The New York Herald Newspaper, April 24, 1873, Page 8

NEW YUKK HERALD, THURSDAY, APKIL 24, 1873—QUADKUPLE. SHEET. NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, Velume XXXVI ==—_— -No. 114 AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth street —Davio Garrick. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st. and Eighth av.—Unven Tux Gasiicat. GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth street, near Third avenue.—Dir Tocatin ven Howie. nty -third street, corner Sixth BOOTH'S THEATRE. avenue.—Arrau xa I'0 §T. JAMES’ THEATRE, Broadway aad 2th st— McEvor's New Hipenmicon, BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—A Caritar Commpr— A Bap Lor. THEATRE COMIQUE, No. 514 Broadway.—Daama, BURLESQUE AND ULIO. THIRTY-FOURTH STREET THEATRE, Mth st., near 34 ay.—Vaninty ENTeRtaineent. NEW FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, 723 and 730 Broad- ‘way.—Divonce. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st— Escarxp rrom Sixg SiG. Afternoon and evening, ATHENEUM, 585 Broadwa: GRanp Vaniety Enrsn- ALIMENT. NIBLO’S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Bonston sts.—WxoxG Man IN Tue Ricut Puace, &o. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway, between Housten and Bleecker street.—Humrry DumPry, UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Union square, near Breadway.—Frovu Frov. MRS, F. B, CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE— Davip Garxick—Pooanontas. BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Montague st— RATORIO OF ELian, BRYANT’S OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st. corner 6th av.—Nxauo MinsTRELsy , ac. TONY PASTOR’S OPERA HOUSE, No. 201 Bowery— Vanisty ENTERTAINMENT. STEINWAY HA! Fourteenth anp Concent. “ene NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 613Broadway— Scimncx ann Art. street.—OratoRio QUADRUPLE SHEET. New York, Thursday, April 24, 1873. THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. To-Day’s Contents ot the Herald. “FREE TRADE AND THE DEMOCRATIC PaRTY | THE WESTERN FARMERS AND CHEAP FREIGHTS! THE GREAT POLITICAL IS- SUES FOR 1876"—EDITORIAL LEADER— EicutTu Page. FURTHER SOUL-SICKENING BUTCHERIES OF WHITE PEOPLE BY THE SAVAGES! FIENDISH ATROCITIES IN KANSAS, NE- BRASKA AND ARIZONA! FAILURE OF THE MODOC CAVALLY SCOUT! A GEN- ERAL INDIAN WAR = IMMINENT—Firta Page. ANOTHER ABOMINABLE MOBILIER SCHEME ! VIRGINIA THE SCENE OF THIS LATER SIAME! THE STATE SUPREME OOURT RESCUES A $75,000 ESTATE FROM THE HANDS OF THE GREAT “PLACER” AND HIS ACCOMPLICES—Firtn PaGs. SAFETY OF SIR SAMUEL BAKER AND HIS PARTY! BAKER'S AGENT AT GONDO- KORO! TROOPS SENT FORWARD—Ninta Page. A WIFE SHOT BY A DRUNKEN HUSBAND IN MASSACHUSETTS! DEATH OF THE VICTIM AND ESCAPE OF THE MURDERER! OE IS PURSUED, CAPTURED AND FULLY COM- MITTED! DETAILS OF THE HORRIBLE DEED—Nintu Pace. THE SLAUGHTER ON THE SHORE LINE RAIL- ROAD! CONCLUSION OF THE OFFICIAL INQUIRY! NO DECISION—Firtu Pace. CHRISTIANITY IN THE ORIENT! THE JAPANESE SSADORS SEEK TO ESTABLISH A STATE RELIGION! AN EMINEKT GERMAN COUNSELS COMPLETE TOLBRATION—NintH PaGE. PASSAGE OF THE USURY BILL BY THE STATE SENATE! A PER CAPITA TAX FOR IMMI- GRANTS! GILBERT ELEVATED TRANSIT! THE ERIE INQUIRY! THINKING OF AD- JOURNMENT! TWELFTH Pace. A YOUNG MOTHER DESTROYS TWO OF HER OWN OFFSPRING! A SICKENING HOR- ROR— EUROPEAN CABLE NEWS—NINTH Pace. ADVANCE IN THE CABLE TARIFFS! ONE DOL- LAR AND A HALF GOLD PER WORD BY THE ATLANTIC LINES—NintH Page. POSTAL CAR SERVICE! THE COMPENSATION DEMANDED AND THAT PAID BY GOVERN- MENT! THE FACTS ADVANCED BY BOTH’ SIDES—TenTu Page. PLUNDERING THE POST! ARRAIGNMENT OF A JERSEY POST OFFICE CLERK! A VERY INTERESTING CASE—SRVENTH PAGE. FISH FOOD FOR THE PEOPLE! MR. SETH GREEN INTERVIEWED! HOW FISH ARE PROPAGATED, AND WHY! AN ENTHUSI- ASTIC PISCICULTURIST! THE STATE NURSERY—SixtH Pace. COTTON AND CEREALS IN THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST! LARGE CROPS ANTICIPATED! THE “GOOD TIME COMING”—SxventH PaGR. UNEARTHING CRIME! DETECTIVES BURROWING AMONG THE HAUNTS OF COUNTERFEIT- ERS, PILFERING DOMESTICS, SHOPLIFTERS AND THIEVES OF ALL GRADES—TentH Pack. SINGULAR CAREER OF A MULATTO OUTLAW! AFTER CONVICTION FOR STEALING HORSES HE JUMPS FROM A RAILROAD TRAIN WHILE EN ROUTE AND ESCAPES— SEVENTH PaGs. DESPERADOES THREAT! THE JUDGES | TWENTY-YEAR SE! JES EX- CEPTED TO BY THE VIRTUOUS CRACKS- MEN—SEVENTH PAGE. ADVERSE DECISION ON STOKES’ LATEST PLEA! ARGUMENTS IN THE CASE! GEN- ERAL LEGAL BUSINESS—THIRTEENTH PAGE. 4 GRAND CUBAN BANNER TO BE THROWN ACROSS THE FOOT OF MURRAY STREET— NEW BOUKS—MUSIO AND THE DRAMA— SixTH Pace. BOSS TWEED’S HEGIRA— THE A Cueck ror Mn. Sroxes.