Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 24, 1878, Page 4

* vourteously invited. THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY,: FEBRUARY 24, 1876—SIXTEEN. PAGES. The Teibwe, TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. VANCE—POSTAGE PREPAID. BY MAIL—IN AD S5 1 mnds; Tiouble Sheet.. 339 £aturday EdItion, 1welve pages. 200 Tri-Wegkly, one ycar..... 50 Partsof avear. per mont - ‘WEEELY EDITION, POSTPAID. & 1.30 ©ne copy, Peryear..... 130 Club of four.... Sreclmen copies sent irec. . Give Post- Ofice sddress fn fall facludiog Statesnd e draft, express, Kemittances maybe made efther by e Post-Office order, orfa registered letters, at our risk. TERMS TO CITY SUBSCRIBERS. delivered, Sundsy excepted, 25 cents ered, included, 30 cents il E‘gxdx;:y TRIBUNE COMPAXNT, Dearbora-sts.. CMr.E;o. . the deliversof Tiz TBIUNE at Evanston. zf;'fi?oii' and Hyde Park leftfn the countlng-room Wilireceive prompt atieation. i) — TRIBUNE BRANCH OFFICES. Tatly, per week. Dstls, Address Corner Madison and 1cAGO TRIDTNE has established branch offices rflh‘a‘:«!mm subscrivtions and advertiscments a1 ,O:'%";:YOP.E—RWE 29 Tribune Bulldizg. F.T. Mo- FADDEX, Manager. PARIS, France—XNo. B. ManLER, Agent. LONDOX. Eng.—Americsn Exchange, 449 Strand. 16 Rue de Ia Grange-Batelicre. SOCIETY MEETINGS. ATNTIQW LODGE. NO. 40, T, O. oA Gondar seening. ¥eb. 35, - Q. FiRegular ‘importance to every member of the nitistion’ and ‘Business of special o Todge. | Visttors cordially invited tomeet with us; 8 2 ‘Madison and Robey-sts. O'clock sharp. Corner. nsnd Roberath - o D. C. ROUNDY, Secretars. MMANDERY, X0, 1, KNIGHTS TEM: P O Gonciave of this ‘Comuandery will e held at Aéyium. 7210 78 Monroc-st.. Tucsday even: fnenest, Fob. 26, commencing prompily at half-past 7 oléigek. The Order of tge Temple wil be conferced. Visitors alwayswelcome. g D UNLOE, ecorder. NCOLN PARE CHAPTER, No. 177, R. A. M.— HEIL cotbor North Clark and Csntre-sts, - Special Con- Tocation Monday evening. Feb. 25, ai7:30 o'clock, Workonthe It 3. Degree. Visiting Gompagjon cour- teously dnvited. By Orer P STHEAT, Secretary. GO CHAFTER. B. A. M.—13t T acond st pecial Convocation ~edncsdny for work on the P. evening, Feb. 27, a 2 i & LI SMITH. Scc. CHICAGO COMMANDERT. No. 19. K. T.—Special Conclave Monday evenirg, Feb.25, 1878, :30 o'clock, for work on the K. T. Order. Visiting Sir Knighta in of the Em: Com. MEGIXY, Recorder. ord YETTE CHAPTER. NO. 2, R. A. M.—THall 72 ML dated Canvocation Nonday crening. Feh. 25, at 7% o'clock, for bisiness and work on the Mark " Visitors cordially” fnvited, | By order KEID, H. P. . TOCKER, Secretary. EN CORINTHIAN CHAPTER, NO. 69. R. A. M. Reguiar Convocation Monday evening Feb. 23, at 7:30 ‘clock. Workon thie 13, A, Degrec. By order e i 1., BARNARD, IT. P. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1878. CHICAGO MARKET Y. ¥ The Chicago produce markets were only mod- erately actise Saturday, and breadstafls were irreg- ularly firmer. Mess pork closed without change from Thursdsy, at $10.30@10.32% for March and $10.473@10.50 for April. Lard closed steady, at S7.30 for March and S7.40@7.42 for April. Meats were steady, at $3.62%% per 100 Ibs for boxed shoulders and $5.37% for do short ribs. Whisky was steady, at $1.04 per gallon. Flour wis quiet. Wheat closed 1c higher, at S1.07% for February and $L08 for March. Corn closed 3¢ higher, at 42%c for Febroary and 43%c for May. Oats closed 3%@Xc higher, at 24¥c for February and 27%c for May. Rye was steaay at54c. Barley closed dull and %c lower, at 45kc forMarch. Hogs closed steady ot $3.75@4. Cattle were nominally unchanged at $2.50@5.25. Sheep were steady at $3.0084.75. Since Nov. 1 Chicago hds packed 2,374,310 hogs, apumst 1,535,720 in the same time one year previously. The packing of the West to date is estimated at 6.050,000 head, 39% per cent of which has been done in thiscity. Received in Chicago last week, 70,777 brls flour, 584,831 bu wheat, 458,053 bu corn, 240,659 bu oats, 10,272 ba rye, 64,786 bu barley, 6.955 dressed hogs, 153,500 live hogs, and :19,365 cattle. Exported from New York last week, 50,445 brls floor, 870,174 bu wheat, 375, .274 bu corn. Inspected into store in this city Sat- -urdsy morning: 114 cars wheat, 181 cars corn, 27 cars oats, 5 cars rye, 26 cars barley. Total, 363 cars, 0r 163,000 bn. One hundred dollars in gold would buy $102.00 in greenbacks at the close. British consols were quoted at 95 5-16 and sterting exchange at S4.59. In New York on Saturday greenbacks wers steady at 95. * An ensy method of raising s'sou,ooo 8 year for the city is proposed in TEE TRmMUNE'S local columns. Although it is a little early in the season, the Sultan is already talking of going to his summer residence across the Bosphorus, So much has been said about the new Pope that all of our readers, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, will be inter:sted in the picture which we reproduce this morn. ing from Fraxs Lesure's Nllustrated Weekly. It is the best likeness of Lzo XIIL yet pub- lished. It is considered probable in Washington that the President will veto the Silver bill, but there is much less feeling on the subject than there would be if his action could be expected {0 interfere with the final adoption of the measure. At least one Senator—Hru, of Georgia—has signified his intention to no longer oppose the wishes of his constituency, and to vote for the Silver bill over the Presi- dent® veto. An enthusiastic dignitary of the African Methodist Church has described to our cor- respondent in Philadelphis the agitation among the colored people of the South in favor of emigration to Liberia. According to his report it is a second exodus,—only of the children of Haxr instend of the children of SmEw,—and, like the English war-party, they’ve got the men, they've got the ships, and they've got the money, too. ——— The failure of the anti-Russian meeting held some weeks ago in Trafalgar Square, London, has not utterly discouraged the Ppeace advocates, and they are going to try oguin to-dny. The place chosen for the mass-meeting is Hyde Park, which has wit- Tessed many agrest popular demonstration in bygone years. It is to be feared that the anti-Russians will not have an altogether comfortable time of it, as their opponents have .delexmined upon holding another