1880-12-23; Saline Observer

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Proprietors.
Saline
SALINE, WASHTENAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN,   DECEMBER 23, 1880.
%*VOL. L—NO. 6.
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NEWS 81IMMARY.
Important Intelligence from All Parts.
■*♦*   '	
Congress.
The following-hills were Introduced in the
Senate on the 15th: By Mr. Hill (Col.),
for the retirement of small legal-tender notes; hy Mr. Pendleton, to regulate the Givil Service of the United States
and to promote the efficiency thereof; hy the
same, to prohibit Federal officers, claimants
and contractors from making- or receiving-
assessments or contributions for political purposes. The hill to devote to public education
a, part of the proceeds of the sales Of public
lands -was supported by Messrs. Burnside,
Morrill and Brown In the House Mr. Bel-
ford* {Col.) introduced a bill for the retirement
of. small legal-tender notes. The Senate bill granting a pension Of §100
per month to the widow of President Tyler
"was passed. The Fortification Appropriation
hill was considered in Committee of tlie
Whole, reported back to the House and passed.
Mr. Gibson (La.), from the Committee on Mississippi Levees, reported a bill appropriating
§1,800,000 for the improvement of the Mississippi River, to be expended by aud under direction of the Secretary of War, iu accordance with the recommendations, plan's, specifications and estimates, and under the advisory supervision, of the Mississippi Kiver Commission. |
Mk. Maxey introduced a bill in the Senate
on the 16th authorizing the President] to place
General Ord on the retired list acedrding to
his brevet rank of Major-General wittf the pay
and emoluments thereof. Mr. Hoar presented
a petition for woman-suffrage in the j Territo-
• ries, which, "he said, was signed by ladies of
the highest attainments and occupying places
of the highest respectability in society.   A
prolong-ed debate took place on the Educational bill—A   concurrent  resolution  was
-adopted in the House—125 to 7<t— providing for
Ajjjieess of Congress from the 22d of December
f 755 *^gth of January.   The Pension' Appro-
7 58.ion-*biil  (1*50,000,000)  was reported from
81-imittee      of      the   Whole   and j passed.
Si   Bland    (Mo.)    asked    and      Obtained
S-'ve-    to     have     printed     a -   substitute
{nich he proposed to offer for the Funding
sll; it appropriates of coin in the Treasury
the sum of §100,000,000 for payment of the interest-bearing debt of the United States falling due during 18S0 and 18S1, and directs the
Secretary of the Treasury  to cause! to    be
coined the maximum amount of silver dollars
in the manner now authorized by law, and to
pay out such dollars in redemption of the public debt; Section 2 repeals all laws authorizing
the issuing- of bonds for the purpose pf funding or redeeming the interest-bearing debt of
the United State's.
The House resolution for adjournment of
Congress from December 22 to January 5 was
disagreed to in the Senate on the Yi\h.—27 to
31—and a motion to reconsider the vote was
subsequently made by Mr. Iugalls. iffr. Wallace introduced a bill to establish a uniform
system of bankruptcy. Mr. Blaine offered a
resolution, which was agreed to, that the Judiciary Committee inquire into the expediency
of increasing the number of Supreme Court
Judges to thirteen. The Educational bill was
further considered, and an amendment offered
by Mr. Teller, striking out the clause* setting
apart the proceeds of lands and patents as
a permanent fund, and provided that
for the first ten years said proceeds .shall be paid to the several
States according to the proportion of population over ten years of age who cannot read
and write, was adopted in committee—31 to
30—but was subseauestly lost—2S toi 28, the
"Vice-President not being in the chair. The
bill was then passed—41 to 6.   Adjourned to
the £0th The House passed the Senate bill
srranting a pension to the widow of General
Hointzelman. Mr. Aldrich introduced a bill
to* give-the city of Chicago title to certain pub-
lie grounds. A bill was passed limiting sessions of the Legislative Assemblies of the several Territories to sixty days' duration;.
Tub Senate was not in session on the isth	
The Military Academy Appropriaticfn bill
(§322,125; was passed in the House. Tlie Consular and Diplomatic Appropriation bill (-51,-
iyp.430)was debated in Committee of the Whole
ahfi, reported back, Avhen a vote was taken—
140 to'-S-—showing no quorum present.   !
^ Domestic.
A special telegram from Buffalo on the
loth announces that there was no prospect of
the grain boats, which were frozen, in in
the Erie Canal, getting- through to tidewater.
The Department of Agriculture says oi the
condition of cotton that there is a decline in
the return of December 1 as compared with
that received November 1. The continuance
of rain and very cold weather in November
lowered the estimate of the States bordering
en the Mississippi River. j
SErDENBERG & Co., a well-known cigar
firm of New York and Key West, employing
800 men at the latter place, made an ;assign-
me'nt on the 15th. Liabilities stated to be
about §.300,000. Joseph Brown &j Bros,
wholesale dry goods merchants of New York,
have also failed, with liabilities of §9*^,000..
Mart and Rudolph Torney died; at Milwaukee on the loth of trichinosis.   '   !
On the loth two coaches on the Missouri
Pacific Railroad flew the track near Eureka,
Mo., and twelve passengers were badly hurt.
On the loth a confidence operator j at St.
Louis was chased out upon the great! bridge
by a policeman, and 'ended his career by
leaping ninety feet into the Mississippi.
The Alabama Great Southern Railroad has
decided to tunnel Lookout Mountain. J
TnriiTT-SEVE-s- steam and 249 sail jvessels
are laid up for the winter in Chicago harbor.