—Justice tri- amphed yesterday in the decision of the Su- preme Court against the motion on behalf of Stokes, which was, in fact, but a plea for more time in a case which has come to bea nuisance. Counsel must now proceed with the long road to crime’s punishment, shorter by one stage than they had hoped to make it, Law-abiding citizens will thank the District Attorney for his earnest resistance to the effort for delay, and the Court for a decision showing that the law means what its words seem to imply and is in the interest of simpli- fying the forms of procedure and hastening the final decision of capital cases. It is to be hoped that not another day will be allowed to be wasted before Stokes is either punished for the murder of whieh he stands convicted or his case is in some other way definitely disposed of. Society is disgusted with the persistent parading of this criminal os a lion in the Courts and the Tombs. ‘ree Trade ana tne Demoeratic Party— The Western Farmers and Cheap Freights=The Great Political Issucs for 1876. While the leaders of the democratic party have been and are discussing the important question whether this old organization and its ‘time-honored principles’’ shall still be main- tained or abandoned fora new party, with a new name, aud upon the “living issues of the day,"’ the farmers of the Northwest, for their own protection, have entered upon a new movement, in which we see looming into view the leading issues of our next Presidential campaign. This farmers’ movement has been slowly gaining ground for several years. In the outset the farmers concerned undertook to band themselves together in secret societies, or “Granges of the Patrons of Husbandry,” against railway monopolies and combinations, and against the existing high railway freights which eat up the farmer's profits in the trans- portation of his produce to market. These “Granges,’’ first organized in Minnesota and next adopted generally by the farmers of Tlinois, are rapidly spreading over all the Northwestern and Southwestern States. For examples twelve hundred of these Granges are roported for Iowa, with an aggregate member- ship of one hundred thousand men, which is half the popular vote of the State already secured, while in Wisconsin there are over a hundred Granges organized, with every prom- ise of an increase that will control the vote of the State. And so this general movement is spreading throughout the corn, wheat, beef and pork producing communities of the Northwest. The direct object in view is cheaper trans- portation to the seaboard; but indirectly free trade will inevitably be blended by 1876 with cheap freights. The burning of Chicago has resulted in demonstrating to the people of the West that there is no protection for them in our existing protective tariff. After the Chi- cago fire, and as a lift to that unfortunate community in the rebuilding of their city, Congress, for a limited time, removed the duty on their building materials. The conse- quence was the rebuilding of their waste places with a rapidity which astonished even them- selves; but with the restoration of those sus- pended duties the mystery is solved. In this experiment they have discovered, to an extent they had not imagined could be possible, that their prosperity lies in free trade, or a purely revenue system of duties, and that what is called the protection of home industry is to them a tax, ‘‘a delusion and a snare.’ And from this demoustration of the fact at Chicago, among other things, this idea of free trade is destined to take possession of the Mississippi Valley within the next three years, in connection with the pressing necessity of cheaper transportation between that valley and our Atlantie seaports. A powerful impetus, meantime, will be given to the common cause of these Western Granges by the National Convention, which, under a call of a number of presidents of farming conventions and members of boards of trade from different sections of the Union, is to be held in New York on the 6th day of May next, in the interests of the producers and consumers of the United States. The objects of this Convention will be co-operation among these parties, and to consider what can be done to reduce the cost of transportation by railroad and water. Now, if this Convention, representing a million of farmers, more or less, connected with these Granges, can be brought to a full appreciation of their strength and their opportunity, they may lay the foundation for a great political revolution in our next Presidential election. They may achieve this revolution either through a fusion with the democratic party or as a third and independent party in the contest, on the is- sues of free trade anda regulation of com- merce between the States by Congress to secure cheap freights and uniform charges. There are many