Indianapolis Journal, Indianapolis, Marion County, 31 March 1886 — Page 2

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not been settled. There are two proposals before the Cabinet —first, to reduce the number of Irish members to thirty, with power to vote on *ll questions; second, to allow the Irish a larger representation, with the right to vote only on imperial questions, Resorts from all quarters of Ireland sent to Mr. Gladstone indicate that the people are in a state of feverish expectation, and that the failure of the home rule policy will lead to an outburst of violence. Rumors were rife in the lobbies of the House sf Commons, this evening, that there would be further resignations from the Cabinet. GERMANY'S ANTI-SOCIALIST LAW. You Puttknmer Slakes an Earnest Effort in Favor of Retaining the Measure. * Berlin, March 30.—Herr Von Puttkamer, Prussian Minister of the Interior, in the Reichstag to-day, made a personal appeal in behalf of Emperor William for a continuance of the antiSociali&t law. In the course of his address he exclaimed: "In the Emperor's name, and by the Emperor's order, I assure you that bis Majesty would regret profoundly and grieve deeply if the prolongation of the anti-Socialist law is refused. The Emperor would shed his blood in order to maintain the law. - ’ Dr. Von Puttkamer referred to the Socialist trouble in Belgium, which, he said, imperiled the peace of Europe. It behooved Germany, he continued, to devise measures to prevent such disorders. Had Belgium possessed laws forbidding the publication Socialist pamphlets and the holding of Socialist meetings, the recent troubles would probably have been averted. The Belgians were Catholics, but the church had proved unequal to coping with the outbreak of wild passion.’ Germany's strong monarchy, one of the most solid bulwarks of order, was able and prepared to crush such outbreaks. The prolongation of the anti Socialist law was intended as a preventive measure. Dr. Windthorst said he failed to see any connection between the Belgian disorders aud German Socialists. Dr. Von Puttkamer, in reply, said that ( aclording to newspaper reports, Germans Instigated the strikers in Belgium. He denied that German Socialists were implicated in the troubles. Herr Bebel called the speaker to order, whereupon the speaker denounced Bebel as a most dangerous agitator. The debate was adjourned until to-morrow. FOREIGN MISCELLANY. Uneasiness In France Over the Rumors that German! Fomented the Belgian Troubles. Paris, March 30. —The strike in Belgium and the continued disorders by the rioters have had a serious effect on the Paris Bourse. The result to the industries of Belgium has already made itself keenly perceptible in the lommercial circles of Paris. This is sxaggerated by the reports that the strikes have been fomented by Germany, and by the further disposition on the part of Germany to incite both Radicals and Monarchists against the French Republic. These combined influences have created so pronounced a feeling of uneasiness as to cause a large fall iu the quotations of all funds in the French market as Well as to arouse a ood deal of indignation against the Ministry for not being better prepared to meet the possible exigencies of the present crises both at home and abroad. The government is severely blamed for being so extravagantly economical as to weaken the army to a serious degree. There is indeed in some quarters a preceptible suggestion of Prussophobia, although the majority of the French would not be at all loath to cross swords with Bismarck again. Loss of Life by a Powder Explosion. Panama, March 30.—1n the Culebra section *f the canal, to day, 15,000 kilogrammes of powder exploded, killing ten men and seriously wounding forty.

