Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 5, 1879, Page 4

4 THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY. JANUARY 5, -1879— s‘xx'_i'E.EN,_ PAGES. The Tribune. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. BY MATL—IN ADVANCE—POSTAGE PREPAID. Daily Edition. one year. $12 ¥arts of a year, per monthi. lerary Specimen coples sent. Give Post-Ofiice address County. i ) 5 Remittances may be made elther by draft. express, Fost-Office order, or in registered letter. at our risk. . TERNS TO CITY SUBSCRIEERS. ° - Dafiy, delivered, Sunday cxceptell, 25cents per week. Datly, delivered, Sudday included, 30 cents persweek. Adcress - THE TRIBUNE COMPAXY, Corner Madison and Dearborn-sts.. Chicago, 11l Orders for the dellvery of Tz TRINTNE at Evanston, Englewood, and HydeParz ieft ln the counting-room willrecetve promptattention. s TRIBUNE BRANCIT OFFICES. THE Cr1caGo TRIZTSX hias established branch oflees or the recelptof subscriptions and advertisemeats as ollows: 3 i NEW YORK~Room 29 Zrfbune Bullding. F.T.Mc- avpys, Manager. ok PARIS, France—No. 16 Rue de 1a Grnge-Butellere. 2.30anLER, Agent LONDON, Eng.—American Exchange, 449 Strand. @ray F. GiLlic, Agent. £AN FRANCISCO. Cal.—Palace Hotel SOCIETY MEETINGS. Mem- EXCELSIOR LODGE. X0. 22, L 0. 0. F. bers are. noutfied ikt Lirother D, L. Shore: Kep.. will dcliver 8 Jecture before the Lodge on Iues- day eyening, Jan. 14, at the lodge-ruom, in-Metbodist Criurch Block, An fnvitation bLers of tbe Crder. - . J.J.5ibDALL, N. G. *TWAL CHALMERS, Recording Secretary. WATUBANSIA LODGE, NO. 160, A. F. & A. M. — The Annual Communication of this Lodge for the clection of ofiicers and payment of dues’ will be held «ou Friday evening, Jax. 10. st Masonic Hall, 76 Mon- rue-st. A punciual attendance of all memberg s earn- ey Tequested, | J. A. STODDAKD, W. AL J. CHOWELL, Secretars. GARDEN CITY LODGE. NO. 141;- A. F. & A The members are hereby notited to atiend the Communication, to be lield Wednesday evenin & for the purpese of installing the officers ciect ensuiog year. Visiting bretbren are fraternally fovited. . Iiy orderof the W. M. L. L. WADSWORTH, Secretary. 6%, A F. & A, M.— CREGIER LODGE. w—IRegular. Cot 05, 408 and 40+ MIl o ng brethren cordtally, I 4. By urder of the W. M. JUEN GINOCEIO, Secretary. EXCELSIOR ENCAMPMENT 3, “wiil micr at. ihelr lill, between State-st. and Wabash-av.. oext eniig JanIo, o tosialiaiten of oicers, z ‘ind ottier mporiamt iR PR BICEC 1. 0. 0. F.—CHICAGO BATTALION 'OF PA- TI{IARCHS AND EXCELSIOR ENCAMPMENT, NO. 108, —Attention—All are requested 1o meet in fall ual- wrmJa! lh‘nfl'l‘:"“l:lllE corner Culfll’: llnfilyl";ldfle':lofl-f. Mon- g . 8, 9 o'clocl . IaT] ol far Jan. 6, 9 O'cloek B By AP AGGES L, Captatn, DUANE LODGE, NO. 11. L 0. 0."F.~Hall 112 and 114 I'andolph-st.—Members are hereby nothiled to be at lodge-room Monday, JAn, G, 7:30 P. M., 10r the purp0s3 f tustalling the omicers for the ensuini teswm. B H. k. HOPKIXS, Becretars. APPOLLO ERY, 1. KXIGHTS TEMPLAR—SI ‘oncinve Tuesday evening, Jan.- %. 1579, for business. Vjsizors are always welcome. * By order of tz¢ Commander. H. §. TIFFANY, Recorder. . 5 SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 1879. - ° COMM. Waxre MacVeaceg, of Pennsylvania, who was one of the Peace Commission sent by the President to settio the Louisiana im- broglio, “was 2 visitor at the White House yesterday ; and the diplomatic quid-nunes now aver that he was tendered the Berlin mission made vacant by the death of Baxarp Tavror. Mr. MacVeacE isa son-in-law of Snioy CAMERON. -+ Juax Moxcast, one of the Communistic regicides with which Europe has been cursed for sevaral months, and who last October at- tempted to assassinate Arrmoxso, King of Spain, expiated his crime yesterdsy morning on the garrote. He attended mass, and de- voted several hours to prayer just beforo the execution; and, ir the language of the very elect, thers is scarccly a reasonsble doubt that his soul was wafted on angelic pinions to the abode of the blessed. 'The iinencial circles of England are again disturbed by a bank failure,—the Cornish Bank, at Travo. It was founded over a cen- tury ago, and did a large business in devcl- oping and working tho tin mines of Corn- wall. Tho deposits amounted to £5,000,000. This failure will prove more disastrous than the collapse of the Glasgow Bank, for the reason that it will ircresse the want of con- fidence which is cverywhere manifest in British financial and commercial centres. .. infal, fncloding State and ‘{ the first time 'since the exteaded 1 all mem- | carriers. . i The “cold spell” continues unsbated at o the East. The railrond blockade hssnot been raised, and the unfortunaté passengers The Government Directors of the Union | Pacific Railroad have submitied their annual report to the Secretary of the .Interior. They believe that, in view of its success es a. commercial enterprise, it should be submit- ted to as seyere tests as any railway in the country. Its road-bed is not what it should be, for the reason that the stock- holders and managers have absorbed as dividends the moneys which ought to have ‘been expended in substitating steel rails for the worn-out iron ones that now disfignre its track. - An smaslgamation of the road with its cornecting branch lines is not deemed desirable, and the public interest would be better secured were the companies compelled to arbiirate the existing differ- ences relative 16 pro-rating. Hexey Y. Taomsox, Assistant District- Attorney, yesterday sent his immediate and peremptory resignation to the Depariment of Justice at Washington, The immedinte couse for his action will-be found in the correspondence, given in snother column, which passed between him end Attorney- General Devess. It has been an open secret for some wecks that Mr. Tsox- sox would be obliged to succumb to the pressure ' brought against him- at the ‘Whashington end. The public will anxiously await the result of the prosecutions against the Custom-House ¢ Building Ring,” and, should they feil to result in a conviction, Mr. Toupson’s side of the controversy will doubtless receive a general indorsement. An alleged cffort on the part of the Treasury