indications of a Presidential scrub race in 1876. It seems to be generally accepted among the republican party leaders that General Grant will not be a candidate for another term. Accordingly, we find enter- prising aspirants for his piace cropping out from Maine to Illinois. From the clashing intrigues of these rival candidates we shall probably have such dissensions and divisions in the republican camp as to give us a bolt or two from the regular party nominations. In any event, the line of success foreshadowed for the democratic party is a coalition with these farmers’ Granges of the West, and with the free traders of all parties throughout the Union forthe Presidential succession. The issues of the war are settled, the corruptions of the party in power are neutralized by the corruptions of the old democratic Tammany Ring, our existing financial system cannot be safely pronounced a failure calling for a sweeping reconstruction ; but the tariff and these railway monopolies and combinations and these Western Granges point out the way whereby the opposition, brought under the standard of the democratic party, may, in 1876, sweep the West and the South, with New York to back them. A democratic contemporary has made the important discovery that the inglorious col- lapse in October and November last of the Cincinnati and Baltimore coalition movements of May and July may be charged to the cap- ture of the Cincinnati Convention by a band of political jugglers, who, with the nomina- tions of Greeley and Brown, attempted to mix oil and water in mixing protection and free trade, and that the democratic party, as the champion of free trade, can do nothing while hedging on protection to secure the vote of Pennsylvania. Thisis true; and itis also true that the Baltimore democratic fusion move- ment, in being neither fish, fowl, nor good red herring, failed in the East and the West. The democratic war cries in Pennsylvania of “Polk, Dallas and the tariff of '42’’ and of “Buchanan and protection” have each served its turn, and the trick will serve no more. The vote of Pennsylvania in 1872 against Greeley, as the democratic candidate, although the chief of the pretectionists, has settled that question. Pennsylvania is forever lost to the democratic party on the tariff, and hence, as no man can serve two masters, the first essential to democratic success in "76 is to cut loose from Pennsylvania, But how is this old party to rise from the ground and shake the dust from its garments on this other new departure, while so many of its leaders and managers are among these rail- way kings and their henchmen, and among the favored aristocrats of our iron foundries and cotton mills? The answer to this question will be required of the next Democratic Na- tional Convention; and if the party shall prove 80 tightly bound hand and foot by railway and manufacturing corporation bonds as to be in- capable of independent motion a third party on this new departure will supersede it and scatter it to the winds. As surely as we shall have the continued rising and setting of the sun this inevitable conflict between our rail- way monopolies and the people is coming, and will be upon us in 1876 as a national issue for President and for Congress; and as surely as this conflict is coming so certain is it that the triumph of the people will be the end of it, and the fruits of their victory will be drawn from Congress. Some of the State Legisla- tures have been and are bravely endeavoring to put some wholesome checks upon the rapac- ity and extortions of these railway monopo- lies and combinations; but these half-way and discordant State remedies do not reach the general disease. The remedy lies in Congress, with its ex- press power ‘“‘to regulate commerce between the States ;’’ but Congress, as we have seen at the late session, can be so demoralized by Crédit Mobilier stock and dividends as to be powerless against these railway briberies and corruptions. The issue will go to the people, and only in the election of a Congress pledged to the wark can we expect Congress so to regu- late our commerce between the States as to give the people cheap and uniform rates of railway transportation. Here, then, is an opening for the resusci- tation of the democratic party and its restora- tion to power—first, in pronouncing for free trade, or a strictly revenue tariff, and in cut- ting loose from Pennsylvania; next, in o coalition with these farmers’ Granges of the West and Southwest for cheap transportation and for Congressional legislation to secure it in ageneral law for the regulation of commerce between the States, If the leaders of the de- mocracy are equal to these requisitions the party may rise again and flourish. Other- wise, from all