Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1887 — Page 3

THE BUSINESS OUTLOOK.

It Ib a Most Encouraging One, According to Reports from Leading Commercial Centers. No Apparent Bad Results frofn the Enforcement of the National Railway Law. [Chicago special.] The early spring trade in all branches of the wholesale business of Chicago was almost without a parallel in its history. The con sumption of goods was simply enormous. This was in a great measure attributed to the change to be made in railroad freight rates by the operation of the interstate commerce law, which went into effect early in April. Now that that time has passed and dealers throughout the country are beginning to understand the present cost of transportation, the immense demands for goods throughout the month of March turns out not to have been so spasmodic as it was then supposed to be, but a genuine revival of business throughout the West and Northwest, as there has been during the last three weeks and is now greater activity among the wholesale firms of this city than is usual at this season of the year. The new law acted as a check and nothing more. All through the country west of Chicago, even to the Pacific coast, the new law is a benefit to the Garden City, as it enables shippers to send goods to points they could not -cover before, as they were controlled by the jobbers in the interior towns. Thus Chicago is becoming more and more the base of supplies for the whole West and Northwest

There was, of course, a marked falling off in the dry-goods trade during last month as compared with March, which was a phenomenal one; but April more than held its own as against the same time last year, and the outloook for a late spring and summer demand is a very satisfactory one. A good volume of business was transacted all through the month by the millinery houses. There has never been so satisfactory a spring season, and it is closing earlier than usual. A good order trade is anticipated until the hot weather sets in. So far there is no fault whatever to be found with the situation. The condition of the wholesale grocery trade is very satisfactory, and it has been daily improving since April 10. There seems to be a boom through the country so far as trade is concerned, and the heavy volume of railroad work now in course of construction is in a great measure accountable for it. The opening of lake navigation has also given it an impetus, and, with collections good in all branches of trade, a feeling of satisfaction exists that has not been known for years. Business generally is being conducted on a conservative basis, and therein lies its strength. Dealers are buying in smaller quantities and oftener, and' hence they find it easier to pay for their goods. Telegraphic reports to the Chicago Tribune from leading trade centers in the West, Northwest, and Southwest are of one tenor. They all speak of an unparalleled revival of business. A dispatch from Milwaukee says: “A stroll among Milwaukee merchants and manufacturers will show the prevalence of contentment, mingled with a due allowance of hopefulness, regarding the present condition of the season’s prospects for business in the various branches. Comparatively little complaint is made regarding the interstate commerce law, so far as the matter of freights is concerned, and it»ppears to cut little or no figure in affecting trade.” St. Paul reports as follows: “Spring trade has generally opened up earlier than last year, owing to the favorable season, and the volume of business in all departments is reported to be larger than last year. The effect of the interstate law, which it was feared would prove a serious blow to Northwestern trade, has not been as disastrous as expected.” Omaha: “The merchants of this city report a large increase in their business over any former year. Some of them say it will run from 30 to 50 per cent, higher, especially in the grocery trade. Orders nave not only grown in numbers, but are double and even triple in size. This is due, they say, to the interstate commerce law, which has raised rates so that country store-keepers who heretofore made their big purchases in Chicago now get everything from Omaha. While sales are good, collections are also much better than usual for the time of year.” Denver: “There is a striking unanimity among the business men of Denver <in regard to their present trade, and this feeling extends to an agreement among them that they do not look for its continuance beyond a few weeks, or months at the outside. In comparison with last year, they estimate the increase variously from 20 to 50 per cent., the latter in special lines. Nearly every jobber is loud in condemning the present railroad tariffs as adjusted from a railroad standpoint to suit the provisions ■of the interstate commerce law.’ Kansas City: “Unless the present indications prove misleading the year 1887 will be marked by an unprecedented development of the commercial interests of Kansas City. The spring trade is satisfactory, and even more than satisfactory, as the surprising boom in business fairly takes away the breath of the most conservative business men. Jobbers in dry goods are to a certain .extent feeling the effects of the interstate commerce bill so far as it relates to long and short hauls. They get their goods in fairly good time, ’but are compelled to pay more freight than formerly. The increase, however, is not sufficient to injure the jobbing business of the city.” . St. Louis: “The volume of St. Louis’ spring business averages fully an increase of thirty per cent, over the three corresponding months of last year. Merchants are almost unanimous in their indorsement of the interstate commerce law.” New Orleans: “Nearly all lines of trade been more satisfactory this spring than for several seasons past. The interstate commerce law has not unfavorably affected -business.” Louisville: “Spring trade in Louisville •opened out with a steady feeling and firm demand for almost all classes of goods. Except in a few lines of specialties there has been no complaint on account of the interstate commerce law.” Cleveland: “Cleveland’s trade has some bad features about it, but on the whole there is very little drawback to the strong feeling that has existed for several months past. The dry-goods houses report busi-

