Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 13, 1888, Page 4

'[‘HE DAILY. BEE TERMS OF SUHSCHRIPTION, huny t\lnn ing Editton) including fnnday rr, One Year 10 00 #x Months. W . . 50 iree Mont he Omuha Sunday Bek, majled to any ud- dress, One Year 200 ouans ovricn, Nowy AND 16 FARN AN STHERT. Yor FICK, ROOM 85, TRIBUNE BUIL ING, WARHINGTON OFFICE, NO. 013 Fouit- TEENTH STHEET, CORRESPONDENCE. ANl communications relating to news and editorfal matter should be addressed to the EDiTor or THE Be DUSINESS LETTERS, A1l business letters and remittances should be addressed to Tie BEE PUBLISHING COMPARY, OMANA. Drafts, checks and postofiice orders (5 26 made payuble to the order of the company. The Beg Publishing Company, Proprictors, E. ROSEWATER, Eprroi. THE DAILY BE Sworn Rlnlflm-nl of Circulation. State of Nebraska, 28 oty of Dougiass, {8 o0, uck, sccretary of The Tee P lhll!nvlnm‘ doen solemnly swear that t actual circulation of the Dally B ending Jan, 6, Saturday, De Sunduy, Jan. Monday, Trie w Friday, Jun. 0 Average... ... Sworn to and gubseribed in my pr 11th duy of January, A, D,, 18 FEIL, o Notary Public.” of Netrarka, nty of | o, |58 H, , being first duly sworn, ‘m s and suys that he bs secre f The Beo Publishing company, tha dally circulation of the b e for the month ) : for February, ch, 1857, 14,400 copiess “ADELl Ih80, 14 16 cop copies: fOr June, 187, 14,1 IR, 1418 copled: for 1\|u."|~( 189 f ). B. TZ8CH foworn and subscribed to in”my p 2d day of Junuary, A. D, 1888, N Tie c s foot-ball for the democratic cians, A bill has been introduced congress to reveal it. THERE is much curiosity among the taxpayers to know what new offico the council will create at its next meeting. There are a few more barnacles waiting for soft job Tne partial failure of the polato crop in some parts of the country has led to importation of New DBrunswick and Nova Scotia potatoes. And now some stupid political quacks want to raise the import duty on potatoes. ST. Louls isupin arms against the gas trust. An investigating committeo has discovered three things: Conspi acy, bad gas and big bills. This bad combination, but many other citics can testify that it is not a new one. THE Republican keeps discreetly mum about rascality in the ecity council in connection with the printing bids. Meantime the city continues to pay that paper 20 per cent more than the lowest bid. Itis the still sow that gets the swill, —— GOVERNOR THAYER is the guest of Governor Larrabee at Des Moines. It will be interesting to learn what tho governor of Nebraska said to the gov- ernor of Towa. Very likely it was this: “In a prohibition state it's a long time between drinks.” It is very remarkable,to say the least, that the BEE is the only paper in Omaha that has dared to express itself without reserve on the attempt of the Union Pa- cific railroad to override all state author- ity and state regulation on the plea that it was chartored by congress before Nebraska was admitted into the union. BLAIR'S bill to promote mendicancy has a companion piece in abill by which it is proposed to establish a national university in Washington under direct control of the cabinet. Its purpose is to educate teachers for colleginte institu- tions at the national expense. In ve- turn every person so instructed must pledge himself to teach ten years after graduati THe drivers of horses should exer- cise some caution in crossing the cable tracks. Several horses have been in- jured by catching the shoe-calks in the cable slots. In having horses shod hereafter it would be a good precaution against accident to have the shoe-calks made much shorter than heretofore. The cable company should also devisq some means of preventing these acci. dents, It has been openly charged that the interest manifested in the election of Mr. Merriam to the board of trade di- rectory by certain parties, who are known to be closely allied to the rai roads, means in the end the breaking up of the Omaha freight bureau. We are not disposed to believe that Mr. Merriam can be used for any such pur- pose. Any effort toabandon the freight bureau or withdraw from it the needed financial support will rouse a hornet's nest about the ears of the board of directors. ‘WIHEN a broken-down and bankrupt concern offers to locate in Omaha if our citizens and capitalists will pay a big bonus or take stock enough to float the establishment, it is hardly worth while for the board of trade to waste time on such enterprises. But when responsible parties who mean business and have some capital at their back desire to establish a mill or factory in Omaha, no effort should be spared to give them all reasonable assistance in the shape of lands on which to locate, or reasonable bonuses in ready mone, Tne freight agents intevested 1 the Omaha traflic held ameeting in Chieago this week to discuss the proposition to reduce the rates on coal and commodi ties of the same class. The usual hos- tility against this city was shown and it was decided that rates should not be re- duced for the present. As the South- western association of rouds has reduced rates on similar freight to Kansas City, it remains to be seen whether the West- ern Freight bureau can maiutain such unjust diserimination. Our merchants should raise a protest that will not be disregarded. Thé Pacific Rallroad Report P The Honorable William Holman, of Indiana, i8 announced assaying that neither of the reports of the Pacific riilroad commissioners worried him in the least. He belic that the Union Pacific in spite of the gigantic