The New York Herald Newspaper, May 23, 1874, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per copy. Annual subscription price 912. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be ad@tessed Naw Yonx Hump. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. mires en es 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 XXXIX.. DALY'S FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-sighth street and Broadway.—OLIVER TWIST, at 8 P. M.. closes at 10:30 P.M. Miss Fanny Dave: ‘Bijou Heron, Mr. Louis James’ Matinee at 1:30 Pr. THEATRE COMIQUE, ‘No. 54 Broadway.—VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, at 8 TY. M.; closes at 10:30 P. M. Matinee at2 P. M. WALLACK'S THEATRE, Broadway and Thirteenth street.—THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE, at 8 P.M; closes at Il P.M. Mr. Lester Wallack, Miss Jeffreys Lewis, Mannee at 1:30 P. M.; OLYMPIC THEATR! Broadway, between Houston and Bleecker streets.— VAUDEVILLE and NOVELTY ENTERTAINMENT, at 745 P.M.; closes at 045 P.M. Matinee ar2 Pr. M. BOOTH'S THEATRE, Sixth avenue, corner of Twenty third street.—JACK CADE, ats closes at 10:45 P.M. Mr. John McCul- iough. Matince at 1:30 —THE STRANGER METROPOLITAN THY ATRE, No. 58 Broadway.—VARIGTY ENTERTAINMENT, at 7:45 P. M. ; closes at 10:30 P.M. Matinee ac 2 P. M. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner of Thirtieth street.—JUSTICE, at 2 P. M.; closes at 4:30 P. M.; and at 5 P. M.; closes at 1030 P.M.” Lows Addrich LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street,—FROU-FROU. Mile. Beauregard. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No, 201 Bowery.—VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, at 2:30 P. fs closes ‘at 5:30 P. M.; also ats P. M.; closes at li BRYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, Ror Ag street, near Sixth avenue.—NEGRO MIN- Pe YY, 4c., a8 P. M.; closes at 10 P.M. Matinee at TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT ARMORY, Fourteenth street, near Sixth avenue.—GILMORE'S CONCERTS, at 5 P. M. ; closes at 10 30 P. M. 2 CENTRAL PARK GARDEN, Fifty-ninth street and Sixth avenue.—THOMAS’ CON- CERT:, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:30 P.M. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth street, corner cf Irving place.—SOTREES MAGIQUES, ats P. M. Professor Herrmann. Matinee at2P.M. Matinee at 2 P.M. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN, Fourth avenue and Twenty-third street.—ANNUAL EX- HISITION. Open day and evening. COLOSSEUM, Broadway, corner of Thirty fifth ‘street—LONDON IN tre arly at lOP. M. ROMAN HI?PODROME, Madison avenue and Twenty-sixth street-—GRAND Lon eae alana OF NATIONS, at 1 ‘30 P.M. and EET. TRIPLE SH ‘New York, Saturday, May 23, 1874. From our reports this morning the probabilities -are that the weather lo-day will be clearing. Tae Stock Marker yesterday was dull and ansteady. Gold soldat 1123 » 112} and closed at 112}. In rae Disrarcr Investicarion yesterda: the cross-examination of Cluss, the engineer, reveals an unhealthy sign of Washington morals, : Tae Brvrat Ovrracz committed by the negro, Baker, in Amity street yesterday, is one of the most atrocious in the annals of crime, and its punishment must be condign and swift, Tae Nvpriuts at the White House over, the | ‘bridal party spent the day in the metropolis | yesterday, and to-day the President and Mrs. | Grant take leave of their daughter, who sails | to her new home in the house of her husband. | The idyl has been a short and simple one, | ‘but this young American girl goes to her English home with the good wishes of all her | countrymen to brighten her new associations. Tue Scrrry Bru Controvensy.—Siate Sen- ator Wood, chairman of the Conference Com- mittee on the Supply bill, published a lengthy letter in the Albany Argus of yesterday tend- ing to show that the clause fixing the salary of the Superintendent of the new Capitol was inserted by him and Batchelor of the Assem- | bly before the report was signed by the differ- ent members of the Conference Committee. Morz Mexican Ovrraces.—Our news de- | spatches this morning bring information of | fresh outrages committed by Mexicans and Indians along the Rio Grande. If these reports are true it is time that the triffing by our government on this question should cease. These thieves and murderers must be pun- ished, and if Mexico cannot keep the peace ‘the United States must take such measures as ‘will secure the protection of American citizens on American soil. Detawaze Insists Uron Berro Heanp.