Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 5, 1878, Page 4

4 THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SBATURDAY,.JANUARY 5, 1878—TWELVE PAGES, The Tribune, TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. DY MATL—~IN ADVANCE—POSTAGE FREFAID. Fdltion, YEAT.. %12 e Sapms ] t : Lite Xit undey K Troufie Gheet £atupiay fdition, twelve fakes T Weekly, nne year..... Tarisor a vear, per monih. g &33 WEEKLT EDITION, POSTRAID. | o v, per & G oT Tolrrore 138 Bpecimen coplea eent 1ree. Give Post-Uflice address in fall fncluding Ststeand Connty. Nemitiances maybe made either hy draft, expreas, Fost-OfMice order, or in registered letters, st ourrisk. TERMS TO CITY BURSCRIDERS. Deliy, delivered, Sunday excented, 25 cents per week, T afy, delivered, Sunday {ncluded, 70 cents per week. Addres THE TRIBUNE COMPANT, Corner Madtson and Dearborn-sta., Chicago, Tl Orders for the deliveryof Tnr TRINCNE &t Evanston, Engleweod, and liyde Park left In the counting-room Willrecelve brompt attention. TRIBUNE BRANCII OFFICES. ‘Tux C1cAno TRIATXR has established branch offices for the recelptof subscriptions and sdvertisements as followa: KEW YOTK—Room 20 Tridune Bollding. ¥. T. Mo Favoxx, Manager, PAI1S, France—No, 16 Rae de Is Grasge-Datellere, 0, Mantzs, Agent. LONDON, Eng.—American Excbange. 449 Gtrsud. Hxuxr F. GiLeio, Agent. BAN FRANCISCO, Cal.—Palace Hotel. TAMUSE McVicker's Thentre. Madfson street, between State and Destborn. *'Beauty and the Beast,” aud **Simpson & Co.” Af- teraoon and evening. Hooley’s Thentre, Randolph strect, Dbetween Clark and LaSalle. Engagement of Joteph Murphy. ** Kerry Gow." Af- ternoon sad eventng. Haveriy’s Thontre. Monroe street, corner of Dearborn. **Onr Boardinge House,"” Afternoon snd evenfng. Coliseum Novolty Theatre. Clark street, opposite Court-House. Variety Olio. New Chicago Theatre: Clark streer, opposlte the Sherman Hause. Callen- der's Georgla Minstrels. Afiernoon and avening, BOCIETY MEETINGS. 0 No. 137, fl. A, M.—134 Twen- oA e AL Convbestion i (HAuTSD) evening st 8 o'cluck sharp, fur work on the Mark, I'asi, anu M., Degrees. | VinTing Companfutis coruialy fu® viked. " My oruerof thod. B I Fupp 1 oo illnatrative of tho nolfishnens and~ greed which underlia the protective ryatem. Manufacturers suf- i fering the evil effects of over-production, or, it may be, of under-consumnption, now per- | ceivo what for years thay have persistently ! denied, that the true poficy is to chenpen tho | cost of production by removing the tarit upon articles entering into the mannfacture . of their wares; and numerons applications of i this kind have been heant by the Commilted, { Verily the world lins moved since Congress last tinkered the tariff, and thers is oncour- agamont to hiope for some roal nnd mbstan tinl progresn toward the abolishment of a system that imposed ruinons burdens alike upon producer and consumer. qhesr expericnses Whether the Earl of Carxanvow in his speech of Wedneaday last intended to an- nounco the viows of the Cabinet, or whether his purpose was to influence its nction on tho Russian reply, cortainly the specch has set sll England to talking nbout it and awakened a desire, which is likely soon to take the form of a demand, that the Govern- ment define its position at once and withont further ambiguity, There is probably no difference of opinion in the Cabinct s to the importance of England's making hor in- fluance count heavily in the pence mottle- ment; how to go about it is what troubles and divides the Ministers. From all, that has yet been doveloped since tho British note was forwarded to Bt, Peters- burg, it does not appenr that Russin hns manifested any disposition to admit England to n voice in the peace negotiations, but, on tho contrary, there is ovidently a purpose on the part of tho Czar fo refuso any snd all fn. torvention, and to do business with the Porte direct, leaving tho Powers to ratify the adjustment afterit has boen made. It is claimed semi-ofiicially for Russia thot the assurances given at the outsot of the war in roference to English interosts onght to be sufficiont to quiet any present apprelionsion, and that the best and surest way for England to protect her interests is to withdraw from the Porto all promise or prospact of support, and thereby hasten a peace which can only be obtained through the absolnte submission of Turkey as n vanquished natlon, SBATURDAY, JANUARY &, 1878, OHICAGO MAREET SUMMARY, “The Chicago producs markets were very quiet yesterday, excent in provisions. Mesa pork closed 5@10c per brl higher, at $11,42%@11.47 for Feb. ruaryand$11, 55 for March, Lard cloncd 25¢ per 100 ibe higher, at$7,4214@7.45 for Feornary and $7.5027.02% for alarch. Meats wore steady, at 4c for boxed shoulders and $5.76 per 100 lbe for do shoet ribs, Whisky was steady. st $1.0% per gallon, Flour was dull. Whest closed ¢ Jower, at $1.08)% cash or January and’ $L.0D% for February, Corn closed steady, at 424@42%¢ Oats for January and 42%@424c for February, closed firm, &t 24%@M%c spot aud for Vebruary, Ryo wi Darley closed casier, at 67! Febroary. 1logs were active the forenoon, bat closed weak, at $4.00@4, 0. Cattle werc quict and unchanged, poor to selling at $2.0025.25. Sheep were st $3.00@4.50 for poor to clolca Tnepected nto store In this city yes- terdsy morning: 77 cars wheat, 24 cars corn, 12 cars oats, 3 carsrye, 20 cara barley, Total, 110 cars, or 62,000 bu, One hundred dollars in gold. ‘wauld boy $102. 