The New York Herald Newspaper, December 11, 1878, Page 6

( t { 1 t 6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. eed bags ASP JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. notte Y HERALD, publirhed every day tu the year. indays exeluded). Ten collars per month for a it loss s for six months, Sunday zur dollar ban’ six months, edition included jar per year, free of post- UBSCRIBERS.—Remit in drafts on New ice money orders, and where neither of these in & requsdered letter. All itted at risk of sender. In order to insure utten- ‘bers wishing their address changed must give their old as well us thelr new addres: All business, uewagetters oF Telegraphic despatches must be addressed RK HERALD. ‘Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Rejected communications will not be returned, (iva PRILADELPEIA “ OFFICE—3 ‘ nz SOUTH SIXTH s orrice OP THE NEW YORK HERALD— (, T S' T. i ae DE LOPE: 7 STRADA PACE. att epi be received and ow the same terms as in Yo. NAPLES OFFIC Subseriptions forwarde: TO-NIGHT. AMUSEMENTS ACADEMY OF MUSIC—l. CR SRVIGLIA, FIFTH VENUE THEATRE—Foot’s Revence. ARDEN—Axouxp tix Worwp ix Bigurr Dars é—Oun Boaupine House, PARK THE weDY oF Eenors, TUEATRE COMIQU 2 1G A LYCEUM THEATRE—Dovatn Marwrace BROADWAY THEATE! & Dan. BOWERY TH . WALLACK’S TE GERMANIA THEAT BOOTHS THEATRE STANDARD THEATS SAN FRANCISCO MIN WINDSOR THEATR TIVOLI THEATRE--Va NEW YORK AQUARIU TONY PASTOR’S—Vari HIA—BvANGELine, = ‘DECEMBER 7 38 are that the weather in New York and its vicinity to-day will be cold and partly sloudy or cloudy, with rain or snow, followed by clearing. To-morrow it promises to be cold and fair or partly cloudy. Watt Sri Yesterpay.—The stock mar- ket was less ve than it has been of late, but with a firmer tone. Gold was quiet at 1001s. Government bonds were firm, States steady and railroads irregular. Money on call was active at 3 a5 percent, with the closing rates at 3a 4 per cent. 1878, in Virginia! is > circles. _ Are Mr. Stewart's Rema the latest conundrum in po! eros Sie ti Wuar is the Mexican cattle thief doing? According to the War Department the country bas never been so quict. . Bostoy’s Younc Mex’s Cumisrian Assocra- Ton is returning thanks for an eighty thousand dollar bequest. Moral—Cultivate virtue and the millionnaires. Puscurrspune, 1x New Jersey, has had a homeopathic dose of Tweedism. The amount is @aly five thousand dollars. But the Ring should Rot be blamed; it did its best. Tr Is Gexeratty Bewevep in Washington that Mr. Devens is anxious to exchange his place in the Cabinet for the vacant United States Jadgeship in Maine. Another chance for the lawyers. WasurneTon is a little uneomfortable in Jan- Wary, and a branch of the Potter Committee has resolved to spend the winter in New Orleans with Mrs. Jenks, if Congress will be generous enough to foot the bills. Tue Latest. OnsEcrIon to the transfer of the Indians to the army is that the average officer is not ‘‘educated in the line of civilization.” The Academy ought to add cattle stealing and Indian swindling to its eurrieulam. SecRETARY RMAN'S SUGGESTION that the Treasury be authorized to receive small invest- ments, convertible into four per cent bonds, has taken shape ina bill which is approved by the Ways and Means Committee. Its chief impor- tance is that it is a step toward postal savings banks. Ir Beers ro Loox a little blue for the Sheriff, the County Clerk and the Register—that is, if the allegations of extortionate fees be true. At the meeting of the Bar Association last even- ing the committee having charge of the matter ‘Was authorized to proceed against them in what- ever way it seams most Spetent Comanuint—1Phe Senate session yesterday was cecupied mainly in the discussion of Senator Edmunds’ Presidential election bill. In the House two of the appropriation billa—the Con- sular and Diplomatic and the Naval Appropria- tion bills—were passed, which disposes of four of the appropriation bills. It is seldom that business is so far advanced before the botiday recess. OckAN StkameRs are usually well supplied ‘with life preservers for passengers and crew, but many of the former are wholly ignorant as to how these means of securing safety, in case of accident, are to be used. A correspondent at Baltimore writes, making a practical suggestion regarding the instruction of passengers in the use of life preservers. We offer it to-day to steamship agents and officers as worthy of at- tention. Ture Werartner.