The New York Herald Newspaper, February 20, 1879, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY. 2), 1879--TRIPI.E SHEET. b NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, IROPRIETOR. ALD, published every day in the year, ndays excluded). Ten dollars per six months, tw ents. mths, or at a rate of on: for yp ne than three months, Sunday edition included, tnue. WEEKLY HERALD—Ono dollar per year, free of post- are. ‘NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—Remit in drafts on New where neither of these rematered letter. AlL mioney remitted a of . In order to insure atten- tion subscribers wishing their address changed must give their old as well ast ; York or Post Office money orde can be procured properly sealed. rs and pu ted comm not be returned. Reject ee eee eae ren DELPHIA OFFICE—NO. 112 SOUTH SIXTH UE DE L'OPERA, E STRADA PACE. and advertisements will be received and the sume terms as in New York jl THEATRE. 8. Pinarors. BATRE—H. M. 8. Prvavone. RE COMIQUE—MULLIGAN Guarp Ba M THEATRE—Toe Foou's Revence, WALLAC! GRAND OPERA HOU. UNION SQUARE THE. NEW YORK AQUARI GERMANIA THEATR) NIBLO'S GARDE: GLOBE THEATRE. BOWERY THEATS. TIVOLI THEA’ E. Rupr 1m MASCHIVENBAUER, ue Op Curiosity Saor. Hoop. KURTZ GALLERY. D ACADEMY OF D) —Warex Corors. NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY The probabilities are that the weather in New York and its vicinity to-day will be warmer and rloudy, with rain or snow and southerly winds, followed by colder westerly winds and snow. To- morrow it will be cloudy and cold, with snow and strong northwest winds. Wau. Street Yesrerpay.—The stock mar ket was active and feverish in tone. Govern- ment bonds were strong, States lower and rail- roads irregular. Money on call lent at 203 per cent, advanced temporarily to 5 per cent, and closed at 2 per cent. Tue Mayor, the stenographer and Commis- sioner Erhardt had another meeting yesterday. Larce Democratic GAINS. reported, in Jefferson county, in this State, there is no tell- ing what influence it may have on the next Presidential election. Tue Arrivat of O'Leary in the city yesterday removes all doubt on the subject of the inter- national walking match for the Astley Beit. The event will take place early next month. Dr. FuLtoy, in an interview elsewhere printed, discharges a whole hatful of bricks at the Baptist Conference. There are a good many heads und heurts that will ache this morn- lug. AccorpInc To THE STaTEMESTS of some of the leading citizens of New Orleaus no deaths from yellow fever have taken place in that city this year. Rival drummers probably started the report. Weary or Enrorcep Ipteness a gang of tramps iiave seized a part of a railroad in Michigan with, of course, the intention of run- ning the whole line. This is one way of settling the labor problem. It Wit Be N by reference to our law re ports that a State Commissioner in this city has, 80 far as throwing persons into jail is concerned, as much if not more power than the head of the Third Section in Russia or even the Czar himself. AN Inrortant Bit was passed by one branch of the Connecticut Legislature yesterday, namely, to bring under taxation the property of religious, educational and benevolent bodies which is not exclusively used by them. At present such property is exempt. Ovr VALENTINE 10 EXGLAND on the 14th was in the furm of a storm prediction and a promise of gales, rains and snow. The cable conveyed this considerate message and brings us back news to-day thut, true to our word, the storm, with its gales, rains, &e., is being delivered in England by atmospheric express. Talk about rapid transit after this, ess did little of practical importance Jobn Roach and his Brazilian sub- sidy blocked proceedings in the Senate, while the proposed repeal of the federal election laws—the device of the lobby to bring about an extra session—brought the House to a stand- still. The third house seems to be master of the situation. Tue Weatier.—Pressures continue high in all the districts except the lake region and Ohio Valley, where the depression noticed in yes- terday’s Hrratp has moved as we an- ticipated. The fall of the barometer at the centre is not remarkable, but the area itself ery well defined. The high pressure which Jay over Canada has moved northward and eastward as the depression advanced in a south- ly direction. But behind the latter the me 1s risen very rapidly and to ab un- usual height. Off the South Atlantic coust the pressure is yet relatively low, showing that the recent barometric trough which passed over the country from the southwest continues its course in a low zone of latitude. Snow has fallen very generally over the area covered by the de- pression now advancing from the lake The fall has extended from Lake or to t Jhio Valley, and eastward from the Upper M sippi to the Alleghany Moun- tains, Light rains have fallen over Tennessee and on the South Atlantic coast, and light snow on the Middle Atlantic and New England consts. A marked result