swindles of its pest managements is amply able to pay off its debt to the government under proper fiscal arrangements, Ac- cording to Mr. Holman the question of final settlement of the rail- road’s obligations will not properly come up for nine years, and the govern- ment can afford to wait meantime. But what are tho people of the west to do in the interval? I'or twenty years they have I mereilossly bled to pay for the g larcenics of the Ames and Goulds and Sages and Dillons who have controlled this vast property constructed on the plighted faith of the government and maintained by reason of the national credit. An area as large as the entire eastern and middle states, with half of the southern states thrown in, has been contribution to male good ries of conseienceless swindlers and stock jobhers. At the present time, several millionsof citizensof the United States are paying freight and passenger tolls based on watered stock and inflated capital. What benefit would they derive from a settle- ment with the government which would sponge out the past and figure in cold 's and conts the present dobt as it 'e of the record, without reference to the outragcous swindles by which stockholders and patrons alil have been robbed? The national government is irvevo bly pledged to un honest and fair set- tlcment of the railvovd problem so far as it affects the Union Pacific road. 1t wits constructed with the people’s money and its constructors and backers were enrviched with the peoplo’s heritage of land. The national bounty has been used as a means of mational oppression. Tt has erected gigantic fortunes for individuals at the expense of the west- ern farmer, miner and tradesman. The methods adopted for robbing the publi have made the ordinary thief hang his head in shame and envy, No settlement which will condone the past and close the books on the records of the company during the past twenty years will satisfy this section of the wesb. The Civil Service Farce. The speech of Senator Hale on his res- olution for a select committce to ex- amine fully into the present condition of the civil service was, if we may fairly judge from the telegraphic synopsis at hand, a very strong showing that civil service reform has been a good deal of a farce under the present administration. Mr. Hale has been for some time industriously engaged in col- leeting facts, and he appears to have found them sufficiently numerous to justify his purpose of placing officially before the country, through the investi- gatious of aspecial committee, the whole truth as to the extent to which civil service reform has really been re- garded by the administration., The country has been several times informed by the national reform league that the course of the administration in relation to this matter was not such as that body could fully approve, but it did not furnish facts. Numerous conspicu- ous instances of a flagrant disregard of the law have from time .to time been cited, but coming separately and atin- tervals they were soon forgotten. What Senator Hale desires to obtain is a com- pact and connected official statement of what changes have been made in the civil service and the circumstances at- tending them, so that the country shall have complete and trustworthy informa- tion as to how far civil service reform principles have been observed and to what extent partisanship in appoint- ments has prevailed. We can- not undertake to say how much of a popular desire exists for this information. Our impression is it is not very great. But the administration is pledged to the observance and promo- tion of civil service reform, and kas been somewhat boastful of its fidelity to that pledge, so that it may be well to ascertain whether its pretensions have been sincere and its claimsave justified, We apprehend that the supporters of civil service reform would nottind much to gratify them in the results of such an investigation, The facts presented by Mr Hale are very likely to cause them some discomfort, and when they reflect on the character of the house committee on reform in the civil service, with its chair- man and its second man in avowed hos- tility to the reform, they must fgel the deepest sort of chagrin. A judicious policy of eivil service reform, honestly administered, is not to be regarded as hopeless of attainment, but it is mani- festly the fact that it has not yot been attained. The nearest approach to it was made by the last republican admin- istration, A Democratic Surrender. The Washington organ of the demo- tie party which is supposed to be in ose intimacy with the administration, gives up the fight for genuine taviff re- form in advance of its discussion in the house. The arcangement of the committees shows that Speaker Carlisle has onco more failed to have the courage of his ions and that Randall’s influence supreme. Six of the most de- termined opponents of tariff reform on the democratic side head important house committees and the arch opponent of tariff revision is again given the vantage ground of the committee on appropriations. Mr. Randall is now as he has always been a democrat for tarifl only. He has large personal interests involved in the maintenance of wor taxes. His constituency elocts him every two years 10 congress to protect the iron, steel, coal and shipping interests of Penn vania and he has never proved recreant to the trust. The surrender to Mr. Randall at the outset of the session means that the people have nothing to expeet from the democeratic party at the present congress in