Department to save Hiwx, the ex-Supervis- ing-ArcYitect, seems to be the cause of the difficulty. The Sun publishes the special contract entered into by the Union Pacific Railroad with the merchants of the Atlantic cities for the transportation of dry goods to San Francisco. Cotton goods are billed at the rate of $2.75 per 100 pounds, batts at $2, buttons, buckles, and like goods at $3; gents' hosiery and under- wear at §3; lsdies’ hosiery and underwear, %4; ready-made clothing, flannels, and woolens, $5. In the carrying out of this contract tbe merchants obligaté themselves to make all their shipmenis to San Francisco by rail cnly, ° including all the varieties of goods which have hereto- fore been shipped by steamer vin the Isth- mus. It is further provided that the mer. chents with whom the agreement is made shall not allow ' any oufsider to par- take - of the benefits ‘accruing from it All packages. must Lo definitely described according to schedule, and any attempt to make misrepresentations will subject the goods to & penslty of double the coniract rates. Apparently -this :contract. is:8 most innocuous document,’ but when the glitter- ing generalities are removed, it is simply an sggravated case of discrimination, which is in direct contravention® not only of the com- mon law, but the lawa regulating common caught in the snow drifts are obliged to solicit the hospitalities of neighboring farm- houses. All is quiet on the Potomac for sarrender of Lee's' army,—that historic stream baving succumbed to the embraces of the Ice King. Ocean steamers cannot get out of - New York harbor owing .to the immense masses of floating ice ; and heavy falls of. snow are re- ported at Vicksburg and Shroveport. Chi- cago still retains her pre-eminenco as a de- lightful climatic resort. K - YESTERDAY'S FIRE. The local columns of Tie Trisure this morning present an elaborate and graphic account of the burning of what has been known as the Honore Building, located on the northwest corner of Adams and Dear- born streets, and oppésite the incompleted Custom-House. The fire occasioned unusual commotion in the city, for several reasons. The block of buildings—for such it was practically—was one of the largest and most costly” of the New Chicago. It was the temporary abiding-place of *the Poat-Office, and Gen, Shaetmax’s Military Hendquarters. The Chicago & Alton Railroad bad recently moved its general offices there. _And thero were also several of the leading law-offices of the ciiy, including those of Ismaar & Liy- corN, LAWRENCE, CAMPBELL. & -LAWRENCE, and Pappoce & Ipe. The location of the ‘building, near the centre -of the _city, ind in_the neighborhood of some of the leading hotels, theatres, newspaper offices, -and other business blocks, natu- rally -aroused s general feeling of ap- “prehension. Fortunately, there was- little wind, and the prompt appearance and effi- cient working of the' Fire-Department, in spite of the intense cold, confined the confla- gration within the wells where it originated. This was the second fire on the same spot. 4 similar building had been completed just before the Great Fire of 1871y and shared then the common fate of destruction. The pres- ent structure was erected by Mr. Hoxore -almost immediately, but chiefly at the ex- pense of the Connecticut Mutual Insurance Company, which ultimately bought it under 2 mortgage sale. It remained unoccupied for several years, and has only been fully tenanted within the past few months. It is the third experience of the Chicago Post- Office with the familiar fire-fiend. The first was in The Fire of 1871,-when the Govern- ‘meént ‘Building, now known as Haverly’s Thentre, was gutted and abandoned. The second was in the large fire of July 14, 1874, when the office. was located in the old Mothodist Church edifice corner of Wa- bash avenue sud " Congress strcet. The Post-Office has now been ‘moved to the new Singer Building, which hgs slready passed through the ordeal of fire twice, and may hopefully be regerded as exempt from any new attack for some time to come. The loss by yesterday's fire will be com- puted at sbout $200,000. The Connecticnt Mutusl had a lien of $540,000 on the build- ing, but purchased it under the sale for §500,000. The Company afterwards expend- ed about §50,000 more in finishing it up for occupation' and in making some improve- ments. Besides these expenditures, there were fixtures, forniture, law-libraries, etc., which will probably be estimated at $40,- 000. There was $200,000 insurance on the building itself, scattered in sums of from £2,500 to £10,000 in various compenies. ‘The fire is supposed to have originated in the engine-room or some contiguous apart- 1mert in the basement, and it took a sudden shoot up the elevator-shaft, which furnished it at onco with material and a draft. It was this “fact which rendered - it impossible for the Fire-Department to fight the flames from the top or inside the build- ing, and this also which so seriously-en- dangered the lives of several persons who were saved by the skill and intrepidity of the firemen. There was a large amount of frame- work in the building, and ithad one of those patent fire-traps kmown as a French roof; nevertheless, had the elevator-way been con- structed ‘of fire-brick, or lined with boiler- iron, the firc might have been smothered in its infaney. Tha loss and confusion which will resalt from this_third burning of the Post-Office will incrense public indignation atthe neglect and rascality which are responsible for the unfinished condition of the new Government Building. It is some seven years since work. on the new Government Building was begun, and there is not & reasonable doubt that it would have been completed, and the Post- Office safely housed in a fire-proof structure, if the work had been done honestly, con- scientiously, and economically. * There seems to be scarcely any event nowadays in the nature of a calamity in which official corrup- tion dnes mot cut some figure. Yestérday evening's fire furnishes a new reason for the vigorous prosecution of the men who are be- lieved to have been implicated in the Chi- cago Custom-THouse frauds. The outcome