Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, July 31, 1881, Page 4

sera ecry res eae foe Datk.cir, 2 ae arena soa mR THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, JULY 31, 1881—-SIXTEEN PAGES The Eribune. TERMS OF SUBSCRIETION. BY MAIL—IN ADVANCE—POSTAGE PREPAID. Daily edition, one year... 512.00 Parts of a year, per month. 10° Dally and Sunday, one sear. 14.00 Vuesday, Puuraday, und Saturday, per sear. lay. Der Monda,, Wednesday, and F 08 Sunday,’ 2e-pave ediiion, per year. S60 WEEELY EDITION—PosIPalD. Qne copy. per yea + Stub ot th Specimen coples sent free. Give Post-Ofice address in ful, including County and state. Remittances may be made either by draft, express, Post-Office order, or in registered letter, at our risk. TO CITY SUBSCRIBERS. Datly, delivered, Sunday excepted. 25 cents per week, Daily, delivered, Sunday included, ZO cents per week, Address THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Corner Madison and Dearborn-sts., Chicago, IL, ———— POSTAGE. Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago, 10, as Second- Class Matter. Far the benefit of our patrons who desire to send single copies of THE TRIBUNE through the mail, we kive herewith the transient rate of postaxe: Foreign and Domestic. Eight and Twelve Paxe Pape! Sixteen Page Pape: TRIBUNE BEANCI OFFICES. ‘Per Copy. 3 cents. cents. (rie CHICAGO TRIBUNE has established branch offices for the receipt of subscriptions und advertise- ments as follows: OUK—Room 2 Tribune Building. F.T. Mc- Manager. GLASGOW, Scotland—Allan’s American Agency, 31 Repfeld-st. LONDON, Eng—American Exchange, 49 Strand. Bxyry F. Guia, Agent WASHINGTON, 1319 News Grand Opera-House, Clark street, opposit new Court-ilouse. Octoroon.” “The Hooley"s Theatre. Randolph street, between Clark and La Salle, Engagement of James O'Neill. “Saratogn.” Olymple Theatre. Clark street, between Lake and andolph. “Cn- ele Tom's Cabin.” Afternoon and evening. LAFAYETTE CHAPTEL, NO. 2 it Convocation Mondas evening, Aug. 1, Work on oval Arch Degree.” Visiting Companions welcome. By order,o! is WN. K. FORSYTH, M, BE. 1. P. WAL J. BRYAK, Secretary. ANDERY, NO. 1 KNIGHTS neluve ‘Tuesday eveming, AUK. fniting sir Knights are welcome. TIE FAIRVIEW CHAPTER, 161, R. ‘A. M.—Comer of Thirty-seventh-st. wid Cottave Grove-av.— Kerker Convocations every Thursday evening nt § o'clud Visiting companions are welcome. Work on the Noval Arch Degree at $ o'cl ‘special meeting COMMANDERY, NO. 19, KNIGHTS Stated Conclave Monday evening, Aug. CHICAGO 1, 1381, at 7:9) o'clock, Tor business and rehearsal on the Unter of the Ned Gross Visiting Siz Knis! ights al- ways weicome. By order of "BL POND, B.C. DAVID GOOVALAN, Itevorder. 5 ST, BERNARD COMMAND E mK. Th Blated conclave Wednesday evening, Aus i at $ welock. Work on the Tempinr Order.” Visiting Sir Bnichw are courteously invited. By order of ‘ JUHN D. M. GAR, Commander, J. 0. DICKERSON, Recorder. NATIONAL LODGE, NO. 106, A. F. & A. M—Stated Communication at their hall, corner Randolph and Dalsted-sts., Tuusday evening, Aux, > IL Brethren und Master Stasuns cordially in de presentand witnessourwork J. We SDEAR WM. SUNDAY, JULY 31, 18S. Tre Emperor of Germany has conferred the Order of Merit made vacant by the death of Thomas Carlyle upon Prof. William Dwight Whitney, of Massachusetts. This is a high compliment to be paid an American. Ir is reported that the Duke of Argyll, who was reported to be in danger of death some weeks ago, is about to marry the Hon. Mr& Augustus Anson, a widow, and the daughter of the Bishop of St. Albans. . The lady, it is scarcely necessary to add, is 2 woman of con- siderable fortune. ‘Tne French journals appear to think that the hastening of the elections for members of the Chamber of Deputies will have the effect of foreing the constituencies to retlect the present representatives. One journal predicts that there will not be more than fifty members of the present Chambers who will fail of reélection. Bissraxck has received a threatening let- ter, and his organs ascribe it to the influence of the Radical press, and warn: the Radical editors to beware of the consequences which will follow if a German Guiteau should “turn up.” The Radical press ingjnuates that the threatening letter is *‘a weak device of the enemy” for the purpose of exciting hostility to the Progressist or Radical party. “Ix an interview with a representative of the New York Tribune Guiteau expressed a desire to be defended by Gen. Benjamin F. djutler or State’s-Attorney Mills, of Chicago. Mr. Mis says he would rather be hanged than defend the scoundrel, which saying is creditable to Mr. Mills. The Widow Butler can probably have the notoriety of defend- ing the assasin, Amona the Irish wembers who refused to vote for the third reading of the Irish Land Dill are Parnell, Biggar, Healey, Redmond, Arthur O'Connor, Lewuny, and T. P. O’Con- nor. It is reported that these gentlemen left the House amid “derisive cheering.” It is quite probable that this little bana of “ ex- tremists,” as they are ‘called, may be the nucleus of what. may become a very formi- dable party in the House of Commons. Parnell has been, and still is, the most popu- Jar man in Ireland. Nobody doubts Biggzar’s honesty of purpose, and the other members mentioned, together with Sexton, Parcil, and T. D, Sullivan, may be called the brains of the HomeRule party. They are all young men of independent fortunes and of considerable literary ability, one of them, T. P. O’Connor, of superior literary ability. They are all contributors to the new Land-League organ, the Irishman, and are the most potential political factors in lreland. Tur difference between the castof woogtn shanties and brick cottages is iguorantly exaggerated. People do not stop to think that the only difference is the increased cost of the four brick walls which surryund the house over that of the pine shell. If 20,000 bricks are used in coustructing the walls of a comfortable brick cottage, and the cost there- of is $12 pez 1,00 laid in the wali, there is an expenditure of $40 for that partor the house. We venture the assertion that the sum is not $59 in excess of the cost of the construction of a painted clapboard shell of the same size "+ and hight, at the prevailing prices of iumber, Jabor, and paint. In alf other ‘respects the ’ < cost of two houses of similar size and charac- ter, one of brick andone of frame, will be exacly the sams. If there isa.basement it will cost as much for the pine as for the brick house, for in both cases it must be built of brick or stone In bot kinds of houses there