—A few years ago the country was startled by an ominous announcement affecting the eye of Delaware. It is now Delaware's turn once more, and Senator Saulsbury in the Senate yesterday solemnly insisted that he had the right to be heard, and declared that he would wot be annoyed by the laughing in the cloak | rooms. The Senators in the cloak rooms were ertainly far from dispiaying good man- ners, but how the Senator from Delaware was | to enforce his right to be heard when nobody would listen to him it is difficult to explain. Mr. Saulsbury has learned that the right to be heard is a constructive right that does not ap- ply to unwilling cors. M.; closesatS P.M. Same at7 P. M.; closes | | any other country with the exception of Eng- | several years | than any other public man, probably, and NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, MAY 23, 1874.—TRIPL The Reciprocity Question—Some Facts and M#igures. As negotiations are going on for another treaty of reciprocity with England for the trade between the British North American provinces, now known as the Dominion, and the United States, a brief review of the amount and character of that trade will be interesting. The aggregate exports and imports of Canada and Newfoundland in 1873 amounted to $235,301,203. A little over a third of this trade was with the United States, the amount being $82,381,626. In 1867 the total exports and imports of Canada and Newfoundland reached in value $139,202,615. This was the year after the termination of the Reciprocity Treaty with this: country and the year in which the Canadian Dominion was estab- lished. From 1868 the trade of the Dominion steadily advanced year after year, and increased in the course of six years nearly eighty per cent. That is to say, it rose, when there was no treaty, from $139,595,615, in 1868, to $235,301,203, in 1873. This was remarkable progress. Our people, looking with pride upon their own national greatness and power, have been too apt to re- gard their colonial neighbors as slow, unen- terprising and of little account comparatively. Yet four millions of people, a tenth of the population of the United States, have an im- port and export trade of $235,301,203. The aggregate of our export and import trade for the year ending June 30, 1873, was, according to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury last December, $1,164,508,431. Including the export of specie ($63,127,637), the total is $1,227,636,068, If our import and export trade were in proportion to that of the Dominion and Newfoundland, taking the population as a basis of reckoning, it would amount to $2,353,012,030, or nearly a hundred per cent more than it is, It is evident we have no reason to think little of the actual neighbors. ust before the treaty of reciprocity expired, | in 1866, the United States had 52} per cent of the foreign commerce of Canada. In 1873 the | percentage was 35. The decline the first year, 1867, was to 42 per cent. Notwithstand- ing the vast increase of the exports and im- ports of the provinces our share of the trade | has never been as large as when it reached the | | highest point under the treaty. In fact, it | was nearly $2,000,000 less in 1873 than in | 1866, though the aggregate foreign trade of | the provinces had risen from $139,595,615, in 1868, to $235,301,203 in 1873. Had our trade increased relatively with the provinces as | theirs increased we should have now a traffic | amounting to $150,000,000 at least, instead of $82,000,000. What is the cause of this loss? | Did it arise from the expiration of the old Rec- iprocity Treaty, the want of a new one, or | from other causes? Here is an important | question for the consideration of the govern- | ment and people of the United States and for Mr. Fish to ponder over now that negotiations for another treaty are pending. Our exports were greater to the North American provinces than to any other country in the world, except to Great Britain. Even | now Germany only takes the next place to Great Britain and precedence of the Domin- ion. In 1873 the exporis from the United States to Germany amounted to $68,724,421 ; to Canada, $65,356,740; to France and her Possessions, $36,083,266; to Spain and her | possessions, $29,257,121, and to all other countries together, except Great Britain, $100,234,468. Then, while our imports from almost ajl other countries are much greater than the exports to them, the balance of trade being consequently against us, our ex- ports to the provinces amount to far more | than the imports from them. There isa dif- ference in the statistics of the provinces and | the United States as to the balance of trade during thetwelve years the Reciprocity Treaty was in operation, but both show a balance in favor of this country. The difference arises, perhaps, from the former reckoning values in | gold and the latter in currency. According | to the United States’ returns the gross bal- ance was $20,454,246, while the returns of the | provinces make it $95,796,989. Dunng the | first ten years of the treaty the balance in favor of the United States was $62,015,545. Looking at these facts it is clear that in the broad field of our commercial intercourse with the world the trade with the North American provinces is more valuable to us than that of | | | land. Nor have our statesmen failed to see | that. The most enlightened and far-seeing, and those who have not besn blinded or influ- enced by mere local interests, have advocated a free continental system of trade, ora Zoll- | verein, similar to that of the German Com. mercial Union. The members of Congress from New York have generally taken broad and liberal views on this subject, and naturally so, for there is no State mure deeply interested than this. When it came up prominently before Congress in 1862 and for after, first, in consider- ing the concurrent resolutions of the Legislature of New York in relation to the existing treaty, and afterward upon the joint resolution of Congress to give notice for terminating that treaty, a member, from this city, General Elijah Ward, showed, by exhaustive arguments and unquestionable statistics, the importance of reciprocity. Having given more attention to the subject being chairman of the House Committee on Commerce when the question of reciprocity was considered in all its bearings by that com- mittee, his views were accepted by the ablest | men in Congress as demonstrating the policy this country should pursue. In the report of | and rapidly developing trade of our colonial ; led in a measure to the termination of the treaty of 1854, such as the hustile feeling which grew out-of the conduct of Canada during our civil war and the necessity of our government to raise a large revenue from all available sources, have become modified in the course of time. Still, we do not forget that there was another cause, and perhaps the principal one, for the action of the United States in terminating the treaty—namely, the unfair conduct or sharp practice of the prov- inces in imposing heavy duties on articles of the United States contrary to the spiritand intent of the treaty. This is set forth in the concurrent resolutions of the Legislature of New York, to which we have referred, and which led to the above mentioned report of the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives. Oanada, in the language of these resolutions, ‘imposed heavy duties upon many of those articles which the United States have to sell, with the intention of ex- cluding the United States from the Canadian markets, as avowed by the Minister of Finance and other gentlemen holding high | official positions in Canada; and similar legislation, with the same official avowal, has been adopted by the imposition of discrim- inating tolls and duties in favor of an isolat- ing and exclusive policy against our mer- chants and forwarders, meant and intending to destroy the natural effects of the treaty, and contrary to its spirit.” The Canadian idea of reciprocity was one sided, and the treaty was imperfect in not being framed to prevent the sharp practice of our neighbors. This experience may be instructive to the present treaty makers. Times have greatly changed, and the British plenipotentiaries reciprocity, a comprehensive treaty that will be something like a Zollverein, and the prin- ciple of which cannot be perverted by selfish or hostile legislation. The appointment of the Hon. George Brown a colonigt ag a joint plenipotentiary with Sir Edward Thornton to imake a treaty, seems to indicate broad and liberal views on the part of the British govern- ment; for not only has Mr. Brown liberal ideas regarding the commercial relations between the United States and the Dominion, but he is, we believe, the first colonist ever appointed to such a high position. The ncarer commercial intercourse between this country and the British American colonies can be brought to that which exists between the States of the Union the better. The colonies are scarcély more separated from the United States in a geographical point of view than the several States are from one another. It a treaty is to be made it ought to be compre- hensive, including freedom and equality in the fisheries, and a settlement of all outstand- ing claims with regard to them, as well as the most free commercial intercourse possible. Above all, nothing should be left liable to evasion or dispute hereafter. The Summer Season of Music. To-day the music is promised for Central Park. It is to be hoped that no petty, mean economy will interfere this summer with regular weekly concerts in all parts of the city. It is bad enough for poor tax- payers to groan under the burden they have been so long carrying, but surely the slight recreation during the summer in the line of concerts should not be denied them. From | the Battery to Central Park every breath- ing spot in the metropolis should have its music, as a solace to the hundreds of poor families in the vicinity cruel wrong done to the denizens in the vicinity of Tompkins square by converting that locality into a parade ground should be repaired as soon as possible. In no other | ‘part of the city are the comforts of a summer garden or park so much needed. Theodore | Thomas has sucvessfully inaugurated the sea- son at Central Park Garden, which is now re- | garded as a necessity for midsummer life in the metropolis, and Terrace Garden is about to throw open its doors for the same purpose. | We cannot have too many of these musical attractions during the summer, and each new. place of entertainment will be hailed os a | positive boon. Tue Cantist Wan.