the teachings of the past, all the events of the present day and all its signs for the future, a third party, in 1876, will come into the foreground on these new issues, and, among the consequences of the approach- ing conflict, the democratic party will simply cease to be. The Japancse Ambassadors in Eu- rope and the Christian Religion. It appears from our special despatch from Europe, published to-day, that the Japanese Ambassadors had roturned trom St. Peters- burg to Berlin, and at this lntter city had o lengthy conference with an eminent German professor of jurisprudence as to the propriety of endeavoring to establish Christianity as the State religion of Japan. These Ambassadors have seen how far Christian Europe is ad- vanced in civilization over other parts of the world, and reasoned, no doubt, that their own country would make greater progress if Chris- tianity were made the religion of the State. Such reasoning is natural. But the German professor dissuaded them from entertaining such a project. He argued from facts in the history of Christendom to show that this re- ligion cannot be enforced by government; that it is only vital when it grows up among and from a people, and that it should be en- couraged rather than enforced. As a conse- quence he advised the Japanese to grant full religious liberty. The Ambassadors seemed to regard the change of religion in Japan as probable. They listened, however, with great interest to the arguments of the professor and expressed satisfaction for the advice he had given. What a curious fact in our nineteenth century civilization is this! One of the oldest nations on the globe actually contemplating discarding its paganism of thousands of years’ standing and adopting the Christian religion ! Hardly less curious is the advice of a great thinker of Christian Europe not to attempt to force this religion upon the people. How broadly liberal the world is becoming! It is not long since Christian nations deemed it a duty to force their religion, and by fire and sword, if necessary, upon unbelievers. Japan appears to be making rapid progress in Western civilization, and no doubt the liberal and philosophical views expressed by the German professor will have a good influence upon the people and government of that country. Affairs at Albany. Both branches of the Legislature were hard at work yesterday crowding the public business under the stimulant of the hurry to bring their term of unpaid labor to a close. In the Senate the most important action was the passage of the Usury law. Inthe Assembly a bill was passed increasing the amount payable by the steamships for head money on immigrants from the present rate of a dollar and a half for each person to two dollars and a half. This action is claimed to be necessary in order to enable the Commissioners of Emigration to pay the expenses of the Bureau. If this is so we owe it to the poor immigrants to be sure there is no unnecessary leak in this sacred fund. Though collected from the ships which bring them over this money comes with heavy additions of com- mission from the immigrants themselves, and this severe increase of the tax will either pre- vent many from leaving lands where labor is ill paid and not respected, or the difference must be raised by strict economy and cruel pinching. Parties dissatisfied with the loca- tion of the Gilbert Elevated Railroad are to be allowed time and opportanity for a change on the decision of aspecialcommission. Prize package nuisances are to be stopped by law. The Assembly recommitted the bill relative to the opening of streets above the lower end of Central Park, placing the matter in charge of the Department of Parks instead of the De- partment of Works. Mr. Murphy, in the Senate, introduced a bill to extend the term of the Brooklyn Park Commissioners two years. No date for adjournment has yet been fixed. Spanish ConstiTuTIoNALIsM §=6aND Crvi0 Excrrement.—Spain remains agitated, par- ticularly in Madrid, by the question of Par- liamentary right as against the power of executive assumption. It is hoped, however, that the Permanent Committee of the National Assembly will be able to effect an amicable arrangement with the members of the Ministry on this very delicate, but really essential, constitutional point. The capital is excited, as will be seen by our telegram report, and the government has taken military precaution for the maintenance of order, The Spaniards appear to be really anxious for the preserva- tion of the democratic system; but although they just now enjoy much of liberty they seem to lack the fecling of cordial, trusting fraternity which is absolutely necessary for its preservation, The Erie Railway Inv igation—For- eign Speculators and American