must. be floor: diag, roofing, doors and ‘windows, ° plas- closets, partitions, Joist, -posts, etc., which do not require any greater expendituré ina brick house than in a’ pine house. But the difference in the cost of the brick walls is far more than offset by subsequent saving. No exterior painting is necessary, nor the frequent renewals thereof which the perish- H able pine demands. ‘The excess of cost will be saved in a single year in the Items of fuel, repairs, and insurance, and thereafter the owner or occupant will have a safe, comfort- able home, enjoying greater protection from fire, cooler in summer, warmer in winter, andin every way worth vastly more than a wooden building of corresponding dimen- sions and style. Tne ninth triennial conference of “the Young Men’s Christian Association of the World met at Exeter (Eng.) yesterday. John Wanamaker, President-of the Phila- del phia Association, the Rev. Theodore Cuy- Jer, Mr. Carey Thomas of Daltimore, and the Rev. Mr. Cook of Paris delivered addresses. ‘The regular business of the meeting will be taken up to-morrow. About 500 delegates are in attendance. The United States, France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and England are represented. Mayor Harrison contends that he speaks in the interestof the poor people, who cannot. afford to build prick houses; but. in the in-” terview in which he aired his opinions, he? betrayed his self-interest by remarking that he owns some acre property on which he maintained that he cannot atford to erect brick buildings, but might build pine shanties and enjoy the rental thereof. This would lookas though his proposed * modification” is intended to favor the pine-shanty capitalist rather than the “poor man.” 1t does not seem to have occurred to him that, if be has money enough to build ten frame houses on his property, he has also money enough to build at least eight or nine brick houses, and that he might begin with the latter number, which wauld yield a very nice revenue, and subsequently construct two more out of his rentals. Perhaps itis not too much to de- mand of Mayor Harrison, as well as other capitalists, that this much concession be made to the general safety of the city. Mayor ILarnison’s plan for “ modify- ing” the present fire ordinance is, if possi- ble, more outrageous than that proposed by the fire-bug Aldermanic representatives of the real-dstate clique. The latter desire’ to contract the fire-limits and exempt certain outlying districts from the prohibition against the erection of” combustible pine shanties. The Mayor is reported as saying that he favors a ‘“moditication ” of the or- dinance which shall permit the erection of pine and shingle houses on every alternate Jot throughout the city! In other words, he would plant the seeds of conflagration every- where, and at the same time make a most un- sightly city of Chieago. ‘There is not a single resident with a spark of pride_in Chicago, whether he be a rich man ors poor man, who would not protest against so unfair, impracticable, and dangerous a scheme as this,—suggested by an utterly selfish motive, and unheard of in any community on the face of the globe where size, progress, and self-protection.bave prompted the people to proh ibit the erection of fire-tra) Durine the past two or three days report- ers of Tue TriBune have been collecting the opinions of the people who inhabit the: very districts which the fire-bugs want to exempt from the present ordinance. These people are almost unanimously opposed to any con- traction of.the fire limits, and many of them discuss the question so intelligently that they ought to put Carter Harrison to the blush. One of them strikes the key-note of the agita- tion when he says “that the owners of cer- tain real estate desire the privilege of build- ing a lot of cheap frame houses in order to sell them to workingmen on long payments, und atsome future time, when temporary business depression or loss of employment shall cause the purchasers to default in one of thesmall payments, foreclose the mort- gage, seize the house, and confiscate what has been paid upon it. This is a plan for vic- timizmg workingmen after the fashion that poor seamstresses are sometimes robbed of sewing-Inachines after they have paid all buta few dollars. of what they undertook to pay.” Another sensible man suggests very truly that “whenever a workingman :has saved money enough to buy hima lot and build him a frame house, he can very well afford to wait afew weeks and save enough more to pay the small additional cost of brick walls. Others fully understand and describe the advantages of a brick house in comfort, safety, und economy. ‘They foresee that ibe increased insurance and the de- creased. chances of getting their insurance money in case of a fire are alone sufficient reasons for adhering to brick houses. Still others point out the additional taxes that will be required to maintain an enlarged Fire Department, the increased cost of repairs and fuel, the unshapely and shabby appearance of a city built largely of wood, the more rapid decay of pine shanties, and the manifold losses, annoyances, dan- gers, and discomforts of wooden houses. If Mr. Carter Harrison had been burnt out in the fire of 1871, or if he had not a lot of real estate in outlying districts which he wants toutilizeor get rid of, he would see things as plainly as the people who already inhabit those districts; and if certain Aldermen were not acting as agents of a real-estate clique, there would be no more agitation of the fire-bug scheme. OFFICE-SEEKiNG. It was recently stated by Secretary Blaine that there are half a million of applications on file in the various departments in Wash- ington for appointments of all kinds in the Government service. 1 may safely be esti- mated that there are at least half a million more seeking office from State, county, city, town, and village governments, Ax the vot- ing population of ihe country is ten millions, it follows that one voter out of every ten huntug for an office. Such a disgusting scramble as thisin a country where of all others iu the world the avenues of compe: tence are the broadest and quickest, at least induces the question, Why? Why is it that so targe a proportion of our people are eager and willing to lower their manhood, to lose their individuality, tq sink thei independence, to resort ty all kinds of disreputable and dishpnorable meaus which they would not employ iu any other business, and to wrestle with each other fora place ai lie crib ike swine around, a trough hat are the induce- ments? The term of ollice is alw: in itself, and no officeholder has the certain assurance that he will fill out his term. ‘The pay isnotso large as to make it an induge: ment.