—The defeat of the Car- lists at Bilbao cannot have been so crushing as was represented by the Madrid reports, for we have news that daily conflicts take place between them and the government forces for possession of the hills commanding the town. It is even said that some success has attended their efforts. The presence of any large Car- list force in such close proximity to Serrano’s army proves that‘ the cause of Don Carlos is But though the struggle may be maintained indefinitely in the mountains of Biscay and Navarre the end is not doubtful. Sooner or later the adherents of Don Carlos will be obliged to disband, and peace will {or a season be restored. Within the past twenty years republican ideas have made immense progress in the peninsula, and though the Republic may not be definitely established immediately the tendency towards liberalism which has set in will prevent any return to the obsolete des- potism represented by the Spanish pretender. A Coxruicr or Junispiction.—If the claim. of the Federal courts in Mlinois is for original: jurisdiction in railroad cases, or what would. be equivalent to it, as seems to be indicated: by our news despatch from Chicago this morn-. ing, the State cgurts are right in resisting it. We see no reason why the federal courts, in. matters so clearly State affairs as railroad questions, should exercise the power of certio- rari over the local judiciary, and to allow it would be to allow a dangerous invasion of the. the Committee on Commerce to the House of Representatives, in 1862, on the concurrent resolution of the Legislature of New York, he says: —‘'The Committee of Commerce believe, with the Legislature of the State of New York, Srarz Maxtwo.—The House of Representa. | that free commercial intercourse between the rights of the State. Tue Common Scuoors in THE SzNaTR— Senator Stockton is entirely too solicitous for the perpetuity of the common schools, While we think the Civil Rights bill is unnec- tives bas passed a bill to admit New Mexico | United States and the British North American | essary, except as a declaration of principles, ag State of the Union. Upon the spur of | provinces and possessions, developing the | because the courts will guarantee to the col- that another Territory, Pembina, which many | natural, geographical and other advantages of | ored citizen every right enjoyed by the white people have scarcely ever heard of, secks ad- mission also, It is best, probably, to take the people of the Territories out of their con- dition of tutelage and dependence as soon as each for the good of all, is conducive to the | | ptesent interests of each, and is the proper | | basis of our intercourse for all time to come." | | ‘Taking it for granted that our people gen- | citizen, we cannot commend the logic of the Senator's speech. The common schools are for the children of every citizen, regardless of color, and tw talk about taxing the whites for | may be disposed to make a treaty for real | of some of the downtown parks, and the | by no means so desperate as was reported. | Dixon's line were free to both races, and black faces were seen among the white children in nearly every district school. The public schools were not injured there, and we do not think that even with the Civil Rights bill they will be destroyed in New Jersey. Pacific Railway Legisiation—Something Too Much of This. We have had many rumors from Washington in reference to plans for reviving the subject of Pacific Railway subsidies. We have not paid much attention to them, because we have felt that public opinion had made itself so em- phatic about railway grants that the question would be adjourned to a more convenient season. It seems, however, that the Railway Ring has its mind made up to a contrary view, and we have only to remember the etidence of a former officer of a Pacific Railway, that he had paid a half million of dollars to influence legislation in Washington and the recent developments in Crédit Mobilier, to understand how it is possi- ble for a railway ring to affect legislation inde- pendent of public opinion. The precise shape in which this