Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, February 27, 1888, Page 4

DAILY BEE.| ' POUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. o TRRMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. tly (Morning Edition) incltding Sunday One Year . OMAHA OPFICE, NOS.OUAND 10 FARNAM STRERT, El' YORK OFFICE, ROOMS 14 AND 15 TRIBUNE UILDING, WARHINGTON Orrice, No. 613 'OURTEENTR BTRERT. CORRESPONDENCE. 2ol 11 communications relating to news and edl- Qvfl‘ lll 'matter should be Mdnn“uod to the EpitoR oF T 3 BUSINESS LETTERS. 11 busts eM‘l]eth-,nc and remittances should be Amud‘u Tie BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY, ANA. Drafts, checks and postoffice orders to ‘made payable to the order of the company, T Bee Publishing Company. Proprictors E. ROSEW ATER, itor. THE DAILY BEE. Sworn Statement of Oirculation. o, | inty o Goor I Trschiick, secretary of The Biee Pub- Mshing company, does solemuly uwenr that the Wethial olrculntign of the Daily e for the week hding Fob, Bi, Jei, was as follows: llnulnfny Feb. 18 ursdny, day, Feb. S GRO. B, TZECHUCK. Rworn to and subfcribed in my presence thts 25th of bruary, A. D,, 1888, . P, i Notary Public. te of Nebrask: .%‘"""fl of Douglnss, | &8 Tasch ck, being first duly sworn, de- 18 secretary o G and says {h 'y of The Bee Biifiahing cou pan . that the actual average y citculation of 0 Dadly 1lée for the month of February, 1¢87, 14,178 coplest for March, 1887, 440 coplos; for ' Apr 6" coples; foF for July, I 14,151 copfes; ' for or October, I ricns or Sabieaty, Then, 16508 coplens | coples; for January 18 0 " SCHUCK. fworn and subscribed to in my presence this 2dday of January, A. D. 16, N, B. FKIL Notary Public. —ee e e MEMBERS of the board of education had better go slow before joining with the boodle gang of the council in their schemes of jobbery and Hascality. EEE—— CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW declares the president should “‘by constitutional pro- hibition be made ineligible for a second term.” ‘- Has anybody asked King Van derbilt’s viceroy to serve a first term? BLAND and the rest of the filibuster- ers in congress who oppose the postof- fice building appropriation for Omaha and other western cities ar2 subject to a malady called Bourbon shortsighted- ness. e—— THE overworked postoffice clerks have got as far as the house committee with their grievances. The delegates from the National Postoffice Clerks’ associa- tion want the clerks to be placed in six > elasses and to be paid as well as the clerks employed in the departments at: ‘Washington. —— THE president evidently could not earn his salt as catcher for a base ball nine. At the sub-tropical exposition at Jacksonville Mrs. Cleveland play- fully tossed to him an orange which he muffed. She offered to pitch another, but the president declined to receive it, saying that a man got into trouble a “long time ago by taking fruit offered by & woman, — THAT provision of the constitution which permits a congressional district to be represented by a citizen who is not a resident of it is receiving a sin- gular illustration in Wisconsin. When the Bragg-Delaney war was on in the Fond du Lac district, ex-State Treas- urer Guenther of the Oshkosh district made Fond du Lac his home for a fort- night and received the republican nom- ination and an election. Now that Delaney and Bragg have both been -expatriated, one to Alaska and the other to Mexico, it is proposed to send Guenther over into the only Wisconsin district now represented by a democrat ~—that represented by Thomas Hudd on the lake shore and in which there is a , large German vote. Mr. Guenther would rather run for governor, but Senator Sawyer is boss and there- fore Mr. Guenther will become an atinerant proselyter. e —— A ROW in the faculty, though not down on the university catalogue, ap- pears to be one of the standing courses in these institutions west of the Mississippi. At present the state university of Towa is the sceneof a bitter war. The quarrel has broken out in the medical depart- ment where one of the professors charged with malpractice in conducting surgical operations from the vesult of which patients have died. Over in Dakota, the state university at Vermillion is in a state of turmoil over the action of certain regents. They turned out a professor of chemistry to make room for a college fledgeling, the velative of one of the school directors. Other changes in the members of the faculty have been made by the Dakota regents to accommodate their political friends. What standard of scholarship can exist in colleges where learning is prostituted to volitical influence? THE National League, a non-partisan organization, has been quietly looking up the record f Commissioner Atkins of the Indian ureau. ‘The report of this society has ‘brought out the facts, that the Indian service is not free from partisan control. Up to November, 1886, of the sixty-one Indian agents appointed by President Arthur only eleven remain. The new appointees are all democrats. In the judgment of the league, the change was influenced by political partisanship to make places for personal friends of party leaders. - At many of the agencies nearly all of the employes have stepped down to make way for democrats. The truth can not Dbe dodged that the Indian bureau has been man- aged in the intevest of democratic ‘bosses and not primarily in the interest @f the public service. The Indian bu- “weau is one that can be used for partisan urposes more easily than any other. t occupies a small share of public at- tention, owing