—at jleast the emolument dges not be- gin to equa! that whicl. the same amount of energy and activity would procure in Jegiti- mate business, Polities are not. necessarily corrupting, and yet few gu into it as a business that they do not come out of it corrupt, for ‘the methods by which place is reached are devious, sus- picious, crooked, and uftentimes veual. Once in an oflice the holder unfitted for any other kind of business. The mania seizes him and neyer lets go its clutch. He sqnan- derg.ail that he gets the one term to reach the office again, aud if he fails he becames a bounty of others whom he may help. Ke gets the oftice he is always a conspicuous ob- ject for eriticisim and abuse. If he i corrupt he is supposed to bp, and when oj supposed tobe, and surrounded with cor- rupt influences on evory hand, he is very apt to come out tainted, however pure he may have gore in. Why, then, is there such a scramble for office, since all the’ surroundings tend, to lower and degrade the officeseeker, and his tenure iS precarious at best? It ts difficult to explain it, except upon the theory that ofliccholding is looked upon as the most con- venient méthod of, making money without work. How the calamity is to be removed is not clearly apparent either; but it is certain that if some means could be devised to turn all this energy and activity into the channels of legitimate business, there would be less distress in the community, a more prosper- ous condition of things, and happier men and women everywhere. + = “WEATHER PROPHETS. The railway, the steamboat, the telegraph, and the télephone have, no doubt, contrib- uted immensely to the comfort and conven- ience of mankind. A Pullman “sleeper,” with one iron horse, is better than an old- fashioned “coach and six,” and _a second- class “sinoker,” even if it be filled with emi- grants from Norway and IJrelind, is more comfortable than a buekboard loaded with Professors from Yale College. ‘The “ post,” notwithstanding it goes by rail and lakes a Deputy-Postmaster along, is slow compared with the telegraph; and the telegraph, with its double attachment gf messenger-boys, is cumbrous as compared with the exquisit Juxury of sitting in an easy chair and con- versing with a friend at Newport, Saratoga, or Nahant through a well-regulated tele- phone. By a “well-regulated ”? telephono the tcle- phone of the futureis of necessity intended, be- cause there are no well-régulated telephones inuse. ‘The telephorie that transmits the inno- cent and comparatively unimportant remark, “Yyea bad cold in my head,” as “my rich uncle is dead,” cannot be regarded as a well- regulated instrument, The telephone that makes ministers of the Gospel swear like pirates must be held responsible. But when the rival patentees get through quarreling over their contlieting “rights ’*we: may ex- pecta telephone through which clergymen ‘may coversé without getting raving mad, and lovers exchange vows of eternal fidelity. in soft whispers. But the boon to the human. race of the railway, the telegraph, and tne telephone is, we apprehend, a very small thing indeed compared with the inestimable blessing con- ferred upon mankind by the weather proph- et. By the weather prophet we do not mean the Chief of the Signal Service Bureau, who may foretell how the wind will blow to-mor- row, and whether the weather will be fair or foul. We mean the Vennors and the Couches, who know all about the hot waves, the cold waves, the snowfalls, and the rainfalls of' xt year. Wow comforting it is, for in- | ne stance, to be assured that the Fourth of July, 1882, will be cool and delightful, with the ex- ception of an earthquake shock before br fast, and a terrific thunderstorm accompa- nied by toruadoes between 11 and 12 o’clock in the forenoon, ‘Timid people can get up early and go down cellar to escape the earth- quake, attend a picnic or a patriotic celebra- tion after breakfast, and at 11 o’elock sharp repair again to the grateful protection of the cellar, to avoid the inconvenience of being struck by lightning, or carried several miles away from home on the wings of the wind. Besides, cautious people will be enabled to protect their mansions, big and. little, from being pulled up, so to speak, by the roots and scattered about on their neighbors’ lots. ‘They can spike them down and defy the ele- ments, or move them to a locality where the weather prophet predicts there will be a greatealm. As for those careless, reckless people who neglect to read the prophecies, they deserve to be destroyed root and branch. It-is a question whether the weather proph- ets ought not to be seized and persecuted to the point of compelling them to render up their secret. There is danger that they will make false prophecy with 2 view to exerting an undue and dishonest influence upon the course of the markets. Suppose, for in- stauce, that the weather prophots should combine for the purpose of speculating in wheat. They know that in 1892 the weather all over the Continent of Europe is to be remarkably fine, insuring an abundant crop. But with malice aforethought, with an evil purpose to deceive both “bulls” and “bears,” they predict floods, frosts, earthquakes, and tornadoes, and a consequent short crop and famine prices. What is there to prevent them from turning their lying prophecies to account? : It is not to be denied that the science of weather prediction is of incalculable value to mankind: To be able on rising from bed in the morning to decide upon gauze or thick wool undershirts for the day’s dress, to de- cide when going out whether to take your umbrella, whether fo put on your overcoat, whether to slip into your overshoes, and whether to take your family away to a tor- nado-proof building for the day or leave them in assured safety from storms under your own roof-tree—-these are immense ad-. vantages oyer sharp turns in the weather. But ta allow the weather prophets te tamper with the markets. is quite another thing. The suggestion is certainly worthy of serious consideration that the weather prophets should be coliccted together and confined in, a fire-proof, tornado-proof, earthquake-proof, thunder-and-lightuing-proof building, and there compelled to serve the humau race for a comforiable. subsistence. All chances of speculation olf their prophecies should be removed from them in order that 10 tem, tion to propliesy falsely may possibly fall in their