of the proximity of the low and very high pressures nbove referred to has been the develop- ment of strong winds and gales west of the Upper Mississippi. These will probably oveur again on our coast when the low pressures pass into the Atlantic, with a further barometric decrease. Cold will succeed the present com- paratively high temperatures that prevail east of the Mississippi. A reference to our special cable despateh trom London will give the con- ditions of weather now over Bugland, Iu New York and its vicinity to-day the weather will be warmer and cloudy, with rain or snow and southerly winds, followed by colder westerly winds and snow. To-morrow it will be cloudy and cold, with snow and strong northwest winds, The Chinese Treaty. The Senate debate on the Chinese bill has certainly disclosed that the subject em- braced therein is full of difficulty in every aspect, ‘The purpose of the measure is to rid the nation, by a law of Congress, of cer- tain stipulations in its treaty of 1868 with China. Such an attempt by the law-mak- ing power must always be surrounded with embarrassment. Primarily it is the busi- ness of the President to initiate, as it is to carry on, negotiations with for- eign Powers. If treaties, however, are not by their terms limited in duration, and are therefore permanent, as is ours with China, and one party desires to put an end to the obligation by a withdrawal therefrom against the will of the other, it is manifestly proper that such withdrawal be made in the most solemn manner. So far as China is concerned it would be enough if the President of the United States alone denounced the treaty. China would thereupon be entitled to declare war, or take any other step to vindicate her honor, as ifthe United States ‘had acted through the law-making power and the executive power combined. A careful and cautious President would, even in a case where the treaty gave to him power to ‘terminate the obligation, prefer in a critical case to be sustained by Congress in order that the other contracting party might be assured that the United States approved of the act of their Executive. The constitution does not expressly declare that the law- making power can compel the President to annul a treaty, but the Supreme Court has clearly intimated that the legislative branch of the government has that faculty. Certainly the law-making department can- not compel the President to prepare or negotiate a treaty for submission to the Senate. He is in that matter independent of the legislative and judicial branches of the government. If Congress passed a bill which the President approved, in- structing him to negotiate, he would, of course, obey what he had approved, but it Congress passed the command over his veto, what then? In that case the Presi- dent could, no doubt, fall back safely ou his constitutional prerogative. If President Hayes approves a bill re- quiring him to denounce the Chinese treaty then his approval would be evidence that he thinks the treaty should be de- nounced. But whaf if he vetoes the Chinese bill and Congress enacts it into a law over the veto? The Supreme Court has intimated that the treaty would thereby, in its opinion, be ruptured, and the Pacific States would then be left free to legislate for their protection as if no treaty had been made. During the recent debate in the Senate there were unsatisfactory allusions to the right which the law-making power has to refuse to legislate to carry out treaties made by the President and the Senate. Such questions generally come out of duties on imports, and in treaties touching duties it is now understood by all foreign natiuns that the treaties are really conditional on. such legislation. A case, alludéd to in the de- bate, grew out of our treaty with Russia, and a subsequent law of Congress levying duty on hemp, in, palpable violation of that treaty. he importers protested on the ground that the tariff violated the treaty, but the courts said they must execute the law of Congress which levied the rate com- plained of, and the importers must apply for redress to the Executive or to Congress. The question as presented was one purely of internal administration. If a foreign government were aggrieved it must raise a diplomatic question, in the form of damages. And yet, under our system, it cannot be doubted that the relation or order of the three is this:—Constitution, treaty, and, finally, enactments by the law- making power. ‘Lhe last must yield to the first two, and the second can yield only to the first. But all this is quite independent of the power of the law-making power to put an end to any and every treaty. It is not a question of morals at all, in a consti- tutional sense, but a question of power as between the Executive alone or Congress and the President combined, or two-thirds of Congress alone when the President re- sists. ‘The other party to the treaty may treat the withdrawal as an act of war. In respect to the particular case of the Chinese, both