railway business comes before Congress is as s memorial from the Northern Pacific managers and a bill from Mr. Ramsey to carry out its pro- visions., The directors of the road thus present their case:—They have done: all they could to build the road and would have done so but for the Jay Cooke panic in Sep- tember. The failure of their road would be | a national calamity, because its bonds are dis- tributed among all classes of the people, ‘“rep- resenting the savings of the widow and the orphan,’’ and because an immense tract of land | would remain thus excluded from the blessings of civilization. ‘I'o avoid this the goveriment | is asked to guarantee the interest of a new | series of bonds, at five per cont. The govern- ment will indorse the bonds, and the company | will guarantee the government by giving os | security the enormous land grant it now | holds. This is an intelligible plan, but there are many objections toits acceptance. The panic | of last September would not have affected | the Northern Pacific if it had been on a sure | foundation. If it had been the enterprise of | | men who really meant to build a road as | they would build a house, to pay for it as property and own it, there would have been ! onlya temporary trouble. But it was always a speculation, not a serious business project. | The men who owned if had paid no money | for the franchise, unless what was paid | to Christian statesmen for ‘influence’ and | votes. They invested no money in its con- | struction, none, comparatively, considering | the greatness of the work and the amount of i capital necessary. They had simply the contin- gent ownership of a valueless but in time, per- haps, a valuable land grant, and upon this they were endeavoring to borrow money. In other | words, they owned nothing and were seeking to convert that nothing into an immense and | | valuable franchise by issuing first mortgage bonds upon it at seven and three-tenths | per cent. Of course the panic struck it a | reeling blow, for it was as the house builded | upon the sand, which went into deplorable insolvency when the winds arose and the waters came. We are pained to learn that the bonds, illuminated and blessed by Christian statesmen, are largely in the | bands of working people, and now | “represent the savings of widows and or- phans.’’ But this isa matter with which the government has no concern. | duty would be to redeem the Emma silver | mining shares, which were sold to thousands | ot English widows and orphans under the | patronage of the American Embassy in Lon- | don. We should much rather, as a question of public morals and credit, vote the public make good the bonds of the Northern: Pacific. A more serious question is, What return will dowment? One road was endowed.in Kansas with lands and bonds. Yet it cannot pay the interest on its bonds. The Pacific roads were endowed with extraordinary liberality. Butthe men who received the gift divided it up with needy statesmen like Colfax and Bingham and Garfield, and pocketing bonds, lands, subsidies and all, divided themselves immense profits and left behind them a barren road.. Here ‘was an evidence of government liberality, and. yet it was abused in a shameful manner. Is there any assurance that the managers of the Northern Pacific would deal more honestly with the government? Would they really build the road with the proceeds of their guaran- teed bond, or, throwing together some kind of en affair lasting until the government inspec- tors had made their report, divide the balance Oakes Ames did with the Christian statesmen ?. We do not question the good faith of the dis- tinguished men who offer. this memorial.. But business is business,,we know, .in railways ag well asin other affairs, and these gentlemen mean to earn all the money they can. If thig endowment is granted.we shall have the Crédit Mobilier business. over again. There is no guarantee in any feature of the proposed plan giving the government any more protection than it had against the swindling managers of the other railways. These, howover, are reasons against this special plan. But we are opposed to this plan,.and to any and every plan of the same chsracter. Our whole railway system, as far asthe West is concerned, rests upon a false foundation. We give franchises to men who give nothing in return. Men propose to build railways, not with their own money, but with the money of other people. When they havo used this money they own the road, the lands, the franchise and all, and can take their time in paying the interest on the money they borrow. There is no other business in the world conducted upon this principle. If other reasons were needed they would be found in the condition of our Treasury, the disordered state of all business, finances shattered, and flood disasters, from the