The Comptroller of the City of Chicago
has closed out a four per cent, loan of £843,-
000 inside of nineteen hours. Thesd bonds
were offered at par in small denominations,
in order to distribute them generally!among
the citizens.
A New* York dispatch of the 16thJ says a
banking firm in that city had already received
subscriptions in advance for the net three-
rer-cent. bonds to the extent of 6200,000,000.
A prominent foreign legation alone had subscribed for §500,000 of these securities^
In his annual report the Chief of ihe Bureau of Statistics says the United Staites already surpasses every other country |in the
magnitude of its exports,, both of breaidstuffs
and provisions, and it is maintained thjat tlie
market for American breadstuffs anil jprovis-
ious iu Europe can be still further extended.
The five leading articles of export during the
year ended June 30, 1830, were as follows:
Bread and breadstuff's, §288,036,835; cotton,
unmanufactured, §211,535,905; provisions,
$127,043,242; mineral oils, $36,218,6-3;- tobacco and manufactures thereof, §18,442,293.
The National Hotel at Oi«au, N. _".-, was
destroyed by fire a few nights ago, and the
wife and two daughters of the proprietor
perished fn the flames.
The population of Georgia, officially reported, is 1,542,618, an increase of 358,509, or
thirty per cent., since 1870.
Governor Neil, of Idaho, in his message to
the Legislature, says: " Polygamy is being
rapidly introduced from Utah. The statute is
defective, as it is found, impossible to trove
the ceremony. The Territory is in danger of
becoming a second edition of Utah." Tile
Governor expresses the hope that the Legista**
ture will adopt measures to crush out the
practice. He also advises the punishment of
those who advise and preach the doctrine of
polygamy.
The National Board of Trade concluded
its labors on the 176h and adjourned sine
die. A resolution was adopted favoring postal telegraphy.
L. M. Mter, of Augusta, Ga„ reports haying been recently robbed of $10,800 in a
sleeping-car between New York, and 'Philadelphia,. -,r ;    '
* Miis*. Hinz and son, of Beaver Dam, Wit,
liave recently died from trichinae, and two
members of Mr. MUlarck's family were prosr
trate. A piece taken from the dead boy's arm
was alive with parasites.
The Oklahoma adventurers at Caldwell,
Kan., were visited on the 17th by the leaders
of four nations of the red men and informed
that if the Government should permit them
to invade Indian Territory, the Indians would
speedily exterminate them.
A pew days ago a negro couple of Prince
George County, Va., locked their two children in the house and went out to pick peas,
when the building took fire and th.e little
ones perished in the flames.
Thomas Ke-glt, a planter near Smithfield,
N. C, recently died from the effects of a
white powder administered by a conjuror.
The charlatan has fled the country.
Ox the afternoon of the 17th robbers ransacked the residence of Mrs. George Tod, at
Youngstown, Ohio, and carried off diamonds
and jewelry valued at §7,000.
The complete census of Nevada is stated
to show a population of 68,400, ,an increase
of 26,000 in ten years.
The wall-paper manufactory of Birge &
Sons at Buffalo, N, Y., and the Union Malt-
house, adjoining, were destroyed by fire on
the night of the 17th, .involving a loss of
§280,000. In the former 150 workmen were
employed, of whom about thirty perished in
the flames.
A St. Louis telegram of the 17th says Dr.
Wilson, the representative of the Oklahoma
colonists on the border of Indian Territory
under the surveillance of the military, had
left that eity for Washington, where he would
endeavor to obtain orders sto enable the
colonists to proceed on their journey unmolested.
The giving way of a cylinder-head in the
Granger foundry at Providence, R- L, on the
17th, scattered the brains of Timothy Mullen
in all directions.
A St. Paul (Minn.) telegram&of the 18th
says General Terry had information from
Major Brotherton that Scout Allison started
from the vicinity of Woody Mountain on the
llth with Sitting Bull's camp of Indians,
with the plan of going into FortBufordto
surrender. The Indians were said to be
starving. They were few and in poor condition, and appeared to have but a small
amount of ammunition.
On the 17th Abraham Henry killed his
uncle. Joseph Lewis, near Oxford, Ind., and
on the 19th shot dead Deputy Sheriff Pierson,
of Warren County, who attempted to arrest
him.
A recent explosion in a manufactory on
Twenty-sixth street, New York, carried a
four-thousand-pound boiler, almost unbroken, a distance of nearly two hundred
feet, doing no damage on the route.
The liabilities of B. G. Arnold & Co., the
bankrupt coffee firm of New York, are reported by the assignee at $2,157,914, and the
assets at §1,571,19S.
The total population of the State of Maine,
according to the returns made to the Census
Office by the enumerators, is 648 945. Of
this number 324,084 are males and 32-i,S(Jl are
females; 590,076 are natives and 5S,S09 are
foreign born; 646,903 are white and 2,042 are
colored.
During the week ended December 18, 41S,-
995 standard silver dollars were distributed-
During the corresponding week in 1879 the
number was 434,990.
The Chief of the Bureau of Statistics reports the total values of exports of domestic
breadstuifs for the eleven months ended November 30, 18S0, at §256,762,380; same period
in 1879, §230,791,604.
Secretary Sher„j_.n on the 18th inspected
the plates, seals and bills captured by Secret-
Service officers with the Broekway gang of
counterfeiters. Mr. Casilear, of the Bureau
of Engraving, pronounced the work the
equal in every way of that produced by the
Government.
The population of Montana Territory is as
follows: Total, ,39,157. Males, 2S,1S0: females, 10,977; native, 27,612; foreign-born,
11,515; white, 35.46S; colored, 3.6S9. *
On the night of the 17th the wall-paper
manufactory of Birge & Son, at Buffalo, N.