022! in grecnbacks at (ke close, —— Groonbacks at the New York Stock Ex- change yesterday closed at 97§, 3 «Extensiva unawawrm;, in many cases turning into rain, are reported as ocourring in varlous parts of the country. ‘The froezing up of country ronds has bronght joy to the hearts of farmers throughout the Weat, and the mud embargo of the past month is very gonorally raised. cxtra Tho Government Comnmission to ba ap- pointed to investigate the rocont disturb. ances in Toxss is intonded to bo a secrot affair,—80 much 8o that not oven the names of the Commissioners will be disclosod, at least not until somo enterprising reporter collary 8 lonky witness and tellathe whole story. The information aought is solely for the benefit of the Government itaolf, The withdrawal of the suits for libel bronght by Naruax McEav, a prominent naval contractor, agalnat the editor and pub- lisher of tho Philadelphin T¥mes, on account of an articlo denouncing the formoras ‘g plunderor and a publio thief,” has created considerablo surprise. MoKay, it will be remembored, made & porsonal assanlt upon Col. McCrurk in consequence of the publi- cation, and his abandonment of the criminal prosecution would seem to donote some un. cortainty on his part whether hs would be sbls to convince a Philadelphis jury that he had really been libeled. ‘The New Yorl lermanio Committee . veatigating the yreat Tammany robberies in their report urge a vigorous prosecution of the thioves who have so far escaped eithier detontion or reatitution, and suggest the yclense of Tweep, he having suffered in unjust disproportion to the rolation which his crimes boro to those of his loss misorable abettors and acoomplices. The Council, by a vota of 17 to 7, adopted tho proposal of leniency toward Tween, and he will bo used for what he may be worth a8 a *‘squealer.” The Aldormen cstimate the booty securod by the thieves who once controlled the metropolis at 50,000,000, — 1,000,000 of which has been restored to the plundered Treasu Pittsburg had her dance last July, the fos- tivities being illuminated by a most elabo- rate and expensive bonfire. She & now called upon to pay the piper and the fuel- furnisher, thirty suits having been institutod yesterday against Allegheny County by the owners of goods destroyed in the freight cars which the mob set on fire to spito the railroad company, and the burning of which sll Pittsburg stood quistly by and saw without an effort to stay the work of pillage sod destruction. The milroad company hos borne its part of the calamity with an equanimity born of the conscious- ness that Allegheny County must in the end square the account; while the shippers whose property was sacrificed on the Com- munistio altar appear to have corcluded to tako the shoriest cut and go direct to the County Treasury for their claims. 8o the ounly people whom the mob punished were the property-owners and taxpayenf of Pitts- burg, which s quite as it should bu. ‘The Houso Committes on Ways and Means Is laboring upon the resdjustment of tho tariff, saud expects to be-abloe to cmbody its labors and rescarches in a comprowise bill to be introduced about Feb. 1. It is hoped that the Cowiulttes can so far control the uction of the Houso ns to shut off the flood of unenduents offured fn belialf of of special Interests which bave herotofora operated ®gsinst anything like a barmonious and equitoble tarif law. The Committce in the counss of its labora bas had DOING BUBINESS ON A G MARRET, 'The secrot of every prolonged era of hard times is tho unnvoidable necessity of doing business on a falling market. Thoro was n goneral collapso of spoculative prices in 1873, Since that timo thera has beon a stendy do- cline in the value of real ostata and commod- itios, caused in part by shrinkage in con- sumption and a correspondent growth in compotition to get what businoss there is ; but the great canse has been tho onhnncing valuo of the currency, and by consequence the decreasing value of property as messured by monoy. At tho end of evory year, or every six months, the coal-miners, lumbermen, manu. facturers, dealers, shippers, merchants, andall who hava'been ablo to bold theirhends above water, have hoped that the turning-point had beon reached. It has not come yet. Tuz "TrinuNe's annual roview of the trade of Chi- cngo for 1877 shows the revival to be ny in. dofinite as ever. In provious years, Chi- cago's rapid natural growth and produc- tion have boon Iarge enough to more than off- set the stendy decline in prices, and the annual roviews of each year sinco tho panic have shown an inerense in the value of Chi- cogo's trade in spite of the hard times and shrinkages, At last even Chicago has had to succumb to the grim pressure of the falling markets, and tho statemont for 1877 oxhibits an npparent loss of business to the nmount of nearly £ por cent, or more than thirty miltions ns compared with tho proceding yonr. Thongh thero had been some increaso in the bulk of Chicago's trade, it was not enough to counterbalanco the decline in prices. Chi- cago is one of the last citios to show the re- sults of tho dopression in general business, which is undoubtedly felt less liers than al. most nnywhero elso; but tho fact that now, for the first time, our trade shows it in the aggregata value s an unfartunate indication that the tendency to a declino has not been arrestod. " A fow instances will acrve to flfustrato the fatal operation of the falling market, The iron industry is o fair gange. It is said that & country's prosperity may bo mare acourate~ 1y mensured by the consumption of iron and stecl than in any other way. When the fron trade i brisk, it carriea with it ten thousand other industrios and branches; when the iron trade is dull or drooping, it is nn indica- tion that the depression is genoral. ‘The manufacturers and dealers in iron found at the closo of tho yonr or six months succeed- ing the panio of 1873, that prices had fallon off 8 or 10 per cent. Thoy sot sbout to ad- just their atfairs, cut down wagos, and reduco their expensos in that proportion. Xt at the ond of the next year they found there had boen another decline of, #ay, G or 7 per aeut, and that they had atill been doing o losing busineas, aud must discharge men and reduce wages still, more, Every torm, at the end of which they aro accustomed to strike a balance, exhibited still more shrinkage of prices ond loss of profits. And what is true of the iran Is aleo true of o thousand other trades nud ocoupatious, Yeur after year tho shrinkago goes on, and prices {all, and wages come down, and profits grow less, while losses incroaso, debts grow apace, interest becomes more burdensome, and business men more discouraged; but all this tina the dollar grows larger, aud deaver, aud harder to get ; bankruptcies multiply, and banks burst, The reduotfons are necossarily determined more by the experionce of the year past than by speculation s to the fulure. ‘Ihey ave Hard enough to make in any case. OQue of the first efforts in this direction is to reduce the wages paid for labor, Here stubborn op- pouition is always encountered. A lock-out {4 very likoly to follow tho threat of a strike, and the suspension of business reduces alike the resources of the employor and the em- ployes, But the first reduction proves to be insuficlent ou & warket that goes on declining, The consumption and the prices contract sfmuitancously, oach push. ing down the other. 