political parties indicated their dislike tothe treaty in the platform of each. The democratic platform was the more decided of the two, but both were hostile to the Chinese, The naturalization laws forbid a Chinaman to be naturalized. The Senate in an unmistakable way indi- cated last year to the President its aversion to the stipulations of the treaty now complained of, and that the Senate hoped for a successful negotiation thereon with China, And itis a misfortune that no one in the House or Senate was able or willing to intorm either body what Mr. Evarts has done or what isthe diplomatic condition of the controversy. If Mr. Evarts has attempted a moditication of the treaty and there was a fair prospect thereof, a hint to that effect should, probably would, have deteatod the bill, provided the President desired, in a diplomatic sense, that the bill be defeated. It may be that Mr. Evarts was not unwilling that the pressure prqposed by Congress be exerted on Congress. If 80, the bill probably will not be vetoed. A veto would, in every aspect, be unfortu- nate if it leads China to believe that Congress and the President aro at a deadlock over the question. Such difference of opin- ion onght not to be presented to foreign nations by the government of the United States. If the President felt a veto necessary, in case such a bill be passed, ho should have distinctly informed his friends in Congress, and then tho Sen- ate and Mr. Evarts should have thrown o diplomatic blanket over the question, in order to protect the national nakedness from the peering eyes of China. But we must not omit to state that the Chinese bill does not on its face purport to annul the Burlingame ‘I'reaty or any part of it. The bill rather circumvents the treaty ot 1868 than abrogates it. ‘Lhe filth article, which recognizes ‘the inherent and inalien- able right of man to change his home and allegiance,” is merely @ declaration of theoretical doctrine, It asserts the right of voluntary expatriation, but confers no right of residence or citizenship in any par- tieular country. ‘he sixth article of the Burlingame Treaty does confer rights of “travel or residence,” but not of citizen- ship. ‘his being all which the treaty guar- antees to Chinamen, it is contended with a deceitful plausibility by the champions of the bill that it does not violate any stipu- lation of the treaty. The bill does not violate the letter of the treaty but only its spirit.- 1t does not deny or abridge the right of ‘travel or residence” to Chinamen in the United States, but only obstructs their ingress. On its tace the bill is merely aregulation of commerce, or rather of navigation. It provides that no ship shall be permitted to land more than asmall specified number of Chinese passengers in any one voyage, leaving the right of “travel or residenee” unimpaired. The proposed Jaw does not profess to annul any provision of the treaty. If China chooses to regard it as an intraetion of the treaty she can declare the treaty void in consequence of our violation of it; but the bill does not acknowledge that it is incon- sistent with the treaty. If this bill did not fight under false colors, if it frankly avowed its real pur- pose, there would be little room for discussion as to where the power of abro- gating a treaty islodged. It undoubtedly belongs to Congress. All precedents place itin that body, and the reasons on which these uniform precedents are founded are conclusive. ‘The old French treaty was abrogated by an act of Congress in 1798, the title of the act being ‘‘An act to declare the treaties heretofore concluded with France no longer obligatory.” The Reciprocity Treaty with Canada was in like manner terminated by Congress. Congress has power to abro- gate any existing treaty of peace by a decla- ration of war. This principle is so well settled that it admits of no dispute. But what Congress now proposes to do is not to abrogate the treaty with China, but to cir- cumvent it--a chicaning trick worthy of a Tombs pettifogger. The treaty being con- ceded to be in force, the fact that the bill virtually annuls it is a sufficient reason for a veto by the President in the interest of national good faith and square dealing. The Census of 1880. It is to be hoped that the new Census bill may become a law before the close of the session, with such amendments as may be deemed expedient. No really intelligent and unprejudiced person who is conversant with this class of subjects thinks that another census should be tolerated under the defec- tive law of 1850. The machinery provided by that law for taking the census is inadequate, its methods are objectionable and the objects at which it aims insufficient. It is behind the intelligence of the age and the improyements which have been adopted in taking the recent censuses of the most advanced nations of Europe, where matters of this kind are best understood. Without going into minute details we insist on these indispensable points :— 1, It would be absurd to pursue the