In- terests, The legislative investigation into the affairs of the Erie Railway Company closed yesterday, and the committee are now about to prepare their report. Their duty is a plain one. Much time has been consumed in the inquiry into alleged cases of bribery and corruption forced upon the committee in the course of the in- vestigation, and the suspicion has been excited that these side issues have had for their object the concealment of the real evils of the present Erie management, But however strongly the committee may feel called upon to censure the practices of railroad corporations at Albany, they cannot evade the duty of placing before the Legislature the facts that have been devel- oped in regard to the operations of the re- formed Board of Erie Railway Directors and the foreign stock speculators, without convict- ing themselves of being swayed by the very influences they affect to condemn, Their re- port must be truthful, fearless and impartial, regardless of all interests save those of the public, or they will find it difficult to persuade the people that their official honesty is any greater than that of the average Albany legis- lator. The Erie Railway is a great public high- way, one of the main arteries of the commerce of the country. Its stock- holders enjoy a valuable franchise, in re- turn for which they are bound to manage their road in a manner consistent with the in- terests of the people. The prodigality and gross usurpation of Jay Gould’s management are nutorious; yet even under that rule the road itself was well cared for, and the public well accommodated. It has been charged that the directors who have succeeded Jay Gould and his associates run the corporation in the interests of foreign stockholders and specula- tors and to the damage of American interests; that the funds of the road have been used to pay the cost of effecting the overthrow of the old Board; that an un- earned dividend has been declared by increasing the debt of the road at the bidding of English brokers, who demanded it for stock-jobbing purposes ; , that while the Com- pany was thus saddled with increased burdens the necessary repairs of the road and the roll- ing stock were neglected ; that a scheme exists for saddling the Erie Railway with the burden of a bankrupt corporation—the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad—in order that the for- eign holders of the worthless stock of the lat- ter may get back the money they have lost, It is the duty of the committee to say whether any of the money expended in effecting the overthrow of the Gould usurpation has been paid by the reformed Board of Directors ; whether the dividend declared on the Erie stock was paid out of the actual earnings of the road, and whether there exists a plot for the leasing of the Atiantic and Great Western road by the Ene, or for the consolidation of the two corporations in the interests of for- eign stockholders in the former. The committee have found that among other payments sworn to have been made by the English stockhoiders of Erie for services performed in their interests, is one item of twelve thousand dollars to Attorney General Barlow for disbursement to other parties. This amount has been paid by a vote of the reformed Board of Directors, and the voucher and receipt have been produced before the committee. Another voucher and receipt for fifty-nine thousand dollars have been put in evidence, which was wholly for services per- formed in the interests of the English stockholders, and the full amount of which has been paid by the Erie directors. In re- gard to the recent dividend, the evidence has been conflicting; but the Erie directors, upon whom devolved the duty of proving that the dividend was earned by the road, have failed to produce such proof. They have not shown by figures that they earned, in the last half of the year 1872, sufficient to pay the dividend, some one million seven hundred thousand dol- lars, while it has been shown that at the end of the first half of that year, after paying the dividend on the pre ferred stock, they had only a surplus of ten thousand dollars. If the money had been earned and had really been in the hands of the company at the time the divi- dend had been paid, it would have been easy to have shown where it was received, where and by whom it was deposited, and when and by yhom it was drawn out of the bank or the treasury of the road for the purpose of pay- ing the difference. The failure to prove the earn- ing of the money by positive evidence, when the proof could have been so easy, leaves the weight of testimony against the directors. But if the dividend was really earned it should not have been paid in the interests of foreigners while the necessary