Cable Notes. A fire in English’s timber yard, at Petersburg, England, destroyed $500,000 worth of stock. An Illness of a suspicious nature has recently Appeared in the mining regions about Bilboa, Spain. It is supposed to be cholera. M. Mussett, a Paris chemist, yesterday ended a quarrel with his mistress by shooting her dead and then killing himself. Both the parties were cnarflecT. The tragedy has made a sensation because of the standing of the parties. Madame Mussett is the daughter of a member of the Chamber of Deputies. In the English House of Commons Mr. Charles CameroD, Radical member for Glasgow, introduced a motion for the disestablishment of the Church of Scotland. Mr. Gladstone declined to interfere with the question. Scotchmen, he said, were able to deride the question for themselves. Mr. Cameron's motion was rejected by a vote of 237 to 125. The Rev. E. G. Bagshawe, bishop of Nottingham, at the instance of .the Propaganda, has withdrawn his order prohibiting the laity of his diocese from joining the Primrose League. This action is taken as a result of the Pope’s decision, but the bishop has forwarded to Rome a formal statement of his objections to allowing Catholics to join the organization. Encroachments of Lake Michigan. Chicago, March 30.—During the recent • orms the waters of the lake made still further acroachments on the lake shore drive in Linaln Park. From North-avenue pier for a dis- . ance of about half a mile north the drive is impassable, being washed out in some places and covered with debris in others. All along the shore of Lincoln Park and Evanston, great quantities of earth have been washed away. One very remarkable and startling fact is disclosed ip connection with the encroachment of the lake on Lincoln Park, and that the whole surface of the lake is gradually rising at the rate of about fdur inches per year. The record shows that the surface of the water is now two and one-half feet higher than it was seven years ago. Portions of the lake snore driveway, where are located some of the costliest private residences in the city, have been washed almost completely away. A severe wind storm is pre vailing to-day, and the lake is again tempestuous, the waves breaking on the beach and causing further destruction. Killed in a Bar-Room Qnarrel. Galveston, Tex., March 30.—A special to the News from Laredo says: ‘‘Alderman Henry Douglas was shot and killed yesterday morning, in the Commercial Hotel, by Alexander Menlv, ©f Corpus Christi. Menly and a young man earned Burbank had spent the night playing pinpool, Douglas watching the game. Early in the morning they all repaired to the hotel bar, where A quarrel ensued between Meuly and Burbank. The former drew his revolver and fired. The npUet grazed Burbank, and passed through Douglas's heart Menly was arrested. There is a great deal of excitement over the tragedy, and threats of lynching aYe made. Douglas was from Pennsylvania, and was one of the most popular railroad raeu in this section.” Direetor Neufarth Found Guilty. Cincinnati, March 30.— Frank Neufarth, director of the City Infirmary, who has been on trial before the probate court for impeachment, was to-day found guilty and will be removed from office. His offense was allowing payment for fraudulent vouchers. He was also arraigned in another court to-day, on four indictments based on his acts as director of the infirmary. His two fellow-directors fled the city several Weeks ago . Scott’s Emulsion of Pore Cod Liver Oil, with Hypophosphites. IN SCROFULOUS AND CONSUMPTIVHifCASE. Dr. C. C. Lockwood, New York, says: "I havo ! requently prescribed iScott’s Emulsion and regard it as a valuable preparation in scrofulous nd consumptive cases, palatable and efficacious.” If the soil is not in a proper condition for the reception of seed failure to germinate will be the result The most important matter is to render the seed bed fine, and any extra preparation in that respect will be greatly to the advantage of the young plants after they have started. 1C very mother should keep Ayer* Cherry Pectoral for imaodiate use, in ease of group and sudden colde.

INDIANA AND ILLINOIS NEWS The Daily Chronicle of Happenings of All Kinds in the Two States. Beaten Over the Head with a Broken Tumbler —A Swindle Revealed by a Murder —A White Girl Marries a Negro—Notes. INDIANA, Assaulted and Badly Beaten with the Sharp Edge of a Broken Tnmbler. Special to tholndianapolis Journal, Wabash, March 30.—This afternoon, in the Lutz House, this city, occurred a bloody affray, in which James Depp, an attache of the hotel, was badly disfigured and barely escaped with his life, Depp and Will Newman, a son of the proprietress of the house, became involved in an altercation, and young Newman, after breaking a tumbler over Dipp's head, struck him in the face repeatedly with the sharp edge of the glass, laying his left cheek open and cutting a horrible gash in the neck, uncomfortably near the jugular vein. There are also a number of bad cuts on the head, and had not the bystanders interfered Depp would have been killed. Newman is still at large, but will be arrested to-night. Freight Train Wrecked, Special to the Indianapolis Journal, Evansville, 3larch 30.—About 10 o’clock this morning a south-bound freight train was almost totally wrecked at Stephens’s Station, four miles from here. The accident was caused by a bad joint between the rails. The locomotive and two cars passed over in safety, but the remainder of the train, except the caboose, was completely wrecked, the cars being thrown in every direction and in every imaginable position, whilst the rails were twisted and contorted. Several passengers were in the caboose, but escaped unhurt, and were brought to this city on the locomotive. A wrecking train has gone to the scene. Minor Notes. New Albany hoodlnms amuse themselves by stoning Chinese laundries. Mrs. Elizabeth Foreman, an old resident of Edwardsville, died of paralysis, after thirty-six hours' illness. The commencement exercises of the DePauw law-school will occur on Wednesday, April 7. There are eight graduates. L. B. Hall and wife, of Jeffersonville, celebrated the sixty-fifth anniversary of their marriage on Monday evening, with a large company of friends. William Murphy, seventy-seven years old, long a resident of New Albany, has died at Georgetown. He was for many years engaged in ship-building. Taylor Phillippi, a prominent farmer of Oregon township, Clark county, was kicked by a horse he was grooming, and sustained injuries from which he died in a few minutes. Wesley C. Glasgow, a leading attorney of northeastern Indiana, died at his residence in Lagrange at 2 o’clock yesterday morning. Mr, Glasgow was the Republican candidate for Congress against Judge Lowry in 1882. He was about forty years of age. There is a party of gypsies camping near Jefsonville, and on Sunday evening two of the younger members of the tribe, Benjamin Harrison and Jennie Jeffery, eloped from the camp, as the old folks objected to their marrying, and were married by ’Squire Keigwio. The farm-residence, milk-house and smokehouse of A. F. Kaufman, situated in Boone township, Madison county, were totally destroyed by fire. Mr. Kaufman loses, also, the most of his household goods. The fire originated from'a defective flue. The loss is about $2,500; uninsured. The Bunker Hill Light Guards, organized on the 7th of last November, now present a fine and soldierly appearance, and, undeir the tutorship of Capt. W. W. Robbins, have become proficient in drill The uniform of the company is regulation blue. The people of Bunker Hill are justly proud of the Light Guards. The opening of the spring term of the Central Normal College, at Danville, occurred yesterday morning. The chapel was full to overflowing with students and citizens. There are students in attendance this term representing over three hundred Indiana homes, and about an equal number representing homes ia almost every other State in the Union.