uni- form plan prescribed in tho law of 1850. There should be one method for the cities and populous villages, and another method for the sparsely settled rdral and mountain- ous districts. In cities the enumeration should be completed within a woek, and if possible, within a single day, as is done in England. By making the subdivisions small enough a week would be ample time for ascertaining the number of inhab- itants in any city, and the sta- tistics would not be trustworthy if two or three months were allowed for their collection. So large a part of the people of cities live in hotels, boarding houses and tenement houses and make such perpetual changes of residence that it is impossible for census takers to trace them unless the whole enumeration is made at substantially the same date. So many changes of residence take place between June and August that thousands may be enumerated twice or thrice and other thousands escape enumera- tion at all. In the country itis different. The residence of rural people is more fixed and permanent, and the few removals are so well known to neighbors thut there is no difficulty of keeping track of every inhab- itant for an interval of three or four months. In the country it is easy to ascertain in August who dwelt in any particular house on the Ist of June; but this is impossible in a great city where people take no note of their neighbors. It is therefore indispen- sable, if we are to have a correct census, that the enumeration should be almost simulta- neous in every city, while very little will be lost in point of accuracy by extending it through the sammer months in the country. The law of 1850 is objectionable because it applies the same method to both. . 2 There is required a very different method for the mere enumeration of the inhabitants, with their ages, nativity, sex, color, &., from the one which is requisite for gathering authentic, valuable and com- plete statistics of the great branches of manufacturing and mining industry. There is needed no other qualifications than mere painstaking industry to go from house to house or from tenement to tenement and record the number of inhabitants. A much higher order of intelligence is required for investigating the business-of great industrial establishments. This part. of the census should be put in charge of experts not encumbered with the petty du- ties of an ordinary enumerator, A very large discretion should be commit- ted to the Secretary of the Interior in the management of this branch of the census. He should haves carte blanche as to tho selection of agents, their number, their compensation and the assignment and distribution of their work. ‘They should form a separate corps devoted to special service, and should have no con- nection with the ordinary onumerators. The law of 1850 is fundamentally defective in jombling the simple duties of an enumerator of inhabitants with the higher duties of a skilled collector of industrial statistics. The two functions are incom- patible even if ths qualifications were equal. They should be entirely separated. We shall be comparatively indifforent. into what form the new Census bill is amended, proyided.that these two great and fundamenta! features are preserved. Prediction as the Antecedent of Dis- covery. Acomparison of the views of American and English savans im regard to Mr, Norman Lockyer's alleged discoveries in solar physics, as deduced from our London letter this morning, may lead to two excellent re- sults—tho ascertainment of just what was actually known or believed upon the sub- ject at a given dave, and the elucidation of the important part played here, as else- where, in scientific discovery, by a priori theories, which may be said to supply a pro- phetic basis for research, Assuming for the nonce the accuracy of Mr. Lockyer’s latest observations, it is evi- dent that it becomes a matter of high in- terest to ascertain just how far his con- clusions are in ascordance or otherwise with the tendency of speculative thought, and this leads to the query whether the greater praise should be assigned to those discov- eries of fact which confirm previous theories or to such as overturn them. In other words, is there the greater merit in subvert- ing or in confirming by experiment the speculative views held by the experimenter at the outset? The first impulseis to award the highest honors to unexpected results, but maturer consideration will reverse the verdict. An instructive example will be found in the present instance in considering the progress of theory and of experiment in that solar region where Mr. Lockyer'’s dis- coveries have been made. It has been known for years that the sun’s color- ‘envelope, or chromatosphere, is a region of incandescent vapor. It should have been a necessary inference from this fact that if the chromatosphere could be observed any- where in the absence of the central light- nucleus, or photosphere, we should see bright lines on a dark ground instead of dark lines on a