repairs and equipment of the road were neglected, to the damage of the American public. The testi- of Mr. Archer, an ex-Vice President of the road and now its freight contractor, proves conclusively that the road, locomotives and cars have not been properly repaired and are not now in efficient condition. As to the Eng- lish scheme of consolidating the Erie and Atlantic and Great Western roads, or of rais- ing the latter into some value at the expense ofthe former, it is openly and boldly avowed by the agents of the English operators. The committee dare not ignore these facts or fail to report a bill to protect American interests against the avarice of foreign specu- lators. Even President Watson, in his testi- mony, admitted the greed of the English bro- kers, Bischoffsheim & Goldschmidt, who have been the prime movers in the project of fasten- ing the Atlantic and Great Western road on to the Erie; and the committee have seen by the figures that, taking the Erie bonds ato fixed figure—ninety-three—and receiving besides two and a half per cent commission on their negotiation, that speculative firm have already made nearly ten per cent out of their friendly aid in putting the Erie loan on the London market. They now desire to saddle Erie with the Atlantic and Great Western concern, in order to unload themselves of the worthless stock of the latter, amounting in the aggre- gate, stock and bonds, to one hundred and nine million dollars, That done, they are indifferent as to the future fate of Erie, It is the duty of the committee to report such a bill as will guard. against the sacrifice of an important American road to the greed of English speculators. The payment of any unearned divitiend on Eriestock should be pro- hibited by law, and proper restrictions should be placed upon the power of the directors either to enter into lease with the Atlantic and Great Western or to consolidate the two toads. Whatever conclusions the committee may have reached, this precautionary measure in the interests of the American people cannot be refused by them, unless, like so many of their predecessors, they have been subjected to those influences the corrupting character of which their investigation has so strikingly demonstrated. Beer in Its Relations to Govern- ment—Leasons from the Frankfort Riots. Frankfort, we are informed, is on the Main, but judging by its late performances it is on the Spree, On last Monday, it will be admitted, popular excitement ran very high, when we recall the extensive scale on which the “sober and industrious German element” set up a beer riot in the city of the money bags. The cause of the outflow of feeling was one that lies deep in the profundity of the Teutonic nature. I was beer. The bloated brewers and the grasp- ing beersellors united in an infamous and un- patriotic conspiracy against the people. Ru- mors of the intended movement by the mag- nates of the beer-bung reached the ears of the masses, who have had enough mortification in being obliged to swallow the German Con- federation. The last-named blow at their hberties was asmuch as they could bear, With the aid of cheap lager the children of the old Free Town managed to gulp down their rage. By taking an extra supply they could always appear even festive under the grind- ing yoke of Prussian pansclavism. But the movement of the brewers to raise the price of the foaming, amber-tinted beverage was a last straw that would in other times have drawn a Rienzi or a Savonarola to the rescue of in- jured right. It will, in considering this ques- tion, be wise to remember that beer is an older German institution than the most ancient German Empire, not to speak of the modern institution of Kaiser Wilhelm. Long before the days of Frederic Beerbeerossa had the genial finid “elevated” the German mind. Deeds of high emprise in camp and court were born of the brewings, and in the old Walhalla the very gods grew gay on beer. Through all Teutonic peoples the beer tradition has been handed down. Let him who has a taste for the com- parative ethnology pause by the English vil- lage ale house where Hodge and his chaw- bacon compeers are gathered. ds it ‘God Save the Queen” or “Rule Britannia’’ that greets the ear? No! The keynote of race is strack which is wider than nationality, and the defiant words of faith in beer are heard. They are denouncing the oppressors of poverty, and this is the strain: — To rob a poor man of his beer, ‘To rob a poor man of his beer, Oh darn ther eyes! If ever they tries To rob @ poor man of his beer. When we observe that the Goths, who con- quered Spain so long ago, left their impress for to-day in church edifices and ale, we see how the percolation of beer will affect remote nations. Is not the question