the Brooklyn Eagle an account of the skirmish between the police and the mob at the Halsted atrect viaduct Inst ‘Thursday, but, he should be searched out and instantly run out of town. Tho lying scoundrel never went near the scenc of disturbance, but remained in aome oflles concocting monstrous falsehoods, and sending them to Brooklyn and other Eastern cities, This Is the report as it appcared in the leading Brooklyn paper: TERNIFIC. ‘THE BLOODIEST CONFLICT reT—CIICANO pnrxoney) WITH cone. . 7 TUR MOR MOWED DOWN WITH THE BWORD AND Die- PERSED WITH OMAP, AND CANUATER, VETERANS AND REGULARS AT WORK. £ SCORES OF THE NIOTENA KI! THEM Ww Cnicano, July 26—1! ‘he mob which form- ed on Sixtcenth atrec! ip tho tino of the Hur- lington & Qnincy Railroad track, became no dense and demonetrative that itwan clear that only a vigorous movement could disperse them. Ordera were therefore given ton squad of mounted cavalry to draw sabres anil chairs The effect was dreadini, The mob gave way for2 moment, but so denac was the throng that ue Ce actually cut oud trampled their way through. ‘The body of retce had_ been previously uno. ble to effect anything, the fre from revolvers and musketa inthe hands of the moa dolnz socivue work in their ranks. The cavalry charge cut down. sane a0 rlotera, of whom at least dfty wero kiilod. outright. The crowd atill resisting, it was found necessary to resort to still inore serious meaaures. Indcod, according to one repurt, the mobdrove the veturuns ack. Atthis moment the reguiara camo ap with two feld-guns, which were speciily traincd on the crowd with charges of grape and Caulater. At this moment the rloters seemed filled with the wildeat derperation. ‘The effect of the fire wasindexcribable. Creat Jones were cut through the crowds the first volley was followed by a necond, and then followed a stampede almost as murderous as the fron hail from the cannon. Men and women inthe mob wore trodden down by the flying rioters. Grouns, cnrscs, shrieke uf the dying and wounded, blended with the hoarsn shouts of command, formed a sceno worthy of pandemoniam Itself. Many of the wonnded were dragged off, as the Yeterana prepared for atifanother charzo, |” Corpses covered the ground in a!] directions, and all the hideous and too famillar sizhtaof the bat- tle-fleld were revived, Haw many felt before the fire it seoma imposnible to determine, Tt ia moat likely thatthe diacharve of grape, ated to the executian dono by the cavairy, will swell the Uist of killed Into Lundrode, but aa chaos prevails, it Je imponalble to get dotaiia, ‘The scene of the riot juoks likes ficld of battle after the battle, The police, the veterans, and the regulars are now tnaaters of the situation beyond queation, Tho villaly who cooked up this mesa of les knew that no regulars weru In tho city ut the timo; that no cannon was fired by anybody; that the military never fired a slot; that the only fighting dono was by @ company of poltremen and the mob; and that the “wildest rumors‘ in the ‘extras "' Issued half-hourly never stated the number of killed much ubove the truth, viz.; adozen or so, The fellow that sent the Brooklyn dispatch deserves to bave his cars cropped and liar branded on his forenead with a hotiron. . a ‘The two chiof delights of the Chicago Times an Trinvne, editorially and roportorially, these trying and tronbleaome times are t DAXD NUNDAENA OF I, a e Tass the oficial authoritios by recklessly wresiling them while actively engaged in suppressing the moband keeping it auppressed.—Hvening vonrnits Wahl the Journal narrate bow actively tho oficial authorities were enguged last Tucaday in “suppressing the mob and keeping it sup- pressed"? Did the Mayor or police lift a fin- ger? Did they strike w blow or fire o shot? The Journal well knows they, didu’t. Fora whole day, and late into the ulght, the rioters occupled so much of the city aa they pleased, and mobbed overy cstablishment they came tu, drove off the workmen, cut the belts of engines, raked out the furnace fires, broke windows and doors, assaulted and insulted the proprictors, and terrorized ovor citizens. What were tho Mayor and his polleo doing all this timc! The Communists held publle meetings not only in halls but on the streets, aud harangued crowds fo incendiary language. Tom 8 Cavawauan presided over ono street mob and harangued {t, threatening oowspaper establishments which did not support his Communistic demands Joun Pavison, Communist, addressed anutler crowd, declaring that the time had now come for the rabble “to help themselves tu what was really thelr own.” Van Parven, Parsons, and others invyelghed against buslices mon and employers in !aujuace not Intended to pro- serve the peace. What were the ‘official wu- thorities dojug all this time? Nothlug! The head of the ‘official authoritics sat cowcring inacorner, nut seeming to know whether ho was afoot or on horseback, and only intent on ‘not irritating " or “exasperating '' the rioters. ItwasTum Trisune and people ike it who lashed the “official authorities” into action, warned the people of thelr danger, anid aroused them to self-defenstyo organizations, The Journal hos made no such fmpression on tho public mind in behalt of law and order and the foreiUte suppression of the mobocrats aa justl fies it in reading lectures tu anybody, a The JanLosuxors electric candles continus to be described by the London papers, Ata triat made ina large tent covering one of the squares of the West India docks, four commoa lamp-posta were erected in tho respective cor- ners, and on one of these lamp-posts was placed an electric iight, the electricity for which was generated by steam power in a magneto-slectric machine of thirty-two magnets, cach magnet composed of six plates. The steam engine, of two-and-a-half horsa power, effected 480. revolutions of the magneto-clectric machine per minute. The resulting ight was so strong that tho finest print could be read at a distance of thirty feet from the lamp, The electric light was then extfoguished, and when sixteen ges- burners, four in each corner, were substituted, the eflect wae disinal beyond conception. It [5 found that loadiog and uoluading ships cau be carried on by the use of the electric candles by night as well aa by day, a Tho Now York Jerald reports Mr. Hanontcks B. Watour, (Sf. C.) as saying in a speech tos mob of rictous coal-strikers at Wilkesbarre, Pa. “ that as soon as Congress met he would iutro- duce a bill Lo give $10,000,000 from the Nutiona! ‘Treasury to the laboring men.” Upvo tls _