bright ground. Such a dis- covery ought'not to have been accidental, as it really was, It ought to have been predicted from the moment that the theory of the dark lines in the ordinary spectrum was admitted. Nevertheless, this discovery, which was made by Professor Young, of Princeton, in his observations of a solar eclipse, was considered a remarkable one, Many discoveries which ought to have been foreseen have been made in a casual manner, the aberration of light being one notable instance. On the other hand some important accidental discoveries, like that of iodine by Courtois, could not possibly have been predicted. Still others have been made in a manner not entirely acci- dental, but as tho result of experimental research directed to elucidate some obscure point, in respect to which something was to be discovered, while the nature of the solution to be arrived at could not be an- ticipated. Faraday’s investigation of the induction of electric currents furnishes a memorable example, He imagined him- self to have discovered what he called an electro-tonic state of a conductor, but further research proved that he had only failed up to that point to understand the phenomena of secondary currents, The discovery of oxygen by Cavendish is an- other example. Now, the scientific mind-can have no dif- ficulty in assigning to those experimental researches which confirm previous theory a higher merit than to those which lead to results utterly unexpected. The latter may be more curious or more intrinsically val- uable, but they cannot be rated so high in the scale of scientifie reputation, This being admitted, the merit of Mr. Lockyer’s researches will consist precisely in the fact, not that they overthrow current theories, but that they confirm views long held by the most thoughtful physicists, In any case his contribution to science is a prac- tical, nota theoretical, one. The ultimate simplicity of the elements is a favorite doc- trine of the French school of chemists founded by J. B. Dumas, and the mathe- matical calculations of Mendeleef, Newlands and Wilde have familiarized the scientific men of Europe with the idea that the so- called elements differ merely because their molecules consist of atoms differently grouped, or, in other words, that form rather than substance is the cause of all the varying properties of matter. The “law of periodicity” os formulated by Mendeleef received a brilliant confirmation at the hands of Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who dis- covered the metal gallium with precisely the atomic weight and the chemioal proper- ties ascribed by Mendeloef to a ‘missing link” among the metals, There aro now on record very many theoretical generaliza- tions which only await the confirmation of experimental research to take their places among the most remarkable achievements of the human intellect. It is one of the urgent demands of modern science that experimentalists should familiarize them- selves with the theories they too generally neglect. When they shall have done so it is safe to say that the ‘‘scientific use of the imagination” will be elevated to tho dignity ofan Art of Prediction, A Broadway Rallroed Project. Alderman Mott's proposition for a Broad. way railroad will no doubt meet the ap- proval of those who are looking to such a . road as.a means of..benofiting property on |, the line of that thoroughfare below Fours teenth street. ‘he persons named as in- corporators are among our best known citi- zens. The rails are to be laid in a manner that will insure the least obsirnction to carriage driving—namely, of a narrow gauge and with flat or grooved rails, The cars aro to be small “palace” cars, seating fourteen passengers, and equal in style ‘to the fine cars of the Metropolitan “L” rail. road, and the fare is to be limited by law to five cents. Tho city.is to receive five per cent of tho gross receipts of the road, which is a liberal compensation for the franchise, although probably not excessive, A question is raised as to the power of the Common Council to authorize the constrac- tion of a street railroad, and should the resolution introduced by the President of the Board of Aldermen be adopted and ap- proved by the Mayor this point will no doubt be settled by a judicial decision. The jaw of 1854 provides that when a majority in interest of the owners of property upon a street.or streets of a city in which it is proposed to construct a railroad shall con- sent to the same the Common Coun- cil of said city may authorize its construction and establishment. Some in- sist that, as this is a general law, and is not inconsistent with the new constitutional re- strictions on the building of strect railroads, it is now in force. But the law in question mukes the consent of a majority of property owners necessary as a preliminary to the action of the Common Council. However these points may be determined, the action of President Mott is an evidence that the idea of a Broadway railroad has takep hold of