of the fire is as fortunate as could have been expected under the circom- stancos in which it originated and spread, and with the conditions surrounding it. The firemen did noble work in a temperature which almost paralyzed outdoor energy; several of them were carried off looking like frozen carcasses of humanity, but it is hoped that the Dbest of care will restore them. The police, too, acted generally with discretion and judgment, but it would be better if the practico prevailed 1n Chicago of making n cordon around three or four blocks in case of such a fire, and absolutely prohibiting every one from stepping inside the limits except those actively engaged. The warning which the conflagration should impress upon all at this time, when furnaces and stoves are stoked up to their utmost capacity, is “the exercise of strict and constant care. OUR ASSESSMENT LAWS. We have repeatedly called attention to the revenue difficulties under which this county Inbors, under the Revenue law ; and now, on the eve of the meeting of the Legislature, there should be a general and united move- ment to have some relief in the matter of making and perfecting assessments. It is a notorions farce to attempt an in- telligent, or a full, or & fair assessment of the real and personal property of the City of Chicago in sixty days. It is & physical impossibility. The _so-called assessment lncks all the requisites of an assessment ; the Assessor cannot find all .the property ; the small portion that he can see he has no time toinvestigate, and therefore knows nothing of its' valve. He simply follows tho lists of ‘Lis predecessor, with such | the Legislature, it may be possible 'additions ‘as the County Clerk msy hove entered on the books. Valn- ations are necessarily guesswork, and, in the matter of personal property, the vilua- ations are mainly those made by the ow‘fmz An assessment covering a period of sixty days is perhaps ample fora rural township, where tho land is counted by tracts, and where the Assessor knows persunally every inhabitant, and knows, with reasonable cer- tainty, the amount and value of each man's personal property. In the city the _case is different. A result s, that, botween the ‘amount of personal property not found and that which is not assessed at more than one- twentiéth or one-tenth its value, the' burden of taxation is transfeired to the few, who are fully taxed, whilo the others largely escape. It is very desirable, therefore, “that there should be such changes made in the law as will enable this evil to bo remedied. We are awaro that there are legal difficulties in the way of eny remedial legislation; but shll; with a proper disposition on the part of to obtain some relief: . The Constjtution confers upon the Legis- lature full and exclusive suthority to pre- seribe the mode of assessment and the pir- sons by whem it shall’ be made. The Legis- lature has, therefore, full . authority. = The first difficulty isuthat the Revenue law- must in all its details be uniform ; the only excep- tion is as to the class of counties. Counties are classified as those which are under town- ship organization and.those which are not. It has been decided by the Suprerde Court that this county is under. township-organiza- tion. The present Revenue law provides: * - Until provieton is made by lasv for the election of the County Assessor in counties not under town- 6hip oreanization, the County Board in said coun- ties shall annually appoint some suitable and com- ‘petent person as County Asscssor, and the person 50 appointed shall hoid his office for one year, etc. This is the only class of counties in which a County Assessor can be sppointed. In all other counties ench town has its own Asses- | sor. The law further provides: The books for the asscesment of property in counties not under township organization shail be made up bf Congressional townships; but_parts or fractional townships less than fall Townships may be added to full townships at the. discretion of the County Board. . In counties under township organ- jzation said books shall be made to correspond with the orzanized towns, Separite books shall Dbe made fur the nsscssment of property and the collection of all taxes and special asscssments thereon, within the corporate limits of cities, towns, and villages, if ordered py the County Board. =a e To get the office of County Assessor, fown- ship organization must be abolished # and, when township - organization is abolished, then the county is to be divided into Con- gressional townsbips,-—s?q)ething'v very dif- ferént. For instance, Congressional Town- chip' 39 includes all the territory in Chicago from Egan avenue on the-south to North avenue on the north, and from the lake to Western avenue. This would not include the whole city, but would throw parts of it into other townships. Now, if this lnst-quotéd section of the law giving the County Board authority to make sepa- rate books for the assessment of property in incorporated cities, towns, and. villages, without reference to divisions into ‘town- ships, appliesor can be made applicable to counties not under township organization, then the assessment for all Chicago could be made as an entirety, and: not as mow by towns. It will be seen thata County Asses- sor, in counties not under township organ- ization, is to be sppointed by the County Board, and to hold office one year; neverthe- less the general law limits the time for mak- ing the assessment to sixty days—from May 1to July 1. Herein isa difficulty which, under whatever form of county orgenization, will necessarily defeat any intelligent assess- ment. All properiy.is to be assessed at its value on the 1st of May. In cities like Chi- cago, with a population of 500,000 people, engaged in every manmer of business, the Assessor’s office should be open the whole year, and at the return of one assessment on July 1, he should open his books for the next year's business. He would then be able to find each ownér of personal property, and would be able to verify and correct oll returns made by deputies of by owners; would be able to reviso and correct all the lists of real estate, and find the proper