Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, November 10, 1878, Page 4

4 THE CHICAGO WRIBUNE: SUNDAY. NOVEMBER 10’ 188—SIXTEEN PAGES. = / Tliye Tribane.. “TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. E—POSTAGE PRE!‘A);). TY MAIL—IN ADVAN 1aliy Edition. ore yeas Y of a year, per montic One cops. per Ciub of four... £pecimen copies sent free. “ Give Post-Otiice address In full, jacluding State sad County. A Remltances may be made clther by draft, express, ‘Post-Otice order, or in registered letter. at our risk. TERMS TO CITY SUBSCRIBERS. Dafly, delivered. Sunday excepted, 25 cents per week. Datly, delivered, Sunday fnciuded, 30 cents ver week. Address THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Corzer Madifon and Dearborn-fis.. Chicago, Iil. Orders for the delivery of Titz TEWUNE at Evanston. Euglewood, and Myde Park lefc-{n the counung-room ‘will reccive promptattention. TRIBUNE BRANCH OFFICES. year. PrE Cnicacn TRIBCNE has established branch offices for the recci.. of subscriptions and sdvertiscments us follows: NEW YORK—Room 20 7ribune Bulidizg. F.T.Mc- Fappry, Mansger. PARIE, France—No. 16 Rue de la Grange-Batellere. T MauLre Agest. LONDON, Eng.—American Exchange, 449 Strand. RExpy F. GILLIG, Agent. BAN FRANCISCO. Cal.—Palace Hotel. SOCIETY MEETIN VAN RENSSELAER GRAND LODGE OF PERFEC: TION.—A Speclal Assembiy sill be held on’ Thursday evenibg Dext, at which the Xinth znd Tenth Grades of the A. & A Scottlsh Rite will be con d. By, order of MOS PEITIBONE, T. g taty ED. GOODALE, Grand Secretays. 2 R. A. M.—Hall, LAFATETTE CHAPTE 76 Monroe-st—Stated tion Monday eveniugz. Nov. 11, at 7230 0'clock, for busiucss sud work. Visie- orsfraternally invised. By order of W. H. REID. 1L P. E. X. TUCKER, Secretary. ST, DERNARD COM: 55, K. Special Conelave Tucsd: 1% ai oelock. Work on Visiting the . Ordel Iy fuvited. ~By order. K s sonsteonir 2 S B R.—A speclal meeting fahereby ost ; 10 bt o Tor Momiay: fhie JiTh faer. P. o - tie ., AT 7:30 p. M. filaat the rooiae of the Votersa Club, Grand Faciac. A general attendsuce ia requested. SUNDAY, NOVEAMBER 10, 1876. In New York on Saturdsy only one little eighth of 1 per cent separated the greenback from the gold dollar. Probably the greatest feat ever heard of in thewayof beer-drinking was accomplished during a fire in Philadelphia vesterday, when in an less than an hour 10,000 barrels were swallowed by the flames. The election of Manrrs (Republican) over Yeates (Democrat) in the First Congressional District of North Carolina increases the number of Republican Congressmen from that State to three, iwo having been pre- viously reported. YEates is the present incumbent. . Bessaay Housree has at last been sen- tenced to death for the murder of his friend and partner, Jomy AL ARMSTRONG, musical tygographer in the City of Camden, New Jersey. The pitiful incentive to the deed was the possession of an incurance policy for £2,500 on ARMSTRONG'S life A singularly beautifulillustration of Demo- ¢ cratic official incompetency is found in the recent management of the Oluo State Tnsane- Asylum, where the female keepers have been cllowed to torture the patients under their charge in 8 manner that wonld have reflected credit upon the servanis of the medimval the States for any candidate), in which event the Vice-President, chosen by a Democratic, Senate, -would become ‘President. The obvious moral of all this is, that the Repub- licans had better prevent the -Presideatial election going into Congress and elect their candidates by a decided majority of tha Electoral College. Aud from the present outlook they stand 2 mighty gand'chnsce of doing it. : The policy of the English Govergment is more often explained to the public in the after-dinner speeches of the members of the Ministry than through the newspapers or in Parhamentary debate. * Yesterday Lord BracoxsFIELD at the' Lord Mayor's banquet unfolded some of the ideas of the Govern- ment regarding affairs in the East. He did not feel apprehensive of troable on the Indian frontier unless Asia inorand the Eu- phrates Valley wore occupied by-either avery strong Power or s very weak one; and he hinted that England might take the initiative and obtain control of that territory herself. His speech cannot on the whole be regarded as reassuring by the * Perish India " party. The election of three Independent Con- gressmen in Georgia is significant. These men ran in opposition to the regular Demo- cretic candidates in districts hitherto sup- posed to be the strongest of Democratic strongholds. The impression has beensought to ba created that they were only Democrats running under false colors, or were represent- atives of a dissatisfied local faction among the Democracy. This is not the correct view of their position. Seees, "FerroN, and Pansoxs were candidates of the opposition, and received the Republican vote. They were bitterly assailed during the canvass by the Democratic newspapers gf Georgin. If this sort of thing goes on, what will become of the * Solid South”? d THE NEW COUNTY COLIMISSIONERS. Hardly less important to this city and county than the Legislature of the State is the local Legislature known as the Board of County Commissioners. This Board consists of fifuzan persons, ecight of whom, being a majority, have unlimited power to appropri- ate all the money which the Constitation per- mits ther to raise by taxation. Having laid the tax, there is no appeal from it, and the discretion of the Board in spending the money is absolute and complete. A body exercising such unrestrained authority to tax, to appropriate, and expend is always subject to temptations, and human nature, such as has too often been found in that Board, is measurably weak. For years, there- fore, the Board has been extravagant, and to such an extent as to leave but little room to doubt that the expenditures have often been corrupt. . ‘The Board has been considerably reformed by the late election. Mr. Avars, ous of the best of the old members, has been re-elected, and four other persons have been elected to take the places of as many old members retired by the emphatic command of a long- suffering and outraged public. The Board, as ot present coustituted, and as it will be after December next, is as follows: DPresent_Board. 