to its comparative unim- portance and the scattered location of the reservations. Mr. Atkins, there- fore, should take warning not to in- clude the Indian service with the elaims of the present democratic admin- fatration in the matter of clvil service vil Service Reform The Public Building Question. A few members of congress who court notoriety as advocates of economy have proclaimed a sweeping opposition to mensures for the construction of public buildinge, and if permitted to have their way would do a great deal of harm to the interests of both the government and the people. The indiseriminate hostility of these men to proposed im- provements of this character was shown on Saturday when the Omaha public building bili was reached in the house. All the evidence which reasonable men could require to prove the necessity for a government building in this city has been submitted. It was sufficient to sat- isfy the senate committee and the senate, and it was so far effective with the house committee that it re- ported in favor of appropriating half a million dollars for the purchase of a site. There was every reason to expect that this would be approved by the house when the bill was reached, but when it cayne up in its order the per- sons who profess so much regard for economy were successful by recourse to parlinmentary filibustering 1n prevent- ing a vote on it. There is not a doubt that the bill will be passed, perhaps to- morrow, when it will be again reached, and probably when it shall have been returned to the senate and finally goes to a conference committeo the entire amount of $1,200,000 voted by the senate will be allowed. But the would-be “economists’ will have made their rec- ord, which is all they really desire. There is a great deal of senseless and indefensible opposition to government expenditures for public buildings both in and out of congress. Much of it in that body is simply rank demagogy. Most of it on the outside is from locali- ties that have already received vastly more than their share of government consideration in this direction. Re- garding the epirit that commonly pre- vails in congress respecting all public improvements the San Francisco Chronicle pointedly says: There is nothing quite so puerile, so silly, 80 absolutely idiotic 1 the whole system of federal government and legislation as the way congress goes about public buildings; or, indeed, any public improvement. The idea of that body seems to be that there is not money enough to really do anything with, and that everything must wait until the money can be collected, year by year, from taxation. Now, sucha way of doing business was all well enough when the United States was sailing close to the wind and had to use its funds with tho greatest care; but now, with the country groaning under a surplus (according to Mr. Cleveland), or at all events having all the money it needs at its disposal, such & method of carrying on public improve- ments is utter and defenseless nonsense. Let us illustrate by an example. A man is receiving a salary, let us say, out of which he can put aside $100 o month to buy a lot and build him a house. This is his limit. Now, if he is @ prudent man, he will spend only his $100 a month, and if his lot is to cost him $1,000 and his house $3,000, he will take forty months in which to buy and build. But suppose that after he has saved his first $100 or $200 there is sude denly left to him a fortune of $0,000 or $50,000, while lus monthly income remains the same. 1f this man should put his $40,000 or $50,000 into an old stocking or into a safe deposit company’s vault, and go on laying aside his $100 a month wherewith to buy his lot and build his house, what would be thought of his sense or judgment? Would he not be deemed a fool or a lunatic? And yet that is precisely the policy which congress pursues with regard to public im- provements. It piles up money in the treasury, at the same time protracting the time for building public buildings and works as if the money had to be saved little by littie for them, Why does congress not do as a business man would do: determine what it wanted, and its cost, and then appropriate the money for it, instcad of dawdling along with a driblet at this session and another at another session, until the patience of the peo- ple who have contributed the money 18 ex- hausted? It will not be questioned that public buildings are asked for that are not necessary, and that in other cases larger appropriations are called for than would be needed to construct such build- ings as are required. A proper care and discrimination is expected of the representatives of the people. But these are not implied in such narrow and puerile opposition as is generally made to this class ot improvements, a notable example of which was furnished in the house on Saturday. What is needed is a practical, business-like method of dealing with these matters, and this can hardly be hoped for while the majority of congressmen are not practical. Meantime the government having abundant means at its command in excess of its current wants, which ought to be returned to the people, there is every reason why it should adopt & generous and wisely-directed policy of public improvements. — vention of Republican Clubs. resident and the member of the exccutive committee of the re- publican national league for Nebraska have issued a call for a convention of the republican clubs of the state, to as- semble in Omaha on the 15th of March. This is due to the recommendation of the national league, and is in accord- ance