Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1887 — Page 3

CHANGING THE RULES.

Important Action of the Base-Ball Magnates of the National League. □lie Scheme of an Eastern and Western League Peters Out—The Brotherhood Pacified. [CHICAGO CORRESPONDENCE] The last tiro weeks have formed a moot rimportint fortnight in the history of baseball. The meeting of the Joint Buies Committee at Pittsburg, followed by the annual meeting of the National League at New York, were attended by results of vitil importance to the game, and this year, as in previous years, the meetings in question were marked by the keenest public interest It would require too much space to state in detail the changes made by the Joint Bules Committee in the playing rules. Suffice it to say, however, that in the main the changes are highly approved, although the general impression seems to be that the alteration of the number of strikes to be allowed a batsman was unecessary, and that it will tend toward the re-establishment of the old order of things, when “pitchers’ games” were of -common occurrence. It was long ago decided by the League clubs, and the players as well, that the public wanted to witness a heavy batting game, and another strike was added to the limit of opportunity afforded the batsman to hit the ball before going to the bench. The change w orked admirably, as the lively character of the games during the past season will testify. There was plenty of good, stiff hitting, and the change found high favor with the public. Now, when everything seemed as it should be, the commitee goes to work and what it did last fall. “Four striked ure too hard on the pitcher, ” says an enthusiast, in defense of the joint committee’s action. Nonsense. One pitched ball more or less is not going to make any material difference in the effectiveness of a trained pitcher, while it will make a very great difference to the batsman. The elimination of that miserable provision, however, which during the past season has given a batsman a base hit for a base on balls, is heartily gratifying to every man who has talked with your correspond•ent upon the subject." John Day’s thoughtfulness in amending the old rule —that of 1886—on this point, so that the fact of a man’s having reached first on called balls will not alone prevent his scoring an earned run, is commendable. A batsman should not be he>d responsible for a pitcher’s error, and if he possesses the patience and good judgment to stand at the plate until five balls and perhaps two strikes have been called on him he shoul<| be given the opportunity, so far as his own work has entitled him to it, to score an earned run.

It is too bad that the committee should not have taken decided aetion upon Mr. Spalding’s suggestion, that a club may hold in reserve for use upon the field, at the discretion of the team captain, as many men as it wishes. The rule is a good one in that it will tend to more rapidly develop young talent by giving them the advantage of training in championship games. If a team captain has placed his best nine in the field, and as a result of their work sees that the game is hopelessly lost or unquestionably won, he can utilize the situation by substituting during the last innings of the game such of his young talent as he desires io try. Moreover, it will have the effect of checking a too frequent inclination upon the part of the players to sulk upon the field, or play indifferent ball, for no ball-player would wish to be disgraced by being sent from the field for poor work and another man put in to fill his place. So far as can be learned, Mr. Spalding’s suggestion of this measure ie favorably regarded everywhere, and there are many who hope it will become a rule. In connection with the League meeting, the Eastern and Western Circuit scheme, ■which has been pretty thoroughly aired ■during the past few days in the dispatches from Pittsburg and New York, came in for its share of discussion, but the majority of ■well-posted base-ball “cranks” refuse to bite at the sensational fake. It was not even discussed. A committee from the Brotherhood of Ball Players waited upon the League meeting, and, after discussing in a friendly ■way the objects of the Brotherhood and the relations existing between the clubs and their players, the League appointed a committee to discuss the advisability -of amending the form of contract in accordance with the suggestions offered by the Brotherhood committee. The League committee consisted of Bogers, Day and Spalding, and the Brotherhood committee of Ward, Hanlon and Brouthers, the two committees meeting in conference. They went over the new form of contract presented by the Brotherhood in detail. The League then asse’mbled to hear the joint committee, and in short order ratified the new form with but few alterations, the most important change being made in the clause relative to the distribution of players in the event of a club disbanding. This was changed entirely the moment the League showed the Brotherhood the absolute necessity of controlling the players in such a contingency. The new contract •drawn up by the Brotherhood’s counsel and adopted proves to be. a better document all around than the old one. The principal changes made affect sections 6, 7,8, 15, 16 and 18. By the terms of the new contract players will not be fined at the discretion of the managers for certain offenses, a graded limit being named for repeated offenses. Neither will a club reserve players for the ensuing season at SI,OOO, as was previously the case, but -clubs will now pay reserved players the salary named in the contract. Players are also exempted from the charges of 50 cents per day for traveling expenses. In the future, if a club disbands, resigns or is expelled, tbe players of such club will not be -compelled to go to another club unless that club will pay the same salaries as the club resigning, disbanding, or expelled. In section 6 the word “drunkenness” was stricken out as being an undefinable term. The change made in this section is •expected to be productive of much good, and will prevent men drinking while off duty. Players may be “docked” a pro rata amount of their pay for time lost by illness from natural causes. If a player is injured in the performance of duty and thus incapacitated, his pay shall go on just the same, but he may be released; such release must, however, be ab-

