Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 22, 1880, Page 4

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1880—SIXTEEN PAGE Dye Tribune. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. BY MADL—IN ADVANCE—POSTAGE PREPAID. 12.00 end raday, and Sait Jesmiey Weanesdsy. and Friday, per Year. eturday or Sunday, 10- ear Any other day, per year. 4 ‘Specimen copies sent free. Give Post-Oftice address in full, including State and County. Rerclttafees may be made elther by draft, express, Post-Otiice order, or in recistered letter, at our risk. TO CITY SUBSCRIBERS. Datiy, delivered, Sunday excepted, 25 cents per week. Daity, delivered, Sunday included, 0 cents per week. ‘THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Address Corner Madison and Dearborn-sta., Chicago, ILL. —————— POSTAGE. Entered at the Post-Ofice at Chicago, HL, as Second- Class Matter. . Forthe benefit of our patrons who desire to sead tingle copies of THR TRIBUNE through the mail, we tive herewith the transient rate of postage: Per copy. 2 cents Eight and Twelve Page Paper. Sixteen Page Paper TRIBUNE BRANCH OFFICES. He CHICAGO TRIBUNE has established branch offices for the receipt of subscriptions and advertise- ments as follows: i NEW YORK—Room 29 Trimune Building. F.T. Aic- FAppDEN, Manager. GLASGOW, fcotland—Alan's American News Agency. 31 Hentield-st. F LONDON, Eng.—Americen Exchange, 449 Strad. Bexrr GILLie, Agent. WASHINGTON, D, C.—1815 F street. SOCIETY MEETINGS. COMMANDERY, NO, 1, K. T.—8i Conclave ‘Tuesday evening. Feb. 4 180, ati.52. ‘The Seer oe ane ee vite Soe Ralenta are, ait e bs = Says welcomes ‘The Monday evening drill squad will meet for drili Monday, Feb. 23, at 7-8. By order of Hmlnent Commandes, « TIFFANY, Recorder. LAPAYETTE CHAPTER, NO.2, R. A. M—Hall 76 Monroe-st.Rerular Convocation Monday evening, Feb. %, at dai o'slock mek on a ‘Degree. Visiting palo’ order o Companions invited, fy OP VORSYTIL, M. E. HP. ‘WM. J. BRYAR, Secretary. ST, BERNARD COMMANDERY, NO. 3, K. T— cal Wednesday evenins, Feb. 15, at 8.00 Sfisce Worx on Whe Red Cross Grder, Vieiing Sir ‘Enigh rteousir Pe 13 are COHN D. AL CARR, M. D., Commander, 3.0. DICKERSON, Hecorder. GOUBGAS CHAPTER OF ROSE CROIX, D. H. R. D.M—Will confer the seventeenth and elghieenth a of the A.& A. Scottish Rite on Thursday evening next, commencing at 7a prompt, By order ry. Test cs J. XK. CHURCH, Wo. & Po. BL TED GOODALE, Grand Secrets! CORINTHIAN CHAPTER, NO. @, R. A. M.—Stated Convocation Monday evening, Feb. 23, for work on fo AL EE at Destes 20d the Folan: by order of re ing companions afr THE MALCOM, M. BEL P. JOHN 0, DICKERSON, Secretary. FAIRVIEW CHAPTER, No. ol, R.A. M—Stated eae Rea Dearee., Villune companions are oa enibe A Degree. Vit wieiewehomen Wi. 8. TIFFANY, M. E.i P. MYEON Secretary. KEXYSTONE LODGE, NO: 633, A. F. & A. M—Spectal Communication Wednesday evening. Feb. 2. Mem- bers are hereby notitied to attend. Visiting brethren cordially invited. By order of C. KING, W. M &. WEYHE, Secretary. - PLEIADES LODGE, NO. 43, AF. & A. M—The ‘members are requested to meet at Pleiades Hal} Sun-- Saye eon inte brother A. Sorrensem, funeral of our . aes ROBERT 31 JENKINS, WL 3. HL STARE, Secretary. BUTLER CHAPTER, NO. 3, 0. E. S.—Will hold its regular dime social at their parlors, corner of Robey an ison-ate., Wednesday evening, Feb. 25. Mem- bers and friends of the Order cordially invited. ‘The parties interested in forming a new Lodge are hereby notified to attend s meeting for farther action ‘and consideration this (Sunday) Feb. 2, at 2 p.m, corner Blue Island-av. and Fourteenth-st JOHN DA PRATO. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1850. Mr. VALENTINE B. Ditton, who organized the Mansion House Committee, states that the distress in Ireland is increasing, and that the greatest suffering will oceur during the months of June and July next. Tre San Francisco Board of Health yes- terday declared that portion of the city known as “Chinatown” to be 2 nuisance, and steps will be taken for its abatement. It is this action that the Sand-Lot meetings have been demanding for the past two weeks, threatening a riot in case it was not taken. _e=_——>>>_> ‘Tue French Ministry devoted the major part of its session yesterday to a discussion of the facts in the case of the man Hart- mann, recently arrested in Paris, and charged with being implicated in the attempt to blow up the railroad train in which the Czar was supposed to be traveling, which occurred near Moscow last December. et Tue attempt by medical men to resuscitate the two negroes hanged at Murfieesboro, Tenn., last Friday, was, happily, not a suc- cess, and’ the world is permanently spared the presence of a couple of murderers whose crimes well earned for them the punishment meted out by law. An interesting account of the experiment appears elsewhere. Tue mystery surrounding the attempted destruction of the Czar and his family is as great as when the announcement of the deed was first made. Several prominent officials have been placed under police surveillance, and one lady of high rank is already in the hands of the authorities on suspicion of hav- ing been connected with the conspiracy, The Ozar is said to be firm in his determina- tion not to abdicate, and to be sustained in this position by the Czarina. USFoRTUNATE human beingsin New York City are indeed to be pitied. Following close upon the stories of the crueltles in- flicted by Cowley upon the pauper children in his charge comes a revolting tale of how the bodies of patients in Bellevue Hospital were, almost without exception, used for purposes of dissection. The relatives of these persons were systematically deceived by the hospital authorities regarding the condition of the patients in whom they were interested, and the entire management of the institution appears to have been of the most repreheusible characler. A very enthusiastic and sensibly. con- ducted meeting of Mr. Blaine’s friends was heldin this city last evening, at which the merits of the-Senator from Maine and his fitness for the highest office in the gift of the people were ably set forth. Mr. Blaine’s ad-= herents in Chicago have adopted the very sensible plan of not seeking to disparage the merits of other candidates: while setting forth those of the man whom they favor, and the gathering last night, while avowedly in the interest of one man, was devoid of the spirit of clannishness so often apparent upon such occasions. Arrangements were made for the formation of a Blaine Club here, and the active work of the canvass will soon be begun. = * Ir is now