mass- eeting simuoltaneously in the neighborhood. The plece chosen for the Intter demonstrn- tion is the Marble Arch, which is the north- ern entrance to Hyde Park. However tho two meetings may come out, they will serve to occupy and amuse the populace for a fow hours on §udny afternoon, when the Lon- don workingman is generally athis wits’ end 1o pass away the time. e The remark of the London Telegraph that nothing could well be darker thadx:g:hf pres- cnt prospect embodies in a phrase the entire European sitnation. The uneasiness caused by the known features of the crisis is en- hanced by thevery fact that so much is un- knowh and unknowable until officially pro- mulgated. In the absence of definito information concerning the signing of ihe pesce conditions by the Turkish Government, contradictory dispatches are fiying sbout Europe thicker than the famous Vallombrosa lesves. What we hear from St. Petersburg is denied from Constantinople, ar comes in & parverted shape from Berlin and Paris. It 'is difficult to eliminate from these varying statements anything which can be depended upon to be corroborated by subsequent events. We can readily beliove the carefully-qualified utterance‘of the Lon- don Times correspondent at St. Petersburg, that the cordiality between the Russian and German Courts has not increased much late- Iy, olthough it would require pretty strong evidence to convince us that there is any ill- feeling between the two allies. There is matter for congratulation in the result of the trial of the two young despera- does Cosvezry and Smeser. Their crime was of the darkest sort, and was easily snd clearly proven; yet, such has been the luck of persons heretofore charged with murder in Chicago in escaping entirely or with a light sentence, that our citizens have como to look upon the Criminal Court of Cook County merely as a place where gentlemen of spirit and sang froid are 1nvited to exhibit themselves during the ceremony of being presented with the freedom of the city. The convietion of Coxserry anfl Smzrer comes thereforo at & most proper moment, and, it is to be hoped, will serve as a stern reminder - to rogues and ruffisns for s long ‘time in the fature. It is all the more welcome because of the unfortunate collapse of the Ranpe trial at Galesburg, commented upon in another column. Both cases were alike in one re- spect: the prisoners were plainly shown to have committed unprovoked murder. That the Chicago jury sentenced SmEgRY and Cox- ~ELLY to be hung, while the Knox County jury remanded RANDE to imprisonment for lifo, is creditable to the former body, and affords our citizens an assurance that at least we are not 8o remiss in the sdministration of justice as are other communities. It is now five years since a murderer has been hung in this city,—the case of Darver in 1873 being the last, although several have been executed in neighboringtowns whither they had taken changes of venue. The last double hanging was in 1865, when Frexnnsg and ComseTT were executed for the killing -of n defense- less old man. The attorneys for SHEmRY and CoxzerLy have made the usual motion for a new trial, but it will nndoubtedly be overruled by Judge JasesoN to-morrow. THE CITY APPROPRIATIONS. So far as the City Council have progressed with the anunal appropriations in the Com- mittee of the Whole, there is no indication of either of the two concessions demanded by the people and the interests of the city, viz.: (1) That there shall be a material reduction in the tax-levy of the present year to corre- spond with the business losses, the shrinknge of values, and the decreased capacity of the people to pay ; and (2)provision for accumu- lating a fund wherewith to inangurate the policy of “Payas you go” out of unex- pended balances. sOne of these demands (the reduction of the tax-levy) the people would be willing to abandon, if they were assured of the honest and determined policy of the City Government to save out of this tax-levy one-half or one-third with which to start out in the following year. So far, the totals of the appropriations for the cur- rent year are a little in excess of those of last year, and the indication is that, after the Committee of the Whole shall have gone through tho entire list, the total will be about equal to that of last year, or in the neighborhood of $4,000,000. Dar- ing the consideration of the subject in Com- mittee of the Whole there is no opportunity for holding the Aldermen individually re- sponsible, as there will be when they come to vote on the final passage of the Appropri- ation bill; but the Aldermen should all take warning that, in the present-temper of the taxpayers, the latter are not willing to toler- ate the laissez-faire policy which has brought the Municipal Government into its present embarrassments. The public expect from the City Council some solution, or at all events some intelligent effort at solution, of the difficulties in which the city has become involved; and, if disappointed in this ex- pectation, the pecple will look about them next April to discover more competent men to legislate for their intcrests and control their finances. The Council thus far have followed in the old rut of itemizing with the minutest de- tail all the expenditures in every depart- ment and branch of the Municipal Govern- ment. They are evidently bound down of their own habit or through their advisers to the provisions of the old Special Charter, and hence regard it as essential that they shall absolutely fix the salary or wages of every employe as well as every officer of the City Government, and also determine the number of employes and the preciseé propor- tion of expenditures for the various details required by the different branches. There is nothing in the General In- corporation Act (which has been the City Charter ever since April, 1875) that requires this rigid and iron-bound system. The General Charter (Art. V., Sec. 1, Par. 2) provides that the Common Council shall have power ‘‘ to appropriate money for cor- porate purposes only,” and the next parn- groph authorizes the levy and collection of taxes to meet such appropriations. This General Charter in the same article and sec- tion (Par. 71) makes an explicit distinetion between officers and employes of the city by authorizing the