solute and unconditional. Any violation of contaact by the managers may be held as proper ground for dissolution of contract if their players desire it. Another change provides for a fine of SSO for neglect of duty and does away with suspension. The Brotherhood favored the r lan of sending all fines to the Secretary o' the League, but they agreed to allow this io be stricken out. There is a great variety of opinion existing as to the result of this meeting between the League and the Brotherhood. Said a well-posted man in base-ball affairs while speaking upou the subject: It if true that ths co tract h.n been “modified, altered, and amended' so as to be ent rely eatia actory to the Brotherhood, but bo deit ly have the ch arg b and "modifications" been made, however, that it requires a microscope, backed by a mo t powerful mind, to discover any material diff -rence betwe -n the contract of to-dav and that of the da v before. The failure of the old form o’ contract to prohi: it the sale of a ball-] layer’s release was especially objectionable t 4 the Brotherhood. It gave them broad grounds for dramatic talk upon the “slave and taskmaster" basis. It enabled them to picture to the public the ball player in chains and with the brands o’ serfdom upon his brow : it proved the subject for pitia le illustrations in manv a sympathet.c daily newspaper, and enabled Mike Kelly to aver that the league "had made deck hands of ballplayers.” So far as I can learn, however, this subject was not in any manner protested against at the meeting between the Brotherhood and League Committees. Fair play and justice is defied by every man, in all conditions of life. No fair-minded man wishes to see a ball player or the employe of any government, corporation, firm or individual oppressed cy imposed upon by his employer. The two forms of contract are not held up by me for comparison through any spirit of sympathy with the employeror unfriendly spirit toward the employe; but simply to show that despite the hue and cry raised by the brotherhood over the “one sided and unjust character of the old form of contract,” ballplayers were just about as well protected and justly dealt with under its provisions as they could be under those of any form of contract they might themselves suggest “We want a change,” they cried, “and if the harsh provisions of the contract are not modified in accordance with our suggestions, no Brotherhood member shall sign it.” Well, the contract has been modified. What the modifications consist of it is difficult to say, but it has been modified, and if the Brotherhood is satisfied, the League and the public should be. Now, gentlemen, I say, play ball.

HONORING GARFIELD.

The Magnificent Monument Erected at Cleveland to His Memory. It will be a year yet before the Garfield memorial monument at Cleveland is completed and the remains of the dead President laid at rest forever in the tomb prepared for them by the people of the United States. During the last six months there have been many unfavorable criticisms passed upou the committee in charge of the construction of the monument, on account of a radical change made in the original plans whereby the height is reduced nearly fifty feet, thus to a certain extent marring the symmetry and fine proportions of the structure. A correspondent who has just inspected the monument thus describes it:

As will be seen by the cut above, it is very nearly finished as regards its exterior. Its height is 170 feet, and it is surmounted by an open, arcaded, carved-stone lantern. An order ot canopied and traceried windows enriches and breaks the summit of the tower. At its base projects a square porch, decorated externally with a historial frieze. It is divided into basreliefs, which represent the career of Garfield as a teacher, a soldier, a statesman, a President, and his remarkable funeral. The tower rises from broad terraces, which will be reached by wide-spreading steps and thus form a dignified approach to the monument. The porch is entered through a wide and richly decorated recessed pprtal, and witbin is a wide vestibule vaulted in stone and with a pavement of stone mosaic. The memorial shrine occupies the entire space inclosed by the outer circular walls of the tower, and is designed to contain a bronze or marble portrait statue of Garfield standing on a pedestal in the center of the chamber. The statue is made the soul of the monument; the whole design leads up to and is concentrated on this central figure; the monument grows out of this kernel, as it were, and the tower surrounds and rises above its treasure and proclaims it to the world. In a crypt underneath the rotunda is situated the mortuary chapel, and here will be placed the body of the dead President. It is the intention of the trustees to deeorate this interior in a very elaborate manner. It is as yet very incomplete, but, nevertheless, visitors are charged an admission fee of 10 cents to view the structure. This is amusing in the face of the fact that the neople are also paying for the monument. The fund originally raised amounted to $130,758.88, and with interest for six years paid will eventually reach $160,000. Of this sum Dlinois subscribed $5,340.31. Garfield’s body now lies in the public receiving vault ot the cemetery, having been placed there when the government guard was removed.

The wife of the King of Holland has a bad trick of winking her eyes. The courtiers do not know which way to look when the pretty Queen winks at them, and some very sad blunders frequently occur, owing to this physical defect. A young attache of the Belgian minister who returned the Queen’s wink found himself “returned with thanks” to his native land by the next mail, and since then none of the Hollanders has dared to sauce back. This is the epitaph on the tomb of Charles H. Salmon at Drakesville, N. J.: “In memory of Charles H. Salmon, who was born Sept. 16, 1858. He grew, waxed strong, and developed into a noble son and loving brother. He came to his death on the 13th of October, 1884, by the hands of a careless drug clerk and two excited doctors at 12 o’clock at night in Kansas City.” The one prudence in life is concentration; the one evil is dissipation.