learned that the incendiary fire in the house of a man named Worrall, a resi- dent of Claysville, Pa., Thursday night, was the work of Worrall’s son, who, from all accounts, seems to be a villain of the most pronounced type. It appears that not long go he robbed his father of $700, and the fire of Thursday night was intended to conceal another theft. The-father, mother, and five sisters of the young rascal were locked in thelr rooms by him previous to the act of in- cendiarism, and, had not one of the girls escaped and alarmed the neighbors, all must have perished in the flames. One deplorable feature of the affair is the fact that the would-be exterminator of his family has fled, and thus far escaped capture. Tue struggle between the representatives of Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati as to which city shall secure the Democratic Con- vention was renewed at the meeting of the Democratic National Committee in Washing- ton yesterday. The Chicago men claim that fully half the members of the Committee favor this city, but fhe general impression among those who should be well posted is that Tildei holds the balance of power, and is Inclined to look with a kindly eye upon the claims of St. Louis. eee THE ANNUAL CITY APPROPRIATIONS. The City Council is evidently disposed to make a boom! There is a probability that the majority of the Council will make appro- priations this year far exceeding anything that has been done since the policy of “ap- propriate-as-you-please” was necessarily abandoned in consequence of the suspension of payments by the city. A large number of Aldermeén are keenly in search of objects on which to expend money. They want to re- turn to the days when the supply of scrip was only limited by the demands made for it, -| -days that admitted of large salaries, the employment of scores of usqless officers, and aliberal compliance with the demands of contractors. Now that the necessity for | issuing scrip has passed away, and it is to be hoped forever, there is a desire to reéstablish it by voting every dollar of money out of the Treasury in additign’ to an‘ aggregate of ¢p- propriations of the largest magnitude. It is true the act of the Legislature limits the amount of tax to be levied to 2 percent of the valuation; but the Legislature at the same time excepted taxes for schoo] pur- poses from this limitation, and the levy for interest on the funded debt is also excepted from the limitation. So the Council have the power and are disposed to exercise it in making appropriations to the following ex- tent. We give the sums in round numbers for illustration: 5 ‘To the atnount of the 2 per cent levy... $2,500,000 pod sma ne oti misceliangous revenue ae tra for school purposes. 1,200 For interest on the debt. 650,000 050,000 Total for revenue.., Cash in Treasury... 1,000,000 ‘Total appropriations............. + $6,050,000 This money in the Treasury is partly the surplus of the collections of back taxes and partly the result of savings by the Executive Department from the appropriations made since 1816. This money is now sufficient to enable the City Government to do a} its business for cash, instead of with scrip. If this money be leftin the Treasury asa current fund with which to pay municipal expenses as they accrue, there will be no necessity for the further issue of any scrip; if the City Council shall appropriate this money in addi- tion to the ordinary tax-levy and other reve- nue, then the hope of ever bringing the City Government to cash payments may as well be abandoned. Last year, because the city could not pay cash for salaries and was conipelled to pay serip, there was 5 per cent added to the sal- aries. This year, because the city can pay its expenses in cash, this 5 per cent addition to salaries can be omitted. Another fact, and one which members of the Council’ and the public generally cannot afford to overlook, is the declaration, officially made “by the Controller, that the cost of the government of the city when all payments are made in scrip is $200,000 greater annually tnan when the city can pay cash, ‘To expend this money in the Treasury for the mere sake of expending it, and compelling the City Government to re- sort to the issue of illegal scrip, is to con- sume $200,000 more of the public money than wilt be needed if the city is permitted to do business on a cash basis. Is not that a heavy penalty for the disgradeful luxury of issuing two or three millions of city scrip to be hawked about the streets for sale ata dis- count? Of course the scent of cash in the Treasury, subject to appropriation by the Council, is too appetizing to be resisted by that portion of the Council which deals and traffics in eity expenditures, One hundred and fifty thousand dollars added to the salaries will be worth, ¢ash in hand, from $15,000 to $20,000 to the friends of those Alder- men, if there be any, who have men in office orto beappointed. Aun appropriation of half a million of dollars extra for school sites and buildings will be worth, to those interested enough to approve such an expenditure, per- haps $50,000 cash in hand. Thus, at the bot- tom of this madness for emptying the Treasury into the hands of an increased num- ber of officers and hungry contractors is the dishonest desire to pocket dishonest pay for a dishonest system of wasteful, extravagant expenditure. At every step in the progress of the appro- priation ordinance the demand for the lar- gest expenditures and the largest salaries is evident. Though there are but four pro- fessed Communists in the Council, there are so many others of kindred sentiments that it is possible the appropriations will be made on the Socialistic scale. It is to be regretted that conspicuous among the members voting for the extravagant and wasteful policy, and thereby sustaining the theory that all gov- ernment is founded for the pyrpose of levy- ing the greatest possible sum of taxes to be expended among the greatest possible num- ber of officers, is Ald. Dixon. He cer- tainly knows the humiliating condition of the city finances a few years ago; he knows why and how that condition was brought about; he knows the criminal policy of running the Government with scrip; and therefore it is that his action towards swelling the appro- priations is at once a surprise and a regret to his constituents and the public, ‘THE PARNELL MEETING. To-morrow at the Exposition Hall Mr. Charles Stewart Parnell will address the people of Chicago upon the double subject, —immediate relief to the suffering and des- titute people of Ireland, and to invoke