The New York Herald Newspaper, September 10, 1873, Page 8

a 8 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. ————_ JAMES GORDON BENNETT, No. 253 AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. 13 MUSEUM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth st.— Bee Cusvatine. Afternoon and evening, | waLLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth pirce!.—CoLienn Baws. ‘ BROADWAY THEATRE, 728 and 730 Broadway.—Ormaa Bourra—La Fits px Mapame Ancor, OLYMPIC THEATRE, Broadway. between Houston and Bleecker streets —Mermisto, Matinee at 11g. THEATRE COMIQU! No, 514 Broadway.—Vanietr Ewreetatyment, Mating t2. UNION UARB THEATRE, Union square, near Broadway tun Beuies oF tax Kircuaa, NIBLO’S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince, and Houston sts.—Tue Buack Cxoox, Matinee at 1s, GRAND OPERA HOUSE, Eighth ay. and Twenty-third et. —Wanperine Jew. ROOTH’S THEATRE, Sixth ay. and Twenty-third st— Rip Van Winky. METROPOLITAN THEATR Enreetainuent. Matine: BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery Marxep vor Lirs, ROBINSON HALL, Sixteenth Manionetrns, Matinee a 85 Broadway.—V aRiuerr —Tur Sueer Stracer— street,—Tur Rowan OPERA HOUSE, Twenty-third st., corner i ) MINSTREL 'S OPERA HOUSE, Bay Francisco MINSTRELS. HOOLE J4th street and Irving place.— ACADEMY OF MUS! Ban Francisco Cavers. CENTRAL PARK GARDEN.—Summex Nicats’ Con- cents, CAPITOLINE GROUNDS, Brooklyn.—Tux Graraic }ALLOON, NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, No. 618 Broad- sway.—Scimsce AND ART. DR. KAHN'S MUSEUM, No, 688 Broadway.—Science anp Art. — —— THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. 'To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION! THE MEET- ING TO-NIGHT AND OTHER MOVEMENTS BEARING UPON IT.”—LEADER—E1guTH PaGE. WHE RAILROADS AND THE PRODUCERS! NEW YORK'S CONNECTION WITH THE GREAT ARTERIES OF TRADE! OPINIONS OF THE RAILROAD MAGNATES ON THE PEOPLE'S NEW DEPARTURE AGAINST MONOPO- LIES—TaIRTeENTH FAG: DISCUSSION OF THE QUESTION OF CA:SARISM BY THE PRESS—Turrreentu Pace, MURDER WILL OUT! THE HERALD REVELA- TIONS IN THE NATHAN MYSTERY BEING WORKED UP BY CHIEF MAPSELL! WHAT IRVING'S “PAL,’? GUNNION, KNOWS—THE KILLING OF WILLIAM JOHNSON—SEVENTH PAGE. ‘A BALCONY, WITH EIGHTY PERSONS UPON IT, FALLS TO THE SIDEWALK IN WILLIAMS- BURG! TWO YOUNG LADIES RECEIVE CRITIGAL INJURIES! LIST OF INJURED— SixtH Pace. CHANGES IN THE NEW SPANISA CABINET! MILITARY MUTINY AT BERGA! THE BRITISH SEIZURE OF THE VITTORIA AND ALMANSA—NINTH PaGeE. @HE GREAT FIRE IN THE CUBAN CAPITA GREAT SUFFERING OF THE HOMEL! THE LOSSES AND INSURANCES—NintTH Page. N’S TAR-AND-FEATHER OUTRAGE! K MASKED MEN! AN AO- KNOWLEDGED PERJURER—Firta Pace. WEWS FROM THE PL! URE NAVIES! THE YACHT CLUB'S REGATTA! STEAM YACHT LAUNCHED—AQUATICS AT YONKERS—PIGEON SHOOTING—SIXTH PAGE. QHE RACING EVENTS AT THE DONCASTER (ENG- LAND) SEPTEMBER MEE? IMPORTANT RAL NEWS—NINTH Pace. TURF DELIGHTS | THE MAGNIFICENT RACES AT PROSPECT PARK YE RDAY—FLEET- WOOD PARK EVENTS—KENTUCKY As50- CIATION—SIXTH PAGE. TROTTING AT PUINT BREEZE! MARY Ww ‘NEY AND SNOWBALL THE WINN! IN THE 2:60 AND 2:90 CONTESTS—TWeLrru PAGE. SARATOGA PREPARING FOR THE BOATING CARNIVAL! GAMBLING TO BE SUPPRESSED—TWELFTH PaGE. FIELDING AND BATTING! THE 8T. LOUIS-ST. GEORGE CRICKET MATCH! THE BOS) MUTUAL BASE BALL GAME--THE CITY'S HEALTH—TENTH PAGE, PLEASURES (?) OF THE CUISINE IN VIEN POPULAR AMUSEM 'S OF THE V SE! THE EXPOSITIUN FIASCO! CHO! ‘ENTH PAGE. " 1) PRELIM- INARY STRUGGLES FOR CONTROL—NintHo PAGE. ERS IN LOUISIANA AS SEEN BY THE bS TO THE NORTH! THE INSTITUTE =MEETING—TweLriu E BIG ¥sT VERY CASES RECEIVING EARN- NTION! A SEARCH AFTER MORE OF THE OPERATURS! A COURT HOUSE CLEANER APTER THE COMPTROLLER— TENTH PaGa. FRENCH SEA BATHING ON THE COAST OF NOR- MANDY—RAMBLES IN THE MOUNTAINS— LIPERARY CHIT-CHAT—FourTEENTH PaGE. Peace axp Goon Wu. France having paid up her war indemnity to Germany, and England having handed over her little check for the fifteen millions indemnity on those Alabama claims, why should not our mission- aries of universal peace and good will move now for a universal peace conference, includ- ing the Indians. Spaw anp Esrarrero.—'To the long list of ‘Henatp interviews in which Napoleon, Bis- marck, Guizot, Gambetta, Don Carlos and | other prominent Europeans have figured, we added yesterday an interview with the veteran Espartero. From the views of Espartero some of our teaders will no doubt differ. His opinions, however, it must be admitted, as given by our correspondent, are well defined and sharply put. If any one knows Spain, Espartero knows or ought to know it. It is not wonderful that he should have little sym- pathy with Don Carlos, for he won his spurs in the cause of Isabella, when this century ‘was yet young. To the Republic he is not opposed. He only says that Spain is not yet ripe for it, Espartero is consistent in cling- fing to the cause of the Prince of the Asturias. Tt remains to be seen whether the old General ds right. In presenting his views in these Columns we enable the American public to Jdge for themselves, AMATEUR | NTION OF THE | NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1873.