The Surplus Available for Debt Reduction During the Fiscal Year Was $103,471,097. General Sheridan’s Annual ReportPostal Statistics—Other Department Reports. THE TREASURY. Synopsis of the Annual Report of Treasurer Hyatt. The annual report of James W. Hyatt, Treanurer of the United Stites, shows that the revenues of the Government for the fiscal vear ended June IJ, 18'7, were $371,403,27? ; ordinary expenditures, $887,932,179; surplus receipts available kr the reduction of toe public debt, $103,471,997. As compared with the previous year the receipts increased t3i,963,K>9, the expenditures $25,449,041, and the surplus revenues $9,514,309. There was an increase in every item of revenue, the largest being in the receipts from customs. The largest increase in the expenditures was on account of Indians and pensions, and the largest decrease on account of interest on the public debt. Tbe rece pts of the Postoffice Department amounted to $54,752,347, and the expenditures to $53,583,835. The revenues, exclusive of deficiency appropriations, increased $3,500,495, and the expenditures $2,901,219. The amount drawn from the Treasury to make good the deficiencies in the postal revenues was $6,969,13 <, as agdinst $8,714,422 in 1886. The operations of the year involved the redemption of $127,911,950 *in United States bonds, of which $47,894,200 was on account of the sinking fund ; the issue of nearly six hundred thousand drafts and checks; the redemption of upward of $193,000,000 in the United States paper currency and national bank notes, and tbe handling of i 192,000,0u0 in the United States bonds deposited or withdrawn by the national banks. Statements of the assets and liabilities of the Treasury are given for tbe close of the fiscal year, a>nd for Sept. 30 and Oct. 31,1887, in comparison with the same days last year, 'lhe largest increase in any item of assets during the year ended Sept. 30 was $34,705,625 in goldcoin and bullion, and the largest decrease $26,143,181 in silver dollars and bullion. The largest increase in tho liabilities was in the funa for the retirement of the national bank notes, which ran up from $65,612,547 to $102,265,.87. The available balance decreased $26,132, >24, and the total balance, including fractional silver and minor coin, fell off $28,286,951. During tho year ended Oct 31 the gold balance increased $44,322,653, the silver balance decreased $21,287,772, and the total balance ran up $1,959,283. The total at the end of this period, exclusive of certificates and other obligations held as cash, were $319,190,965, and the total liabilities'sz62,432,26o. The statement of United States notes outstanding show that between June :-0, 1884, and Sept. 30, 1887, the circulation of si and $2 notes ran down from $51,500,000 to $15,460,000. This decrease has been made up by changes in other denominations, the volume of $5, $lO, and S2O notes increasing about $13,0.10,000. The shipments of legal tenders and silver certificates of small denominations, together with the increase in the circulation of silver coins during the fifteen months ended Sept. 30, amounted to upward of $149,000,000, while, in addition, several million dollars in small gold coins have been drawn into circulation. Under the provisions of the act of June 8, 1872, certificates of deposit amounting to $34,900,000 were issued during the fiscal year for United States notes lodged in the Treasury. The redemptions in the same period were $43,990,000. There remained outstanding June 80 only $9,020,000, which is the least amount shown at the end of any fiscal year since the Issue began. The Treasurer attributes the limited use of these certificates at this time to the change in bank reserves from notes to coin and the demand for currency caused by business activity. There were no gold certificates issued during the year. The redemptions amounted to $9,687,428. Of the total of $1,173,354,880 issued from November, 1865, there were outstanding at the close of the year $121,486,817, of which .39,261,380 was in the treasury and $91,225,437 in circulation. The holdings of the treasury decreased nearly $25,000,000 in the year. The amount outstanding Oct. 31 was $132,542,931, of which the treasury held $32,858,158, The silver certificates outstanding at the close of the fiscal year amounted to $145,543,150, an increase of nearly $30,000,000 in twelve months. The amount in the treasury fell off in the same period from nearly $28,000,000 to $3,425,133, while the increase in the actual circulation was a little more than $54,000,000. This increase is due in part to the demand for small notes arising from the discontinuance of the issue of legal tender ones and twos. There was put out during the year $14,166,000 in $1 certificates, $1,976,000 in $2, and $7,760,000 in $5. The Treasurer believes that nearly all of the trade dollars have been redeemed. The coinage of standard silver dollars for the fiscal year was $33,216,831, an increase of $3,377,926 over 1886. On Oct. 31 the Treasury held $214,175,532 and there was $62,540,625 in circulation. Between June 30, 1886, and Oct. 31, 1887, the fractional silver coin in the Treasury decreased from $28,904,681 to $24,468,135, and the minor coin from $377,814 to $51,400. The 1 and 5 cent pieces on hand are not more than sufficient tot payments over the counter. The Treasurer calls attention to the rapid decrease in the redemptions of fractional currency, and shows by comparison with other paper issues that a larger amount than has been estimated has probably been lost or destroyed. The amount outstanding June 30, as shown by the hooks, was $15,322,902, while the redemptions for the year were only $7,123. The Treasurer renews the recommendations of his predecessors, that all of the postal revenues be deposited in the Treasury and be disbursed on the warrants of the Secretary, and that the payment of Speaker’s certificates for salaries and mileage of members of Congress be devolved upon a disbursing officer.

CON CREGAN.

THE ARMY. Annual Report of Lieut. Gen. Sheridan Recommendations. Lieut. Gen. P. H. Sheridan has presented his annual report to the Secretary of War. From tbe report it appears that at the date of the last consolidated returns the army consisted of 2,290 officers and 24,236 men, including Indian scouts. The Lieutenant General briefly sums up tbe condition of the various divisions of the army, and of the Division of the Missouri says that while it has been free from Indian hostilities of any magnitude, many operations of a minor nature have been rendered necessary. Troops have been continually occupied in patrolling the Oklahoma country, ana have been successful in keeping intruders out of that region. The gradual spread of railroads throughout the Territory can, however, ultimately have but one effect, and Gen. Sheridan is of opinion that Congress may well consider tbe advisability of opening up reservations, at least of this country, to settlement. The General touches upon the recent trouble occurring on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and its settlement by Gen. Roger. In order to quiet the restless young men among the Crow Indians, the report says, Gen. Ruger has been authorized to enlist about thirty of their number as scouts and take them to Fort Custer. The Crows have always been friendly and make it a boast that they have never killed a white man, and it would be a great pity if anything should now occur to disturb the peaceful relations of so long a standing, and Gen. Sheridan ie confident that Gen. Ruger will be able to effect a permanent settlement that will be satisfactory to the Crows as well as to the Government. In regard to the concentration of the army in the larger posts, the report says that the worz on the new post at Denver, where it is proposed to place ten companies, will shortly be commenced; that at San Antonio has been progressing favorably during the year; the ground for the new post near Chicago will pass into the possession of the Government at an early day; and at Fort Snelling both the reservation and otherj attendant conditions are favorable for the establishment of a large garrison, and only some additional buildings are required for their accommodation. The reconstruction of .Fort Riley has been actively prosecuted during the year, but before it can be completed additional appropriations will be necessary. No other poet in the country possesses such advantages for the location of a school of practice for light batteries and for cavalry exercises, and since its establishment