1. Patrick M. Cleary. New Board. 1. Charles E. Coburn. J. W. Stewart. 12 Michael Malloy. ohn Conly. & William Fitzeersid. | 4. 3 ames Bradiey. 5. W. 1. \Woode. 6. George I. Hodmann. | 0. James Bradlcy. 7. CharlesG. Ayars. | 7. William Fitzzerald. 8. I: J. Lenzeu. 8 Georze I. Hoffmann. 9. Aucust Meyer. 9. H. J. Leunzcun. 10. Georze W. Spofford. [10. August Meyer. obn Tabor. 11, Georgo W. Spofford. W. E. Wheeler. 12, W. E£. Wheeler., 13, Edward Barling.. 13, Edward Burling.’ - P15 H. C. Senne. 1i. C. Senxe. 1: 15. Albert Boese. 15, Albert Boese. Inguisition. & Tt is likely that all the skill and ingenuity of the New York detective force will be re- quired in capturing the thieves who recently removed the body of A. 1. StewarT from the vaunlt in St. Mark’s churchyard. Yester- day a carefal inspection of the premises was . made, and from slight traces of blood-stains .on the iron palings the police were enabled to form an opinion as to the direction *taken by the resurrectionists in leaving with their The chango is expected to be sufficient to completely reform the general system of waste and extravagance which has so long raled in the Board. The public do not ex- pect that the new Board will do so much new business as that it will prevent so much of the old style of business being done. The expenditures of the Board are for pay- ment of interest on the debt existing prior to August, 1570, for which a special tax is levied ; interest on thesubsequently-incurred prey. It is surmised that the body was taken |, dcbt; payment of saleries of Sheriff, Judges, across to New: Jersey, bnt beyord that no definite clew has been obtained. That favorite seaside resort, Cape May, received a morning call yesterday from the fire-fiend. All of the leading hotels were destroyed, but, as they were large and loosely-built frame structures, such a result might be expected in case of a conflagration of any magnitude. The losses are compara- tively small, as the hotels were closed to the public at the end of the summerseason, and, as plensure-seekers are too well aware, the farnishinfis of all the leading houses were of the plainest and cheapest description. The Stockton House and Congress Hall were the most commodions and tho best patronized, 2nd doubtless they will be rebuilt 1n time to attract summer fourists next year. . If the election this year had been for President as well as for Congressmen_ and Stato officers, the result would have been ss follows: States. REPTBLICAN. Electors. 2L .10 New York, New Jersey <ees_9iColorado 3i?a!il\1nm 20(California 0.0 2| Michigen .. States. Indiana. Electors. Kentucky ... Tennessee. Republican Electors. Democratic Electors. Republicsn majority. Should the improb of no Presidential candidate receiving a@lear majority of the Electoral vote m 1§80y the Touse of Represestatives will ciipdyf the President from awong the three highest-ean- didates on the Electoral vote, voting by *States, ench counting one vote, the same to bo determined by a msjority of the House delegation. Stazes in whick Republicans nave a majority of the Representatives—Coloradu, Connccticat, 1ili- n0is, Towa, Konsas, Maine, Massachoselts, Mfichi- gan, Minnesota, Nebracka, Nevada. New flamn- sbire, New Jereey, New York, Penneyivania, Khode Jslaud, Yermont.'and Wisconsin—in all 16, States having “delegations with & Democratic ority—Alabama, Arkapsas, Delawate. Florida, 713, Eentucky. Lomsiana. Maryland, Missis® £ppl, Norih Carojina, Obio, Orezon, South Caro- lina," Tennessce. Texas, Virzinia, and West Vir- guia. Total, 17. California has yet to elect, and the vote of Indians is in the handsof G. DeLa Marrn (National supported by Democrats), the In- dinna delegation standing Republicans, 6; Democrats, 6; Nationals, 1. If the Repub- licans should carry three of the four districts iu California, 25 they probably will, it woald still be in the power of the Indiana Demo- cratic Greenbacker to prevent an election by . voting for his own candidate or for the Democratic (thus preventing a majoiity of Clerks of the various Courts, Coroner, Phy- sician, Commissioners ; and for the support of the public charities, dicting the prisoners in the Jail, and other like mutters. The county has at the same time on hang the job of building the Court-House. In 1877 the County Commissioners asked a vote of authority to issue bonds with which to build the Court-House, but the public voted it down. It was then urged that unless the bonds were voted work on’ the Court-House would have to stop; but, nevertheless, there ‘was money enough ont of the excess of ap- propriations for other purposes to enable the Board to go on with the work. 'This year the Commissioners ‘appropriated for other purposes all the money available, so as to create an impression that noless,the bonds were voted the work must be arrested. The bonds have again been voted down, but thera is no danger that the work "will stop for want of money. That this may be un- derstood, we give a comparative statement of the appropriations for *‘ county purposes™ for 1876, 1877, and 1 Circalt, Superlor, and 7 Pronite Cours........S £6,000 SI00,00 § 90,000 Criminal ~Gourt and State'sAttorney'sofiice 40,000 40,000 48,000 County’ - Gleria ofce. “Counity Judize, and A Foor-Housc. Cous Clerk Superinte: Ter diem’ of Commis® cilaneons expe; riyto Board..... bates, und Tor- b glo rrors, rol Toirures A 1§78-"T9 are $433,550 in- excess of those of last year. - As the expenses of last year did nbt reach the appropriation, the whole of this $433,550 will be a surplus, in excess of the wants of the county, and will be applica- ble to peyments for work on the Court- House. The request for bonds was a fraud, —wholly unnecessary,—and had the bonds been voted