Y., was consumed by fire. The flames
spread so rapidly that egress from the building was cut off, and several of the workmen
perished in the flames. On the 19th three
corpses were recovered from the debris and
five boys were still missing. It was thought
that the loss of life was between fifteen and
twenty.
A pew days ago Charles Sickler, of
Scranton, Pa., gave his sick wife by mistake
carbolic acid instead of hydrate of chloral.
The wife died and Sickler became insane.
Charles Jones was locked up in jail at
Charlottesville, Va., for shooting a woman.
On the evening of the ISth he wrapped his
bed-clothes about his neck, saturated them
with kerosene, set them on fire and perished
in the flames.
Personal and Political.
President Hates on *the 15th nominated
Judge William B. Woods, of Georgia, of the
Fifth United States Judicial Circuit, to the
United States Supreme Bench, vice Justice
Strong, resigned on account of ill-health.
The American Woman's Suffrage Association met in Washington on the 15th. Twelve
States were represented. A telegram was
received from Governor Hoyt, of Wyoming,
indorsing woman's suffrage. Congress would
be asked to enact a law giving women equal
political rights in the Territories.
The San Francisco Board of Trade have
telegraphed a request to the California delegation in Congress to sustain the Nicaragua
Canal project.
The State Grange of Indiana demands that
the Agricultural Bureau be raised to a Cabinet portfolio, and that a National Railway
law be enacted, to prohibit discrimination in
freights.
The Democrats of the Third New Hampshire District have nominated Colonel J. B.
Hoslcy to (ill the vacancy caused by the death
of Mr. Farr.
The United States Senate has unanimously
confirmed the nominations of Colonel William
B. Hazen to be Chief Signal Officer, with the
rank of Brigadier General, and Colonel Nelson A. Miles to be Brigadier General of the
army.
The National Board of Trade on the 16th
adopted, for transmission to Congress, the
draftof an act to prevent food adulteration,
and also a resolution that the coinage of
siicer be left to the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury..
At its session in Columbus on the 15th the
Ohio State Grange adopted a resolution that
hereafter all candidates for public office asking the support of Grangers shall be requested to* publicly express.-their sentiments upon
railway corporations and their relation to the
people. J. H. Bingham was re-elected
Master.
General Grant visited both houses of
Congress on tlie 16th, and in each a recess of
ten minutes was taken in his honor.
By direction of the President a general order was issued from army headquarters on
the 18th assigning Brevet Major-General O-
O. Howard to the Department of West
Point; Brigadier-General C. C. Augur to the
Department of Texas; Brevet Brigadier-Gen
eral Henry J. Hunt to the Department of the
South; Brevet Brigadier-General R. S. Mackenzie to a new Department comprising Arkansas, Louisiana&nd Indian"Territory; Major-General, John M. Schofield to the newtmil-
itary division of the Gulf, and Brigadier-General N. A. Miles to the Department of the
Columbia.
The official vote of Tennessee has recently
been declared, and is as follows: For Hancock, 129,569; Garfield, 107,677; Weaver,
5,917; Dow, 43. Hancock's plurality, 21,892;
majority over all, 15,932.
Kate Chase Sprague has filed a petition
for divorce from her husband, William
Sprague, in the Washington County (R. I.)
Court.
A Washington dispatch of the ISth says the
certificates of the Electoral vote had been received by mail from every State in the Union.
The Louisville Courier-Journal of the 19th
gives the following as the footings of the official popular vote for President, derived from
official sources: Hancock, 4.453.49S; Garfield,
4,460,249; Weaver, 307,998; Dow, 9,834; scattering, 9,579.    Total vote, 9,241,153.   Garfield
over Hancock, 6,751.
*	
.Foreign.
A revolt of negroes recently occurred in
Cuba, which was promptly checked by the
execution of a few of the leading spirits at
Santiago.
Healy and Walsh, indicted Land Leaguers,
were acquitted at Cork on the 15th. In the
evening they were complimented with a serenade. John Power, one of the party who
slit the ears of a bailiff near Tralee, although
identified by his victim, has been acquitted.
The Earl of Crawford died in London on
the loth.
It was again asserted on the loth that the
Czar of Russia would retire to the Crimea,
leaving his authority to a Council under the
Presidency of the Grand Duke Alexander, on
condition that the Czar's marriage with the
Princess Dolgorouki be declared legal.
Late Peruvian advices say that a Chilian
fleet of eighteen vessels had attacked and
captured tlie town of Piseo and burned the
rolling-stock of a railroad belonging to British capitalists. The Peruvians lost 150 and
the Chilians 400 men. A force of 10,000 men
then landed from the fleet and took up its
march through the Yea Valley for Lima, a
distance of 126 miles. The Peruvians had
sent out three divisions to check the invaders, and the Chilian fleet had returned for
reinforcements. ■
Emjle de Girabdin, the French statesman,
•announces that he will close his political career with the present chamber.
The Greek Minister of War has invited proposals for supplying provisions to eighty
thousand soldiers on the Turkish frontier.
A land-meeting at Portadown, Ireland, on
the 17th was attacked by Orangemen, who
wrecked the platform and dispersed the
crowd. The Earl of Inneskilleh, Grand
Master of the Order, has appointed a Vigilance Committee to protect property in Ireland.
Michael Davitt,' the Land agitator, has
had his ticket of leave canceled, and it is announced that he will be imprisoned at Dublin.