the moral protest of the free people of America against that. land system by which England makes famine and pauperism in Ireland a constant’ subject of appeal to the charity of the civilized world. ‘The objection made by Americans to Par- nell as an agitator appealing to Americanson & subject‘ exclusively within the political Jurisdiction of a foreign country, is not alto- gether well founded. For the same reason that the several States of this Union, and even the several counties of each State, have laws prohibiting the send- ing within their limits of paupers and other persons incapable of providing for their own support, so has the United States a stringent Jaw prohibiting the shipment hither by for- eign countries of persons of like character. When the British Government by its system of laws reduces the people of Ireland to a chronic state of paupetism and famine, and offers to the victims of its barbarity no relief and no relaxation of the severity of law, ten- dering to them the ultiniatum of death by starvation or a free passage to America, Great Britain unloads her paupers upon this country as practically as if . she forced them bodily on the emigrant ship and sent them hither. This systematized pauper- izing of Ireland has been going on for many years, and the United States has a direct interest in having it stopped. ‘The landlords of Ireland carry off from the island every year $60,000,000 of the produce of the land. The land is stripped of everything but the hutnblest description of food.” When this fails, the unfortunate people are driven to the choice of death, emigration; or an appeal to relatives and friends in this -country. | "There are ordinarily not less than_ $5,000,000 of money, taken frort the hard earnings of the Irish in this country, sént to Ireland to help the unfortunate tenants to pay their rent bce In 187980, beside the public and general subscriptions so liberally made, there will be an immense contribution of money sent di- rect to tenants; and it is possible that $10,- 000,000 will be thus contributed to enable suffering tenants in Ireland, not to buy food or clothing, but to pay rent to the inexorable landlords. Thus, in fact,a large portion of the rent paid every year for land in Ireland’ is sent from this country, and in this year of 187960 a much larger sum will be sent to pay rent at a time when the unfortunate ten- ants are suffering for bread. Have not the American people, then, a direct interest in protesting against a system of slavery the consequences of which cost this country so much every year, in good times as well as in seasons of fainine and want? THE DEMOCRATIC DILEMA. Reversing the usual! order of things, the Republicans have been so busy of late in plucking out the mote from their own eyé that they have given no attention to the beam in the Democratic eye. In other words, the Republicans, during tlie past three or four weeks, have been so much concerned over their own Presidential nomination that they have failed to console themselves with the reflection that their opponents-are in a di- léma that is even more perplexing. The Re- publican niaterial for President-making is rather an embarras de richesses. The confu- sion of the situation arises from:the diffet- ence of opinion as to the relative availability of anumber of gentlemen any one of whom will make astrong race. The Presidential timber on the Democratic side, on the con- trary, is so scarce, and the prospect of suc- cess so dismal, that the managing men of that paty are in dire despair as to what they must do to be saved. e The struggle over the location of the Democratic National Convention -is a fore- cast of the serious dissensions wl. .b threaten that body when it shall come together. When the choice of a loca- tion for the Republican Convention was in question, the circumstances that deterntined the selection were the superior accessibility, accommodations, and attractions of Chicago. But the Democrats are perplexed with other considerations. One faction desires to know Mr. Tilden’s preference in order to sustain it; another desires to know Mr. Tilden’s preference in order to antagonizeit. The corivenience and comfort of the delegates are secondary considerations with the Demo- cratic Committee that is charged with locat- ing the Convention; the question of local in- fluence over the deliberations of the Conven- tion is of paramount importance. The aim of the various factions seems to be, not so much to promote severally the interest of any one candidate because each Is convinced of the superior availability of Its favorit, but to defeat the other candidates because all seem to be pérsuaded of the conspicuous weakness of the various pretenders. It is not so much a trial of strength as a test of weakness. The Democratic candidates, more or less prominent, may be listed as follows: Tilden, Hendricks, Thurman, Bayard, Seymour, Church, Hancock, McDonald, English of Connecticut, English of Indiana, and Payne. Lightning may strike somebody else. Tilden is shut out at once by. the various factions that oppose him for various reasons, because they all agree that the Democratic quarrel in New York will prevent him from carrying that State. Itis claimed, and with a good deal of force, that the defeat of Robin- son (Tilden’s proxy last fall), by a defection of 75,000 voters under John Kelly and Tam- many, demonstrated that Tilden will also be defeatedin person in ease he shall be the Democratic nominee for President. There is no hope for electing 2 Democratic Presi- dent without the vote of New York, and hence Tilden is shelved by all those who are not attached to his personal fortunes in some fashion that does not leave theni free agents. It may be doubted, too, whether Mr. Tilden himself is so anxious to make ‘another race for the Presidency as he was a year or more ago. According to all accounts he is very much broken in health, and must naturally apprehend personal disaster from the worry and vexation of a heated political campnign. John Kelly’s triumph last fall must have been a great shock to him, and he is too good a hater himself and too crafty a politician to depreciate the power of his New York enemies within the Democratic party. Mr. Tilden is not the sort of man to aspire after the empty honors of defeat, and it is alto- gether likely that he will not exert that vast and peculiar influence to Secure a nomina- tion.this year which won him the prize at St. Louis in 1876, But the rejection of Mr. Tilden by the Na- tional Convention is by no means tantamount to his elimination from the National