Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, December 19, 1880, Page 4

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Che Tribune. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION, Pally edition, one year 12.00 Pars of ear, per month. 1:00 Dally and Sunday, one yea 2 14.00 ‘Tnesday, Thoraday, and Soi ¥ 00 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. per year. ‘oo Wunday, 16-pace edition, peryear.....,. 2.00 WEEKLY EDITION—POSTPALD. : One cops, per year. 50 Chabot ave... ‘oo Twenty-one copi 20:00 Specimen ooples sent free. Give Post-Uflice address in fall, including County and State. Remittances may be made elther by draft, express, Post-Office order, or in rexistered letter, st our risk. TO CITY SUBSCRIBERS, Daily, delivered, Sunday excepted, 25 cents per week. Daily. delivered, Sunday incinded. 20 cents per week, Address THE TRIBLNE COMPANY, Corer Madison anc Dearborn-sta... Chicago,IL eee POSTAGE. Entered at the Post-Ofive at Chicago, I, #8 Secont- Class Matter, Forthe benefit of our patrons who desire to send stacle copies of THE THIECNE through the mall, we give herewith the transient rate of postage: Domestic, it and Twelve Page P1 n Page Paper... TRIBUNE BRANCH OFFICES, Eead 0 TRIBUNE has established branch Bees fort the receipt ot subscriptions and advertiss- ments as followa: NEW YORK—Hoom ® Tribune Building. ¥F.T. Mo- FapEN, Manager. GLascow, Scotiané—Allan's American News . SOCIETY MEETINGS. | KILWINNING LODGE, NO. Sil, F. AND A. M- Annual Communication for th mare inv! . HB. VANCLE, A.8. ALLEN, Secretary. IOMAS J. TURNER 1ODGE, NO. 49, A. F. AND A ee utasone ‘Hail, 78 Monroe-at, Thurs- day evening, Heo. 2, Is, at 7:3. Business’ of im- portance to every member of this lodge, it being the Nineteenth Annual Communication for the election f eBicere for the ensuing Masonic ene Sed neste of dues. All members are requeste order of JOHN E. ELTIBUNE, W. M W. M, STANTON, Secretary. LINCOLN PARK CHAPTER, NO. 177, RA M— Bali, corner of North Clark and Centre-ate, Fifth Aantal Convocation un Munday evening, Dec. 2, at 3 Q'clock, for the election ‘of ufficers and payment of Anos All members ure earnestly requested to bo Present Visitors welcume. ‘THOMAS CROMLISH, H. P. HARRISON 8. STREAT, Secretary. WILEY M. EGAN CHAPTER, NO, Im HA. M— Boguiar Convocation Friday evening, Dec. 2.10 be beid at Pleiades Yall, 2 and 22 South Halsted-st., for the election of R. “AL Capt and work on the Mark degree. Per order. HEIGH, Ht P. EE NEWELL: Secretary. CLEVELAND LODGE, NO. 211, A. F. AND AL A Sper Grampunlction ga ogiay avgtne, bon terually invited. 2 TEPHAM, W. Me 8. KO REED, Secrotary. APOLLO COMMANDERY. NO. 1. KNIGHTS TEM- YLAR~—Special Conclave ‘Tuesday evening, Dee. “1, st 7 o'clock. ‘The order of the Temple will be -Sonferred. Stated Conclave same evening at 3 Ey chier ofthe Eainem Coumeie = ® Melome. ‘order of the ent Com ler. if HB. TIFFANY, Recorder. BT. GEURGE'S BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION.— ‘The annva! Christwas sociable in ald of the cburity Zunds of tne abuvg Society will uccur on Wednesday evening. Dec. 2 atthe Apollo Club-rooms, Central Music-fall, “Tickets, including ladies and fentle- maa. $1. A grand programme is in preparauion- EXCELSIOR ENCAMPMENT, NO. 105, 1.0.0. F.— ‘Wil assemble at the Tent, corner Clark’ and Wash- ingion-ais... next Friday evening, Dec. 24, for the olec= fen of ofticers and other important basiness. Visit- Patrinrebs invited, L. BLBAIN, C. P. D. REINEMS, Scribe, Za CORINTHIAN CHAPTER, NO. R.A. M—8; etal Convocation Monday Byemnge Te! 0, Torin gtallsuog of oficere. Visiting companions invited. By order of. 3 MALCOM, M. EL HL P, jOMN O. DICKELSUN, retary. KA. M— Halt, 148 CHICAGO CHAPTER, NO. 1%, Tmenty-second-. Hegular Convocation. Monday- Evening at Tg o'clock fur insialludon of ofticers. Other important business will be transacted. Visiting Qowpantons corsisily tavited. By order of the BLL P. EL Shiri, Seere CIICAGO OCOMMANDERY, No. 28 KNIGHTS TEMVLAR— Annual Conciave Monday bvening, Dec. 3 18V, at 733) a'clocs. Elecuun of officers and the Envitod." By order of te Lannea Coe cae oe HLRAM 't. JACOBS, Recorder, HOME LODGE. NO. 98, F. AND A. M.—Special Communication Wednendsy evening, Dec. 23, at hulf- PSL: tur work Bicinbery are notified to be present. istting brethren cordially invited. B.F. PAINE, W.M INO. LD. WESTERVELT, Secretary. APOLLO LODGE, NO. 6f2. A. F. AND A. M.—An- Bual Commantcation (or election of officers and pay- ment of dues on ‘Thursday evening, Zid inst at Apollo Hall, State and Twents-elchth-sts. By onder W. ML STAFFORD, Secretary. ORIENTAL CONSISTORY, S..P.R-S... 324 DE- GREE. Kosmar Assembly wit be held in Consisto- -Hial Hall Thursday evening, Dec. 2 a: 8 o'clock. By ‘Order JOHN O'NULLL, id Qeyres. Com.-incchiet, GL. W. BARNAHU, id Degree, Grand Secretary. “plADY WASHINGTON CHAPTER will give their regalar monthly sociable at Parker Hall, Tues: ay evening. Deo 21 P-RUSTLEN, Secretar SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1880. JuncE Woops, whom someof the unrecon- structed Bourbons have been denouncing as 8 “carpet-bagger,”” seems to have the confi- dence and respect of those among whom he lives. The lawyers and merchants of Mobile, Ala, have united ina strong petition for his confirmation KATE Cnase Srracve has filed a petition for divorcee trom her husband, William Sprague, in the Washington County (i. Ly Court. The grounds on which she seeks re- lease from her marital relations with Mr. Sprague are adultery, other misbehaviors, and neelect to provide for herself and her family suitably. ——— Carr. Caney, the English officer who ac- companied the French Prince Imperial when the latter was attacked by the Zulus, and who ran away without offering his compan- ion the least assistance, is about to resign from active duty and join the transport Service. Capt. Carey missed his vocation in the first instance, He shonld have joined the transport servico long ago. He was not ‘well fitted for fighting. Brockway, the forger, appears to nave conducted his. operations on the humane principle of Robin Hood, Freney the Rob- ber, Jack Shepvard, and other persons of thatclass. He never tried to rob the poor, he says. He forged notes on prominent banks having a large siuking-fund on which to draw t make good their losses. Brock- way takes credit to himself now for his mag- naniuity, and, stranze as it may appear, there are those who think that he is desery- ing of some. Sos of the Bourbon organs have been for some time claiming that Gen. Hancock re- ceived a larger popular vote than Gen. Gar- field, but failed to produce the figures in support of thelr statements. The Louisville Couricr-Journal, the