ness as better by almost one-fifth this spring than last, and the trade of last year was the best ever known. They generally like the new law, as calculated to leave them what they term the local trade and prevent the competition of New fork and Chicago houses. Collections are very good.• Cincinnati: “Interviews with prominent merchants in various branches of business show conflicting statements in regard to the condition of spring trade in several lines. The dry goods men say that trade is better this spring than last, but it is not up to expectations. This has been the best spring the grocery men have had for several years. The furniture, hat and cap, and boot and shoe dealers all report a big spring business. More complaint is heard from the feed and grain men about the interstate law than any other class.” Detroit: “Barring serious labor troubles, the prospect for a good spring and summer trade in all lines of business is much better than for several previous seasons. While the interstate commerce bill is being roundly denounced, it does not seem to have had any appreciable ill effect on trade so far.”

Fort Worth, Texas: “Grocery men report a large increase in trade from* 1886. One house, doing a business of $3,000,000 per annum, reports an increase of 20 per cent Dry-goods and other merchants note a marked increase in trade. The indications are that the interstate commerce law will be the impetus to more railway building in Texas.”

REV. H. W. THOMAS.

A Portrait and Sketch of the WellKnown Chicago Divine. The popular pastor of the People’s Church, of Chicago, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, was bom April 29,1832, in the Allegheny Mountains, in Hampshire County, Virginia (now West Virginia). Hi! parents were farmers in modest circumstances. His father was of German and Welsh descent, and his mother of Scotch and English. The family was large, Hiram being the fourth son. Dr. Thomas grew up in an atmosphere of freedom, which hah influenced his whole life. Bom and reared in the mountains, like the Swiss and Scotch Highlanders, he has naturally inherited a bold and free spirit. His father was of Quaker proclivi-

ties, and his family never owned slaves. He early became an Abolitionist, and has, like Beecher, never ceased to preach freedom, political and intellectual. He commenced preaching under great embarrassments. He joined the Pittsburg Conference of the Evangelical Association, or German Methodists, in 1851. He received for the first three years of his ministry an annual salary of SIOO, and for several subsequent years, when he had a family to support, S3OO, on which latter sum he says he lived well and saved money. In 1856 he joined the lowa Conference of the M. E. Church, and has since filled the leading charges of Marshall, Fort Madison—passing two years additional as Chaplain of the State Penitentiary— Mt. Pleasant, and Burlington. In 1869 he was transferred to the Rock River Conference, and stationed at Park Avenue Church, Chicago. After three years he was appointed to the First Church (Methodist Church Block), of the same city, where he likewise remained three years. #e waß then sent to Aurora for three years, and next to Centenary Church, in Chicago, where he remained till October, 1880. His early preaching gave promise of his later fame. He always drew large congregations, and the churches named always flourished under his care. Early in life ; he married Miss Emily C. Merrick, a brilliant and accomplished lady of Dempseytown, Pa., whose practical good sense and cheerfulness have powerfully served him in his many difficulties and discouragements.. Their varied life has been an ideal one of love and devotion, and their home a charming resort for their many friends. They have had seven children, onlyone of whom is now living, Dr. Hiram M. Thomas, of Chicago. Dr. Thomas was always liberal in his views and free in expressing them. No church forms, whether of dogma or ceremony, could fetter him. In 1881 he was tried for heresy by his conference on account of his peculiar views on inspiration, the atonement, and future punishment. He held that there were errors in the Bible, that Christ was not punished to save man, and that there was no eternal torment. These views were held by a small majority of the examining committee to be heretical, and be was expelled, in consequence, from the M. E. Church. Before this, some of his friends had organized the People’s Church in the central part of Chicago, where he had been preaching. He now identified himself permanently with this organization, and has been its pastor ever since. Dr. Thomas has frequent calls to lecture throughout the country, and is one of the most appreciated platform speakers in the West. He is popular among all classes, and does a vast amount of pastoral and social work, for which he is phenomenally fitted. His sermons are widely read, being generally reported by the press.