cam- paign. Tilden’s experience, money, and sup- port are even more essential to the Demo- cratsin New York than the codperation of the anti-Tilden Democrats in that State. The Democratic Convention cannot afford to nominate any man to whom Tilden is hos- tile, and this fact shuts out several other Democratic candidates. Mr. Hendricks is notably under the ban. It would be in the nature of a personal affront to Tilden to first refuse him the nomination and then confer it upon the tail-plece of the last ticket, and such an affront would be resented with all the effective vindictiveness which Tilden can bring into action when heis provoked. If the Republicans had the naming of, the Dem- cratic candidate they would probably sele2t Mr. Hendricks as the most available for de- feat, because of the reasonable certainty they would then feel that the Republican candidate, whoever he may be, could carry New York. Unless the Democrats are utterly bliuid to their own interests they will be im- pressed by: the same consideration. Mr. Tilden will regard the selection of any other New York man in much the same light as the selection of Hendricks. He naturally holds that, if New York is to furnish the candidate, he is entitled to the distinction by reason of his claims on the office and his pre- eminence over all other New York Demo- erats. Hence he would resent the nomina- tion of ex-Gov. Seymour or Chief-Justice Church almost as much as that of Hendricks. Gov. Seymour himself, there is reason to be- lieve, is honestly averse to accepting the nomination on account of his-advanced age and physical infirmity; he was tha victim of a paralytic stroke some years ago, and is not in s condition to endure any strain or excite- ment without danger of a second shock with fatal results. Judge Church is not seriously thought of as a candidate, except by a cer- tain coterie in his own State who are identi- fied with the anti-Tilden faction, and who would invite Tilden’s hostility in case of Churech’s nomination. Messrs. Hancock, Thurman, and Bayard are even more unavailable than thosewho have been named before. Hancock is a mili- tary man. That is sufficient objection for most Democrats. They had enough of the military with McClellan. He has also been associated with the Greenbackers to the ex- tent that the latter constitute the chief adhc> ents to his Presidential aspirations. Thur- man suffered a direct defeat in Ohio last fall asa candidate for re@lection to the Senate which was more striking and humiliating than Tilden’s defeat in New York, The Democrats will scarcely care to start out with a man who cannot carry his own State. Bayard represents a little, insignificant whip- ping-post State of no political importance, and this circumstance alone would seriously prejudice. his chances if there were no other objection to him. But the fact is that no prominent man in the Democratic party is so little in sympathy with the masses as is Bay- ard, He is cold and aristocratic in bearing and associations. He is too much like Sher- man; and if the latter is objectionable to Republicans by reason of his selfish and cold-blooded characteristics, the former is infinitly more offensive.to the Democrats for the same reasons, This process of exclusion, if logical and correct, will reduce the Democrats to a choice from among the “dark horses.” McDonald and English of Indiana and Payne of Ohio are the only candidates in this class that havé as yet attracted any attention, and of. these McDonald is certainly the most conspicuous. ‘The chief distinction which Mr. English has in the Democratic mind is his “barrel,” which is said to be nearly as plethoric as Til- den’s; but, for the rest, he is simply a sub- stantial, good-natured, and successful busi- ness-man, who has made no impress what- ever of late years upon National politics. Mr. Payne is-a respectable man, of good in- tentions and fair talent, but not strong either physically or politically; his health is said to be poor, and he has made no sign of a Presidential ambition. Senator McDonald is a hale, hearty fellow, a man’ of the people, with a clean record, conservative. fiiancial views, and a strong hold upon the people of his own State. He is as much de- yoted to Hendricks’ cause as Mr. Washburne in this State is to Grant’s, and he would do nothing of his own motion to advance his own claims at the expense of Hendricks; but this very circumstance, joined with Tilden’s favor (which McDonald is said to enjoy), may prove to be a great advantage to him in case the prize shall fall to a “ dark horse.’ ” It.Js apparent from all this that the Detio- crats, without regard to what the Republic- ans may do, are all at sea as to-whom they shall-nominate, and their perplexity promises to increaserather than diminish as the time for the contest shall approach. CLEANING THE BIVER. The Citizens’ Association, with commenda- bie earnestness, are holding meetings to con- sider the best means of affording immediate relief.to the people of this city, and of the towns along the linois River, from the evil of insufficient drainage furnished through the canal. The facts are generally under- stood, and the injurious results are expe- rienced by everybody. The Illinois & Michi- gan Canal, the bottom of ‘which was above the level of the Chicago River, was partially supplied by water pumped from the river into the canal. The City of Chicago, how- ever, in order to provide permanent relief to the city by a continuoys flow of water from the river into the canal, expended nearly §8,500,000 to deepen the canal some eight feet. This improvement went into operation ten years ago, and for some years” worked well. In the ten years, how- ever, the population and the sewage of the city have nearly doubled, and, owing to periodic changes in the hight of the lake, the level of water in the river has fallen a couple of fect, and consequently the flow of water from the river has 50’ Seriously dimin- ished that it fails to sufficiently dilute the sewage, which ‘is carried down to the Illinois River, to the great offense of the good people of that region. The grievance is aggravated, by the failure to carry off the sewage in suf- ficient quantity to afford the relief needed to render the Chicago River: décently endura- ble. i An immediate remedy is needed for city sanitary reasons, and to avoid legal and sani- tary proceedings on the part of the peuple of the Illinols River towns. The necessity for immediate action is con- ceded, because to neglect it longer will be criminal. What, then, is the simplest and easiest remedy? The