valug of the improvements. The office should be open at all times to complaints and to an examination of the facts, and thus be pre- pared on the 1st of May, from personal in- formation and knowledge, to extend on the books the valuations. In less than three years, under an arrangement of this kind, there would be~s full enumeration of the taxable property and a correct list of real estate, and the work of subsequent Assessors would be substantially confined to the listing of additions to real estate and the improve- ments of real property, and to the erasure of taxed property destroyed by fire or otherwise. ‘With a complete assessment and corrected lists of real property in the large cities there would be no necessity for a reassessment of real estate and farms oftener than once in three or five years, and the duty of the As- sessor would be confined to corrections growing out of subdivisions, and to an in- crease of assessment whenever improve- ments may be made. The Assessor would, therefore, have, sixty days in which to de- vote his energy to the discovery and valua- tion of personal property. The regulation of how often there shall be an assessment is within the powers of the Legislature, There .was a law passed in 1877 which anthorized the County Board of any county to consolidate all the ‘“towns” lying within the corporate limits of a city into one town, in which case Chicago would be one *“‘town” instead of three, and would have but one Town Collector, one Assessor, and one Su- pervisor, in place of three of each, and the functions of the three Town Boards would be exercised by the City Council. Even un- der this arrangement, if the Legislature can devise any mode for an extension of the time for making assessments, the assessment of property in large cities would be greatly im- proved and facilitated. It would abolish a few offices, it is true, but would greatly improve the service. The ‘abolition of township organization by - popular vote might take place’ at. tho next April election; but to do this woul(_l abolish the present “‘ township ” divisions of the country towns; it would slso prove embarrassing, perhaps, in the matter of park assessments, which are now confined within the limits of {owns supposed to be benefited by the re- spective park systems. This complication stands even in the way of reducing the whole City of Chicago to one town. Unless the Legislature can devise some way = whereby the existing psrk debts of the existing towns within the city limits' and the taxes therefor can be held to be exclusively a charge on the property now subject in eech town to taxa- tion for such -purpose, it is.not likely that there can be any disturbance of the present township organization, or even any con- solidation of the present towns within the city limits, Nevertheless, as we have pointed out, the Legislature has full power under the Consti- tation. The Revenne law and the Township laws are both gereral, but they axe also eapa- ble of being adapted to circumstances With- out being any less general. The earnest and best efforts of the members of the General' Assembly from thig county csn be no more beneficially directéd than to this subject and to the preparation of such legislation as will engble large cities to disentangle them- selves from the complications of the township machinery of government, especially in the matter of secaring honest, intelligent assess- ments in place of the unjust burlesques upon voluations now annually produced. The I.-0. is vociferous on the question of supporting Legislative caucas nominations for Senator. Bt its zeal is now-born. We remember one Republican Legislative caucus nomination -which it did mot tear its hair norrend its garments to support, and.that was the nomination of Judge LAWRENCE after LocaN had withdrawn from the con- test, A caucus of the Republican members was held on Tuesday evening, Jan. 23, 1877, and the choicefell on Judge LaWBENCE, and he was made the nominee of the party as fairly and completely-.as Jomy. A. Looan -had beon “when he wds nominated. 'The Republicans numbered 100" vbiés, évery one of ‘which LAWRENCE Wés entitled by party rules to're- ccive. When the, vote was taken in joint bailot he got but 86 votes. Thera were three pairs—giving him equal to 89 votes. Eleven Logax men flew the. track and refused to l;e -bound by the caucus. They scattored their votes, and swore that no Re- publicar except Locax should be elected. At tho next ballot Judge LAWRENCE received but 81 Republican votes—19 less than the | full vote of his party. The caucus nomina- tion was thus disregarded by the LogaN-ites. ‘What was Locay doing while his body-guard awas thus violating personal honor and party rules? 'Was he Inboring with his bolters to induce tiem to support the regular nominee of tho caucus? Far from it. He was sulk- ing in his room and declaring to Republican members—Senator RippLe among others— that, if bhe could not be eIFcterl, no other Republican should be. 1 ‘When the fifth ballot ' of that day— ‘Wednesday, Jan. 24—was taken, the Demo- crats, despairing of electing Judge Davis, began to change their votes'to LAWRENCE, the Republican caucus nominee. Then it was that several of Locax’s body-guard sour- ried about the hall urging Republicen mem- bers. to vote for Hawves; who received 69 votes, all but oge or two being Republicans, while Judge Laweevnce received but 30 Republican votes,” which, with the Demo-, crats, gave him 42,—twelve Democrts voting for him on this ballot. The Locay-ites re- fused to change from HaiNes to LAWRENCE, which would have elected him on that bal- lot, as the twelve Democrats had made up their minds to end the longand weary con- test in TawreNce's favor. e : Beforc another ballot could be taken,. GRaNGER, one- of LoeaN’s most servile ad- herents, moved an andjournment, and refused to withdraw.his motion. It was made kmown to the Republicans all over the hall that enough Democrats would vote for LAWRENCE aguin to elect him. The call for adjournment was persisted in by the Logan-ites. The motion was put, and the body-guard, in solid phalanx, yelled “Aye!” A decided majority of the members; by the