Council ““to provide by ordinance in regard to the relation between all the officers and the employes of the corpo- ration in respect to each other, the corpora- tion and the people.” Finally (Sec. 241 of the General Incorporation Act), it is made the duty of the City Council *to establish and fix the amount of salary to be paid any and all city officers, as the case may be, except members of such legislative body, in the aunual Appropriation bill or ordinance made for the purpose of provid- ing for the annual expenses of any such city, or by some ordinance prior to the pas- sage of such annual Appropriation bill or or- dinance.” Under the provisions of the present Char- ter it is manifestly unnecessary for the Coun- cil to enter into any further minutim in the general appropristion ordinance than to fix the salaries of the officers of the City Gov- ernment and stipulate the general corporate purposes for which the appropriations shall be expended. The subsequont partition of the money so appropriated among the em- ployes of the city or in the items of expend- iture mny then be left to the Executive branch of the City Government, of which the Mayor is tho responsible head, or be directed by the Council in separate ordinance or ordinances. The ad- vantage of this enlarged freedom under the present charter, in the present instance, 18 that money may be saved out of the ‘appro- priations by a prudent and economical ad- ministration of affairs. It involves, of course, .lhe risk of trusting to the honesty and capac- ity of the City Government the duty of ex- pending less than has been appropriated ; but the peopls must trust to these persons in any event. Besides, if the old rale be followed of itemizing every salary paid an employe and every purpose for which a dol- lar shall be expended, there is little doubt that all the money appropriated mu be expended; if left to the dis- cretion of the city officers, they can do no more than this, but can, if favor- ably disposed, make judicious retrenchments and lay up a handsome unoxpended balanco for next yesr. Thero isstill timo for the Comncil to adopt this plan before finally passing the Appropriation bill, if they can bo made to understand their suthority to do so and the advantnges that may be secured thereby. é Thero is danger that most of the Aldermen will allow their apprehensions to be allayed by the propased plan of issuing warrants or orders on the City Trensurer in denomina- tions of &5, reccivablo for city taxes and ne- gotiable in the hands of holders at a reason- able discount for that renson. But it must not be - forgotten that this cscape has been suggested, not as a desirable thing in itself, but as the most practicable and least objectionable means of averting the necessi- ty for an absolute suspension of the City Government. Nobody contemplates & per- manent continuance of such a system with complacency, and there is good resson to suspect that it would eventually fall into dis- repute, and become a sorious burden to city employes, as well as an injury to the city’s credit. What is demnnded of this Council, therefore, is that it shall begin a system of appropriations and expenditures which, in two years at most, will reliove tho city from the necessity of resorting to Treasury war- rants or orders to be hawked about for dis- count. ——— THE OLDEST WORK OF FICTION. The oldest work of fiction extant is the Book of Job, which was written, according to the best authorities, twenty-one conturics before Cmrist. Supposing Moses to have been the author of it, as is now generally believed, he must be awarded not only the distinction duo to the Great Imwgiver, but that which belongs to the first and greatest of the epic poets. For it must bo conceded that Job is an epic poem, falfilling as it doces all but one of the conditions of that order of composition. Treating of an ele- vated subject, employing vivid and intense imagery, and introducing noble personages, it constitutes almost a perfoct specimen of a poem of its kind. It wants only the form of un epic work. From a literary point of : view, as from all others, it remains to this day unrivaled in grandeur and sublimity; baut it has not been much regarded in this aspect, principally because its tremendous moral has swallowed up its merits of another kind. Few persons who read the answer of the Lord out of the whirlwind, which begins in the thirty- cighth and continues through the three subsequent chapters, reflect that it is by far the most successful of all efforts in literature tn put speechinto the mouth of the Almighty. The tendency is to dwell upon the matter rather than the mauner of whatever occurs in the Bible. Aside from any considerations as to the inspired nature of the book, whioh does not enter into the present inquiry, it is true that the rudeness of the age in which the Book of Job was written helped to make it highly poetical. The well-knowa literary principle that the earliest agos of men were the most poetical, and the first and most natural speech & form of poetry, is illustrated and exemplified in Job. It logically follows that remote ages must produce the freest and most spontancous poetical writings, and there, as a matter of fact, theyare to be found. Next to the Biblical poetry, the best and oldest poems of which we have any knowledge are the “Iliad” and *‘ Odyssey,” and in them, asin all the Persian and Indian literature, gill be perceived something like the same effects produced by strong imagina- tions and comparatively undeveloped reason- ing foculties. Tho Book of Job has historical as well as literary value. In Scribner's Monthly for March Dr. Honrasp says: “We presumo there may be some men loft who read the Book of Job as a veritable history, but those who are capable of judging will simply place it at the head of the realm of fiction.” So far is this from being the case, that those who are moro capsble of judging have done nothing of the kind. The eminent and de- vout Dr. Krrro in his Bible Nlustrations holds, in substance, that Job is a fiction founded on fact. In support of this position, he mentions the particular description of pessons and places in which the book abounds. It is altogether improbable, he argues, that in a work of pure invention, names should be given with such care. He