ILLINOIS. A St. Paul Murder Reveals a Plan by Which Illinois Stock-Breeders Were Swindled. Special to the Indlananolis Journal. Bloomington, March 30.— A very curious and somewhat tragical swindle has just come to light here. Early in February, James R. Duncan, an importer of Norman horses at Normal, sold two Norman stallions and twQ mares, valued at $6,000. The men to whom he sold the animals said their names were T. D. Martin and L. M. Hartly, and they claimed to be from Salem, la. They gave a mortgage on land near Keokuk and Des Moines, and shipped the stock to Salem. Soon after this they returned and wished to buy more stock on mortgages, but Duncan refused to sell unless they would give a chattel mortgage on the stock until the proposed mortgage could be investigated. This they declined to do. A few days ago news was read in the papers of the murder of one Buck Moore, at St Paul, who was there with a car of horses. The alleged murderer was J. D. Martin, who was arrested. Investigation shows that J. D. Martin was one of the men who bought the $6,000 worth of horses here, and that the murdered man, Back Moore, was the one who had personated L. W. Hartly, a rich and reputable citizen of Salem, in the Normal transaction; also, that the stock had not gone to lowa, but a portion of it to Kansas; that the mortgage covered land practically valueless, the property being under water; that not only Duncan had thus been swindled, but also Elwood. of DeKalb, 111., and Durham, of Wayne, 111. It is believed that the swindle was carried on in a wholesale manner, and that there is but little hope of recovering the stock.

, A White Girl Married to a Negro. Special to the Indianapolis Journal Marshall, March 39. —Augustus Guthrie, a negro barber of Terre Haute, aeed twenty-two, and Ida Belle Surdan, a fine-looking, well-devel-oped white girl, aged seventeen, were married here yesterday afternoon. The girl’s mother was present, to give her consent. They returned to Terre Haute this afternoon. Closed by the Sheriff. Aurora March 30.—The wholesale and retail tea house of J. H. Cox was closed by the sheriff, to day, on an execution in favor of Nicholas Martin, of Chicago, whose claim amounts to $5,200. Cox’s indebtedness will probably foot up $25,000. He has operated six other stores in neighboring cities, and they have all beau closed. Brief Mention. The new hospital buildings at Kankakee will cost $116,000. Mr* E. C. Gazal, of Beverly, 0., en route to Bine Mound, was found dead in a coach upon the arrival of a train at Decatur on Monday morning. The body of Noah Sunderland, drowned several weeks ago in the DuPage river, has been found at Plainfield. His wifs died of grief at his los* There are nine old soldiers being caned for in tbs Tazewell county poor-house, some of whom have families, and none of whom reoetve penA precocious youth named John Dixon, aged fourteen aud of a goof family, was arrested at Rockford sac having broken into several stores

THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 1886.