the Commissioners would have ihe $750,000 bonds and the $433,500 surplus of appropriations to handie, and would have been sble to make the most liberal payments for ** extras.” “The new Board may not have tag power to change these appropriations, bat the $433,- 000 can be as well expended for the Court- House Building as if voted directly for that purpose. Bat the new Board can control, regulate, and reduce espentlitures. Thus the outlay for dieting prisoners can be re- duced from 35 to 25 cents a day.for each prisoner,—a saving of $10,000 & year. The occasion which called for a County Attorney 26 $7,000 o year has now passed away. County taxes are no longer resisted, and all ! the duties of that ofice may be now per- formed by the State’s Attorney. The salaries in the Sheriff’s cffice may be reduced, the expenditures in the County Clerk’s office and for Clerks of -the Board may be cut down. Everyuseless office " should be abol- ished. There is mo real occasion for the members of the Board to have meetings 314 days in the year. They should, as the law contemplates, hold quarterly sessions each year, and each session should not last longer than ten days. The gow Board should re- orgwize the management of the County Hospital, the A!mshousg, and the Insane Asylum, improving the character of the .service, and of necessity reducing the expend- itare. The Normal School might be closed up as wholly unnecessary. The new Board will have an opportanity to reduce the expenditures for the county insti- tutions by providing for an honest awarding of all the contracts for supplies. A saving of expense of probably 15to 20 per cent may be made in this direction, and an honest ad- ‘ministration of the public charity be secured. One of the greatest abuses is to be found in the County Agent's office, which last year called for $120,000, and for which this year $182,000 are appropriated. - This covers what is called the outdoor relief. This ostoblishment is largely a school for pauperism. What was intendod for the re- lief of the sick, disabled, and temporary indigent has becoms an expenditure for the permanent support of able-bodied families, who stop work the moment the county begins to issue food, clothing, and fuel. The whole system should be remodsled; and in the hands of visiiors not forced on the Agent by the Commissioners, but selected because of their fitness, the offica counld break up this pauperism without preventing the really meritorious poor being supplied, and at the same time reduce expenses fully one-third, if not one-half. The new Board as before it the example of the City Government. That Government was told "that it was impossible to econo- miza, impossible to abolish an office; reduce o salary, or cut off an expenditure. The whole army of official mendicants arrayed themselves to defeat all measures of economy. But the Alayor and Council did abolish oftices, did discharge numerons empjoyes, did reduce salaries, and did abolish a large class of what were supposed to be uunavoida- ble expenses. Two millions of dollars a year was geonomized. To do this required all the courage, all the energy, and all the patriotism of an honest Councilre, presenting the public interest. TLet us hope that the new Board will be equal to the task before it; that it will have the courage to cut right and left, whenever a dollar is to be saved. Let there be no fear of crippling the public service, Mayor HeaTn, after one year's ex- perience in the City Government, with largely reduced force, lower salaries, and several offices abolished, officially declared that the effect of the reductions had been to greatly increase the efficiency of all depart- menis of the City Goverdhnent.- Such, we have no doubt, will be the effect of a liberal use of the official ax in the county service. Abolish every office that is not a neces- sity; reduce the compensation to such a sum as will obtain the services of competent men; dismiss every useless subordinate. There is no use for a county plumber, or a county painter, or any other of -the gang of extra officials who "fatten on the County Trensury. = Cut off the waste, stop the leaks, manage the county business with the same care and vigilance that a business firm or a private corporation would manage its affairs, and, while the County Government may cease to be an asylum for genteel vagabonds and official mendicants, and the office of " County Commissioner be' without profit, the public interests will be served, the taxes will be re- duced, the expenditures curtailed, and the cause of public and private morality pro- moted. 5 TEE CHICAGO COMM{NISTS. A good many people in this city are sur- prfsed, and some are alarmed, to find that the Communists (or Socialists, as they call themselves) have been strong enough to elect four members of the Legislature. ‘The bare statement would indicate that the Com- munistic movement is gaiting force, inas- mauch as it is the first Legislative representa- tion the party, s such, has had. The cir- cumstances of the case, however, show that there is not the ‘slightest chuse for appre- hension; they indicate, on the contrary, that the Socialists®have probably cast as large a vote as they \?‘\fl ager bo able to cast, and hava secured as many members of the Legislature as they will ever secure from Chicago.. 