trouble in the case arises from an insufficiency of water in the canal. The remedy naturally suggesting itself is to increase the volume of water passing through the canal, thereby increas- ing its velocity, and carrying off with it a greater amount of sewage, the whole so diluted with pure lake-water as to be sub- stantially inoffensive. To still further deepen and enfarge the bed of the canal will bea work of years, costing many millions of dollars. To dig lateral sewers along the river side to catch the sewage and bear it off to some place in the rural districts, there to be pumped up and disposed of as liquid manure to farmers, is preposterous, at once wholly impracticable and impossible. The farmers would not permit such a Hquid deluge to be spread over their wet, heavy- clay, undrained land, for we believe there is scarcely an acre of tile-drained farm-land in Cook County. So this wild scheme may be dismissed from further consideration. To restore the pumps, and to rebuild the lock connecting the river and the canal, is adinitted by everybody as affording the speediest and, for years to come, the most efficient.of all speedy and practicable reme+ dies. To putin these wheel pumps, and to set the improvement in actual operation, will require buts few months of tinte and an ex- penditure variously estimated at the insig- nificant sum of $75,000 to $100,000. All the engineers, all the experts, all those engaged in the navigation and other use of the canal, unite in commending this as the best and most feasible scheme. Persons ‘doing busi- ness on the canal state that the flow of water from the river into the canal now averages from 17,000 to 20,000 cubic feeta minute. By erecting the pumps, with only a Jift of five -feet, this flow can be ineréased to 50,000 cubic feet a minute. Mr. Nofton, practically ac- quainted with the whole operation of the pumps before the deepening of the canal and with the present performance of the canal, stated the situation very clearly. He said: Ags to the scheme of pumping-works at Bridgeport, be bad no doubt about its being practicable. .It was the only means by which immediate relief could be gotten. He thought $100,000 was a liberal estimate. for the cost. The old works were put up for $42,000, and had a capacity of 4000 cuble feet per minute. An engine of horse power would be necessary to raise the water five feet. It would cost.$% a day for fuel. The other running expenses could not exceed $30. The only question was whether if. was prac- ticable to keep the works xing night and day the year round? By that means a current could be created in the river sufficient tocleanse it. He thought raising the water four feet would be sufficient, Last summer 17,000 cubic feet through, with the water eight feet deep at Bridgeport, In October the water there was only six anda balf fect, which was about the lowest it had ever been. TheCanal Commiséion- ers were constructing anotherdredge, and would have it in operation by April on the upper jevel, when the sediment would be removed. But this would not increase the flow of the water from Cuicago. As to the and fall , of the re, statistics showed that it run from twelve to six and a half feet at Bridgeport. Since the Canal Commis- sioners had their conference with. the.city authorities, they had instructed thelr engincer to examine into the pumping-works project, and he had been told that dr. Jonney would re- port, favorably. He (Jenney) estimated that ,000 feet pumped into the canal at Bridgeport would create a current o@one and a half miles an hour. The question was whether canal-boats could tow against it. He had no hesitation in saying that they could grun ensicr against such 8 current with a depth of eight feet than against 17,000 cubfe fect with only four or five fect of water in the canal, as at-present No new horse-boate were being built, As fast as the old ones wore out they were being super- seded by steam-bonts, and three-quarters of the business is now being done by the latter. So horse-boats cut no figure. This statement, which is confirmed by Mr. Singer, an old and experienced canaller, by the Canal Engineer and Commissioners of the ditch, and by all those having actual expe- rience, ought to satisfy the Council and com- munity as to what.should be done in the emergency. Mr. Singer stated that to in- crease the flow of water into the canal to 50,000 cubic feet a minute would change the whole body of waterin the Chicago River every ten hours, and he declared that he was willing to putin the pumps for $100,000 and engage that this improvement would be all sufficient to meet any increase of the city sewage for at least seven to ten years to come. ‘The largest estimated cost of this work is put at $100,000. Any measure that will empty the contents of the South Branch Into the canal in ten hours, to be replaced with pure water from the lake, is of such value to this city that the estimated cost of $100,000 be- comes a matter of insignificance.. Once pro- vided, these works will suffice for seven to ten years. Putting the daily cost of operat- ing the pumps at S75 per day for 200 days in each year, the total annual expense will be about $15,000; but call it $20,000, In the mean- time, @ deliverance from the present intol- erable evil, for ourselves and down-river neighbors, and a prevention of its recur- rence being secured for several years to come, the city will have time to con- sider and ‘devise some plan of a per- manent character for the future. The proj- ect of a great enlargement of the canal will possibly within a few years be absolutely determined, and, as the completion of that work will remove all trouble for the future, Chicago should now confine its expenditure to this practical, certain, and comparatively inexpensive mode of affording immediate relief. It is to be hoped the Mayor and the Com- missioner of Public Works, both of whom, we assume, have no higher ambition than to render what service they can officially to the city, will now give the aid of their positions and their common sense to this scheme, and secure in the current appropriation ordi- nancé provision for adequate pumping and other improvements. The whole reflecting part of the community will cordially indorse and applaud this expenditure as wise and necessary to the city’s welfare. ————= PARNELL, ‘Whatever may be thought of Mr. Parnell’s mission and his mdnner of conducting it, and notwithstanding the ‘remorseless per- sistence” of the sensation-loving New York Herald, the pap-fed and otherwise fed Bour- bon New York World, and that doctrinaire