might have added that a work of pure inven- tion was not likely to grow up in the early age ascribed t¢ Jos. Even the luxuriant imaginations of the ancients were not equal - to such a task, possibly be- cause they were tempered by habits of veracity which have been mova or less discarded in our time. Whether the gods and heroes of the Greeks did exist or not, and whether their achievements were exactly as described, may well be doubted; but there can be no question that there was at 1cast a basis of fact for the Iliad, and it was believed to boall true by those who first heard it sung. There was a Troy and an AGayEs- Nov ; probably also an Aomriizs, o Mexe- 4TS, an Asax, 8 HEcToR, and a Prraxt; and CLYTEMXESTRA, HELEN, and ANDROMACHE are ‘more likely to have lived than not. It is the actions which have been attributed to them rather than the personsges themselves that aro fictitious. So it is in the case of Jom. He was 8 man who lived in Uz, which has been assigned to Northern Arabia. His patri- archal ' character i3 sufficiently evident from the inventory of his wenlth, which consisted of sheep, camels, oxen, and asses. But he lived after the pnstoral nge, for he had a town house, and all hs sons were provided with dwellings. Ho seems also to have been & magistrate. His wenlth was, for those times, princely, his cattle alone being valued at $150,000 to $200,000, and money then being worth many times more in exchange than it is at presont. The fam- ily relations of Jom were fortunate. He had seven sons and three danghters, all of them dutiful and affectionate; his wife was a good sort of woman, perhaps a little vigor- ous in her speech, but, under ordinary oir- cumstances, o true helpmeet. She ro- proached him, it is true, when his afflictions came, but in this respect she was no worse than wives have been before and since. She was in all else an embodiment of the homely virtues. There was, indeed, much to make Jon happy. He had troops of friends, dis- tinction, authority, and, above all, a pious dis- position which would have brought him con- tentment if his possessions had been far less than they were. It is to be observed also that the intellectnal condition of the age waos not 50 dark as many have supposed. There were books and writings. He says: “O that my words were now written. O + that they wero printed in n book! That thoy werg graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever!” It is mot to bein- ferred from this passage that Jop had any premonition of the art of printing, or that he forestalled Favst and GUTTENBERG in conceiving the iden of movable type. Tho use of the word ¢ printed” in this connec- tion is a lydicrobs blunder of the translators. But the passage does show that he had Imowledge of four different ways of record- ing thought, and thesears given by Krrro thus: > O that my words wero now recorded! O that they wera cnzraven upon a tablot! With an fron graver upon lead; That they were graven in a rock forever! Nor need the moral pature of Jon have fatled for want of nourishment. He is de- seribed as o perfect—. ¢., & complete—man, accustomed to do that which was just, and to distribute justice among his fellow-men. He was conscious of ,having led an upright life; for he defended himself most strenu-- ously bofore his friends when they attempt- ed to explain his calamities as * Providential dispensations ” and *“merited punishment for his sins.” He ' was only overpowered in this argament by the voice of Deity itself, which, for the purposes of epic poetry, ap- propriately brought the discussion to a close. 1t does not appear that Jon had any idea of a future life. The celebrated passage which hos been used- to support this theory and which has evon passed into HANDEL's great oratorio of *“The Mwssiah,” is proved to be a mistranslation. I know that my Redeemer livoth” should read “I know that my Vin- dicator (or Avenger) liveth, and the wlrole passage should rend thus: I know that my Vindicator (or Avenger)liveth, and shall here- after appenr upon tho eatth; and thongh with my skin this body bo wasted away, yet in my flesh shall I sece Gon.” The meaning is that Jos has faith in his recovery and restoration to prosperity; and he docs, in- deed, at the end of tho poem, o8 he predicts he will, see Gop in the flesh. It would be presumpiuous to attempt any paraphrase of the sublime poetry which carries forward the argument of tha story of Jon. The greatest epic which the Christian era has produced is by comparison artificial, and its discussion of moral themes labored and inconclusive. The purposes of the pres- ent article will be answered if it shall direct the] attention of a fow jrenders to this and other boautiful poems contained in the Bible, and, by reminding some who have forgotten that * Esther,” * Ruth,” and “Job” are delightful compositions, contribute to their entertainment and improvement. REVENUE FROM LICENSES. The law of the State cmpowers the Gov- ernments of cities to require licenses for the transaction of certain occupations, and to fix the rates to be paid for such licenses. The average annual revenue collected from licenses in Chicago has been for some years about £300,000. Considering the financial oxigencies of the city, aud that the revenue from licenses is easily collected, and is col- lectable at any time of the year when reve- nue is especinlly désirable, the quostion is mooted strongly whether the license-list may not be revised nn:l enlarged, and the rates of licenses readjusted, in order that, without incrensing general taxation oppressively, something may not thus be added to tho proper revenucs of the city. The City Charter enumerates specifically the purposes for which licenses may be required, and the City Council has full power to prescribe the rates. Among others of whom license-fees may be exacted are hawkers, peddlers, pawn- brokers, keepers of ordinaries (eating- houses), theatrical and othor exhibitions, shows, hackmen, draymen, omgibusrdrirers, carters, cabmen, porters, oxpressmen, and others pursuing like ‘ocenpations, ranners for stages, cars, public houses; billiard and other similar tables, ten-pin and ball-alleys, and the selling of liquors, the sale of meats, poultry, fish, ete.; auctioneers, distillers, browers, lumber-yards, livery-stablas, money