'To begin with, the voe shows no increase. A year ago the Comimunists cast about_6,500 votes; this year. their vote for Sheriff is 6,417, and their agaregate vote on Congressmen about 6,600. The movement, according to these figures, is at a standstill, The reason this vote has been so ef- fective in the choice ~of members of the Legisleture is becauso it is concentrated in a couplo of distriets, Out of the 6,417 votes cast thera were 2,147 in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Wards, and 2,546 in the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Six- teenth Wards. The materisl from which the Commuustic vote is drawn is all located in the southwestern and northwestern sec- tions of the city. The habitation of the Communists in these two neighborbonds onnbles them to select two or three members of the Legislature whenever they act to- gether, This year they also elected a Sena- tor, as the Republicans had no candidate in the Third District, and the contest was be- tween the Democrat and the Communist, It is a mistako to chargo the result upon miror- ity representation; if it wera not for mi- nority representation the Commanists might have elected threo members in the Third District - by the seme vote which enabled them to ‘elect the Senator. But their ma- terial is necessarily limited. They can draw only from Germans, Poles, Bohemians, and French; neither the Americais nor the Irish furnish Communist votes to any ex- tent, and the Germans in this country have little sympothy with the aims and purposes of the movement. It is safo to conclude, therefore, that tho vote lias reached iis maximam in Chicago. i Now as to the purposes of the movement and the chances which the Communistic leg- islators will have for promoting them : Thero are certain leaders and agitators who un- doubtedly medilate revolution and aharchy, and are prepared to re-enact the bloody scenes in Paris at the close of the Franco- Prussion war. But the mass of the voters who have elected oze Commanist to the State Senate and three others to the Lower House of the Illinois Legislature haveless villainous, if not less impracticable, schemes in their head. They have been able indeed to sever their connection from the old politi- cal parties for the time being under the promise that independent action would se- | cure for them an amelioration of their con- dition as workingmen. Laying aside the ,would be more abused on the otber side, and ,sion on account of their appearance in Illi- ultimate division of property snd co-opera- tive system of ‘ransacting the business of the - world, which the ultra-Comumiunists dream’ of, there are several subordinate schemes which have the approval of the entire class who voted the Socialist ticket. 1. Probably. the most determined effort that will bo made by the Communist mem- bers in the Legislature will be to secure the passage of a law abolishing the contract sys- tem of convict labor. This is a subject that has been more discussod than any other in recent moetings of workingmen. The ¢laim is that.the contract work done by the con- victs is g competition which reduces the workingmen's pay, and deprives them of em- ployment. This may bo admitted to a cers tain extenf. ‘It cannot bo. denied that the employment of 1,500 men at active labor contracts the labor market moré than if that number of able-bodied convicts wers main- tained in idleness. But the practical way of looking at the question is this: The cost of meintaining the convicts amounts, wo will sny, to $1,000 o day; by their employment they are made to pay this cost, in whole or in large part, which would otherwise fall upon the taxpayers. When the four Chicago Communists go into the Legislature at Springfield they will find that the great majority of that body is made up of farmers and the representatives of tho agricultural community, They will find this majority solidly arrpyed against any proposition to add $1,000.a day to State taxation, which falls mainly upon land. They will be asked to furnish some substitute for the present system of contract labor which will yield ¢he State as much revenue as now, and, unless the Socinligts are prepared to proposesuch a sub- stitute(and we have not yet heard of nny), the farmers and their representatives will bluntly decline to assume new texation at the rate of 131,000 a day for the benefit of what they will call o dhss interest. That is the practical, economic view of the case. 2. Next in importance to the Commaunists is to secure legislation making eight hours a legal day’s labor, and attaching n penalty for working more than that. Here they will run up ageinst the farmers again, whose working-day in winter runs down below’ eight hours, and in snmmer gbove ecight hours, and wlio cannot ‘afford to be handi- capped by any arbitrary law fixing any num- ber of hours. The Communists will also oncounter: the opposition of all intelligent men in ‘the Legislature, whether " rep- resentatives of the agricultural inter- ests or mnot, on the ground that freedom of contract as to the number of hours o man shall work is fairer for both employer and employe, and that it would be a violation of the spirit of our Governmont to interfers with this .freedom. There may also be political economists in the Legislature who will explain that the State of Illinois cannot pass an arbitrary and despotic eight- hour law without ruining the industry of this State, while the manufacturers, and pro- ducers, and business-men of other.States are unhampered by any such regulation. 3. While those two schemes will be urged by the Communists more than any other (and in vain), there are still other designs which are equally ill-advised and impractica- ble. Thera will be a proposition to compel employers to pay wages once every fourteen days; this is now a matter of agreement and mutual convenience. Some employers pay once & week, some once & month, some every day, andthere is no valid reason why the time of payment should not be agreed upon ir every caso to suit the best interests of those who pay and thoss who receive; if the former are unreasonsable, there is no law to compel the Iatter to submit to their terms. So it would be impracticable and productive of much hardship to pass a law excluding all children under 1{ years of age from every kind of employment. Thers. are many avocations .to which boys and girls under 14 are well adapted, aud hundreds of poor'families have been able to survive the hard times with tho aid their children bave given them. There is no ob- jection to proper sanitary inspection, but both State and city have alrendy provided the officers and mochinery for this business.. We doubt® whether