The foot and mouth disease is spreading
rapidly among the cattle in Great Britain.
A Land-League meeting was held at Mu1-
linger, Ireland, on the 19th, at which 10,000
persons were present. -
Ox the 19th 2,000 persons met In Berlin
and resolved to buy nothing from Jewish
shops, and to return no Liberal to Parliament
who will not vote to suppress the liberty of
the proscribed people.
A child named Mary E. Gurd was killed by
a street car in Toronto a few days ago, and
her mother, on viewing the remains, became
hopelessly insane-
A Dublin dispatch of the 19th says that
Mr. Downing, a Justice of the Peace in
County Mayo, had been compelled to flee
to Dublin for having issued writs of ejectment. Police with drawn bayonets alone
prevented the wrecking of his residence by a
mob of two thousand persons.
Francis T. Buckland, the English writer
on natural history, died on the 19th.
LATER  NEWS.
Jones & McDonald and Ray & McLaury,
two Chicago commission firms, suspended on
the 20th. They had been operating heavily
in wheat. Jones & McDonald's liabilities
were placed at §500,000.
On the 20th snow fell to the depth of five
inches at Richmond, Va.
Dispatches received from the Oklahoma
invaders on the 20th report that provisions
were running short at Payne's camp. Information had been received that a camp of
thirty-eight wagons and fifty men had been
established on the Cimarron within the limits
Of Indian Territory.
Broadway, in New York City, from Union
Square to Twenty-eighth street, is nightly
illuminated by electricity.
The Catholic Bishop of Virginia has induced
thirty Catholic liquor-dealers of Richmond
to sign a pledge to close their saloons on
Sunday,
Op 150 cases of diphtheria in Brooklyn, N.
Y., during the week ended on the ISth fifty
were fatal.
The United States Supreme Court has recently decided that an individual stockholder
of an insolvent National Bank cannot be compelled to pay more than his full proportionate share of the bank's liabilities in order to
make good a deficiency caused by the inability of other stockholders to pay their proportionate shares.
President Hates has requested General
Crook and General Miles,, of the army, William Stickney, of Washington, and Walter
Allen, of Newton, Mass., to proceed to Indian Territory and investigate the Ponca
question.
Governor Foster has withdrawn from the
contest for the Ohio Senatorship.
A late conflagration at Rangoon, in Bur-
mah, caused damage estimated at §13,000,-
000..
Dublin dispatches of the 30th say that
British troops were daily being landed at
Queenstown, and that the troubles in Ireland
were as pronounced as ever. The constabulary had been instructed to use the utmost
vigilance to protect bailiffs and care-takers.
In the United States Senate on the 20th. the
House concurrent resolution for a recess from
the 22d to January 5 was finally agreed to—33
to 26. Mr. Cockrell presented a petition of
certain citizens of Missouri and Kansas for
leave to settle on lands in Indian Territory.
Mr. Hoar introduced a memorial from New
England business men and corporations in
favor of a uniform Bankruptcy law. In
the House] Mr. Dunn introduced a resolution that lands in Indian Territory
to which the Indian title has been extinguished are subject to settlement under the
Homestead laws. Mr. Ellis presented a bill
to abolish the Government directorships in
the Union Pacific Railroad. The Consular
Appropriation bill was passed. A motion to
suspend the rules and pass a bill to dispense
with stamps on bank checks was defeated—
129 to 68—not the necessary two-thirds in the
affirmative.
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Interesting ConuTiercial Statistics.
Washington, December 16.
The annual report of JosephNimmo,
Jr., Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, on
the foreign commerce of the United
States, is completed. In regaii*-! to our
export trade, Mr. Nimnio says:S.
" Five leading articles of export during the
year ended June 30, iSSO, were as follows:
Bread and breadstuifs, §28,S,036,8a5; cotton, unmanufactured, §212,5&5,905s, provisions, §127,-
043,242; mineral oils, §3(>,2lJ>,625; tobacco and
manufactures thereof, §18,442-273. The United
States, he ssjjjfs,. already surpasses every other
country in the magnitude of its exports, both
breadstuffs and provisions, and it is maintained that thea market, for'American bread-
stuffs and provisions in Europe can be still
further extended. The United Kingdom of
Great Britain aiid Ireland stand first among
importing countries with respect to the value
of imports,both in breadstuffs and provisions."
Tables are presented showing that of the folio w-
ing commodities imported into Great Britain
and Ireland the percentage imported from the
United States wasias follows: Wheat, 68 per
cent.--Indian corn, 90 per cent.; live animals,
44 per cent.; beef, salted, 99 per cent.; beef,
fresh or slightly salted, 93 per cent.; butter, 12
percent.; cheese,,64!. per cent; bacon, 84 per
cent.?hams, 98 per cent.; lard, 96 per cent.;
mqat, preserved otherwise than salted, 72 per
cent.; pork, salttfd, 87 per cent. The report
says: "During the last ten years the competition of American breadstuffs and provisions
in British markets has greatly reduced the
price of those commodities, and «onsequently
the profits of producing them in the United
Kingdom. Apprehensions have been awakened
as to the ultimate effect of this competition
uponthe agricultural interests of the latter
country. The question is, in a politico-economic sense, a very large one, since it embraces
not only the interests of tho British farmers,
but also the rate of wages paid to farm-laborers, the value of lands devoted to agricultural
purposes, and the revenue derived therefrom
by the British land-owners. The growth of the
exportation of breadstuffs from the United
States has also led to serious apprehensions in
competing grain-producing countries in which
inferior methods of agriculture prevail and
facilities for handling aud transporting grain
and existing methods of commerce are less
advanced than in this country."
