The New York Herald Newspaper, March 7, 1874, Page 3

NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1874.-TRIPLE SHEET. WASHINGTON, |Site. Setar tc The Finance Debate To Be Re- sumed on Monday. PENAL PUNISHMENT. The Deficits in the District of Columbia Exchequer. DISTRIBUTION OF THE MAILS 4 WASHINGTON, March 6, 1874. The Impending War Between Brazil and Buenos Ayres—Diplomatic Excite ment—The Part Which the Son of President Lopez May Play. Diplomatic cirges were quite exercised to-day about = armies ‘néws which was tele- Btaphed from Lisbon relative to the coming war between Brazil and the Argentine Republio, The absence of Councillor Borges, the Brazilian Min- ister at Washington, was not calculated to put a Peacelike construction upon the gunpowder news just received from Kio Janeiro and Buenos Ayres, It was thought generally that the Brazilian Min- ister had gone to New York in order to hasten per- sonally the forwarding of munitions to his own country, inasmuch as the Lisbon telegram Stated that munitions were arriving at Buenos Ayres from the United States, All this, Rowever, was but conjecture, and the diplomatic minds were puzzled especially to know what was that “‘nsurrection in Paraguay,” referred to in the despatch, and on account of which war seemed to be so imminent between the two great South American Powers. It is not generally known that El Sefior Emiliano Lopez, the only remaining le- gitimate and the oldest son or the famous Prest- dent Lopez, killed in @he late Paraguayan war for independence, is now living with his mother, La Seflora Solano Lopez, in the suburbs of Villa del Pilar, the town occupied by Caballero, Bareiro and other insurgents against the present government of Paraguay. The !ormer President—Lopez—it is known, in the last years of his life had been divorced de Jacto irom his legiti- mate wife, and had lived maritally with Miss Emma Lynch, who stood by him very cour- Bgeously to the last and who had borne him many children, Still, the eyes of the Paraguayang there was but one Sefiora Lopez and there is but one legitimate son of the dead Prestdent, and this one is Emiliano Lopez. This young seiior, about twenty-tiree years of age, has resided most of his \ife in Europe and nas spent a whole season here in Washington, where, on one occasion, his pres- ence at Mrs, Fish’s reception caused some unpleas- |ntness to Mrs, Garcia, the wife of the Argentine Minister. Two years ago Emiliano Lopez returned to Paraguay, and he lived there on his estate, with" out taking the least part in politics. But it is thought by some parties here that General Cabal- lero and ex-Minister Baretro, who have failed lately in their revolutionary attempt at Asuncion, may have expected to cover their plans ander the name of young Lopez. Being Bware of the tremendous popularity which surrounds such & name in Paraguay, they may have entertained the hope that Emiliano Lopez would be dragged into the nest of their {ntrigues, and with this hope they have transferred their revolutionary headquarters to Villa del Pilar. But those who pretend to know anything-about the always intricate politics of the South American vountries feel safe in believing that Emiliano Lopez is too patriotic, and too sagacious at the same time, to allow himself to be the tool of such anprincipied partisans, and nos to understand that Brazil is at present the only and best ally ot Paraguay. At any rate, he is said to be too Cautious to take any part at present in the politi. cal struggles which some ambitious men try to create in Paraguay in order to gain power through the support of the Argentines, to whom the Gran Chaco, a portion of the Paraguayan ter. ritory, would be delivered up as the payment for their intervention. The Finance Debate To Be Resumed in the Senate on Monday. In the Senate, after considerable debate, the Centennial bill was sent vo the Committee of Ap- propriations by a vote of 83to 17. The motion of Benator Sherman that the bill for the equalization bf the national currency be taken up, 80 as to be ‘the unfinished business when the Senate next met, Teceived no objection, and Senator Logan gave notice that in the event of Senator Ferry, of Michi- gan, who is now absent on account of illness, not being present then, hefwould address the Senate on the finances. The Senate then went Into execu- tive session, alter which they adjourned until Mon- Gay. Private Bill Day in the Hoase—The Railroad Bill in the Evening session. The House to-day considered only private bills, a number of which were passed, referred or other- wise disposed of. The evening session to-night ‘Was occupied with the discussion of the bill to reg- ulate inmter-State commerce over ratlroads, Bpeeches were made by Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, and Mr. McNulta, of Iilinois, in support of the measure, and by Mr, Storm, of Pennsylvania, in opposition. The House adjourned at a quarter past nine, The District of Columbia Investigation— The Memorialists Asked to Present Specific Charges. The Joint Senate and House Committee, inves- tigating the District of Columbia affairs, held a Jong session to-day, at which they continued the examination of the Comptroller of the District, and also examined Governor Shepherd and the Tax Collector and the Superintendent of Puplic Schools in regard to the past and present condi-* Mion of the school fund. The Governor testified that there had been about $30,000 paid out of the District Treasury for school purposes in excess of the amount of school taxes collected. The testi. mony of the other ofMfcers corroberated this state- ment and also the statement made by Comptroller Baker yesterday—namely, that the school fund bad been overdrawn for legitimate school pur- poses $173,000. The acting chairman (Senator Thurman) informed the memorialists that they must present some specified charges for the com- mittee to act upon by next Tuesday or Wednes- day. The committee then, at two o'clock P. M., adjourned till Tuesday morning. Commutation of Penal Terms of Servi- tude and the Establishment of National Penitentiarics. Dr. Wines had a hearing this morning before the House Judiciary Committee, and made an argu- Ment in support of a bill in relation to United States prisoners, introduced by Mr, Butler, of Massachusetts, last Monday. The bill authorizes a commutation and shortening of sentence for good conduct to prisoners in such States and Territories as have no commutation laws of their own, and provides for inquiry into their treatment wherever they are now confined. This inquiry was proposed with @ view 10 the question of the establishment by the government of one or more penitentiaries for its own convicts, Dr. Wines had recommended this measure in his report to the President upon the International Penitentiary Congress of Lon- don, and was confirmed in