the public mind, and if the property owners and the people are desirous tor such a road we do not see why it should not be built either in aceordance with Mr. Mott's proposition or in some other manner. Pluguy Rags. “Old clo’" is of recognized consequence in the world; but that the dilapidated shirt of a Russian beggar, when the beggar him- self has thrown it away or has died of the plague in Astrakhan, should be worth any one’s saving, and, still more, worth any one’s buying and selling it, and tying it up and sending it to Odessa and down through the Black Sea and the Mediter- ranean to Smyrna or Trieste, and thence out of the Straits and across the Atlantic to be an article of commerce in this city— this is one of the wonders of traffic and economy that people would not be inclined to believe in it the fact was not present be- fore any fancies were based upon it. Ap- parently the greater part of the shirts of the world’s beggars do come here from Russia, and from even further countries; and not only their shirts but their pocket handkerchiefs, and the old bandages off their crippled limbs, and the general as- sortment of ancient duds they were found in when they were picked up to be buried. In a bale of rags there may well be os much history and pathos as in a pawnshop, and there may also bea great deal more disease if it comes from a plague stricken country. As the commerce in rags between this country and other countries—especially Russia and Asia Minor—is of peculiar interest in view of the possible importation of the plague in this way, we have had an inquiry made into the subject, the general results of which are given in anothercolumn. ‘Ten: millions of dollars’ worth of foreign rags are brought into this country every year. In fact, the American people are not sufficiently ragged to supply more than ‘one-third of the demand for this commodity. We tremble at the thought of what might have happened in the rag market if the Western inflationists had had their way with the currency. Russia isone of the principal and dirtiest sources upon which we draw for rags, and the public and Congress, may be absolutely certain that there is danger for us in the rag trade with that country, and a danger not dependent upon the ces- sation of the disease, for the rags of the “dead already” may be on our wharves when the plague itself is stamped out on the Volgs. Perhaps we may have bits of that very shaw] which that Cossack brought home for his lady love. Rags carried the plague into Marseilles, and can carry it anywhere, It will be noted that in the list of ports in our article no Russian port is named, for the rags reach us by way of other countries. ‘hey come from Kénigs- berg, perhaps from Hull, and from Levan- tine ports. It might be difficult to trace them all, but the subject is worthy the at- tention of the Congressional Committee on Epidemic Diseases. The First Response. The election of General Chester A. Arthur as chairman of the Republican Central Committee by a unanimous vote is the first response made by the repub- licans of New York to the recent Custom House changes. It is an indication that Senator Conkling and his friends hold con- trol of the party organization, and, as they are in undisputed possession of the General Committee, they will no doubt control the next State convention and make such nominations for State officers as may seem advisable.to them. Tho loss of the federal patronage docs not appear to havo im- paired their power and influence in the organization ; but in view of the Presideni’s conciliatory letter addressed to Collector Merritt it is proper to conclude that the Custom House changes did not contemplate any interference with the rule of the present party leaders. In accepting the chairman- ship of the committee General Arthur made a significant gllusion to the necessity of a strict party organizition to reduce the democratic vote for State officers in this city at the next clection. ‘This seems like an intimation that the republican leaders, in view of the approaching Presidential election, must not this year make any of those entangling local alliances with the democracy which only serve to swell the democratic vote on State officers, PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Justice Ward Hunt is slowly improving. ‘The Chicago Tribune asks, ‘Who will Kailir England now?" Mr. George 8. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, is at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, The’ big Indith Sf ‘the ‘Oneida Commuhity is & cotisin of Prosident Hayes. ‘Talmage has a brother who also is a preacher. But he is sensible and modest, The presiding judge at the Tombs Court looks somewhat like Caleb Cushing. ‘The Sandwich Islanders ought to be a good musi- cal society—they live on a coral strand, London World says that thore is no success now which does not imply the worship of success, ‘The working classes of England are not dangerous, becauso they have no confidence in one another. Mr. Henderson, husband of Miss Lydia Thompson, has retired with a fortune of half a million dollars. A sign of the times.