—The storm centre which passed over our district during yesterday has moved into the ocean off the New England coast, attended by very heavy gules. The pressure is rising very rupidly iu the southwestern margin of the storm area, where steep gradients are forming which will probably cause heavy west- erly gales. In the Northwest the barometer is rising very slowly d general cloudiness, with local snow falls, prevails. The area of highest pressure continues over New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and extends northeastward over Newfoundland. The rainfall attending the movement of the storm bas been exceptionally heavy throughout the country. In Virginia and over the South New England and Middle States the rivers are rising rapidly, and damaging freshets are feared in many places. The James River has risen eight feet. The wind force, locally, was very great. Northward of Cape Hatteras the gale from the southeast tosonth raised a tremendous sea, and several marine disasters ave reported. Over the lake region fresh to brisk northerly winds have pre- vailed, and on the South Atlantic const they have been brisk from the southwest. The tem- perature haa fallen decidedly in the Gulf dis- tricts, slightly in the central valley and North- western districts, but has risen elsewhere. The weather in New York and its vicinity today will be cold and partly cloudy or cloudy, with rain or snow, followed by clearing. Tomorrow it vromiges to be cold and fair or uartly cloudy. NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1878—TRIPLE SHEET. Reform in Government Surveys. We hear from Washington that the recent report of a committee of the National Acad- emy of Sciences, recommending an impor- tant and very necessary reform in the ad- ministration of the government surveys, is to have the opposition of a number of per- sons interested in the continuation of the present hodge-podge, wasteful and unscien- tific system. Representatives and Senators will be pulled and hauled about on the question, and as most of them know very little of the merits of what is a very impor- tant subject, and have probably little time to look into it, we propose here to give them some information which the Academy's re- port, for obvious reasons, fails to give. The committee of the Academy, com- posed of seven of the most eminent men of science in the country— Messrs. O. C. Marsh, James D. Dana, William B, Rogers, J. S. Newberry, W. P. Trowbridge, Simon New- comb and Alexander Agassiz—state briefly that the surveys of mensuration are now conducted by five different and inde- pendent organizations—the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which is under the Treasury Department; the Geographical Survey West of the One Hundredth Meridian, under the War Department ; the Hayden and the Powell surveys, | We are surprised to hear that any one in | of the Academy of Sciences on the subject, under the Interior Department, and, finally, the surveys in the Land Office. They recommend that this work shall all be placed under the charge of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and that there shall be besides this a United States Geological Survey; that both these shall be \ placed under the control of the Interior | Department, and that they shall furnish forthe Land Office all the information it needs, both of the lines and boundagies, and of the geological and other features of the public domain. There is not the least doubt that this isa wise and proper scheme which Congress ought to adopt as soon as possible. When it is put in operation not only will a considerable economy be effected but some scandalous abuses will cease, and work which is now done at a needless cost in an imperfect manner not creditable to our country or advantageous to science will thereafter be performed in a systematic, orderly and accurate way. To make our meaning plain it will be best to relate some examples of the working of the present sys- tem. In the first place, the three principal surveys now going on are named in a man- ner to puzzle anybody except those engaged in them. Lieutenant Wheeler’s, in the War Department, is called the ‘‘Geographi- cal Survey of Territories West of the One Hundredth Meridian.” Major Powell’s is called the ‘Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountains,” and Dr. Hayden's is called the ‘Geological and Geo- graphical Survey of the Territories.” It is the custom of the chiefs and members of these different parties to spend the summer in the field and return to Washington in the winter for the double purpose of work- ing out their field notes and lobbying Con- gress for a new appropriation, and every session sees eminent men of science hang- ing about the iobbies at the Capitol button- holing Congressmen and beseeching com- mitteemen for the means to continue their labors. But this, unpleasant as it is, is really the least of the abuses incident to the present system. Congress appropriates annually from one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand dollars for these three parties. This they spend in their operations in the field, and thereupon fol- lows a far greater and for the most part un- justifiable outlay in the preparation and printing of costly books, which, when they are completed, form for the most part only pleasing and seductive gifts to Congress- men, and find their way in numbers to the shelves of second hand bookstores, If these publications were valuable to scientitic men that would be a suflicient excuse for them ; but they are not, except to a limited extent. In April of last year the Henanp exposed this abuse and called on Congress to remedy it by such a consolidation as is now proposed, and we then asked, Why should each of these expeditions publish an independent account of the natural his- tory of its region, including descriptions of ali the animals found, when, as is easily seen, if one compares the different volumes, they cover the same animals, with very few exceptions? It would surely be better to have only one systematic account and note the few exceptional animals separately. If Congress will ask for a list of the publica- tions of the three surveys for the last half dozen years, and will compare these often extremely costly volumes, it will see that a prodigious sum of money has been diverted from worthy scientific objects to mere book- making— work ofa kind which can make only trouble and confusion to scientific men, and worse for a layman who seeks information. We venture to say that the numerous and bulky volumes, enough to form a consider- able library, which have been put forth by these different expeditions, if properly ed- ited and condensed, as they would be if the work were all controlled by one head, could be compressed into a tenth of the space they now occupy and bea hundred times more useful and far less costly. But this is not all. The work of these surveys has been condneted in so unsys- tematic and wasteful a manner, as the charts and other records show that ono survey has frequently overlapped another, dupli- cating expense and making confusion in the reports and charts and of course waste. fully increasing the cost of the charts and descriptive volumes. If Mr. Hewitt, in whose charge the measure of reform is placed, will, for instance, examine Hay- den’'s charts of 1853 and Wheeler's of 1875 he will find that the Twin Lakes were sur- veyed by both these parties, and that the triangulation charts of the two cover to a considerable extent the same ground; while if he will compare Clarence King’s and Powell's reports he may discover du- plications of what we should think to be costly work, covering as much as eight thousand square miles of country. In fact, so great has been the confusion, the overlapping of surveys, the duplication in reports, the lavish waste in printing, engraving and binding, that the whole sys- tem has been for years o reproach to our scientific men, who ought long ago to have appealed to Congress and the country tor a thorough reform, such as they now propose, Washington offers opposition to the report and we do not comprehend on what grounds | General Humphreys, who, as Chief En- gineer of the Army, was one of the commit- tee, opposed the report and went so far as to withdraw from the committee of which he was a member. Men of science ought to be above petty jealousies; and we must say that if Congress should make a thorough investigation of the present system it would arouse indignation against all who venture to defend it. General Grant's Tour, President Hayes has done a graceful act in inviting his illustrious predecessor to make a tour through the Asian seas on board an Aimerican man-of-war. General Grant has accepted the offer, and returns to Paris, where he will probably remain for a few days, embarking on the Richmond about Christmas, Our ships-of-war cruising in these distant waters can, in time of peace, fitly be used for such a purpose, and among all the possible passengers on such a trip none could be more welcome to the national hospitality than General Grant. The programme laid out is a large one. He will visit various parts of India, Ceylon, Siam, China and Japan. It is even hinted that he may go to Australie, but if he purposes reaching the United States next May this portion of the pro- gramme will probably be omitted. Rich with all his observations of the various civilizations and semi-civilizations of the world, he will reach Long Branch in June, and from that cosey retreat can Await in his own unpretentious way the message of the fates, which will tell him whether or no he is once more to sit in the chair of Washing- ton. At present we may let these specula- tions rest and wish General Grant a pros- perous journ Are the ed Railroads