with a policy thatis being pur- sued in all states where republican clubs are organized. Clubs having not less than twenty membersare requested. to send three delegates, besides whom the president of each club will be en- titled to a seat in the convention. The primary object isthe organization of a state republican league which shall act in conjunction with the national league and the state central committee, and the call judiciously provides that “the convention shall not name, recom- mend or nominate any candidate for oftice.” he purpose is simply to pre - pare and discipline the repubiican forces of Nebraska, by thorough organi- ion, for the coming national battle. The Bk has alreadv spoken in rec- ommendation of this purpose, and it therefore approves the action that has been taken to carry it out. Organi tion is a prerequisite to success. Polit cal parties cun no more dispense with it than can military armies without peril. The club has become a vital force in politics, and when the power of many of these organizations is concentrated and wisely and harmoniously directed it must exert a very greatinfluence. No omecan doubt that Nebraska will be found in { the republican colupn next November, but confidenc~ {n this fact does not ren- der organization less desirable or neces< sary. The voice of the republicans. of this state should bo heard and their in- fluence felt throughout the country while the contest is in progress, and to make these effective they must go out as the expression of an organized and harmonious body. The aim of the national league is to inspire the interest and quicken the zeal of republicans everywhere, and it should have the ns- sistance of all republicans. Undoubtedly the call for a state con- vention of republican clubs will be cheerfully responded to by those organi- zations now in existence, and meantime the republicans in localities where there is no club.should promptly organize so a8 to sccure representation in the con- vention. There is a long and hot cam- paign ahead,and it is not too soon to be- gin preparations for it. E— Wall Street Reform. A dispatch from New York says: “Wall street still sags,” and that a pe- tition signed by the most prominent and influential brokers on the street will be sent to the govermors of the stock ex- change asking for the appointment of an auditor who shall investigate and report upon the actual condition of the various corporations who have their se- curities listed on the board. ‘Wall street seems to have discovered at last that the reason why the stock exchange is deserted and investors no longer flock to the brokers’ offices is be- cause there is a general distrust of all railroad securities. The men who have been swindled out of millions of dollars by the thimbleriggers of corporate mo- nopoly decline to furnish more funds for stock gamblers and stock jobbers. They have learned, apparently, from bitter experience that there is no one to ““temper the wind to the shorn lamb” of Wall street, and they are placing their money in manufacturing enter- prises throughout the country and in profitable investments in western realty. After two years howling about “‘western town lot bunco steerers,” in their endeavor to frighten eastern cap- italists from placing their money outside of Manhattan Island, the brokers and commission men of Wall street have come to the conclusion that nothing but radical measures of reform on the stock exchange will attract custom and lift the sagging market. They propose accordingly to have a sifting examing- tion made of all corporate securities and to wipe off the boards the names of all worthless and water-logged stocks and bonds. Thisisa stepin the right di- rection, or would be could it be put into operation. But it is extremely doubt- ful whether any investigation could ever be carried through against the tre- mendous pressure which the Goulds and Sages and Fields and Corbins would bring to prevent an exposure of the rot- ten roads in which they are interested. For all this, the fact that such a propo- sition has even been considered is in- teresting corroboration of the charges which have been made by the press of the country as to the reasons why Trinity church looks down upon a de- serted street. Stock gambling was at- tractive to small operators only so long as they considered that there was a pos- sibility of a fortune being won through manipulation on change. As soon as they learned by years of bitter experi- ence that nine lambs out of every ten came out of Wall street shorn and fleeced through a stacking of the cards by the manipulators of great corporate interests they quietly withdrew from the game. They are not likely to flock again to the street until the impression now firmly fixed in their minds that all railroad securities are of doubtful sta- bility can be removed. — THE bombardment of the postoffice by the western press is producing good re- sults. Since the time when Anderson, of Kansas, and Senator Plumb opened up upon the penurious policy of the present administration 1n its misman- agement of postal affairs, the demo- crats have been steadily on the defense. ‘Western senators and representatives who have been beseiging the depart- ment for extended mail service have discovered a more generous feeling on the part of the administration, and have been met with apologies instead of curt replies. The appropriations commit- tee, fearing the effects of adverse pub- lic sentiment in the west, have de- termined to add considerable to the ap- propriations for postal service during the next fiscal