changers and brokers, second-hand and junk stores. This is the list of persons and occupations that may be tazed by license. The most im- portant of these in the way of numbers aro tho saloons. The whole number of saloons licensed in this city is somewherenear 2,800, and the rate is $52 each. Can the revenus from licenses be increased? Two modes may be suggested: Ono is to add to the list of persons and occupations to be licensed ; and the other is to add to the rate of the liconse. The uniform rate of $52 a year for ench saloon hardly amounts to a tax for that class of saloops which do the largest busi- ness. Leaving out of view all thought of using the Liconse law as n means of prohi- bition, there might with some propriaty bo made a distinction between saloons so as to divide theiz into two classes: (1) Those tint sell beer and wino oxclusively ; (® those that scll all kinds of lig- uors. The incroase of the license-fee to $100, instead of, $52, would add S140,- 000 to'the revenue from that source, while, if the incrense was confined to thoseé saloons whichsell all Ionds of intoxicating beverages; the revenue would be increased to a smaller extent. In either case an effect would be to close up many saloons, and that would be beneficial. In regard to the saloons of a general character, it is not likely that there would be nny serious objection by the respectable houses, which would willingly pay $100 to $125 a year if by so doing other and disreputable establishments would be closed. The exaction of a license from brew- ers and distillers, if mnde sufficiently large, would add somothing handsome to the pub- lio revenue. The exnction of a license from horse-cars has already been agitatod, and it is claimed that 310,000 a year may bo ob- tained from that source. How far the exist- ing rates of license can be increased with fairness is a matter for the Council to con.- sider. o The following is & list of occupations now licensed by the city, with the rates paid by each : Annual rate, $200.00 Intelligenc Junk-dealers. Scavengers, wazon. Wagons (donble) ‘Wagons (single).... Pool-tables. .. Commissionaires. Packing, rendering, efc . Milk-wagon... Shooting-gallery.... . . Our system of taxation is nota flexible one. The science of legislation and of tax- ation for rovenue has not progressed far enough in this State to admit of the raising of revenue by license rather than by the ponderous, unequal, and inefficient attempt to tax by valuation. The tax on merchan- dise, a8 now attempted in this city, is con- fessedly abortive. The Assessors’ return of the value of taxnble morchandiso in all Chi- cogo in 1877 was §7,308,000. The sales of merchandise—excluding grain and provie- jons—at wholesale in Chicago during 1877 footed up somothing liko §280,000,000. Our Revenue law in grasping after revenue from atax by valuntion on merchandise over- reaches itself, and tho return is an aggregate taxable valuation of ‘$7,500,000,—the other £270,000,000 escaping taxation altogother. This is one of the evils of the system, and only to be cured by a radical reform of the whole system. If, in lieu of this plan of toxing merchandise by valuation, there was & license system by which a seale of licenses to sell- merchandise was established, by which, on the 1st day of July annmally, every wholesalo dealer in Chicago should mske spplication for a liconse, in which he should, upon his last year's business, state the probable aggregate of his annual sales for the year, and pay & license proportioned thereto, then every dealer would pay a proportionate tax, and there would be no escaping. ~ The revenue, would all be collected frec of cost, and the merchants paying their license would have no other tax to pay on their merchandise. We need not add that, even at arate of license computed at a very low pro- portion of 1 per cent on sales, the revenuo from that source alone would contribute largely to tho city support. An averagerate of liconse of $10 for ecach retail dealer, in licu of taxation on stock, would be moderate, ensily collected, would be equitable, and would furnish nlarge revenue. We, how- ever, have o cast-iron system of taxation which in & most remarkable manner defeats the special purpose for which it was invent- ed, and that was to compel personal proper- ty to pay taxes. Under the law, after ex- cluding tho personal property on farms, not more than 15 per cent of the personal prop- erty in the State is ever found by the Asses- sor, and the rest conscquently escapes taxa- tion. RANDE'S SERTENCE, The result of the trial ot the desperado RaxDE is a libel upon the name and meaning of justice. It reduces the trial to the char- acter of a farco. It puts a low estimate up- on the valuo of human life, It threatens the safoty of society. It offers a premium to every bratal villsin to carry out his blood- thirsty instincts and give free scope to his revenges. It clavates this desperado among his fellows to the position of a hero. By the side of such a finding as this, which sends this desperado to the Penitentiary and saves his worthless life, the decisions of Judge Lynch may be considered almost equitable, legal, and dignified. Outside of the jury that made the decision, the wretch who is spared, and that impecunious advocate of the abolition of capital punishment who tramps about the country seeking to impress his maudlin sentiments upon people, there is no one who will not see in this verdict a delib- orato and dangerous assault upon society, and an incentive to other murderers to carry out their brutal purposes. The epecific act for which this man was tried was the murder of CnAnrEs BELDEN, a worthy citizen of Gilson, Knox Co. On a Sunday morning in August, 1877, while the family wero at church, RANDE committed n burglary upon the premises of Wooprorn Prence. He was teento enter the premises. Following his tracks, the citizons discovered his hiding-place. Ho attempted to escape, whon Mr. BELDEN called out to him to halt. He turned and shot BeLpex dead, danger- ously injured one and slightly wounded two others of his pursuers, and temporarily made good his escape. In the vicinity of his hiding-place were found the tools with which he had forced his way into Prerce’s house, aud a portion of the property which he had stolen. The evidenco was absolute