his opinion by finding that the same policy had been urged by the present Attorney General and his immediate predecessor. Dr. Wines considered such a policy called for by considerations of both duty and interest—duty, because the government had a Fesponsibility in Tegard to these men which {t could not transfer to another power, the States, over whose action it had no control; interest, because the large sums now @pent upon thelr keeping might thus all be saved, In support of this proposition he referred to nu- merous prisons in which the prison labor wag Made to pay ail expenses, and yield an annual cash surplus varying from $2,000 or $3,000 to $40,000, Still he did not wish to be understood ag Proposing any sacrifice of moral to pecuniary re. sults in prison management. Reformation was did, not, however, a8k the immediate creation of single Penitentiary, but sfmply proposed an inquiry into the influences, for good or for evil, by which United Stutes convicts were surrounded in the places where they were now imprisoned. With the facts before it, shown by such an investiga- tion, the government would be able, on solid grounds, to answer the question whevher it had dis- charged its whole duty to these men in furnishing them ail the helps it properly might in the effort to reform, or whether it still owed a further daty to them in that regard. Dr. Wines closed his argu ment by pointing out several incidental advan- tages that would be likely to result from the in- quiry proposed. Transportation Expenses of the Depart. ments of Government, The President sent @ message to the House to- day enclosing communications from the various departments in reply to the inquiry whether ex- penses had been increased by them for transporta- the iranking privilege was carried in the mails. The Secretary of State says no such expense has been incurred by his department, The Secretary of the Interior says it is not the practice of his de- partment to forward mail matter outside the mails, The Secretary of War Says, as & Matter of economy in sending, the express was used for a short time, Not more than $87 was thus spent, Byt the Signe Service has incurred express expenses of $225 a” month in forwarding supplies to stations of obser- vation. The Secretary of the Navy thinks $220 would cover the amount spent in his department. ‘The Postmaster General says no money has been expended by his department by sending matter outside the mails The Postmaster General argues in Favor of the Postal Car System of Distributing the Mails. The Postmaster General, in response to a resolu- tion of inquiry, transmitted to the Senate the fol- lowing information concerning the railway postal service:—The annual cost of the service between Washington and New York is $147,000, exclusive of the salaries of clerks and route agents, which amount to $101,200. The compensation demanded by the railway companies—namely, thirteen mills per lineal foot of car per mile run—would amount }| to $262,806, or $161,656 more than they are now paid under the present system. Owing to the delay of the railway companies to make weight returns their compensation for the service be- tween New York and Boston has not yet been re- adjusted, but supposing the weights to be the same as in March, 1873, their total compensation would be $121,288. The cost of transporting all the mails between New York and Boston in railway post office cars would be, at the rates de- Manded by the companies, $178,765 more than the cost of the present service, There is now pald to Tailroad companies for mail service between New York and Buffalo, and Rochester and Niagara Falls, $275,220 per annum, and to postal clerks, $52,000 per annum. The increase demanded by the rail- road companies for this service is $141,900 per annum for the present service. The Postmaster General states that there could be no increase in the frequency of the service between New York and Boston, or between New York and Buffalo and Niagara Fails, all available trains being now made use of. The post offices at all the more important manufactnring and commercial centres ‘exchange by direct pouches with each other and with the adjacent post offices at frequent intervals, not depending on the railway post office cars. He says it 1s obviously impracti- cable to extend this system of exchange by direct pouches to all post offices in the United States re- gardiess of their size, He proceeds to illustrate the advantages of We ratlway postal car system and shows that the cost of pouches and locks, &c., the increased cost of transporting the mails, owing to the extra weight of the péuches and the salariea of the extra employés that would be invoived in the direct pouch exchange system suggested, would more than equal the total annual cost of the present postal car e’sten and without in any way increasing the exist yx mall facilities, The Project of Improving the San An- tonio Creek at San Franciso. The Board of Army Engineers for the Pacific Coast have made areport under the act of last year directing them to submita project for im- proving the estuary known as San Antonio Creek, running into the Bay of San Francisco. The creek referred to is a small stream with ample depth of water for shipping, except for the fact that its en- trance is obstructed by a very wide par or shoal Which is nearly bare at low water. The land sub- merged or otherwise on each side of the creek, all the way out to the deep water line of the bay, is the property of the Central Pacific Railroad Com- pany and other private speculators, to whom it is expected to prove a mine of wealth if once re- deemed. The engineers report the following com- prehensive plan:— First—That San Antonio Creek be confined within two parallel training walls or bulkheads of stone, 1,000 leet apart, and that these be carried out over the bar to a point opposite the end of the railroad wharf, where there is now a depth of six- teen to eighteen feet at low water. Second—That @ canal be excavated from the head of the estuary to San Leandro Bay. Third—That a dam be constructed across the en- trance of San Leandro Bay; and Fourth—That the latter be dredged so as to make it a tidal basin, The extended training walls are to be con- structed to the height of four feet above low water, and will, therefore, be submerged at high tide. They say the effect of all this will be that the ebb water will dredge out a channel of fourteen to six- teen feet at low tide between the whole length of the training walls and make a harbor at Oakland capable of aceommodating atone time forty large ships, together with ferryboats and small vessels. Such accommodation they agree is necessary. ‘They estimate the cost of the training walls ana dredging out between them at $479,074, the cost of excavating the proposed canal at $350,000, the cost of the required dam at $65,000, and