-QUADKUPLE SHEET, ‘Transportauon Qu n—The Meeting To-Night, and Other Move- ments Bearing Upon It. The merchants aro following the farmers of the West in agitating the question of cheap transportation. The politicians will soon plunge into it witha view to promote their own interests and to divert the movement, if possible, to party ends. Everywhere this question, in connection with that of the rail- road monopoly and other monopolies, is loom- ing up grandly and overshadowing lesser issues. 'Tc-night there will be a mass meeting at the Cooper Institute, in order that our mer chants and others may express their views and give an impetus to the general movement. If we mistake not it will be such a gathering of influential business men as has been rarcly witnessed. At jJeast it ought to be, and will be if our merchants and wealthy citizens do not show the same apathy on this subject that they have usually shown in political and governmental affairs. There have been several preliminary and smaller meetings of the business men of the city to discuss the subject of cheap trans- portation and raifroad matters connected therewith, and these have led to the call for the © invested. Yet the people are required to pay rates of freight and passage for interest on this inflated or bogus capital. This is the great evil complained of, and which the West- ern farmers have moved against. There is no way of reaching this railroad monopoly and extortion but by legislation. There is no little difficulty, however, in apply- ing that, for the railroad companies control most of the State Legislatures, and to a great extent Congress as well. But public opinion, which is now being aroused, may overcome both the power of the railroads and corrupt or interested legislators. It would be unwise, probably, for the federal government to pur- chase the railroads, as that might lead to a dangerous concentration of power and corrup- tion. But if the several States cannot or will not regulate the tariffof charges for freight and passage upon the basis of the actual cost of railronds and their running expenses, allowing liberal interest on such actual capi- tal, the federal government ought to do so. The railways are the channels of commerce through and among the several States, and Congress has the power, under tho con- stitution, to regulate. that commerce. It is the duty of The federal gov- larger and more popular meeting to-night. There were some five hundred signatures of the prominent merchants in the different branches of trade appended to that call. If, therefore, these gentlemen are in earnest, the meeting cannot fail to have important results. We notice, too, by a despatch from Washing- ton, that two of the Senate Committee on Transportation, Senators Windom and Con- over, were to leave the capital this morning to attend the meeting at the Cooper Institute. The Senate, during the last session of Con- gress, ordered the appointment of this com- mittee to investigate the whole subject of transportation. The committee has been at work in different parts of the country, and was in this city at one time taking evidence. The object appears to be to spend the time be- tween the close of the last session and th@ opening of Congress in December in collecting matter for an exhaustive report, The meeting this evening will furnish materials for that, and we are pleased to learn that two of the members of the committee will be there. If we may judge from the views expressed by several of our principal grain and shipping merchants to a representative of the Herarp, published on Monday, the interests of New York, as the commercial metropolis, will be considered in connection with the subject of transportation generally and the welfare of the whole coun- try. But the interests of New York and of the Western farmers must be made identical. People and sections of a country look to their own material welfare first, however patriotic they may be, and if the Western farmers and merchants can find a cheaper route for their produce and merchandise by the St. Law- | rence and British colonies than by New York, | they will use the former. There are two ob- jects, then, to be kept in view—the question of transportation generally as affecttng the whole country, and particularly the West and Southwest, and as connected with the