as to the identity of RANDE as the man who com- mitted the burglary and shot BELDEN. Thero waos no doubt on either point; and yet, with this clear tostimony of the double crime of burglary and murder before them, with the positive evidence that he was n professional burglar and outlaw, that he was armed and resisted arrest to the Iast, and that he had been a desperado all his life, priding himself upon the number he had killed and publicly boasting his inten- tion to kill more when the opportunity offered, this jury availed itself of the option of the Jaw to send him to the Penitentiary for life instead of to the gallows, upon no other possible pretense than that he was de- fending his rights as a citizen against thoso who were secking to arrest him without a warrent., Had his counsel brought up any record of past good conduct, had they shown that his reputation previous to this murder was good; that ho had been a peaceable man; that he was insano at the time, and did not know what he was doing, or that he commutted the act under some nncontrollable impulse, tho jury might plead some justifica~ tion for its astounding verdict,—a verdict so utterly at variance with all idens of Inw, equity, justice, and the simplest precautions of personal safoty, as almost to convince one that jury trials are farces instituted to save criminals from the laws they have violated instead of punishing them for the violation where the violation is clearly proven. In RANDE'S case there was not an event in his career that could be dis- torted into an extenuation of his guilt. His whole life had been one of crime. He had been in the Penitentiary before. He was publicly known asa thief and a murderer, whose hands were against society. He had committed wholesale murder in St. Elmo and St. Louis. His record was stained with blood, and he took pride init. He boasted of being an outlaw, and from the time of his arrest to his conviction he has threat- ened revonge. Under such circum- stances, the astonishing conduct of this' jury in awnrding him a life- term in the Penitentiary is simply incompre- hensible. * Hnd they acquitted him and jus- tified him in the killing of Berpry, the ver- dict would have been mors logical and con- sistent from their standpoint than the one they have rendered. If they believed ho was defending his rights as a citizen, cer- tainly they ought not to shut him up for the rost of his life. If he was not defonding his rights, then he committed a cold-blooded murder, which was aggravated by his pre- vious record as & murderer and the desperate character of his whole life, and which should have been punished with the extreme rigor of the law. The flagrant injustice of this verdict does not end with its announce- ment., RANDE goes to his old home, the Penitentiary, with & very woll-ground- ed hope, based ‘upon the experience of other murderers and criminals, that in the course of a few ' years, if ho behaves himself in his prison-life, he will be pardoned out. - There have been Govornors of this State always ready to cx- tend the Executive clemency upon almost any showing. So long as there 18 a possibility that one of this maundlin class exists,—and he msy be the very next Governor,—RANDE has clear grounds for expecting his release; be- cause others have been pardoned who have committed the sama class of crimes. Con- sidering this man’s life and carcer, the crimes ho has perpetrated in the past, and the murder for which he was tried, his pun- jshment is no punishment at all. He will make no expiation for this murder, and his rescue from the gallows which he so richly merits tends to encourage every brute in the State to imitate his example, with the ex- pectation of similar immunity. THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN. Co-education of men and women goes for- ward more rapidly in conservative Britain than in the United States. The Cambridge examinations for women were ‘the model of the Harvard examinations, and another uni- versity—that of London—has just made the most radieal innovation yet attempted by any of the leading schools of the world in this direction. The University of London has thrown open- all its degrees to women equally with men. The standard of this Unrversity is higher than that of Cambridge or Oxford ; its degrees can be obtained only by success in examinations ,conducted in o very severo manner by specialists with whom cram counis for nothing, and are consequently valued higher by workers than those - of the more aristocratic colleges. The importance to women of this action by tho University is very great, for the University is char- tered by Parliament, and its graduates have a right to practice the professions for which they obtnin degrees. A woman who obtains from the University of London the degres of AL D. can at once begin to practice, and her possession of such a diploma will go far towards securing her support. The admis- sion of women to all the examinations of the University is the result of a strugglé that has been in action for many years. The eminent GroTE, who once presided over the Senate, or Board of Trustees, sought to obtain for women the privileges of the University ; but his plea that the University should be open to the sex of Mrs. SoxEn- viurE as well as to the sex of La Prace was unsuccessful, though unnnswer‘able. More than a year ago the governing body of the TUniversity voled in favor of admitting women to the medical course. The graduste doctors of the in- stitution at once rose in opposition, and frankly admitted they were afraid of the competition of women. They insisted 1t was not fair to single out the medical pro- fession for such damnging rivalry. The Senate responded by a resolution that women be admitted to examinations for all the de- grees. Although their decision was final sc- cording to the charter, they agreed to sub- mit the matter to a vote of tho gradnates, by whom, notwithstanding the most desperate opposition of the doctors, it was ratified by 242 t0 132. Women are now free to pursue any profession in England for which they can obtain a diplomsa from the University of London, and they may enter the University irrespective of their nationality or their previous place of study. The Louisiana Democrats are having thsir own sweet will about this time, and