The New York Herald Newspaper, February 17, 1874, Page 6

8 ‘ NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year, Four cents per cops. Annual subscription price $12. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yorg Henaxp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. NEW YORK HERA The Philadelphia Election—Honest Govermment im Great Citios. Philadelphia will choose a new Mayor to- day, or re-elect to that office the gentleman who now holds it, and we find the Philadelphia papers teeming with the chronicle of an ani- mated canvass, in which the speakers handle equally the topios of the old partias, of reform, of public dishonesty, ring robbery, election frauds and the Centennial, which topics strike us as becoming very much the staple of speeches in this era of good intentions, Such contests are usually of strictly local interest ; and the outside world might well fancy itself indifferent between the parties when on one side the candidate is a citizen who was for- merly held to be a proper man for Mayor by the dominant party of an intelligent and gen- erally upright community, and on the other side the candidate is vouched for as an abso- Rejected communications will not be re- turned. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. Subscriptions and Advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. Volume XXX1X AMUSEMENTS THiS AFTERNOON FIFTH AV Twenty-third street and WL; closes wt 10 P. a. TR Mr, Miss Ada Dyas. GRAND OPERA HOUSE, e aud Twenty-third —street,—F VAKIETY EN es at LU: P.M. THEAT! No. 514 Broadway.—V Ab j Closes at 10 30 P.M. TY BOOTH’S THEATRE, Sixth avenue and iwenty-third stree. ELEN P.M. ; closes at 10:30. M. Mrs. J. B. Boot, WALLACK’S THEATRE, _ Broadway and Thirwenth sireet.MONEY, at8P. M.: ‘M oMr. Lester Wallack, Miss Jefreys closes at LP, Lewis. THEATRE, Broadway, between Houston and sleecker streets — VAUDEVILLE: and NOVELIY nNTERTAINMENT, at 8 P.M ; closes at 1 P. M. to) GERMANIA THEATRE, Fourteenth stree.—kiNt VORNEHME EHE, at 8 P. M.; cloves at Li P.M, BROOKLYN PARK THEATRE, gprorite City Hall, Brooalyn.—WHITE SWAN, at 8P. j Closes at 11:45 P.M. MRS. CONWAY'S BROOKLYN THEATRE, Washinyton street, Brooklyn.—AMY ROBSART, ‘at 8 P. ‘M.j closes atl y, M. Mrs. Bowers. BOWERY THEATRE, — FOR LIVE, at 3. M.; closes at 11 TROPOLITAN THEAT No, 585 Bro ay. 7:45 P. M.; closes at RE, 10:30 P.M. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, between Prince and Honston _ streets. LEATHERSTUCKING, at 8 P. M. ; closes at 10:30 P. M. WooD's MU i, corner jbirtieth str at 4:3 P.M. M, QUIET FAMILY, NIEL BOONE, at 8 P.M; closes P.M. closes at il P.M. 433 HOUSE, RTAINMENT, Mat. 8 B. ML; closes at LL No. 201 Rowerv.—VARIET oe 2P. M.; closes at 4P. BRYANT'S OPERA HOUS ‘Twenty-third street, corner of Sixth a) ELLA IN eLACK, NUGRO MINSTRELSY, &c., at 8 A {closes at lu P.M. COLOSSEUM, Broadway, corner ot Thirty-filtti street.—PARIS BY NIGHT, atl P. M.; closes at 5 P. M.; same at 7 P. M.; closes at lu P. M. TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 1874. To-Day’s Contents of the Herald. BRITAIN’S VICTORY IN ASHANTEE! THE ENTRY INTO COOMASSIE! THE RETURN MARCH TO BEGIN ON THE 2D OF FEBRU- ARY—SEVENTH Pace. GLADSTONE CABINET PREPARING FOR SPEEDY RETIRE: ‘Tt THE PREMIER TU DELIVER THE GREAT SEAL 10 THE QUEEN AT WINDSOR! THE CONSERVA- TIVES SECURE A MAJORITY OF OVER FIFIY! PUBLIC EXCITEMENT! THE RE- SULTS—SEVENTH PaGE. SPANISH RESOLUTION UF THE GOVERNMENTAL PROBLEM! A PLEBISCITE TU BE TAKEN AND THE PEOPLE 10 HAVE A FAIR lute necessity of honest administration by | prominent public men of great experience and | enlightened judgment, of whom Mr. Forney | may be taken as the type. It appears, however, that there is more in wat, POLLINE, ats P. | men against rogues it would be difficult to un- MIQUE, eNLLRTAINMENT, at 8 | | the contest than the mere choice of persons; and though it is fought by the aggressive party nominally as the battle of reform, and is such, there seems to us to be something in it beyond the mere issue of honesty and dis- honesty. Taken nakedly as a contest of honest derstand how Mr. Stokley, presumably in that case the rogues’ candidate, could be supported | by men like Mr. McMichael, of the North American. It would, perhaps, be less difficult to understand, yet not altogether clear, how he could have come by the republican nomi- nation and the support of a great portion of | that party, which may be broadly taken to comprise a very large number of honest and intelligent persons. Gross corruption is charged against Mr. Stokley and his adherents by the reformers, who sustain Colonel McClure; but it cannot be merely the corruption of Stokley. It must be also the corruption of the republican party, —VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, at | e.