'Then it VLecomes necossary not merely to make another reduc. tion in wages, but likewise a reduction in tho number of men ewployed. This of itself still further reduces consumption, for if the williou of men who have been thrown out of employment were agaiu cugaged, curning, 000,000 o day, or 700,000,000 o year, the consumption of products wauld be increased to that extont, which would stop the fall in prices of products. Iu the miniuyg of coal, it is found that the groat consumers canuot afford to pay so much for what they get, and tako less of it oven ot the reduced prices. Whe coul-winers arv asked to submit to & reduction of wages; they refusy and striko; thoro is a long struggle, followed by ‘want, suffvring, aud perhaps bloodshed ; the result in thoe cnd'is that they must yicld to tho inevitable, sud still there,sxe. hundreds and thonsands of them who cannot get em- plosment even at the wagea they refus. ed a few montha hefore, Tho experience of every manufacturing concern is sub- stontially the same. Every balanco-sheet showing decreased sales and n decline of prices exnets n forther reduction in oxpenses; but, in tho faco of further decline, tho reduction proves to have been insuf- ficient, nng still losses nre made, The mer- clant's books tell the samo story. Ilo has bought of the mannfacturera and jobbers moro thnu he has been able to sell, and paid prices which, at the time, seemed low enough, but prov.d to Lo too high in the face of compatition nud the unsold goods left on hin hands. ITe forces down his expenaes, buys loss, payslesa for what ho buys, con- atrains his landlord to lower the rent, fights his txes, and squeczos his clerks almost to tho starvation poiut,—and yet the new yoar confronts him with a repotition of the same “*declining” experionce. He hangs on and fights away ss long as ho canj but, if the Ppressuro continues long enough, he can't pay hiw notes in bank, and he is forced into an assigument, His stock of goods is ** slaugh. tered ™ ot prices which bent othor merchants down, and the loss incident to his failuro falls not npon himsolf nlone, but upon the employes who lose thoir places and a part of what ‘they have alrendy enrned, upon fle mnnufacturers and jobbers who have sold him goods on time, and upon the banks that have loaned him money to earry him over what ho sup; posed would be the worst. The decline in production, and consumption, and oxchange redncos the froights and receipts of the rail- ronds, and they help to spread tha misery. They consume less conl ; they usa less iron ; thoy reduce wages and discharge men; tho men strike, and stop the trnina; this re. sistauch of their employes puts an embargo upon the entiro commerco of the country, and the condition after the strike is moro sorious than it was before, 'The banks aro similarly the vietims of tho falling maorket, ‘They lond their own and their depositors’ money on securities that are constautly de- clining in valne. City real estato, farms and plantations, Government, State, and munici- pal bonds, rilrond securities, warohouse receipts, consignments,—every concoivable form of obligation on which they nadvanco money has beecn declining in valne and “ marging,” and threatens a farther declina. To refuso to mako nadvauces on tho ususl collaternl is virtually to Llock tho bnsiness of the country ox woll na abandon their own; to go on is to risk, oven with the greatest caution, losses that will impair their enpital and start them on the way to suspension. The situntion is full of peril so0 long ns the falling market shall stare the country in the face. Now, all this prolonged wrotchodness is not duo rolely or even mainly to tho noces. sary effort to recover from the inflation of the period preceding the year 1873, ‘Thero Is somothing which blacks the way to recov- ery. Tho *““wnter” has long since beon squeezed ont of flighty business and specu- lativo property. ‘There has been no reckless speculation for years, There Linve been no unremunerativo 'investmonts oxcept those which Lonest, prudent, business offorts have bronght on by reason of the coustant do- clino in vnluew. Thero is some tremondous, unsurmauntable, and unnatural impediment 1o n rostoration of prosperity. What isit? Not the offort to got back to n spocio basis alone ; wo are very noatly thore, when green- backs aro Within two conts of gold, and when gold notes that find their way from Californin aro pnssed from hand to hand because men will not go out of their way to colloct n fow cents from n broker on a $10 bill, It was nocossary to bear with the sbrinkage incident to a return to specie values, but that has practical- ly boon accomplished. What s it, thon, that koeps crushing the mar. ket? Is it not that the specio basis hins Leen unnaturally and oppressively contract. ed? Ts it not bocauso tho peoplo of the country are told that thoy must do their burmness with & singlo insteud of n doublo standard curroncy ? Is it not beeanse the silver resonrces of this country have been rondered unavailable for monotary purposes by the intorposition of law? Isit not bo. canso thete fs o folso mensuro and equivalont of values, growing searcor and harder to got from month to month? Is it not becauso poople have contracted dobts on the bnsis of ono measuro of values and nro forced to pay them® on tho basis of nuother that has shrunkon? In it not hecause silver hns boon taken awny and gold (unequal to the metallic monoy uses .of the world) hag thereby ac. quired an abnormally cxcessive value in its rolation to all commodities? Is it not becausy this single gold standard is still growing dearer? This is the stumbling. block, . 