are doing their best to keep before the public. Their tool, Judge WaITTAKER, yesterday de- nied the motion for a new trial in the case of Gen. ANDERsoN, whose conviction by a packed jury we have already circumstantinlly parrated. Somebody elso’s turn may come soon, and the Nicrorzs Governmént will not spread tho peacock tail of triumph with quite 50 much conspicuousness. —m There is a firm in Cleveland engazed in the opublication of music which hasmadea specialty of gongs that occupy the same relative place in musicas BEADLE'S Dime Novels'in literatare. These songs are printed with highty-liluminated frontispieces and with viznettes in which wooden-headed cherubs and vngainly young women strive for the mastery in badness of execution. The words are usoally after the order of those which the “Sweet Singer of Michigan” so frequently gives us, and either treat of old moral truisms or tell plaintive stories of love In astyle calculated to delight the readers of the Waverley Magazine and New York Ledger. The titles of tho songs are usually touching and tender, as for instance: # Little Robin Tell Kitty,” “Father will Settle the Bill,”” * Call Me when Breakfast is Ready,” *t Gone Through the Beautiful Gate,” ‘*How the Gates Came Ajar,” *I Stand on Memory's Golden Shore,” “Little Blue-Eyed Stranger,” « Gentle Sister, Kiss Me Kindly,”? “She Died 18+ the Want of a Friend,” * Trust Me, Darling, T'Il be True,” *Give My Button-String to 8is- ter,” ete. The same firm has now capped the climax with a song which lies before us. It is entitled, ** Grease the Griddle, Birdie Darling,” and the title-paze informs us that *‘ One appli- cation effects a cure,” and that *“Younz mar- ried p:ople with limited mcans should follow the instructions hercin given.” The words of this toucning ballad run as follows: Grense the griddle, Birdic darling, Greaso it over with some lard. Softly pour the shining batter On the griddle, warm and hard! Darlite, I am growing hunery, Gently tarn my little cake, Keep, O keep it now from burning, — Use it gently for my sake. Grease the griddle, Birdie darling, Do not let me plead in van, For I smell the savory smell, love, Of tzose buckiwheat cakes again. Tell, O tell me, Birdie darling. Thave you baked them as of yore? Do not waste that cake, my darling, Raise {1 gently from the floor. Chorus—{Belf-ralsing, with stove-handle accom- B paniment— Darling, gently stir the buckwheat With the Cincinnati spoon. Grease the griddle, Birdic darling; Bring the buckwhent very soon. The chorus closes with the injunction, *Shake rourself before goinz down to the office.” The marks of cxpression are profusely scattered throughout the picce, and the instructions are very carefully given. At the outset comes the startling notice, “Wipe off your chin before singing.” At the third bar it is announced that in place of lard, *‘a piece of suet will answer; gow It up in nrag.” At the seventh bar it s suzgested that ** another damper had better bo opened.” At the tenth, you are warned against sitting down upon the greaser. At the thir- teenth, the author sugzests that ““if the cat’s in the oven she had better be taken out.” At the fiftecnth, you are reminded “it is a good place to put your socks on and get ready for breakfast.” The chorus is comparatively with- out instructions, except that the accompanist should not pick her tceth with a hairpin, and that f means “*fricd fat.”” The whole picce is very cleverly and wittily sct; but the funniest feature of its issue is that the firm prints it over its name withont sceming to be aware that it is 2 broad burlesque and capital satire upon the musical swash which comes from that house in an almost endless stream, not one plece of which s any better than this burlesque. As they have consented to their own punishment over thelr own signature, however, it does not become us to find fault. —— ‘The latest contested will-case fn New York 1s that instituted by the immediate descendants of the late Mrs. CAROLINE MERRILL, a0d the de- velopments bave been about as sensational in character a5 were thosc of the Lorp case. In one of the letters written to Mrs. MERRILL by Mr. GEoRGE MERRILL, that young gentleman tells as romantic a love-storyas everembellished the pages of a yellow-covered novel. The girl whosc hand he aspired tohe met at Mrs. MiLLs® party in a New York bali-room. Sheletfalla bouquet. He picked it up and asked to retain it. She refused, but favored trope andanazalea, accompane: finite sweetness. From that moment he madly in love. Aftera fey meetings iy he proposed and was refused, I . b 2 clog Tong letter with the following pathoge . T vontnced all and lost, 1 ahall perc PSR myreif from soclets, bud farewell to s !ty of love. and work nenceforth for facy ¢ am aware, a mlscravie snistitata, bay 1 is leff to me. She shall one day acprobis, 1 was as deserving of her as be, that is snccesstul in wi; blame her. I cannot biame canse I conld not help it. no attractions, except the from the conaclomsncas of dag hix:; with g b d by a smue.?’ t ) a7 acknow - . whoer, nnin her, g2 mYselr, T jogegR Life his now for and the respect and eat ¥t My heare has no hencon 15«635’(2::’-{ o = and no lizht from the past ro chee: i memory of Extsta Latso, =H Nevertheless, it appears that he.g < made another appeal to the nbjm?:‘-"‘m! tions, and with better sucress, for 1 m'; "AL!