Taxable? The Commissioners of ‘Taxes assessed the New York Elevated Railroad at a valuation of $1,200,000 for taxes on real estate. The road has commenced legal proceedings for vacating the assessment on the ground that it owns no real estate and is not subject to taxation. ‘his raises some nice and novel questions as tothe legal classification of that species of property. It the subject were before the Legislature instead of a court of justice we presume the stock or shares of the road would be made taxable as a species of personal property. If, on the other hand, the road owned the ground on which it is erected there could be no ques- tion of its taxability as real estate. In the Revised Statutes real estate is defined to include land of every description, with “all buildings or other articles erected upon or affixed to the same.” Does the owner- ship of the land make afy difference as to structures erected upon it? If a man gets a lease of land fora nominal rent or no rent and erects a factory on it is he not taxable for the factory? If he buildsa factory on the land of an absentee whose agent pays the tax on the land but does not prosecute the intruder for trespass, is the owner of the structure exempt from taxa- tion? The case which was argued before Judge Barrett yesterday, be it decided as it may, is likely to be carried up to the Court of Appeals, which alone can settle the law on so novel a point. | Edison’s Light. Some information, more definite than any yet made public, on the peculiar fea- tures of the electric light invented by Mr. Edison, is laid before the readers of to-day’s Henatp. As it is not safe to be over liberal in confidences that may give away secrets of great value before the protection of letters patent ‘is certainly secured, the facts given to-day, on Mr. Edison's authority, are only partial, and dc not fully describe the na- ture of the processes by which this most fertile of inventors believes he has over- come the difficulties which must be sur- mounted before the great discovery of the electric light cau be made of any practical value. It has been published that Mr. Edison’s patent has been allowed; but it should be remembered that he has not undertaken merely to overcome one or two difficulties in the way of the use of elec- tricity for illumination, but to construct a complete system for that purpose, and the many new points thus involved must be covered by many patents. He has, in point of fact, applied for eleven patents in this connection, and two have been allowed. Therefore it is not yet altogether safe to fully describe his apparatus; yet the ac- count we give exhibits some of the i impor tant features, “If Such There Be.” In the Board of Education’s last annual report the engineer of the Board remarks of a certain system that it is ‘‘an improvement on the usual mode of ventilation, if such there be, in the public school buildings.” ‘This expression from that one of the Board’s employés who nominally approaches near- est to the capacity of specialist shows how slight is the attention given to this most important subject. Tha Superintendent of School Buildings, who should be able to speak with some authority on the means of providing fresh air and removing that which has been vitiated, says that ‘there has not been any thorough system of ventilation applied to school buildings generally,” and that, although as long ago as 1860, a committee advised the Board as to what should be done, “there was no successful effort made then, nor since, to put the proposed method to a practical test.” The whole matter of ventilation, therefore, depends upon such flues and windows as a school- room may have, and such use as a teacher, uninformed in the principles of ventilation, and a janitor, still less intelligent, may chance to maké of them, and all the while there are a hundred thousand children en- during whatever physical discomforts may come of bad air, are losing health and gain- ing but liltle knowledge, becanse the usual mode of ventilation, ‘if such there be,” is generally defective, and no one in the Board is competent to investigate the matter and to insist upon such remedies asa decent regard for human life would suesest, The Proposed Change in Duties, Scgar is just now a substance much con- sidered in many quarters, and we give a good deal of space to-day to what our mer- chants have to say about it. It is our be- lief that the Secretary of the Treasury was ul advised when he was led to recommend a uniform rate of duty on all sugars im- ported into this country. It may be that there are difficulties in thoroughly collect- ing the duties where they are on a graduated scale, as now, though this is denied; and the fact that importers and refiners Luy and sell