—CINDER- | iy which has not found the gentleman bad | enough to throw him over, but nominates him | again, and, of course, takes the responsibility | of whatever fraud or misconduct may be fairly | | | brought to his door. On the one side, there- | fore, we see an energetic tilt on behalf of hon- esty in office and fair elections, led by repub- | licans who are so conscientious in the conflict that they are willing to venture the possibility of inflicting some damaging blows on their | own party. At the time when the ‘liberal republicans” placed themselves in the same position’ on the Presidential canvass it was | generally thought that they were the less | pained at the likelihood of damaging the repub- | lican party because they no longer had any | hope to control it, and that they anticipated a | more brilliant future in a better party. We | would not care to say that the gentlemen now agitating Philadelphia could not frame for | themselves a far more admirable political ideal ) than has yet been found in the republican party, nor can we deny them any possible * | aspiration toward political perfection in that | | way. But whether they be simply ordinary | bolters or whether the reasons for their action | are amply decisive on grounds of public | morality, their action is legitimate, and we rejoice to see them pursuing their campaign vigorously. For those who sustain the repub- lican candidate and the alleged ring system | and men persistently charged with a con- THE NEWS OF YESTERDAY. spiracy to falsify the results of elections by “fraudulent returus—they seem to reason on know to the fiend we don’t know.” deem every possibility inside the lines of their own party better than any possibility outside those lines. They fear in this world, and perhaps in the | next, only the democrats. pardonable sin with them but that which gives the victory to the enemy. Have we not seen this on a very much larger scale than the Philadelphia canvass? Is it not notorious a this hour that dishonesty in the grandest pro- | portions, corruption deeper than plummet ever sounded, and injustice and oppression of the boldest stamp, are sustained throughout the nation simply and solely because they CHOICE BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC AND happen for this occasion to be the crimes of MONARCHY! CORTES AND THE PRES- the republican party? When the United IDENCY TO BE REGULATED—SkvesTa States Senate is shown the full proportions of PacE. | the turpitude in Louisiana and the President GRAND ROYAL BANQUET IN THE RUSSIAN | denouuces it, Senator Morton deems he has CAPITAL! THE CZAR, THE GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN EMPERORS AND THE BRT SOVEREIGN DECLARED TO BE THE “PRE. SERVERS OF THE PEACE OF THE WORLD"—SEVENTH PAGE. HEAVY GALES AND MARINE DISASTERS IN SOUTHW RN ECROPE—EIGHT MORE CARDINALS TO BE CKEALED AT A PAPAL CO: LORY IN J SEVENTH PAGE. THE SiOUX WARPATH MARKED BY MURDERED SETTLERS AND BURNING TOWNS! MILI- TARY EFFORTS TO STAY THE RED FIENDS’ RAVAGES—TestTH Pace. THE EAST AND THE WEST IN BATTLE ARRAY ON THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS! PENNSYL- VANIA AND NEW JERS! ENGAGED! CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS ~ Tuirp PAGE. WHE MURDER OF MISS GEORGIANA LUVERING! HER PIOUS SLAYEs END IN AN ECSTASY—Fovurtn Pace. OUR ARUTIO HEROES’ OVATION! THE AMERI- CAN GEOGRAPHERS GIVE THEM A COR- DIAL WELCOME! POLAR SCENERY AND RESEARCH—Sgv ENTH PAGE. HELPING THE HELPLESS! JOY BROUGHT TO MANY DESPAIRING HEARTS IN THE GRKAT CITY! WHERE THE RELIEF IS DISPENSED—FouRTH PaGE. THE POLITICAL STRUGGLE IN PHILADELPHIA TO-DAY—THIRD PaGE. SIMMONS’ DEFENCE! CONKLIN CONVICTED OF STEALING GOLD CERTIFICATES—THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WANT THE SPLENDID CANALS OF NEW YORK PRO- TECTED—FirtH Pace. LEGAL TENDERS AND THE MONETARY SITCA- TION! CHANGES IN THE WALL STREET MARKETS YESTERDAY—EiGnTuH PAGB. Tae Pourntcan Crusis m Exaoranp.—A ARING HIS TRAGIC | answered all comers by saying, ‘The repub- lican party wishes no change in that State.’’ | It is, then, a national weakness just now to | hold on to party, corruption and all, and the | quiet old gentiemwen of Philadelphia cannot be | flayed alive for it. For gross municipal corruption to have been | discovered in Philadelphia must be a surprise | to the people in the rural districts, who | thought that that city was the chosen and only | home of all the vices; and fora people to be | compelled to rise up in revolt against the or- | ganized villanies of government in a city | controlled by the republican party must surely | compel a revision of all the fine theories which traced our bad government to democratic su- premacy. Here is William Penn’s quad- rangle, and they say the Mayor of it is *‘but | little better than one of the wicked.” In the | cleanliness of Philadelphia streets, in the | sweetness of the butter brought to its markets and in the moral purity of its political at- | mouphere there was implicit faith from the time when Penn cheated the Indians so adroitly that they never knew it; and we sup- viewed, when he first came down, upon a | series of subjects, the reputation of Phila- delphia is a point at which he would have | made a stand and refnsed to hear the whisper | of calumny. Yet she is corrupt. From this fact there is an obvious inference touching municipal cors ruption generally. It is not local It de- pends upon general causes, that give it an despatch special to the Hrranp informs us | cities; bat, if our gigantic jobs dwarf those that Mr. Giadstone and his Cabinet yesterday sat in solemn council, and, after scrious and somewhat protracted deliberation, decided to of our neighbors, it is only as our wealth and common expenditure are above theirs. Our political life and its furies are such as to keep accept the result of the elections as adverse to | out of office absolutely all men who have their policy, and to place their resignations in | either reputations to lose or fortunes to place | that old theory which prefers “the fiend we | They | There is no un- | pose that if Rip Van Winkle had been inter- | equal hold upon the Quaker and Empire | the hands of Her Majesty. Great excitement | them above temptation. Only a few places in Prevailed in London, «i the clubs and other | the whole list of offices are free from the political centres, Guriny the afternoon, ‘The | operation of this fact, and these are places | Queen is looked tor ut Windsor to-day, and | that are regarded as stepping stones to a it is expected that Mr. Gladstone will wnit | larger political career than that of the city. upon Her Majesty and advise her to call Mr. | Fora long time this fact was observed here, Disraeli to her councils, ‘Tho latest returns | and had not yet reached the gmaller cities; show that Mr. Disricli will have a working | but we see that Philadelphia falls under the paiority of not fewer than fifty members. same ban, and other cities will follow. As the circle widens, and it is found that no city of large proportions can be governed hon- estly, save ‘by spasmodic movements of the «people, the country at large will wake up to the consideration that our American cities must be controlled on principles radically dif- ferent from those that now prevail. They will recognize that so-called party divisions never apply in city politics and are only covers and masks for fraud. Philadelphia is to be congratulated upon the promise for herself implied im the fact that her public men take the alarm readily against impending danger, and come out bravely to fight the evil, with little regard or considera tion for party lines. It is urgently to be hoped that Colonel McClure will be elected. Reform movements are very apt to be delusive, as wo know, in this direction; but a cause that ap- peals to the people in the name of political honesty, and presents a good case in support of its appeal, should never be beaten at the polls, Its defeat is the only sign that is abso- lutely discouraging for popular government. Apathy on the part of the people where their local interests are at stake, or adherence to the shibboleth and hocus-pocus of party names where the only issue is one of honest handling of public mon , will indicate that the evil is beyond ordinary remedy. Spanish Affairs—The Ptlebiscite. A special despatch to the Heraxp gives us to understahd that the Spanish government of which Serrano is chief has decided to test | by a plédiscite section 33 of the constitu- } tion of 1869. Section 33 distinctly says:— “The form of government of the Spanish nation is the monarchy.” When this consti- tution was passed by the Cortes Serrano was Regent of the Kingdom, and the object was to pave the way for a new dynasty. The avowed object of the present movement is to defeat Alfonsist intrigues and to preserve the Re- public. On the part of Serrano this is a wise and politic movement. With the consti- | tution of 1869 he is directly and personally connected. Whatever the Spanish people may think of that constitution, whether they like it or dislike it, he cannot afford to ignore it. By adcpting this ground Serrano makes | his position plain and intelligible to the | whole Spanish people. If the constitution of | 1869 is approved in this particular, then Spain is a monarchy. If the plébiscite decides to the contrary and condemns section 33, then Spain must remain a republic. This is a great improvement on the past. | After all there is some hope for Spain, al- though it is difficult to resist the conviction | that Serrano knows the result beforehand. Tae Last Annvau Report we have received | from the Five Points House of Industry is for the year ending March, 1872. The Treasurer's account shows that there was received that year from all sources $44,839, and expended | $40,516. During the yeur there was expended | out of this amount, on “outdoor poor and | beneficiaries,” $318, and the Superintendent | of this institution objects to free soup kitchens and free lodgings for the starving be sure, the Superintendent claims that other | outside relief, not specified in the report, was afforded during the year; but we can only | take the official figures in the Treasurer's report as facts. If the exhibit is not correct | so much the worse for the credit of the institu- tion. Oxsectine to Untoap.—The committee ap- pointed to investigate the alleged corruptions | of the Department of Justice meets with a sudden obstruction. There is a disinclination to “unload” this glaring “monstrosity,” be- cause there is danger that Attorney General Landaulet Williams may be compelled to go overboard with it. The committee, having sent a resolution to the House asking for authority to send for persons and papers and administer oaths, was informed yesterday that the Speaker regards the resolution as | unprecedented and “grossly disrespectful to the Attorney General." How a resolution that has had hundreds of precedents can be | unprecedented, and what disrespect there can be in examining the Attorney General's accounts, provided they are honest, we are at a loss to conceive. At all events two republican members of the | committee who were not present at the Sat- | urday meeting, when the resolution was adopted, attended yesterday and made a vig- | orous effort to have it reconsidered, The sub- | ject comes up to-day. The very anxiety to prevent thorough examination and to make | the investigation a farce will induce the belief | that the Department of Justice is a sink of fraud and iniquity. Tae New ALLIANCE AND THE Peace or Ev- | nopr.—Are we to have another Holy Alliance ? What means the language of the Czar? In his speech on the occasion of the grand dinner | given on the 15th in honor of the Emperor Francis Joseph and other illustrious guests, | the Emperor claimed that himself, the Em- peror of Germany, the Emperor of Austria | and the Queen of England were quite able to preserve the peace of the world. Poor | France! Poor Turkey! But, after all, the | Emperors are not the peoples. Czar Alex- ander may be too sanguine. Holy alliances in the old sense are no longer possible. Tae Mormon Question Berore Concress.— The memorial of the non-Mormon citizens of Utah, which is now before the Committee on Territories, presents the whole Mormon ques- tion in a forcible light. The Mormons are evidently alarmed, for Mr. Cannon, the Dele- gate from Utah, presented a petition from the Legislature of that Territory yesterday, ask- ing for a committee of investigation before finy legislative action be taken With regard to Utah. The object of this petition, no doubt, is to stave off the crisis that is inevitable. | The general facts are well known both to Congress and the country. Here is a com- munity which lives in open violation of the common law and morality of the Republic, | and even in violation of the statute law, and that makes allegiance to the Utah priesthced superior to that due to the government of the country. The question must be met and dis- posed of, and there is danger in delay. Axotnrn Parat Consisrony.—A despatch from Rome, published in the London Stand- ard, states that the Pope will hold another consistory in June next, when eight new car- dinals will be created, including Archbishop Manning. The Archbishop of Westminster grows in favor. Would it be wonderful if the next Pope should be an Englishman? and homeless ‘‘outdoor poor’ of the city. To | | questions nor evade them. | to meet them, and might as well meet them The Financial Problem in the Sen- ate—Free Banking Brought to the Front. The opening of the twelfth week of this session of Congress marks, in the Senate, an approach to a distinct issue between the East and West on the banking and currency ques- tions, and foreshadows a vigorous and pro- tracted contest. On Mr. Sherman's resolution for a redistribution of the existing currency, which will transfer from the East to