the line of a reduc- tion of taxation, whose results will bo felt in the cheapening of the necessitics BELC of life. Ttmoans that with the coal barons forcing up the price of coal through a strike nmong their employes, free coal isnot to be looked for. It means that with the Bessimer kings protected by an exorbitant tariff in addition to their patent monopolies and closing their milis and furnaces to restrict pro- duction, there need be no expectation of areduction in the duty on manufac- tured steel. It means in short, that the cry for tariff reform as a party issue is more campaign smoke so far as the democracy is concerned with nothing genuine in its ring, and raised only to influence votes in districts where the hard plodding farmer is paying tribute 10 the eastern industrial monopolist. President Cleveland’s message had the right ring, but it was years in advance of his party. Halfof his supporters have since been endeavoring to explain away its significance. The other bhalf are talking for buncombe only. Actions speak louder than words and the com- position of the house committees, now that it is understood, shows conclusively that any radical reform of the tariff at the present session is out of the ques- tion. — A Favorable Outlook. The view prevails in tern financial and business circles that the country has before it another year of actiyity in all branches of enterprise and of ad- vancing prosperity. It is not perhaps to be expectod that railrond construc tion wdll be carried on to the extent it was last yoar, though there is assurance that it will be on a liberal scale, while contemplated improvements by a num- ber of roads render probable a demand upon the industries that furnish rvail- roud supplies, which will keop them well employed. The numerous enter- prises which have been entered upon during the pust year or two in all parts of tho country will of course not be permitted to halt or deteriorate if the capital can be had to keep them in full operation, and those long estab- lished will take advantage of the favor- ing conditions to expand. At present there is no great excess of supply in any of the departments of business, and un- less there should be an unlooked-for de- cline in dhe demnnd of the country for consumption, all manufacturing indus- tries will be able to keep their machin- ery in motion during the year. Money is comparatively easy in the eastern markets and growing more so, a situa- tion due to both the current operations of the treasury and the past conserva- tive course of the banks and business men. This improving condition inspires confidence and holds out a favorable promise for the opening of the spring movement. Of course a great deal depends upon whether congress does anything, and the nature of its legislation regarding the surplus and the rovenue. The ugly fact is still to be faced that money is ac- cumulating in the treasury at the rate of more than one hundred million dol- lurs a year—the excess of receipts over expenditures last month was about $15,000,000—and if this is permitted to go on a serious check to gen- eral business and hational prosperity is inevitable. The indications are rather more promising than a month ago that it will not be per- mitted to go on. The radical poli cians on both sides, with a few excep- tions, seem to be disposed to make some concessions. The contest will very likely be hot and hard before anything is accomplished, but there is a more general belief than there has been that something will be done, both in the way of disposing of a large part of the ac- cumulated surplus and what must go into the treasury before any revenue legislation can become operative, and in rveducing the sources of revenue. The earlier such legislation could be reached the better it would be for the country, but it is reassuring to be able to regard it as vrob- able at all. The swelling popular de- mand that congress shall no longer de- laythe duty of giving relief to the people is proving effective, particularly with republican members whose consti- tuencies are compgsed largely of farm- ers, and it will be well not to permit this demand to diminish in volume or vigol With a just reduction of tariff taxa- tion that will lessen the cost to the people of the necessaries of life, and judicious provision for disposing of the surplus so that it shall as soon as practicable be returned to the people, there would ensue a complete restoration of confidence, and the prosperity of the present year would be amply assured. Two wecksago we were informed Mr. Bechel very profuse in assuring constituents, whose good will he had lost by his disreputable performances with the late ‘‘combine,” that he had cut loose forever from Bellwether Has- call, and would from now on try to make a record for decency and honest govern- ment. In other words he pretended to have turned a new leaf. But Tuesday night's performance in the council shows that he is still playing dummy for the natural-born crook, who would not take an honest step if he could reach the same point by crooked paths, We confess we did not take much stock in Mr. Bechel's penitent reformation,and we are therefore not in the least disap- pointed. Rotten eggs may be disin- fected, but they never can be made wholesome. It is to be hoped that in the drawing of the grand jury, the professional jury? man will be left out in the cold. The citizens of Omaba will not be satisfied with a jail investigation by political va- grants, or men who are hanging around the court house waiting for something