in the last two month* He secured considerable cash in each inetanoe. * ' Mr. Thomas Parker, of Parkersburg, one of the most influential citizens in that section of country, died last night He was seventy-five years of age. Schnebly & Rowcliff, retail hardware merchants at Peoria, have been closed by the sheriff. The total indebtedness is $6,000, while the stock will invoice, it is said, $9,000. The Rev. Edward Bell, alias Carleton, who was recently refused admission to the Mattoon Presbytery, has joined the ‘Christian Church at Shelby ville, and, it is reported, will sooutuecome its pastor. THE LEADER OF THE KNIGHTS. [Concluded from First Page.] Knights of Labor. I joined that night. It was Assembly No. 88. I found there all crafts, and thought I had found just what I was looking for. Nciaiß was then the only assembly in northeastern Pennsylvania; all of its meetings were very secret, and nothing was ever said about its existence outside of the meeting* Our idea was that we should secretly add to our strength and keep out politicians and other selfseekers. “When the panic of 1873 came/I was laid off, with many other* I went We6t through Ohio and western Pennsylvania. I settled in Oil City, Pa., and became a member of the Machinists’ and Blacksmiths’ Union there, and a month later was sent to the national convention of the union at Louisville, Ky. t in September; 1874. Shortly after, I returned to Scranton, and was employed at my trade by the Dickson Manufacturing Company. I did not work for them very long, because I was sent out to do many out-door jobs, and, as I have always been troubled with quinsy sore throat, I could not bear the exposure. I went back to Carbondale and worked at my trade. I tried to induce the Machinists’ and Blacksmiths’ Union to join the K. of L., but for a long time was unsuccessful. Os course, I worked secretly, having to take each man alone, and sound him, and convince him. The great obstacle was, as I said, the contempt with which the machinists and blacksmiths looked upon other worker* At last my efforts were successful, aud the union wag disbanded, and the members became Assembly No. 222 of the Knights of Labor. During this time I had worked among the surrounding towns, so that, when the Carbondale union joined the Knights, there were several assemblies* in the neighborhood. I had thus worked to win them to the Knights of Labor, because I saw that in the union all their legislation about apprentices and shop rules would amount to nothing. “With the introduction of labor-saving machinery the trade was all cut up, so that a man who had served an apprenticeship of five years might be brought in competition with a machine run by a boy, and the boy would do the most and best I saw that labor-saving machinery was bringing the machinist down to the level of a day laborer, and soon they would be on a level. My aim. was to dignify the laborer. In the K. of L. I saw a good field for operation. In 1876 we organized a district assembly of five or six assemblies in Lackawanna county, and I was elected district secretary, an office which I have held ever since from choice. In 1877. when the strikes

on the railroads swept over the country, many of our men with others not of the K. of L , numbering in all about 5,000, were discharged and went West, settling in the Western States and Territories. Wherever our knights went new assemblies sprung up. Up to that time there had been no national head to the K. of L. So Frederick Turner, of Philadelphia; Richard Griffiths, of Chicago. Charles Litchman, of Marblehead, Maes.; Thomas King, of Reading, Pa., and I met and held the first general assembly of the K. of L. at Reading, Pa., in January, 1878. We then had seven districts, representing Philadelphia, Reading, Pittsburg, Charleston, W. Va., ScrantoD, and Shawnee, 0., and several local associations which I cannot now recall. Mr. Uriah Stephens, of Philadelphia, was elected the first general master workman, and I was elected to the next office, which was called grand worthy foreman. We there changed the date of meeting from January to September We next met in St. Louis. Mr. Stephens did not attend this convention, but *wrote a letter recommending me for general master workman. In April, 1875, I was elected Mayor of Scranton. After that I gave my entire lime to the work of my office, thi6 being the first time that I had worked at any business other than my trade. "The strikes of 1877 were caused by the men not. understanding one another. At that ftrue I began to study the causes of that strike and of the distress of the workmen. I coneludod that an organization should be perfected which would be a grand industrial school. I had no hobby. Others were for greenbacks, tariff revision, and a dozen other things. I had not read the writings of any theorist. I had never met a theorist I was re-elected Mayor two or three times. When first elected I was not known outside of the laboring olasses. It was said by my opponents that all sorts of trouble would corao if I was elected. However. I was elected, and among other acts I discharged the entire police force of the city because I found that I must have men on whom I could rely. Then, during my administration the debt of the city was reduced about $20,000. Previously the debt had annually increased. In 1884 the Knights of Labor had grown so large that the business of the order took all of my time, so I Lad to decline renomination for Mayor. We now have assemblies in England and Belgium. "I have read Henry George’s ‘Progress and Poverty,’ Spencer’s ‘Social Statics.’ and Thornton ou Labor. lam not sure what my plans will be for the future. A syndicate of newspapers has offered to send me to Europe to write up the labor question as it is there. Ido not believe in strikes, because I do not think there is any necessity for them. I believe that these troubles ean be settled without strikes. The order has materially changed in a few years, is broader and more liberal than at first*, less secresy now, the oath has been abolished in the initiation, and only the word of honor is now required. The whole matter of the wage system is wrong. So long as one finds it to his advantage to buy labor at the cheapest price and the other demands the highest price for it, trouble will come. Profit sharing is the remedy. The Knigh.ts of Labor will not allow a liquor distiller or brewer, or a liquor seller, or one whose wife is a liquor seller, to become a member of the order, and I am now striving to prevent liquor drinkers from joining."