The first country to issue stamps for cheap postage was Great Britain in 1840. An unused one is worth about S3OO. The rarest stamp known to collectors was issued by the postmaster at Brattleboro in 1846.

RIGHTS OF HOMESTEADERS.

President Cleveland Declares Against Railroad LandGrabbing. The Secretary of the Interior Receives Instructions as to How He Shall Proceed. The President has addressed the following letter to the Secretary of the Interior, relating to the controversy between the Northern Pacific Railroad and a settler in Washington Territory: Dear Sib • I have examined with much care and interest the questions involved in the conflicting of claims of Guilford L. Miller and the Northern Pacific Railroad Company to certain public land in Washington Territory. The legal aspects of the case have been examined and passed upon by several officers of the Government, who do not agree in their conclusions. Miller claims to be a settler upon the land in question, whose possession dates from 1878. He alleges that he has made substantial Improvements upon this land and cultivated the same, and it appears that he filed his claim to the same under tue homestead law on the 29th day of December, 1884. The railroad company, contends that this land is within the territory or area from which it was mt tied to select such a quantity of public land as might be necessary to supply any deficiency that should be found to exist in the specified land mentioned in a grant by the Government to said company in aid of the construction of the road, such'deficiency being contemplated as likely to arise from the paramount right to private parties and settlers within the territory embracing said granted lands, and that the land in dispute was thus selected by the company on the 19th day of December, *IBB3. A large tract, including this land, was withdrawn by crder of the Interior Department from sale and from pre-emption and homestead entry in 1872 in anticipation of the construction of said railroad, and a deficiency in its granted lands. In 1880, upon the filing of a map of definite location of the road, the land in controversy, and much more which had been so withdrawn, was found to lie outside of the limits which included the granted land; but its withdrawal and reservation from settlement and entry under our land laws was continued upon the theory that it was within the limits of indemnity lands which might be selected by the company as provided in the law making the grant. The legal points in this controversy turned upon the validity and effect of the withdrawal and neservation of this land and the continuing thereof. The Attorney General is of the opinion that such withdrawal and reservation were at all times effectual, and they operated to prevent Miller from acquiring any interest in or right to the land claimed by him. With this interpretation of the law, and the former orders and action of the Interior Department, it will be seen that the efiect has been the withdrawal and reservation since 1872 of thousands if not millions of acres of these lands from the operation of the land laws of the United States, thus placing them beyond the reach of our citizens desiring under such laws to settle and make homes upon the same, and that this has been done for the benefit of a railroad company, having no fixed, certain, nor definite interests in such lands. In this manner the beneficial policy and intention of the Government in relation to the public domain have for all these years to that extent been thwarted. There seems to be no evidence presented showing how much, if any, of this vast tract is necessary for the fulfillment of the grant to the railroad company, nor does there appear to be any limitation of the time within which this fact should be made known, and the corporation is obliged to make its selection. After a lapse of fifteen years this large body of the public domain is still held in reserve to the exclusion of settlers, for the convenience of a corporate beneficiary of the Government and awaiting its selection, though it is entirely certain that much of the reserved land can never be honestly claimed by said corporation. Buch a condition of the public lands should no longer continue. So far as it is the result of executive rules and methods these should be abandoned, and so far as it is a consequence of improvident laws these should be repealed or amended. Our public domain is our national weaJth, the earnest of our growth, and the heritage of our people. It should promise limitless development and riches, relief to a crowded population, and homes of thrift and industry. These inestimable advantages should be jealously guarded. and a careful and enlightened policy on the part of the Government should secure them to the people. In the case under consideration I assume that there is an abundance of land within the are* which has been reserved for indemnity, in which no citizen or settler has a legal or equitable interest, for all purposes of such indemnification to this railroad company—if its grant has not been already satisfied. I understand, too, that selections made by such corporations are not complete and effectual until the same have been approved by the Secretary of the Interior, or unless they are made in the words of the statute, under his direction. You have thus far taken no action in this matter, and it seems to me that you a e in a condition to deal with the subject in such a manner as to protect the settler from hardship and loss. I transmit herewith the papers and documents relating to the cases which were submitted to me at my request. I suggest that you exercise the power and authority you have in the premises, upon equitable consideration with every presumption and intendment in favor of the settler, and, in case you find this corporation is entitled to select any more of these lands than it has already acquired, that you direct it to select, in lieu of the land upon which Mr, Miller has settled, other land within the limits of this indemnity reservation, upon which neither he nor any other citizen has in good faith settled or made improvements. I call your attention to Sections 2450 and 2451 of the Revised Statutes of the United States as pointing out a mode of procedure which may perhaps be resorted to if necessary for the purpose of reaching a just and equitable disposition of the case. The suggestions herein contained can, I believe, be adopted without disregarding or calling in question the opinion of the Attorney General upon the purely legal propositions which were submitted to him. Yours very truly. Gboveb Cleveland, To the Secretary of the Interior, Washington. The Significance of the Letter. (Washington special to Chicago Times.] The significance of the President’s letter to Secretary Lamar is increased by the circumstances of its publication. The Secretary left here for Charleston Monday morning, and he has not returned. He is expected back on Monday. The letter is dated last Monday, and was given to the press last night, so that the President wrote the letter and made it public while the Secretary was absent, and the Secretary did not see the President’s letter to him until it was published in all the papers. By giving this letter to the public before the Secretary saw it the President made the snub administered to the Secretary as severe as possible. There is some curiosity to see how Mr. Lamar will take it. People who have paid attention to publie land matters, recognize that an emergency existed which called for just such action as the President had the nerve and sense to take.