year, and the amounts called for by Postmaster General Dickenson to make up deficiencies have been promptly granted. This change is another instance of the value of an aroused public opinion as voiced by the pressin forcing a performance of public duty by officials at the national capital. The plan of campaign which the wily Vilas put into operation has been knocked into a cocked hat. His successor, who had cir- culated more among the people, had the sense to discover that cutting down the mail service in the west would do more damage to the party than a showing of bogus economy would do good in the east. Several other leaders of democ- racy were rudely awakened to the fact that the demand for a self-sustaining postal service was not half so vociferous as the cry of discrimination against the veople of the west and of wretched ac- commodations to the public using the mails. HASCALL’S estimate of grading Doug- las street from Seventeenth to Twentieth, and Eighteenth and Nine- teenth streets between Farnam and Dodge, is $150,000. Hascall knows that the grading can be done for less than £30,000, of which the city will only have to pay one-half. The damages to ad- jacent property could in no event ex- ceed $25,000, which would more than be offset by the benefits and improvements which, under the charter, can be assessed against the property benefitted. In other words the expense to-the city of grading Douglas street and its intersections be- tween Seventeenth and Twentieth streets would be ouly about one-third what the city has paid for lowering Eleventh street last. year and not over half what this city and county have paid for grading Thirteeath street south of the raiiroad, to Hascall's ten acre lot. And, by the way, the grading of the street in front of Hascall's grounds was entively done at the ex- pense of tho cotty, while property owners on Thirteensh north of Hascall's road house had to pay half of the grad- ing expenses in front of these lots. —— ArcmTecT McDONELL in lecturing before the Y. M. C. A. the other night described as one.of the necessities of a perfect building ‘ thnt “sculpture or painting bo employedito tell the story of the building.” ‘What tablets of brass or what statues of marble will tell the story of city halls built by boodling councilme —— Is Up in the Profession. Boston Globe. As an adroit manipulator of meaningless words, Dr. Mackenzie, Unser Fritz's phy- sician, takes the royal bun. pirtudicher” -ininr Pulverize the Sugar Combiner. New York World. There is nothing refined about the sugar combiner, If the people don't like being crushed, be says, they can lump it. ——— Fate's Finger. Minneapolis Trilune. “The finger of Fate is pointing at Mr. Conk- ling,” says the Chicago Mail. And you are quite sure that the thumb of F'ate is not at the same time resting playfully on the tip of Fate's nose? i illiomiann Bound to Fail. Kansas City Journal, Tho latest rumor in regard to trusts is that the Rothschilds are attempting to form @ diamond trust. They will find this a dificult matter, for they will first have to secure the co-operation of the hotel clerks and the bar- nders. g State Convention of Republican Clubs. NEBRASKA HEADQUARTERS RE- PUBLICAN LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES. OMAHA, Feb. 10, 1888. Pursuant to the recommendation of the. republican league of the United States, we hereby issue this official call for a convention of the republican clubs in the state of Nebraska, to assemble at I'ngmxitiun hall, in the city of Omaha. Neb., at 11 o'clock in the forenoon o' Thursday, March 15, 1888, and to con- tinue in session until the completion of any business coming before the conven- tion. We request each of the republican clubs, throughout the state, having a membership of twenty or thirty or more, to select three delegates te repre- sent the club in this convention. The president of each club is, by virtue of his office, entitled to a seat in this convention, in addition to the three delegates provided for. The delegation from a club to cast but one vote. The primary object of holding this convention of republican clubs of the state is the organization of a state re- publican league, which shall act in con- junction with the national league and with the state central committee, and which shall in no wise interfere with the dutiesand reru{nuves of thelatter. The formation of & state league is bound to conduce;to the efficient co- operation of these clubs, in state and national politica, and will lead to in- creased party efficiency, to intelligent comprehension, among the masses, of the living questions before the country, and to a degree of organization hitherto unknown in the history of any political party. The convention shall not name, recom- mend or nominate sny candidate for oftice. Delegates are notified that, during the convention, the rooms of the Young Men’s republican club of Omaha, at the Millard hotel, will be open as the head- quarters for the delegates from out of town, Itis of great importance that each club send at once tne names of the dele- gates selected to Charles A. Collard, secretary of the Young Men’srepublican club of Omaha; address room 17, Ne- braska National bank building, Omaha. It is earnestly desired that republi- cans residing in communities where there is now no club organization will proceed at once to effect such organiza- tion, elect their delegates to the state convention, and report as above. GEORGE 1. MEIKLEJOHN, Vice-President of Republican National League for Nebraska. R. W. BRECKENRIDDE, Member Executive