Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1885 — Page 3

SliejDcmorrattcSentincl RENSSELAER, INDIANA. J. W McEWEN, ... Publishes.

John Sherman will how lie one ol three men of the country elected to five full terms to the United States Senate. Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, was the only man who served thirty consecutive years in the Senate. Henry B. Anthony was elected to five full consecutive terms to the Senate by Rhode Island, but he died soon after entering his fifth term. The principals and employes of the London banks have a “prayer union,” which meets once a month. A recent meeting was held at the Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor. Sir R. N. Fowler, the Lord Mayor, presided, and Rev. C. H. Spurgeon gave an address. Many of the leading bankers were present, and the large Egyptian Hall was crowded. Norristown Herald: A New York physician, who looks fifteen years younger than he really is, attributes this favorable condition to the use of lemonade taken regularly four times a day. He has used 3,003 lemons a year for ten years. If he were making lemonade for sale at a circus he wouldn’t use 3,000 lemons in 100 years. A lady asked Dion Boucicault oqe <Dy, as Harper's Weekly learns, how it was that on the evening before, when he appeared as Conn, his moustache was wanting, though it was both black and brilliant when he did not act. “Madam,” he replied, stroking it softly, “there is no mystery here. In making up as Conn I simply soap it well and cover it with rouge. " A woman’s club in Chicago has made a move in the right direction by opening a school for the training of servants. All branches of housework are taught, and an intelligence office established in connection with the school secures places. for competent graduates. This is putting charity upon a practical and substantial basis, and the example is one which should be widely followed. A Georgia negro maintains that the efficacy of prayer depends entirely on the manner in which the petition is worded, and says: “If I ask the Lord to send me a turkey I won’t get it, but if I ask Him to send me after a turkey I always get one before daybreak.” Prof. Tyndall, who, as the result of scientific tests, has declared that there is no efficacy in prayer, has evidentally been proceeding on insufficient data. Here is a case that will no doubt baffie his boasted science. The manager of an electric company says that it is found that wherever steam is used to obtain twenty-five horse power or less, electricity is more economical. The advantages are: a smaller space occupied, much less noise and no heat, and the fact that the power can be turned on or stopped at will. There is no boiler required and no fire, as the power is supplied to the motor by wires from a central station, on the same principle that gas or steam heat is supplied. Among the Irishmen who have gained an illustrious name in New Zealand is the Most Rev. Dr. Croke, first Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, whose removal to the see of Cashel is still deplored, not only by those in his former diocese but by Roman Catholics all over New Zealand. To the native race he was a special object of admiration on account of his splendid physique, and the ease with which he cleared a six-foot fence if it stood in his way. These qualities, with the warlike Maoris, went quite as far as his eloquent efforts to induce them to become members of his spiritual flock.

Mk. D. A. Coffin is the most truthful if not the most facetious hotelkeeper in Maine. He advertises on his envelopes: “The original and only third-dlass hotel in Mane—where everything fails to suit—tough beefsteak, dirty rooms, useless servants, debilitated coffee. This house, of worldwide bad reputation, is owned, occupied and presided over by the laziest man in the State. not guaranteed; no money refunded. Dilapidated stable in connection. Everything warranted strictly shoddy.”

In Kentucky a man who was married a second time died, and his second wife survives him. His children by his first marriage now seek to deprive the widow of all interest in his estate ou

the ground that he was married to her, Dot in his real name, but under an assumed name. In Indiana that case would be quickly decided in favor of the widow. By Indiana laws marriage is recognized as a public institution, but it is held also to be a civil contract. A contract binds the individuals who make it. The names assumed at its execution are wholly immaterial. To fix legal responsibility the only requirement is the identification of the contracting parties, go this dead Kentuckian, without regard to the name he may have assumed, if identified as the contracting party, should be held to have been bound by his contract. As the contract binds the ancestor, it likewise binds the heirs. The widow should take her dower.