'This is why peoplo must continue on the road to baukruptey fn spite of all their prudence, iudustry, enterpriso, and economy, I'his {8 why the country is cou. fronted with n markot that isstill falling, with all the disasters 1t fmplies. And this national catastrophe is drawn out fn all its long and wide-reaching agony in order that a clasa of blood-sucking Eistern money- lenders and bondholders may exact moro than thoy loanued, mora thun their doblors everagreed to poy, and far more than they themuelves ever expeoted to’ receive when thoy advauced tho cheap moncy, Is it a wonder, then, that the mass of the people of the United Stntes rise up in anger to demnud that the great fucubus bo romoved ? ———— THE TEXAS PACIFI0 BUBSIDY, Tue Caiosao ‘I'mipune vecently coutained ‘an asticlo favoring Mr. HuntinaToN's propo- sition to construct n Southern Pacific Rond becausa it wonld be bullt by private eapital instesd of Government moncy, beeauso it would be buill moro economically and would give the South better rates, aud because the ‘l'ox Scorr Company has already failed to fulfll the conditions upon which the originul grant was made to it, while tho HuxTixaTox Company is yeady to finish the work, Lastly, T'ue ‘Trisune favored the ITuntiNaTON propo- sition because it would not involve the frauds aud stealings of a construction ring, and booauso it would command the co-operation of Northern members of Congress, which any schemo involving o grant of money or bonds wounld not. These considerations ought to commend themsclves to any ration. al humon being, but the Louisville Courier- Journal iy ovidently not one of that class, as it ferociously flies back at 'T'ng Oniosco Tuin. uNE, and accuses it of oppoxing every meus. ure that will confer any bepefit upon the Bouth. Are we, thon, to aséumo that the Texas Pacifio Road, as laid out by Tom 8cotr, Iv & Southern road, sud that the exteusion of the road already commenced by the Culifornia Company would not be a Southcrn road? Arc wo to understand thét only a road built by Govern. ment bonds is o Bouthern road, and that private capital caunot build one, and .that uo benefit can accrue to the- Buth ex- cept from a Government snbsidy of money orbonds? ‘The §onthern papers talk very glibly of benefit to tho Bouth, withont much rogard to the dimensions of tha claim that they make. The 8outh gomprison the entire aren from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Indian Lerritory and New Moxico on tho weat, from Mason and Dixon’s line cn the north to the Guif of Mexico on the sonth. ‘This is an aren of n million squaro iniles, embracing sixteen States. Is not the Cour- fer-Journal, then, a littlo too comprohensive in ita application of imnginary lenefits? Will it explain to us, what wo have often askod before, how Virgiuia, Delaware, Mary- land, the two Carolinw, Kentucky, and Missouri are to be benofited by n rond from Fort Yuma to Fort Worth, bnilt by Govern. ment bonds thmn;fil Tox Scorr's agency, and not benefited by a rond built by the pri. vato capital of California, or by any one road built in any manner botween the two points mentioned? Wil it also explain to na why that portion of the Bouth which wonld natu. lly be benefited will not receive just as much help from a road built from private capital as from a road built at the oxpense of the people of the United States? * Again,"%ays the Couricr-Journal, * the Inw already cnncted limits the privilege granted to the Sonthern Pacific Company to n connection with the Texns & Pacific Road at or near Colorado River. Huxting- o has built his rond by menus of enbsidies to this point, and that'snds the matter as far na Congress is concorned.” It does not end the matter. The Tost Scorr Company have ing failed to perform its duties according to contract is in default, and Congress clearly lna the right to give the California Company power to build to Fort Bliss, where their line would onter Texas, still being as noarly s possibla along the line of the thirty-second parallel of latitnde, It bas the right to give this Company a oharter to build to the Toxas border on an enst line through New Mexico or deflecting along the Moxican border. There 1a nothing to hinder them from going to the border nnd meeting the Texas lino nny more than thero is to their arranging to get con- trol of tho Toxns Pacific Road, finishing the wholo ling on the same terms offered to Tost Bcorr whonever thoy are ready to build, and finlehing it without Governmont bonds. And, tho Louisville Conrier~fournal to tho con- trary notwithstanding, & road built in this manner will be just as rorviceabla to the people of the South as a road built by n Credit-Mobilior construction ring with tho money of the pooplo of tho United Statos. The Courier-Journal objects to the Hunt- xaToN schemo because it thinks it would bo n monopoly, and the Sonth wants a trans- continental compating line with the Central and Union Paciflo lines. Tho objection s n puerile ono, and it shows that the Courier- Journal has not hind much experience with railrond business if it thinka that there ‘woutd bo any more competition with a line built by Tost Scorr than with a line built by the California Company, Even if Congress ahould put in forty or fitty milliond in honds to help Tox Bcorr ont, does it not know that the Californin Compnny will buy and control 1t if it is to thoir inlerest to do so? Hns it nover hoard of railroad rings and poolings? Does it not know that railroads only compete whon in a quarrel? Does it not know that tho Union Pacific is not in the hands of its original owners, but in Jax Gourp's, and that that same shark would swallow tho Sonthern rond it it wore for his intarest to doso? Lastly, does tha Courder- Journal not know that the Northern people and o fair sharo of the Southern will nover throw nway n rond that ean be built by pri- vato capital on existing land-grants and take n rond built on bonds fssued by tho Natlonal Governmont? If it does not, it knows very little about the subject it is discussing, ‘WHY BILVER SHOULD BE MONETIZED, Yestordny wo endeavored to point out to the clasa of porsona at the Enast who are so earnestly endenvoring to pravent the romon- otization of silver that their policy, if car- ried into excoution, would bo destructive of the wholo producing popnliation, and in the ond bo fatal to the creditors. The remone. tization of silvor is not sought by the peopla of the West and of the South for the pur- posa of cheating or dofranding any person. ‘Thoso people oxpoct to bo paid for thelr In- bor and for all thoy produce for salo, They oxpact to recoive silver dolars for thoir cot- ton, tobacco, sugar, breadstuffs, and provis- {ons, and they do not expect to get silver dollars except by giving in exchange a dol- lar’s wortl of thelr labor, or of the product of their labor, and have no interest in “cheap " dollnra. Thoy inbist upon the ro- monotization of silver bocauso of the effects that will be prodaced by suoh action, and prinoipally for reasons which may be thus statod : 1, It will at once arrest the decline of prices in all forms of property, which must continue 8o long as thero s a legal threat of the genoral estubllaumoent of gold values a yoar hence, with gold the exclusive metallic money, 2, That it will be s resumption of spacie paymonts of {tself, without any extraordinary voluo being given to gold, as must be the case if gold be tho only legal-tender. 