Committee Republi- can National League. e STATE AND ‘TERRITORY. Nebraska Jottings. Lincoln county will put $5,000 in a new jail. Ord is stocking up on a butter and cheese factory. The republicans of Falls City have clubbed together. York proposes to invest $22,600 in a central high school. Aurora is sending out feelers for the Missouri Pacific extension. The “Bank of Prosperity” is a flourishing institution in Liberty. Rev. Brown has undertaken the ap- palling task of spreading righteousness among the lost in Lincoln, A bunch of Union Pacific surveyors camped at Fullerton last week and set the wesidents to speculating on futures, Miss Josie Sutton, a former resident of Crete and a popular young lady, was one of the cyclone victims at Mt. Vernon. The bank of Valley. Douglas county, isin running order.” C. B. Mayne, of Omaha, is president, and John Riley vice-president. The Fullerton Journal reports the ulse of Nance county republicans beat- ng strongly for Blaine, with Sherman second and Lincoln third. Local option has corked the saloons in Aurora. Twosaloon men were tried and convicted last week, and the third plead guilty and was fined $250 and costs, = “There is probu.bfy no doubt,” says the Wayne Herald, ‘‘that, if Omaha could get a railroad to Yankton and on to a connection with the Northern Pacific, without paying , out a dollar for 1t, that it would accept it.” The West Point Republican is branching out as a political prophet. With Phil Sheridan a8 leader in the next campaign, it i§ conpvinced that the republican party would sail into power with a tremendous hurrah. Mayor Alexander, of Hastings, carries his nerve with him on all official ocea- sions. Accompanied by a policeman to fan him, he pulled a poken game a few nights ago, jailed five professionals and fined them $10 to 50 each. Greenwood, a lively town in Cass’ county, has sent a- committee to Ne- braska City to inspect the Beyschlag cereal mill at that point. A millof like charaeter, to cost $15,000, is to be built and operated in Greenwood, provided the citizens give a bonus of #2.000. Banker Spitzer, of Toledo, has become infatuated with Nebraska’s gilt edge ecurities, The #40,000 in bridge bonds ssued by Columbus have been purchased ata premium of 360. Mr.Spitzer’sinvest- ments are tinged with one gulp of gloom —nhis failure to secure the Omaha high school bonds. Frank Ford, of Broken Bow, while 27, 1888 speeding his team on a country road, was di to the ground by an accl dent to the wagon. The horses took t! {nm. wil{eell and dhnhed nw?y. A‘(':er L) wo mile spin they ran into a buggy occupied by Calking, a man of ‘sevent, yoars. The buggy was wrecked, an the old man dangerously injured. His shoulder blades were factured, besides & number of cuts and brusios. The editor of the Loup City Trans- cript is a feather weight champion of Sherman county. He itates the hand press at 127 pounds. A 250 pounder, with a crushing swagger and & loose tongue undertook to show the scribe how to run the paper. “We did not dispute his ability to do said act,” says the cheerful editor, ‘‘yet we are still able to attend to our duties. Self- preservation is the first law of nature, mmse&uently we had said gentlemen placed under bonds to keep the peace.” Henry Miller, of Phelps county, went out with a %un or ducks. The gun was a regular shoulder dislocator, and was londed with fine Bl\l'ifi. Henry braced himself for the shot, but the gun went off at both ends. The breech-pin struck Miller above the eyes, breaking the skull and depressing the brain. He was stunned for o few minutes and with his companions walked half a mile to his home. Doctors extracted several splin- ters of bone and trepanned the skull, Miller is now doing well and is likely to recover. His escape from instant death verges on the miraculous. The Butler county commissioners were aralyzed last week with a bill of $3,300 rom Lawyer Cowin for services in the bond suit of the Blue Valley railroad, The county voted 858,000 in bonds in aid of the road, but they were declared void. The litigation 'cost the county $11,000. The Press says it cost David City severely. By supportin the new road she earned the hatred of the Union Pacific, and refusing to pay made the B. & M. her enemy, and until the Northwestern came she was ‘‘be- tween the devil and the deep sea.” Ex- rience comes high, but people must ave it at any price. Towa Items. Davenport is negotiating for a cable street railway. Centerville had a sensation last week in the marriage of a white man and a colored woman. Keokuk has stopped the use of stone flagging for street crossing purposes and will use brick. The third reunion of the Twelfth lowa volunteer infantry will take place at Waterloo, Black Hawk county,Thursday and Friday, April 5 and 6. The women of Fort Dodge have sworn out nine injunctions against saloon keepers of that city, and declare that they will close every saloon. Articles of incorporation were filed with the secretary of state Monday by the Garden City Canning and Pickling company, of Pella, with a capital of $5,000. Children returning from school near Fdirport Wednesday evening found an obstruction on the track and flagged an approaching train, which stopped just in time to avert a serious accident. The Davenport Cremation society is going right nhead, and at a late meet- ing the surchnse of the lot was ap- proved and plans presented for the cre- matorium, work upon which will be commenced as soon a8 practicable. Just for the fun of the thing a man in Dubuque the other day saturated his ants with kerosene and then touched