Sir Harry Yerney, who entered the Commons in the first reformed Parliament, will not accept re-election this year. He is eighty-three years old, and has a brother, Mr. Calvert, Q. C., seventy-nine. Sir Harry changed his flame from Calvert to Yerney on inheriting the estate of the Bai-oness of Fermanagh, sixty years ago or thereabout. Mr. Talbot, “the father of the House,” also retires this fall. He is of the same age as Sir Harry Yerney, and was first elected to the uureformed Parliament of 1830 as member for Glamorganshire, and without a break he has sat for Glamorganshire all the fifty-five years since. Mr. Villiers is another veteran, eighty-two years old, who has represented one constituency for now just half a century. Sir Robert Carden was bora in 1801, but never entered Parliament until 1880. The O’Gorman Mahon is eighty-two years old, and was elected to the unreformed Parliament, but has not yet had enough of it, and hopes so secure a return this fall.

One of the causes of the terrible distress and pitiful poverty of the mining regions of Pennsylvania, says a Philadelphia paper, is the importation of foreign labor. Poles, Hungarians, and Bulgarians swarm through the coal mines. The Poles sometimes make good citizens, and so do the Hungarians. The old Irish and Welsh miners confound the Bulgarians who come here with the Hungarians. The Bulgarians are a wretched lot. They come in great numbers, and will work for almost nothing. They rarely become skilled miners, but are content to remain laborers. They spend nothing. A dollar a week is a good income for one of these Slavs. Fifty or sixty of them will live in a single shanty, sleeping on the floor and eating the refuse oi slaughter-houses. With their bread they use lard instead of butter. When a Bulgarian has sent home S3OO he quits the country. He has acquired an ample fortune. These people, brought here to make strikes impossible, are at the bottom of the distress in the anthracite regions, and they are beginning to make their appearance among the bituminous coal fields. Low wages, half time, and the tyranny of the company store are starving . the miners anp their families, and compelling them to bring up their children without education. In a few years the region will be black not only with coal dust but with the darkness of ignorance and of the crimes which spring from ignorance. The Slav is now often the victim of the miner’s unconcern, and the casualties in anthracite coal mines have greatly increased within the last two years. The grumbling against these foreign pauper laborers is becoming so loud and threatening that more open enmity is to be feared. The Slav may be the cause of the revival of Molly Maguireism.

A Mississipian's Artifice.

planter boarded a steamer off Natchez. He purchased a paper from a newsboy and was soon lost in its perusal. “Colonel, ” said a bland young man, a few moments after, “you have just dropped this,” handing him a SSO note. “I reckon not,” said the old gentleman, as he overlooked his spectacles. “I have just picked it up under your chair,” replied the young man, “and see no other way to dispose of it. However, since it seems to belong to neither of us, we might just as well divide it.” The plan worked well. The old gentleman passed over $25 in change, and the young man sauntered carelessly out on land. A few minutes after the vessel had taken to water the old gentleman presented the SSO note to the clerk in payment for his fare. “Counterfeit!” exclaimed the clerk, and then for the first time the whole truth dawned upon the old man’s m.'nd. “Somehow,” said a philosopher, “things are usually kept at an equilibrium. For example: the more prices go up, the more everybody has to ‘come down’ for everything.”

MEMBERS’ VIEWS.