the West twenty-five millions, a substitute was offered yesterday by Mr. Cameron which enlarged the field of debate to the widest proportions. His proposition was free banking, embracing the removal of all existing restrictions as to circu- lation, His argument was ingeniously adapted to the occasion and to the purpose of rallying the inflationists to free banking. We infer from our special reports that, as a Penn- sylvanian, General Cameron was placed in the front of this cclumn by the Western men in order to break or weaken the line of Eastern contractionists. The supporting speech of Mr. Pratt, of Indiana, indicated an understanding and a common base of operations. Mr. Cameron contended that under free banking the increase in the national banks woald be determined by the law of supply und demand; that this increase would not be in- flation, but supply; that the circulation would be regulated by the wants of the country; that the gradual absorption of greenbacks by the banks would facilitate the return to specie payments, and that, meantime, our national currency, the best we ever had, in being ren- dered elastic, would meet all the fluctua- tions of trade, Mr. Pratt followed in the same line of attack on the restrictionists, contending especia'ly that this existing monopoly of the national banks, which has become rich and imperious from the exclusive favors of the government, should be abolished. Mr. Freling- huysen, evidently alarmed by this develop- ment of free banking as the ultimatum of the West, opened at once a scorching fire upon it. He denounced it as the most ruinous scheme of finance ever suggested in this country; that, if adopted, it would prove more dis- astrous than the rebellion; that it limited the inflation of the currency only to the seventeen hundred and fifty millions of bonds of the government; that it would reproduce the inflation, specu- lation, depreciation and universal chaos of the free experiment of the French assignats, and that of all things he should deplore the adoption of any such reck- less scheme of bad faith, speculation and bank- ruptey. The fiery Mr. Flannagan, of Texas, who in discussing anything discussed every- thing, came up like a southwestern hurricane to the support of Mr. Frelinghuysen ; but the contractionists were frightened, and, in moving the recommitment of the whole subject to Mr, Sherman’s committee, they only emboldened the Western men. Mr. Logan advanced to the atiack and charged that the motion to recommit was a flank movement, a dodge, a mancu- vre to avoid a vote on the pending question ; that the Finance Committee were attempting to steal off in a retreat with muffled drums, but that they could not smother the pending now as at any other time. Without a vote upon the question to recommit the Senate ad- journed. The general impression from the day’s de- bate is that the contractionists have been | thrown upon the defensive, and that the inflationists, having assumed the offensive, will push on the battle. They appear con- fident of a decisive majority in the Senate and ot success in the House. They certainly have assumed, in the Senate, the attitude of mas- ters of the field. Mr. C. L. Brace is the Secretary of the Children’s Aid Society. Mr. W. F. Barnard is the Superintendent of the Five Points | House of Industry. Do they act wisely in de- nouncing other charities which do not happen to pass throngh their hands? If people choose to spend money in the relief of suffer- ing in a way which does not require -the funds to be subjected to the refining process of either of these charities, why should Messrs. Brace and Barnard complain? Is it not all, in one shape or another, for the benefit of the poor? The anxiety of these well remunerated officials to prevent the ex- penditure on charitable purposes of any money which does not flow into the treasury of their own institutions, to be distributed ‘in a dis- cretionary manner,” is in very bad taste. It savors of the anxiety of Aminadab Sleek to make his own pocket the depository of all the funds raised for flannel shirts and moral pocket- handkerchiefs for the South Sea Islanders. Geemaxy and France.—Alsace and Lor- raine promise to be dearly bought conquests to Germany. In the Reichstag yesterday Von Moltke admitted that ‘‘what Germany had ob- tained in a six months’ war she would require to protect by force of arms for a century to come.”’ A Deputy from Alsace proposed a plébiscite to test the nationality feeling in the two conquered provinces. Time will settle the question more effectually than a plébiscite, and Von Moltke is no doubt convinced that time is working in favor of the stronger party. Tue Boarps of Supervisors and Assistant Aldermen held meetings yesterday, but no business of interest or importance was trans- acted by either body. The Supervisors ap- pointed Messrs. Van Schaick, Billings, Morris, Monheimer and McCafferty a committee to solicit and receive subscriptions from city and county officials and the publig for the relief of the suffering poor, with power to make such appropriation of the sums collected as they may think proper. How Doctors Drrrer.—Among the edifying proceedings of the recent Episcopal Diocesan Council at Milwaukee for the election of a bishop a Rev. Mr. Vermillye said that six doctors of divinity had lied. If he had said that one doctor was mistaken it would have been all right, unless he was wrong, but to charge six D. D.’s with lying was ‘flat burglary,” even though he was right. In a spirit of proper indignation the Rev. Dr. Magoffin declared that such language was outrageous and asked the reporters to notice it. They not only noticed this, but so many other noisy and disgraceful proceedings that, we are inclined to think, the clergy of the diocese of Wisconsin need discipline in both morals and manners, They would have | | uge. | However, we are not told how many signed LD, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1874—TRIPLE SHEET. The Philanthropy that Pays—Let Us Have Light. Mr. C. L. Brace, the Secretary of the Chil- dren's Aid Society, and Mr. W. F. Barnard, the Superintendent of the Five Points House of Industry, both salaried philanthropists, thought proper to thrust themselves into notice a few days since as the censors of their neighbors’ charities, Neither of them denied the prevalence of extraordinary destitution in the city this winter. It would have been ridiculous to do so in the face of the sad evi- dences of suffering daily spread before the eyes of the people. But they objected to the use of any “extraordinary means’ for its re- lief. They did not wish to ‘“demoralize and Pauperize the poor’ by affording them prompt assistance in free lodging houses and soup kitchens, A fow scores of homeless wanderers frozen to death in the public streets and a few hundreds of women and children starved to death in garrets and cellars would unquestionably do more than ‘the wholesale freedom of soup and lodgings" to thin out the ranks of pau- perism. No person could deny that So Mossrs. Brace and Barnard insisted that the poor should not be relieved except through the agency of those whose ‘discretion’ and “experience” might be relied upon not to en- courage “‘the growth of the habit of depend- ence,” and urged ‘well meant but misguided charity” to turn its.money over to the treasuries of such “established institutions’ as the Children’s Aid Society and the Five Points House of Refuge instead of using it directly tor such demoralizing purposes as clothing the naked, lodging the homeless and feeding the hungry. Now, the people respect disinterested philan- thropy, but a natural suspicion attaches to the philanthropy that is made to pay. It was d.fficult to conceive what honest motives could have prompted the salaried philanthropists of these institutions to thrust themselves between the benefactors and the suffering poor; to put themselves forward as censors to decide what charity is discreet and what misguided and demoralizing. Neither the Children’s Aid Society nor the Five Points House of Refuge is adapted to the great ‘necessity of the hour— the instant relief of those poor creatures who | in the midst of wealth are perishing for the | want of the common necessaries of life. Why. | then, should their officers have intermeddled | with other charitable enterprises instead | of attending to their own busi- ness and doing as much good as possible in their own way? An exnam- ination into the management of the two societies furnishes the explanation. The large amounts collected from the charitable and received from the city are made to pay a heavy percentage to those who distribute them, and thus a great portion of the money | intended for the poor goes into the pockets of those whose experience and discretion teach them the best methods of checking pauperism and preventing the ‘demoralization’’ of pov- erty. As soon as this discovery is made, Messrs. Brace and Barnard disappear from the scene. They have nothing more to say. They wrap themselves up in the ample folds of their remunerative charities and suffor de- moralizing soup to fill the stomachs of the starving poor without further opposition. It is time that something should be done to strip the mask from those who mako a profita- ble trade of philanthropy. There isno reason why laws should not be passed