the Communists Will succeed in obtainiug any additional legisla- tion on this subject ; but we are persuaded that Dr. Ravcs for the State or Dr. De Worr for the city will render any proper service that may be demanded of them in the inter- est of laboring men. Nor will they Bo likely to make any headway in their effort to secure the repeal of the law which makes it possible for a landlord to turn & delinquent tenant Sut of doors. The present laww may bo applied harshly in some cases, but a xepgal of the law, thus giving the tenant and not the landlord control of the latter’s property, it would be contrary to the accepted notions of meum ¢t tuum. As to the demand for compulsory education, it is only necessary to say that the Republicans generally have fa- vored legislation looking to that end, while the Démocrats have generally opposed it, and that the political complexion of the new Leg- islature will largely determine the question. A review of tho field “discloses thé fact that the Communists are making no progress in Chicego; that their demands are so im- practicable, as a rule, that they will securs no favor in the Legisiature; and that there is not the slightest cause fog public apprehen- nois politics. THE QUIESCENT BUTLER. The redoubtable BuTLER now roars as gently as any sucking dove. There was a sweet and touching spirit of resignation gbout his speech to condoling friends in Lowell after his defeat, but it was in strange contrast {o the tone of defiance he employed in addressing Smure’s printers in Now York and to the incendiary harangue of his man Kearyey the night before the election. The humility which Bursen erowded upon his friends after the band ceased to play his political requiem is ridiculous enough even at this distance, but it must have been posi- tively side-splittiug close at hand. Wa ean- not conceive that BurLer in a lachrymose 7ole could be anything but ludicrous; the character is 5o ridiculously’ ont of kecping with the politieal bully and brow-beating attorney thut Borrer has been known to be these thirty years, that we wonder Burrer dered to assume it. He draws too much on the credulity of the American people when he soys that a minority vote ¢ well pays for- all cost and ‘the toil of the contest.” Was it in order to be dafent}d' by 26,000 votes that BurLer coached the suborned perjprers before the Porrer Com- mittee, and bhllied the witnesses whom he could not prostitute to his purpose? Was it for this that he stultified himself in his political utterances and struck s degrading alliance with the Keamvey class? It is o money that was still ‘dearer to him, to grat- ify this ambition. That a man like BoTLER, fierce in resentment and unrelenting in bis revenges, should cheracterize the defeat of this ambition as ‘‘the triumph of love, ‘of righteousness, and of truth,” is ,a specimen of gush that can only ple. It is probable that BurLee's feelings were cat-like when he made this speech, apd that his purr was intended to conceal tho scratching he had in mind. But Buriee is no longer dangerous. With the worst pos- sible intentions, his mission has been pro- ductive of soma, good results. He has suc- ceeded by a single cempaign’ in ridding Massnchusotts of both the Democratic party ond himself, and he has demonstrated that combined demngogism and fanaticism are powerless when the consersatism of the country seriously resents their designs. For doing this the country will permit BurLER to .pass out of sight, in guiet if he will be con- tent to do. so; but if he shall agnin en- deavor to .assert himself, he will discover how desperately deserted and impotent s man he has become. There is not a District in Massachusetts to-dsy in which' Burrer could get s nomination - for Con- gress at the ]muds,} of either the Republicans or the Democrats, and the sin- gle political opportunity open to him is to run as the Presidential candidete of the Communists in -1880. Thers was a sting under all of Burer's sweetness in his Lowell speech, for he abandoned the 7ols of Uriak Heap long enough to interpol-te the following threat : * If the voice of the pco- ple is stifled at the ballot-box, it will make itself heard and felt in a much more disa- greeable manner.” But even lis sting is harmless. The voice of the people was heard in Massachusctts. It called Bexsay back into private life, and rebuked the dis- reputablo combination of Democrats, Com- munists, Fiatists, and adventurers who were supporting him. If he slept as quietly and sweetly over the resnlt as he said le would, then he may find comfort in the assurauce that his slumbers will never again be dis- turbed by any political demands upon him. SOME CAUSES OF SEKEPTICISM. The extent to which doubt is-caused by Iknowledge, is one of the questions that phi- losophy has not been able fully to decide. We know generally that, as the power of vision is increased, wo depend upon it more ; and it is possible to conceive such an en'arge- ment of oneof onr senses that it should in a &onsiderable degree absorb the functions of the others. What is true of the external organs of sensation is, in a much wider sense, trae of the inner operations of consciousness. These are developed in such & way that they accommodate themselves slowly to any strange work. It is even true, within limits, that the special training which any mind may reccive tends to prevent, by its influence upon the imagination and will, perfect acqunintance with other departments of knowledge. Omne ignotum pro magnifico is not a rule of conduet with members of the learned professions, for instance; they are more apt to declare that everything not known to themselves is doubtful, or of no consequence. ‘We havebeen led to this train of reflectionby an article in a recent number of the London Spectator on *“ The Van'oK Cnuses of Skepti- cism.” The article is a Very inadequate dis- cussion of the subject. It considers not so much the causes of skepticism as%ne of the results of it, namely, the preparation of a way