I-tegarding the maritime interest of the
United States, Mr. Nimmo sas's: " The decadence of that branch of the American merchant marine which is employed in the foreign
commerce of the country continues to engage
public attention. This decadence is indicated
by the following facts: The building of ships
and barks employed by our foreign commerce
fell from an annual average of 233 during the
ten years from 1851 to 1S60 to an annual aver--
nge of fifty-six during the ten years from 1871
to 1880. There were only twenty-three ships
and barks built during the year ended June
30,1880. The iron steamship is now the controlling vehicle of commerce on the ocean.
The tonnage of iron vessels built in this country the last five years amounted to only 101,-
823 tons, almost entirely for bur coastwise or
home trade in which no foreign competition
is allowed under the provisions of our Navigation laws, whereas the iron ship-building of
Great Britain during the last five years reported amounted to 1,800,193 tons. It is
stated that the iron steamers designed for
transatlantic trade now in course of construction in the ship yards of Great Britain would,
if placed in line, extend about one mile. The
total tonnage of the United States employed
in the foreign trade fell from 2,379,396 tons in
1860 to 1,314,402 tons during the year ending
June 30,1880. During the year ending June 30»
1880, the total value of the commodities transported in American and foreign vessels (imports and exports) amounted to the sum of
§1,589,472,093, of which the value transported
in American vessels amounted only to §280,-
005,497. The value transported in foreign vessels amounted to §1,309,466,496. A marked decline in the proportion of commodities carried
in American vessels has taken place during
the past year, the falling off having been from
23 per cent, in 1879 to 17.C per cent, in 1880."
After stating in detail the causes of the decline in that branch of American merchant
marine employed in foreign commerce, the report continues: "The fact that capital finds
abundant and more profitable employment in
the home industries and enterprises of this
country of vast and widely varied resources
than in the employment of vessels uponthe
ocean has undoubtedly had a strong influence
towards diverting attention from ship-building
and ship-owning enterprises. This is the
main, underlying cause of our maritime de-
clensiori?in so far as relates to foreign commerce." The branch of American merchant
marine which is employed in the internal and
coasting commerce of the United States, it is
shown, also exhibits a decline, notwithstanding
the fact that under our Navigation laws no
foreign vessel is allowed to engage in this
trade. The tonnage thus employed fell from
3,293,439 tons in 1874 to 2,637,6S5 tons in 1880.
The total tonnage built on the seaboard, embracing the Atlantic Gulf and the Pacific
coasts, including both tonnage built for
coastwise and for foreign trade, but chiefly
for the coastwise, fell from 1,013,010 tons during the five years from 1866 to 1870, to only
669,362 tons during the five years from 1876 to
18S0. The American tonnage built on the
great lakes, almost exclusively for internal
trade, fell from 214,333 tons during the five
years from 1866 to 1870, to 74,499 tons during
the five years from 1876 to 1880. The tonnage
employed in the domestic trade of the United
States (the ship ton being 100 cubic feet of
space) on June 30,1880, amounted to 2,637,6S5
tons. This embraces vessels employed both
in the carriage of passengers and freight. But
the capacity of railroad cars ot all descriptions
employed on the railroads of the United States
amounted, according to the latest and most
reliable information, to about 7,100,000 similar
tons of 100 cubic feet of space. This railroad-
car tonnage, however, the report says, actually affords means of transport for a much
larger amount of freight tonnage than is indicated by the foregoing comparison.
After further remarks regarding the excess
of commodities by rail over the commerce by
water, Mr. Nimmo continues: "The efficiency
of the railroads as highways of commerce has,
however, increased much more rapidly than
their mileage. This increased efficiency in
railroad transportation has been mainly the
result of a substitution of steel for iron rails,
and of improvements in the equipment and
methods of managing traffic."
The gross earnings of the railroads of the
United States for the years mentioned are
shown to be as follows: In 1851, §39,456,358; in
1861, §130,000,000; in 1871, §403,329,208; in 1879,
§529,012,999. This increase in gross earnings
has taken place notwithstanding the constant
and very large decrease in the average rates
of transportation. Tho number of freight
cars employed on the railroads in tho State of
New York increased from 16,525 in 1867 to 47,-
808 in 1879, and the number of freight-cars employed on all tho railroads in the United States
increased from 384,003 in 1876 to 480,190 in 1879.
ThO tonnage of the New York State canals
fell from 5,859,080 tons in 3809 to 5,302,372 tons
in 1879, but the tonnage of the two railroads
competing with the canal (tbe New York Central and the New York, Lake Erie & Western
Railroads) increased from 0,594,094 tons in 1869
to 17,228,394 tons in 1879.
These facts, it is maintained, servo to illus-
rato the most striking commercial develop--
nientof. thea?e—namely: the iact that the
vehicle of commerce on wheels has, in our
domestic trade, to a great extent superseded
the vehicle of commerce on the water. " The
same facts," it is held, "also indicate the
cause of the decline of shipping employed on
internal water UnPS and in the coastwise trade
of the United States."
In conclusion the report says: "Aside from
the economic and commercial considerations,
however, the American merchant qriarine, both
with respect to that branch which is employed
in foreign commerce and to that branch which
is employed in the internal commerce of the
country, has claims to public consideration
which cannot possibly be presented by means
of statistics of tonnage built and employed.
The subject has not, however, received that
thorough investigation which its importance
demands. It is a matter of interest to advert
to the fact that on the 29th of January, 1880,
the French Government adopted the somewhat extraordinary scheme of subventions
for the promotion of the French merchant-
marine. Bounties were provided for ships
built in France, and subsidies granted in
favor of all vessels built, at the rate of 1*4
francs on every ton for each 1,000 miles traveled in voyages to and from that country.