Political Status of the New House of Bepressntatives-Carlisle for Speaker. Strong Feeling in Favor of Reducing the Powers of the Appropriation Committee. THE NEW HOUSE. Its Political Complexion. The House of Representatives, which convenes at Washington on the first Monday in December, consists of 184 Democrats and 141 Republicans. In this classification Weaver, of lowa, Greenback Democrat, is counted as a Democrat, and Brumm, of Pennsylvania, Greenback Republican, with the Republicans. The annexed table shows the political division of the several State delegations: State. Dem. Rep. Alabama 8 Arkansas 5 California 1 5 Colorado 1 Connecticut 2 2 Delaware 1 Florida 2 Georgia 10 Illinois 10 10 Indiana 9 4 lowa 4 7 Kansas 7 Kentucky 10 1 Louisiana 5 1 Maine 4 Maryland 5 1 Massachusetts 2 10 Michigan 7 4 Minnesota 5 Mississippi 7 Missouri 12 2 Nebraska 3 Nevada 1 New Hampshire 2 New Jersey 3 4 New York 17 17 North Carolina 8 1 Ohio 11 JO Oregon 1 Pennsylvania 8 20 Rhode Island 2 South Carolina 0 1 Tennessee 7 2 Texas 11 Vermont '. 2 Virginia 8 2 West Virginia 3 1 Wisconsin 2 7 Total 184 141 QUESTIONS ANSWERED. Views of a Large Number of Members on Important Questions.

The Louisville Courier-Journal recently published letters from 160 members of Congress, 59 Democrats- and 91 Republicans. The letters are in response to four questions sent out by the Washington correspondent of the Courier-Journal, as follows: 1. Would you favor an amendment to the rules of the House providing that the general appropriation bills, except tho legislative, sundry civil, and deficiency bills, shall be prepared and controlled hereafter by the appropriate standing committees on the several branches of the public service ? 2. Do you favor any change in the laws governing silver coinage and silver certificates, and if so, what modification would you regard as desirable ? 3. To what extent, in your opinion, would a revision of the tariff and internal revenue laws be desirable at the next session? 4. Who is your choice for the caucus nomination for Sneaker? In the Democratic responses* forty-seven are unqualifiedly in favor of an amendment of the rules, five give a qualified answer, four oppose a change, and three are noncommittal. As to the second, or silver question, four favor legislation, forty-nine oppose, and six are non-committal. As to the third or tariff-reform question, fifty-three favor tariff agitation, three oppose and three are non-committal. For Speaker fifty-seven are for Carlisle, one for Randall, and one non-committal. The whole number of Republican members who responded is ninety-one. For amending the rules of the House, fortyeight unqualifiedly approve, twelve qualify their answers, nine oppose, and twenty, two are non-committal. Sixty favor legislation on the silver question, sixteen oppose, and fifteen are noncommittal. Seventy-five oppose tariff legislation, four favor it, and twelve are non-committal. For Speaker, thirty are for Frank Hiscock, twenty-three are for Reed of Maine, eleven for Gov. Long of Massachusetts, and thirty-seven are non-committal. The correspondent of the CourierJournal, in summing up on officers of the House, names for Speaker John G. Carlisle; Clerk, John B. Clark, Missouri; Ser-geant-at-Arms, John B. Leedom, Ohio; Doorkeeper, Samuel Donelson, Tennessee; Postmaster, Lycurgus Dalton, Indiana.

Michigan Congressmen pn the Silver Problem. Senator Palmer, of Michigan, who went to Chicago to attend the Fat Stock Show, said to a Tribune interviewer that he should favor the suspension of the silver coinage in the coming session of Congress. He believed the silver dollar should contain 100 cents’ worth of silver, and not eighty-five. As to the legislation subsequent to the suspension of the coinage, he said he had made up his mind as to what he should favor. lie did not believe under any recommendation that the President might make in his annual message that the silver question would become a party issue. The Senator’s views were nearly identical with those of the Democrat who represents Detroit in the lower house—Congressman Maybury. The latter said, in an interview, he was opposed to the continued .coinage of the dollar as it is, and, while not a single-standard man, he nevertheless believed that they should be nearer together than at present. As to the views of the remainder of the Michigan delegation on the silver question, Mr. Maybuiy said he had talked with none of the members about it, but was inclined to the opinion that quite a number agreed with him.

Mb. Samuel J. Tilden is “building one of the largest and most complete conservatories in the country on hra premises at Greystone. It will be supplied with all kinds of fruit, so that fruit may be plucked the year round. William L. Pabks, of Fall River, Mass., has been driven insane by reading the reports of Boston's big scandal, the Taber-Downes divorce case. A drama taken from Emile Zola’s “Germinal” was interdicted in Paris lately because it reflected upon the efficiency of the police.