for understanding Gop ** by explaining the boundaries of sense, and becoming fully aware of the life beyond.” The causes of, skepticism have nothing to do with this work. They lie'far back even of the contro- versies between Religion and Science. They arise, in the first place, from the discovery of error, or fraud, or both, in existing religious systems, When sacrifice for propitiation was abandoned, on the ground that it was use- less, every religious system which contained it received ashock. When the arts of divina- tion, as among the Roman augars and the Grecian oracles, were dotected as gross and sordid impostures, tho whole fabric-of the systems to which they belonged were reat ssunder. The Christian religion has been almost disrapted at various periods in its bhistory by the discovery of simple facts in physical science which contradicted doc- trines published by the Church on its own authority, or with the apparent sanction of the Bible. Instances of this are thd estab- lishment of the Copernican astronomy and the geological account of the Creation; and still further conflicts are to come in the settlement of the antiquity and descent of man. % In meeting these issues there is mqre and more evident, on the part of theologians, a disposition to resort to the historical method. An orthodox doctor of divinity said in this city recently: *The citadel of our faith is Jesus Cunist, and the Bible is only the open country.” The dependence here placed on the historical churacter of CrRrisTis not an isolated or chence opinion, but the expres- sion of the poliey of a large and growing party in all the orthodox churchés. The challengo is: Tske everything else away that you can, you canuot take away the Jesus Crnist of history, whose Divine mis- sion even your JoBN STUART MiLL was un- willing to deny. In sssuming this posi- tion, the Church has ' intrenched her- self behind stronger barriers than cus- tom or interest ever reared for® her in the past. She has virtually claimed the protection and respect awarded by Science herself to alP well-atrested facts. It is a question whether she hasnot at the same time exposed heraelf to attack on an- otherside. In claiming so mnch for her his- torical character, has she not ufl} nsclously weakened her authority, sapposed to be de- rived from a higher source? Does she not, in effect, placo herself on a level with num- berless other religious systems whose place in history is almost as importantas her own ? If we go back to the Assyrian accountof the Deluge, and compare it with the Biblical one, shall wo'sny that one was taken from the other? and, if so, which was the original and which the copy? Might it mot bo true that both were derived by equally reputable means from a common and higher origin? If so, both are entitled to an equal degreo of credit, and the Assgrian records should ba bound tcgether with the Mosnic. The consideration of these and -similar questiong brings us, not to the solation of any of them in this place, nor even to a dogmatic discussion of them, but to o renl- ization of the influence they have had in producing and maintaining skepticism. As men have made broader clearings in the domain of Science the portion still ua- touched has seemed mora impenetrable thinking that the unknown is soluble. by processes similar to those which have been =0 effectively used in the past, and thet ex- perience will strip it of all mystory and supernaturalism. Ounr knowledge, in short, has taught us to doubt, not the capacity of man, but the necessity for a Divine ravela- tion. While we may not sympathize at all with this mental attitude, we onught to recognize it as one of the sources of modern skepticism, It mey, when fully understood, Telp to throw light, not only on the conflict between Science and Religion, but on a touch bronder and more comprehensive sirnggle,—the conflict between Truth and THE AFGHANISTAN CAMPAIGN. The English advance upon Afghanistan halts, and active operations may not be looked for uatil spring. They have given the Ameer another opportunity to explain and apologize, but meanwhite they will in- crease their forces, strengthen their ma- terial, and make ready to strike a cruShing blow when they move in the spring. In this connection the famous English soldier, Maj.-Gen. Sir Hexzy Haverock, has written a long letter in reply to one written by Lord LawreNce, who had opposed any war wifh Afghanistan, and advocated strengthening the present northwestern boundary of Indis, leaving Afghanistan alone. , In reply Gen. Hiveroce makes some interesting points in opposition, although he thinks that Englond can make her position in India impregonble without a war. The two principal points which he makes are as follows: First, as to Afghanistan. No into her territory. iow thata coup dnain Is ynpos- sible, till all othér means delinitely fail. But, a4 ~ stile advance a first alternative, petween this and nest April ob- tam a friendly undesstunding with tho Ameer. if that be now practica: whicn should aim at two things—one tire admission of our diplomatic repre- sentatives to Herat nnd - Candahar. I woula waive patting an agent at Cabal, if the Ameer persist- ently declines, even though Russin 1s estaslished there. Second object—An aliiance guarantecing the protection of the northern und \western bor- dera of Af: istan. For I totally disagree with Lord Lawr: 2 a3 to the possibility of ootaining any material influence over the Ameerif he do not consent in retorn to take a little risk also. Soch an agreement would be obvionsly onesided, and he will never provably consent to,it. Butour proffered guurantee of his two frontiewonld, ac- cording to Lord LawnrNce's own admission. be attendea with little risk; becanse the Ameer has never shown himself azgressive cither toward Per- sia or Russia. 