trade of New York. We have for a long time been urging atten- tion to the subject of cheap transportation, and even before the farmers’ granges took it up, and have called upon our merchants and | | capitalists, as well as the State and federal | governments, to act in the matter. As the question is at last coming to a practical solu- tion through popular movements let us con- sider what is best to be done. Various plans have been suggested to cheapen and increase the facilities of transportation from the remote interior to the Atlantic seaboard. Some urge the enlargement of the Erie Canal and making of other canals, because freight by water is least expensive, and the bulky produce of the soil can be transported in greater quantities that way. Others advocate freight railroads exclusively, either to be constructed by govern- ment or to be under government control, Then, again, there are those who would have the government purchase all the railroads of | the country and run them, as it does the Post | Office, for the public interest. That some- thing has to be done every one admits. Europe wants our grain, corn and other produce. We have enough almost, or could have enough, to feed half the population of the Old World. Yet it rots on | the ground, or cannot be removed to the sea- board on account of the cost of transportation. And this superabundance, needing facilities to a market, is augmenting greatly every year, and in mors remote localities, as population continues to move westward. A great deal | has been said about home markets by our po- | litical economists and those protectionists who look only to certain special or local interests. While we comprehend the value of these and know how varied industries enrich a nation we cannot lose sight of the fact that this is and must be for a long time to come an agri- cultural country chiefly, and that we must de- pend upon the exportation of our surplus pro- duce to pay for the luxuries we import and our indebtedness abroad. We can only bring | the balance of trade in our favor, prevent the | exportation of gold and come to a specie basis by increasing the export of products of the soil, This question of cheap transportation, | then, is one of national importance, as well | as of deep interest in a material point of view to the Western farmers and New York mer- chants. Let the Erie Canal be enlarged and steam power be used on it—let s camal be made by the way of Lake Champlain to the St. Law- | rence, and let other canals be made from the | | Atlantic to the West, and these, it is true, | | would afford some relief ; but they will not be | Sufficient for the present demand, and in the | course of a few years will be entirely inade- quate. To the railroads we must look for the amplest means of transportation. No remedy for existing evils can be expected from the voluntary action of railroad companies or the great railroad magnates who control them. They are like men in business generally, who make the most they can ont of the public. They study only their own interests, If by chance the rate of freight or passage is lowered | on any railroad in consequence of competing | lines or to increase business, that is the result of accident and not of good will towards the public. There are few railroad companies that have not largely increased their capital, stock or bonds over the actual cost of the roads, The stock has been watered or the ernment to protect the public from extortion predicated upon fictitious capital. There is more reason to do this in the case of the railroads than to pass laws against usury, for this is the worst kind of usury. Thon Congress should at once charter and encour- age the construction of through double track freight railroads from the Atlantic seaboard to the far West, with branches to the principal seats of commerce off these lines, and should impose such restrictions as to charges that would not be evaded. Other legislative mens- ures may be necessary to prevent consolidation of railroad interests and to maintain a healthy rivalry. Some remedy is urgent, and our merchants should either heartily co-operate with the farmers’ granges or take some other action to promote cheap transportation. In doing so they will be acting both for the in- terests of New York and for the general wel- fare of the country. The Convention—Genersl Batler. ‘The Massachusetts republicans, in State Convention, meet at Worcester to-day to settle the momentous question, Shall Governor Wash- burn or General Butler be this year the repub- lican candidate tor Governor? From the re- ports of the Washburn delegates and the Butler delegates elected the battle appears to be already decided against the military chieftain. Never since that exciting