These measures are evidently in a high degree
protective and enabling, both as to the shipping and commercial Interests of France.
Aside from the appropriations for improving
or providing highways of commerce, public
sentiment in the United States has always regarded with disfavor direct grants from the
Treasury in aid of particular industrial or
commercial interests, except for the purpose
of taking the initiative in industries promising
large public benefits in dovelopment, or for
the purpose of promoting enterprises directly
conducive to the Nation's safety or conservative of the National honor. To What extent
the merchant marine of the United States presents claims of this character is a question to
be determined by the legislative branch of
the Government. The situation of the American merchant marine is peculiar, so far as it
relates to the possibility of adopting discriminating and protective measures which
in their practical operation shall prove to be
beneficial. Insofar as relates to industries
other than the building of ships and their employment in our commerce with foreign countries, foreign competition may be regulated
or absolutely shut out through the adjustment
of duties upon imports. This discretionary
power is ample, and may always bo exercised
effectively. But the case is entirely different
with the respective branch of our merchant
marine which is engagedin foreign commerce.
The Government of the United States has not
exclusive power of determining the proportion of American shipping which shall be employed in our trade with any particular foreign country. ,It is highly important, however, that the Government of the United States
should accord as great advantages to American ships, when engaged in commerce with
foreign nations, as are accorded by the Governments of those nations to their own ships
when engaged in commeree with the United
States.
"The question of restoring the American
merchant marine is undoubtedly a difficult
one. Nevertheless, the apparent difficulties in
the case should be an incentive to a thorough
investigation of the Whole subject, in all its
bearings, and to the adoption of ail practicable
measures which may tend toward securing the
desired result. The abundance and superiority of tbe natural agencies and the force in this
country essential to success in shipbuilding
and navigation afford a ground for the belief
that prosperity will at some future time dawn
upon the maritime interest of the United
States. Reference is here had especially to
our vast resources of coal and iron, and the
extent to which inventive genius has, in the
manufacture of iron and iu the construction
of ships, substituted mechanical power for
human labor. The approximation of the rate
of interest on money in the United States to
the rates which prevail in the countries of Europe and the rapid accumulation of surplus
capital in this country are also circumstances
which tend strongly toward turning capital to
investment in ship property."
The Terrible Fire Disaster in Buffalo.
Buffalo, December 17.
A most disastrous conflagration occurred
here this evening, the sad and deplorable feature of which is that it was attended by the
greatest loss of lif# known upon a similar occasion in very many years. The building in
which the fire broke out was a five story brick
structure, 300 feet in depth and eighty feet
wide, owned hy George W. Tifl't, and occupied by M. H. Birge & Sons, manufacturers of
wall paper. About ten minutes before six
o'clock one of the men employed in the third
story reported to the foreman, Thomas Henry,
who was on the -floor below, that one of the
printing machines was on fire. He speedily
made his way up-stairs, and saw the press at
the rear of the room enveloped in flames,
which had, by this* time, spread to the adjacent woodwork, while the place was filled with
dense smoke. As a temperature of ninety
degrees is maintained continually throughout
the factory, to assist the diying process, and
as this had rendered everything as dry astin-
der, Mr. Henry realized that the spread of the
flames would be terribly rapid, and it was folly
to think4hat anything could be done to ayert
it. He turned and ordered the employes to
■fly for their lives, immediately warning as
best he could those -who were in the
fourth and fifth stories, they being principally boys. In the meantime an
alarm had been sounded, to which
a portion of the department responded, and a
second and general alarm brought the remainder. The scene now presented was one that
would touch the stoutest heart. The building
was wrapped in seething flames. Employes
jumped from the highest windows, while many
boys in the two upper stories, who had been
unsuccessful in their efforts to escape, or became too bewildered to follow the example of
their companions, appeared at the windows
with White and terrified faces, and frantically
shouted for help. But their torture was of
brief "duration, for, almost simultaneously
with their cry for aid, they" sank back, overcome by suffocation from the smoke, and,
within twenty minutes from the time the
alarm was sounded, the walls crumbled and
fell with a crash. One small boy whose name
could not be learned, courageously jumped
from the fifth story, and, catching the telegraph wires, which then gave way, slid down
one of them, and escaped with badly cut
hands. John Malone, aged fifteen years,
jumped from the fifth story, struck the
sidewalk, and was almost instantly
killed. John Fields, employed as overseer
among the boys, jumped from the fourth
story and was picked up dead. John T. Berry
jumped from one of the upper stories and
sustained a fracture of the spine and of both
arms. He will probably die. With the falling of the walls the firemen were required to
give their attention to the Union Malt House,
an extensive brick structure, also owned by
George W. Tifl't, and occupied by John B.
Manning. • It was already in a fair way for
destruction, and, though every effort was
made, the best that could be done was in preventing the further spread of the fire.
Wild rumors were afloat in regard to the loss
of life, and anxious parents crowded around
with blanched countenances aud weeping bit*:
terly, while they tremblingly inquired for
tneir missing boys. When the excitement
had subsided'somewhat, an effort was made to
get some knowlege of the wounded. The list,
as far as can be learned, in addition to those
before mentioned, is as follows: John Griffin,
jumped from the fourth story; arm broken and
injured internally. Moses Malone, jumped
fiom the fifth story; leg broken. Patrick
O'Brien, arm broken and badly burned about
tlie head and back. Edward McCormick,
jumped from the fifth storv; cut about the
head. Moses Malone, jumped from the
fifth story; leg and arm tinctured.