While agreeing in general with the theory that comets have their origin beyond the limits of the solar system, Prof. Daniel Kirkwood finds proof that some of those of short period are minor planets, whose orbits in the asteroid zone have been changed through the perturbing influence of the large planets. The third comet of 1884, for instance, seems to have been drawn from the asteroids by Jupiter in May, 1875.

The Sherman Boom.

The boom for John Sherman as the Republican candidate in 1888 is assuming, under judicious management, very promising proportions. Its most interesting feature is its many-sidedness. To large numbers of Republicans it presents itself as a relief from the Blaine incubus under which they have rested so long, and which .they have found it so difficult to throw off. To others Sherman is the candidate of assured financial views, who can carry New York and possibly reconcile the mugwumps. To another class he is (becomingpacificator of the South, who is to rend asunder more effectively than aiy other Republican the solidity of that section. Yet it is not all plane-sailing even in his own party for the friend of the New York banks and the discoverer of Eliza Pinkston. Two formidable obstacles lie in the channel through which he must pass to a nomination; and there seems to be no present method of passing or removing them. The first is the opposition of the {irogresrive Republicans, who beieve, like Senator Hawley, of Connecticut, in local self-government and the abandonment of paternalism in government. Upon this point, for the purpose of catching Southern support, Sherman has irrevocably committed himself. In his Southern speeches he avowed himself heartily in favor of the principle which lies at the bottom of the Blair bill for aiding the States to educate the rising generation. It was not a wholly new attitude for him. He has always been a supporter of subsidies; and there is no essential difference between supporting one subsidy to aid an influential monopoly and supporting another to secure votes. Neither is the attitude at variance with the general attitude of the Republican party. It is exceedingly obnoxious, however, to the better elements of the party; and if Senator Sherman adheres to it he cannot count on their support in convention. Upon another point Senator Sherman is in rank antagonism to a large element of his party, though it is not so worthy or reputable an element as that which opposes ,his subsidy notions. While this element may be willing to cut loose from the “bloody shirt,” with all that the old war cry implies, it is determined to cling still to the hypocritical hypothesis that the party is the special guardian of moral ideas. But Sherman has deliberately declared against the “moral-idea” dodge. In effect, he has proclaimed the erasure from the party gonfalon of the cabalistic “g. o. p.” In his letter to the Young Republican Club of Virginia he distinctly outlined the future of the Republican party as a future devoted to the development and diversification of American industry. There is to be no brooding over the dead past, he says; no more crusading against real or imaginary wrong. The end and aim of the party, next to the securing of its own continuance in power, is business.