the cost of dredging at San Leandro Bay, so as to make tt a proper tidal basin, at about $441,000—in all say $1,335,074, exclusive of Jand damages and bridges involved in the construction of the canal. Senator Hager and Representatives Clayton and Luttrell all éxpress thémseives earnestly opposed to the scheme, or any other appropriating money to pro- vide for so-called commercial faciiftiel at the bx. pense of the general government detrimental to and in competition with existing facilities created and paid for by the citizens of San Francisco. Decision of an Old Claim for Moteties Against a New York Firm. The Attorney General has decided the case of Grinnell and Merritt, Collector and Naval Officer Of the port of New York, who brought suit against Weld & Co. for penalties under the customs law. | They went out ot office with the suit pending. Murphy and Laflin became Collector and Naval OMcer and discovered claims for other penalties. Weld & Co., to compromise all of gaia claims, con- sented to a Judgment against them in said suit for $75,000, and the decision of the Attorney Genera, is that the motettes are to be divided in proportion to the claims that originated during the incum- bency of each set of officers, and which claims were compromised in the suit, Probable wibelling of the Steamer General Sherman for Violation of the Neutrality Law. It is probable that the Secretary of the Treasury will order the libel of the steamer General Sherman for a violation of the Neutrality act in having been employed in waging war against a friendly power. Movements of the Executive. The President was at the Capitol to-day, but did not remain long. He had { nterviews in the Presi- dent’s Room with Senators Conkling, Gordon and @ Jew others on matters pertaining to their respec- live States. Executive Nominations. The President to-day sent to the Senate the fol- lowing nominations:—Edward F, Dunne to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Arizona; M. P. Berry to pe Collector-of Customs for the Dis- trict of Alaska; David Turner to be Collector of Customs at Alexandria, Virginia. Nominations Confirmed by the Senate. F. D, Sewell was confirmed by the Senate to-day to be Supervisor of Internal Revenue, vice Wil- iam A. Simmons, resigned, and Philip 0, Asserson ohoapest at any cost; but he maintained } w bee ovil engineer in the navy. tion of any matter which before the abolition of | | Won introduced by him on Wednesday last in | and taxation, disting THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM. Consideration of the Subject in the Rouse—Mr. Ramsey’s Speech in |pport of the Project of a Government Trunk Route. WASHINGTON, March 6, 1874. The speech of Mr. Ramsey (republican) in favor Of the bill having for its object the cbeapening of transportation from the prairies of the West ‘to the seaboard of the East, contains a plain presen- tation of the arguments of the grangers for relief from the extortionate monopolies of railways. Mr. Ramsey, of Minnesota, called up the resolu- Tegard to cheap transportation, and addressed the Senate in favor thereof. He said the annual products of Minnesota were over 22,000,000 bushels of wheat, upon which the average freight to New York was about fifty-seven cents per bushel in winter and forty cents per bushel in summer, If grain could be moved at half these rates it would add nearly $8,000,000 to the annual income of his Stare. The same might be said in regard to all States 01 the Mississippi phey- There were three practical Ways of doing this :— METHODS OF CHEAPENING TRANSPORTATION, First—By improving the navigation of the Mis- Siasippi River irom the Falls of St. Anthony to the Gulf of Mexico, which could be easily and cheaply done, first, by damming up the waters in the lakes of Upper Minnesota, storing it for the dry season, and so Obtaining a poor depth of tive | feet for the Upper Mississippi, Second—By continuing tne other improvements 10 er Way; by deepening the channel be- | tee Se Orleans and the Gulf. These would | give heap freight by barges to New Orleans and y séshiers to Europe, Ho ed deepening the channels between the lakes (and but a small appro} riatiop from the United States would be required for this purpose, as Canada would do the rest), and then, under a reciprocity treaty, our ships could be loaded at Duluth for Liverpool, aud so have two competing water ways. Fourth—all Western States are not so favorably situated as Minnesota, with two water routes to Europe. The Western States want and must have ad all rail route ior freight, THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to charter and aid such @ work is undoubted. | Each State surrendered to Congress the right to regulate inter-State commerce, and thus Congress | obtained the right absolutely necessary to thé | prosperity of every Western State to regulate | Inter-State commerce in a8 complete a manner as a rae cal regulate the commerce within its own lumits, THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS PASSED, Our present system of railroads was adopted for the day of small things, when wheat was imported | into Minnesota, The mere inspection of the map | shows the Western roads neni, from two or three great centres, and the hundreds of Western roads now open have ouly the same four trunk | lines that were in operation twenty years ago, | When | they had only | millions of | bushels | of grain, e@ must provide for hundreds of mil- lions of bushels. We need reforms in the present roads and a doubie track ireight railroad, char- | tered and controlled by Congress, with maximum rates of six mills a ton per mile, This was pract- cable, and with such a road competing with water ways by the river and by the lakes, would give the West what alone should supply access to the mar- | kets of the world for the products of her fields, now rotting in her granaries or burning for fuel. NATIONAL LIQUOR COMMISSION. Passage of the Bill in the Senate Author- izing the Appointment of Commission= ers by the President to Investigate the Prevalence of Draunkenness and the Manutacture and Sale of Alcoholic Boveruges—Text of the Bill. AWASHINGTON, March 6, 1874, On motion of Mr. Wright, of Iowa, in the Senate, the bill authorizing @ National Liquor Commission Was taken up for. consideration, and without fur- ther debate the vote upon it was taken. The bill was passed with the following vote— yeas 26, nays 21:— Yzas—Messrs, Anthony, Boreman, Buckingham, Cam- eron, Chandler, Conkung, Dorsey, Fenton, Flanagan, Fretinghuysen, Hamlin, Ingails, Logan, Mitchell, Mor: Till ot Siaine, Oglesby, Pease, Pratt, Ramsey, Sargent, Scott, Sherman, Spencer, Sumner, West and Wright—29, | Nays—Messrs, Bayard, 'Bogy, Clayton, Cooper, Davis; Dennis, Goldthwaite, Gordon, Hamilton of Texas, Hitch. cock, Jolmston, Kelly, Lewis, McCreery, Merritnon, Norwood, Kanlgom, Hobertson, Saulsvury, Steveusou