of free lagera potential one in politics among us in America to-day? The spirit that rouses the sluggish blood of the English agricultural laborer to the verge of treason burns in a fiercer way in the bosom of Germany itself. In last Sep- tember, when the three Cxsars of Europe met at Berlin to pledge the peace of a conti- nent; when the victorious legions of Ger- many marched past with a thousand drum- mers beating the Prussian tattoo under the eyes of Alexander of Russia and Fran- cis Joseph of Austria ; when all Europe had its eyes fixed upon the Emperors, the sacred cause of beer drove some thousands of the sons of Vaterland into open revolt against a wealthy brewer named Hopf who dared to raise his prices. His establishment was gutted in one end of the city while the troops were parading in the other. Translated into plain English it meant that kings and warriors might become intoxicated with glory, but the German civilian must perform the feat on cheap beer. Now the tide of revolution has rolled to Frankfort. The brewers and _beersellers attempted the rise in price and up arose Hans and Friedrich, Gustav and Theodor, Jacob and Adolph, with the battle cry of ‘‘Bier oder Blut!’ end straightway sixteen breweries were gutted and every vat and cask, tun and keg, drained in o twinkling. There is something sound and practical in this mode of rebelling. The enemy’s works are not merely captured, but swallowed. Twelve persons, we regret to learn, were killed and forty wounded, but no account is given of the number of gallons engulfed. One hundred and twenty of the rfoters were arrested, and at last accounts the city was quiet. But will the lesson of this last solemn assertion of a great principle be lost upon Bis- marck? The bauble of an imperial crown and the bayonets of an immense army may prove ineffectual to charm a people into con- tent whose beer is sold at famine prices. Around him the German sees the force of government opposed to his mild beverage. If the poor fellow rebels against the brewer in a solitary town he is shot at and stabbed at by the military, whilo his only weapons of offence are his capacious stomach and paving stones. He will fill the first and pelt the second, and if he escapes the soldiers he will become disgusted with a life of so few compensations and then—emi- grate. What general cheap beer crusade throughout the Empire might accomplish we cannot say, but it would be something fearful. As the movement at present progresses it means a steady increase of the German tide of emigration to this country and a loss of toil- ers, taxpayers and fighting material to Ger- many. You may dragoon a German out of his nationality, but with life alone will be past from his lager. ‘Wrxstow's Usury Brz.—Sinee the State Legislature passed the city charter it has shown # commendable desire to attend seri- ously to the mass of bills that had beep al- lowed to accumulate during the lengthy wrangles over the New York city spoils. Among some important bills just passed by the Sepate is Gepater Winslow's Usury bill, which @o far back as February was introduced, but then de= feated, and which lay on the table until yea- terday morning, when, as the best resource that could be avwiled of to mect the demand for some legislation relative to the Usury laws, it was passed. This bill fixes the legal rate of interest at seven per cent and makes the prin- cipal and legal interest recoverable in the courts, the costs to come from the borrower refusing to pay; while it provides also that in cases in which more than the legal rate has been charged and the lender seeks to recover the principal and interest in the courts the lender forfeits all interest and has to pay the costs of the suit besides. he essential point in Senator Winslow's bili is that by the pro- posed law the principal of loans is always re- coverable in the courts, whereas heretofore the charge of interest higher than the legal rate disqualified the lender from recovering either principal or interest. The Indian Massacre in Kansas. Another Indian massacre is reported, and this time in Kansas, within a few miles of the Indian Territory over which Friend Enoch Hoag exercises authority. Thirteen citizens, engaged in ‘prospecting,’ were ruth- lessly murdered at Medicine Lodge Creek, and one, who witnessed the butchery of four of his companions, was taken prisoner and robbed of all he had. What further massacres were committed by the savages, of whom the special despatch to the Hznarp states there were from three to four hundred, we will probably learn in a day or two, for it is not at all likely that a war party of that strength will bury the hatchet in a hurry. The Osages and Cheyennes are credited with this massacre, but itis highly