1f we deny him this gnaantee, as Lord Lawsexce did in 1867, can we wonder that he shonld lean exclusively to Russia, wno w:il promise him anything? These points would sam- marize the proposed negotiation with Afghanistan, As to Russia, he suggests that the English Government politely but firmly invite her to aditere to her conditional agraement of 1869 not to advance beyond the Oxus, and that. the futurs direction of her growth shall ex- tend towards China, whose commerce is in- finitely richer than that of Afghanistan. If the scheme of an alliance with Afghanistan fails, he believes that diplomacy can settle matters with Russia, bat he has no faith in Lord Lawnevce's suggestion for the fortifi- cation of the Indus. As the camprign will not be actively push- ed until spring, there will be ample time for the test of both of Gen. Haverock’s schemes, but the prospects are not favorable for the accomplishment of either. It is much mora likely that when the winter is over we shall see the British columns entering Afghanistan and the speedy defeat of the Ameer. THE ART OF SIOPPING. It is somewhat remarkabls that in the schools devoted to the arts, graces, etiquette, ond culture in general little or no attention has exgr been paid to one of the most im- portant branches of education as applied to human comfort, and to a social accomplish- ment which, when once acquired, would save the average human being from one of the most aggravated sources of mortification to which he1s ever exposed. This neglectod accomplishment is the art of stopping when you are throigh. In what theological sem- inary is this art taught to the budding doc- tors of divinity? How few clergymen really know when they are through their sermon | The congregation is an infallible judge of the actual hmit of a sermon, beyond which stretches only a'barren waste of words, and always yawns, and stretches, and dozes when the minister reaches the place where he should stop. The pew koows it, and begins to get tired The small boy Loows it, and commences to telephone the small boy in the next.pew, safe from the parental wrath which sweetly slumbers at each end of the slip. Everybody and every- thing knows ‘it except the minister. What college of mausic ever teaches a pupil to stop when he or-she iis through, and, when the song has seventeen verses, to stop at the verse where the audicnce begins to rustls its programmes and squirm on.its chairs? What school of politics ever taaches the candidate to stop at the very point where he has fired the popular heart until it is incandescent? What officeholder has been taught to recog- nize the fevorable moment for resigning? ‘What suitor knows how to shape his episties matter of national notoriety that Borren's highest embition was to be elected Governor of Massnchusetts, and that he has sacrificed relations that were dear to him, and spent and mysterious than before. The in- struments of our knowledes have been used to measurse our ignorance, and we have found the latfer .more pro- found than our ancestors: dreamed of. This bas no!, however, provented many - from to his fiencce so that they may be worthless as evidenco when his broken promise is paraded before an admiring public? How roast is just done? What gawgler can re- frain from giving the box just oné more shake? ‘There is n phase of this art which is ap- plicable to social life. In this application it becomes not so much the knack of stopping when you are through as of goingaway when yowere through. The gilded youth, making Lis evening call, goes bounding into the drawing-room, gracefcl, ' elastic, and well s toned. The featis dexterously accomplished, | tho Duily Vews of that city says that, " As 8 -and it commends him to the young ladies. The evening wears on. The society of the ladies is charming. The weather, tho last new novel, ihe opers, sre discussed. The young man cxhausts his scanty fund of small | t| wit which he brought with him. The con- versation lags n little. nods over his paper. The old lady coughs suspiciously. . The young Indies occasionally fidget and suggest somethingabout the weath- er and the quictness of the night. The infat- uated young man does not perceive the dnift of things, until at some awkward point in the conversation it begiis to dawn upon him that it may be time to go. *If he wero wise, of course he would not stay upon the order of his going, but would go at once. But 1nstantancously with this conviction | the BaTe at once. ing” must include good cooking, and the shortest and surest cut to a man's heart i usually through his stomach. Therefore, %@ welconie Mrs. Bare. Itissafeto soy—thoagh it cousage to deliberately put it in print, that— if there is any one thing thnt tho aversg® American woman doesn't know how todo,it 2 ,how to keop o house. And as for “Scies- tific Housekeeping,” thatis an absurdity & Lumorous that it is & wonder AMAZE Twary or Josu Brrrves had not upon it long ago as the material for some & comes auother, that he has already stayed too long. It sort of stuns him and renders him incapable of locomotion. ‘The knowl- edge of increasing awkwardness creeps over him, and he fiads that his hands and feet are in his way, and do not possess that free- dom and grace which characterized them when he bounded into the rosm two hours before with the agility of the gazelle. The more he rovolves .the sitmation in his mind, the more he procrastinates. Ha mokes sn oceasional *selly intended to be bright, but it is like the spurt of an exhausted candle, and be at once sinks | their grimmest and most sarcastic jokes. N i body seems to be educated A special referenca to do good work i Iutchen. The girl of the period bangs bt bair and bangs the piauo, and is inte interested in the number of buttons 0B B back into the original dullness and gloom. He makes up his mind to go, but how shall he frame an cxcuse for staying so long? As be attempts to frame it, s feels thet he is glued more firmly to” his chair. He has reached a condition of exquisite e knows that he ought to go. o B thousand dollars if he wars ont on the walk. Hs would give two thousand if g hag if the house wonld take fire, so that pacing up and down the drawing-room, of