POSTAL AFFAIRS.

The Number of New Offices Established During the Year—Salary and Allowance. First Assistant Postmaster General A. E Stevenson has submitted to- the Postmaster General his annual report upon the operations of his bureau for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1885. From the report it appears tliut the number of postoffices established during the year was 2,121, and the number discontinued 886, making the whole number of postoflices at the end of the fiscal year 51,252, a net increase of 1,235 during the year. The number of offices subject to appointments by the President (presidential grade) was 2,233, and the number subject to appointment by the Postmaster General (fourth class) was 49,019. The whole number of appointments during the year was 11,203, made up as follows: On resignations and commissions expired, 6,204; removals and suspensions, 810; change of names and sites, 207; death of postmasters, 412; establishment of new offices, 2,221. The increase in the number of postoffices was distributed as follows: New England States, 48; Middle States and District of Columbia, 11; Southern States and Indian Territory, 638; the ten States and six Territories of the West and Northwest, 375; the three States and three Territories of the Pacific Slope, 65. The greatest Increase in any State or Territority was 100 in Virginia. The increase in Dakota for the year was 71, and in Mississippi 59. The only decrease was in Nevada. The total number of monoy order offices was 6,992, an increase of 749 over the preceding year. The number of changes in postmasters during the year was less than the preceding year, and the largo decrease In the number of cases acted upon during the year, as compared with the preceding year, was due, says Gen. Stevenson, to the fact that very few changes wero made in the offices during the winter months. Under the head of free-delivery system, the report states that the number of free-delivery offices at the close of the year was 178, an increase of 19, and the number of carriers 4,358, an increase of 468. The entire cost of tho service was $3,985,952, leaving an unexpended balance of $79,046. The service has now been extended to nearly all cities having a population of 20,000 inhabitants or returning $20,000 gross reoeipta per annum, and its further extension must, under the law, await the growth of cities to the requirements above noted, or the qualifications must be lowered by legislation. The First Assistant Postmaster General says that the success of this system, its convenience to the public, and other merits, in his judgment warrants the recommendation that authority be conferred by legislation for its extension to places of inhabitants having a gross revenue of SIO,OOO. The report briefly states the advantages that have resulted from the consolidation of large free-delivery offices and rocommends that the same policy be applied to non-free-delivery offices so as to give them the benefits of free delivery. It is believed that this consolidation would reduce the labor of examining accounts by cutting down the number of separate postoffices and result In greater harmony in the service. Under the head of salary and allowance it is stated that the total amount allowed for clerk hire in postoffices was $4,924,569; for rent, fuel, and light of postoflices, $403,939; for salaries of postmasters (2,435) adjusted during the year, $3,701,600: for salaries of Presidential postmasters, $3,630,600. Since April, 1884, 32,. 400 applcations for review of salaries of postmasters under the act of March 3, 1883, were received and filed. The number of salaries reviewed and readjusted was 17,521, and 5,900 applications were allowed, involving the additional amount for compensation or back pay of postmasters of $378,922. As a result of the annual adjustment of salaries, 14 offices wero added to the Presidential list and 134 offices were relegated to the fourth class. The grand total of gross receipts at residential offices for tho four quarters ended Mtnrch 31, 1885, amounted to $31,792,220, and the aggregate salaries of the postmasters will absorb 11.42 per cent, of the revenues. “The postal receipts," says Gen. Stevenson, “forming the basis of, tho salaries of Presidential Postmasters fluctuate with the favorable or unfavorable condition of the business of the country. At the present time reports show that tho country is entering upon an era of prosperity and plenty, and therefore no less than $3,000,000 will be required to pay the salaries of Presidential Postmasters during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887. The amount of compensation for clerk hire required during the same period is estimated at $5,510,000, making the total estimate for this branch of the service, including allowances for fuel, rent, furniture, and miscellaneous items, $5,897,000". The First Assistant Postmaster General, in conclusion, calls tho attention of the failure of Congress to provide for tho payment jgv tho Government of rent at third-class postoflices. He renews the recommendation that provisions be made for the payment of rent of offices of that class, and for the payment of expenses of fuel, light, stationery, and miscellaneous Items for these offices. It is also recommended that Jan. 1,1887, be fixed as the limitation of applications for readjustment of salaries under the act of March 3, 1883.

THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. From the annual report of General Superintendent Jameson, of the railway mail service, it appears that mileage increased during'the past year only 4,007 miles. The increase in the number of pieces of mail matter handled, exclusive of registered matter, was 428,397,500. In a total distribution of 4,948,059,400 pieces the number of errors chargeable to tho clerks of the railway mail service was but 887,704, or one error to each 5,574 pieces handled, being at the rate of 224 errors per clerk per annum. The average percentage of mail correctly distributed was 99.98. This is the highest rate attained since the establishment of the service. The general superintendent recommends that Congress be asked to empower the Postmaster General to pay to the widow or minor children of any clerk killed while on duty an amount equal to one year’s salary of the grade to which the deceased belonged at the time of his death. The estimate for special facilities (fast mail service) on the trunk lines for the ensuing year is the same in amount as the sum set apart for the purpose for the current fiscal year—namely, $251,725. The amount of the estimate for railway postal cars is $1,888,577, which Is an increase of 7 per cent, over the amount appropriated for the current fiscal year for roads other than those that are subsidized. Tho sum of $4,877,060 is asked for with which to pay railway postal clerks. This is an increase of 6 per cent, over the amount of the existing appropriation. The Superintendent strongly advocates the extension of the benefits of the civil-service law to the clerical forces of tho railway mail service.

THE MONEY-ORDER BUREAU. In his annual report to the Postmaster General, Supt. C. F. McDonald, of the Money-Order Bureau, points to the growth of the business from its inception in 1866, when there were 766 money-order offices that issued 84,000,000 in orders, down to the last fiscal year, when the 7,355 offices issued orders amounting to about 8120,000,000. The fees now aggregate about 81,000,000 per annnm. During the fiscal year 767 moneyorder offices were established and 16 discontinued. Since the close of the fiscal year 303 offices have been added and 4 have been discontinued. The total amount of payments and repayments of money-orders was 8117,996,205, and the excess of payments over issues 8137,283. The gross amount of fees received by Postmasters from the public for the issue of domestic money-orders was 8923,930. These figures exhibit a decrease in the amounts of orders issued and paid and of fees received. COST OF MAIL TRANSPORTATION. Socond Assistant Postmaster General Knott has submitted to the Postmaster General his annual report of the operations of his bureau’ during the past fiscal year. It appears that the cost of mail transportation for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 1885, was: For 12,371 star routes, aggregating 232,228. miles in length, 85,414,844; star service for the next fiscal year is 85,850,000, slightly less than tho appropriation for the current year. The reduction effected by orders in this class 6f service from April 1 to September 30, 1885, aggregated 8148,696. The reductions in steamboat service effected from April 1 to September 30,1885, by discontinuances and curtailments of routes amounted to 874,256, and the sum deemed necessary for the current year is 8870,648.