horror in Massachu- setts to those sweeping over the Mississippi States. Congress is implored to do something ! to restore business confidence and place our finances on sure footing. Our shipping in- their numbers may be sufficient; but it is | erally admit reciprocity, betwoen two countries | the education of the negroes is talking very | terebts are dead, and we are called upon to neither good policy nor justice to the old and | situated as the United States and the prov- | far behind the age. To afford separate schools | bring them back to life. The South calls upon | | | us for reconstruction, for material aid to help | populous States to give a few thousand settlers | inces are, to be desirable, there should be little | for the two races where it is practicable may the weight of a great State in the Union and | difficulty in agreeing upon the conditions of a | be well enough, but it is, after all, the mere | the people to recover from the burdens of the @n equal power in the Senate. It looks as if | treaty if tae British government and the Do- | gratification of a prejudice which must not be | war. There never was a time when economy | the oid practice of log-rolling in erecting | minion are prepared to act justly and with allowed to deprive any child of the right to an _ and statesmanship were more earnestly de- States by the batch wore to be repeated, | fairmess, The exceptional circumstances which | education, Even before the war the free | manded, never a time when a scheme like | schools in Pennsylvania along Mason and | If it did, its money to redeem the Emma shares: than to | the government obtain for this proposed en- | in dividends of. eight hundred per. cent as. EK SHERT. this Pacific Railway project was less. oppor- tune. We have little fear that Congross will pass the bill; for even the members of this Congress will not be guilty of so flagrant a defiance of public opinion. The President’s Powers in Civil Con- Micts—Duty of Congress. Now that the bloody turbulence in the distracted State of Arkansas is at an end the horrors which it brought about and the verge to which it brought us should not be per- mitted to sink out of sight without some- thing being done by Congress to prevent the recurrence of such disgraceful scenes. The moet ‘universally approved thing which President Grant did in these Arkansas troubles was unquestionably illegal. There was no act of Congress authorizing him to intervene between the forces of Brooks and Baxter, before either had applied to him, or he had recognized either as the Governor of the State. Assuming that Baxter is Governor, what right had the President to interpose and prevent his recovering the rights and exer- cising the duties of his office? If Baxter is the legal Governor he is, by virtue of his office, the commander-in-chief of the State militia, with full power to call it out to ex: ecute the laws and make his authority re- spected. Admitting him to be the Governor, the President had no more warrant of law to stand between him and the recovery of his office, than he would have to prevent General Dix from suppressing a riot in this State. And yet the whole country, with hardly @ dissenting voice, warmly approved the use which President Grant made of the fed- eral troops at Little Rock in trying to keep the combatants apart, Now, if this action was intrinsically wise, of which thero can be no doubt, Congress ought to pass a law authorizing the President, in future cases, to do with full warrant of law what he hu- manely did without law. It is not well to leave so wide a door open for excusable illegal acts. It is better that a course which is fit in itself should be also legal, since it is of bad tendency for éxeculive officers to form the habit of transcending their lawful authority. The act of 1795 ought to be amended in other respects, although it undoubtedly con- fers upon the President a great deal more power than he was willing to exercise in this emergency. As soon as he received Bax- ter’s application or Brooks’ application he had full authority to act and to support his action by armed force. But Congress might wisely clothe him with authority to adopt preventive measures and interpose at an earlier stage than the law of 1795 permits. The duty of the United States to protect the States against invasion and the duty to protect them from domestic violence are joined together in the same section of the constitution. But in the legislation founded on them there is this remarkable difference, that whereas the President is authorized to employ the militia | or federal troops not only in actual invasion, but ‘in imminent danger of invasion,’ the | law does not permit him to take any step for suppressing domestic violence until the vio- lence has become actual. President Tyler made this a reason for not