This will probably satisfy the pronounced protectionists in the party, though many even of these will regret the abandonment of the snivel and the whine. But to an immense faction in the party the snivel and the whine are indispensable. They would not know what to do with themselves in a party that plants itself on a business issue and refuses to plume itself upon its devotion to the righting of wrongs. And as a natural consequence this faction cannot support Sherman. All of which goes to show that the way of the aspirant to a Presidential nomination is hard.— Detroit Free Preen.

“Aye, There’s the Rub.”

“I was also taught to believe that the Constitution of the United States was the bond of Federal union, written by our fathers with more than human wisdom; that it should be not strictly like an indictment, not like a bond framed by a usurer which a cunning Portia might construe away by subtle reasoning, but a charter of liberty, to be construed liberally, and so as to carry out all the objects of its founders.”— Sherman’s Keynote. Aye, there’s the rub. There, in one sentence, is modern Republicanism. The same sentence would have defined Federalism. And right there is where the two parties—Federalists and Democrats, or Republicans, as Democrats were then called —differed. And right there is where parties are divided to-day. It is all well enough for superficial writers and thinkers to say there is no material issue between Democrats and Republicans of to-day. It might just as well have been said at the origin of parties in this country. There are fundamental principles underlying the two parties. The one believes that the Constitution and the laws should and do represent the will of the hour; That whatever opinion prevails in a particular section of the country, or among a particular class, is the higher law, and that section or class are to be governed by it. If the Constitution conflicts with the views of any of the class, it is “a covenant with death and a league with hell.” The Democrats believe in a strict construction of the written Constitution. That is what the Democratic party is based on. That document is the Democratic platform.— New Albany (Ind.) Ledger.

In response to an inquiry Senator Kenna, of West Virginia, said: “Eighty-eight is still some time off, and many changes may occur. I believe, however, by that time there will be scarcely anyone to question the honesty, frugality, patriotism, and efficiency of Mr. Cleveland’s administration of the Government. He is the first Democratic President since the war. He occupies necessarily, as any Democratic President under the circumstances would, a sort of situation of experiment—l mean this in a political sense—in the eyes of the country. If he should maintain hunself, us I believe he will, from this standpoint, his renomination will be a political necessity to the Democratic party; and if the standard to which I have alluded should secure for him a renomination by the Democracy, that same standard will secure bis re-election by the country.”

Considering his heroic struggle in behalf of reform, Mr. Cleveland would seem to be entitled to a second tyrm. At the end of his second term he could not very well be a candidate for re-election, and he would be relieved of many embarrassments that have surrounded hisfiist term, besides having the benefit of his past experience.— Dorman B. Eaton.

John Bright has written a free-trade letter in which he says the reason that protection flourishes in some nations is that it is backed by an organized army, while the consumers are merely a mob. Protection in the United States, he says, is promoting a system of corruption nnequaled in any otntr country.