journal of pseudo-culture the New York Nation, there is no doubt but Chicago will greet the agitator to-morrow evening with a large, enthusiastic, and impressive audience. Many will go doubtless through mere curiusity to see the man who has had the temerity to brave the opinion of the whole English and pro-British American: press; who has stood unmoved in the British House of Commons amid the jéeers and groans of thef‘‘first assembly of gentlemen in the world”; a man who, while yet in early man- hood, has attracted'the attention of the civil- ized world; who, to use the language of the veteran agitator, Wendell Phillips, has bearded the British lion in his own den. But. aside from motives ofzmere curiosity, Americans will be glad to greet the grandson of one of their greatest naval heroes, and to express sympathy with a struggling nation- ality with whom they-haye many ties of interest. They cannot forget that Mr.. Parnell’s Irish ancestor voted for a motion in the Irish Parliament expressing sympathy with the American struggle over 100 years ago. The idea of agitation, too, will not be so odious to them when it is re- membered that the agitation led by Patrick Henry, and John Hancock, and Samuel Adams ‘culminated in their own freedom; and that, still later, agitators such as Wendell Phillips, Lloyd Garrison, Horace Greeley, Thurlow Weed, and Owen ‘Lovejoy roused this Nation to the enormity of negro slavery and led to the emancipation of that race whose bondage made free nation a misnomer as applied to this country. His own countrymen will, of course, con- stitute the largest and most enthusiastic por- tion of the assemblage. For them he has broken through the artfficial barriers of race and religious prejudice; has estranged him- self from the aristocratic society into which he-was born; abandoned his legitimate hopes of preferment, the ease which is the accom- paniment of a large income, and those dis- tinetions which loyal servility brings to men of his class in Ireland. He has abandoned all these to become the leader of a dis- couraged and disorganized, half-clad and half- fed people in the effort to rid themselves from the more than Egyptian bondagein which they have been kept for centuries,, And in doing this he has had to brave the invectives, the contumely, and the slanders of the English press and the greater portion of the English public, the hatred and malignity of envious politicians in his own country, the scorn of society and its panderers, and purse-pride and its votaries; to contend against the timidity begotten of easy circumstances, the servility born of slavery, and the treachery purchased by place and pelf. He could not but have seen the path that lay before him when he took up the cause of the oppressed. It has too often led to exile and ruin, to the dungeon and the scaffold. “ Brave and good mien tried to snap the rusty chain” in which feudalism has bound the tenantry of Ireland, only to fail miserably. The landlord power had every engine of corruption and power ready to do service in its cause. Under these circumstances, Irish-Americans would be. unworthy the freedom which the laws of this country confer if they did not turn out to do honor to the champion of their kindred and country, of the victim against the despoiler. The Tory press and the Tory leaders of England may not be so blind to all the signs of the times as not to read in a great demonstration such as we predict for Chicago an indication that free peoples abhor and detest the system of legalized robbery, and the plunder of a people under a feudal code such as the land laws of Ireland. TERE seems to be some ignorance or mis- understanding in. respect to the paper-stock materials. that can be imported free of duty under the present tariff. The following arti- cles are charged no duty: aper stock erude of every description, in- efuding all grasses, fibres (other than wool), waste, shavings, clippings. old paper, rope-ends, waste rope, waste bagging, gunony-bags and inny-cloth, old or refuse, to be used in mak- Ing, and fit only to be converted into, paper, and unfit for any other manufacture, and cotton- waste, whether for paper stock or other pur- SES. Pass of cotton, linen, jute, and hemp, and aper-wasto, or waste or clippings of any kind. Rt only for the manufacture of paper, includ- ing waste rope and waste bagging. parto, or Spanish grass, and other grasses, ‘and of, for the manufacture of paper. ‘Woods—Poplar or other woods, for the manu- facture of paper. When this free list was being prepared and passed through Congress there was some sharp practice performed by the wood and straw pulp-factories upon the paper- wails, The only kind of pulp made from any of the above list of crude articles that is admitted free of duty is that made trom “esparto or Spanish grass,’ because none Is made from it for purposes of exportation. But pulp from shaw, wood, or any other substance from which paper in this country is made, is excluded from the free list. All imported. pulp—wood, straw, rig, tow, old tope,-gunny bag, jute, or paper-waste—is taxed 20 per cent for so-called protection of, pulp-factories against the paper-mills and ‘book and. newspaper publishers. When the paper-mills discovered thé tax the pulp fellows had rungin on them, they in turn induced a facile Congress to “s-o-c-k” it to the publishers by putting a 20 per cent taxon imported paper. Now. the right and proper thing to do isto repéal all these gouging, cutthroat duties, and remove those dishonest and oppressive taxes on knowledge. The publishers have no “ protection” and want none; the paper- mills and pulp-factorics need none. Remove the crippling taxes on pulp and bleaching- powders, and let paper be made and sold cheap for the promotion of general intelli- gence and the public good. The Camgress- man who openly or sneakingly maintains those’ pestiferous taxes on knowledge will havé an interesting reckoning with his con- stitueis, THE PRESBYTERIAN IN IRELAND IN we DISTRESS, A few days age ® cablegram stated that there was much real distress amoug the Protestant Ulster farmers of Ireland; but they were too proud to acknowledge the fact. This statement is confirmed by mail advices which have since come to hand. in the Northern iWhig, a paper published in Belfast in the.interest of the Liberal Presby- terian party, we find the announcement made that “The Moderator of the General Assembly intends to issue a letter requesting that the coiigregations in connection with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will make an arrangement for 3 col- lection, in