epoch of Puritan perfection when witches were burned and Quakers were drowned in Salem» has the good old Bay State been so profoundly stirred by its ancient spirit of godlinessas in this contest of orthodoxy for Washburn against Butler, the heretic, for Governor. We are told that State pride and State in- dignation against United States, office-holders and federal interference in the purely local concerns of Massachusetts and in behalf of Butler have swamped him ; that the patriotic spirit of Bunker Hill has risen to administer a rebuke to General Grant in the rejection of Butler, and to vindicate the rights and liber- ties of the sovereign people against trained bands of federal office-holders and other mer- cenaries. But there would have been no com- plaints of this sort from the patriotic adversaries of Butler had the national administration and its office-holders put in their oars for Wash- burn. It is the old fable of your bull and my ox over again, so-far as State and popular rights are involved in the interference of the powers at Washington with the primaries for this Worcester Convention. The clarion voices of the republican journals of Massa- chusetts, which have been so widely re-echoed tor the last few days in behalf of ‘virtue, liberty and independence,” against Butler, would, doubtless, have remained silent had the trained cohorts of the national govern- ment trained for Washburn. ‘Worcester But against this enfant terrible, this bold and’ presuming Ben Butler, the Puritans had their budget of charges and specifications, which inspired them with the wrath of the prophets of Israel against the followers of Baal. Had not this Butler been an old line Southern rights man and a Jeff Davis demo- crat to boot? Had he not endorsed the green- back plan of “Old Thad Stevens’? for the redemption of the national debt? Had he not in his former campaign for Governor identified himself with labor reformers, tem- perance disturbers, women’s rights women and all sorts of heresies? And had he not boldly put himself forward as the chief engi- neer and champion of the ‘back-pay grab,” instead of keeping that business in the back- ground, as quietly and as far as possible? And could the old whig Puritans of Massa- chusetts consent, on any terms, to have such a straggler from the old Southern rights de- mocracy elevated to rule over them? Never— never! And hence these active and zealous preparations for the swamping of Butler at Worcester. There will be, probably, some lively scenes in that Convention in the course of this day’s proceedings; but from present appearances Butler will be thrown out. From this event what next will follow we are somewhat anxious to know; but we shall, perhaps, be sufficiently enlightened as to the manifest destiny of Butler with the adjournment of this mo- mentous Worcester Convention. It appears to be a tempest in a teapot, but it may turn out to be something more. At Last! Like an honest old gentleman Mr. John Bull has walked up to the captain’s office and settled at last. The Geneva award— fifteen and a half million dollars in gold—was paid yesterday to Secretary Fish, and is now safely in the Treasury of the United States. At least we presume it is there, since bows have been made, hands shaken and official documents exchanged by the British Minister, the British Consul General and the American Secretaries of State and of the Treasury. The payment was in the shape of certificates of coin deposits in various banks, which have taken the job of making up the amount for a consideration or commission, This com- mission will, we presume, be paid by Great Britain. At all events, we are informed that Mr. Secretary Fish has, in a dignified and diplomatic manner, refused to have any- thing to say or do with the bankers who took the contract to furnish the amount capital and bonds inflated in some cases to | We can fancy that Mr. Bull must have ( double or treble the cost or money actually ( made some wev ‘cog as he handed oyer what represented his fifteen millions in gold and re- ceived therefor a formal receipt; still bis conscience is now clear and he may be glad that he is so well out of the difficulty. There is one pleasing feature about this payment of cash, or, as the reports call it, this ‘event of great national importance’’—a feature which will gratity everybody and on which we con- gratulate all the high dignitaries engaged in’ the transaction—no speeches were made. For this, at least, wo may be thankful, even if we snap our thumbs at the amount of the little bill which we have received after so much haggling and delay. A Model Financial Oficer—Comptrol~ ler Green’s Remarkable Municipal Reform. It has been claimed for Comptroller Green by his friends and by