Labor Notes. Pittsburg, Maroh 30. —Negotiations are pending which may result in the settlement of the street-car strike. The companies are now considering a modified proposition of the strikers, which provides for arbitration. Both sides show more disposition to compromise, and the prospect of an early adjustment of the differences is regarded as bright. The strike on the WestEnd road was settled this afternoon, the company agreeing to the modified terms of the Knights of Labor. The cars were started running this evening. New York, March 31, 2 a. m. —The drivers and conductors of the Broadway surface railway, learning that their pay was to bo reduced next Monday from $3.25 per day to $2, held a meeting at midnight to-night and emphatically avowed their purpose to refuse any compliance with such terms. Pittsburg, March 30. —The wages of the laborers at Carnegie's. Union mills were advanced to-day from $1.20 to $1.35 for ten hours work. At Shoenberger's mill the wages were increased 12| cents per day. St. Louis, March 30. —Ligget & Myers’s mammoth tobacco factory was obliged to shut down to-day from lack of coaL Nine hundred and fifty men are thus forced into idlenes* The Mo Hoy-Lee Case. Special to the Indianapolis Journal. Springfield, Mo., March 30.— The argument of the attorneys, H. E. Howell and O. H. Travers, for the defense, ia the Molloy-Lee trial, consumed ell of to-day and to-night. John A. Patterson, the prosecuting attorney, made the closing speech for the State. Ju3tiee Savage announced that the case would be taken under advisement until 10 o'clock to-morrow morning. John H. Kimball, of Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, writes, May 20, 1885, that he was eufferiog with rheumatic fever, and had constipation so bad that many times he went twelve days without an evacuation. Given up by physicians, he, as a last resort, took Brandrath’s Pills, two every night for seven weeks. Now he is an entirely well man, and never uses any other medicine for himself or family. He will answer any fogoMth