and Stockton—2i. TEXT OF THE BILL. The bill as passed reads as follows:— Be it enacted, &c., tha; there shall be ap- pointed by the President, by and with the advice | and consent of the Senate, a commission of tive | persons, neither of whom shall be the holder of | any office of profit or trust in the generalor State | government. The sald commissioners shail be seiected solely with reference to personal fitness and capacity ior an honest, impartial and thorough investigation, and shall held office until their duties shall be accomplished, but not to ex- ceed one year. It shall be their duty to investi. gate the alconolic and fermented liquor traffic and Manufacture, having ee relerence to revenue suing, a3 far a8 possible, in the conclusions they arrive at, between the effects tpi baat by the use of distilled or spirituous as | tinguished from the use of fermented or malt liquors in their economic, criminal, moral and scientific aspects in connection with pauper- ism, crime, vice, the public healt! and the’ general wellare of the people; also to inquire and take testimony as to the practical results of license and restrictive legislation for the prevention of intemperance in | the several States and the effect produced by such legislation upon the consumption of distilled or spirituous liquors, and of iermented or malt liquors; and also to ascertain whether the evil of drunkenness has been increased or decreased thereby, whether the use of opium as a stimulant and substitute for alcoholic drink hag become more general in consequence of such legislation, and whether public morals have been improvea thereby. It shall also be the duty of said commission to gather information and take testimony as to whether the evil of drunken- ness eXists to the same extent or more so in other civilized countries, and whether those foreign nations that are considered the most temperate in the use of stimulants are so through prohibitory laws; also to What degree probibitory legislation has affected the consumption and manufacture of malt and spirituous liqdors in this country. S£or10n 2.—That the commissioners, ali of whom shall not be advocates of pronipitory legislation or total abstinence in relation to alcoholic or fer- mented liquors, shall serve without salary, and shail have authority to employ a secretary ata reasonable compensation, not to exceed $2,000 per annum, which, With the necessary expenses incl- dental to such investigation, not exceeding $10,000 for both the secretary and commissioners, shall be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, upon vouchers to be ap- proved by the Secretary of the Treasury, and for tbls purpose the sum of $10,000 js hereby appro- priated. It shall be the further duty of said com- missioners to report the result of their investiga- tion and the expenses attending the same to the President, to be by him transmitted to Congress, MURDER IN GEORGIA, A.Marshal Blows Out the Brains of a Prisoner in His Charge. r _ ATLANTA, Ga., March 6, 1874 » Tdwiitiedvillé; the county seat of Gwynette county, about thirty” miles from Atlanta, | a8 | stirred yesterday by a murder cafeiaittad % the town marshal upon an escaping prisoner. The name of the marsbalis Harvey and that of the deceased George Baugh. At the time of the ter- rible occurrence both men had been drinking. It seems that Baugh had been arrested and fined for some violation of the town ordinances, and while the Marshal had him in custody he endeavored to | make his escape. The Marshal started in pursuit and canght him just as he was climbing over a fence. He seized Baugh, pulled him back, and throwin; an arm around him put a pistol to his head an fired, The bail pussed hae Baugh’a face and lodged in his brain, causing instant death. The deceased was & young man, some twenty-three or twenty-iour years of age. He belonged to a most respectable family in the neighborhood, but was of dissipated habits. So far as Ihave learned there had been no bad feeling between himself and Har- vey, and the whole of the terrible occurrence seems to have dated its origin to @ free use of whiskey. The whole town of Lawrenceville is deepty agitated over the affair. Marshal Harvey Was at once arrested, and a thorough investiga- tion willensue. As the court ts now in session in Lawrenceville the trial may come off in a few days, “DID PAUL ENJOIN SILENCE ON WOMEN (” Dr. Armitage delivered a lecture on the above question at tne Fifth Avenue Baptist church yester- day afternoon. The lecture was, in fact, a response to certain adverse criticisms by @ reviewer on state- ments and convictions made and expressed by the Doctor in the course of @ previous lecture, It ap- pears that the Doctor’s stand was criticized very severely, exception being taken to his theology and ethics, This being the case the response wag very naturally deep and learned, displaying at every turm the lecturer's Biblical erudition and fluetit. knowledge of sacred womenology. The Doctor had no occasion to go beyond Paul himself for a negative answer to the question of the lecturm Ii the objections selected by the lecturer are all that have been put forth against him, the reviewer has been reviewed tn @ manner which would enjoin silence on any sensible man. The lecture is too full of euphonious names of | quote eccentric hed nae ever to become popular, but to the people who have read the review it is of in- finite interest and will be, by special request, re- ES in the sanctuary of the Fifth Avenue Ba, W church, on Friday next, at three o’clock P. A NEW BELLEVUE HOSPITAL, “Should Active Measures in Regard to the Erection of a New Hospital Be Taken 2” REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE We publish the following abstract of a report of | the committee appointed to decide upon the best | method of reforming the pernicious hospital sys- | tem of New York:— | ‘TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE STaTB CHARITIES AID ASSOCIATION OF New You The undersigned, a special committee appointed by your association to “take active measures in regard to the erection of a new Bellevue Hospi- tal,” beg leave respectiully to report :— | The committee met at the earliest possible mo- | ment and appointed sub-committees to represent | the different departments of the subject to be con- | | sidered, each of which has given its earnest atten- ton to the various matters of inquiry, RESULTS OF INQUIRY, The results of these inquiries are based— (a.) Upon information in regard to hospital con- struction collected boti in this coultry and | abroad. be) Upon som parsaen nt the Beneene oepitay i A otuer large city hospitals here and in Europe, Ata’ if > (c.) Upon the statistics of mortality furnished | by. the printed report of tae Betlevue Hospital edical Board, (@.) In regard to the matter of