interfering in Rhode Island, even after the regular applica- | tion for assistance had been made by Gov- ernor King and the State Legislature. But nobody can doubt that there is as much wis- dom in nipping an insurrection in the bud as in meeting an invasion on the frontier. Congress has undoubted authority to put the | whole militia of any disturbed State under the command of the President. Had a law per- mitting this been in existence at the outset of these Arkansas troubles General Grant might have taken command of every soldier in the State, and might have subjected every militia officer who disobeyed him to be court- martialled under the rules and articles of war. The constitution declares that ‘‘the President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States and of the militia of the several States, when called into the actual service of the United States.” Unlim- ited control of the State militia is conferred upon Congress. It has power ‘‘to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States.” There is no limit to the authority of Congress in calling the militia of the States into the federal service or empower- ing the President to do so by proclamation. If there bad been alroady a law in the statute book at the breaking out’of these Ar- | kansas disturbances, authorizing the Presi- dent, when in his judgment domestic violence was imminent in any State, to call any part or the whole of the militia of that State into | the federnl ‘service, the exercise of this power would have stripped both Baxter and Brooks of all.their soldiers. Under such a law the Presi- dent should be forbidden to employ the militia of the State, or permit it to be employed, for any other purpose than for preserving the peace and acting as a posse comitatus to the civil au- thorities. It should be his duty to protect the Legislature and the courts from violence and terrorism, leaving each to decide such questions as were properly within its jurisdiction and permitting no forcible ob- struction to the execution of the laws. To prevent the abuse of such s law as we have suggested its operations should be confined to cases of disputed authority between contest- ing claimants to the State government, leaving ordinary insurrections against ac- knowledged legal governments to be dealt with by the State authorities, until they telt the necessity of applying. for aasistance in the usual form. Such a law would, of course, need to be supplemented by a wise, healing moral influence whenever an unfortunate necessity should arise for putting it in force. If Congress were to pass such a Jaw it is not likely that the country would again be afflicted witnessed in Arkansas. Tae Ratroap Contest mx Wisconstn.— Governor Taylor, of Wisconsin, wants to be- gin at the beginning in punishing the rail- roads for violating the laws of the State in | regard to freight tariffs, Where charges are | made excecding the amounts fixed by law the Governor recommends criminal procedure, and, it is to be hoped, this course will be om erally pursued by shippers. If the rail- roads expect to set aside the law of the State | by a long course of litigation in the civil courts the only way by which they can be effectually checkmated is by criminal action in every cage where the law is violated, with such a humiliating spectacle as we have- The Corraptions in the Department ef Charities and Correction. The farce of the Mayor's pretended investi. gation of the Department of Charities and Correction was continued yesterday, and was as ridiculous as the exhibition on Wednesday last. Mr. Jonathan Sturges very properly refused to give the proceedings the sanction of his presence, and Mr, Have. meyer sat alone in his ‘‘court.’’ It would be idle to comment on the “evidence.” The apparent design was to prevent any disclosure of the rottenness and gross incapacity of the department and to attempt to cover the dark stain of the Grand Jury presentment with a thin coating of whitewash. It now remains for the Common Counsel to do its duty by ape pointing a joint committee of the Boards of Aldermen and Assistant Aldermen to make a thorough investigation of the unsavory de- partment in connection with the Commission ers of Accounts, or for the taxpayers to decide whether they will avail themselves of the pro- visions of the charter to summon Mr. Sterm and his associates before a court of law. The fact that a Mr. L. Sternback, a brother of Commissioner Stern’s son-in-law, sold to the city at forty-five cents a yard goods which he had purchased of dry goods dealers at thirty cents a yard was admitted yesterday during the progress of the farce. But thore was no inquiry as to whether Mr. Stern had himself ordered the goods and passed the bills, nor was any attempt made to bring the real transactions to light. This may