| THE TELEPHONE IN INDIANA. The American Bell Gomp&ny’s Side of the Case —The Indiana Law Reviewed. Special to the Indianapolis Journal. Boston, March 30.—The sixth annual report of the trustees of the American Bell Telephone Company was read, today, to the meeting of the stock-, holder* The whole business of the company for the year 1885 was reviewed at length. President Forbes refers to the Indiana law, its propriety and effect, as follows: “In April, 1885, the State of Indiana passed a law, restricting the price of rental of a telephone to $3 per month and $2.50 each, where two are used. This was done against the almost unanimous report of the committee which had examined the subject, and before whom careful testimony had been placed as to the cost of telephone service. This raised at once two questions of the highest importance to onr licensees: First— I The question of the right of the Legislature to make such restriction* Second—The question of public policy in respect to such legislation. A case testing the validity of the law was brought, and carried up to the Supreme Court of Indiana, and the Central Union company, doing the telephone business of Indiana, gave testimony beyond disnute that telephone service in Indianapolis and other cities actually cost that company more than $3 per month per subscriber. That court has recently decided that the taw is valid, but has accompanied this decision by language which implies a doubt whether the law is either wise or just. The court based its opinion largely upon the so-called police power of the State, which is said to confer the right to control matters affecting the safety and convenience of the public, and quoted the case of a restriction enforced against the patent owners of a dangerous oil in behalf of its position. But there is no question as to public safety involved in the telephone law, and as the telephone is certainly a convenience to the public, of less consequence than the supply of fcod and olothing, it does not seem probable that the right to regulate the telephone business, even without considering the question of patent right, exists, unless the State has tne power to regulate prices of all other commodities. If this general power does exist surely the patent rieht must give some protection to a business which wholly depends for its peculiar value upon patented inventions. The court made the distinction that the price for the right to practice the invention could not be interfered with, but that as soon as the invention was embodied in a tangible article like the telephone, the State possessed the right to limit the price for the use of it. This is to assert that the State has only to take one step round, in order to practically accomplish that which the court says it must not do, and this whole ground is so opposed to the generally accepted theory upon which patented articles have been bought and put into use, and to the whole theory of the patent law, which purports to insure full protection for the exclusive use of the invention during the life of the patent, that it seems incomprehensible that the view of the Indiana court can be correct. In consequence of this decision, the Central Union company is obliged to close its exchanges in the principai cities end large towns. There seems to be no other course, unless the company is willing to do business at a heavy loss until the rate-law can be repealed. The public will necessarily be put to serious inconvenience, and the telephone company is helpless to give relief. In Ohio and New Jersey similar bills which were before the Legislatures of those States have been rejected or postponed, and we have every confidence that the same result will be reached in several other States, including Massachusetts, wh-ire the same legislation has been attempted. The Indiana case is to be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, and the result will be awaited with anxiety by many others than those interested in telephone property. If the States possess 6uch right as is claimed by the Indiana sourt, the motive of public policy should still operate against its exercise. Why should the telephone business be regulated as to price more than other industries? The reasons offered are that telephone companies are monopolies, and that they have been granted certain privileges of location, but as they are monopolies only by virtue of the patent system, which is everywhere accepted ns a part of our public policy to which all the States are committed, no State in fairness ought to destroy that which this patent system has created, and the privileges of location which have been granted them are so precarious, that sufficient obstacles are already placed in the way of conducting their business, by their being obliged to put their money into plant of such uncertain tenure. Sound public policy is surely against the regulation of the price of any class of commodities by law. If it i3 admitted with telephones, it may presently be proposed for anything else which the public wants. In the discussion of this matter, the circumstances that these patents are property bought and paid for, seems often to be wholly overlooked bv those who are proposing to distribute the benefits of the telephone to the public. It is the buyer using his majority vote to fix prices, without reference to the rights of the seller. It is often asserted that telephone rates are too high, but the assertions are unaccompanied by any proofs, and those who make them do so without that knowledge of the business which is necessary to a fair judgment. As the stockholders generally have not been able to acquaint themselves with these matters, it may not be out of place to say a few words about this question. Had an offer been made in the first place to put a wire, a switch apparatus ana operators, day and night, at the service of each subscriber, and to charge not over five cents per connection within usual exchange limits, can it be doubted that such a charee would everywhere have been accepted as moderate? In fact the cost to the subscriber for exchange service varies from two to seven cents per connection, according to amount of use and quality of service required, and the average is not far from four cents. The price of connections from one exchange to another is from ten cents upwards, according to distance, which compares most favorably with telegraph messages, since immediate response is secured and a conversation of three minutes or even more, allowing the exchange of several hundred words, instead of the ten-word message of common use in telegraphy, with considerable delay in getting replies. A telephone subscribers wire, too, is used on an average but about five times a day, and must be maintained in idleness the rest of the time, while a telegraph company only maintains as many wires as it expects to keep busy. In Boston and its branch offices alone, for example, the telephone company maintains 4.565 miles of wire, which are mostly in idleness njne-tenths of the time. Different qualities of telephone service are just as necessary as different qualities of clothing, food, or railroad service, and prices of telephone exchange service must vary as surely as prices of other commodities, unless cities are willing to content themselves with the kind of equipment and service which answers in a village, which they are not. In a small town one can only reach perhaps one or two hundred persons, in a city as many thousand; this is worth the difference, especially since the apparatus must be much more costly throughout It is natural that the fact that the price of telephone service increases with the number of subscribers instead of decreasing, should not be understood by those outside of the business: and perhaps if the practice of charging in proportion to the number of persons reached, in other words, in proportion to the facilities placed at the disposal of a subscriber, had been adopted, the reason for the increase in price would have been easier to comprehend. The calls iucrease very rapidly with the increase of subscribers, and this means more operators in proportion, and the operators are a large part of the expense. If those who are interested in this problem would study it out with the assistance of practical telephone men, insteed of assuming that all telepboas managers are trying to deceive, the matter would become much better understood. Regarding this whole attempt to restrict or harass telephone companies by attacks, such as have been common in State legislatures of late, it may be said that there is probably in the publie mind a general,misunderstanding of the questions involved. The facts that control telephone expense are as yet imperfectly understood by even the best telephone men, and they are constantly perverted by persons whs have adverse iatajfts, or