hospital con- struction m general the experience of the last quarter of ® century, and more especially of the period included between the present time and the éxiinlhe of our own late war, has set the whole subject in entirely new lights, ‘It is not too much to say that the results of the hospital treatment of She Orme an. war, of Co eiperian, civil conflict, and of the late Franco-Prussian war, faye been to Fovolationtee, the. “eaHir Rad as widely accepted ideas as to the true principles of hospital construction, aud that this revolution in sentiment bas only been made more thorough and radical by what has been ascertained concerning other than military hospitals in London, Berlin and Paris, No higher authority upon this subject can be than Miss Nightingale’s qologie op Foss tais and Hospital construction, from ich it ape pears that the death-rate in the stately, quadran- gular, three and four storied structures in London and other large towns of England, is not only tar higher than that obtaining in the smallest and cheapest structures elsewhere, but so high ag to raise grave doubts, to use her own | language, ‘as to the advantages to be | derived trom hospitals at all, and to lead many to think that the sick would have @ much better chance of recovery if treated at home.’ These hos- pitals were all noticeable for the large number of sick collected under one roof, the deficiency of space per bed and the canalenoy of light and ven- tiation, The same tact marked the history of the largest hospital at Scutari, which had at one time 2,600 sick and wounded under tts roof, of whom two in every five died, while, at the same time, in the hospital tents in the Crimea, althougn the sick were without blankets, | without proper food and medicines, and almost without shelter, the morvality was not above one- half whatit was at Scutari, During the invasions of France in 1814-15, the hospital administration of Paris, not knowing where to receive the sick and wounded, fitted up three of the abattoirs for patients, Several of these buildings, which were | of the very simplest construction, bad, fortunately, neither doors nor windows, and had the wind blowing directly through them. As a consequence, the mortality was one-half among the patients in the abattoirs what it was in the most complete and massive hospital establishments, With this general conciusion agrees the testi- mony of the most eminent surgeons of Berlin, as furnished by them in connection with'their pro- fessional observations and expertence in the late Franco-Prussian war. Ina word, the conviction reached by experienced medical men throughout Europe, almost without exception, seems to be that large and intricate structures of several stories, including under one roof any considerable number of wards, are promotive of imperfect ven. tulation, pywmia, and, as a consequence, of a greatly ephanced death rate among the patients who are treated in them. In our own country this conviction 1s, if possible, more general and profound, The experience o! our own war and the reduced death rates in hos- pitals constructed upon what is Known ag the pa vilion plan, together with the acknowledged ‘alm: culty of securing pure air, even by the most costly methods, in any buildings of a more complicated strueture and arrangement, have compelled a general assent to the advantages of a simpler mode Of copstruction, On this point the admira- ble essay of Dr. Stephen Smith on the Paeeelied of hospital construction 1s both clear and concuusive, while the testimony of Dr. F. H. Hamilton, quoted by Profesyo Esmarch before the Kiel University in 1871, # especially valuable. Says Dr. Ham- ilton, spel. for the profession in America:— A careful observation has convinced us that all hospi- tals, and especially military hospitals, ought to be one story buildings, elevated three or tour feet from the ground. In pavilions we have constantly had the smallest amount of hospital gangrene, pywmia and ery- sipelas, and it is believed that fevers have been less fatal and convalescence from all maladies has been more rapid and certain. One story bulldings possess these several advantages over buildings of two or more stories :— First—They are more easily ventilated, and this con- sideration takes precedence of all others. Its tmpor- tance can never be overestimated. The best place to treat a sick or wounded man 1s always, other things being equal, where be can get the most air. When ‘this doctrine 1s thoroughly understood hos Raat cease to be the graves of soldiers, And never un! Second—They are much more easy of administration. Third—Such ot the patients as are able to walk can pass in and out with less tatigue. In lofty buildings teeble patients and those who are lame are in many cases as effectually excluded from outdoor exercise as it they were bedridden, Of all the various modes which have been devised we have seen nothing equal to the so-called “ridge ventila- tion,” in which the air is permitted to escape through the entire length of the ridge of the root. When this plan is combined with a movable base along the whole Jongth of both sides of the ward nothing more can be de- mre ‘These principles were adopted in the late Franco- German War, and are now accepted as the first rinctples of hospital construction in hee ae Iready the experience of the war is rapidly bringing about changes im the construction of their Civil hospitals, Inthe year 1869, constrained by a painful ex- perience of mortality in surgical cases resulting from pyemia, the Commissioners of Charities erected a small wooden building for the purpose of | trying the treatment of acute surgical cases in a | building not infected with pymmia; but no sooner was it finished than a number of cases of relapsing fever were crowued into it, rendering it forever unfit for the purpose Of treating surgical wounds, Such 18 substantially the situation at this mo- ment. Bellevue Hospital itself has been virtually condemned as unfit for the treatment of surgical cases by those whose business it is to care for such cases—the hurtiul and often fatal influences of hospital potaon have forced themselves upon gen- eral recogmtion, and the only structure originally intended to meet this grave emergency has itself become practically useless {rom the same cause. Add to this the fact that the origina! design and arrangement of the hospital is most illy adap ted | for the purposes which @ hospital should aim to serve—that tts wards are overgrown and bad) ventilated, and that its walls are saturated wit! the poisonous emanations of disease for half a cen- tury, and the unfitness of Bellevue Hospitat for its present responsible work in this great city is pain- Tully evident. This unfitness becomes only the more apparent when the present Beilevue Hospital buliding is compared with other large hospital buildings