probable that other tribes are also concerned. Last year raiding parties of Indians committed outrages in Southern Kan- sas and the Osages were blamed for them. It was afterwards discovered, however, that sev- eral tribes were represented in the plundering and scalping expeditions. The Indians aro now out in such strength that their inten- tion to meke war on the settlers this Spring, recently stated by General Sher- man and Mr. Robinson, can be no longer concealed. The war, in fact, has commenced, and it behooves the government to make immediate preparations to meet the savage toe with troops, and plenty of them. An Indian war in the Southwest just now will be no child’s play. But, pending the action of the government, let the Pat-’em-on-the back-policy people cease their clamor for the release from prison of Santanta and Big Tree, and interfere no more with the action of the troops. The Indians know full well that the so-called humanitarian policy has paralyzed the arm of the government, and are acting accordingly. Sheridan is wanted in the Indian Territory, and his policy of punish- ment musthave sway. The citizens of Kansas, Texas and New Mexico are as deserving of protection as the citizens of Massachusetts or New York. Good News from Africa—Sir Samuel Baker Still Alive. Acable despatch, special to the Hznanp, brings us the agreeable intelligence that the late rumor of the death of Sir Samuel Bakeris without any foundation in fact. We did not at the time give credence to the report. We set it down as an Arab conjecture which had grown and taken the shape of rumor as it came down the river. According to our spe- cial despatch of this morning a well-known merchant of the interior had just arrived at Khartoom from Gondokooro, bringing the news that Baker and his party were well at Falookra, a place distant about one hundred and fifty miles from Gondokooro, and some thirty miles from the Albert Nyanza. He was present, he said, when Baker’s agent came to the son of the Governor of Gondokooro and took with him two hundred soldiers to Falookra, Of course it is not impossible that Sir Samuel Baker and his heroic wife, his companion in all his journeyings, may have perished; but this later report, while it contradicts the former, lends encouragement to the belief that the “White Pacha,’’ as he is called by the natives, is still alive and successfully prosecuting his work of discovery in the regions of Central Africa. Remem- bering how frequently Livingstone haa been reported dead, we need not be surprised that similar rumors should, from time to time, be put in circulation re garding Baker. Sir Samuel, we know, had at first some difficulty with the native chiefs ; but his firmness and decision of character, aa well as his admirably organized and well disciplined band of attendants, soon com- manded respect. His progress, if it has been somewhat slow, has been sure and steady; and it will not be at all wonderful if, while we are discussing the rumors of his death, he is already rejoicing over his completed work. It will scarcely be a surprise if our nex despatch informs us that Livingstone and Baker have met and that the Nile problem has been finally and satisfactorily solved. Dangerous and Inconvenient. Somebony is responsible—or should be—for @ custom which bodes danger to passengers in many of our streets. It happens that New York property owners sometimes change theiz plans. A high brick house standing fiush with the street line is suddenly attacked by sappers, who tear away the front wall of its lower story, leaving the upper sections resting upon slim supports of wood. This work pro- ceeds with such despatch as indicates extreme urgency ; but when the structure has reached such a point of demolition that every breath of wind seems likely to precipitate the weakened walls upon the sidewalk the work halts, to wait for weeks or months, as though courting disaster. That fatal results do not oftener occur seems simply proof of providential care even for those who hardly know prudence for themselves. Such criminal carelessness. should not be allowed to disgrace our city and menace the public with death and maiming. Not alone are citizens annoyed by building operations. Some of our streets const look like the scene of volcanic upheaval and convulsion. Just now the alteration of the railroad grade in Fourth avenue cuts the cross streets by on impassable gulf, stopping tran- sit across the avenue needlessly, and to the serious inconvenience of large numbers of people. A small outlay, not beyond the means of the public spirited company which monopolizes the use of that thoroughfare, would furnish temporary bridges to accommo- date those who have occasion to pass while the work is in progress,