way. If they object to this summary proceeding, let them make publie the secret of ttieir diabolical craft. ae Wee The public is utterly without, protection against false weather prophecies, because whengver a false prophecy is exposed it is at once claimed to nave begn av error of the prophet. But while these prophets are per- mitted to run et large there is no legal way to punish them for mistakes, no matter how gross, Lock them up, and their punishment will be practicable and no doubt yery spoth- ing to the fedlings of a cheated and deceived couununity. For predicting a hot wave they can be kepta week on a diet o! witter; for the second affens¢ the diet may be confined to water. For falsely predicting « tornado they cau be scourged: for a second offense they way be sysvended a few hours by the index fiuger of the hand guilty of having penned the prediction. For falsely Ng a seyere earthquake shock they @ subjected to the tortureof the thumb- Serew, and tor the second offense stretched onthe rack. These are suggestions made by yn unfortunate gentleman w incurred a considerable expense in the removal of his house and bara from, the track of a predict- ich digy’t come within'g: mile ” ‘ion, but ‘actually swept them y to the last shingle on the spot where s represented there would ad This gentleman may be slightly prejudiced, but on the whole we sestions are sound and in the line of weather-prop! ig When the wi housewife of the exact hour when a tornado of servant-girlisms is to sweep through the kitchen, she may avoid being «riven into the back yard or precipitated down cellar by the force of the storm. Perhaps they can con- yey to the overindulgent busband a hint at the near approach of a hot wave of indigna- tion from his worthy’ spouse, whose most fieree and scorghing blast he may .thereby, peradventure, escape by dining out. low many domestic breezes, both hot and cold, may be averted bya judicious use of the science of the fraternity of weather prophets! The fire-proof, tornado-proof, earthquake- proof, thunder-and-lightning-proof residence of the weather sages may be converted into a sort of intelligence office. from whose grated windows the prophets will utter their mys- terious prophetic oracles in the cars of poor mortals anxious to peer into the future with the praiseworthy purpose of averting the storms that encompass them about. THE SUBSCRIPTION PEST. ‘There scems to be x mistaken idea in this community, and in all others also, thi newspaper office is a general Relief and Aid Society, and that the primary object of its establishinent was to contribute its funds to relieve distress of every description, —private griefs as well as public wind, water, or fire. Why this idea should previil in this as well as in other communi- ties, or why a newspaper ollice should be chosen as a Relief and Aid Society in prefers ence to u railroad corporation, a bank, a dry goods or groéery house, a theatre, a hotel, #& grain warehouse, a pork-packery, a flour- mill, a bakery, or butcher-shop, a factory, 2 money-lender, or any other self-support- ing citizen, does uot clearly appear, unless it be that because, by special «is- patches from abroad and by its reporters at home, it chronicles daily eases of suffering and loss and gives free advertisement to the grievances of the people, therefore itisin duly bonnd to pecuniarily relieve thei. Whit- ever may be the mental! process by which unfortunate people arrive at the conclusiun, the fact is patent that they cherish the de- Jusion so fondly that there is not a day when _Souie ono with a subscription paper, demand- ing from tive dollars to a hundred, according to the exigencies of the case he represents, does not make his appearance and presont it with as much assurance as if he were the purveyor of the office funds and the funds were his own, and upon being refused marches off indignantly, sometimes per- songlly abusing the concern and at others threatening to cripple its resources by “stopping his paper.” ‘These persons repre- sent all classes of misfortunes—women who hhave been reduced to poverty by shiftless husbands; men who have been foolish in business; semi-public characters, whose dis- tinguished services have entitled them in somemysterians way to testimonials; broken- down preachers; cripples—the laine, the halt, and the blind; amateurs anxious te complete their dramatic, musical, or elocutionary ed- ucation; weak churches; sufferers by fload and fire, voleanoes, earthquakes, and torna- does; bachelors, widows, grass widows, and orphans; asylums, hospitals, and “the cause” generally. Itis one constant, vigi- Jant, industrious, persistent, impudent, and unending procession of able-bodied suppli- cants. ‘ Oue serious mistake made by these sub- scription bores is their assumption that a newspaper Office is run without expense, and that every penny taken in over its counters is clear profit, and that its managers are a set of benevolent gentlemen whose highest de- light in life is to distribute the money which | ® they receive in relieving the wants of all Kinds of people at home and abroad. Poor Greeley used to be eaten almost out of house and home ‘by swarms of charity-seekers, dead-beats, and money-borrowers. After a life of 60 years of excessive labor he died almostsbankrupt, so persistent and succe; ful had been the alms-beggars and donation-. canvassers, It never occurs to the people that paper, ink, presses, printing, coim- position, salaries of scores of employés, tolls for telegraphic. dispatches and cor- respondents. cost anything. Every dol- Jar that. comes in for advertisements and subscriptions they imagine goes intaa fund for alms aud charity, and if not ex- vended that way would lie idle. That, is their notion. Unfortunately the facts do not agree with their theory, and hence there is the South in summer what Fiorida is to the North in winter, These Southern yisitors come to the North nrinly in families, bring- ing their colored servants with them, and are to be found located in the hotels and other places, and of themselves coustitute an agree- able and acconplished addition to the society ‘atall the more fashionable resorts. One great advantage derived by the visit- ors to these summer-resorts in Wisconsin and Minnesota is their proximity to Chicago. ‘They are atl placed by the Northwestern and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroads within from three to six hours? ride by rail to this city, and when occasion calls for it for shipping or other purposes persons can come to this city and return the same even- ing. ‘They