imself off with a match. A few min- utes later he was outside the house roll- ing in a snow bank to putout the flames. The State Teachers’ association adopted the reformed spelling of the following twelve words and recom- mended that teachers use them and teach them: Hav, ar, catalog, definit, gard, giv, hed, shal, tho, thru, wil, wisht. A hair-raising horror is reported from Davenport. Wednesday a bright little girl thirteen years old was left alone in the house where she was employed as a domestic. A stranger called, chloro- formed her and cut her fine hair off close to her head. The police are look- ing for the mysterious tonsorial artist who perpetrated the rape of the locks. Dakota. Jamestown has secured an electric light plant. Fargo sent a carload of provisions to the Mount Vernon cyclone sufferers. The Fargo board of trade proposes to raise 88,000 to secure the Catholic see for that city. Senator Stanford, of California, has sent a check for $5,000 to the Dakota university at Mitchell. Huron has positive assurance that the Manitoba grade between Watertown and that city will be ironed and in ope- ration by the 15th of June. Ed Little, a prominent man in mining circles and one of the first discoverers of many of the mines in the Black Hills, died at Deadwood last week. Natural gas was struck at Ashton at a depth of 100 feet. When ignited from a three-inch pipe it burned steadily, throwing a blaze four feet high. The recent official census shows that Aberdeen has a population of 5,044. The city has been redistricted into four wards to conform with the new charter. ¢ The following is extracted from the annual report of Bishop Walker of the Protestant Episcopal church of north Dakota: **The parishes and missions are 43 in number; baptisms, infants,131, adults, 23, confirmations, 81, commun cants, 683, marriages, 27; burials, Sunday school teachers, 55; Sunday school scholars, about contribu- tions, $14,016.23.” American Grocer, February 15, Next to free sugar and American ocean mail service the greatest boon congress ean confer on the American peovle is penny letter postage. From the inception of the present post affice department to the present its history has been one of progress and reform. 1t has sometimes been tardy in responding to the popular demand for cheaper rates, greater facilities, rapid service, free de- livery, yet in time it gets abreast of public sentiment. that congress hears the voice of the people for penny letter postage. On the 4th of January three bills were in- troduced in the house of representatives as follows: H. R. 1680.—Provides that mailable matter of the first class shall be paid at the rate of 1c for each ounce or fraction thereof. H. R. 1427.—To reduce letter postage to 1¢ an ounce by amending Sec. 5003 H. R. 1425.—To reduce the rate of postage on letters, commonly known as drop or local letters to lc. These are imely and practical meas- ures that are not fik-:ly to burden the department. Penny = letter postage would do away with postal card service, which costs the government more than it receives. It furnishes the cards, transports them as first-class registered mail matter, causing an expenditure of several millions yearly in order to place the cards on sale at 55,000 differ- entofces. It gives the people other service merely for public convenience, which costs the government large sums -thus free dufiver of mail matter costs nearly 85,000,000, Is there any good reason for transe We are glad to note. ng four ounces of second-class atter for 1 cent and exacting 8 cents for sending a letter the same distance. It is no more_expensive, nor does it require any different service to trans- port a letter welghlng one ounce for 1 cent, than it does fo furnish postal cards and carry them twice through the mails for 2 cents,the first transportation costing #1.14 per pound as first-class registered matter, 1 two ounces of circular inclosed in an envelope can besentall over the coun- try for 1 cent, what is there to prevent the nnd(ng of a sealed letter weighing one ounce for 1 cent? The average weight of letters sent through the mails is five to the ounce, returning the government 10 cents per ounce for its service, as against 1 cent for two ounces of circulars, or 1 cent for four ounces of second-cluss matter, ‘We have confidence that penny letter postage would be self-sustaining within two years, It would lead to changes in the character of the matter mailed that would go a srut way to offset the re- duction and also would leaa to savings in many branches of the service. The surplus in the treasury is a con- stant menace to the general welfare. The public good is the first considera- tion in ridding the treasury of ite hoard- ings. Free sugar, adequate compensa- tion for American ocean mail service, and penny ‘mu\go brings relief toevery citizen, while expenditures for publio buildings, pensions, etc., only indirectly help the mpls at large, besides estab- lishing precedents when beyond our real needs. ‘We bonst of no standing army, but an enormous surplus of revenue has foster- ed raids on the treasury. until in 1886 this government paid 863,000,000in pen- sions, while Germany expended LP& 000,000 to support her entire Mmj) while her pension list was only 5,500, 000. Stop the use of public money for rivate good and give us a cheaper and tter mail service. “In 1880 the post office department reported a revenue, $3,228,000 less than its expenditures. Since then it has re- duced rates of postage, increased the number of offi 12,000, extended free delivery in cities and greatly