toturn up. In making up the list of names from which the grand jury is to be drawn, the commissioners should en- deavor to choose from among the most reputable and level-headed citizens and business men. grand jury will have some weight, and itisin the interestof the public as well as that of the parties accused that the con- clusions of the grand jury shall be re- spected. Tue killing of young Lundstrom, while coasting, ought to be an impress- ive lesson to all who engage in thisdan- geroussport. We are not unaware of the strong incentives to the young which The findings of such a* this sportoffers, Ttis highly exhiler- ating and exciting, possesses a degreo of adventure,and affords opportunity for a great deal of rellicking fun. But under the safest conditions with which it can besurrounded there is danger in coast- ing, and particularly so in thorough- fares constantly traveled or crossed by vehicles and street cars. The enjoy- ment does not repay the risk and the gport is one to be avoided. Coasting in the city the authorities should not permit. THE FIELD OF INDUSTRY. A good deal of western mechanical labor has been drifting southward, and 200 or 300 shops have got to work within the past sixty days there, A Baltimore steamship company is being organized, with a capital of 2,000,000, to run between Baltimore and the African coust by way of Savannah. Florida hotel-builders are ordering shin- gles, lath and lumber in large quantities. From Fernandina, Fla., 13,000,000 fect were shipped during November, A new gas-fuel process has been brought out at Bethlehem, Pa., by which petroleum is employed as fuel. Isis being introduced in a large number of mills. A Philadelphian has agreed to cstablish large agricultural iron works at Dalton, Ga., to employ 100 mechanics, if the people there will put $10,000 toward it. Never in one season was there such a de- mand for oak to go into house finishing and furniture as there is now. Red and white onks are particularly wanted. There are indications that manufacturers in a good many branches of trade will ask their workmen to accept lower wages. Blast furnace employers will begin it. Large purchuscs of timber land have re- contly been made n Virginia, and orders have been placed within a week for saw-mill machinery and for drying-kilns. With the new machinery in the Edgar Thomson mill, near Pittsburg, ten men will be able to roll 1,000 tons of rails in twenty- four hours, five men workine at a time. A young lady, Miss Ella Neiison Gaillard, of New York, has introduced asystem of electrical lighting on the stage. The battery will run thirty hours, and the effect is good. A Kentucky company has been organized at Dayton to build houses for workingmen in two or three mining and manufacturing coun- ties in that state. It expects to double its moncy. Lithographers will be pleased to know that lithographic stone is found in Dallas, Tex., fully equal to the stone imported from Furope. It costs from $40 to §5 for a stone 30x40 inches. The manufacturers of hosiery would be glad to try a reduction in order to offset German competition, but the difference is too great for any possible reduction in wages to help them. 1 A Brookiyn man has bought alarge amount of mining machinery in Chicago to put up smelting works at El Paso. Coal is $10 per ton, but good fuel will be mined on the spot at half that price. Missouri copper mines that have been idle for two or three years ave being operate and valuable bodics of ore are being opened up. Forcign capital has recently taken hold of several neglected mines. Notwithstanding the duilness in woolen manufacturing, a great many companies are enlarging their capacities and plants. The manufacturers are not acting as though an- ticipating a prolonged dullness. A large amount of hard wood will be shipped into the Philadelphia market this year by rail from Virginia and North Caro- lin Agents are endeavoring to take con- tracts now for delivery next spring. . Ebb and Flow of Population. Minneapolis Tribune, ’ The population of Washington 1s now esti- mated at 200,000. When congress adjourns it will drop to 100,000 again. e Greatest Effort of His Life. Boston Globe. It is said that nearly every semator in ‘Washington is preparing himself for the ‘“greatest effort of his life” on the tariff question, e Tariff and the Iudividual. Boston Herald, The tariff is almost the sole snbject in poli- tics that immediately affects the pockets of nearly every man and woman in the country. The whole purchasing community should sbhow an interest in it. ——— The Trouble Almost Universal. Chicago Mail, There are now on a large number of guber- national booms in Tllinois, but no one boom 80 expands as to exceed all the other booms in magnitnde. The booms started about even, andat about the same time began to manifest an apathy as to growing. It is as if each candidate had suddenly, like the magi cian in the opera, *“‘forgotten the combination to the incantation.” Monume: Chicago Tribune, Ordinary boodlism sinks into insignificance when compared with the stupendous rascali- ties and robberies of the Pacifie railroad ring. Is there to be no check on such frauds, no example to protect the public from such frightful bleeding! What party will take the matter up and pledge itself to see that steps arc taken to punish the crimes of the Pacific railroad wreckers and compel restitution? et il sl Where Value is Greater Than Cost. Savannah News, “Do you pay the real cost of an asks Rev. Brooke Heiford. *“Tne v paper that you buy for @ few