8. Tho resumption of wpecie pnyments through the agency of monetized silver will bain every sense a strict compliance with tho debt obligatious, public and private, be- cause silver waa a4 much a legal-tender as gold at the time tho debts ware incurred, 4. Recauso thero can bs no resumption of specie paymouta upon a gold basis; whila with a silver coinago it will Le possible, and will meot with no objection, legal or pop- ular, 5. Tt will arvest for all timo, if the uilver be coined frecly and in large amounts, all further demands for an increnso of greenbacks or othor national paper. 6, Hilver is on American and & Westorn product, which Congress has no right to dis- criminate against by forbidding its domestic use and compelling its exportation. It will be seen that the remonotization of silver is urgod for substantial reasons affect- ing the general welfure, Particularly it will terminate tho struggle whether maetallio money in the United States shall be reduced oxclusively to gold, with a consequent depre- ciation of the values of all property Iu pro- portion to the enhaunced valus of the only logal currenoy in which the debts can be paid. It moking gold the exclu. sive netallic money will give to gold coin an additional power of 20 to 25 per cont, that addition will be at the expensa of the labor, aud the products of labor, and the accumulated property of the country. It will take 25 per cent more land, more wheat, more pork, more corn, wmore raw cotton, more Jard, wore choeys, to pay the interost ou & note or to pay the principal of ‘a mort- guge on the land. It will be a blight upon industry, an arrest of production, and tho arbitrary confiscation of that much of the poople’s subatance. . We subinly that in these gonsiderations thera is nothing of n dishonest or repudiat- ing charnctor, No such motive governs tho demand for the restoration of tho silver dollar, The sentiment In so general in Iili- nois that it may bo said that the people are unanimous, and what is the history of Illi- nols in this matter? In 1842, so great waa the debt and so impoverished wore the peo- plo, that payment of interest was susponded. A few years lator the people olected a Con- vention which framed a special provision for the Constitution imposing an firre- poalable tax to continne uutil the principat and interest of the debt was paid. That pro- vision was adopted by a vote of the people. ‘When the War broks ont, the Btato of Iilinois owed a debt of $10,277,000. The people of this State paid the intorest and principal of that dobt in gold, Every six montha tho Btato Treasurer purchased gold with which to pay the intorost on the Btate debt. Tho principal of the dobt s it fell due was nlso paid in gold, and that ‘practice continued until every one of tho anto-War bonds and all of the interest was paid, Had tho peoplo of Illinols been dishonest, or had ,they desired **cheap” imonoy with which to pay their debts, they might havo paid their debt, principal and interest, in greenbacks, na many, if not all, of the Eastern Btates did. They, however, borrowed coin, and pald coin, thongh they had to sell their groenbacks for 060 cents on the dollar. We submit that the people of Iilinois who thus ncted towards their creditors do not now seck the reatoration of silver in order to cheat anybody. The City of Ohicago Lins a record no less lonorable. ‘The OCity of GChicago paid the intercst on all the ante.War debt in gold ‘for scveral yenrs, selling the groenbacks in which the revenue was collected to purchase gold for that pur. pose. This practice continued until after the Bupremo Court had decidod that the paper money was n legal-tendor in payment of dobts incurred prior to the dato of tho Legal-Tander aots. How many other oities at tho East actod thtis liberally towards thoir creditora? Did the Oity of New York pay interost on her debt in gold? Did any of the peopla or municipslitios in Ver- mont, Mains, or Now Hampshire pay their debts in gold, or did thoy fall back on the graenbacks—the f0-cent dollara ? ‘With such a record as this, the poople of this city and State can afford to disregard tho imputations of dishonesty which the gold people o freoly put forth. The States' of the Northwest owe but very little debt. ‘Tho Stnto of Massachusetts alone .owes as much dobt as dv Illinole, Indiana, Wiscon- sin, Town, Nebraskn, Missourl, Kansas, nnd Michigan, and the manicipal dobts of* New York nnd New England axceed thoso of the Btates named. ‘Tho people of the West do not boliove that tho matallic monoy of the world has batome too cheap, nor do thoy bolieve that its valuo must e enlarged by discarding silver and conflning coin to tho searco metal, gold. “Thoy proposo to pny their dobts, public and private, in coin that wasa logal-tondor whon tho'debta wero contrasted. They want to chent no person; but they protest ngainst an arbiteary legal advance in the value of gold, and n requiroment to pay in that articlo, ‘Tho values of all property have boon ron- dored 50 uncortain by the threatoned forcible resumption in gold that no man will buy and no man con soll while the market con- tinues to fall. They want this decling in valuea stopped by the restoration of silver, thus bronking all possible cornors on gold; with silver o legnl-tonder, gold and silver will resnmoand maintain thoir rolativo values, With silver a logal-tender and frooly coined, iho nocossity for gresnbacks will gradnally disappear, Men who will buy 4 per cont bonds at par with gold wiil not hositate to buy tho same bonds with silver, so tho talk ubout stopping the funding of the uational debt is pure fobrication. With silver colned