improved the services in other directions, and still in 1887 its expenditures were only #3,555,000 more than its receipts, a dif- Jerence in seven years of only $327,000, during which time the salaries of post: masters were increased $4,200,000. Are not these fucts alone sufficient to war- rant the granting of penny postage for one ounce letters? Chnng postage is one of the most nc- tive and useful educational factors that a nation can bestow upon its people. It would stimulate correspondence quite as much as cheap transportation 'develops an increase in passenger trafiic. Every letter mailed is a source from whic springs one or more other communica- tions. Besides individual benefits, penny postage would increase the fra- ternal relations between different sec- tions of the country. Thus far the pres- ent administration, while satisfactory to the people, has done nothing to make it live in history. If it should do nothing else than establish \'(m"ny ostage its history would be marked nm’? its action remembered through coming genera- tions. Let us hope that it will not dally with this subject as it has with the ocean mail service, the tariff reform and other important measures, but promptly respond to the popular demand for penny letter postage. S O Overworked Rallway Managers. St. Louia Post-Dispateh. The retirement of the Union Pacific’s general manager, Potter, broken down by overwork follows soon after the death of Hoxie and Talmage from the same cause and suggests the need for some effective legal curtailment of the ex- ceedingly onerus and multifarious labors now imposed on the general man- agers of railroads. Such curtailment would be a merciful protection to the body politic and to the people at large as well as to the general manager him- self. It is not merely the physical and men- tal strain of responsibility proper that, kills this munificently salaried drudge. It is not traveling by day, working by night, investigating department de- tails, studying commercial situations, ete., that kills him. An army of well- chosen, well-organized subordinates makes his labors in that field compara- tively light, and his pathway smooth. In Engiand and other countries where this is all the strain he has upon him, the railway manager isa man of ele- gant leisure—robust, long-lived and never complains of overwork in charge of the most expensive railway business. But in addition to real railway busi- ness the general manager of a railway in this country has as heavy a load of cares and responsibilities as the Czar of Russia.” He is required to run the caucuses and conventions of both opli- tical parties; to handle statelegislatures and, c“y councils, as well as boards of trade; to watch the courtsas wel! as the stock exchanges; to work all the wires of government in the large district which he rules over as the pro-consul for the Camsars of Wall street, and from which it is his business to extract the largest possible returns of revenue for his masters at the lowest pos- sible expense and with the least ssible political friction.. ‘What ills him is the moral strain that is put upon him, the manipulation of lobbies and officials: the wielding of the terrible power of discrimination in trade to build up one trading point or interest and destroy another. All these labors and responsibilities should be diverted by law from railrond managers, and for the sake of the general welfare it should be made a punishable crime for any railroad manager to exerciso such functions, or for any railrond company to impose such labors on him. S Had No Steak for Chicago Tribune. Strange requests are sometimes of senators by applicants for offi persons who daily throng the col of the capitol. The telephone in the office of dw secretary of the senate rang violently one day this week, as if some hungry applicant was determined upon an immedicte hearing and resolved that nothing should interferere with his pressing wants. “‘Hello! Hello!” came through the telephone, “Hello?” ‘s this 27777 “Yes; go ahead?” “Is Mr. there?”’ mentioning the name of a well-known senator, “Yes."” *“Tell him to come to the telephone.” “All right.” The senator, who, by the way, bears the same name that -known res taurateur in this in this ¢ v called and promptly stepped to th strument. *Hello!” “Is that you, “Yes, go ahe ~ “Where is my steak at once!” “Send you a what?” “No, not a what—a beefsteak.” “What did you say? Saythatagain,” called the astonished senator. “A beefsteak—a beelsteak—b e-ef, Him, steak? Send me a beef- foagml o “‘No, I don't,” shouted the frate senne tor, losing all patience and throwing tdown the receiver. “What does tho fellow want, anyway?” turning to an at- tendant. The latter, whose pranks have set the secretary’s office roaring more than once, stepped to the tele- phone, *‘Hello!"” “Blank, blank, blankety blank, I want my steak. I ordered it over half an hour ago. I wish you would, let me know if you intend sending it before tho next Fourth of July?" ©0, yes; Mr. —— will be sorry to hear of your disappointment, but as a senator of the United States he cannot favor your request; there are no stakes here or any one, and all application must bo made directly to the head of the proper department.” 