cargoes altogether by the test of the polariscope would seem to prove that this instrument might safely be used by the government instead of the vague color test known as the Dutch standard, which has been discarded hy the merchants and retiners here and in Europe. We suspect the suggestion of a uniform rate of duty comes from Southern sugar planters, who desire to secure for them- selves a little higher bounty in the shape of protection for their low giade sugars ; for it is easy to see that a uniform duty of say three cents per pound is equal to one hun- dred per cent on raw sugar worth three cents, but only of fifty per cent on sugar refined abroad by foreign labor until it is worth six cents per pound. ‘The Southern planter would therefore secure a protection equal to one hundred per cent ad valorem for his raw sugars, but atthe expense of the American refiners, who would be crushed by the discrimination such a uniform rate would work in favor of the foreign refiners, by enhancing the price of the raw material which is here refined. But the Southern sugar planters already enjoy a very handsome bounty or protec- tion under the present duties. ‘! he present rate is equal to sixty-three per cent ad valorem on sugar, and what that means will be seen when we say that the duty on silk is but sixty per cent, on champagne but sixty per cent, on fine cutlery but fifty per cent, on laces only fifty-five percent. That is to say, sugar, an article of universal con- sumption, a necessary of life to the poor, now bears a higher duty than such luxuries as silk, champagne and laces. Of course the revenue derived from sugar is impor- tant; but it is now sufficient in amount, and there can be no merit in any plan which would needlessly increase it. To putauniform rate of duly on sugar would be, in plain words, to increase the price of low grade sugars made in our Southern States and to offer a handsome bounty to the refiners of Cuba and Europe against our own. Suppose it were proposed to lay a uniform duty of fifteen dollars per ton on iron ofall kinds, including Bessemer steel? The iron people would point out at once that while this would be to give a monstruous protection of one hundred per cent to the American makers of pig iron, which sells now at about fifteen dollars a ton, it would be at the same time to dis- criminate severely and unjustly against American makers of Bessemer steel, which sells at say forty dollars a ton, and which, under the uniform duty, would have to be made from very high priced iron. Or suppose it were determined to lay a uniform duty of six cents on all cotton goods, six cent calicoes would have a protection of a hun- dred per cent; the finer kinds, employing more and better skilled labor, would have but fifty per cent protection, and, in fact, such a law would condemn ourcotton spin- ners to make only the coarser and less valuable goods and offer a bounty to the foreign makers of the finer goods. We do not suppose for a moment that Mr. Sherman meant to recommend that an un- just and ruinous discrimination should be made against American sugar refiners. He has been badly advised, and we are only desirous to make this plain to members of Congress and to the Committee of Ways and Means, which will presently take up, we hear, the question of the sugar duties. More than six thousand people are em- ployed in the business of sugar refining in this port alone; a change of laws which should cripple this business and throw these people out of employment is a serious matter, against which it is our duty to pro- test. Of the changes which it is advisable to make we will speak at another time, the Sugar A Gift to the Bulgarians, The Bulgarians are said to be looking to the United States for a’king, and in this they show good sense, While we are very republican and are always prepared to re- sist any real or imaginary attempt at au- tocracy at home we take kindly to court fashions, titles and all the paraphernalia of monarchy, and seldom turn ap our repub- lican noses at royalty and nobility when we goabroad. There is no good reason why an American gentleman should not accept a foreign crown as readily as an American lady accepts « matrimonial coronet, and as the old dukedoms, earldoms, marquisates and countships of Europe are benefited by the infusion of alittle warm American blood into,their ancient veins, so an Old World kingdom may expect to be improved by accepting a sturdy, well-posted republican as its monarch, There are pressing public reasqns why we cannot spare Ulysses 8. Grant to the Bulgarians. We may want him ourselves, and, at all events, he is a citizen whom the people of the United States prefer to keep athome. Inthe words of Mrs. Toodles, it is handy to have him inthe