who, fop improper purposes, have instigated legislative attacks upon telephone companies. The telephone situation is worthy of more careful attention than it has received at the hands of the public. Its features are peculiar, and the development of telephone facilities is certainly of high importance to our people. Although in the ten years that have passed since the invention became public 156,000 miles of telephone wire have been built, over which 275,000,000 communications now pass annually, we are, in reality, only at the threshold of the business. It is possible already to talk with ease between Boston and Philadelphia over our experimental wire: yet the connection of oar principal cities and large towns by thoroughly practicable telephone systems has. in fact, only been begun. With the improvements which are rapidly coming into use, the aim must be nothing less than to provide a complete working system throughout the United States which will give facilities for instant conversation between all points within many hundred miles of each other, such as is now possible within the limits of a single exchange. This cannot be accomplished by competing companies, each reaching only part of the persons wishing to become subscribers to such a system. The service is divested of half its value the moment half the people retire to a second system, and of mqph more should there be still further subdivision. In other words, the value of the thing consists in placing each person in the same system with each other one, and this can only be done under one general plan. The contracts which we have made with our licensees are all shaped with this complete general telephone service in view. For purposes of intercommunication between existing smaller systems, it is arranged that all shall work together, and the fact that the telephone companies throughout the land have been held under such a general plan by the force of a government patent, has been and is of the highest importance to the public, for in no other way could even the present condition of telephone development have been reached so soon, or without great confusion among competing companies and the mutiplication of the wire nuisance, which would have been intolerable. The report declares that the Pan-electric patents are of no importance whatever, and that the company’s counsel and directors feel no uneasiness as to the result of the government’s suit.

GREAT FIRE AT KEY WEST. The Principal Part of the Town Destroyed, Involving a Loss of a Million and a Half. Key West, Fla., March 30. Fire started in the San Carlos Theater at 1 o'clock *his morning, and is still burning, and beyond the control of the firemen. A fresh wind blowing from the south has caused the fire to spread, and already five blocks in the center of the city have been destroyed. The fire will probably go the harbor. The Episcopal and Baptist churches have been burned, together with thirty other buildings, stores and residences. Over fifty houses have been already burned, including Masonic Hall, three or four cigar factories and the bonded warehouse, containing nearly a quarter of a million dollars worth of tobacco. Officers from the United States steamers Brooklyn and Powhatan have been blowing up some of the houses with powder. There is no water supply, the cisterns being mostly dry. It is now settled that the fire will not stop until it reaches the harbor. It is now entering the business part of the city, destroying buildings containing heavy stocks of goods and the loss will be very great. It looks now as though the Hotel Russell would succumb shortly. The fire is working north. The track has been so peculiar that it is difficult to foretell the result The indications aro that it will skirt the beach, taking tbe wharves and warehouses of Philbrick & Tift Mr. Carry’s warehouses have already been consumed. This will bring it to the United States naval depot and customhouse. The buildings, with the exception of the three warehouses mentioned above, are constructed of yellow pine, and the heat is so intense as to drive the firemen back. This, added to the lack of engines and water supply, will probably result in tbo total destruction of the city. The buildings, so far, of prominence consumed are Sawyer’s, Babcock’s, Gate's, Perry’s, Bartt’s and Patterson’s, and United States • Marshal Williams's, Lester’s and Brown’s private residences, the San Carlos Theater, the stores of Somerlan & Hayman, dry goods; Otto, drugs; Sarolit, dry goods /md groceries; Cash, groceries; Bartlum, groceries; Brooks, livery stable; the cigar factories of Seldenburg, Delpino, Saraca, Canals and Wolfs, and the Russell House. Later. —The fire subsided at 3 o’clock. The principal part of the town has been burned. Six wharves and five brick warehouses were destroyed. The loss will reach nearly $1,500,000; insurance about SIOO,OOO. Fifteen persons wore injured, some of whom were taken to the Marine Hospital and others to the men-of war. No lives were lost.