'here was a discordant hum as of many voices at the other end of the wire, a faint echo as of suppressed lnughter, and then como an almost fus audible whisper: “It's all & ‘mistake;’ good bye,” st Sy Books and Magazines. A very interesting and instructive work is a recent issue from the Williams Publishing Co., Cleveland. Ohio, and ontitlod ‘A Third of a Century in tho Gold Fields.” The book isedited by Frederick T. Wallace and isa pleasantly written tale of the experiences of Chas. D. Ferguson, a '4%r during a residence of thirty-four years in California and Australia, * 1auLife of James gu:ullhlnwlll" is the atest from the D. Lothrop Company, Boston. K. T, Brown is the authot and has produced n clever and interesting sketch of one of America’s remarkable men. . * “Tt {s the Law” Is & touching tale of marriage and divorce by Thomas Edgar Willson and _published by Belford, Clarke & Co., New York. The story is interesting throuzh.oul,. s The Technology Architectural Ree view is published by the department of architecture of the Massachusetts insti- tute of technology. The publication consists of a folio of plates made by the gelatine system,and the illustrationsare handsome and interesting. The Review will, without doubt, be f\hly appreciated by the architects and draughtmen of the country. Mr. Thomas R. Kimball, son of Thomas L. Kimball, of Omaha, is one of the editors of the publication. * *x . Miner has laid before the public sult of many years’ thought and research, in book form. It is entitled, “‘Creation; Or, the Power Behind Evo- lution,” and is intended to disclose the unity of matter and force. The work is worth a careful reading. Burdette com= pany, publisher, B‘\'lr'}ingwn, Ia, ¥ Cassell’s Family Magazie, New York, for March opens with an installment of that spirited serinl ‘‘Monica,” or “Stronger than Death,” which bids fair to outdistance somo of its predecessors in popularity. ‘,Some Cats of a Larger Growth,” is a lively paper on tigers, by one who has lived among them in their native jungles. The devoted sister who nursed her brother back to health through a case of typhoid fever, gives the conclusion of her experiences,which ought to be profitable reading to ama- teur nurses. Following this the inter- esting ‘‘City of Sheereefs” is described. The “Family Doctor” this month tells what he thinks of so-called tonics which is not flattering to their compounders. My Cookery Class and What I Tavght it,”" is a thoroughly practical paper, and so is a *,Family of Boys and How They Were Started in Life.” The two fash- ion lotters are filled with their usual amount of early information from Lon- don and Parig. ““The Gatherer”is unusu« ally full, and among the novelties it re ports is an “elcctric’hlblu writer.” " The publishing house of Frank Orft & Co., Omaha, have completed a hand- some business directory for Nebraska City, Neb., The same firm is now en- gaged in preparing a directory for South Omaha, which will be issued soon. * e The Quiver, published by Cassell & Co., New York, for March will be very interesting. The opening article de- scribes ‘A New Mission Field.” The newly married, or even those about to be united in the holy bonds of wedlock, will find much profitable reading in the address on ‘‘How to Sanctify Mar- riage,” by the Rev. Gordon Calthrop, Edward Garrett continues his papers on “The Salt of the Earth,” in which he gives sympathetic sketches o{ some noble lives. ~ **‘Maggie’s Watch” {s a story for young people. ‘“‘Some Re- markable Church Towers’ are described with pen and pencil. There are stories, long and short, serials, poetry, and a bundle of “short arrows” that bring this number to a fitting close, - “The moon of Mahomet arose, and it shall set,” says Shulluf’; but 1f f'uu will sot a bottle of Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup in some handy place yow will have a quick cure for croup, coughs and colds. The eighth wonder of the world—a be- nighted man limping with rheumatism who had never heard of Salvation Oil, Price 25 cents a bottl Brooklyn Eagle: Cutting a maiden’s hair would seem to be a task of pleas- ure. My barber tells me this is not so. He is an affable gentleman, with end- less patience and small conversational powers. “*You'd think it was fun, would you?” he said the other day. “Well, lemme tell you it ain't.” A girl has just put her head in the door to say that Miss ithel Black wanted a shingle and would be at home an hour later for the operation. This provoked the query. “People who didn’t know might think as you do, young feller, but they fool thémselves. I'll go 'round there in an hour and & mighty mean time will T have. Kthel wiil be there, of course. So'll be Kthel's three sisters, her maw, her Aunt Sairy, her gran’maw and like as not some of the neighbor's women, They won’t none of ’em want her to do it, except perhaps, the young- est gal in the lot, l']lhul‘u made up her ming, but they all talk to her. Her Aun Smiry will snufle and ask Maria, which is the girl’s maw, how can she let her do it, and the neighbor's women side with her. Gran’'maw will kick, too, Other girls giggle and tell her how bad she'll look. Then I gitsto work. They all yell at the first nip of the shears, Then they begin on me. 1've gotto suit all of ‘em, including the aunt and gran'maw, who can’t see no, more'n & catin daylight. Its kick, kick, kick, from start to finish. When I'm through T'm tired—lucky if Tain’t mad. Cut a gal’s hair fun? ~ Not much. Ll = Facts, Figures and Words =2 learned rapidly and never forgotten by training the mem in Prof. Loisctte’s new und wholly scientific system, en- dorsed by hundreds of famous men, Taught by correspondence. Send for free prospectus to Prof. Loisette, 247 Fifth avenue, New York. e A courtship that had been In progress thirty-one years terminated in marriage at Clinton, 1a., last week. It is supposed that the leap-year privilege wes exercised by the