abtest and most con- sistent Democratic paper of the country, in its issue of to-day pubiishes a table showing that Gch. Garfield’s vote was 4,$60,219, and‘ Gen. Hancoek’s 4,453,498, which gives Gar- field a clear majority over Hancock of 6,751 votes. The Bourbon journals will Probably not deign to notice the CourierJournal’s figures, ‘Tur House went into Committee of the Whole on the Consular and Diplomatic Service Appropriation bill yesterday. The billappropriates $1,190,430, or about $10,000 more than last year. A general impression Beemed to prevail that the salaries paid to Consuls are inadequate, and that the service is consequently defective. Several members we ingleton, Sparks, and some other Demo- Crate spoke against ‘the present navigation laws, which were defended by Conger. Hubbell’ssovereign remedy is a subsidy. A Sharp passage of arms took place between Heilman anid Springer _as to which party the present prosperity of the country was owing to. The bill passed through Committee by a Vote of 140 to Tue formal orders making changes in the Command of the military departments, and creating new departments, were issued yesterday, Gen. O. O. Howard goes to West Point, Gen. Schofield assumes command of the new Department of Texas and Arkansas, with headquarters at New Orleans. The States of Arkansas and Louisiana and the Indian Territory will constitute a new Mill- tary Department. Col. Mackenzie, of the Fourth Artillery, succeeds to this command, with the brevet rank of Brigadier-General, Gen. Augur assumes command of the De- partinent of Texas, and Gen. Henry J. Hunt is assigned to the temporary command of the “Department of the South. THe past week was one of unusual activity in the New York stock markets. National and State bonds remained firm, and at times showed an upward tendency. Railroad stocks, particularly of Western roads, were unusually buoyant, and in some instances attained prices never before realized. The average advance in this class of stocks dur- ing the week was from 4 to 10 per cent, and in some cases reached 203¢ per cent. The advance is due to several causes, princi- pally the certainty that the 3 per cent Re- funding bill will! become law, the liberation of a large amount of money through the sale of the Iron Mountain: Koad, and the great auiount of foreign gold brought into the country, over $6,000,000 worth of which ar- rived during the week. —_——. Tae London Times is out of patience with the Gladstone Ministry for its want of firm- ness in dealing witn the Land-League move- ment, but it sorrowfully admits that matters are not likely to be mended. Itis moved to great and powerful sympathy for those farm- ers who are compelled by the Land-Leaguers to pay only Griflith’s valuation; and may yet 0 into the business of raising subscriptions in aid of these suffering people. It draws a most gloomy picture %f the state of iawles- ness existing in the island, and its imag- inative correspondents in Ireland con- tinue to supply it with details of har- rowing outrages which have never occurred. The fact seems to be that the Irish people are an exceedingly law-abiding people just now. Mr. Gibson, Beaconsfield’s Attomney- General for Ireland, speaking at the meeti: ng gotten up recently at Woodstock by Lord Randolph Churchill! and the Featherheads, said: “It is no. longer necessary for out- rages to operate. There are no outrages, It isalmost as quiet there Qreland) as in the County of Oxtord; but that was because no law—no English law—prevailed in those counties,” The fact seems to be that the Land-Leaguers have been successful in re- pressing outrages and acts of violence. They have found “boycotting ” to answer all their purposes. ‘Tue passage of Burnside’s little Educa- tional bill in the Senate is a step forward in the right direction. We are not altogether satisfied with the provisions of the bill in its financial application to education, for the reason that the 4 per cent interest upon the proceeds of the sales of public lands and patents is clearly inadequate for the general extension of education, and that it will be many years before it can be made so. But this is of little consequence as compared with the great’ principle which has been established by this vote, which includes in the affirmative eighteen Soutnern Senatorial votes out of the total of forty-one. The Sen- ate has asserted that the Constitution author- izes the use of the National revenues for the education of the children of the Nation, and only six Senators record their votes against it, and these six are men who are not believers in the diffusion of education in any manner, Having asserted this important principle, the way is now open forsome gen- eral and radical treatment of the whole sub- ject of National education. The action of the Senate in the passage of the bill is directly in the course which has so often been urged by Tue Cutcaco Trpune, and now is the time for Congress to amend the bill and to give it practical application by adopting another of Tue Tripune’s suggestions,—namely: that the proceeds from the sale of whisky should be applied ta the diffusion of education. This would give 2 million dollars to every million of people, whereas the fund. proposed by the pending bill can yield but a few cents per capita, and not enough to accomplish any use- ful or permanent result. It would relieve the people of serious taxation, and in the present condition of the finances it will be noserious drain upon the Treasugy, while from a moral point of view it will be'entirely consistent to use the proceeds of whisky to help cure the vice of intemperance by education. Having established the great principle that the Na- tional revenue can be used for educational purposes, Congress now should certainly seo that the amount of revenue is sufficient for that purpose. —— DEFEAT OF THE SMOKE-ORDINANCE, A majority of the members of the City Council on Monday last voted against and de- feated the ordinante to suppress the intoler- able smoke-nuisance. Exactly why they did sois not known, and perhaps it will trouble several of them to make any explanation. It is always difficult to abolish an abuse or a nuisance of long standing. Some people are 80 opposed to change that they will vote against any reform or correction of abuses, for no other reason than that to make the change would compel somebody to cease to be a public nuisance. ‘The history of the abatomentof the render- ing smells is a case in point. For several years the City Council refused to take any action towards abating the stink-nuisance, There were always ' enough Aldermen to whom the stinks were byno meansunsavory, and who did not like to interfere