cents—is that the cost of it! Notit! That pays for paper and printing, but behind that lies another cost, of the labor which has built up educa- tion, and perfected the world's communica- tion, and earlier yet, which shaped out that broud human freedom that has made the modern newspaper possible. You have never paid for that. hing?? news- Content, Maude Meredith, Au l.m.l. are fair to him who knows content, All skies are sunny and all fields are green ; mists, with softest azure blent, Lie distant cloud-lands, tipped with silver sheen, folet sheds her fragrance For him the wild vose’s blushes all are spent; Life's lull«,.fll rifts ave poured about the feet Of him wllhm whose heart is found con- tent. ——— The latest London rogue’s device drive a hansom, and from that elevated hosition to pick out from the roofs of our-wheelers such articles of luggage as scem most promising. These he laces on the roof of hisown cab and drives away with them, presumably to some railway station. The proceeding isof the neatest kind, and every pre- caution is taken that forethought can suggest. In order that the spectacle of luggage on an empty cab should not ex- cite suspicion a temporary fare is pro- vided, called a **buck;” he has nothing to do but look as if he owned the prop- erty over his head, though in real- ity he knows uul.hmg about it, and is speculating in his own mind as to whether it is a carpet-bag or a por- mantcau, ' FRIDAY. J ARY 13, 1888. A GROUP OF STATE CITIES. Pen Plotures of Phenomenal Progress Garnished with Big Figures. CENTERS OF TRADE AND TRAFFIC, Copious Clippings From the Annuals of the Press—A Superb Assortment of Statistics Grouped for Come- parison or Comment, Beatrice is contented with a round #1,000,000 expended in enlarging the town last year. Wayne, the capital of Wayne county, a young and spirited town, laid out §40,000 in improvements, Schuyler leads the procession in Colfax county with a total of 9,340 in improve- ments last year, There were thirty-nine marriage licenses issued in Dakota couuty lust year and two horsethieves sent to the pen. Loup City, in Sherman county, enjoyed a rattling scason of business and building pros- perity. In seven months $0,850 were laid out in improvements, without counting the amount expended by 'the railroad company for depots and tracks, Oukdale, with a population of 850, laid out $127425 in improvements last ye The principal items are: Railroad building, n wckage and stockyards, £0,000; N. A, Cat- ompany buildings, §32,500; (Mli Fellows’ blm ky 53,5005 Beckman store, 3,500, O'Neill is content with a moders u(l' refer- ence to the past year and a prophecy that the present will leave a larger margin in the purses ol the people at its close. The Tribune claims the city has outstripped all competi- tors, “‘und stands unrivalled ut the head of north Nebraska towns,” Broken Bow advanced st growth of the surrounding The total improvements foat up list includes several handsome brick blocks, opera house, rolling mill, feed mill, cry, elevator and planing by the score, and three chur Aurora, Hamiiton county, a young town without the semblance of a boom, did a busi- ness aggreguting $16,000,000 last year. This includes all bank transactions, sales of mer- ts, traders and others. Improvements costing £75,000 were made, and B4, 000 pounds of butter turned out by the cream roller mills handled §55,000 worth of Dakota City turned in a snug sum to the railronds last year. Freight charges on goods shipped in amounted to §4,07 express packages handled and §2, for pussenger tickets, In the way of pro- ducts there were there were 101 cars of cat- tle shipped. 33 of hogs, 24 of corn and 26 of miscellancous merchandise. Plattsmouth, the capital of Cass county, added a large list of substantial business s and residences to her size in 1887, cars were inaugurated, the water- works extended and perfected, and her great industrial hive, the B.& M. shops, consider- mproved. The present year is almost certain to bring additional railroad facilitics to the city. Neligh, the chief city of Antelope county, laid out the snug sum of §112,325 in improve- ments, The principal items are the North American Cattle company’s feeding yards, which is also claimed by Oakdale. These ccommodate 5,000 head of cattle. hants’ bank block, a handsome uilding, additions to Gates' college, and waterworks owned by the city. Neligh has a population of 1,150, Grand Island is a persistent claimant for the title of ‘‘third city,” and shows by school census and directory a population equal if not exceeding Hastings. The city has im- proved steadily during the year and laid the foundation for commercial supremacy in cen- tral and Western Nebraska. The extension of railroads to the northwest opens to her pushing people the door to a vast area of country rapidly filiing with thrifty settlers One year ago Creston existed only in pame, fringed with two stores. It was born with the completion of the Scribner branch of the Elkhorn Valley road, and has had so far, a prosperous carcer. The building record for 1887 shows a total of #5500, and the boid ‘‘defi” is issued that no town in the west of its age can equal it. Among the improvements were a steam roller mill costing ¥30,000, and two elevators costing $10,000 each. ‘Wahoo's steady and healthy growth is rep- resented by $140,000 expended in improve- ments. This represents $50,000 in water- works, $12,000 in electric lights, $15,000 in the Killian block, $,000 in the mery, $11,000 in two depots, and stores and residences by the