house. But wecan and do offer them a substitute in the person of Augustus Schell. We who deny them Ulysses will give them Augus- tus. Mr. Schell can have an excellent character from his last place. Tammany Hall will cortify that his rule as Grand Sachem has been kindly, liberal and patriotic. His venerable head and his benignant eyes, shining through his gold spectacles with the un- dimmed lustre of younger days, will win for him at once reverence and affec- tion from his new subjects, His reputation as awarrior is established by his famous campaign against the stalwart Morris- sey, and although victory did not then perch upon his banner the gallantry with which he engaged in the battle is conclusive evidence of his personal courage. Mr. Schell has had his uos and downs in life; but then a Bulgarian king ought to be pre- pared for upsand downs. Indeed, we know of no obstacle in the way of the reign of Au- gustus the First, King ot Bulgaria. The last election showed that Mr. Schell’s services are not just now needed at home, while no one can be more competent to organize the new Bulgarian monarchy than one who is versed in the secret management of ‘Tam- many Hall, and who may be relied upon, under the bitter teachings of experience, never to give away the combination to a Bulgarian janitor, The Movement of the Storm. In the weather paragraph published in the Henatp of Friday, the 6th, the following reference was made to the approach of the storm that passed over our coast States dur- ing yesterday:—‘“There are indications of the movement of a disturbance in the South- west which will manifest itself decidedly’ before Sunday.” At that time the weather over the Southern, central valley and West- ern States was fine, with a high barometer. Over the lakes, Upper Ohio Valley and New England States the rear isobars of a depart- ing depression marked an extensive area of cloudiness, rain and snow. ‘The conditions in the Southwest were not threatening in the ordinary sense, but cer:‘ain wind move- ments, which bear a marked significance to those in the habit of observing small signs ot a change, showed that the territory of Mexico and the adjacent portion of the Pacific Ocean were being traversed by a barometrical disturbance of considerable energy. A close watch was kept on the region of the Northwest, whence storms so frequently emerge, and on the morning of the 8th we announced that another centre of the advancing disturbance was issuing from that quarter. Our anticipations of a marked development for Sunday were veri- fied fully by the facts, for the Southwestern weather had rapidly changed from fair to cloudy, with very heavy rains, and snow commenced to fall in the Northwest, with heavy winds. On Monday the outline of the great depression extending from Manitoba to the Gulfof Mexico became clearly defined, the centre of lowest pressure formed by the merging of the two minima moving across the Central Mississippi Valley to Kentucky and West Virginia. Rains now extended from the New England coast, where the pressure was relatively high, toward Loui- siana, and snow fell over the northern sec- tions of New England and the upper lakes. It became very evident on Sunday that the storm centre would reach our coasts in the vicinity of New York. Yesterday’s ex- periences show that this movement actually took place. Sleet and rain began to fall in New York on Monday morning, and the latter form of precipitation has continued ever since, attended yesterday by a sudden rise of temperature. ‘The winds that circu- lated around the storm centre did not be- come very high until it approached the coast line and the Gulf Stream. Then the gradients grew steeper every hour as the barometer fell, the air became more humid and the gale more violent. During yes- terday morning the storm raged with pe- culior force and seemed to be develop- ing energies that may prove disastrous to shipping on the open ocean. We hope, however, that the daily notices which we published since Friday last of the storm's advance will have warned seagoing vessels of the danger. Cautionary signals were hoisted on the coast stations southward of Sandy Hook during Sunday and in this city on Monday at midnight, or a few hours before the storm struck the city—certainly too late to be of any service. The damage caused by the storm, described elsewhere, is very considerable. The New Jersey, Long Island, Middle Atlantic and New England coasts generally have suffered a severe wash- ing. Virginia rivers are rising rapidly, and freshets are feared at Port Jervis. Locally telegraph communications have been in- terrupted, cellars flooded and a new wall blown down in the upper part of the city. Our own observations show that the barometer fell during