with the stink-factors, and who voted down all legis- lation on the subject. Finally, by pressure of public opinion, the ordinance was passed, but it was not effectively enforced, The cry Was raised that the slaughter-houses were a great and growing branch of industry, giving employment to many betsons, bringing capi- tal and trade to the city, and that, if the own- ers were compelied to suppress the stinks they made, these establishments would be removed to St. Louis, Peoria, Indianapolis, or other points, and be lost to Chicago for- ever. It was also stoutly argued that the stinks could not be abated; that no methods had been discovered of doing away with them; and that, any way, rotten-meat stinks Were not unhealthy, and only fastidious people complained of them. It isa matter of surprise that so many per- ns of ordinary intelligence permitted them- selves to be influenced by these and Kindred humbug objections to frown down all ate tempts to enforce the anti-stink law and regulations. It actually took over ten years, reaching until after the fire, before there wag any serious effort ‘made to enforce that law, It was resisted most defiantly. It required held ‘that if there were better men in the | service the foreign commerce of thd country could be greatly Increased. Tho Guestion of free ships necessarily came up, the utmost perseverance on the part of the city officers, and firmness on the Part of the courts, State’s Attorney, and the juries be- tore these vile and persistent nuisance- é e . factors were forced to yield. They were willing to spend money to defeat the law, and did actually spend thousands for that purpose, but finally they discovered that it would cost much Jess to comply with the law, abate the nuisance, and carry on their business In an inoffensive and decent man- ner than to maintain the stenches. They yielded, and now, without any trouble or cost, but at a saving of both, the nuisances are abated, The smoke-nuisance is, in one sense, worse than that of the stink-factories, It does not affect the health through offensive odors to the nose, but itdoes affect the health through the lungs and the throat. Tho atmosphere in the street, in the public buildings, in our dwellings is loaded with this imperfectly consumed carbon and sulphur, and health, as well as personal cleanliness, is directly in- jured by the nuisance, Chicago, as a whole, is one of the best built cities of the world; its general ar- chitecture is not equaled, as to ornament; design, or in the choice of material. How far this architecture is defaced, destroyed, obscured, and made hideous by smoke was iflustrated last August, when the outer sur- face of the Court-House building waseleaned and the texture and brilliancy of the stone, as well as the graceful character of the ornamentation, was unveiled and seen for the first time. It had only taken two years anda half for the dirty, grimy coal- smoke of the steam-engines to so thoroughly hide the building that, when it was scoured into its original color, so great was the transtormation, ninety-nine men out of every hundred thougut it had received several heavy coats of paint. ‘This coal-smoke nuisance is especially de- structive to goods and furniture. There is nota storekeeper In Chicago whose goods are not serfously injured by it, and to many lines of fine goods itis destructive. It soils and irreparably defaces some things. ‘The de- posit of soot finds its way not only into stores, but into public and private offices, where it defaces papers and books. It reaches into every private dwelling, falls upon every bed, curtain, carpet, dining-table, blackens and disfigures all articles of furni- ture, finds its way into drawers and clothes- presses, is a curse to every laundry, and in- jures clothing to a costly extent. It is for- ever falling upon -goods and upon persons; it renders the hands and faces of all grimy, sooty, and unclean, It is not a special but a universal nuisance, reaching all alike, and by all detested. There is no necessity, and therefore no apology, for permitting it tocontinue. More than one-half the nuisance is the direct result of reckless and ignorant firing, defective flués, and insnficient chimneys of steam-en- ines; the rest might all be avoided by the intelligent use of either of several simple smoke-consumiers now offered to the public. The persons who act as engineers or stok- ers protest against this law because it will prevent them filling up the furnace at one time, instead of feeding the fire intelligently at brief intervals; in the first case vast vol- umes of smoke and torrents of unconsumed sulphurous coal are poured out upon thecity, to the disgrace of the Common Council, to the discomfort of the public, and to the in- jury of the property of the people. Most of this may be obviated by the adoption of frequent and care- ful firing, leading to the consumption of the smoke in the furnace. In other cases chimneys may be raised, securing greater draft, better consumption, and less smoke, The nuisance may be abated by the exercise of avery small degree of intelligence and by remedying defects. ‘The abatement of the smoke-nuisance is a matter of direct economy, The waste of coal. is itself attested by the density of the smoke. Perhaps as much as 20 per cent of fuel is wasted by this improvident neglect of the available means to consume the smoke. The cost of adopting these means is comparative- ly trifling. Why should the Council reject this ordi- nance, and why refuse to abate this nui- sance? Among those voting against it there are some Aldermen who have no respect for aclean shirt, a clean face, clean -hands, or a. clean repuiation; who have never known the possession of clean dwell- ings or clean clothes: to whom a foul atmosphere is more natural than a pure one; and who do not understand why people should object to stinks, and filth, and dis- ease-breeding air. But on the same list there are some who have worn clean shirts, who do know that clean hands and clean faces, clean table linen and clean beds, are matters of comfort, if not of necessity; and it would be curious to know why these men voted against abating this intolerable and increas: ing nuisance, and what apology they have to offer to their own households and to their cleanly neighbors and constituents for per- petuating this smoke annoyauce and in- jury. Yet we hope that at the next meet- ing of the Council the men who wear clean shirts and have clean hands and faces will be in the majority, and reconsider the fool- ish and disreputable action of the last mect- ing. AMERICAN INTEREST IN THE IRISH LAND QUESTION. A postal-card correspondent “wants to know what particular interest