have all the comforts and luxu- ries of the Chicago market, and bave Tue CurcaGo Tripune, with its news from all parts of the world, delivered to them on the day of its publication, so that, while com- paratively buried in their rural retreats, they ean keep up communication witlr the outside world, and are regularly posted concerning passing events and the current history of the time. Of course all these points constitute parts of a grand system of summer hones of which Chicago is the centre, and from which visilors pass to and fro at pleasure. ‘The number of these established places, and the accommodanons at each of them, are in- creasing rapidly, but not in excess of the in- creasing number of persons who séek them to spend the season or their briefer vaca- tions. ‘This is illustrated by the case of Lake Geneva, where for several successive years there have been large additions to the number and accommodations of the hotels and to the private houses opened to visitors. Nevertheless, exch season finds the place more and more crowded, and frequently vis- itors are unable -to find such lodgings as they would like to have, This .is true of countless other resorts as well as of Geneva. Ina very brief number of years the tide of tors to the Northwest will be so great that Wisconsin will fairly become one vast hotel, every village and city will be filled with strangers coming thither from all parts of the country, as well from the ocean- sides and mountains of New Englard as from the Middle and Southern States. We repeat, that in no part of the country can there be fuund such delightful homes for the summer as nay be found in. parts of Minne- sota, and.almost in every part of Wisconsin. In no other lovality can be found such a union of mountains and lakes asin these two States, and consequently no such summer homes for the less fortunate inhabitants of the great cities and heat-oppressed States, North as well as South. : THE annual report recently issued by the Silk Association of America exhibits themost gratifying progress in that industry. No single Stance indicates more pointedly the advance which the American silk. manu- facturers have been making than the fact that the imports of silk goods have actuaily fallen off during the past year. There were two years—1S76 and 1877—when the silk im- ports declined, but that was owinx to the hard times. From that date, however, they steadily increased, amounting in 1878 to $23,- 000,000, and in 1879 to $30,596,509, the largest figure ever reache?. During the past year foreign imports of all silk goods fell offabout $100,000, und the decline in the importation of dress silks amounted to about $500,000. ‘The decrease is not large in itself, but it is a very marked change as compared with the enor- mous increase of importation during the two previous years of flush times. It cannot be attributed to any retrenchment on the partof the public, because inoney has never been spent more freely than during the past year. Jt means that the American manufact- urers are acquiring the skillof the French, and at the same time are beginnmg to com- ete with the foreign manufacturers in prices. This view of the case is further sus- tained by the increased importation of raw material. The raw silk imported in 1879’s0 ued at $11,749,943, and that of 1880-*SL 5,167, while in the years 157 the importation of raw silk ranged from $4,000,000 to $6,000,000 only. American silk manufacture is undoubtedly making great progress. thiscountry. There are 102 firms engaged in manufacturing silk and seventy-seven mills; the capital invested: is over $10,000,000, the ann Paterson, N.J., is the Lyons of praduct over $12,000,000, and the nomeare reason why they should lay claim to the receipts of a uewspaper office than there would be for them to go to a bank and take its deposits, or toa railroad and take its earnings: When it becomes known that a newspaper has subscribed 4 the relief of some case which it knows to be peculiarly deserving, immediately the sub- scription fiends swarm in with all imaginable kinds of claims, and, when refused, point to the case relieved, and charge the newspaper with partiality and unfairness for helping one case and not helping all other claimants, Newspapers do their share of eleemosynary work,-and, likea free horse, need no spurring. WISCONSIN SUMMER RESORTS. Wisconsin and Minnesota have long af- forded pleasant, abiding places during the sumer months to persons escaping from ive heats of more southern homes, or, fleeing from the crowded cities, seek a purer atmosphere and rest from business. ‘The fame of these rural resorts has been ex- tending yearly, but in no season have these places heen’so erpwded and overwhelmed jitors as dufiug the present. W! sin this season Is literally overrun. Hotels, villages, furm-Louses, and all places where men, and women, and cbildren can find a resting-place, are thronged with visitors, and tosuch an extent that accommodations in pst of them huye to be secured in advance. Hotels at the long-established resorts find room for the overflow of guesis by renting temporary rooms in their respective towns and villages, while in mast of thesg places apartments are to be found in private “houses, the strangers obtaining meals at the es families have rented out their furnished houses entire, so that those from gther less favored country may fing homes during the whole Season. All through the State of Wisconsin i one or twp miles of the railroads have been invaded and the premises rented fog the season, and the hills and lake- of that State find ‘their pooulayon du- vlicated by seekers of pure alr, and the rec- teation afforded by driving upoo excellent ming country, an certain sum for ad parts of the ad and | farm-houses withir roads through a the pleasure of ing and sailing upon County, Wisconsin, and th tricts arenot, perhaps, surpassed by t of the country in their great natural beauty their great diversity “of en- t ich they offer to the In fact, there is bardiy of the State which does not offar to the wearied residents of the great cities ‘warter climes all the ples ad of the most fayored resorts of the Eastern res and delights wages paid over $4,000,000 per year. The silk manufacturers are alsa making extended experiments in Pennsylvania and Alabama tointroduce the culture of the silk-worm, now grown mainly in, Japan, and the time will probavly come when the people of this country will be independent of France in the production of silk goods of every grade. PostMAsren-GEnerat Jaues is reported tohe considering the question whether