ab tho rate of $:i0,000,000 a yosr - it will become, &s in France, tho general coin curroncy of tho country, En- gland floata Buccossfully $100,000,000 of sub- sidiary coin, vory much debased, The United Btates can absorb into jta business 200,000, 000 of standard silvor dollars, and spocio re- sumption will take place without other dis- turbanco of values than to arrest the decline, to rovive investments, to promote produc- tion, give omployment to Inbor, increaso con- samption, and, in place of stagnation and finaucial distress, givo activity and the pros- perity resulting from n general rovival of production aud consumption, TWO WIDOWS. The Widow Ouiven and Yhe Widow Hicxs are two shining examples of tho sonndness of tho elder WerLer whon he admonwhed hingon to *“bevaro of the vidders.” The Widow OLaven hiad no special brilliancy, and seems to have made Lior goneuest of poor old Smtox Caxenoy in n v£y vulgar, common. placo mannor, Bhe was not flshing for big stakes, Hor first draft upon Caxenox was ouly for #1,000, and, when he had honored it, simplo Snsoxn thought Lo wes done, but the wily widow, it appoars, used the $1,000 a8 n retaining foe for the lawyers, with the hopo of gotting more out of him. Bnron, howover, is no such man as the poor old dotard in New York whom the Widow Hicxa captured,” Higox will make a good fight with his widow. o has brains, Ho isold but tough. 'Ihere is cnough of Scotehy tenacity in his composition to induce him to make a big fight with the widow. If she wins Lior suit, she will earn lher money, If she loses her suit, there will be nothing loft of her, With tho other widow the case is difforent, Tho Widow Hicxs has been a brilliant and handsome woman of cosmopol- itan famo,—a fat, fair, and fascinating Bo- hemienne, Bhe laid siege to the sus. ceptible Loarts of grandees, In London she surpassed even the Lord Mayor and Disnaeuz and tho Prince of Wales in the sumpluousness of hor soirees and tha elegauce of her dejeunera. She had Earls, Dukes, and Lords dangling in her trains, and Duchesses and Marchionesses hated and envied her. Bhe mearly captured a Minister at tho Court of Bt. James. She wove her subtle spells about the phlegmatio Gen, Graxt, moking about s much impression upon him o if ho were a brick wall. For a thne she flourished in the vory heyday of wealth aud fashion, and disported herself like & gay butterfly, but there came a day when her charms begrn to fade, and in pro. portion as they faded her packet-book began to flatten out, Money makes the widow go 8s well as the marg. A a last hope of re- suming specie payments, she came back to this country, Arriving in New York, she threw out ber net, and, whenshe drew it in, bohold an eight-millionlollar octogenuriau dotard, with the flame of life just Hickering in its worn-out old sockot. Past the time of life when her charms could make auy im. pression .upon him, she bad uo other way of holding bim except by mar. rying him, which she did. The poor old dotard . consented to It quite as rendily na he weuld have consented to any- thing olso that sho hnd asked. I was completely onmashod in her toils, and now come tho heirs of the wrotched old man and petition that this marringe of January and July shall be deolared null and void becnuss the frosty bridegroom is an imbecile. There is a Indicrons and a disgraceful side to this atylo of business. One cannot help langhing at tho disnsters which have overtaken these two octogenariaus any more than to help Inughing nt a porson who tumbles over into & mud-puddle, though neither is a fit subject for langhter, But below the surface there is food for thonght and a atern neceseity for some nieans of protecting poor old dotards, with ona leg in the grave, from the wiles of cunning, sohoming, unprincipled widows, ospecinlly when such schomes involve the disposition of property that ought to go to childron, As n rule, Mr. Werrza's ndvice is timely, but the despair of the situntion is that old fools will not follow it. When even the strong Bamson could yicld to the charms of Dettuast, what hope is thers for the ‘*sonility of old age"”?—nas ono of our contemporaries once benutifully put it. Ho lawg, however, as thero is no law that forbida a min to bo n fool, Widow Hicxses and Oraveas will flourish, and old dotards will be found in plonty to tamblo into their toils, — THE SILVER BILL. To the Liditor of The Tribuna, - + MansmattTows, 1a., Jan. 2.—Can't yon give the truc status of tho Silver bill in Tur Trinuxe? There 18 a misonderstanding, I find,as to what (hat fs. Bome belleve that tho amendment of Mr, Av- 10, of Towa, limiting the colnage to $50,000,000 e annuin, to have been incorporated in the bill. . E.N. C .Tho Silver bill, as pnssed by the House, rostores tho coinage and the legal-tender character of the silvor dollar of 412} grains to what thoy wero befora the ndverse logisla- tion in 1873 and 1874, The Bouate Commit- tee have roported amendments (yot to be voted on) making the dollar a legal-tonder again, but limiting the coinago to not less than $2,000,000 nor moro than §4,000,000 & month, and tho money to be coined on nccount of the Government. Gold is now, s the silver dollar was bofore 1873, coined for any person who should de- posit the bullion, n charge being made snfll- cient to cover the cost of cofnage. The amendmont, 8o far 08 it Nmits the coinage to four millions a month, will have no practical forco, bocanse that sum exceads the capacity of tho mints to coin. The rostriction, how- over, in the hands of a hostile Administration might confine thoe coionge fo the minfmum. Thero i3 no more reason for suthorizing the froo coinnge of gold than there is for the froe comnage of the silver dollar. For a fow mounths, porhaps, the Government might muko n profit by buying bullion and convert- ing 1t into dollars, but tho price of silver bull- jon would rapidly advance to what silver will bo as coin, Senators Ly, of Georgis, and Liaxan, of Missigsippl, have beon counted on the side of tho goldites and against the silver dollar. Honntor Lastan s partioularly outspokon fn his opposition to silver coln. The other Benator, Hivy, is not quite so pronounced. Mo is not disposed Lo go so far in opposition to the popular sentiment of the pooplo of his State, who aro overwhelmingly in favor of ro- monetization. A