UNCLE SAM’S FINANCES.

for these purposes has been authorised by Congress it has been deemed but true economy to erect only buildings of a substantial and per manent nature, so that with the new equipment of breech-loading steel field guns, metal carriages, snd improved harness nnw being manufactured by tbe Ordnance Department, tbe service will probably derive marked benefit fio.u this station for a number of years. THF. AMERICAN NAVY. Commodore Wilson in Hi* Report Think* the Prospect Is V<ry Bright. Commodore T. D. Wilson, Chief of the Bureau of Construction and r epair of tbe Navy Depaitinent, tn ills annual report to the tecret ry of tbe Navy renews hiK recommendation that two new vessels ot about a thousand tons each be built to replace the training ships >sratosa, Jamestown, and Portsmouth which cann> t p ssibly be kept in service much longer, and ha asks that special authority be given for the repair it the ivsteric eloop-of-war Hartfonl, at aco.t of 5175,09i1. Relat.ve to the adap’ability of tbe single-tur-reted monitors to coast and harbor defense Commodore Wilson says: "They are now a considerable expense to the navy, as they must be taken care of. and, not being in proper rex air, they are of do use to the country. If these vessels are to be kept on the naval list they should be placed in perfect repair and be fitted with such modern rifles as they are capable of carrying Within six months all of these vessels could be put in the same state of efficiency as they were at the time of their construction at an expenditure of about $500,000. This would give thirteen coastdefense vessels actually available, armed with 15-inch smooth-bore guns. These guns could be replaced as rapidly as possible by rifles. By no other means could the same amount of money be spent to give the country such a valuable return.” In conclusion the report says: “The outlook for the navy in the near future is a very hopeful one, and with the completion of tbe vessels now projected the navy will consist of a number of modern vessels admirably adapted to the varied needs of the service. The charactor ot tbe work being done on the vessels now building and those lately completed shows that our ship-buil lers are able to turn ouVvessels of war second to none in the world. “The establishment of the gun factory at Washington and introduction by the Bethlehem iron-works of a plant to furnish heavy armor and gun forging* make the Un.ted States absolutely independent of other countries in tho construction and armamentof her ships ot war, and if the work of rebuilding the navy is only kept up as it is now going we shall soon have a navy that will be a credit as well as a protection to our country and our country’s interests." Tables attached to the report show the exact condition of every vessel in the navy. This table shows that in three years wo shall have tweniy-one of the wooden vessels remaining. In six years but four, and in nine years the entire wooden navy will have disappearod.

THE I’OSTOFFICE Cost, aud Length of Mail Service—Free Delivery System. The annual report of A Leo Knott, Second Assistant Postmaster-General, shows that the total cost for the year was $29,8J6,5e8. In the star service there was an increase of 615 routes and a decrease in cost of $252,647. In the mail messenger service there was an increase of 16.4 routes aud a decrease of $5,311 in cost. In tbe railroad service there was an increase of 7,015 miles in length of routes and an increase in cost of $654,590. In the star and steamboat service there was an average increase in the number of miles traveled during the last year ove r the average of the six preceding years of 7.50 per cent., and a decrease in tue cost of 13 per cent, in the star service and a decrease of 27 per cent, in the cost of tho steamboat service. The increase in the number of places of mail handled by the postal clerks during the last fiscal year over the preceding year was 505,000,0.0. The continuation of the appropriation for special mall facilities ou fast lines to the South and West is recommended. The total amount of the estimates submitted to meet the requirements of the office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General for the fiscal year 1888-9 is $31,635,065. The annual report of Co). J. F. Bates, superintendent of the free-delivery system of the Postoffice Department, shows that since Julv 1, 1863, the number of free-delivery offices has increased from 66 to 189, and the number of carriers employed from 685 to 5,810. The cost of the service lor the last fiscal year was $1,618,692, an increase of $306,386 over the previous year. The report shows that during the year the carriers delivered and collected 2,234, .61,056 pieces of mail matter, an increase during the year of over 285,000,000 pieces. The average cost per piece for handling the mails at freedelivery offices was 2 mills, a decrease of 9.09 per cent, during the year.

RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. Interesting Figures from the Annual Report of Superintendent Nash. The annual report of T. A. Nash. General Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service, shows that at ttie close of tbe fiscal year ended June 30,1887, mail service had been authorized upon 130,959 miles of railroad, postal clerks being employed distributing the mail on 116,609 miles, service on the regaining 14,360 miles being performed by closed pouches. At the same date there were in operation 41 inland steamboat routes, aggregating 5,864 miles, on which postal clerks were employed. To handle the mails while in transit there were employed on railroad routes 4,403 and on steamboat routes 57 railway postal clerks, being a total of 4,460-men. While in the performance of their duties the postal clerks on railroads traveled dn crews) 107.967,643 miles, and those employed on steamboat a 1,868,747 miles. During tH$ year the railway postal clerks distributed 5,834,690,875 pieces of ordinary mail matter, and protected, recorded, receipted for, and dispatched 15,7.>2,569 registered packages and cases and 950,613 through registered pouches and inner registered sacks. During the year 7,213 miles of new railroad service have been added. The lines on which service was.performed by clerks show an increase of 5,936 miles. Inland steamboat routes decreased from 43 to 41, and the length of routes from 5,951.53 miles to 5,864 89, The total number of clerks in tbe service at the close of the fiscal year 1886 was 4,573. There were handled by clerks in the railway mail service during the year of letters, ordinary mail matter, registered packages, through registered pouches, and inner registered sacks, 5,851,3j4,<;57, being an increase of 505,548,013 pieces. Out of this number 1,734,617 errors in distribution were found, making one error for each 3,373 pieces handled. The expenditures for the service aggregate $1,713,391, leaving $94,-6-8 of the appropriation unexpended. For the next fiscal year $2,031,288 is asked.

ORDNANCE BUREAU. Points from the Report of Gen. Benet, Chief of Ordnance. Gen. 8. V. Benet, Chief of Ordnance, has submitted his annual report to the Secretary of War. It shows that the total expenditures of the bureau during the fiscal year were *1,597,652. During the year 41,196 rifles ana carbines were manufactured at the National Armory. The report says that, owing to the failure ot Congress to pass the regular appropriation bill, the department has effected but little during tbe last year in tbe direction of providing guns, cartridges, powder, etc., for coast defense. Under tbe head of rifle-forgings the report says that the domestic manufacturers have at last triumphed over their limitations, and have obtained success in spite of inadequate facilities. The report says that the dynamite torpedo gun has been fairly perfected, and it fs recommended that a twelve-inch gun be purchased for exhaustive trials to determine its full capacity and fitness for coart defense. Favorable mention is also made of the Stevens dynamite sheik it is said that with tbe exception of the twenty-five 3 2.10-inch B. L. field guns just issued to the service there are in store only the old muzzle-loading guns of limited power, representing a system twenty-five years old and now obsolete, while there are no serviceable carriages. An estimate of $225,000is accordingly submitted for the purchase of sixty completely equipped steel guns. The tests of the eight-inch gun, it is said, show a h-gher effective energy than any gun of like caliber extant. The death is announced of Frank M. Higgins, managing editor of the Pittsburg Commercial Gazette. ■ Buffalo's population, as shown by the police census, is 230,284.