it wauld not be wise in mung appointments in the Bx- ecutive departments to permit members of Con- gress to nomiuate candidates, aud then to sub- Jeet the cundidates so nominated to an exami- nation. ‘This plan, which {s not edtirely new,— having been discussed and rejected in the Inte~ rior Department a few years ago,—bus sume plausible features, tt is Said that {t would se- cure a proper distribiition of olfices among per- sons from different parts of the country, and in B meysure satisfy members of Congress. Com- menting on the scheme, Carl Sehurz says: It would, indeed, tend to secure an“ equal” distribution of ‘places on geographical prin- ciples, whatever that may be" worth, but the sume object can be attained in another magner much lure consistent with the interests of the service—by the appointment of 4 commission to conduct open competitive examiuutions, whenever required, in’ different parts of the country. Aste the second ‘point, the ordinary member of Congress will not really be satisfied unless he cag use the ollices us putrouage for his own politicut benetly. On the other nand. gonatituents do tiot Want to be exauiined, they want to be appointed, aud the member of Con gross will use his whote influence to chat end. ‘He will oppose competitive examinations with all his mint, ‘and eadeayor to substitute tor them aiere puss examicutions. Noturiously, such exuminutipns in our service soon degea- erate inth a bollow semblance’ of the thing— into gu illustration of the art of bow not ta do jt. But hut is.exuctly what the ordinary mem- ber of Congress. desires, and, baving reached that point. bis right to nomiute for exainina- tion will in oine cases out of ten be equivalent woaright t¢ nominate for appoinunent. ‘This will be the reswtt; it will be redendd by more or less slow upprowches, but it’ will be inevitable, If we are to bave Civil-Service reforin with a. little patronage ‘in it, we sbufl soon bave, as heretofore, a good deul of patronage with very little or no Civil-Service reform init, a Dr. R. T. Ezy, a Fellow of Columbia Col- lege, bas, at the request of the Hou. Andrew White, United States Minister to Germany, pre- pared aéketch of the railway bistury of the Empire. ‘The result is a papor of gome fourteen pages confained in the volume of diplomatic correspondence, putting the’ facts doricerning the Germun railway system im @ compact und uccessible form. Halfway building in Germany begup in 185.” A geaeral railroad law w ed in 188, which is stlttin force. Its main jonsare thus summurized by the New York Evening Pot: Pa as (2) Alt shares subscribed for must be paid in full Ju cush una the ‘money applica to the work before any borrowing cun be done. (2) No loun fyr construction purposes can be effected with- out the consent of the Government, which has arigit to require a Sinking’ fund ‘to ‘be estad- Isnéd tor the liquidation of the’ debt. ° gy Rull- way turiffs “must bé' conspicuously published, and no change which increases ratds ean go Into ettect until six weeks "ufter publication, aud no discriummauon. cau be made “between the protits of x ‘railway’ pou the uctunl cost the tal reduced. “(D'bis" provision, by" the’ way, bas al- ways. been “evaded,) (5) At the expiration of thirty years after the opening of any railway the “State” has the t of purchasing ‘it uta mdximum price 5 ; ¥ open to question. “They seein to maké no allow: ances for bad years, and the terms on which the Government muy"‘purchase gre ridiculously high. The Prussian railway system has been one of State control and private enterprise oper- ating side by side. »In the begiuning of 1973 pri- vate companies had 7,000 kilometres (4,200 miles) of roads in Prussia and the State 5,750 kilometres (3.450 miles). Then came the Strausberg scandal, and the report of a parhamentary committee to the effect that ‘it appears desirable to transfer to the Empire a controll- ing power over all German railways.” ‘Iu 1878 Prince Bismarck introduced in the Prus- sian Parliament and had passed a bill authori: ing the Government to selt all the State rai ways, and its right to purchase the private rail- ways tothe Empire. It bus beon part of Bis- marek’s policy to have the control of all the railways centred in the Imperial Government, ashe believes they might thus have a powerful centralizing influence, and would, besides, be of the utmost military importance in case of war. ‘The poticy ig stubbornly resisted by tha smaiier States, but Dr. Ejy. believes that it must ulti- nately prevail. In France al railways fall into the possession of the Government without price ut the expiration of ninety-ulne years after their compierion, and this fact stimulates the effort of cho German Government to acquire for the Empire the same contro! of the highways within Its limits, <<< ‘Tue French are not so sure that they have Deen the gainers by the protectorate business In ‘Tunis; and. muny of them are beginning to fear they have paid tuo dear for the. whistle. The situation is thus summed up: ‘The promenade to ‘Tunis, with the theatrical speedy return, before the deadly beats of mid- Stinmer, turns out avery serigus alfatr In iis A little shurp fzhting after 1 bombardment, a3 Just week at very suuoruu: Stax,—wheter it cost a score or a hundred of men, or even more,—is certainly not distasteful to the nation that has been for ten years pant- Ing for a Httle fresh military glory. ‘But to have to tigat waon complere victory nas been trurm- phantly announced; to have to order the naval squadrons just returning to sail back again; to see the power of the Atrican Prince declared a proteye crumble away in u day betore the fanat- iclsm of his subjects: to huve to threaten the Porte ou account of its goings in Tripoli, und at the same time solemuly ‘to «declure to land that Tripoli is the Porte’s inviolable possession; to see tho country occupied enst of Alzerin menaced with general insurrection at the mo ment when the south of Western Algerin is de- vastated by tribes of the desert, and abandoned by its Frenen defenders; to have provoked both Fngland and Utaly, and ‘to bear all the world saeeringly declare that France bus suok her e¢bances of revenge on the Rhine fo the desert bottoms or Africa, and fecl tnat there is much truth In this view,—ail this cannot be but galling in the extrome to the patriotism und vanity ot France. Difficulties and dangers have been un- necessarily created, the glory uebleved ia at best questionable, and, asa French paper stingingly remarks, Bismarck alone appiauds.” a Ixrormarion has been obtained at the ‘Treusury Department