Washington speoial to the Evening Journal says: The sliver men, who havo relled npon the voto of Senatar BaN HitL, of Georgls, in the Sonate, in favor of the Br.aww Siiver bill, ate greatly annoyed at his uuthoritative statoment, as foll “lam unwilllng to biave the Democratic party take a po- sition which will injure the natfonal crodit, and es- pecially unwilling that the Houth should abandon all hier old positions, prejudices, and unquestiona- blo intereat, and Join in this mad domand for the unlimitod froo colnage of tha silvar doilar and the indefinita postponowment of tho resumption of spo- cla paymotta. Asa matter of pulicy, [ protest that the Bouthern peopleshali not bo put in the attitude of even apparent hosuility to the national credit. " Benator Hutizn, of Sunth Carallns, who has been rogarded as favorable to the Braxo bill, has {nforuwed his friends that ho Ia opposed to uniimite od colnage, and he will undoublodly vote against the bill Inits present shape. Tho vote of noithor of these Senatora is needed to pass the Silver bill in the Henate. It is only in caso tho bill should ba vetoed that their votos for it would bo usoful, 'T'he assertion that the silver men Lave rolied on Sonator Hiy's voto is untrue, as ho has boen clalmed by the goldites, and conoceded to them by tho silvoer men, But mark the lavgungo he employs in defining his position. He says e **will not join fn this mad de. mand for unlimited, froo colnage of tho sllver dollar, and the indefinitsa postpone- mont of the resumption of specie pay- monta,” Thé Forr bill bofore the Senate has boen reported back by the Committes with two important amendments. 'The first limits tho coinago of silvor dollars to a maxi- mum of four millions & month,—** Not Jess than ‘two nor more thau four,” says tho bill, Senator 1Ly hos uot sald that ho would voto agmnst a limited coinage of silver dol. lars. Ho has not said ho is opposed to this amendment, e Lios not avowed auy hostilic ty to four millious n month of silver coinage. Another amendment made by Benator AvrLi. soN's Comumnitteo strikos out the *‘froe coin. age” to which Sonator Ity objects, and provides for tho purchase of bullion by the Miot at its markot prico,so that all the profit sholl go to the Government, 'Thess modi. flcations remove both of Senator HiLu's pub. licly-announced abfections to the Brawo bill, ‘The probabilitics are that he will vote for tho Bilver bill with the Arz1soN amendments, The dispatch etates that Senator Burues, of Bouth Caroliua, *‘is oppossd to unlimited coinage.” From this we infor'that ho is in favor of limited ocoinege, and Arrison's amondments provide for that. No man who wanta silver remonetized can object to four millious & month, which is a very moderate coinage. Most people would think ten millions a month for the first five years quite little enough to meet the necessitics of the gountry, In his recent speech at & Boston ** club-din- ner,” Gew. BuTiEg made some obsesrations which explain why the times contlnue to grow barder. ** Men,' by says, * canuot do business on & falling market, and they ure afrald to try, ‘The attempt to resume on gold alone s causing the perpetual shrinkage o the value of prop- erty, sud consequently fs enhsncing the weight of debts. Restoration of sliver as ledal-tender will stoo the shriukage aud start prices up- wards. This would restoro contldence in future values, aud cause enterprisiug wmen to sgulu embark in busiuess.” Says ButLgs: “ Toereatior it would bo kuown to all maukind, values ‘would go upward and upward till tacy near the valuo of the fabor and material put fnto theo, When that comes ttcre will come business. No man will bulld & ship if ho thunks that a month after it s made ite value will bo lesseaed 10 per ceut. No mauufacturer wants to make a yard of cloth when its cost ls likely to fall i mouta, und so busioces s paralyzed. But let it be understood that tho fower live of depression i3 reached; lot the passage of this Stiver bilt bo au asssursnce thut thers sball not bo thereafter soy destructiou of the values of property which bus cowe frog this attempt to reach speclo pavments, asd business will come back iu & returoing tide of prosperity all over the conntry, No clty meeds this prosperity more thau Boston, Luok at your burnt district, ‘There is no better-bullt businéss section In any city in tho world; and yet, as a whole, it does not, I belicve, pay mors than 8 per cent, and 13§ percent of that goes for taxcs, Some propls say that this depression In business Is because of over-production, and, according to that ides, the poor in this countsy may get very rich by Lelng idle a year. But the trouble Is not over- vroduction, It is under-consumption,” and a faling market with contraction of pricos that are ruining the prosperity of the country. Thero fs somothing wantlog to start business agaln, and that something is conlidence by an upward Uit In prices: Tho confidence that shall makea man feel th €an {nvest his money safely tn businest and give lahor- eraachance to work. I tell you, gentiemen, It ia no wmall matter that there sre fn this country 1,000.0.0 tille Iaboring-men. Thieinvolves a lote of 83,000,008 day: & loss which, in three years. woula ba equalto the whole natianat debt. And this denression has con- tinnied for four years. Bir, 1t would bo better 1o hava Pald thiy debt a1 & loan; aad the Toad of this debt wanld havabeen nothing if thelaborof tho conntey wera employed, lnstesd af befog clogged and hampered as [t 1sto-day. — The Now York papors are good enough in their way, and In time will - probably grow Into really fale exponents of journslism, providing - that thoy do not waste too much sinew in quarrcling among themselves. The tivuble began with tho Tridune, which paper I8 chlsty remarkablc as befng a relic of former greatness and n repository of Inflated dictlon, the latter quality belog duo to the well-known * sclentif- ical® tastes of its present proprictor, Mr. Jar GouLn. Given a phrase-book, & balf-con- temptuous and half-patronizing toue towards eversthing and everybody, a weak-legged young mon in o ragged black coat buttoned over a grimy shfrt-front, with & chew of tobacco fu his knowing check and a portentous bottla fn his scanty pocket, and you have the pleturs of the morallzing philosophier of the New York Trib- une