the afternoon to 28.85 inches, with a gale that varied in velocity between thirty and fifty miles per hour. As we anaounced, the skies cleared gradually toward night. Dramatic Authorship. Consternation has, perhaps, seized upon the souls of the people at the Union Square ‘Theatre in regard to the difficulties about the authorship of ‘‘The Banker's Daughter;” but they try to hide their dismay and are to some extent successful. In fact, they laugh the laugh of mockery at the appeal for justice made on the part of a dramatic author. This is extremely like them; for it is precisely the way the managers of theatres amuse themselves at all times, Our plenipotentiary who waited upon these potentates yesterday recounts his adven- tures, discoveries ond observations in another column. One of his discoveries is that there now actually exists in this coun- try, unknown to the people generally, an enormous body of dramatic literature. This is what the people havo called out for this great while, and why, therefore, do they not enjoy the knowledge of its existence? Be- cause the manager of the Union Square Theatre hides it under his half bushel— keeps it, in fact, under lock and key. Ina dark and secret recess of that theatre are kept seven hundred and twenty-seven— note the mystic numbers—American plays which they obstinately will not play so long as they can get good French ones, That is where the genius goesto. It is said that the author of ‘The Mighty Doliar” has already made over ten thonsand dol- lars from that play. If we suppose that each of the plays kept in that closet would have produced that modest sum we see at once the money the manager has kept out of authors’ pockets. No wonder these managers get rich, Mistaken Economy. The Postmaster General has informed Congress that the appropriation for his de- partment will be insufficient to enable him to continue the postal car service after Janu- ary 1. The law allows him to exercise dis- cretion only in two: items of mail railroad transportation—namely, the establishment of service on newly constructed routes and the use of postal cars. The former would bean indefinite saving, dependent wholly -them up; and she laughs, on the opening of new railroad routes, while the iatter would be a definite and ascer- tained curtailment of expenses. Moreover, it would be more just and impartial to de erease the general postal accommodation than to withhold the extension of the sere vice from new railroad routes. There ought to be only one motive for the refusal of Congress to increase the Post Office appto- priation by the addition of a special amount for the postal car service, and that is to save money the expenditure of which does | not bring commensurate public advantages, But if the postal cars are discontinued one of two results is unavoidable—either the mails which are gathered shortly before a railroad train leavesa distributing point must be held over fora later train for as- sortment ora very largely increased force must be employed inside tho distributing office to do the labor of assorting with yapidity. In the one case the public gen- erally will be inconvenienced and the busi- ness interests of the: country will be in- jured, while in the other case the employ- ment of additional clerks will cost as much money as the postal cars, As the appro- priation, as now fixed, is not large enough to enable the department to increase the clerical force the proposed economy will impair the efficiency of the postal service and occasion more loss and inconvenience tothe public than would be compensated by the saving of fifty times the cost of the postal car system. Kearney Heard from. The eye wandering down the columns of ®@ newspaper met the word ‘‘lickspittle,” and this told that Dennis Kearney was still “‘to the fore.” Since that statesman’s sud- den collapse in Massachusetts the world has heard little of him save through his quondam friend, General Butler, who. has wonderfully lowered his estimate of the sand lot orator since making that famous pilgrimage to the house of Dennis’ mother, Now Dennis has heard in San Fran- cisco the unkind things that Benjamin has written about him, and hastens to say that his opinion of Butler is a good deal lower than Butler's of him. Asa relic of former friendship, however, he still calls Butler by the familiar name of Ben. But- ler, he says, has taken all the old politi- cians to his bosom who opposed him, so that when he runs again they may be on his side. Kearney says he cannot under- stand this at all. In his alleged ignorance he thought that old political wea- sels were pledged by their utter- ances to sucking only a certain kind of egg, whereas he now discovers that they will not be fastidious about the bird that laid them, so long as they are eggs. However that may be, he vows ter« rible vengeance on Butler, and the next time he runs for Governor of Massachusetts Kearney is to bury him so deep that—well, we decline to follow himto the required depth. We smell a plot. Can it be that Kearney has been hired to oppose General Butler, so that he may be elected hereafter? ‘Khe regular parties should look to it. It would be worth s great deal of money to them to have Dennis on the other side, and it now looks as though the General had been first in the field. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE.. Judge Taft will celebrate his silver wedding in Cine cinnati December 26. ‘There is in the Ohio Lunatic Asylum a young lady who is heiress to $700,000, Paul de Cassagnac is said physically to resemble the late Jobn C. Heenan in all except complexion. It does not appear (..utex-Senator Matt H. Carpenter will return to the Senate for a long time to come. Ex-Secretary Bristow returned to the city yesterday from his old Kentucky home, and is at the Brevoort House, Some of those puns on Hauk would be very fair, ye scribes, if she were hawking her talents, But Hauk can you say 80? Although the Princess Louise has been married over two years she is still very fond of her opera glass. She loves her Lorne yet. London laughs at this:—The name ‘William’ can lay claim to a most remote antiquity if without im- propriety we may imagine Cain asking his brother, ‘How are you this morning, eh, Bill?’ ” George Thatcher, of the San Francisco Minstrels, never got off anything so idiotic a8 the following wit trom the London Fun:—‘An apple dum(b)pling is so called because it should be conspicuous by the ab- sence of its (s)talk.’” Although Secretary of the Navy Thompson has been in very regular attendance upon his official duties since his recent sickness he bas not entirely recovered his usual health, Lately the Secretary has been suffering somewhat from a slight rheumatic at tack, which has been aggravated within a day or two by the disagreeable weather that has prevailed. Governor Hampton's wounded leg was amputated yesterday about six inches below the knee. His physicians have contemplated this course for some days, and were waiting until his condition would warrant the operation, The immediate friends of the Governor say that his situation now is not dangerous; that he stood the operation finely under the influence of chloroform, and that his system ig in such condition as to promise hopeful results, London Truth:—“It may be of service to the Glas gow detectives in their search for the absconding bank director to know that not long since a cele~ brated criminal escaped from Ireland in a ventilated coffin. The coffin was driven in a hearse to the steamer, and the detectives, who were closely exam- ining every passenger on board, actually helped to place the coffin in the ship, little thinking it con« tained the object of their search.” London Spectator:—'One of the obvious reasons for self-coneeit in the younger clergy is that the profes sion itself has, of course, a certain attraction for the fancy of men who are by constitution somewhat vain and egotistical, It puts them early in a conspicuous position and in one surrounded by a good deal of official respect. Hence it attracts conceit, especially conceit which is honestly mingled with # good deal of sincere desire to alleviate the misfortunes and griefs of others.” ‘There seems to be no truth in the statement varie ously made some time ago to the effect that Mrs, Hayes will invite the quadroon wife of colored Sens tor Bruce to attend at the first Presidential reception, Nothing at all has been discussed about it inthe White House. Senator Bruce has never been invited to dine at the White House or elsewhere with a party of Senators, General Sherman says that if he is ine vited to dine with Senator Bruce he shall accept, General Grant never invited Revels, of Minsissippi, and when he gave adinner to the St. Domingo Com« missionors he left out Fred Douglass, London Wovld:—“Beouter, mes amu. Here is a new game for winter evenings. It is played by three people, She sits in a big armchair opposite the fre, divides the whole dozen of little silver bracelets she wears, and then holds up one white arm—fnger pointing to the ceiling. You and the other fellow take half @ dozen circles apiece, retire to opposite corners of the fireplace, and throw them, quoit like, at the uplifted finger. A good discobolus sends them rattling down on the arm witha pretty musical ching and # duffer sends them on the floor and bas to pick Of course the best man wins; and there are prizes . I saw it played beautifully last week, and it is called ‘Go Bangles Rules can be hod on suplication,”