himself that he is an unexceptionably honest man. The Diogenes of municipal reform has been searching the city with his lantern for two years and has been unable to discover any honest man within its limits except Comptroller Green. We have heard so much during the past twenty- four months ot the unflinching integrity of this watchdog of the public treasury; so much of his determined opposition to corrupt claims against the city government; so much of his wonderful enonomy, that we have been led to expect an enormous decrease of debt and taxa- tion under his management and a financial exhibit that would be » model of perspicuity, frugality and prosperity. The hopes that grew out of the transfer of the management of the Finance Department from Mr. Connolly to Mr. Green did not fructify the first year of the latter's rule. The people found that gangs of laborers who had per- formed honest days’ work for the city were kept out of their pay for two or three months while their families were starving; that clerks and others, who had been faithtully discharging the public duties imposed upon them, wero unable to obtain their salaries; that a few night watchmen and scrub women employed in the public buildings were “docked” of their wages if they happened to fall sick or to be prevented by accident from attending to their tasks for one or two days in a month; that every city department controlled by officers distasteful to the Comp- troller was crippled, blocked and opposed in the performance of its legitimate work; that every claimant who was not on friendly terms with the Comptroller was driven into the courts to recover the amount honestly his due; but all this did not seem to them to be like the reform they were promised, especially when the expenses of the government were increasing, the debt of the city growing larger, the interest account swelling and the taxes becoming more and more oppres- sive. Naturally enough the people began to doubt, to question and to grumble; but they were met by the plea that we were paying off the stealings of the old Tammany Ring; that the burdens left asa legacy by Tweed and Connolly were. pressing heavily upon poor Mr. Green during the first year of his rule, and that we should receive a grand and gratifying instalment of solid reform at the close of his second year of office. We have now an opportunity of judging how these promises have been fulfilled. Mr. Green has made his report of the operations of the Finance Department for the year end- ing September 1, 1873, as required by law, and his additional, report for the month that has just closed. These documents afford in- disputable evidence that the Comptroller is as plundering, incompetent and dangerous a financial officer as could well be placed in charge of the Finance Department of a city government. The character for honesty which has been shouted from the housetops and sounded irom scores of brazen trumpets may or may not be right- | fully his due; but at least he has proved him- self aman utterly unfit to manage the finan- cial affuirs of a great metropolis. For a year past he has been free from all the encum- brances left by the Tammany Ring, except those which he has chosen to retain about him in his own department. Every public office outside his own bureaus has been in reform hands, and friendly Legislatures have passed for him such laws as he desired in order to enable him to enjoy entire control of the city finances. He has assumed power where his authority has been doubtful, until he has drawn within his immediate grasp a super- vision over all the co-ordinate departments of the municipal government. ‘The present | Comptroller is, therefore, fur more responsible than were any of his predecessors for any ex- | travagance or incompetency that may exhibit itself in the management of the city finances, because his positive and restrictive powers are much larger than theirs. We find that last year, under Mr. Green's rule, the public debt has increased about twenty million dol lars. This increase has been gradually swell, ing month after month, and continues up to the present moment. In May of the present year there was an increase in the debt of more than a million over April; in June an increase of nearly a million and a half over May; in July an increase of more than two millions and o half over June, and in August an in- crease of nearly three millions over July. This rapid and steady accumulation of debt has been made in tho face of the fact that ‘we are spending less money on taxation and assessment account than we spent last year, and that all works of public improvement are almost entirely suspended. In the Department of Public Works, the susyDe the city government, through economical and