satisfy the Mayor and the Commissioners, but it will not satisfy the people. No effort to cover up such questionable conduct in a public department could be successful, even if there were not graver suspicions against the Commissioners than those excited by the Grand Jury's pre, sentment. Other supplies begides dry goods" are purchased in “large amounts, and when a genuine investigation takes place it will probably be found that |. in the reckless irregularity and irresponsibility that mark the management of the depart ment bills have been paid twice over; that other family connections of Commissioners have reapad profits out of the city, and that supplies have gone astray in an unaccountable manner after having been purchased and paid for. It now remains for the Common Council to step in for the protection of the city and to make the investigation which Mr. Havemeyer has endeavored to prevent, and then it may perhaps be shown that the public interests demand the removal of a Mayor who, by wil- fully covering up the official misconduct of his appointees, has rendered himself a partner in their offences. Theatrical Licenses. The managers of the New York theatres have appealed to the courts against tho at- tempt to levy a special tax on places of amuse- ment for the benefit of a private institution, It is not so much the money extracted from their treasuries that causes this resistance, | as a desire to remove tho stigma sought to be | put on the theatrical profession by classing theatres with gambling and other disorderly houses. The only justification for doing so is the pretence that the theatre is a school of im- morality and has a tendency to promote crime. When penal enactments were first | made against theatres there was a show of | justification because of ‘the existence of a» third gallery, where the company was any- '| thing but select, and the presence of drinking bars in the houses. Both these nuisances have long since disappeared and the theatres are now regulated in accordance with the most’ correct notions of propriety in all that con~ cerns police regulation. There can thus be no excuse for the revival of those penal enactments which had their rise in narrows | mindedness and intolerance. Should the courts decide against the managers on this question public opinion will not fail at the | next meeting of the Legislature to demand the repeal of the unjust and opprossive law which is an insult to a very worthy class of citizens, Tue Era or Came mm Sourn Canoa.— Commenting upon the indictment of Gov. ernor Moses, a Columbia journal exclaims: — “What have we come to?’ Fraudulent pay certificates, county treasurers’ defulcations, the losing of acts of the Legislature, bank- ruptcy, and now an indictment by the Grand Jury on infamous charges—all matters in which the Governor of the State is implicated ! These things show South Carolina in a most odious light. They are the fit gccompani- ments of the process which is now going. on all over the State of selling the people’s prop- erty for taxes they cannot and should not pay. Infamy and outrage cannot go any further. Will the government at Washington look. at. our condition ?” Tae New Frence Mmustry.—President MacMahon has at last personally succeeded in forming ® Ministry, which is, in fact, only the reconstruction of his Cabinet as it existed previous to the crisia, The event has no sig- nificance beyond the fact that it proves that France isa republic which has fewer guaran- tees for the voice of the people being heeded than is the case with a constitu. tional monarchy like England. If the Assembly had been dissolved we might have known what French sentiment really is on the future form of government; but this bridging-over policy can bring no good either to the republic or the monarchy. A change of parties in France seems to mean revolu- tion; but, even worse than this, nobody appears to expect a change of partics without revolution. An opportunity has been lost which may only be appreciated after the next revolution has been accomplished, Socra, Scrance—Tae Coxrznzncy Yesrer- pay.—Yesterday the Social Science Associn~ tion held its closing sessions. In tho morning the members held a joint conference with the Boards of Public Health and Charities. Some sensible opinions were expressed regarding the conservation of the health of the com- munity. At the afternoon session a paper was read by the secretary on “Pauperism in the City of New York.’’ It is quite mani+ fest, from tho remarks made by some of the gentlemen present, that their ideas regarding the treatment of paupers are somewhat too visionary. How to provide against pauperism is one thing. How to feed them when they | are famishing ond threatening the peace of | the community is quite another. We should be more pleased if the Social Science Aanacian