Michael O'Brien, leg fractured. Stephen
H-ackbtt, Martin MeGec, Peter Schwan-
der, John- and James Stout, Jay Voltz,
Thomas McCue, Charles Chapman andTbomas
Quinlau, all boys, are among those who are reported missing, and, it is thought, perished in
the flames. Without a doubtt here were many
more who met the same fate, and it is believed
that twenty boys if not more were roasted
alive in the fire. The employes numbered between 150 and 160. James ltyan and John Kennedy jumped out of a fifth-story window, but
sustained uo material injury.
Chicago Women Speculators'—An Inside
Scene at a '-'ladies'" Bnctet-Shop.
The .manager's commission is., one-
eighth of a cent. Eive dollars will buy
500 bushels of wheat. The margin is
exhausted when the price falls a cent on
the bushel below the purchase price.
If live dollars more are not advanced it
undergoes the process known as "freezing out," which means that the investor
loses her money. Eternal vigilance is
the price of success. Every eye is glued
to the board. The figures come within
a few seconds of each other sometimes,
and margins are to be looked after, and
the profitable^ t^me to' "close out"
watched for, so that strict attention,
the kind that taxes every fibre of the
body and every faculty of the mind, is
needed.
The operators talk and gabble with
each other in a womanish way. They
don't wait for introductions, as women
who have never had any business experience do; but are unconventionably
sociable. They ask each other what
they are doing and what they have
made, and talk over the prospects in a
most familiar way. They are fond of
airing their knowledge. " Eeeping up
margins," "freezingout," "scalping,"
"long deals," "lulls," "active markets," are terms that drop from their
lips constantly. When there is a "lull"
in the market they talk a good deal, but
always about luck and the markets.
The horizon of their minds has narrowed to the columns of figures on the
board. All of them are intelligent,
some of them intellectual; yet it is as
impossible for them to go beyond the
business in hand in conversation as it
would be to walk the rainbow. Some
bring lace work, zephyr atrocities, tatting and other womanish employment
for the hands, and like the old woman
at her husband's funeral who thought
she would "draw a thread while the
folks gathered," they take a stitch when
the market is slow.
Eractions bother them terribly. They
ask each other in great consternation
sometimes which is the most, three-
eighths or one-half. The lack of mathematical discipline in the female head is
very apparent. At first they all say that
the whole thing is like a great blur to
them, with the fractions * jumping
hither and yon like sandflies. They get
into the true inwardness of it in a little
while, particularly after they have made
a deal or two and lost. Sometimes men
come in and watch this petticoated
menagerie with great interest. It is
funny to see them smile under their
moustaches, as though it was all play,
and the women to be pitied for thinking it serious and actual. Men always
look at anything women undertake in
that spirit, if it is something before
considered man's especial field.
In making deals women are women.
They don't usually base their bets on
the causes which are supposed to influence the market so much as on blind
impulse, a sort of faith that they must
be lucky. Some never know a political
movement nor read a newspaper, yet
deliberately express the most positive
opinions on what the quotations will be
with the unreasoning assurance of the
sex and singularly enough they are
often correct in their conclusions. If
there is anything more arbitrary than
the market it is women. Some profess
to go by" impression;" some jump into
deals in a haphazard way, and some
consult clairvoyants. When they first
enter they have made up their minds to
be one thing, a bull or a bear, and stick
to it through all fluctuation. Gradually
they lay aside that idea and are bulls
one day and bears the next.
Most of them drop -into the "scalping" business, which is literally closing
out at small profit, making many deals
at a small x>i*ofit, instead of waiting f or
large ones. One young lady took to
scalping with great success for several
days, making §8 and $10 a day. Then
the disposition to venture left her and
she sat day after day without investing
a cent.
There are few croakers. They are
usually " old operators," who still dabble themselves, but have a smile of pity
for everybody else who takes a. deal
They are always ominously silent when
the others are chipper and hopeful.
Wheat is the commodity they mostly
take to,- December wheat. Vast fortunes flit by on pork and lard, oats and
corn, but the pillars of this shop pin
their faith to wheat. They sigh when
they see the figures which might have
led on to profit flash in the other columns, exactly as one would sigh to have
seen " the white mists of an angel's garment go by," and yet not have seen
the angel's face. They talk over the
pork column a good deal, but are full of
warnings imparted to them by male
friends to be careful of pork, not to
"handle it," etc.; that one man controls the pork market; that it is " cash
pork" and liable to be "left on one's
hands." One woman heard them all
lamenting around her the other day that
they hadn't sold pork, it had fallen so
magnificently. Finally she said, " Tou
don't get me to dabble in pork no matter what the prospects are. I would
have no luck in it. I'll tell you why.
A fewyears ago iny husband was determined to speculate in hogs. He
talked about hogs constantly. 1 said to
him, " William, 3rou let the hogs alone.
Hogs is not your business.' Without my
knowledge he went out into Iowa and
put §15,000 in hows, and every dollar
of it laid down and died. Cholera! He
couldn't sleep at night and laid rolling
and groaning night after night, and at
last, when 1 asked him for the fiftieth
time what ailed him, he said, • Bogs,'
and confessed, 'No luck in pork for
me.'"
Another Avoman, who had a long deal
in oats, said she dreamed she saw chickens dusting in oats, and she knew then,
even in her sleep, that her investment
was a sunken ship. It seems that dreams
of this character are not uncommon
with the women of the bucket-shop.