a Chinese Mandarin on the fire-screen, jg aud grabs hold of elbows, ORE, Susay B. ANTHONY, and many moress able and discreet but less conspicnonsinths & work than themselves. *And it mustbead- | mitied here, parenthetically, that woman’s sphere has not been enlarged in this diree- tion, however much it may have been in others, and that woman is no nearer the en- joyment of the right of suffrags todsy than she was before the controversy com- menced. as a well-nuthenticated fact that a large ‘majority of the intelligent men and wome of the present time are sick and tired of hearing the enfranchisement of the other. sex discassed, and have conclusion that it will do to wait for that millennial day at least until the ladies them- selvos unite in the demand with more unity and enthasiasm than they have ever yet manifested. But let that pass. Ladies who expect to get the public ear from the rostrum from this time henceforth mast havo something to say upon & fresher sad more interesting themeo than the over- worked and jaded female-suffrage question. before an association of intelligent ladics snd gentlemen to plead for the consideration ofs subject worthy of the closest attention of men and gods,—one that may not underlie few cooks kvow enough to stop when the | “our lives, our fortunes, and our honor,” but which certainly givesus the po¥- er to continue “ the pursuit of happness”; .| for without good health all human effort i3 ~vain, life is a burden, and death is often the Dest of friends. woman on the ocension referred to, the place was the meeting of the Popular Science Assoclation of Milwaukee, and the theme was writer, o student, aud » woman of fine fiter- pry culture, she has long been favorably known to the public of this city,” and that #she has something to say concerning whick and that *she brings to the discussion tha The old gentleman | ripe fruits of thought,- study, and expe rience.” somely intrcduced by the News, proposes 0 talk to us sboat stulling tarkeys, instesdof stufing ballot-boxes,—about the imperativa | necessity of tenching girls to become exper's ju the culinary art, instead of making them clamor for the *inalicHlable right ’ to peddle tickets in the mud at the polling-places 0B election-day,—we are all attention. We take want to stay any longer, Ho wo:!l; d?:n’: never come. He would give three tho atone for his delay by helping to ;;!W:-‘fl the furniture. At last some loud mfim —it may bz an unusually v1gorous sport im“ the old gentleman, or it may be the fie %) manner in which the old Indy bangy do: her piano-cover—warns him that the timg has come. He i5 up on his feet by kind of spasmodic movement, and of cofiml makes the superfluous declaration that 3 must be getting late, ns if it were A revely, tion that'had just beamed upon his befopgeq B} intelligence. The Young ladies, baing way : bred, formally and unanimously deprecaty the statements so far as it conveys any gelf, E\ccnsation. This conventional emolligny indaces him to linger upon the threshold o the hall and hold the door in his hands, it uncertain whether to present it to the ),'mmg %E ladies or to take it Lomo with him, A glimpse at the old gentleman ferocionsly 3 : ot ,md g2 evidently damning him over the shouldarg ] ; 2ad meck. B ribbons, and back hair. Of course he steps on a train and rips a breadth. O: coursa ha, bids them good-morning, and hopes they will call agun. Of course he stambles cver thy door-mat, and knocks his ankle against thy scraper. He is in o whirl. Everything i3 in a whirl, and a titter behind the door ag it closes follows him down the steps. The moment he renches the sidewalk ang gels one breeth of cool air he comes to himsalf and realizes he has not been a success, Befora he gets home he has followed oat a train ot redSoning which, pursued in differsnt way, invariably reaches the same conclusios, namely : that he has made an ass of himself, Bat how could he help it? What sehool of etiquette had ever taught him to stop af th right point, and go sway when he wy through? For the lack of some such tuitin thousands of youths ara suffering the pangy that result from procrastination. IreTos S enough for him. Ha grabs his hat, and op course he putsiton wrong side to. Of coursy he plunges his hand promiscaously abogi, e | SCTENTIFIC HOUSEKEEPING, The ladies an@ gedilemen who proposs to entertain the greedy public from the leeturs. platform during the next six months—snd their name is almost legion—are nodoubt racking their brains about these days trymg to invent & popular and taking subject. Tha old stagers, like Prrrrres, Exersos, Govax, Doucrass, INGERSOLL, and a host of others on the men’s side, and Mesdames Lrvenworz, Sraxroy, ANTHONY, and so forth'on the part of the gentler sex, will no doubt continne t> repeat and utilize the old, well-worn lectures that have been repeated in every- considera. ble village from Dan to Beersheba at regular and stated intervals for the last quarter of a centary. But the now candidates for public favor—those who fain would win fame and fortune in a fleld already cultivated and adorned by some of the brightest intellects on this Continentt~have yet their subjects to choose and their lectures to prepars; and their success in catering for their andiences will greatly dopend on the wisdom displaged both in titeir selection and treatment of - topics. So far as the ladies are concerned, what is popularly koown as the *Womsa Question,” to-wit : the right of woman to the indépendent, use of the ballot the sameas enjoyed by the men, has become trite and threadbare in the hands of such able advo- catesas Awva S. Dicxixsoy, Extzasers Cior SraxTox, Junis Warp Hows, MarrA. Livin- it .may be stated Indeed, como to the Recently, s woman made her appearancd Mrs. "Aserra W. Batz was the spokes- § ¢ Scientific Housekeeping.” Of thelectarer, A e here is need of greater general information. When such a woman, who is thus haod- « Scientific Housekeep: requires some physical and mOTE (e nowadays n the nsely