built here and in Europe. It cannot be denied that the best of these hospi- tals are clefective in their construction, but there Q be seen in the new St. Thomas’ Hospital in ig London ind jn fhe Roosevely Hospi y | a clear rt of thé defect! Ae bared and of the advantages Of the pavilion arrange- ments, acca tues advantages: are been much impaired in i egg . aces by the objec. tionable height Ea se HCI ES, an WY | having & corridor connecting the pavilions on the same level as the floor of the wards, In Germany, however, rticularly ‘at Kiel and Leipsic, hospitals have been constructed strictly on the pavilion plan, And the great benefit of this arrangement hag demonstrated itself to all who pave peat examined them. In these build. ings thé Ventilation is undeniably superior to that | obtainable tn rok other form of construction, and the proportion of recoveries in them, so fat as it can be ascertained, Py! to the same general couciusion in regard to them as that which has been reached by recent experience in two hemi- spheres in connection with military hospitals. In the abstract of diseases causing death during the year 1871, strange to say, we tind almost ex- actly the same figures as in the report for 1870, In a total of 1,073 deaths we tind— Thirty cases are put down under pymmia. One case is put down under pyamia and delirium tremens. One case 1s put down under pywmia and pneu- umonia. One case is put down under pywmia and necrosis of sternum. One case is put down under pyemia and morbus coxarus. a is put down,ander pywmia and tertiary syphilis. : ae Mens is put down under pywmia and resection of elbow. Thirty-three cases are put down under puerpral peritonitis. From the above we get, in 078 deaths, 69 caused every 16.5; 645 in by hospital poisons, or 1 every 10% With these suggestive figures before you your committee need add but little. They feel that the time has come for some decisive and definite action, and that with the mass of facts now before them further delay would be simply criminal, With this view they beg to suggest the following plan to carried oUt substantially upon the present site :— The present dimensiong of the ground within the Bellevue Hospital enclosure are 460 teet tn width and 630 feet in length. It is proposed to extend the city sewers several hundred teet into the river, and then to fill in on the river line go as to tncrease the length of the present site to 800 feet, which Will give @ free suriace of 460x300 feet. On this ground it is proposed to erect four or six pavilions, suMigiens t receive all the surgical cases, The | two or three of nd the purest | Sune Means— pavilions to be ralsed say eight feet from the goand. on a structure of masoury to be eay 120 t long by 30 feet wide, and to contain say thirt; beds. ese buildings to be one story high, witl ridge ventilation, Each pavilion must have connected with it a small executive building, con- taining a day room, nurses’ room and smail recep- tion and operating roo; Also in connection with this executive building and separated trom the wara would be the bathrooms and water closets, All the executive buildings to be connected with each other by & basement corridor, the top of which would be on @ level with the floor of the wards, It will be seen that the improvements and ad- vantages aimed atin this plan are in no sense novel or untried. It can be shown from the his- tory of the hospital and the testimony of its physt- cians that the necessity for every one of them has more than once been brought to the notice of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction by the physicians themselves. Your committee learn from some of the older Physicians, as Drs. Clark apd Wood, that at the time when it was first proposed to change the Almshouse into a hospital, the members Of the Medical Boar’ attempted to have the building | changed so as to improve its sanitary condition, | and in 1867, when their request waa complied | With, they urged the necessity of having the closets put outside of the banding. and protested against the fireplaces being closed, bringing forward the fact that the open place is one of the best modes of ventilation. At the same time they made ob- Jections to having prisoners and paupers ag nurses, e Board (not Roman Catholics) even going so far as to ask that Sisters of Charity might be introduced as nurses, our committee are also giad to be informed that for years past, especially since our late civil war, many members of the Medical Board have favored the plan of erecting pavilion wards, to be used in \eating all open wounds, such as compound Ira tures, cases r surgical operation, &¢., aud t from time to time committees {rom the Board have been appointed to urge the adoption of Hauroved | sea easures and the more enlightened treat- ment Of the sick poor. | These facts are the‘ more important because they encourage us to urge these changes upon the | Commissioners with renewed earnestness, and to | feel sure that, in doing so, we may count upon the cordial sympathy and unreserved co-operation of the Medical Board, Your committee beg to state in conclusion that they have no disposition to ignore the fact that Bellevue Hospital, with all its defects, is no worse than many others avout it. But the motive which haa moved your committee has not been a desire 80 much to show which of cert: existing hospi- tals is better or worse as to contrast Bellevue Hos- pital, ag @ life-saving {nstitation as it exists, with gs it migat be made. Says the author of ‘Notes on Hospitals:"—“It may seem a strange principl to enunclate as the very first réqtirement | of @ hospital, that it should do the sick no harm.” And yet It is nevertheless necessary not merely to lay down such a principle but to insist upon its ap- Plication. if the most frequentéd refuge of the Sick in ‘his great city 18 notoriously liable to the suspicion that it does harm to those who are brought within its wails, auch a condition of things demands immediate remedy. To procras- tinate or postpone that remedy is to proclaim our disregard of the well being of the sick, nay, our absolute indifference to the value of numan life. An evil recognized and acknowledged but unrem- edied has a tatal capacity for becomic chronic. Left alone by those who most plainly and keenly see them, the grave defects of charitable institutions very soon vecome disregarded a8 unimportant or tolerated as inevitable. Nay, | worse than this, the evil example develops an evil propagating power, and an ill constructed, badly ventilated, poigon tainted hospital in New York, frequented by large numbers of young men from all parts of our country, who daily witness its de- fects and recognize its injurious influence, and yet see no evidence of a disposition to remedy those deiects, is something which will, sooner or later, make itself hurtiully