sound, cried “No!” ‘but the Chair wrongfully decided the motion carried, and ndjournéd- the joint meeting of the two Houses. e Thenext day the Democrats and Independ- ents came together on - Judge Davrs, and elected him. In this way Loean’s threat was made good, that no Republican, except himself should be elected. In this way, Judge ILawnexce, the Republican caucus nominee, was slaughtered by Locax and "his body-guard. The same kind of a' gang are_going down to Springfield to play the same game over again. If they can’t get Looax, they intend that no other Repub- lican shall be elected Senator. Rale or ruin was their motto two years ago; it is their motto still. CITY GOVERNMENTS. The Hon. Hozatio Sevarour las & paper upon our system of' government in the North American Rervicw for December, which was printed in the Iast issue of TmE Cmrcaco Trmuye. It will commend itself to the majority of readers, both for the pleasant style in which it is written and for the very hopeful view it takes of the future of our political institutions. In the latter respect HIr. SEViour seems to be an opti- mist, and sarveys the whole political field _with more satisfiiction then any other public man has seen fit to express. It is difficalt to state the contents of such a closely-writ- ten paper in editorial space, but, briefly, his line of thought rans as follows: The prosperity and advantagés of the country are not elone due to material causes, but in lnrge degree result from our form of gov- ernment, which contributes to this prosper- ity for several reasons, the.chief one being that it aims not so much to give power to majorities as to protect minorities. Be- sides the declarations in the Constitution of things the masjority cannot do, the Judiciary has been placed above the executive and law- ' making powers expressly to check the power’ of the majority, should it ever attempt injus- tice or. usurpation, and the States having small populations are protected by the ina- bility of the majority to control the most powerful branch of Congress,—the Senate. Hence, without any regard to majorities, every ' citizen can so use his special power and intelligence as to promote the general welfare.” Upon this basis the fathers framed | the Government. Their theory takes away control from political centres and distributes it to the various points that are most inter- ested in its wise and honest exercise. Hence, the prosperity of the whole people first de- pends upon the wisdom of the inhabitants of townships. The next organizations in order and importance are County Boards, whose aggregete transactions are more important than those of our State Legislatures. “In | the ascending scale of rank, in the descending scale of importance, isthe Legislature,which is or should be limited to State affairs,”and, says Mr. SEYMOUR with epigrammatic force and pith, “Its greatest wisdom is shown by the smallest amount of legislation, and its strong- est claims for gratitude grow out of what it does not do.” Our General Government is the reverse of every other, for, ‘‘instead of being the source of authority, it only re- ceives the remnant’ of power after all that concerns town, county, ‘and State jurisdic- Hons has been distributed.” Under these bases of government and the theory of self- government, the principle of which is that’ persons most interested in any matter man- age it better than wiser men who are not in- terested, :Mr. Sevmour claims that the country has attained its *“power, prosperity, and inagnificent proportions.” So far as Mr. Sevyoun goes in this analysis of our’forms 6f government and in his search for the causes of our remerkable growth and i prosperity, Tee TRmune 18 inclined to heart- ily agreo with him; but it is o little remark- able that he omits one very important fnc'tm- in our political system,—unfortunately im- portant only for evil,—namely, municipal government, especially in ourlarge cities. In his long and otherwise exhaustive article he’ ‘makes no account of it, and onlyincidentally alludes to it in attributing Tweedism in New ~York City to the demoralizing effects of the War and the mania- for personal enrich- ment, no matter how it might be attained. Itis all the more remarkable that this émis- sion should have occurred, because it is ap- parenteven to s careless observer that the great danger to our institutions is the cor- rupting infinence of municipal governments, ‘and that this is the great problem awaiting solution.: 'Scventy-five years’ ago THOMAS ‘Terremsoy ‘deprecated their’ influence, and foresaw that they wotld become plague-spots, though in his time oities. were small, their populations were mostly homogeneous and almost entirely free from the vicious and jguorant elements that now abound, and public sentiment reached & higher standard than now. Ia his day not 20 per cent of the peoplelived in'the cities ; now more than one- half congregate in them, and. their ranks are constantly swollen by the streams of emigra- tion from foreign cities. The great Cities ‘'of Boston; New York, and Philadélphia have governmonts whose * influence is demoral- izing and whose, téndencies are towards cor- ruptiop. Under their sdmifistration the revenues are squandered, taxation is made an| almost intolerable burden, the property of the citizens-is mortgaged in the interests of tax-cators,'and contractors, jobbers, lobby- ists, and officials banded into rings hold high carnival with the people’s money. The de- moralizing influences of such administrations hayo aficoted all classos and conditions of society, and private dishonesty keeps almost ev;on pace with public rascality. Chicago. has not .reached that low tone of sen- timent that characterizes some of the other cities, but even here it is a constant fight with corruption, and, although the en- tire press is leagued with the better citizens on the side of the right, the wrong is upper- most a large part of the time, and it is not yet decided whether the vicionsness of:the mob and the dishonesty of the rings or the .