score, ‘The city has connection with the three main railroads of the state—the Union Pacific, Burlington and Elkhorn Valley, and nestles near the heart of unsurpassed farm- ing land. Beatrice, the pearl of the Blue valley, forged ahead steadily last year. The Roce Island came early in the springtime, giving her the third trunk line railroad. The can- ning factory, foundry, tile works and other inaustries give an impetus to her growth that did not slacken for a mo- ment. Real estate advanced rapidly and turned in hundreds of dollars to the owners. Senator Paddock's ample purse and enterprise set the example and laid the foundation for a mammoth hotel and opera house, the cost of which will reach close to $200,000. Ashland makes no boast of a boom, but shows substantial evidence of steady growth, ‘The past year hpought her into close relation with Omaha over the B. & M. short line, and with Wahoo and Schuyler, over the Omaha & North Platte extension of the B. & M. The improvements foot up §5,750. Waterworks have been added during the year, roller mills utilized the power of Salt creek, ‘and a hand- some new hotel, 60x88, two stories in height. Five churches dmpun«' spiritual comfort to 1,700 people, ample school facilities for the young and an opera house for the pleasure of all. Norfolk, the queen of the Elkhorn valley, has built up a proud and profitable record in a year. With three first- s railroads for commercial arteries, street cars for home omfort, waterworks under contract, ample fire protection, elec light and telephones, the progressive residents have all the com- forts of modern life. The improvement rec- ord for the year amounts to §23,600. The last includes’ additions to the state insane asylum, $50,000; Pacific hotel, £12,000; the Mast stone bank building, $13,500; Bisley block, #7,000; Odd Fellows' hall, #,500; and scores of smaller stores and residences cost- ing from §,000 down to §300. Nehraska City kept her boots on last year and maintained a steady heel-and-toe gait to the front that astonished the oldest inhabi- tant. No obstacle was permitted to impede the path and a pair of useless human para- sites who diverted her attention for a mo- ment were promptly hurried to the hereafter with hemp, while the third disappeared rather than cast a funeral shadow over the bright path of progress. The improvement figures are not at hand, but it is safe v say that half & million dollars we pxpended in the city. Ranking first in the list is the ex- nsion of the Missouri Pacific railroad to giving direct connection north and south and ‘dispensing with the ferry nuisance in trade with Omaha. A splendid syst. of works was also completed and work began on the steel railroad bridge of the Bur- lington over the riv The packing bouses, Berschlag's factory and the distillery added greatly to the wealth of the city. Street rail- way and paving ave planned for 1853, Lincoln, the second city in the stat population estimated at 40,000, claims a total improvement record of 2,000,000, This 15 a gratifying exhibit, and proves that the capi tal city is not entirely dependent on the stat treasury for vitality. The people placed their shoulders to the wheel and with united witha Atrongth pusted the city to a point that In- sures a prosperous futire. A summary of | the items included i the total is as follows: State capital building, $75,516; penitentia addition, #1,000; home for the friendlos 0 state university, #5,0001 two miles of ['IIV"!R $135,000; vors, 865,000 watoe works, 8261173 county_court house, £10,000; ctric lights, $7,000; publ hurches, $144,000; busin railroads and strect raiiwa idences, $083,000; miscellancous, ‘remont, the pouting prettiest, is now ked with all the conveniences and neces- es of a prosperous city. A jobbing cencer vd rank, with ample railroad facilitios, unsur sed in fertility of surroundings and strong in financial and business resources, ber future as a leading city of the state is as cortain and secure the eternal hills, The Elkhorn Valley road has brought her into competition with the South Platte cit and opened up new territory to her enterprising Sto ds and & packing house have been added to her industrics. Tho creamery, foundry and other factories report ble business, while the schools and churches kept pace with the growth of the city. The population is estimated at 8,000, Real estate transactions last yea 1 10 $1,180,480; 518,400 were expends provements; jobbing bus manufactured products, § lll the age of the Tribune's superb annual, F'remont 18 the third city of importan state, and don't you cease to be mind.” Hastings, the hustling big third, the live- liest city of its age and size in the state, pro- sents a remarkable record for the year, The Gazetto-Journal puts the population at 14,000; the assessed valuation of the city is$1 S1. The combined capital of the banks and financial institutions is figured at $1,300,000; loans and discounts, 1,083,765, Residence improvements cost 300,000; brick blocks, $700,000; railroads, £300,000; strect railways, $150,000¢ electric lights, 80,0005 waterworks and other improvements, 125,000, Real estate transactions for the ycar amounted to 5,000,000 The most important addition to the s growth was the exten- sion of the Elkhorn valley road, thus secur- ing another outlet to Omaha and the cast. Eleven churches dispense spiritual comforts to the people, and three ward schools and one high school prepare th ing generation for the activities of mature life. The wholesale trade of the ci ounted to &1,385,000, and the