descanting upon the vices of the age. A paper becomes odious when 1t asplica to represent in journallsm that element which in socicty s koown as shioddy. DButthe Tribune bns its weaknesees, It has devlated from its lofty attitude towards men and things so far as to solicft subscriocrs in the most imploriug tone and by extraurdina- ry methods. Thus it has offered a Web- ster’s Dictlonary worth $12 at the low price of $10 to any one who will consent to take the vaper for a perlod of five years, It fs to ho feared that tho condition Is 100 oncrous: be- sides, when one has o dictfonary, what necd hias he for the Tribune? But the other papers have taken up tho subject Istcly. The Zfmes hns sct {ts funny editor to writing column cditorials about it, and the $¥orid has printed somne ox- tiemely unplearant comments thereupon. The war [s just now at its height. Meauwhile, an interesting by-play {a zoing on between the New York Tribune and tho Cleveland Herald, which havo formed o mutual admiration soclety, or n treaty to holster each other into notoriety. The Hcra!d contalns overy day or 80 a reforcnco to the “leading journal of America,” and the Tribune priuts paragraphs about * that recent member of our atafl, Mr, E. V, SsaLLey, who is leaving tracks of a trained nowspaper hand il over the Cleveland erald,” although erdinary Teaders are unable to distioguish any tracks whatever, ————— Thero tvely canyass going on In Ohlo over the Scnatorship in Domocratlc circles, Tho Republicans, as a consequonco of thelr last Tall's follies and blunders, bnvolost the prize, and now the ambitious menof the Demoeracy ara cutting each otfier's throats fn the strife for it. Pzy. DLETOX Is cousldered to have the lead; Mor- 0AN 8 pressing his claims: Goy, Bisnor hopes tobo the dark horse. In tho meantine, Gene STREDMAN, of Toledo, and Wasu McLxax, of the Cincinnatl Enjuirer, ave actively at work fecling the Democratic pulse for themselves, Wasn and J1st were recently closcted tozether, and this is said to bo the substance of what passed Letween them: *Look liero; we have known cach other fong enough to know each other weil. You havoa big head on you. I have a big head myscll, Lot us ceano furnish. ing brains to make great men out of littlo cusses who can't learn the halt we have to tell them, and bo great mon ourselves! You sce mo to the Benate and I'll sce you eafo to thy Happy Land.” And, remarks the eavesdropper who overhieard the talk, ‘‘The programme f{s cx- cellent. It should bo prominent. Wo shoulin't be surprised If the old throat-cutters and scalp- crs were to ralss Mr. PENDLETON'S fine head of halr in the windy weather of January." em—— ‘The RotuscniLpa weradeemed good authority on money matters. No men {u Europs were supposed to be shrewde¢ or Jonger-headed than they, Iere {a-what the French meinber of that ereat house sald beforo w Monetary Convention fn Parla tn 180D: mployment of the two preeiout tise to no_complalat. Tfor the thna being, 1t {2 ulicays true that 1he e wiesals concur fogether in forming the manatary circulation of the wor(d, und 1t 10 tAe generil niss af the TWO MKTALS COMDINED the micasurs of the talus af thinze. N OF ILYER WOULD AMOUXT To 4 TRUCTION OF YALUES WITHOUT AXT [PAether golit or silter dominal And M, RowLaND, Governor of the Bank ot Fraunco, said at the same conferenco; Wehave not to desl with Idesl theorles, The twa ve actusily co-extated sinca the origln of . They ca-exiti becanse (he bioc together W therr quantity, to inees the needs of This necesaity of tha two metals, has it coasad to ex!ist? st ostablished that the quantity of actual snd prospective gold Is such that we can nuw re- nounca the uso uf ativer without disaster? Let the falling prices and rising multitudes of unemployed men answer thess questions, ——— Bays & goldite nowspaper: *CAccording to statistics furnisked In 1870 to tho English Coln- age Commission by Sir Hxcron lav, tho bullion-broker of London, the annual product of the world's gold-mines decreased from 431, 550,000 In 1853 to £18,150,000 iu 1874, and £1%- 500,000 fn 1875, which is the last year given in the table furnisbed by him. Thus It will be scen that thore bas becn a falling-off of nearly one-hall within twenty-threa years.” If the proauction of gold {s falling uft thus rapidly, I s mautfestly impolitic to demonetize stlver, and make gold tho sole metalilc tnoney of the civillzed world, As the production of gold de- clines, 1t must pecessarily grow dearcrsnd en- banca tn purchasing power, and this means that the value of property, products, and labor must constantly decline in the same ratio that gold becumvs scarcer and dearer. Men would theres fore continus to do business on a falling mur- ket, and & fullfog warkct 18 only another nate for bard tlmes. The folly of advucating the single gold standard of money must be obvious to every one not bifad as a bat In the daylight. ———— Now that tho Galazy is merged in the Atlantie Monthly, we aro compelled to take a ygloomy view of tho prospects of the Poetry of the Fu- ture, It has been alreadwlntimated fn these columns that the price of this class of literary, productions, as fixed by the mansgers of Seri> ner'a MontAly, is too low; but how disastrous will be the effect of tho preseut combidation! ‘The price may be reduced, in sccordance with tho estabilshed snd Jocyitable Jsw of supply and demand, to 34, sud eveo $3.50, and 8350 wmeans miscry, 0o beor, sulclae. Thero is an emergency, now, immediate. It is & literasy crisfs, Without deslring to Intrude upon the private eriela of the contemporary pocts, we feel called upon fu all kindocss to suggests passible reqedy, sod that ls s Poets® Unlon with » fixed scale of pricea. It s not necessary to gointo groveling detalls; the baro hint, made with ail delicacy, should be sutficient. et Benator Pavrsuson, they sav, hag bees “ making-beliove sick, In order to create sy pathy for himself. Butif he wanted to resd sume strong, hearty opinious, he should huve prewended to die and walted untll tho obitusry notices began tocome lu. His reauscitatios wuuld undoubtedly bhave pide e e— 1n bis Liverpool speech Minlster Watsu ie ferred {0 the subject of freo trade. Ho sald that the system which provailed {n England bad been adopted after carelul study and investine tun as the system wmost couducive to the fater o