| honesty and intelligence of the better classes are masters. In foreign countries the large cities are miore fortunate, because their gov- ernment is in the hands of ‘a few, and their officials are appointed without reference to the mass of the people, who have no voice in their sélection. In our cities we have com- plete popular government, which enablds the depraved, the ignorant, and the vicious mob, led by dishonest demagogues and coirupt professional politicians, to gain control and vote.away the property of -the people in taxes that are levied only to be stolen, while every other form of dishonesty” thrives, and laws are defied with impunity. 8o long ss this problem remains unsolved thers is little hope that township government will greatly enhance the prosperity of "the entire people. THE FATHER OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. The remarkable book entitled *¢The Origin, Progress, and Destiny of the English TLangunge,’’ which we had the pleasure of roviewing some weeks ngo, contained a chap- ter npon CrAvcez and his influence upon Early English that meriis a fuller notice than we wete able to give it at that time. CravcEn was crowned the Father of English Poetry by Drypex, than whom no wiser judge on- such a subject could be found. Before this, CaxroN and -MivroN bad testified to his ex- cellence, and nearly evefy critic since,in- cluding Appisox; Dr. JomnsoN, COLERIDGE, Harrax, and our .own Lowzry, has pointed out new beauties in his pages. But it is not as ‘a poet that we propose to write of Omavcer. He has other pre-eminent claims to notice. He was not merely the Father of English Poetry, but, in some sense, the Father of English Prose. When he wrote, the English language was in a transi- tion period. The complete fusion between Anglo-Saxon and Norman French was about taking place. The provin- cialisms and other irrfegularities of the foriner language were dropping out and clearing away. Meanwhile, there was no fixed standard of taste, and no settled rules by which style could be tried. Any writer could introduce, within limits, such novel- ties as he desired. . A bad writer conld de- form English, and a good one could im- prove it without exciting strong opposition. TUnder these circumstances, CHAUCER, who happened to be a man of poetic genius and a scholar of high linguistic attainments, under- took for his own:part the reform of En- glish.” It is impossible to say whether ho realized the effect his example would have upon future ages. Probably he did not. Being-a modest man, he could never have imagined that the popularity of ¢ The Can- terbury Tales” would continue unabated for five centuries. It is more likely that he re- formed the English he - used for his own convenience. ‘A~ methodieal man, and a traveled man withal, he thought it suitable to have his poems harmonious and consistent throughout, instead of following local usnges widely at variance with each other, and in many instances self-contradic- tory. e Cmavcer was the first to Innke an effectnal compromise between Norman-French and Anglo-Saxon. “ The Canterbury Tales” con- tain more than 2,000 French words of inhe- rent meaning. Many of them have been transferred bodily from one language to the other, and the majority of the rest are only slightly altered. These words are important contributions to the langusge. It hasbéen seid that Cmavucer ‘‘dumped a cart-lond of new words " into English, If he did so, that cart-load was the richest accession sny language ever received. . Cmavcen's reforms were dlmost all in the direcction of a simplified grammar. Many times they consisted only in dropping useless forms. Hence they recommend- ed themselves to the favor of writ- ers who ‘came after bhim. It was easier to adopt them than not. He reformed the definite article by dropping thirty-four inflections and replacing them by the monosyllabic *the.” *Those who have puzzled over ihe irregular Greek **Ho,” “ Hay,” “ To,” Hoi,” * Hai,” **Ta,” or the French “‘le,” “Ia,” “les,” or the German “der,” *“die,” “*dns,” can realize how great a gift CHAUCER's simple *the”. for all cases and both numbers is to the English lan- guage. He also introduced ““a” as the in- definite article. Next, he performed 2 similar service for the adjective, dropping the soven inflections to denote gender, number, and case. Let the schoolboy -calculate sgain how much time he has spent in learning the inflexions of -* agathos ™ or *‘bonus,” and estimate what is saved to bim in this respect in English. Cumavcer reduced the ninety- seven changes of the personal and possessive pronouns to about twenty-one. . He retmied but two of "the twenty-three inflections that marked the gender, rumber, and cese in the | phatic manner possessive pronoun. He substituted for in- flexions the.invariable particles of, from, to, in, by, and wath to mark the relation of cases, and so did away with all the perplexities of declension with a blow. 3 g ¥ Another great reform accomplished by Cmavczr was the forming of the plurals of nouns by the addition of “s” to the singu- lar, This resembles the usual practice .in French ; but there are large classes of excep- tions, such as those in * eus,” to which no parallel can be found in English. The Ger- ‘mori plarals dre even more arbitrary, and they have been-the grief and despair of learners for generations. Those who lmye read, Tneveryan’s’ Life of Macavzay will remember that the noble essayist and schol- ar declared his intention of lerning German on his way home from India, and provided text-books for the purpose, but never after- ward mentioned the subject. The German plurals appear to have been” stumbling- blocks that he could never getover. All these difficulties were removed from English by Cmavcee. With a few trifling excep- tions, the plurals of English ‘nouns. are formed in ¥s.” : ‘Genders were another canse-of confusion in Early English, and still are in all thé Eu- ropean languages. = It is difficult to say whether the French, with its two genders, in which afl inanimate objects are included, or the German, with its three, which are appro- priated - by différent objects in the most.hap- hazard way, is the more objectionable. Dr. ‘Weisse points out that, though German has three genders, girl (Madchen) is noute boy (Enabe), masciline; door (Thur), fem- inine; house (Haus), neuter; dog (Hund), masculine; horse (Pferd), neuler;. sun (Sonne) and earth (Zrde) ave -feminine ; moon (Mond) and star (Stern)-are mascu- line; brain, ear, leg, and ‘knee are neuter; neck, arm, finger, and foot are masculine; hand, nose, liver, and toe are femi- ning. Like inconsistencies and contradic- ‘tions are pointed out in French. CHAUCER removed these irregulatities from Enghsh by providing. three: genders,—masculine, femi- <uine, and neuter,—and classifying all nonns according to their sex or wantof it. Of. course his work in this respect was not com- plete, bt it was a great step in the right w8y . y K i The changes in the verb were not less rad- ical and important. The four conjugations, which the French have brought down.from the Latin, were dispensed with: A future, which was wanting in' Anglo-Saxon, was sap- plied by menns of the auxiliary ‘‘shall.” The present participle was formed with the compromise termination * ing,” which is at once the most characteristic and the, most valuable termination in the English language. The pretorite and the past participle were made with “ed”; and the past-perfect tenses were expressed with this participle and the ** ausiliary,” os in other languages. Crmatcee did not streighten oub the ir- reguler verbs as le might hive done, nnd they have remained ever since to torment unfortunate foreigners who have attémpted to learn the language. Nor did he do sny- thing to simplify the tortuous orthography of the language. There is justice, after all, in the observation.of the modern humorist that ¢ CEAUCER was & grest poet, butan awfol. hand to spell,” He did more to con- fuse English orthograpky than to amend it. But he set an example in the treatment of its grommar which might now be followed to advantage by those who secek to ‘¢hange its spelling. If Cmavces, five centuries ago, could see his way clear to drop out a host. of antiquated forms and.incumbrances, there is no reason why modern reformers, witha more general diffusion of knowledge and a stronger disposition smong the people to submit to the rule of reason and common- sense, should not eventually do as much for | another and less vital part of the language. THEY SMELL RANK T0_HEAVEN. Those Stock-Yard stinks, like the poor, we have always with us. It takes a careful re- reading of THE TRIBUNE'S annual Trade Re- view, and several estimates as to how many times the cattle and hogs would reach aronnd the earth that are otherwise disposed of in Chicago, to compensate for a single whiff of the dreadful stenches that !permeate the atmosphera these cool, clear nights. A dis- -tinguished gentleman, recently on -a visit to this city, was taken out for a drive one after- noon to inspect the greatness and beauties of -Chieago, but begged pitifully to be spared and brought back to his hotel when He had gone far enough south to be on'a parallel with the stink aren. In spite of the earnest labors of Health-Commissioner- DEWorr; in spite of the ceaseless lamentations of the public ; in spite of the apparently successful prosecutions in the courts; in spite of the fulsome promises of the renderers; in spite of :the police power of the city, which in this instance extends beyond the limits,—in spite of everything, these mephitic blasts from the Stock-Yards and thereabouts threat- “en to go on forever. Weo begin to fear that the Courts and prosecutors were too lenient in consenting to a suspension of penalties in some cases, and non-prosecution in others, on the pledgo of the stink-generators to re- form. Therenderers contend now that they +have adopted the proper deodorizing ma- chinery and use it regularly, but they don't; they contended in the same manner before the prosecutions, and it was demonstrated that they lied about it. As arule, the men engaged in a business which produces a nuisance do mot carry the typical hatchet; they may be most exemplary citizeus in other respecis, but they will not - fell the truth sbout the origin of noxious gnses; they declare in the most em- that they have all the requisite facilities for killing or stifling the stinks when they haven’t it, and that they make constant usa of these facilities when they don’t. Eternal vigilance is the price of exemption in this case. The rendering es- tablishments must be watchednight and day, and it must be the special business of some- bodyto do the watching. Health-Commis- sioner DEWorr has learned this from expe- rience. 'The license receipts from the slsughtering®and rendering establishments amount ‘to -about $5,000 o year, and Dr. DeWorr asks that $1,400 of this sum be set aside to pay two men and keep a horse for running down the stinks wheneyer they make themselves known.. This request is entirely reasonable, and it -suggests the ~only way in which. the responsibility for the nuisance can be fixed in ‘every case. The demand has found -some opposition, on the theory that there is mo guthority for using the license funds in this way'; but the very plea which secured the sdnction of the courts for these licenses permits and exacts that the money be used in this wéy. The Supreme Court sustained .the right of the city to license these establishments on the ground that it'waes necessary for police regu- lation. The revenue derived ‘from these licenses can be used in 1o other way so well caleulafed to bénefit the city, Therewill then bo officers with the special duty of rua- 1 1y be suspected from his appearance whey ‘THE STRUGGLES AND PROEFTIS OF Al- THORS: . ning down the stinks o their origin, and pra curing the evidence of nuisance which warrant the revocation of the license -1 the offending parties; and thatis flleufl,' course which can put & stop to the stinky, - A° HOME FOR- INCURABLRY, A small sect made an unsuccessfgl lhug. gle for existence some years ago in E (under the 3 ame of Euthanasinsts, or sop, thing qf that kind), who advocateq ot merely the theory of the ancient utilitar, that suicide is justifiable and commengsy, [ under certnin circumstances, but that ‘genersl good of society demands the kil ‘off of such people as have grown im] from old ago or disease, nd thoso who hyy, become a hopeless