—Many newspapers have for tho heading of their leading articles, “Coming down to details.” Tho Governor General of Canada and Princess Louise visited the Rideau Street Convent, at Ottawa, on Tuesday, and were presented with an address by the pupils, At the last Deadwood (Black Hills) bail, the German was danced, and one real live banker passed the coffeo, while a rival banker passed the cake, The ladies wore ten-buttoned gloves and dismonds that would stagger some of our Fifth avenue belles, down. The sentimentalists and the machine should mingle more. They should stop abusing each other and indulge less in the egotisin of faction, By such 4 course both sides would get a practical illustration of the Biblical fact that the Lord has some use for everything. The machine would get a little leaven of culture and the sentimentalists would get a prac- tical streak which would be of value. Vive la middle ground.” }f # man looks for fresh eggs every morning at this season of the yéar he is on the wrong lay.— New Orleans Picayune, And it » man loafs on the corners every day in the year he is on the wrong stand.— Detroit Free Press, You vet. And if he goes to bed on a horse railroad he will be found on the wrong track.—New Orteans Picayune, And. if he beaschool- master and neglects to examine the chair he is Hable tobe on the wrong tack.—Boston Giobe. And if, in- stead of a tack, he sits down on a crooked pin he is on the wrong bent, Temperance people urge that many intoxicating liquors are adulterated, This is too true. But there is hardly a known temperance drink which is not either adulterated or preposterously dear. You can- not generally get a decent glass of ginger ale for less than fifteen cents, and avery good article costs more, The poorest and nastiest sodas cost ten cents. In only @ few places can you got a good cup of coffee for ten cents. It scems as if dirt and greed conspired against temperance drinks. And usually a waiter in a temperance place is neither so clean nor so cour. teous as the average barkeeper. FINE ARTS. LEONARDO DA VINCI'S ‘‘HERODIAS” (SALOME), It is rare that we have such pleasure in examining a painting as we did yesterday in viewing Leonardo da Vinci's ‘Herodias.” The title is a misnomer, and was probably originally “Salome.” The, picture belongs to Miner K. Kellogg, an artist, who hag owned it for twenty-four years, had it stored and away from sight of the public for fifteen years, and has vow taken it out of a bank vault for a few days to show to his friends preparatory to sending it to England, The history of the painting, which is well known in Europe, is as follows:—It formed part of the “Mariahalden Cabinet,” by which name the col+ lection of Count Bentzol Sternau at his villa on Lake Zurich was known. He had purchased it in 1818 of M. Lamy, an art publisher of Berne and Basel. While in the Mariahalden collection it was written about as of undoubted originality by the celebrated German critic, F. R. Fissli,in his “Allgemeines Kunsterlexicon,” Zurich, 1819, under tho heading “Vinci,” opening as follows:—‘At this moment we learn that the exquisite cabinet of Count Bentzel Sternau contains the excellent picture of Herodias receiving the head of St. John from the executioner. At her side we see her nurse or gover- ness. * * * On the golden border of the dress, as it passes over the bosom of Herodias, we read in capital letters, ‘Leonardi da Vinci, 1494,’ and by Wilhelm Fiissli in his ‘Kunstwerke,’ Leipsic, 1846."* In 1847 Count Sternau was obliged, on account of financial embarrassment, to dispose of his collec- tion, Eight years later Mr. Kellogg purchased two of the most valuable ot the pictures—Raphael’s ‘La Belle Jardiniére, Premiére Idée du Peintre,” of the same size and composition as the celebrated picture in the Louvre of the same name, which he sold to the late Lord Ashburton and which is now in the South Ken- sington Museum, and the ‘‘Herodias”’ (Salome), now in this city. He bought the two pictures in 1855 from the heirs of a private collector in Switzerland who had purchased it at the Mariahalden sale. The present owner has docamentary testimony of all the above facts. As to the picture's value: the elder Fissli, at the time he wrote, estimated it at 100.000 florins and adds “that in consideration of the rarity of the unquestionable originals of the chief of the Florentine school and of the incontestable originality of this Herodias, neither double nor the treble of the price which I have indicated would be an exag- geration of its value.” ‘The “Herodias”’ (Salome) was painted on wood, and in 1810 its first known owner, M. Lamy, as it vie so fragile a state, being on a worm-caten and warpi opened igen to ae franetiehs, be alert quin, the retovleur and parquetteur o} Impef Tmauseums of Franco. On the back of the canvas now the follow! inscription:—"“Enlevé de désg) nies this sur toile par