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

—The thirty-third annnal conclave of the Indiana Commandry of Knights Templar was held at Indianapolis, and the following officers were elected: Right Eminent Grand Commander, George W. F. Kilk, Shelbyville. R. E. Deputy Grand Commander, Reuben Peden, Knightstown. R. E. Generalissimo, Duncan T. Bacon, Indianapolis. R. E. Grand Captain-General, Henry W. Lancaster, Lafayette. R. E. Grand Prelate, Edward P. Whallon, Vincennes. R. E. Senior Warden, Irwin P. Webber, Warsaw. R. E. Junior Warden, Joseph A. Manning, Michigan City. R. E. Grand Treasurer, Joseph W. Smith, Indianapolis. R. E. Grand Recorder, John M. Bramwell, Indianapolis. R. E. Stand-ard-bearer, James B. Safford, Columbus. R. E. Sword-bearer, Simeon S. Johnson, Jeffersonville. R. E. Grand Warder, Charles W. Slick, South Bend. R. E. Captain of the Guards, William M. Black, Indianapolis. —Joseph and George F. Boswell, of Indianapolis, have just received a patent on the first fodder and silo harvester ever invented, and are making arrangements to begin the manufacture of the machine in that city. Last year Mr. Joseph Boswell, whois a large funner, discovered that cheap cattle food could be had by cutting up the green corn, stalk and all, as soon as the grain had matured, and then salting and packing it. From some experiments he learned that one ton of it was worth two of hay. He immediately began work on a. machine to cut the corn, and has succeeded in producing a successful one. It can also be used for cutting ensilage. The McCormick Reaper Works, of Chicago, are trying to purchase the right, and the proprietors will probably sell to the company, reserving a loyalty on each machine manufactured.

—Patents have been issued for the following Indiana inventors: Charles F. Bassett, Hillsdale, end gate; John W. Culberson, Indianapolis, inhaler; George Frazer, Williamsburg, wagon jack; Ernest F. Grether and C. Mosher, South Bend, treating raw hides; Adam Hoffmann, Indianapolis, harness; Jesse B. Johnson, Indianapolis, bailing press; Jonathan D. Mawhood, assignor, to Richmond City mill works, Richmond, feeding device for roller mills; Aaron D. Miller, Union City, device for operating window shades. —A Ladoga man went to Crawfordsville and requested the Mayor to place him in jail, so as to keen from drinking. He was informed that a complaint must be filed against him before he could be sent to jail. Accordingly, the man went out and got a drink of whisky, and finally persuaded a policeman to file an affidavit against him for drunkenness. Then the Mayor sent him to jail for fifteen days. He has a wife and several children. Major Jonathan Gordon died at his home in Indianapolis, of congestion of the brain. He had at different times filled a large space in the public eye and played a prominent part in affairs, He possessed talent, genius, great capacity for work and many qualities calculated to win friends and capture the populace. His political and professional services made him widely known throughout the State. —A sad case of poisoning occurred near Stendale, a small town fifteen miles from Huntingburg. Two sons of J. D. Lampton, one of G. Wilson, and one of J. Moore, while in the woods, found what they supposed to be spinach, but which proved to be that deadly plant, wild parsnip. Three of the boys died in excruciating agony within eight hours, while the other is in a hopeless condition. —Mrs. Christina Openhoff visited Mrs. Imen, a neighbor, at Fontanet, nine miles east of Terre Haute, and while there fooled with a revolver. The weapon went off, the ball striking Mrs. Imen in the abdomen. She would have become a mother in a few days. The child was born dead, with a bullet hole through its head. The mother will die.

—The Nickel Plate Bailroad has a large force of men and several construction trains in service on the Indiana division, grading and graveling it, and putting in some twenty-five miles of side-track. This supports the statement that the road is to be put in good order, and through passenger as well as freight trains to be run over * it. —One morning recently, when the parents of Miss Anna Scott, living two miles north of Muncie, went to her room they found her dying from a pistol-shot in her head. She had covered herself up with several quilts so the noise would not be heard. She died at noon. Her parents had opposed her in a love affair. —Herbert Mattingly, a young man of Evansville, who has a notorious reputation, while on a drunken spree, attacked John Buchanan, a peaceable citizen, and, in self-defense the latter cut Mattingly twice, below and behind the arm, and through the lungs, inflicting fatal wounds. —Wm. Beese, of Jamestown, has sued the Western Union Telegraph Company ' for $5,000 damages, on account of failure to deliver a message announcing the death of a relative. He claims that he did not receive the message until a month after it had been sent. —An unknown colored man was killed by an Ohio <t Mississippi passenger train while walking on the track near Dillsboro. He was walking in the same direction as the train was going, but did not heed the engineer’s whistling, ft is thought he was insane. —Elijah Fox, a young married man, livng nine miles north of Bedford, jumped into Salt Creek and drowned himself. He left a note in his hat on the bank of the creek, saying: “Yon will find my dead body at the bottom of the creek.’*