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

—Francis Knowles, a farm hand, hanged himself at Richmond. —Judge George H. Alwnxd. of South Bend, a pioneer of Northern Indiana, is dead, aged 51 years. , —The Indianapolis Journal is impressed with the fact that “the standard of behavior at hangings needs to be raised." The agent of Johnson & Slavin’s Minstrels was robbed by three highwaymen at Lafayette, the robbers relieving him of his overcoat, valise, and $14.95 in cash. —Light Wright, the youngest sou of Judge Williamson Wright, of Logansport, was struck on the head by a runaway horse and died. The deceased was *2l years of age and a prominent young man. —A confectioner in Indianapolis gives customers the privilege of eating all the candy they can get away with at one time in hi* store for twenty-five cents each, and declares that he makes money on nine out of ten. —ln the Federal Court at Indianapolis, on the crossbill of the Portsmouth (Me.) Savings Bank, a decree of foreclosure and sale was entered against the Harrisons, tho Encaustic Tile Works Company, and other property, to the amount of $84,927.50. —Hon. John Hiett, of Sugar Grove, Tippecanoe County, gave a grand dinner to his friends Inst week, in celebration of liis 78th birthday. Among the guests were three old settlers, David Meharry, aged 77 years; John Gaines, 78 years; and Noah Insley, 78 years. —Near Chesterville, Dearborn County, Joseph Chance and his uncle, Charles Cadle, renewed an old quarrel, resulting in Chance being shot in the neck and Cadle’s receiving a fatal gunshot wound in tho head. Chance surrendered himself to tho authorities. —Two-eeut postuge resulted in a deficiency of $0,750,945 for tho year ending with June. Illinois is the only Western State showing a profit in postal operations, her surplus being $201,908. Indiana fell behind $497,000, and lowa $445,209. Both domestic arid international money-orders decreased greatly in volume. —Mr. Samuel Favorite, of Lafayette, Ind., is in the city visiting his son, Calvin M. Favorite, and attending the Fat-Stock Show. Mr. F. is eighty-two years of age, and the picture of health. Thirty years ago he was a packer here, and was of the firm of J. G. Law dr, Co., and also of S. Favorite & Son. —Chicago Journal. —Rondeau in Indianapolis Journal: When Love and I Canoodling went* The Hummer sky With joy was ’sprent. But not content, Hho stuck to I To the last cent. Hhe hove a sigh When that was spent, Whon Love and I Canoodling went. —The State’s Attorney at Washington states that the general land office has agreed to have the swamp-land claim of Indiana adjusted upon the basis of the evidence furnished by field notes. As there now remain in the State no unpatented lands, not already equitably the property of the State, no indemnity can be obtained without the intervention of Congress, and immediate action is therefore of no importance. It is estimated that the amount due the State from the Government on account of the sales of swamp lands is over SIOO,OOO, all of which belongs to the school fund.

—Farmer Miller left his home near the Indiana line in the early morning. He had a list of a few things his wife wanted “in. town,” a luncheon, a package of tobacco, and a pipe, and he climbed upon his load of hay and jogged easily along. About noon he crossed the line of the city limits and was making his way toward the market square when he missed his pipe. “Dumed ’f I know what’s become of that 'ere pipe,” he exclaimed. As he drove down State street he went through all his pockets, but he could not get trace of his pipe. Then he heard the boys shouting and saw the people rushing to the windows as he passed. “Hain’t the dumed fools ever seen a noble load of hay,” he muttered. At that moment a cloud of smoke and flame burst from the center of the load, the wagon keeled over, and the horses sloped. The granger was fished out of the burning debris. “Dum that pipe!” he said.— Chicago Tribune. —A singular accident is reported from Johnson County. Miss Alice H. Lewis, of Edinburg, last week slipped and fell over a washtub, breaking one of her ribs. It is not remarkable that a girl should slip and fall, for anybody is likely to do so. Nor is it strange that she should break one of her ribs. Many a girl has had a rib broken ere this. But it is noteworthy that this young lady fell over a What could she possibly be doing about a tub? Surely, not using it. The only plausible explanation is that she came across the tub while accidentally passing through the kitchen or wash-house, and, seeing the tub, stopped to examine it, probably with the idea of discovering what it was intended for. Not being used to it, she slipped and fell over it, breaking a rib as mentioned. It were rash to announce that she was in the act of using it at the time of the accident, lest she be overwhelmed with letters from importunate suitors. The local press wisely omitted the facts on this point. —lndianapolis Journal.