honest management an actual reduction of expenditures on taxy tion account was effected in 1872 over the preceding year of $1,500,000, and a reduction of expenditures on trust accounts of over $3,000,000, making, in round numbers, an aggregate reduction of $4,500,000. In the present year a further reduction of expenditures has been made in the same department as compared with 1872. In all other depart- ments of the city government, except the | Comptroller's, there have been reductions of expenditures, although not to so large an extent. Why is it, then, with reduced ex- penditures nearly everywhere; with the public improvements at a standstill, and with constant litigation going on to recover just claims against the city, that our public debt is increased by twenty millions at a jump? It is simply be- cause Comptroller Green, with the desire to keep down the rate of taxation to the public eye, adds on to the public debt large sums of “ pees: money which he ought oroverly to raise and pay by taxation. It is the unworthy trick of making a false exhibit of economy by hiding away in the body of the debt amounts which ought not to be there, and thus increasing the Permanent burden and the heavy interest de- mand upon the taxpayers. Yet, despite this singular financial policy, the taxes are as heavy or heavier than ever before. We have shown how largely the expenditures of the most costly of the departments, that of Public Works, have been decreased ; nevertheless we find Mr. Green spending more money on the city government than was spent by Connolly and Tweed in their most riotous and reckless years. The total expenditure in 1868, under the Connolly régime, amounted to $29,700,000 in round figures. In 1870, when Connolly and ‘Tweed were in the zenith of their power and license, the ¢otal expenditure was $61,400,000. In 1873, under the reform rule of Comptroller Green, the total expenditure is $64,600,000, being nearly thirty-five million dollars more than in 1868 and upwards of three millions in excess of 1870, the most corrupt year of Tam- many rule! In tracing the details of the Com troller’s reports we find ample ground for charging the responsibility of this increase to Mr. Green. This remarkable financier has been in the habit of keeping an enormous balance lying usclessly and needlessly in the city treasury—a balance that has averaged over seven million dollars—month by month, all the year round. Upon this sum, borrowed in anticipation of taxes and assessments, and borrowed when it was not needed, we have been paying, for nine months out of the twelve, seven per cent interest. Mr. Green’s financial genius has told him that a large balance in the Treasury looks like prosperous and masterly financier- ing, and so he has filled up the strong box, placed his padlock upon it and indulged in the extraordinary economy of paying some four hundred thousand dollars a year for the luxury of looking at his sham of solvency. In- deed, Mr. Green’s interest account is a curious study throughout. In 1868 the interest on the city debt is reported in the Comptroller's annual statement as $1,900,000, and in 1870 a8 $2,100,000. Under Mr. Green’s remarkable financiering the interest on the city debt for 1873 is $5,300,000, or nearly three millions and a half larger than in 1868, and over three millions more than in 1870, two model years of the old Ring rule. The item of salaries furnishes equal evi- dence of Mr. Green’s curious notions of re- form economy. In 1873 the salaries in the Department of Public Works for the year ending September 1 were $192,400, against the sum ot $233,900 for salaries in the same department as then represented by the Street and Croton Aqueduct departments in 1868—o saving of $41,500. The contingencies in the same department for 1873 were only $2,300, while in 1868 they were $21,700, a decrease in favor of this year of $19,400. When we look into reformer Green’s department we find everywhere an extravagant and wilful increase of expense, instead of a retrenchment. The Comptroller's salary account under Connolly, in 1868, was $229,300. The salaries of Mr. Green’s department in 1873 amounted to $268,600—an increase of nearly $40,000. The same with contingencies. Under this con- venient head Mr. Connolly took from the city in 1868 $21,500. Mr. Green takes out of the Treasury for contingencies in 1873, $27,300, or $5,800 more than Connolly's amount. In addition to this we find crowded away and covered up under the head of “miscellaneous,” in Mr. Green's report, the following suspicious item:—‘‘Extra contin- gencies, $39,942 61." These extra contingén- cies crowd themselves in among such items as “Mrs. Wyatt's claim,” ‘Mrs. Cornelia Town- send’s claim,” ‘National Rifle Association,” and