order to supply the necessartes of life to those (the rent-devoured tenants] who are in urgent need.” In accordance with this intention, we find that at a largely- attended Presbyterian ministers’ meeting held in Belfast the 29th of January steps were taken to mgke collections, and the hope was expressed that “the response would be as hearty as that given to thé appeal made in 1847.” From these circumstances it would appear, in what has been the most prosperous parts of the rent-cursed island, that distress is all but generalin Ireland. Many others than those proud, independent, gritty Presbyteri- ans have suffered severely in silence rather than expose their sad poverty to the public gaze, An Irish gentleman, the editor of one of the principal Irish papers, says ina private letter tod partyin thiscity: “It cuts me like aknife to see rent-devoured Ireland’ thaking periodical appeal to the charity of éven generous America, and it is perfect tor- ture to hear Englishmen lecturing us on our improvidence, and telling us that England is always ready with an alms.” The Ulstercnstom hasin part protected the farmers of the Northern Province from much of the misery visited on the other coun- ties by rapacious landlords; and, as Mr. Charles Wilson, the farmers’ candidate for the representation of Antrim, said at a recent meeting: “Ifthe Ulster custom of fixed land- tenures were abolished we would find famine and destitution prevalent alike in the North and the South.” Many have the idea that the Protestant tenants are treated with exceptional leniency by the landlords on accountof thesympathies arising from community of race, and religion, and politics; but this is not so. The late Lord Leitrim and men of his class “do not care a fig,” as they would express it, for any- thing but the accomplishment of their own selfish, sordid, rent-réll ends, and the exac- tion of every last cent from the rent-oppressed tenant. The Presbyterians have, at various periods in the history of Ireland, been treated with as much harshness as the Catholics, and the Presbyterian farmers who voted against the Tory candidate previous to the passage of the Ballot act were frequently evicted for following the dictates of their consciences. The “ Ulster custom ” was not established through the leniency of the landlords, but by the united and active perseverance of the spirited Northern farmers, aided by a large section of the English Liberal party. The landlords, wherever they could bully the tenants, have “ covenanted” themselves “ out of the custom,” as in the case of Lord Lei- trim and other feudal tyrants, but generally speaking they have been obliged to give way to the persistent and manly stand made by the tenants. Notwithstanding the protection afforded, which is only a slight boon after all, it ap- pears that these farmers are now in need of aid, and it is certain that their complaints are not made without reason. Theirs is no mendicant spirit,—no desire to air their grievances. When they speak they speak boldly and for their rights, Their independ- ence is not fhe creation of to-day or of last year, Their race have ever been the pioneers of liberty, national and individual. Their haughty spirit and sterling character wil! not permit them to be suppliants for mercy, when it is in their power to obtain their rights by the means which freemen have ever used, POSTAL TELEGRAPHY IN ENGLAND. Nearly all of the great London dailies have joined in a concerted and serious onslaught upon Government management of the postal telegraphy as it is now handled in England, and have framed an indictment which sub- stantially charges that branch of the service with being a willful failure. The Telegraph says that “The Department is skilled in all the arts of how not to do it,” and that the public is distouraged from availing itself of the system; and the Times devotes a ponder- ous column anda half to the abuses which have grown up, some of which are worthy of specification. It charges that the Post-Office, since it came into possession of the telegraph system, has done less to extend it than was to have been expected, and that its aim has been to get through the great- est amount of work in the cheapest possible manner. It characterizes some of the overcharges for special service as “nearly ‘dishonest,” and that sometimes these over- charges are the “‘perquisits of messengers” and sometimes are “confiscated by the De- partment.” The Mmitations of the service constitute a still greater grievance. The Times says that in the whole of London there are but five offices always open at night, sixteen in all England, four in Scot- land, and four in Ireland. It is only between these twenty-nine offices that there is any actual transtnission except during the day time. On Sundays the offices are only open from 8 to 10 in the morning, and no provision is made for even the most serious emergen- cies during the remainder of theday. The slowness with which the telegraph fs man- aged is illustrated by the following extract from the article in question: It is only from the sixteen towns ferred to that a tel im can be rent Landes inthe night and delivered in time to allow the recipient, who may be an urgently-nceded doc- tor or lawyer, to travel to the sender by any of the early down-trains. From all other places a. -posted letter would be received Inter and deliy- cred sooner than a telegram, and a railway par- cel would be received later and delivered sooner than either, One of the important uses of teleg- raphy has been to facilitate the detection and apprehension of criminals; but the criminal willsoon be as fully alive to the periods of repose of the tele; 4 : the turns of a polieguae oa nis ey DOW are ty The efforts of the Post-Offica Depa to getcontrol of the telephones are bitte; opposed by all the papers, which advise it amend its own arrangements before atten fo, ing to possess Itself Of those of others, te Times even charges that the Department¢ not aim at the full utilization of scien, toa “the improvements eagerly Sivas @ competition of freedom are sti with slot and sullen reluctance Dy ned - are above the fear of a rival and elas * confession of an érror.” It affirnis that zits reign of the Post-Office has been fatal English telegraphic invention, which 2 been compelled either to turn its ene! into other channels or to seck the re ahi its labor In foreign countries,” Bath te Times and the Telegraph, with a sortot envi. ous despair, point out the great advantages and conveniences of the American service: its immense superiority as compared with the