people in this country have in the Irish and their land question; why Americans need bother their heads on the subject, or spend time denoun- cing rack-renting and landlordism in Erin.” Americans have a great deal of interest in the matter outside of sentiment, sympathy, or feelings of commiseration, They have a material interest init. At a recent meeting at Castlerea, in Iretand, to agitate for a change of the oppressive land laws, one of the speakers said that “ The rents which the landlords got for several years past did not all come from the soil of Ireland, but in large part from Awerica.” Had he increased the time to thirty yoars his statement would have been still more correct. During this period there has been sent from this country and Canada, but mainly from this country, ata moderate estimate, between twenty and thirty millions of dollars per annum to help Irish tenants. pay their rents. It has been sent by the Irish working men and women of the United States to relieve the poverty of their oppressed relatives at home, and to help improve the deplorable condition in which they find themselves, ‘This condition has heen forced upon them through no fault of their own, but by the landlord class, who take two-thirds of their 8ross earnings, which does not leave enough to support life upon, compelling them to sell almost everything they produce in order to meet the grasping and unrighteous demands of the alien, absentee landlords, or else suffer the Penalty of eviction and death’ by starvation. What they can raise them- selves isnot sufficient to mect these demands, and, to save themselves and their families from. actual starvation, they are compelled to lean upon their relatives in this country for aid, and in bad-crop years to call on the whole American people for contributions of money to pay their rents and of food to keep them from dying of starvation. Is this horrid condition of affairs a matter of no concern to the people of this country, oue- fifth of whom are of Irish birth or blood? A recent Irish letter to the New York Herald says: teen ; the pelp from America whieh bind irs hag more or.less v or if qulsed the real financial condition of hundreds va s ds of families, there would bave bee 8 great crisis ere this. But the giri at service in America, ar the boy, or two or three of them together, pay the rent year in and yerr out. If the rent was not moretban £10 one girl in agood place in this city could pay it and bave money to spare to contribute even more Inrgoly to the physica] comtort of those over whose heads she was keeping 2 roof. Wages for girls bave ranged in that period from $4 to $15 a month, and nore than half of ali earned went home. Ten and even twenty pounds a year has not been an un- common sum to be sent home by one child. How much more liberally those who mado amplor gains poured their earnings into this common channel it will never ba possible to tell; but it may bo estimated in the lightof the considera- Yon that. Irish children in America never measured their gifts by what they might deem. was needed, but only by what they had. The people of thiscountry have not only an interest In the Irish land question, but their Government should protest to Great Britain against the continuance of asystem of land laws in Ireland that renders it necessary for a part of the American people to have such an onerous relief burden fast- ened upon them, The United States has the ‘unquestionable right to protest against it. The Department of State should open a diplomatic correspondence inquiring whether Great Britain intends to perpetuate this land system and the oppression and persecution that attach to it, and whether her absentea Jandlords have the right to levy such exorbi- tant rents as necessitate these appeals to this country for money to pay them. Is it right that a large class of the people of this conn- try should be morally compelled, in consid- eration of ties of consanguinity, to pay the excessive rents of the Irish tenants to the English landlords? Ought there not to be a Joint resolution offered in Congress at once -demanding that these landlords shall cnt down rents, 8 as not to necessitate levyinga tax of twenty to thirty millions a year upon American citizens ?. Suppose there were living In Great Britain, on account of finding employment there, several millions of Americans who had be- come English citizens, and that jandiords were systematically and cruelly robbing their relatives in this country, requiring . the former to send millions of dollars over here annually on account of our unjust and op- pressive laws, would not Great Britain pro- test, and demand that such‘a cruel and unjust taxation should cease? Have we any the Jess right to demand that this actual Joss to ourown people shall cease; that our own labor- ing people shall not be impoverished to pay rents to English landlords; and that this tax upon our hard-working men and women who cannot afford to pay it shall be cutoff? Reso- lutions were passed last winter in Congress bearing upon the general question of -sym- pathy with the Irish tenants, and a Natioml ship was detailed to convey contributed food for the starving Irish, which was all right as far as it went, but the core of the evil was not touched, ——_—_. CURIOSITIES IN GOVERNMENT EXPEND- ITURES. | Government isa costly luxury. In round figures, it requires an outlay of about $300,- 000,000 to lubricate the machinery of the United States Government and keep it in running order, Nearly one-half of this an- Dual expenditure was imposed upon the peo- ple by our erring brethren of the South; among the other 3158,000,000 there are some curious items, which, in the aggregate, Would set up a good. many smaller Govern- ments in business and provide for them very comfortably during an average Govern- mental existence, The White House isa rather expensive in- stitution, aside from the President's salary of $50,000. The staff of employés in and about the Executive - office requires $32,000 a Year, and the stationery and miscellaneous appointments some $3,000 more. This is ex- clusive of $10,000 a year for care and repairs of the mansion, to §15,0C0 for lighting the house and grounds, $2,000 for fuel, $5,500 for the green-houses, and a single item of $30,- 000 for refurnishing. The care of the public grounds in Washington outside the White House costs: $79,000a year. The Botanical Gar- den is a Congressional institution, and conse- quently an additional expense amounting to about $16,500 annuAlly. Its chief province is to furnish bouquets and baskets of flowers on the order of Senators and Representatives to ladies who, moved by the eternal fitness of things, usually