that, within tho past few months, the wanufacture of yotd tokens in the similitude of United States coins has grown to enormous proportions. They are ot two sizes, and principally bexugonal in form. They are stamped, respectively, with the words “quarter- dollar” or “balf-doilar,” and én the reverse side with the head of liberty. The .colange of quarter-dollars und half-dotlars in gold has never beea legalized by the Government. Per- gong manufacturing or selling such tokens are violating the law and rendering themselves lia- ble to penalties both of fine and imprisonment, Itis @fact that persons believing these tokens ta have beon coined in United Siates.mints, and anxious to obtuin udvance specimens, ure pay- ivg double their nominal value. It 1s also un- derstood that brass imitations of the pretended golden tokens ure numerous. Under instruc- tions from the Jaw officers of the Government, the manufacturers of and dealers in these arti- cles are being warned by Secret-Service agents 10 discontinue the unlawful traffic. —a—____. Uy ess the Water-Works Department of this city has the money to spare to erect nigh- pressure auxiliary works in the business dis- trieta, the best, sufest, and simplest plan by far Gf any yet proposed is for private capitalists to furnish the muney to erect them under the di- rections of the City Engincer, and then lease the works to the city for a term of years, This plan will guarantee the private company.a fair inter- est on its investment, put it will retain for the city full contro! over the water-service and the rates co be charged to the consumers. Nobody hus proposed any Detter scheme, aud the more it is studied the more it will ‘be seen to accom- plish.what the public aceds, and to obviate the objections and ditlicultics that have been raised agninst,the other schemes suggested. Those who carp at it are playing the dog-in-the-man- fer game, but the mangy, snarling cur must be put out of it. $$ Mayor !Harntson’s wonderful scheme for ereoting tinder-boxes on alternate lots takes no account of the intervening property. Who is xolng to builda decent brick dwelling between. tro frame shunties? And what kind of a street in appearance can be made on this congiom- erate, composit plan? Frame buildings put up separately would cost more than cbeap brick blooks, room for room; and taking into the’ac- count insurance, wear and tesr, and the depre- ciation of property, the difference would be considerably in favor of bric! —— Tue population of the Dominion of Can- ada, which was 3,670,135 in 1870, is naw reported as belng 4,350,95!—an increase of 690,498, or something less than 20 per cent, in ten years. We are not informed how far this apparent in- crease has been due to annexation or more per- fect enumeration, but it is in any case consider ably less in proportion than the growth of popu- lution in the United States, where the rate was nearly 30 per cent on a much larger primary number, ————— Tr anybody had predicted when the Land bill was Introduced in the House of Commons that it would pass tnat body with only fourteen votes in the negutive be Would bave been taken fora foolora madman. Yet the impossiole hus come to pass. The vote 13 a tribute to Glud- stone's sngacity both in framing the bill and amending it. ‘lao Land bili. may be, after all, the crowning effort of his long and illustrious carcer. ———= Tue average weight ot Philadelphia’s fifty reserve policemen Is 200 pounds. The tallest meusures six feet seven and one-haif inches. ‘Two others measure sis feet seven inches cach, and all but four of the fifty meusurc over six feet, the average being six fect two inches, ———<——— GeEonGE I. Sr 6f Brooklyn, has given the Wesleyan University another $10,000 to en- dow freo scholursbips. Is there ansthing iu the salt-sea air that makes men philanthropic? We should like to report a few instances of fresh; water benevolence. —— Tse Wisconsin Republican State Conven- ton is called to ve held in Madison on Wedues- day, Sept. 31. It will nominate a full ticket for State officers 10 be supported at the election in November. ‘Tue accomplished rhetorician of the Na- tioy says that “the President basa mori! and physical eapucity to resist suffering of the most extraordinary and encouraging character.” ‘Tnx physicians promised that if the-Presi- dent should survive four Weeks they would pronounce him convalescent. Will they dare to do it naw? ——_ Wuo would be a fire-bug and yith the fire- bugs stand? Nobody*gxcent' a speculator in fcre property—and Aldermen. “ Se Tue fire-bugs are well known to be em- ploymmg * forbidden and ubboFrent forces," but they will be “borne down.” ; —————= Wuy isn't there a clamor this year for more free bathing-houses? They were neyer more needed. This is the-saddest blow of all. The Lon- don’ Times speaks of him as “ Jate Senator from New York A-New York paper says that two Cincin- natl young ladies at Cape May wear yells whe bathing tn’ the gurf. Probably they’ don’t wi tg scare uway the 6 note . Mr. John Conkitr Qut fa. Montana farm laborers get $19 a inonth P id board. Young men who haye jugt td from coll to ent a Jast Friday ‘contained # col editorial headéd * The Great Trideof St. Louis.” Emperor William was recently preseuted with a curious pei that Stipplies fiself with ink while’ writing.” "The" old" Kaiser” tadkta ‘the donor, and Said; 1 should ke to ‘owa.a pen that would write only what {3 goog y 3 ‘The Emperor should write tn sowae Gee Ue tor, Any one of them would be gigq =? the old gentleman ave of their pene tt © aire Miss Emma Thursby a ‘sby has i remarkable success in Cont singing critics are enthusinstic and compare nut el * ny Lind. After leaving Denmark yeeros Will make 4 short tour fa Sedon ie qburtby It.is said that the Surgical ope; has cently performed on Senator Reg Bees re will preveut that gentleman from’ I's mouth peedhes fora year to come. Every eee silver lining, but this one has: all sides. Seems 10 be pated on Alere’s a positive fact that of the public schools in this eee small boy was asked to name gone ety A own body. [Me thought a momenroettot bit plied: * Bowels: which are #ecuent mn te ay €, f 0, wand sometimes wana y omutbet~ Phd hi Buleti : “[ Find My Own ¢ where” was the title of ane Every. Jessie V. Harrison, of Mt, Pleasant @ 27 Commencement exercises of the Non pat the at Columbus tast Thursdas, Sie gent Stool luck, Most youry tudies ean find thee ts plexion only at a drug-store. olf com. The Washington corres) timore Sua says that ex aed fete a has puid to Mrs. Christianey and coupes for alimony and coumel fees, over. $080 it thought to be not unlikely that the aie a wilt not come to trial before next sree Christinney is expected to return to this, ites) toward the end of Ausust. Sealy: When Cyrus Field’s brother wro could aot take bis wife to Euro; the arlditional expense, he sent bi ing: “No mat should take a trib abene at bis wife. Lhave forwarded to London alee credit for you for £1,00."