felt throughout the land. Every consideration, therefore, of mercy to the sick and suffering, of @ decent respect ior the sete tled conclusions of the highest authorities, of a due regard for the influences of a representative institution—nay, every consideration of common justice and common humanity, unites in calling for action in this most important matter without elay. "AL of which is pespecenthy submitted. HENRY U. POTTER, Chairman. Elisha Harris, M. D. Gouverneur M. Smith, ©. R. Agnew, M. D. M. De William H. Van Buren. Charles A. Joy. Frederick Law Olmsted, James W. Beekman, it George T, Strong. Howard Potter. Francis A. Stout. L, P. Morton. Mise E. Van Rensselaer. Miss A. H. Woolsey. Mrs. Hartman Kuba, Mrs. E. K. Hobson. Mrs. Henry A. Coit. Miss Gould, Miss E. E. Russell. Mrs. Robert Woodworth, Miss 8. M. Van Amringe. J. M. Hurtado. E. Krackowitzer, M.D. Mrs. P, L. Van Rens- W. G. Wylie, M. D. selaer. A. B. Crosby, M. D. SUICIDAL TRAGEDIES. ry A Mother Administers Morphine to Herself and Daughter at Atlanta, Ga. and an Old Farmer Shoots Himself Through the Heart at Lithonia. ATLANTA, Ga., March 6, 1874, This morning, Mrs. Duffy, residing at No. 20 Wheat street, discovered Willie Pettibone leaning against the fence between her residence and Mrs. Pettibone’s, apparently in deep distress, She ran to him, and upon being told that bis mother was dying rushed into Mrs. Pettibone’s. She found Mrs. Pettibone in a deep stupor, and her little girl Ella in the same condition. Mrs. Duffy took littie Ella out of the bed and bathed her. Dr. Charles Pinckney was summoned, but Mrs. Pettibone ex- pired before his arrival The facts con- nected with her death are as follows:—She wrote to Mr. G. J. Howard for $2 worth of morphine the day previous, sending a gold neck- lace as a pledge for the money. The druggist | refused to send $2 worth, but sent $1 wortb—forty- | eight doses—in quarter of a grain doses. There | were none but Mrs, Pettibone and little Ella there | last night. About seven.o’clock Mrs. Pettibone | took eleven and three-quarter grains of morphine and administered the same *o Ella, against the | child’s remonstrances. Mrs. Pettibone died this | morning, but the cmd is In a good way of recov: | ery. Mrs. Pettibone previously wrote @ letter to | her mother, residing in Connecticut, and to her | son Willie, explaining that pecuniary trouble was | her reason for taking her own life and that of her | daughter. She also asked that herself and daugh- ter be buried in the cemetery here by the side of her husband, THE CAUSE OF HER DEPRESSION. Mr. Kobert A, Pettibone, her husvand, was a merchant here, and died nearly two years ago. He had his life insured, and the sum of $4,500 was paid to her. Mer son, Willie, is about ‘sixteen | years of age and her daughter, Elia, about six years rua Upon receiving the insurance money | she equally divided: it between herself and chil- dren. Judge Daniel Pittman, the executor, secured the amounts belonging to tne child ren. Mrs. Pettibone allowed her father-in-law, then engaged in business on Decatur street, to use her $1,500. He failed, and thus she lost her all. Sne Was addicted to the use of morphine, and it is said that about one year ago she attempted the | life of herself and iittie daughter. In addi- | tion to her pecuniary Roe te her daughter had had an attack of smallpox. During the tines of the daughter no one visited her. Her rent was unpatd and the rent agent threatened to put her out, About two years ago a man named Joel Kel- sey committed suicide in the same house by the ne.” be QTHER SAD SUICIDE. ulet village on the Georgia Railroad, 4 twenty-four miles below Ati: Lithoula, lanta, was the scene of another suicide this morning. Tne man who has thus rai bly ae his life is Wesly Braswell. He ‘was born DeKalb county and has lived nearly all nis life in Lithonia, He was a farmer by occu- | pation, but had recently retired and was residing with the family of one of his sons until to-day. Mr. Braswell was about seventy- three years of age, and leaves a large family | consisting of a wite and some eight or ten children who are plunged into the deepest woe by this ter- rible death, Une of his sons. W. 8, Braswell, is a prominent merchant of Lithonia, Mr. Braswell nad for some time been afflicted with nydrocele, and lis sufferings were unendurable. He had peen twice operated upon pa Dr, . H. Bond, of Lithonia, but the relief afforded was only tempo- rary. His suffering seems to have suggested to him the tdea of obtutning relief by suicide. That he had such an intention was discovered by his anxious relatives a week or so back. On Friday last he attempted to throw himself under a train at Lithonia, but was prevented by force, In the room he occupied every dangerous implement had been removed, including his razors, and he was Eckel lg watched. Unfortunately a small doubie barreled shotgun, belonging to one of the chil- dren, was overlooked. THE SECOND TRAGEDY. This morning the family rose at the usual hour, and sent word to Mr. Braswell to come to breakfast. He replied that he could not come to the table, but asked them to send something to him. Acup of coffee was accordingly sent to his room. While the family were seated around the table they were alarmed by the report of a shotgun, and rushed to | Mr. Braswell’s room, where a ghastly and fearful tacle awaited chem. There, stretched upon 0or, lay the father in the last agonies of death, the blood siowly trickling from a large wound on the leit side just over the heart. He never spoke after he was shot, and death relieved him from ail suffering in » few moments, The gun was loaded with squirrel shot. From tho range of the load upwards it ts supposed that Mr. Braswell cocked the gun, placed the butt upon the floor and leaned ainst it, wil is left side resting upon the mazzle. In this ition he pashed back the trig- ger by means of a small stick hitherto in holding up his window. ‘The sad occurrence has cast & pall of gloom over the entire community. The children of the on- happy Man were among the moat respected citi- zens of Litnonia, and have the sympathy of all in their sad amMiction, | Seen, | the eG ---N--wNn“-P?”