Hacquin, 4 Paris, anni The painting, which is a little over afootands half in height, and about two and a half feet wide, and ina fine state of preservation, contains two-thirds life size figures, seen in halt Tho beautiful Salome, iter is receiving the head of the executioner, who by- hair and is just about to place it in 9 vase, Thé head'of her old nurse is soen to the left, looking over the shoulder of the girl, who turns away as if afraid to look at the ghastly head of the martyr, from which the blood drops into the richly orna. ménted bronzed silver vase, yet has one hand on the vase and stretches the other to grasp it. She smiles, heartlessly, yet withal sweetly; the burly execution: laughs with fiendish glee, and the old woman leang fe « orwi ot thd ard, curious to see the horrible sight. | The drawing, modelling and chiaroscuro work are remarkable, the color rich sud ‘ploasing and the tone superb in its harmonious gradation. ‘The careful, assured handling, the extreme care and finish, lavished chiefly on the girl’s face and figure, on the dead head and on the rich vase, show the work of the master. A strong pois is the contrast afforded by the that of the old nurse, in shadow and slightly angular; of the coarse skinned executioner, ruddy and with heavy outline; of the dead man, white and shrunken, in strong contrast with the dark hair and the drops of red blood; and all three subordinated and giving value to the luminous, fresh coloring and rounded outlines of Salome. Among other points may be noted the skilful painting of the hair of Salome, a few hairs of which falling on her neck are managed with such knowledge; of the laced chemi- sette shown above her dress, of the drops of blood falling from the head of St. John, and of the hand- some vase. There are said to bo as many as nine other paint- itigs of Herodias or Salome attributed to Leonardo, one of which in the Utilzi is now recognized as bei by Bernardino Luiui, his follower, most successfi copyist and imitator. BARNEY WILLIAMS’ MONUMENT, A monument of granite, in a nicho of which is @ well finished bust of the late Barney Williams, has recently been reared in Greenwood Cemetery, in the family plot of the deceased famous Irish comedian, on Battle avenue, near Verdant path. Tho bust, which is an excellent likeness, is the work of the sculptor John MeNameo, of Florence, Italy, On the surbuse of the monument is the following inscrip- tion:—"Bernard Flaherty, ‘Barncy Williams.’ Born June 19, 1824, Died April 28, 1876. Williams,” MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC NOTES, “Pinafore” at the San Francisco Minstrels’ is one of their happiest hits this season. A grand concert will be given at Gilmore's Garden on Sunday evening by P. 8. Gilmore's band, assisted by a number of well known artists, “Engaged” at the Park yesterday and last night filled overy scat in the house and compelled the wele come sign to managers “Standing room only.” A vocal and instrumental concert will take place on Monday evening at Chickering Hall, in which Miss Evelina Hartz will make her début. Other fe vorite artists will appear. Young Mr. Paulding, now performing Bertuccio in the “Fool's Revenge” at the Lyceum Theatre, has every reason to be satisfied with his reception by the public, The play is running much more smoothly than it did on tho first nignt. “Lucia di Lammermoor” will be given by Maplo- son’s opera company on the occasion of its reappears ance at the Academy of Music next Monday. Gerster, Campanini, Galassi and Foli appear {n the cast. The foature of Wednesday will be “Lohengrin.” ‘The newsboys and a goodly company of orphan children had a royal time yesterday afternoon at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, being invited to witness the performance without charge by Mr. Harkins. The idea of producing ‘Through tho Dark” at Booth’s has been abandoned. ‘The Teachers’ Association of New York will enjoy concert at Steinway Hall Saturday afternoon, given by the Anns Granger-Dow Combination, consisting of Mra, Anns Granger-Dow, soprano; Mr. Ch. Fritech, tenor; Mr. M. Arbucklo, cornet; Mr. A. E. Stoddard, baritone; Mr. J. N. Pattison, piano, and Mr. -W. GQ. Dietrich, musical director. The Amateur League, an organization that is said to comprise considerable talent, will give their second performance and reception this evening at the Lexington Avenue Opera House, on Fifty-eighth street, between Lexington and Third avenues. Tho pley announeod is tho comedy in three acta, entitled “Randall's Thumb,” after which dancing will follow, For the production of the ‘Sorcerer’ at the Lycoum, under tho suapices of Mr. Shook, Miss Violetta Colville has been secured as the principal soprano, Miss &. Howard as the leading contralto and Miss Louise Leighton as the juvenile soprano, Mile. Solke will lead the ballet. The company hae been rehearsing two weoks, and will play at the Arch Denver Tribwne:—"The beat way is to let the bare 4 Btreot Theatre, Philadelphia, before appearing hore, ,