retail trade £3,75 Railroads radiate to all points in the state. The 13. & M. sends out four arms, besides the St. Joe & Grand Island and Elkhorn valley roads. The Mis- souri Pacific extension is assured for the present year, and the Rock Island, the Santa Fe and the Kansas City & Northwestern are among the possibilities of 1388, The group would be incomplete without a brief summary of Omaha's unequalled rec ord for 1887, One hundred and twenty million bricks, trimmed with stone and iron, were planted in stores, bank buildings, pack- ing houses and residences. The sales of jobbing houses amounted to $44,000,000 stockyards handled 205,000 head of cattle and 1,100,000 hogs; the smelting works, breweries, oil mills, distilleries, shot factol lead works, foundries and minor industrial concerns turned out over §20,000,000 of the packing-houses slaughtered 00 head of cattle, 875,000 hogs, and 50,000 sheep, which were converted into meat products at a cost of over $15,000,000; the sales of Omaha wholesale grocers aggregated over #5,000,000 during the year; the national banks of Omasha have over §12,000,000 on deposit, and the clearings of these bauks last year were vel nearly $150,000,000. Over 7,000 skilled and unskilled workmen are employed in Omaha_industrial establishments. In addition to these over 2,000 laborers were employed clast season in the Omaha brickyards. The building im- provement records reached the enormous total of #12,413,539, an increase of £5,000,000 over 1886;city improvements—paving, grading and sewers, $1, 148, There were con- structed in maha during the year buildings of every description, of whicl were dwellings and residence block bank buildings, hotels and stores corporation buildings; 36 factories, mills, packing houses and manufactory enlarge- ments: 28 churches and parsonage buildings, and 18 school buildings. SUMMARY OF IMPROVEMENTS, §12,413,530 2,000,000 1425,000 1,000,000 b1 Omaha. Lincoln Hastings. 1 256,600 187,507 140,000 14 Broken Bow. ‘Wahoo. Oakdale Neligh. Ashland e ext Great Reform. Minneapolis Tribwne. The severe sentence passed upon Har- per, the Cincinnati bank wrecke lows closely enough upon the re Jacob Sharp to emphasize the dnh-r- ence which appears to exist between the boodler in politics and the boodler out- side. The laws are still strong enough to punish the unserupulous operator. All the monev and all the friends which Ferdinand Ward could summon to his aid were not powerful enough to keep him from the prison cell. Harper has been convicted within a few months of the discovery of the operations by which he swindled the people. But, side by side with the announcement of his sentence, there is published a notice of dismissal of the suits brought against the accomplices of Tweed. All the years that have inter- vened between the carnival of robbery where he was Rex were not sufficient to bring his accomplices to justice. Had he lived, indeed, it is more than doubt- fui whether he would not to-day be at liberty instead of an inmate of the fel- on’s cell. Of the guilty New York aldermen few have been brought to justice. Juehne, it is true, Sing, and a littie colony of bribetakers are enjoying the ) the Can- adian line. But i generally believed that Sharp himself will never again be brought within the toils, and that the technicality which has given him te porary respite will, in time bring to us all the @ »5 of boodle in 1l city government of New York, if it doc not open the prison doors for those less skillfully defended. The distinetion between the hoodler in politics and the boodler outside is now plain enough to point a moral and illustrate a public infamy. 1t is thing that those who, in a privat of trust, embezzle the prope tted to their e Ure now Lin spite of wealth and mllvl- h as they But it is far more disgraceful that |hn-m who receive a public trust may still abuse it, and steal the patrimony of the sople with a reasonable certainty of immunity. This is the greatlesson and the great necessity presented by the municipal problem.” In some way, and atno great distance of time, we' must destroy the alliance between the bood- ler and the politician, We must puri the ballot, and get r1d of the increasing use of money 1o control municipal ele v York, which has suffered s the need of reform. There the for the purity of the bullot, by taking both the primaries and the polling booths out of the hands of political managers, will be begun. To prevent the corrupt use of money in elections must the next great reform war be waged. most, is fi A BRAVE WOMAN. A Young Wift's Adventures on the Wyoming Frontier, A correspondent writing enne tells the following stories: Among the emigrants to the west in 1867 was George Walker, who beeame the pio- Settler of Horse creek, Wyoming ory., at that time far in advance of \(mu and in a locality extremely o o more readily compro- hend Ihv extreme dangers of the situa- tion, one need only 1o bo informed that it was in sight of the boundary line of the Siomx reservation, which during the troubles with the tribe placed the Walker settlement in an exposed posi- tion for a sudden raid from the Indinns without scarcely a moment's notice. Nuturally, of covrse, a groat many inci- dents happened. only w few of which 1 cun relato. principally those in whioh Walker's wife pr wted, and by she became known far and as the greatest heorine of the o North Platte country. Au expert with the vifle, she beeame a remarkable huntress, and her reputation in that line is scaveely if at all equalled, buffalo pelts wnd sove