Fire and Loss of Idfe. Bronson, Mich., March 30.—A fire visited Bronson this morning, destroying a fine new brick block of stores which was built test, summer. One of the terrible features of the fire is the death of Mrs. Timothy Hurley and her daughter May, aged fifteen years, who were burned. Mr. Hurley and three children—a boy aged sixteen, and another ten, and a baby about two and a half years old—are terribly burned. Charles Straehly, a baker employed by Mr. Hurley, is badly cut about the face and head. The fire company did effective work’ saving the business portico of the village. Pour stores were burned, and the lose is $16,000. The bodies of Mrs. Hurley and daughter have just Deen recovered, burned beyond recognition. Sheriff Whittaker had one of his legs cut very badly by the falling of a heavy plate-glass. This is the fourth destructive fire that has ravaged Bronson within the last two and a half years, destroying about SIOO,OOO wcrrth of property. Fire at Fowler, Ind. Special to the Indianapolis Journal. Fowler, March 30. —The most disastrous fire that has ever visited this locality swept away three Urge business houses last night The fire was discovered about 1:30 o’clock this morning, in the upper story of the building occupied by Snyder & Crandall, hardware and implement merchants, and soon spread to an adjoining building, and all were destroyed. Snyder & Crandall occupied two large rooms, while above them were the G. A. R. and town halls. The other building was occupied as a restaurant, and residence up stairs. Synder & Crandall's loss about $8,900, with an insurance of $2,000 in the Continental. Miss McMurtry, proprietress of the restaurant had no insurance, and her i>*a is about $1,500. The buildings were owned by parties in Lafayette, and it is not known whether they were insured. The total loss is about $15,000. Farm-House Burned. Special to the Indianapolis Journal. Elkhart, Ind., March 30.—A farm-house belonging to W. Alford burned near Waterford. Lou, $2,500; insured for SI,OOO. Salt Starvation In India. Horth American Review for April. There are weeds that can be eaten by people in distress, but salt it indispensable to make thus Itearable. Salt it, however, a government

monopoly and a costly luxury to the poor. Anti* corn-law England sells to the Indian peasant, for from sls to S2O, salt whose cost value is $L Next to water, salt is a necessity of Indian diet. Many used to make salt’’ by washing the saline earth found on the surface, and to boil their food in the liquid. For this they were punished. They stole out at nieht to lick It up from the earth in the dark. The police destroyed tbe “salt lick" 7 A REMARKABLE GIFT. A Blind Man in Ohio Who Does Not Need a Guide. Steubenville (O. ) Special. One of the most remarkable cases of intelligent blindness on record exists in this county in the person of a man named Jacob Twaddle. He is sixty yeais old. and notwithstanding the fact that he has been blind from his birth, he is able to distinguish readily by the sense of touch the color of a horse, make rails, bniid fences, grab, rake and bind as well as the best of bis hands after a cradle, and to attend and manage without assistance everything necessary to be done on his farm; and he goes to Saimeville, eight miles from his residence, to market, often unattended by anyone; knows the location of every farm for miles from his house, and is able to readily point out the same, while passing by; recognizes everybody he is acquainted with by the senses of touch and hearing; nas been known tp recognize a stranger whom be bad not met in ten years by the sense of touch alone. In 1842 he drove a four-horse team from here to Twaddle’s horse mill, in Ross township, a distance cl twenty-five miles, and can mow point the location of every grave in the old Btonechnrch cemetery in Fox township, Carroll county, and tell whose dust it contains. He is one of a family of seven, all born blind. Steamship News. Hamburg, March 30.—Arrived: Lessing, from New York. Southampton, March 30.—Arrived: Elbe, from New York, for Bremen. Queenstown, March 30.—Arrived: City of Chester, Arizona, from New York. New York, March 30.—Arrived: Ethiopia, from Glasgow; Gallia, from Liverpool Glasgow, March 30.—Arrived: Syrian, State of Pennsylvania, from New York; Norwegian, from Philadelphia. Deadly Shooting Affray. Galveston, March 30.—A special to the News from Raqger, says: |**Thi9 evening a desperate shooting affray occurred here between J. D. Hodges and Robert Richardson, saloon-keepers, on theinside, and Frank and Vint Bryant on tbe outside. Richardson was instantly killed and the Bryants were both mortally wounded.’’ A cyclone yesterday swept across a portion of Bullock county, Georgia, and in its path struok a negro church in which a funeral was going on. The church was blown down, and four persons were killed and ten badly injured. The Western Export Association (whisky pool) met at Cincinnati yesterday and decided to continue the March scale of production for April, viz.: 28 per cent, of capacity. In spite of all the new remedies which are constantly introduced to the public, Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup still takes the lead for the cure of coughs, colds, etc. Price, 25 cents. The family of Thomas Rollison, a farmer living eight miles from East Saginaw, Miob., ate wild parsnips on Monday. Two of the children, aged five and two years, died from the effects of the poison, and the mother is not expected to recover. “The first bringer of unwelcome news hath but a losing office.” So happy people prefer to tell of the terrible pains they have cured with Salvation Oil.

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