the like. They need investigation and examination; but, as there are many other singular specimens of the fruits of reform in the Comptroller's budget, we must defer the task until another opportunity. The people will at last understand the necessity of placing the finances of the city in the hands of a com- petent officer. Our National Guard and the Creedmoor Range. The phrase that history repeats itself is an explosive expression common to common people. History is nota repeater. The ever changing, ever ranging shades of social and political thought that, shadow like, run be- fore advancing forms belie the stereotyped ex- pression. We are independent of history, making history all the days we live. It may seem that we follow examples set by Europe; but the truth is that we follow no copyists, but are ever ready to improve on all suggestions made to us. We were once persuaded that the magnificent army the English called into existence on paper when “Napoleon the Little's’? colonels clamored to be led on the English Downs were perfec- tion. We have seen what the English volun- teers could do, and we know what they are incapable of doing. We share in their suc- cessful experience and profit by their faults. We have near the metropolis a rifle range equal to any the English volunteer soldiery claim as their own, and public spirited citi- zens of means to see that the object of those who instituted the range shall not be prosti- tuted to unworthy purposes. ‘The rifle range at Creedmoor is now a national institution, and is worthy of nationa, support; for if our finely uniformed militia can ever be effective they will owe it to the National Rifle Association. An armed militia without discipline and skill in the use of the rifle is scarcely less terrible in an agitated city than mob with brick- bats. The gentlemen who aro responsible for Creedmoor deserve well of the State, and are entitled to the huzzas of every regiment in the National Guard and of every person who believes that our militia should be an effective body. The Steamboat St. John Accident—Cul- pable Indifference of the Captain, The accident that occurred on Monday on board the steamboat St. John, of the People's Line of Albany steamers, which might have resulted fatally to a large number of persons, is deserving of more than & passing notice. It seems that after the parties were precipi- tated into the water by the breaking of the railing at the gangway the boat proceeited on her course, without the least attention being paid to those straggling for life in the water. The headway of the boat was not checked, po life prevervgre were thrown over, and bad it ——————————__—-- not been for timely assistance from otner sources we might have been obliged to publish a frightful death record. We think, and we be- lieve the community will endorse the opinion,’ that the captain of the St. John ig open to severe censure for his negligence or criminal indifference under the circumstances. He is certainly not to blame for the fragile character of the railing, that could not withstand a pres- sure upon it that might occur almost at any time—for this the proprietors of the line may be held responsible—but he is certainly to blame for not doing something for the reseue of the drowning people. ‘The instincts of humanity wonld certainly dictate this, and we trust the commander of the St. John did not reach Albany yesterday morning with any feel- ings of self-satisfaction for what he had done,’ or, rather, for what he had neglected to do. The fact is these Albany boats during the summer season, when pleasure travel is so great, are ran with but little regard to the comfort of passengers. All that seems to be thought of is to grab the passage and state- room money ; after that passengers must look out for themselves, the women and children, Particularly, so far as the chief officers of the boats are concerned. We hope there will be some investigation into this accident by the steamboat inspectors, in order to ascertain whether the St. John was supplied with the necessary life-preservers and other apparatus for saving life in cases like that under con- sideration, or whether the failure to employ them in this instance was the result of crimi- nal indifference on the part of the officers of the boat. The Croton Bug Plague and Remedy. Bugology is a branch of science not in very high repute among practical men, but its yotaries have a rare opportunity of redeeming its claims to respect in devising a remedy for the Croton bugs. The learned pro-Darwin and anti-Darwin scientists are now engaged in an earnest discussion of the ‘origin of insects;’’ and we observe that while they are bitterly divided on the point of their having been originally winged