send them to decorate the desks of other. Senators or Representatives. ‘The legislative branch of the Government is maintained at a cost of over $3,000,000, Its regular traveling expenses amourt to $133,000, outside of the cost of junketing comuittees. The spiritual needs of Con- &ressare about the cheapest items in its spe- cial budget. Two Chaplains at $900 each supply all the religious devotion which seems to be necessary to Congressional salva- tion. Stationery, so called, is apparently regarded as a more practical necessity, for the Senators are expected to use up every year $14,500 and the Representatives $43,750 worth of the various articles that -como under this head; fortunately there is a prudent provision for allowing them to draw their allowance in money, so they necd not suffer from an embarras de richesse in writ- ing material. The Senate supports a luxu- rious barber-shop and elaborate bathing- rooms, but whether the barbers figure as Messengers or pages on the pay-roll does not appear. Packing-boxes seem to be a necessity to Congressional efficiency, as the Senate is allowed $760 and the House $2,700 a year for these conveniences. There is an occasfonal disproportion in the distribution of favors at the National Capital. For instance, the State Department, which is probably less frequented than any other branch of the Government, has an allowance for an elevator conductor, as has the Senate, while the popular branch of Congress has none, and the Treasury Department, with its 3,000 employés, only two. Can it be that the Senate and State Department are regarded as special resorts for the aged and infirm, and therefore indulged in special conveniences for superannuated people? ‘The grades of office are maintained to the strictest degree of accuracy, as -is evident from the fact that there are “‘ assistant mes- sengers ” as well as messengers. It is some- what curious that a messenger should be as- sisted in any case, but this -is not nearly so remarkable as it is that “ assistant messen- gers” are provided in certain parts of the service where there are no messengers. In that case, whom do the “ assistant messen- gers” assist? This, like a good many other conditions of the public service, is “‘ one of the things. that no fellow can find out,” as Lord Dundreary pathetically puts the case. Some of the contingent expenses of the De- partments are equally difficult to compre- hend. Its possible to understand that it shoul require $17,000 for lighting the Treas- ury Building, $30,000 for desks, chairs, and other furniture, and even $20,000 for washing and hemming towels and a lot of other serv- ice connected with a comfortable official existence; but it would be pleasant to have some explanation of an item of $7,500 for “ice, buckets, file-holders, book-rests, clocks and repairs thereof, labor, and care of grounds.” Information as to what propor- tion of this sum is expended on ice’ and what Proportion on labor and the other utterly ir- relevant articles might greatly aid in recon- ciling people to the expenditure of the §3,- 000,000 which is needed to run the Treasury. The Post-Office estimates may illuminate this dark mystery to some extent, There is a general demand for $8,000 for miscellane- ous contingent expenses after providing in detail for almost everything, and then there is a supplementary demand ‘for an additional allowance of §2,000 for fee, $1,000 for soap, $800 for towels, and §500 for water-closet paper. Whether or not the Post-Office Department fur- nishes a fair average of the personal care which Government employés bestow upon themselves cannot be accurately determined, ag the other Departments are not equally specific in setting forth their necessities, _ The Department of Agriculture this year assumes an importance by jumping up from $244,000 to $334,000 of expense. It costs $100,000 to purchase, propagate, and distrib- ute seeds, shrubs, vines, “and sich ™; $7,000 for experimental gardening; $25,000 for the machinery, apparatus, and labor to continue the experiments fn the manufacture of sugar from sorghum and corn-stalks; $15,000 to in- vestigate the history and habits of predatory Ansects; $10,000 for investigating the diseases of domesticated animals like the swine; $5,000 for a report on forestry; $5,000 for an- other report on the agricultural needs of re- gions that are confessedly arid; and $15,000 for contingents which are presumably of the Same nature as are indicated in greater de- tail and with more frankness in te Post- Office Departinent, Some of the curiosities of the foreign serv- ice, which amounts to an ageregate annual expense of $1,257,000, may be found in the large sums spent upon interpreters for the benefit of Ministers and Consuls who speak nothing but “American”; in the $20,000 for the support of prisons abroad to take care of Anerican convicts; in the $5,000 for bringing home American criminals from foreign coun- tries, where they migut better be allowed to Temain, and other like expenses. Alnong the stray items that are rather pe- culiar are the following: $10,000 for building a cottage at the Military Academy for the en- tertainment of the official visitors, whose e: benses amount to some $3,000 more; $2,250 for replacing the window-sash of the cadet barracks of the same Institution with larger panes for the boys to look out of and throw Stones at; $25,000 for building a Surgeon’s house at Maye Island, California. Cramped and insufficient accommodations are evident- Jy not among the oppressions of the military and nayal service, ‘The estimates for the river and harbor im- provements would. furnish an excellent geographical puzzle for school use. With- out going into figures, the unruly boy might beset, asamere matter of discipline, at the task of finding the following places and Streams on his map: Hyannis, Mass.; Great and Little Sodus Bays, New York; Seba- wating Harbor, Michigan; Ahnapee, Wis. ; Cook Bay, Oregon; Cathance River, Maine; Manasauin River, New Jersey; Broad Creek, Delaware; Choptauk River, Mary- land; Nomont Creek, Virginia; Scupper- nong River, North Carolina; Waccamaw River, South Carolina; Ockmulgee River, Georgia; various Louisiana teches; Pass Cavallo Inlet, Texas; Clinch River, Tennes- see; Petalumas Creek, California. These would do to start on, and after they had been traced out, the boy, if still needing to be disciplined, might be given a few scores more of equaily obscure creeks named which figure in the River and Harbor bill as re- quiring all the way from $5,000 to $200,000 for improvement. . There are countless other items of Gov- ernment expenditure which would occasion surprise, but which nothing less than a