One declares that the figures of the quotations have become so burned into her
brain that the people she meets in
dreamland are all figures fantastically
dressed, and that it is often quite frightful to see living fractions hopping
about, and two and three bowing and
.smirking at each other. She declares
that sleep has become hideous to her
because of the sort of stuff her dreams
are made of. A land inhabited entirely
by numerals she pronounces frightful.
Another who has weak lungs says that
whenever she has an oppression on her
chest at night she imagines a barrel of j
pork is resting on her lungs or that she J
is being smothered in a bin of wheat.
All unite in pronouncing a bucket-shop;
life to be terribly mind-wearing and'
nerve-racking. One woman spent a
week there. She earned her board and
declared she never earned it at such a-
cost of mind and body before. She
didn't get her nerves toned down to the
point of being able to sleep until midnight. Another, who teaches music
after the shop closes, has beenan operator two months and has paid out every
cent she has made in doctor bills," her
ill-health being the direct result of the
terrible attrition of her life on the grain
exchange.
The average bucket-shop life of a man
is about thirty days. Woman survive
the experience no longer. With the
exception of half a dozen, who are
known as "old operators," there is a
new assortment of patrons every month.
It is terribly dissipating to the mind.
Some of them honestly declare that they
consider themselves unfitted for any
other business after a month's siege of
the shop,—Chicago Inter-Ocean:
 : ■»   .   «■	
The Emancipation of Man.
She looked just like that kind-of a
woman when she came into the sanctum and all the seniors became instinctively very busy and so absorbed in
their work that they did not see her,
which left the youngest man on the
staff an easy prey, for he looked at the
visitor with a little natural politeness,
and was even soft enough i- offer her a.
chair.
"You are the editor?" she said, in a
deep, bass voice.
"He tried to say "Yes" so that she
could hear him, while his colleagues in
the sanctum couldn't, but it was a failure, for the woman gave him dead away
in a minute.
"You are!" she shouted. "Then
listen to me; look at me; what ami?"
The foolish youngest man look at her
timidly and ventured to say, in a feeble
voice, that she looked to be about forty-
sev	
"Nursling," she shrieked, "had you
the soulful eyes of a freeman you could
see shining in-my brow the rising light
of a brighter day."
" Could I?" asked the youngest man,
timidly.
" Yes, you could I," the woman said,
in tones of unmeasurable scorn. Now
hear me, you have a—butl cannot bring
myself to use the hateful expression in
the style of masculine possession; are
you anybody's husband?"
The youngest man blushed bitterly,
and said that he wasn't as yet. but he
had some hopes-;—
'•And you expect your—that is, you
expect the woman whose husband you
will be to support you?"
The* youngest man blushed more
keenly than before and tremblingly admitted that he had some expectations—
that—that—that the only daughter of
his proposed father-in-law, if he might
put it that way	
"Yah!" snarled the woman; "now
let me tell you, the day of woman's
emancipation is at hand. Erom this
time we are free, fer-ree! You must
look for other slaves to bend and cringe
before your majesties and wait upon,
you like slaves. You will feel the,
change in your affairs since we have
burst our "chains and how will you live
without the aid of women? Who makes
your shirts now?" she added fiercely.
The youngest manmiserably said that
a tailor on Sefferson Street made his.
" H'm," said the woman, somewhat
disconcerted. "Well, who washes'em,
then?" she added, triumphantly.
" A Chinaman just west of Eifth
Street," the youngest man said, with a
hopeful light in his eyes.
Thewoman glaredathim and groaned
under her breath, but«she came at him
again with:
" Proud worm, who cooks your victuals?"
The youngest man said truly that he
didn't know the name of the cook at his
restaurant, but he was a man about
forty years old, and round as a barrel
with whiskers like the stuffing ofa sofa.
The woman looked as though she was
going to strike him.
" Well," she said, as one who was
leading aforeiornhope, "who makes
up your bed and takes care of your
room?"
The youngest man replied with an
air of truth and frankness that he roomed
with a railroad conductor, and an ex-
Pullman sleeping-car porter took care
of their room.
She paused when she reached the
door, and turned upon him with the
face of a drowning man who is only five
feet away from a life buoy.
"Miserable dependent," she cried,
" who sews on your buttons?"
The youngest man on the staff* rose
to his feet with a proud, happy look on-,
his face. -;
" Haven't a sewed button on a single
clothes," he cried, triumphantly; "patents, every one of 'em fastened on like
copper rivets and nothing but studs
and collar buttons on my shirts. Haven't _
had a button sewed on for three years.
Patent buttons last for years after the
garments have gone to decay."
And the woman fled down the winding passage and the labyrinthine stairs
with a hollow groan, while the other
members of the staff, breaking through
their heroic reserve, clustered around
the youngest man and congratulated
him uponthe emancipation of His sex.—
Burlington Hawk-Eye.
 ,— •  »  m  —
—Cup-Puddings for the Old and
Young.—1. Soak stale bread in hot water till soft, drain it off, mash it, and add
some cream, nutmeg and currants,
sugar to taste, pour in a dish and bake,"
lay a small piece of butter on the top.
2. Pour b tiling milk over the crusts of
bread, and let them remain till soft;
beat them smooth and add three eggs
well beaten, the grated rind of a lemon,
and sugar to taste; also a little cream.
Pour this in small buttered cups, ;and
bake a light brown; turn them out, and
strew sifted sugar over.
  i ^ » «■	
—-The snow in England in October
puzzled the swallows. They skimmed
over the white ground repeatedly, evidently in search of worms. The iiexfc
day these happy bipeds had all left for
the sunny south-
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