or wingless, they all agree that they are of aquatic origin. If we can trust these philosophers so far, and assume that the genus cockroach— blatta, we believe, they call it—omerged from the water, we may, on common sense grounds, conclude that they have a special fondness for their native cle- ment. Entomology aside, however, it is an indubitable fact that they affect wet and warm places, where they swarm in largest numbers. Their known fondness for heat and moisture suggests the most appropriate means of as- sailing and destroying them. The introduc- tion of water pipes into houses has doubtless been the means of multiplying the famities of the Croton bug in our bedrooms, for, as the hot water pipes, however watertight they may be, warm the walls, and offer snug bréeding places for these insects, the cold water pipes, | condensing the surrounding moisture, soon become externally covered with ‘‘sweat,” fur- nishing the water they need. It might be found that woollen-covered pipes would be less objectionable, but as long as any water pipes are introduced into all parts of buildings we may expecf this plague. The ordinary nostrums for exterminating them have always failed unless mixed with red lead, arsenic or some poison likely to en- danger human lite, But the best remedy yet suggested is the harmless expedient of placing washing bowls in their favorite haunts, first placing a little water and sweet syrup in the bottom of the bowl and a piece of rough wood reaching from the floor to the edge. Thousands enter these fatal trans, easily sealing the wood, but the slipperiness of the sides of the basin prevents their exit, and the colony may thus be more than decimated in a single night. No doubt the better drainage of the city, and keeping streets, cellars and all interior parts of houses dry and dustless (for these bugs voraciously devour all kinds of vegetable matter), would help to depopulate the city of its invaders. But, as we suggested in the outset, there yet remains the opportunity for one of our distinguished savans to immor- talize his name by the invention of a safe and sure exterminator of this bug. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. The Czar has started on a tour to the Crimea, Edmund About is the Paris correspondent of the London Atheneum. J. B, McCullagh (‘Mack’) has retired from the St. Louls Democrat, Mr. Henry Taine, the well-ktfown littdrateur, is @ candidate for the French Academy. Mile. Anna Walter, a dancer at the Vienna Thea- tre, was burned to death when preparing to enter on the stage, Colonel Hendericksen Kortright has been ap- pointed Administrator of the govermment of the English settlement on the Gambia. Sir Andrew Clarke has been appointed British Governor and Commander in Chief of the Straits settlements and their dependgnctes, A Boston paper says:— “Country landlords who desire summer boarders next year must look out for their drainage.” Their guests, probably, have no cause to complain of the drainage on their purses. Jt is announced in London that a marriage has been arranged between the eldest daughter of Premier Gladstone, Miss Agnes Gladstone, and the Rev. E. C. Wickham, Head Master of Wellington College. Mr. Jack Frost has the faculty of Sir Boyte Roche's bird—that of being in several places at the same time. He was all over Ilinois yesterday, and paid a short visit to lows. He was not well re- ceived by the farmers. ‘The Paris Court of Appeals has rejected the ap. peal of Gauldrée-Boueau and others against the sentences passed upon them and General Fremont in connection with the Transcontinental, Memphis and Pacific Raulroad Company. When John T. Harper, Coilector of Internal Reve- nue fu Iiinols, decamped with from $50,000 to $300,000 of the people’s money, he did not carry with him the “harp of @ thousand strings,” but Jeft it for the consolation of the “just men made perfect.” According to Official statistics the number ot births registered in Paris during September, 1872, ‘was 1,200, against 1,720in the corresponding month of the preceding year. This difference is partly accounted for by the wholesale transportation of condemned Communists. There was also a falling off in marriages, as shown by 1,741 against 1,966. The deaths curing September, 1872, were 3,407, ‘against 3,522 in September, 1871. A nephew of M. Thiers, named Rocher-Ripert, an employé of a railroad company, has lately been arrested on a charge of embezzlement, Tho amount on which the accusation is based is only 900° francs. Sitys the Paris Journal:—“No aoubt the ex-President of the Republic could easily have settled the matter, a8 well as everything that had reference to the property of iis late sister, But every one has bis awn wav of andamms-oding (omaly honor,”