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

—Recently Henry Lockwood and wife, residing ten miles east of Marion, were summoned lietore the prosecutor to give eTideix-e in a criminal case. They are Mre cLe.uy no< r. and their three children, aged 4, uni i months, were left alone .n a ho.el thut m< milled the snow that accomiuiiied the lute blizzard. On their way home 1 < ckwood t aud wife were nearly liozen, and slipped with an acquaintance over night. on their arrival home, next morning, they found the youngest child, a little girl, frozen to death, and the other two ao badly chilled and frost-bitten that they could scarcely more or speak. The eldest boy said he awoke during the night and found his sister out in lhe snow beside the bed, and that when he pulled her in she was stiff. She was doubtless dead then. —The city of Fort Wayne, with a population of 40,00(1, seems about to experience a water famine. Because of the long drought the water in the supply basin, as well as the small streams that contribute to it, has so failed that not enough pressure is given to the mains to operate the elevators in lhe hotels and other tall buildings, and their use has been abandoned. The local electric light company has served notice upon the city that not enough water can be had from the mains to supply their engines, aud the inconvenience of complete or partial darkness at night is attributed to the water famine. Meanwhile, when a fire or two would fined the department crippled, the City Council and Water-works Trustees are at loggerheads, and abuse each other in the public prints. —The State Auditor has just completed his annual report. It is very voluminous. Warrants were drawn during the year to lhe amount of $3,975,944. The net cash receipts were $8,866,257. The total disbursement from the State House fund was $294,647. Advance payments have been made by the counties to relieve tbe temporary embarrassment of the general fund, and the December settlements will enable the Treasurer to meet current expenses. There have been drains on the public funds consequent upon the building of various new benevolent institutions, but careful estimates indicate that the revenues of the coming fiscal year will be sufficient to maintain the State credit and meet all obligations, all reports to the contrary notwithstanding. —The big canal, which is to drain the water off Four-mile Prairie, near Smitz City, has just been completed. The land has been purchased by Indianapolis men, who are reclaiming marsh lands in the State. The draining of Four-mile Prairie ruins one of the finest duck-shooting grounds in the world. For years it was the resort of geese, mallards, and teal, and a great place for shooters from the East. The marsh is now dry, and the ducks which are now coming from the north circle over it with a disappointed look and go croaking south. The draining will have the same effect as tbe recent ditching of the Sangamon bottom, in Mason County, 111., which has destroyed about 200,006 acres of ducking ground. —Miss Amanda English, of Switzerland County, has in her possession a bureau that was made for Miss Lucretia Hart, in her girlhood, more than one hundred years ago, and before she became the wife of. Henry Clay. The bureau was given to Miss English by Mrs. Clay sixty-seven years ago, and is in a good state of preservation. It was made by a Lexington carpenter named McElwane, who did his work well. Miss English, who is needy, wishes to sell this relic, and persons desiring to purchase may address Joseph D. Froman, Markland, Ind. —The city of Fort Wayne having arranged to begin the erection, next spring, of a new city hall, to cost $60,000, an injunction snit has been commenced, putting a stop to preparations. The petitioners are owners of property adjoining the market space, on which the new building was to be erected. They allege that by the will of the late Judge Samuel Hanna the ground was given to the city for market purposes only, and its use cannot be diverted; also, that access to their property would suffer by reason of erection of the proposed building. —Frank Hooks, a young married man living near Bunker Hill, was found dead in the woods. He had been out hunting, and the supposition is that, while resting on a stump, his gun in some way was discharged, the contents of which entered his heart, killing him instantly. He had only been married about one week. —Patents have been issued to Indiana inventors as follows: Alfred A. Benardin, Evansville, bottle cap; James F. Hatfield, Dublin, grain separator; William H. McGrew, assignor of one-half to J. Myers, Peru, wire and picket fence; Peter Bader, Kirklin, coupling for cultivators. —A revival meeting is in progress at the Methodist Church in Tipton. The church is aroused, and the entire town is interested. Fifty persons have joined the church in the last two weeks and the interest in the meeting is constantly increasing. —The Presbyterian congregations of Colfax and Darlington, which have been without a pastor for some time, have secured the services of Bev. Johnson, of Illinois, who will preach at both places alternately. Both churchetfare in a thriving condition. —Seth Wolf, aged 19, was instantly killed near Briant. He was assisting to load logs on a wagon when one rolled back, and before he could make his escape, passed over his body, crushing the life out of him. —Crookedness is charged in the selection of the late grand jury at Indianapolis. The Court has ordered an investigation.