—New Fork Tine ~miun in Chicago revently received a letterfnst his brother saying that he conid not wie wife to Europe ou account of the additional eo bense, ‘The Chicazo man tnmediately et, back: “IL see you are just as toozhasoree shall play the seme racket myself next sean Alexandre Dumas and his daughter J : nine were visiting at Roxat in ‘one of wn, provinces. ‘The vittaro jouraal publiely eal’, his attention to the fact thar the daughter wee wounding public sentiment by doing. tae neediework on a Sunday in the most frequented part of the park. M. Dumas Waited on the ek itor gad requested him to confine binselt tp mutters that concerned bim, but the Jourcal re. turned to the subject, related the visit it hadre. far, te him be Pe OD account of ceived, and repeated that Stile. Dumas had beeg! wanting in the respect due to public opin ndvising M. Dumuns, if he wished to present the name of his daughter Being brought before the public, “to take cro not to cause herselt 10 be remarked by acts of a nature to offend the most cherished ideas, customs, and conyietions of the population.” z ART IN CHICAGO, Notes and Observations Im the Studios - and Galleries, George W. Platt is out of the city, and will not return until thé middle of August. A. F. Brooks sails for Europe on ths steamer Bolivia the 6th of August. His very latest work has been finishing from lite a lovely portrait of Miss Miller, of Liyde Park, Gean Smith is engased upon a stu fast trotting horse Piedmont: ai gin) of Maud 8.3 and has a finished picture of” France’s Alexander attached to sulky—all of them orders. __ ‘Fhe head of a saucy-looking Skye terrier is abopt the best thing Miss Lizzie Tuck hag ever painted, She rather escels in portraits of animals, and would do well to deroe more time to them. Maud Kennicott nas recently-completed a Jarge flower study of various-colored peonies arranged in a tall beer-mug. ‘The riek hues of the brilliant flowers are well brought out by others in shadow. Miss Carrie Powers, a former resident here, and at present a teacher in Cooper In~ stitute, New York, is visiti ivaus in this city. She will, no doubt, be represented a the Exposition this year as she was last. Marie Koupal, a most promising youny artist, has jusé returned from a tour of the lakes with her sketch-book full of studies for future use, She wil! henceforth oceupy tha studio in Reaper Block just vacate by M. Robertseh. Albert Bierstadt, who was in the city st week, visited the Lydian Art Gallery, ant expressed his adutiration for the collection, which is much superior to anything he ex pected to see here. He is on his way tothe Yellowstone, ‘, At the Lydian Art Gallery it is expected that some of the pictures which have been. sold will be removed this week, ad, althou their places will be immediately filled by others of equal merit, no one should miss seving the preseut collection as itis. At Reitz’s Art Store, on Wabash avents is a picture entitled “Moss Glen Falls, Ver- mont,” by Charles Page; 2 tine water-color by Charles Harry Eaton; and afine studs of rocks and streams by Charles Peek. Dani Katz shows, also, several quiet and attractive. autumn landscapes. ‘ Mrs. V. B. Jenkins is most busily en in preparing work for the Exposition. Tira of her vases are the largest eve aus bere, being over three feet in, hight. One ie background ‘of dark blue eneiscled by : era pevine with lenves sand buses burl gtapes in relief. Another vase ot | is of gray, decorated with the brilliant au tun tints of the Virginia creeper. C. P, Ream, whose fine fruit pictures a8 so Well known and much admired nere, [s a present sojourning in. New York. He oe) sundio on Broadway, where be Cer two days in the week, spending, tbe his time at the seaside. “In thus ‘combining work with pleasure he claiuts to be possg ea most enjoyable vacation, and whet ran turns to this city, as_ he purposes. to Oczober, it will be with renew piration and many valuable studies. Arthur Pickering hag not yet d summer yacation, having orges h prevent his leaving pd rose the season. . ‘Two. panels with ¥ gamirae thrown upon a dark ackgrqnnd sro reath bly painted, and carry with chem ee eitl of the wovds. ‘The portrait of & eA with pink and white morning gore hand, and pink eed shite oan ay el hat, ll upon a blue kg 4 Dil dainty, and might be called a study ia Bi and biue, He shows two small are of two bright Ia ced brane hi ayoung girl standing c the light from an opposite window thin out her form as sharply cut ae sitho ee At Root & Hammarskdld's 32% several very good small landscapes in ie coloss by Mr. Sloan. ‘They are (ene ost pictures of nioderate price, and auf nf nob Teraain lobg unpurehased. At etare Store is a most remarkable little pi 0, ected “by Clyde L. G. Tha years of age. The suvject 1s Bae by th it gray background, and was p? ad Ri Me precocious young artist in the sta 5 Stites, and without the slightest aural from any older hand, Tae fish is eat raf drawn and correctly colored fee forthe which he had procured. Were ‘aul fact that He Seti ih ut hal y Mr. Stites, this pros en tt ba credited as the ‘work of suet an ig His fature career will bea matter ‘nord jell J. Roy Robertson, who fg Wer vecee here as an artist of merll and & ae ful teacher in the Academy © so phe leaves this city to-night fer News? fae af Will hereafter becone -and £92 his friends who know bow thful and how Scientious: has been Is | earnestly he has labored for | i of the Academy students, will eessity whieh compels hi i Robertson himself speaks of terms of unmeasured contempt atte! istaction with regard to sr i sidering it a most unapprecl is no doubt he is right about die other reasons why bis #0 ‘war. In the first place he R tree, broad style that at ee heavy and glmost coarse, ane pe gable nn in @ pertect resem ° be wardoned here, for [ta Obl upon anything ness, ip ferrines anees, the productof f y crayoned over, to the fy tons. or tdeafizations Ar. Robertson lias “Spanish Boy? to | Mt: this city; he | has anor ished an excellent portrait Niches ois a meraber_of the Chi : aise oue of Mrs. Thong, sone 3 with drooping plume Hise 0 A pmder the Dem rich is very eet ale jorough style, whicl c quite a pretty audition to a mode Ra R