&: e preceg; suit she figures as Mrs. Gzonce Meanyy, ——— Te the Editor of The T; Crtcaco, Teb. 201 havo roag oo Tueday's TinCSE Tpon free sofaeny it n 70U altempt to show that the Goperess g, 1 Thich rive no orofit, v the milver marger gy Ml de: ; from coinaze under the Braxp o} e e Wy, ; the Senate.” Bt 1 fall to sce thegeatiiel by tho light in which you view it. - Ler o b 26h iy Instance, that the market valus of L0 0% of pnre stiver is 92 cents, and that o gi11d, T buys 37,125 erains upon thin bactis SOreaRE dags' time. This would cost gty Now let us suppose furthor toat ppeionel: SL days' time_tne Goserument cofae 28 thres grains of silver Into 100 @aliapope, 41 3. these dollar-pieces pavs for its paijes’ M 06t or $01: would 1t ot have mae g i 0z | over, and would not this ve profit (LRt It ¢ When. the value of 371} mmaing of g quoted at 91 cents, that means 91 cents e Converting the $71%{ grains of sil will not give that weieht of gl tional value in gold. The sflver chase 371 crains of silver, o 2 nd no Three bundred and seventy-one and ageqer i of silver carnot be oorchased g . - silver, nor for loss than one dollar I sier o clamor about the #reat profits to result frp.. making 9l-cent dollars was g)] fnudn!r:"‘l Under free colnage. the public would oy - cost of coinage: but under the bill as it pag, ,: the Government will bear the whole m;& i colnage, and without any profit. ) o e R It was a seafaring man named § - DDBAD according to the Arabian Nights sery, by wrecked on what be and his conraies o be = desert island, but whith sukequeg proved to be the back of a whale. Almost 2 curious as this, and. needless to say, o mg thentic, was thie expericnce of a shiy's cren -1 2uiday Save gy fn zold, er tnto cup Ve any adyi. doNar wilp pur- P T ] T 37 0R tareg ‘ R S latety anchored off the coast of Newfoundiany, g They were surprised to obscrve one that, althoush the sails were not sc:n:;:;?;: anchor was still overboard, the vessel was nde way and going at the rate of twelre kmots hour. It was soon found that an enormezy. whale had been caught in the cable and wy dragging ship. auchor, and cable as fastashy could zo. Great was thie astonishment of th crews of other vessels who saw the phenomensy of 2 schooner scuttling merrily alons withe sail or wind, recalling legends of the Phanwn Ship, and The bosun tignt And the midshipmite And the crew of fue Nancy Brig. Fortunately the monater of the deep taoks scaward dlircction, and finally Lie cable brogs and released him from his seif-imposed task, o —— Tt js nearly a year since cirenlard were seat tered over the country announcing in sedactive imagery and flowing language the project ofs great scientifle cxpedition around the world, Who the originators of the scheme were nobody seemed to know, althouzh a man named Woop- RUFF was nominally in charee, and it was called the Woopruer Expedition. Subseribers were only to pay $3,000 cach for the privilege of eir- cumnarigating the globe under exceptionally favorable auspices, combining pleasure and in- struction as they never were combined before. But the expedition was put off a one timeand another, subscribers were few, and now the whole scheme has beenshown to beonly a specu- lation by 2 couple of impecunious gentlemen from Indianapolis who were going fn oa their checlk to buy a ship and fit it for this long voy- B age, expecting to enjoy a wide margin of proft, ; i To the Editor of The Tribune. 3 Ciicaco, Feb. 23.—Please inform ontaiden §: what i3 meant by **free coinage” by3(r. Buxo :. in his Silver bill. Has It reference to the quutity § of kilver bullion to be cotned of the ‘size (wejght) & of thedoliar? Eversboiy is glad thathey ars go- ing to sce silverin circulation agatn, out ever don't know rehat we have gor, - \e aroawaze that Noiw now wa it cook Mr. Brasn? Howbig s dollar does he waat? and how many of them! an: what really have we got by the _passageof the hill yesterday? ¢ Joux 0. Baows. Free coinage means that any person may de- posit silver metal at the Mint and bave thesams coined into dollars by payine the cost of coir- The Siiver bill, as it passed, limits the coininz coining Is done on account of the Governmeo: exclusively. Ot all the leading Turkish Generals, only oz3 has escaped disgrace. First wont the ola asd obese ABpUL KERDY, dismissed from the chiel command for allowing the Russians to marh unopposed across Bulgaria. Then Menzver E Avrt was deposed by encmies in the Cabinet. 0sMAS Pasha was captared, and isto be court- martialed for cruclty to Russsian prisoners; ar now the last of the commanders of the Tark: ish forces fu Earope, SULEIMAN Pasha, bas beea arrested, and is to be tried by the mfll?r! court. The sole survisor in office of theorigiz! leading Generalsis MCKATAR Pasha, In Asizand, according to the judgment of well-informed correspondents, he s the least capable of all the commanders. Such are the fortuaes of war., ————— The pleasing announcement is mado that the Parls hotel-kecpers have decided to make bat s trifliog addition to thelr charges iurmnhg coming Exhibition. It will be remmnbuv(?m- many people were driven away from Vlen_ni owing to the extraordinary prices. The cheap- est lodgings in Vienna advanced to tweaty [§ guldens (310) a week, and the restanrats raised their scale of prices fully 100 per csat Even so staple an article as beer went up fro six to sivtcen kreutzers a glass. It fstobs hooed that the Parisians will takes wiser cuse and be gainers in the end. RS e o ————— It takes a British legiskator o devlseaform f! words which will mean precisely what hedoesa’s Frinstance, three of the cleverest mcmbtfl““ the Commons have introduced a bill for U; censing race courses round the metr To run round London would be a feat be the capacity of most modern English thor® breds, which are notorious non-stayers- 3 on a par with the Building act which dt ot that for its purposes a “new building” be one that * had been burned or pulled &7 to within ten feet of the ground.” e —r———— « Coant ” MAcxry, baving exhaustel ); pleasures of Paris, has determined tolay drflln tho citadel of Engiish soclety. Accordinzlf has begun operations by purchasing the m sion of the bankrupt ALBERT GRAST for3 lous sum. This palace stands oppdilic i singtou Gardens, acd is the largest private dence in London, the ground-floor alooé o taining suites of private rooms a8 well 88 : erand state apartments which usually 0% two floors of the hizh-class London houses: house and grounds cost $3,500,000. ——eat————— It is & pity to snatch the laurel m&fifi‘; the brow of Kentucky, bat astern sense of ! compels us to mention that FEpor VASSILER peasant of Moscow, has had_elzhty-sefe? dren by two wives. The first wife vrfi"‘;m hirg with quadruplets foar times, t_flnle'-‘ g times, and twins sixteen times. No comECE - can do justice to this truty intcresting & e ————— eem to 3T f St 3 amai— None of our able contemporarics recollccted that tn the *propueey OF -4 /ey Acny,” of the cleventh cenlnr_'.—m‘“’:a'fl" MALACKY never wrote it.—a curions OG0, of mottaes applicable to futare Pontiffs of o Roman Church, the motto for P10 N0S0 'ho eruz de eruce, not an uniit one for 3Fope 1O had trouble upon trouble to bear, while of silver to a certaln sum per month, aud this ¢