book of 300 large quarto pages, which is the extent of the Secretary of the Treasury's “letter” of estimates, would serve to enumerate. The public institutions and grounds in Washing- ton under charge of the Secretary of the In- terior require an annuat expenditure of $605,- 000, according to the estimates. The “star route” postal service, which does not in- clude the Yegular railway and steamboat Jines, demands $8,260,000. The public print ing costs over $2,000,000. There are $16,784,~ 000 of miscellaneous expenditures after everything has apparently been provided for; and, finally, it costs $5,000 merely to prepare the publication of the receipts, expenditures, and appropriations, There is nodoubt about this being an expensive, as well as a great, Government of ours. ——— GBANT WHITE an aee SCHOOL QUES- “Mr. Richard Grant White is a fastidious gentleman. The slightest misuse of the En- Glish language irritates him. ‘The failure of the common people to always spell accord- ing to Worcester, and to observe all the graminatical niceties of speech customary to the best society, jars upon his sensitive nerves. Ile puts the responsibility for tuis failure upon the American public-school sys- tem. Ordinary men and women do notspeak and write correetly, according to his stand- ards; therefore they are Uadly taught; there- fore the schools in which they are taughtare deficient. Such is the logic of his late screed in the North American Review pronounc- ing the free-school system a failure, and de- manding its abolition. It would be impossible in the compass of one newspaper article to notice and refute all of Mr, Grant White's criticismS upon the public-school system. For the present a brief examination of the grounds on which he bases his argument must suffice. He says, in the first place, that the children do not spell well. His exact language is: According to independent and competent evi- dence from all quarters the mass of the pupils of these public sebouls are unable to rend in= telligentiy, to spell correctiy, to write legibly. to describe understandingly the-weography of thelr own country, or todo anything that reasonably well educated children should do with ense. In support of this sweeping statement he quotes copiously from the report of Mr. George A. Walton, Agent of the Massachu- setts State Board of Education, on the public schools of Norfolk County, which borders upon Boston, and the inhabitants of which are somewhat exceptional in wealth and in- telligence. Notto dwell upon the fact that the condition of the schools in one county of one State is a narrow foundation on which to raise acharge of universal inefliciency, it is note- worthy that Mr. White confines his extracts only to proofs of so-called “bad spelling” among the children of that county. Thus, he cites with glee the statement that the word “ scholar” was spelled in 230 different ways; the word “ dépot” in 65; “ whose” in 108; “ which” in 58; and the adverb “too” incorrectly spelled in 859 cases out of 1,122, or by nearly 77 per cent of all the children who made the trial. His test of 2 good com- mon-scoool education is apparently accuracy in spelling. Atleast his accusations resting upon the testimony of others are directed en- tirely to this point. Now, suppose it should be established—ag it may be without great’ difficulty—that the majority of American children have hard work in learning how to spell: what does that prove? That the children are wrong, or that the system of spelling is wrong? That the children should be reformed, or that the system should be reformed? That children should cease to study spell- ing, or that the task appointed for them should be less dispropornonate to their faculties and the time at their com- mand? There are two ways of getting over an obstacle. One is to increase the force; the other is to diminish or Temove the ob- stacle, In the case of children who have to grapple with the unfathomable mysteriesand irregularities of English orthografy there is no ‘means of adding to the force. But there is a way, as many competent writers have pointed out, to diminish the monstrous burden unreasonably imposed upon them. 1G fs a remarkable fact ‘that Mr, Grant . White, who proposes to abolish ‘the -public schools because they do not teach children to spell well, is himself the most determined. opponent of spelling-reform in this country. He berates the scholars because they do not learn the nearly impossible system and the teachers because they do not succeed in teaching the intolerable ‘English orthog- tafy; while he denies the right of anybody to reduce the Jabors ot either. He deliber- ately consigns them ail to the thorny thicket and the bramble-bush, and scolds them be- cause they come out in tatters and covered with scratches. The evil effects of the present abominable system of orthografy do not stop with the failure of children to master it. It consumes the time of common-school scholars to such an extent that they can learn little or nothmg else. They:cannot be taught to read or write, grammar, geography, or history until they can spell; indeed, instruction in any other branch involves a painful discipline in spell- ing. Until reading and writing are mastered, the child cannot think. And by the time it can read and write fairly well school-days, in most cases, are over. It has been estimated that on the average four years are needlesly consumed by the child in learning how to spell’ mod- erately well the English language,—in at- taching arbitrary meanings to senseless com- binations of letters, in getting perfect con- trol of the orthografy which it pleased the London book‘praof-readers of two centuries ago, for some inscrutable reason of their own, to establish. The average scholar docs not attend school altogether six years, A few months in winter for a few years com- prise the whole period of the training-of most country children and nearly all city children of the poorer classes, Fully half of the time is spent! in trying to learn how to spell; and Grant White shows they nearly all fail. Isitany wonder under these circum- stances that they do not make better progress in arithmetic, or geography, or history, or grammar, or English composition ? Me Grant Whiteis one of those who have made afetish of the English orthografy. Silent letters are sacred to him. Perverted and dis- torted letters and syllables have claims on his tenderest affection. Wg regards it as far more important that the blunders of his fore- fathers ‘should be reyerently perpetuated than that the comfortof his contempora- ries arid descendants should be secured. By exalting on one side the value of correct spelling, and by depreciating