Ips in that mountain home bearing witness to her skill and brevery, Yet her deods of heroism in assisting to rid that coun- try of savages ave far more extraordin ary and interesting than any of her hunting adventures, for Mrs. Walker was the constant companion of her hus- baad in nearly all his perilous adven- tures during the times when the Sioux keeping the settlors in constan afoty by committing the murders and shocking Indecd, the dangervs of iything but tiction of imagination, but terrible Just - over the hill, a short distance from the Walker homoe, the remains of a small fort, in which several whites fell while defend- ing their castle, and each of four other not very dis ities point out where atr were com- mitted, so that og- nized as 4 most unpromising place of sufety even for the most_ daving of men, but a still more one for a slenderly built woman for the latter to willingly pla X in such a position might be regarded as almost suicidal. Yet Mres. Walker, & hand some, accomplished, though delicate young bride, fresh from the surround- ings of wealth und comfort, did not hesitate to leave her happy eastern home and many loving friends to ac- company her husbund to those remote western wilds, and endeavor not, only to shield him from surrounding dangers, but bravely do her whole duty as only true womanhood can Many are the stories which the set- tlers of that vicinity relate of this little heroine, whose greatest happiness was in imperiling herself for her husbund’s welfare. Once, during his absence, she defended the house single-handed against four savages. badly wounding two of them, the balance retreating. Then secreting her babe she put out and joined her husband, isting him and his hird men in driving off’ some other Indians who had attempted an ambuscade of the party. On_another occasi Mr. Walker and men had secretly formed n part wke raid on some Sioux. she saddled up her best horse and taking her most trusty rifl dashed after them, overtaking the com- 'mu‘ sand during the vul_'xu,unwm.[mluh! by her hushand's side, apparently doing considerable exceution, and perfectly les of her own safety. TSe Indians, 0 had visited the Walker house in time of peace, knew her well, regarding her as an excellent shot, and were en- thusiastic_admirers of her bravery. “Heap good woman” was oue of their frequent expressions; and it is believed that, while sceking scalps, they refrained from doing her iy, on account of remembering her many dness toward them in other The crowning event of Mrs. ker's noble acts was in relieving o distressed garrison of twelve pioneers in an amateur fort, who were nearly out of ammutition. This she accom- plished by stealthily slipping through the Indian lines at might, alone, und carrying the nows of the situation to the government post twenty miles dis- tant, bringing relief. But another most singular adventure was related to your correspondent by Jack ~Douglass, an *old-timer,” who claims to owe his istence to this heroic's courage. he: 1 coming down Horse oy alone afternoon in the summer of 76, and when about two miles of Walk all of a suddent I seed severul redskins pop their heads up from behind = some bush and like a flash a hull gmlg of ‘em came rushing to me and began makin® demonstrations as zif they intended takin® Jack Douglass’ scalp without askin’ whether he was \\'illiu’ ornot. I determined to get one on em anyhow. and jist pulled on the foremost with my repeater and let himw drop. This made them s keery, but still they kept comin’ unti® Jack” was nigh ) surrounded. ey wanted to take me alive and toast me, and didn’t ’pear anxious to shoot me down. Wall, I concluded to e, and in one sccond’s time I jist drewa big br , sob every muscle to work, and dash i some rocks 200 yards or so dis last [njun that'cud, put himself in frout of me, and those behind followed yell- ing like tarnation. 1 tell you if e man hoofed it tosave p ‘twas Jack Douglass, and the way he dodged and slipped atween those red devils would bave made greased lightin® ashamed of itself. Such kickin’ and knockin’ and coffin’ and fallin’ ahout over one nuther was never seed before. Seemed to me I was a hull d. :ttin’ thro’ them, and it tuk the liveliest work in all my expe- But they w right” at my 1 uirly aholdof my scaly when '\H K sudden there came a ¢ of horses’ hoofs and & bangin® of guns, and the next minit all those Injuns who were left alive we scattered like so many wild varmints. Thut woman had watehed those red devils go up le ereek, and knowing that I was comin’ down that way, she hustled out and got some men together and made them go with her, and old Jack Douglass’ still sticks to his head. I tell you wha George Walle And angel g and Mrs, Jound by your correspondent ut S A TN s, (e fifty miles northwest of Fort Laramie, and within a few hundred yavds of what is known as the “old emigrant trail of 4 The loeation is delightful, and Mrs. Walker are greatly ad: many friends for their Wbility and hospitality. of their carly adventures entertaining manner, and dker proposed o deer hunt anxious W0 accompany the the former’s request de- remain at howme \\llh her charming young lady of nineteen s amners, ‘The mother Aiter spend most of theiv spare Itivatin wnd paint- former ble talent for m Chey- civili rocious barbariti days we g that They talked in the most when Mr. \ his wife wa party, but at cided’ to daughter, a perhap and da moments ¢ ing, the wwal ments. music King Willini's Condition, Bruray, Jan, 12.—The empe slept well last night und wus free from paine