English, in the use of the telephone: inthe * summoning of messengers to execute every” conceivable sort of commission, such 43 making purchases, engaging places at enter. tainments, fetching conveyances, and so forth; in the rapidity with which Messages, are sent; ‘in the telegraphic arrangements. for giving alarm in case of fire; and In all thy multifarious applications of the telegraph, and telephone which are so familiar toAmeri. cans, and which really amount to placing a trusty servant in every house at the disposal of its inmates any hour of the day or night... The Telegraph states the real cause of, the. failure wher. it says: ‘It Is indeed a mock. ery that an invention, which was said tohave conquered time and space, should be tied down: and have its natural usefulness ims paired by the bonds of red tape.” The fai’ ure has not occtrred because the ¢ontrol of the service is in the hands of the Govern. ment, but because the Government has not agdiled itself of improvements with the ala. rity of private companies, and because, as in everything else, the Government will -no¢ move except according to a conventional roe tine. As compared, however,. with results: when the companies had control, the servis: has been successful. The price of tetegraph.: ing has been reduced from one-half io two.: thirds to the public, and four-fifths: to the press. The extraordinary prices: which used to rule have been done’ away with, and dispatches which used’ to range all the way from a shilling toa dol? Jar can now be sent fora shilling. Since tha Government took charge the amount of wire bas been quadrupled, and the number of offices has been doubled>- Insulation is bet, ter, offices are more convenient, and the sy tem of delivery Has been improved. The trouble Hes wholly in the red tape with which everythmg connected with Govera< ment operations in England is hampered, The fault’ is in the Circumlocution Office,’ There is no demand upon the Government ty the English press to surrender the service to’ a privileged monopoly, but to handle it bee ter, and the agitation has now become so general that there is a fair prospect of relief. What they want is, that offices shall be open. at night; that there shall be more of them;. that messages shall be delivered with more promptness and greater dispatch; and that the telephone shall be combined with the telegraph to its fullest extent,—advantages: in which at present the American telegraph system is infinitly superior to the English. .‘ BEER AS A SOOIAL ELEMENT. ‘ Are we becoming Germanized? Is Gemtit lichkeit, which a dozen years ago could only be found at a commerz, in German gardens, or at singerfests, becoming an American characteristic? Is the Teutonic social econ- omy slowly but surely undermining our Pu-, ritanic rigidity? It would appear so. The “f figures are appalling...-The internal revenue statistics show that 489,403,030 gallons of beer were consumed last year in the United States, averaging ten gallons for every man, woman, and child, without regard to color, sex, or previous condition of servitude. We will assume, however, that our population amounts to 47,000,000. From this number, deducting 4,000,000 unhappy negroes who never get beer, 20,000,000 children, 5,000,000 women who drink tea and other things, and a few millions of men in the far West and South who aré beyond the isothermal lines of beer, and in New England where people get giddy only on water and cider, we have a2 actual average of about forty gallons, or nearly a barrel, for each individual in the fortunate remainder. Coming down to indf viduals, there are cases where a man and wife, whose domestic relations are happy and there Is no cheat in the measure, dispose of three gallons per week comfortably. German music long ago usurped the llon's share of our programs. During the lastfew years German composers have outnumbered all others inf the proportion of ten to onein our concert-rooms. Our ladies’ clubs afé reading papers on the philosophies of Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer, and disenssing them with the avidity:-they would display {a dissecting the last new mode or social sens tion. But there is nothing which so clearly and unmistakably indicates this great social change as beer. Twenty-five years ago beer was shpcking. Ten years ago it was coule tenancéd, but still was considered vulgife Five years ago the average American family surrendered to Its insidious influences, bub procured it in a stealthy manner, slipping out by night with a pitoher, under cover of the darkness, or order ing it in sealed boxes, Now the bottled-beer wagon rattles up to the front gate with all the boldness of the gf cery-cart or the pomp of the gilded chariot of the milliner. In hundreds of Americam families in thiscity it has.become a staplé article, and there is grief in the household when the careless servant neglects to haré the case replenished. A few years 380 was only the American male being who ln sisted upon his beer with his dinner. No however, the American female being has sure rendered to its charm, and calls for her beet at dinner with an intensity that demands Tecognition or involves trouble, and before retiring reiterates that demand with all the fierceness of her nature, as the only sedative that will give her rest and preserve peace the family. If the statistics of the beer-supPly to American families alone were known they would appal the American temperance society. They would be in despair at the growing contempt for water and the loss of confidence in tea that is displayed in Amer can homes. There is no question that music of the teapot singing on the hearth Is fast losing its charm, and that the averaz® womanly heart, even if it docs not Te gard it with.the disgust of Eccles, at least hes grown cold in Its fell tions to tea, and no longer waxes garrulous over the cup that cheers. Whether it is ® question of the greater intensity of the likes and dislikes of woman or merely of relative capacity is uncertain, but the fact cannot be sucessfully disputed that woman asserts ber superiority to man in the consumption of beer as in nearly every other duty of life. Ik is a curious inconsistency that, while amon& men the big, hale, and robust ones aré most successful beer-consumers, sm0ng women the highest degree of success is achieved by the little, delicate, fragile, and spiritueli creatures, who easily vanquish their Amazonian sisters; and also that while the robust woman, in the full bloom of health, grows quiescentand metaphysically ve after the first glass, and goes to sleep on