on the other the Ineans of obtaining it quickly and easily, he has put himself in the extraordinary position of preferring a sentimental association with the past to a practical benefit in. the present and future. If the remaining grounds of his opposition to the public-school system are not better than this, his argument is in all respects very insufliciently supported, a3 we shall endeavor in future articles to show. ——_— 4 NEW “NEW ENGLAND PRIMER.” Ever since their ancestors threw away their horn-books in the old country, the Yankees, from the Pilgrim Fathers down to Bill Barnum, have set great store by prim- ers. The first book called by that name is said to have been printed in Old England in the time of Elizabeth and to have contained little besides the alfabet and a few simple words, It was only when transplanted to New England that the primer took its proper Place in literature, growing in importance and expanding in volume until it took rank alongside the family Bible and the almanac as one of the three books without which no successful attempt at house keeping could be made. There probably never was @ more useful work dropped from the press than the origifial “New England Primer.” It was instructive and pleasing alike to age and to youth. It was, like “Froggy” Dibdin’s Library Com- panion, “the young man’s guide and the old. man’scomfort.” If children did not cry for it, they certainly wept by reason of it, for it had the “Shorter Catechism,” and another one, not very short, devised by Mr. Cotton, tit had not been for the revolution in the- ology which began to shake Boston and all its dependencies pretty soon after the close of the second war with England, it is likely that the New England Primer would haye held its own, or, at least, would have: con- tinned to be used by very good people in very secluded localities, until it was ousted by the traveling publisher’s agent for School-books, who, in the long run, is sure to drive every instruction book out of the market which Hks been in existence over ten years. Time was when the parent, seeing his offspring at work upon the same lesson and in the same book which he himself did formerly use, could remind the youngster of the degeneracy of modern times and of the increased stupidity of children. Now, what fond father would dare to cross-examine his son on the secular Jesson of the day? The child studies new books and learns things that the generation before him wot not of. AU this comes fronythrowing aside the old reliable “‘ New England Primer.” To mend tha condition of things as far as Possible, however, some benevolent gentle men down in Massachusetts have composed anothet little primer, smaller than the first one and a good deal easier to remember. It is called “The Benjamin Franklin Pri mer,” though Mr. Franklin’s connection with the work seems to end with hisstanding guard on the title-page in the guise of a marble statue. He has got on Daniel Webster’s head and coat, and seems to be meditating whether it would be cheaper tocome down from his pedestal or to hold an umbrella over himself in case of a severe rain. The book has first- class testimonials annexed. “My children all ery for it,” says Brigham Young; “It makes a fine show,” says P. T. Barnum; “I am glad it is out,” says Mark Twain; “if it had struck in, it would have been worse than the measles.” Next after the alfabet is the Dicture of a very sheepish dog, followed by another of a very cocky. hen which looks like a remote ancestor of Tue TriBune’s spring chicken which crew the morning after. Garfield was nominated. Then come pict- ures labeled “Two Ox-en,” “ One Ing-en,” “A Turk” A Turk-ey,” and a small representation of Vishnu with the legend: “Do not be idol.’ A small boy, distressed becatise a bull-pup hasborne away such a big sample from the seat of his panta- Joons as to suggest a reason why only a front view‘of the boy is given, stands as an illus- tration for this lesson: Here is a nice dog, * Hus the dog sharp teeth? Oh, yes; the dog bas sharp teeth, An aquatic view shows James clinging to not very hich pole which sticks up in the middle of a river, while three or four croco- diles are reaching up for him. This isthe instructive comment: Sce Jaines and his pets. Ris pets are fond of him. le will soon feed his pets. ‘Then comes the dog of history and of song, with a tea-kettle tied to his tail, and ‘this lesson: Can the dog run? : The ead oor as a n is 3 Run. dog. tun. This seems strangely like Noah Webster's Uttle spelling-book story, commencing: She fed the old hen. Two tipsy mep at a lamp-post are arguing as tothe identity of one of the heavenly bodies: Js it the sun? No, it is the moon, Is the moon full? No, but the mun ts fall. “Ann has a dog,” and neis a big magtigr _ apparently bent on eating the little girt Ups but we are assured that “Ann is a zood eink She will not hurt her dog. Ann is wo dogs.” ee : A cat and a kit are holding an inte; the roof of a house, while an old a ahs his head out through a window below, . words of the text indicate that he “can ese the cat‘and the kit,” ana does not en; sound. Sor tte There are fifteen of thése instructive Ieg. sons in all, one to a page; and, when tead in connection with the meritorious Woodcut,, they come rather nearer to being humorous than they do to being either true, beautiful, or good. —_—_—_—_: Astronomical, Chicago (Trisune office), north latitay ‘i deg. stm. Sis.; west longitude £m, 153, tro Washington, and Sb. 88m. 303. from Greenwich,” | The subjoined table shows the Ume of rig. ing of the moon's lower timb, and the ome tine for lighting tho frst stzcet-lump in each gf cultin this city, during the coming week, unier ordered sooner on account of bad weazhe rr i is 445 Pom. 5:0 ae ‘The moon was full last Thutsduy. She will be. in her last quarter next Friday ut 1:07 p, mn The sun's upper limb will rise on Monday at Titi a. m., south at 1b. s8m. 12.53, a, tm, and Bet at 4:32 p.m. The sun's upper limb rises Friday next at 4 a. m., ouths at nf. 12.28. p. m., and sets at p.m. 3 The sidereal time Thursday mean noon willbe 18h. 10m. 34.378. The sun will be in the southern solstice Tuep day about 4h. 28m. a: m. Mercury will rise Thursday at 6:02 8. m., and south at 10:41 a. m. He was at nis greatest westero clongation last Sunday, and is still visie bie in the morning twilight, if the Sky be clear, He 1s of a ruddy bue near the horizon to asilver brilliancy just before sunrise. 