charge upon the eop, § munity or their friends. Besides the Qhy; tion - and humanitarian objections to t doctrine, the danger naturally suggests itsey that sach a pretext might be mode ina gy E many cases where it did not exist, in ong; to get people out of the way fora mercenary or other selfish purpose. A suggestiby , § good deal more in keeping with the spirit of the age was that made by Dr. J. N. Hmy the other evening beforo tho Mediey 574 Press Association that a House for I Si curpbles should be established, when such . unfortunates “shonld be provig ed with the necessities and comfory of lifo till death should releose them. Dy Hyor emphasized his suggestion in a power. ful way by the exhibition of a leper, whos k incurable and loathsome disease wonld harj. dressed, and \vl\?'h_as been in the habit of going about among lodging-houses, where by presence would creato consternation and ter. ror if his real condition were known. Thi poor creature is without means, and must gy to. the' Poor-House, unless soine other pro. vision is made -for "him, since he must lock forward to eight or ten years of gradualds. B2 cay before death shall claim him. While thy disense of leprosy.is exceptional (there ar said fo ‘be only 100 cases in the country), there are many people in every large com. munity who are - hopeless and loathsome in. valids, and who should not be taken mioa public poor-house, or asylum, -or hospital A Home for Tncurables would be the proper refuge for--all ‘such people, -and it is to be hoped that the neccessities of these unfortunates, the good of society, and the general ‘excellence, of the proposel charity, will induce some person or persons able to nndertake it to establish such anin. § stitution. - It should be a private charity, and subject to such regulation "as can only be secured when private citizens donate ths funds and assume the management. Ws have elready enough public charities. They have become a part of the political machinery of the country, and they would always be filled if they were multiplied tenfold. Bui this suggestion offers a new field for privats charity, and it should be preferred in any individtal endowments or gifts over the ordinary orphai asylums, private bhospitals, or homes which already exist. Such an i stitution, properly founded and managed, would always attract the. willing and usefal co-operation of physicians, medical colleges, and students, who would malke it serve scied- tific ends and at the same time help protect the charity from imposition and abuse. | HIP. Some very interesting and indeed astan- ishing facts relating to the profession: of a&-: thorship as n money-making pursuit m found in the testimony recently given by . Mr, Herperr SeENcER before the English k Copyright Commission, in which he re , counts with considerable detail his om ¢éxperience in authorship on its financial side. - The testimony is significant as coming from _ one who, though mot a popular writer, hss yet produced an immense amount of solid i matter, and in his own line has stood for many years at the head of living aunthors & His first work, *Socinl Statics,” published E_ in 1850, and two volumes of essays that appenred a few years later, though gaining only a limited number of readers, yet se- cured for him a general recognition among scholars and thinkers throughount the world §: About 1860 he entered upon ome of ihe E"": grandest and most laborious tasks ever H attempted by any philosophic writer,—ths * elaboration of a complete synthetic system - of philesophy. 5 It was a work which, under favorable cr- cumstances, might be expected to occupy 8 quarter of a century. Mr. SpENCER is @ man of limited means, and an invalid: yet so successfully has he prosecated his work that three large volumes—* First Princl ples,” * Principles of Biology,” and ** Prin- ciples of Psychology "—have already been given to the public:in complete form ; ands * part of the fourth volume, * Principles of Sociology,” has been published, and the ré- mainder is well advanced toward complation'_- It is difficult to form an idea of the enormous * labor involved in this work. The first od- nouncement of the plan was received with incredulity by the philosophers of Europe; and in its successful completion it will con- stitute an enduring monument of the results of human thought and lebor. The progress - of the work was marked by constant struggle * and self-sacrifice. i Immersed in an obscure part of London, Mr. SeexcEr was compelled to isolate him- self from society, and to practice o system of rigid economy of strength and medns. . How were his efforts rewarded by the public for whom he labored? Those ardent souls . who feel themselves impelled to a career of authorship, and, faicy thet o literary patk. - is always strewn with roses, will find health- ful instruction, and be better able to count first the cost, in reading the record of ‘his experince. t ¢ Mr. SpENCER states that in addition to hif Iabors of suthorship, he has been obliged 10 be his own publisher,~—as, until very recent” years, it was not possible for him to finda publisher . who would tgke the financisl responsibility of issuing his works. The entiro expense of printing and publishitg thus fell upon him. His first book W8S issued in 1850; the. edition was 750 copies, and these it took fourteen years to sell. I3 five years he had another work ready, for, which he . tried in vain to get a pub lisher, and then issued it himself; ther® were 730 copies, of which he g% away chbout one hundred, and was gblato. . sell the remeinder in twelve and o years. In 1857 he published a volumedf Essays; of which, warned by the past, he & sued only 500 copies; these were sold in tes - and & half years. When ready to begin the publication of his *System of Philosopby: in 1860, after considering a number of yll}l‘v he finally decided upon the one of issuig the work to subscribers in quarterly part® ;. After several years he found that be V&, losing 0 steadily that he was in danger & being ruined, and issued to subscribers $. notice of cessation. Some additional mesds however, coming into his possession abod this time, he was enabled to pezscvereh ]