holding all as- | sociations organized for charity, whether pub- | lic or private, to a strict accountability for | the expenditure of the funds placed in their | hands for a special purpose. Benevolent citi- | zens are induced to give money to a charitable society because they believe that it will go to | help the suffering and the needy, and not to enrich secretaries, superintendents | and travelling agents. In the case of societies that have received city or State aid it is eminently proper that an examination | should be made into their affairs, and the | Legislature ought to investigate both the Children’s Aid Society and the Honse of Ref- Let us kuow how the ‘emigration” account of the former is kept; for one of the | travelling agents is a Brace, and there is | ample room for leakage in this account. | Meanwhile the two institutions should change | their present officers, if they expect the | donations they have heretofore received to be continued. Our citizens are princely in their | charity, but they do not like to be imposed upon. Certainly those who give to these two | institutions cannot be well pleased with the knowledge that more than half they donate is swallowed up in distributing the balance among the unfortunate beings for whose re- lief the whole is designed. Wriu1am F. Barvanp, Superintendent Five Points House of Industry, is of opinion that if we “let the associations whose ob- jects are to help the poor in a ‘discretion- sry’ manner be bountifully supplied with money” (including, of course, the Five Points House of Industry, No. 155 Worth street, William F. Barnard, Superintendent) we shall do better for the starving and homeless thou- sands of the city than by extending to them “the wholesale freedom of soup and lodgings.” But a hungry creature who is in immediate want of a meal and a shivering wanderer who has no shelter forthe night may prefer the “wholesale freedom of soup and lodgings’ to the aid of an institution like the Five Points House of Industry, however good a charity it may be in its way. An institution which, in the year ending March, 1872, according to ita | own most favorable showing, expended eigh- | teen thousand dollars on the poor and twenty- one thousand dollars on itself in the work of | distribution, cannot be expected to afford that prompt relief which the destitute require in an emergency. A Corrovs Perron rrom Iowa is that which Mr. Wright presented in the Senate yesterday. The petitioners ask for the resto- | ration of the duty on tea and coffee and an | increase of the duty on manufactured cotton. We should have thought that an agricultural community like that of Iowa would have | been in favor of free tea and coffee and the lowest duty possible on manufactured cotton. the petition, There may be a few indivi? uals in that State who have a stock of tea wud coffee on hand or a small cotton mill in | operation. We rather think the petitioners occupy much the same position to their State as the Tooley street tailors did to their coun- try when they spoke in the name of the peo- noble of England, The Arctic Meeting at the Cooper Institate. The Polaris meeting last evoning was one of the most enthusiastic ever held in New York. Convened in honor of the sur- vivors of the Polaris expedition, it was opened, happily, by the election of over two hundred additional Fellows of the Geographi- cal Society, embracing the names of the fore- most public men of the Union. That these gentlemen received the high honor of being elected Fellows of that progressive society is another proof that a scientific body, with lofty aims, and in harmony with the spirit of the times, can constitute itself an authority upon its specialty, and that its decisions will be respected by the public. Our societies in general move with a snail-like pace, years behind the journalism of the times, and this is the reason that so many of them go into garrets to languish and die of stagnation. ‘Those of our readers who will attentively pe- tuse the proceedings of last evening at the meeting of the Geographical Society will find a great mystery explained—the Polaris expe- dition finally buried with imposing obsequies. The entire Arctic problem, from enumeration to the higher mathematics, is exhaustively yet tersely treated by Dr. Hayes. Few wha listened to his discourse ever heard a more interesting address, whether its merita be considered as oratorical or scientific. The statements of Captain Tyson and Mr. Bryan differed as to the ability of the Polaris to pro- ceed further to northward, and the question can be definitely settled only by sending another expedition to find out if there be really an open Polar