_—S SS ee ee TRAILING THE STARS AND STRIPES What Took Place on Board the Steamshig City of New York at Havana. Her Captain Surrenders Three Cuban Refugees to the Spanish Authorities. Indignation Among Passengers. the The steamship City or New York, commanded by: Captain Deaken, was to have left the port of Ha« vana on the afternoon of last Saturday, bound {01 this port; but in order to enable the Aimée od troupe togive a fal performance in Havana in the evening her departure was postponed till the {ole lowing morning. Accordingly on Sunday morning} last, at half-past eignt, alter the opéra boufa, singers had been taken on board, also a larga number of Italian singers, the anchor was weighed, Morro Castle was passed and the steamer wad heading northward, When the Island of Cuba was away about a dozen miles to southward, and the second offices of the steamer was walking on the hurricane deck his attention,was attracted by & pecular nois@ issuing trom one of the lifeboats resting on the deck in question. Listening closely, he soon ai covered the sound of men’s voices, and felt certa: that stowaways were hidden in the boat. To opent the canvas covering was the work of an instant! and three well-dressed and inteliigent men wer discovered there, who represented that they bad taken refuge on an American vessel, believing tt would protect them from tyranny; that they we: sympathizers with “Cuba Libre,” and did not want to be drafted in Havana to go amd fight against “Cuba Libre,” and that they would pay ae Passage money upon the arrival of the vessel New York, TAKEN BACK TO BB GARROTED, 1 The Second Oficer, as in duty bound, tnformedt the Captain, who instantly came to the conclusion of stopping the vessel and returning to Havanag and surrendering the unfortunate Cubans to tha military authorities, This was done, and the men} Who thought that they hailescaped the draft ara now without doubt sleeping their last sleep. It ig said that several passengers, who are reported tq have been unprovided with passports, but who had) paid their passage money, were in terrible feary believing that they likewise were to be hande: over to the authorities, INDIGNATION AMONG THE PASSENGERS, The indignation among the passengers and crew, was immense at this act ofthe Captain; but re monstrance was in vain, and more than one dis« paraging remark as to the protecting power of tha Stars and Stripes after the Santiago de Cuba butchery was made. The rest of the voyage to ti port was uneventful, save that the surrender ot the three fugitives had made the Captain highly unpopular, WHAT A FRENCH OPERATIC SINGER SAYS. Monsieur Gulot, of No. 221 West Twenty-sevent® street, who Was @ passenger by the City of New York on this voyage, in an interview withare porter of the HERALD yesterday, said :—“l saw tha. three refugees, who appeared to me to be men of refinement and education ana what you call im English ‘gentlemen.’ The passengers all felt{ deeply grieved at their misfortune in being tarned over by the Captain to the Spanish, but, of coursey they were powerless to change Mr. Deaken’s plan.” WHAT AN OLD AMERICAN CAPTAIN SAYS. “Such an affair is unprecedented,’ said an old American captain to @ HERALD reporter yester« day. “Captain Deaken could have put the stow< aways to work, if he had chosen, a8 coal passers 0! in any other position he chose, to let them earm their passage. He could also have had them ar- rested for fraud upon their arrival here ang brought to trial; but to deviate from hs voyage ta | put them back to Havana is an unheard-of oceur-' ; rence. The most charitable judgment as to his conduct is thgt he was trying to please his ownera and prevent their having any complications with the Spanish authorities. WHAT A PROMINENT CUBAN SAYS. In conversation with Mr. Leandro Rodriguez, @ prominent Cuban of this city, he said:—This ace tion of the Captain of the City of New York haa | caused great excitement to-day. A young relative, of mine lately escaped from Havana in the follows ing manner, and shows & pleasant contrast to the case 1n question. Pat PROYD OF THE STARS AND STRIPES. : “Tbis young fellow paid the Captain of a steamen plying from Havana to Texas $220 in goid to taka him to the latter mentioned place. About an hour, before the steamer started the Captain saw a boaQ load of police comtng to search the vessel, and hat told my relative to leave the ship till they had finished their search. This he did, and subse< quently returned, Another boat was subsequently’ and the Captain told him to leave vessel, as he would not take the risk of having him on board any longer; but refused to pay back the $220 paid for the passage. In despair the young fellow went om board an American schooner bound for Baltimore, and said, ‘Captain, 1 throw myself on your mercy.; 1 want to escape from the draft, for lam a Cuban,, and do not want to go out aud fight my brothers in the fleld—here is $50.” The Captain satd,, “Certainly, I will take you, and 1 would have taken you without a cent, for I hate Spanish tyranny.” Upon the arrival of the vessel at Balti- more he took the young fellow to the house of some of his friends and treated him with almost brotherly kindness and sent him on to New York, where he is at the present moment."” Such a contrast speaks for itself. WHAT THE CHIEF ENGINEER SAYS. Last evening a HERALD reporter was instructed’ to go on board the City of New York and get the Statement of her officers. The only one found on. board was the Chief Engineer, and the following conversation took place :— REPORTER—Why did Captain Deaken go back to Havana to deliver up the three men who had con- cealed themselves on board ? CniIgF ENGINEER—Because they were stowa- ways. ReroxTeR—It is a somewhat unusual practice for: a large steamer like yours to return on a similar errand, is it not? CHIEF ENGINEER—Yes, somewhat. REPORTER—No subsequent harm would have oc- curred to Captain Deaken for bringing them to New York, 1 believe ? Cur ENGINRER—Well, they might perhaps have instituted proceedings against the ship when SHE RETURNED TO HAVANA. If the fellows had kept quiet for some time longer they might have been all right; but they made themselves public too near Havana, and, in addi- tion to this, there were a large number of Span- fards on board, Allon the ship wished that no harm might happen to the three men. ROBBERY IN OONNEOTIOUT, A Ratlroad Bond, Moncy and Valuablea Mystcriously Disappear. BRIDGEPORT, March 6, 1874, One of the boldest and most successful robe beries took place in East Bridgeport on the night of Wednesday last, at the house of Mr. Carl Caester, who was asleep in his room, aad knew, nothing of the occurrence and his loss until told of it by his son yesterday morning, = wl articles taken from Mr. Oaester ware one 1, boat Toledo and Wabash Railroad bond, $300 in gold,, silver and greenbacks, two gold watches, Jewelry, &c,, the whole valued at $1,500. The property was in a bag, and had laced in @ bureau drawer in Mr. Caester’s jor safe Keeping. The number of the railroad ‘Was 2,247, Payment on it has been stopped. ) No real clew to the perpetrator of the crime hi yet been discovered, and there are many circum. Stances about the case which make it a very sin- gular oné. Two German pediers éf watches and revolvers, known to have been in the neighbor~ hood at the time of the , have been are rested, one by the name of city, hig, aiternoon, and the other, giving the name of Clemens, and who gg denly froay the city alter the robbery, In Hartiord, last might.