2 Venus will south Thursday at 2:50 p.m. and set at 7:41 p. m., or nearly three hours after the sun. She is now bright as an evening star among the stars of Capricorn. Mars will rise Thursday at 6:06 a. m. and south atl0:tla.m. He will then be but a little more than one degree south from Mercury, and poth muy be readily seen in a clearsky. Jupiter will south Thursday ar 6:28 p. m., and set at 2:41 p/m. His apparent diameter wil} then be about 40 seconde of arc; and his. distancg from tho earth 437,000,000 mites; or 70,0000 mies more than Oct.7. He only shines to us about five-eighths as brightly as then, but is still a very prominent object in the evening sky, with no stars neur him of more than about the fourth magnitude. Saturn will south Thursday at 7:14 DP. m., and set Friday at 1:39 p.m. He will then be stations ary, about % degree northeast from the star kuown as Mu Piscium. Our diatance trom bim is jacreasing at the rate of about 10,000,000 miles Per week, and he is rapidly ‘necoming tesa ang jess interesting us a telescopic object. He ig 10% degrees east from Jupiter, and the distance between them will decrease to zero dn righs ascension, four months hence. Uranus will south Thursday at 4:52 a.m. He rises at abuut 10:25 p.m. Hf% right ascension is ib. 0144m., and declination north 7 degrees ry minutes. He Is slowly retrograding with refere ence to the stars. Neptune will south Thursday at §:28 p.m. Hig right ascension will then be 2h. 4m, and declination 13 degrees 38 minutes north. en CARL PRETZEL is a victim of misplaced confidence. He was a candidate for Coroner of Cook County; bis highest ambition was to hold Crowner's ‘quests on demnition, damp, disagree~ able bodies of people who bad decided the “be or not to be” question in the negative, or had gotrun over while standing {n the way of the erowd thinking about it. He wanted to sit down on them for a fixed fee, and meditate in Dutch onthe vanity of mundane matters. He went around among bis friends, and in a confidential way opened his mind to them on his sepulchral ass-pirations. They all pledged their word of sacred honor that if they were delegates to the Convention he should have bis ambition gratis fied by being officially employed to inspect the cadavers of those who bad shaken off this mortal coil, and tind out if he could why they shook it off, now that business was booming, -flatism flickering, resumption resumed, and the balance of trade in our favor, Pretzel {ooked after the caucuses and run a majority of his pledged - friends into the Convention Aut the rascals’ went back on him, and sold out to the other fellow, or gave the ghastly office to him to placate the countrymen of Hamlet, Pretzel 1s panting for revenge. He bas hired § hail, and proposes to pour out the vials ‘of bis Wrath and scorn of * political Hars.” The trouble will begin Wednesday night. ‘Ie announces in his organ that.*‘Our admission tckets read, “Carl Pretzel’s Lecture on Political Liars—Ad- mit One.’ We do not mean to admit one laf, Those holdipg tickets to the lecture will now rest casy."" And that “the new lecture, ‘from & Secular stafdpoint,’ covers a great’ deal of ground. The subject itself isan eurth-erial one because there ig #9 much dirt-throwing in polls tics.”” | The performance will be an inquest on his betrayers, and when he geta through they will wish they were deu id he Coroner. oo To the Editor of The Chicago Tribune. Cmcaco, Dec. 18.—If a United States Con sulin Engiand should have a son born to bim there, could that son become President of the ‘United States if he was elected?. PL ‘The statutes of the United States provide a3 follows: ‘The children of persons who aro or have beett citizens of the United States shull, though bora out of the limits of the United States, be consid- ered ue citizen’ thereof. ‘The Constitution of the United States pro- vides: No person except a natural born citizen, or 8 citizen of tho United States at Terdineot the udoption of this Constitution, snatl be eligible to the ollice of ident: | Neither shall any pete Son be cligble to that affice who shull aot havo attdined the age of 33 years, and been fourtees years a resident within the United States. 4f a Consul to England should be himself s citizen, bis son would be “a natural-born oltl- Zen.” But the son wovid not: be elizible to the Presidency untess he had been fourteen years a resident of the United States. On the subject of “residence,” in the legal sense, Story says (Vole I1., page 303): - a “residence,” in the Constitution, s toba Understood not un absolute Inhabituncy withia the United States during the whole period, bus such ao inbabitancy as includes a permantot domicite tn the United States. No one bas su} Posed that # temporary absence abroad on pul ic busigess. and’ especially on an Emmbasey to 8 foreign nntion, would interrupt the residence a ciyzen so us te disqualify bin for office. if ason born abroad of an American cltized should not visit the United States until he wa 35, be would practically renounce his cltisen- ship and would not be eligible to the Presidency. But it is not conceivable that such 9 persoa should be emburrassed by any legal questions 08 the subject, as the Presideacy would never De t upon him, ———$__ WE can imagine some at least of the cansell that influenced such Aldermen w vote againsttbe Coul-smoke, anti-auisance ordinance as Barratt, Hildreth, Imhof, Lawler, McAuley, MoNuroeYe Meyer, Purcell, Riordan, and Schroeder. Theif habits of person and mind and the way they were raised render them oblivious to the grimy, sooty nuisance. But {t pur zea one to think out the rensons tbat Induced Aldermen like Bond, Brads, Cul lerton, Everett, Hulbert, McGrath, Thompsody and Young to vote for the indefiait perpetua- Uon of the black, sulphurous, defacing, iojurie ous steam-engine smoke, and their rote surprized pretty much every man and wou)! in the city of cleanly habits and decent morals Young, of the; Fifteenth Ward, it 1s truc, ex" Dressed the belief that coal smoke made YF steam-engines, soap factories, distilleries, and furnaces could neither be abated nor reduced; but that {s all nonsense and tuo absurd impose on anybody, including bimselt, for ke knows better. Lawler aud Hildreth gave false and ridiculous reasons fur thelr opposition, 2 unght be expected: but it was not expect their slop would impose on the gentlemen ¥e have named. We understand that one of the Aldermen who voted in the negative did # £9 Move « reconsiderinon, and that he ex ets ihe ordinance will finally be passed by a decid majority. —— es ‘THER: isa person kept in the Clty Com troller’s office drawing a salary, who is called ® “scrip clerk,” and whose duties have ceased, OF 80 neurly ceaseu that one of the other clerks can easily attcnd to them. The Mayor saya be 48 opposed to keeping sinecure tax-eaters aD0Gs im." Here is one ripe for abatemant, ad

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