Sea. The resolutions adopted by the Geographical Society are emi- nently just and proper, and should be favor- ably considered by the government. Rapid Transit and the Owners. A communication in to-day’s Heratp frow Mr. W. H. Potter urges upon the variov associations formed in tho interest of propert} owners in New York the expediency of somo united and efficient action in the matter of rapid transit. The suggestion is a good one. Tho railroad question is one of more im- portance to the property owners than ali others put together. Rapid transit, con- necting the Battery with the West- chester border by a steam railroad that would carry passengera the whole distance in less than half an hour, would in: crease the value of real estate in every local- ity. The presidents of the different associa- tions should move promptly and energetically in the matter. They are:—Mr. William R. Martin, of the West Side Association; Mr. Charles Crary, of the East Side Association; Mr. William B. Harrison, of the Washington Heights and North End Improvement Asso- ciation; Mr. Lewis G. Morris, of the North Side Association; Mr. William Dunning, of the People’s Rapid Transit Association, and Mr. Peter Cooper, of the Citizens’ Association. These gentlemen would form a good committee to undertake the management of the movement. The ob- ject should be to urge on the Legislature the passage of a bill giving the Governor the authority to appoint a commission in whose hazds the whole question of rapid transit should be placed, with power to build a road or roads with the city’s money, raised on rapid transit bonds. The commissionera would then have the right to decide upon the plan to be adopted, and the various schemes would be submitted to them for their decision. Property Tae Howarp Court or Inqumy.—The officers the President has appointed as a court of inquiry in the case of General Howard will, no doubt, give satisfaction. No one will be disposed to question the integrity of Gen- erals Sherman, McDowell, Pope, Meigs and Holt, and of the Judge Advocate, Major Gardner, or of the fairness of a trial under them. The court is to meet on the 3d of March. It is due both to General Howard and tha public that a thorough investigation should be made, and with such a court we may expect justice will be done whether it be in the conviction or acquittal of General Howard. Actrxa on the Aldermanic suggestion, the Park Commissioners have finished the foun- tain in the City Hall Park; but, mindful of the use to which Aldermen generally put cold water, they have surrounded the basin with stands of liquor decanters, which, if not very tasteful, will no doubt take off the cold look of the fountain in Aldermanic eyes, Tue News From Tae West Invies, which reached us last night from Halifax, contuing the usual amount of insular fiuancial and agricultural intelligence, but has nothing of actual importance. The condition of the public health was satisfactory, despite the prevalenca of statements of cholera, out- breaks. WEATHER REPORT, War DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SIGNAL OFFICER, WASHINGTON, D, C., Feb. 17--1 A. M, Probabilities. ON TUESDAY, FOR NEW ENGLAND AND THE MIDe DLE STATES, NORTHWEST TO SOUTHWEST WINDS, SOMEWHAT LOWER TEMPERATURE AND GENERALLY CLEAR WEATHER, For the South Atlantic States, northwest winds, alling temperature, rising barometer and cloudy ‘weather. For the Gulf States, northeast to southeast winds, cloud and rain. For the Ohio Valley, rising barometer and partly cloudy weather, Peaner yee winds and cloud or rain by Tuesday For the apher lake region, northwest to sonth- west winds, lower temperature and generally clear eather, For the lower lakes, westerly winds, rising barometer, cool, clear or partly clear weather. Cautionary signals continue at Wood's Hole, Boston and Portiand, and are ordered for Kast- Pa Western Texas a norther 1s probable Tuesday evening. The Weather in This City Yesterday. ‘The following record will show the changes im the temperature for the past twenty-four hours arison with the corresponding day of last year, as indicated by the thermometer at Hudnut’s Pha s RALD Building — wieaaassta dbus ue ad 1873. 1874. 3h 48 3:30 P. oh 2 «33 6PM rt 9A. M +29 «387 OPM. 350 (BT 12 M.... 35 40 12 P.M. uM Average temperature yesterday, 38% Average temperature lor corres 31% last year.. ABMY INTELLIGENCE. th t and Assignments. RSI WASHINGTOR, Feb. 16, 1874. General Eaton, Commissary General, was retired to-day by order of the President. General Shiras has been assigned to duty as and General Amos Beckwith Commissary General, iu Washington. bs assigned to duty in the office order of the President.