Indianapolis Journal, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 October 1889 — Page 4

THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1S89.

THE DAILY JOURNAL THURSDAY, OCTODER 17, 1880. VTASUlisCiTON OFFICE 513 Fourteenth St P. S. Heath, Correspondent. Telephone Calls. Business Office 233 1 EcLtorial Rooms 243 TERMS OF SUIISCIUFTION". CAILT, ET ilAIL. One year, withont Sunday f 12.00 One year, wltlj Sunday 14.00 fcix months, without bnnrtay .00 Fix month, with Sun flay 7.00 Three month, without Son'lay 3.00 Three months, Willi Sunday 3.50 One month. withiit Sunday - 1.0:) One month, with Sunday l.0 Delivered by carrier la city, Z cent per week. WEEKLT. , Per year. fl.co Reduced Kates to Clubs. F-cbucribe with any of our numerous agents, or send ubscrtpttona to the JOURNAL, NEWSPAPER COMPANY, ISDL15AF0LI3, IXD. All communications intended" for publication in this paper must, in order to rcceite attention, be aecompa n ied ly Ih e name and address of the writer. TIIK INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL Can "be found at the following places: LONDON American Exchange In Europe, 449 btrand. PARIS American Exchange In raris, 35 Boulevard dea Capucinea. NEW TCRK Gilaey House and Windsor Hotel. ; PHILADELPHIA A. rTxemMe, 3 735. Lancaster avenue. CHICAGO Palmer Ilonse,

CINCINNATI J. P. Hawiey & Co., 154 Vine street. LOtTISVTI.I.E-O. T. Deering. northwest corner . Third and Jefferson street. BT. LOUIS-TJnlon News Company, rnlon Depot and Southern lioteL WASHINGTON, D. C.-Elggi House and Ebbltt Jl0lS. Casual reflection after reading of the Cincinnati accident: It is far better to be a city of the plain than of the inclined Plane. Ir the backwoods Kentuckians will kill each other off, there is this consolation to bo drawn: the Democratic majority is being rapidly decreased in their State. ' The South has an immense cotton crop this year, with good prices. It must rend tho Bourbon heart that this agricultural and financial prosperity cannot bo ascribed to the influence of a Democratic administration. Now that negro Democratic organizations are being formed in the South, modification of tho anxiety of Southern Democratic leaders for negro emigration may be expected. They will regard it as expedient for only Republican frecdnien to go. mmm Mb. Cleveland is engaged in tho letter-writing business lately, but as yet no epistle has appeared expressing his pleasure at tho progress of tho David Bennett Hill boom. At present tho boom is rolling through Georgia at a rapid rate, and growing like a snow-ball in a winter's thaw. Sinxe President Eliot, of Harvard, has come out as a flat-footed Democrat, papers of that party aro palavering over him at a great rate. He certainly does deserve credit for honesty and tho deBiro to cast off the assumption of superior virtue, which is more than can be said of his mugwump brethren. The New York Post is respectfully informed that Simeon Coy, saloonkeeper, tally-sheet forger and es-con-vict, is a Democratic boss and Councilman; that ho was elected and re-elected by Democratic votes, and that a Democratic.majority retained him as a member of the City Council during his term in tho penitentiary. It is a gay old party that tho Post belongs to, and Sim f!nv is vrrv far frnm bfin ? its worst member. The Farmers' Alliance 13 an organization which has but lately obtained a foothold in Indiana. Its purposes aro not clearly understood by tho public, but there is a general hope that it is not modeled on tho Alabama plan, which seems to be a determination on tho part of the farmers to shoot tho heads off tho town authorities and business men. "Whatever may bo tho case in Alabama, Indiana sheriffs, constables and merchants do not, as a rule, deserve suin--rnary decapitation. New York may bo weak in tho mat- . ter of monuments and world's fairs, but it cannot bo said that its pockets are sealed tight against worthy charitable appeals. Somebody nailed a crackerbox on tho telegraph-polo from which tho lineman fell who was killed by clectnciry, anu oy mj ociock mat aiiernoon . -v fj lit n it contained over $800. It was hung up again, and by evening tho day's contri butions amounted to $1,527. -This sort of thing has been dono repeatedly in - isew lork, winch snows that the metro politan heart is in a good place, if it is not fixed on a monument. Since the possibility became apparent that Montana might slip from the Denit ocratic grasp, the organs of the Democ racy have raised a loud and tearful howl of fraud, and talk glibly about "Quay methods,7' whatever they may be. Tho organs neglect to call attention to tho fact that rebel brigadiers and other exconfederate worthies forma large part of Montana's Democratic population, and that they have brought all their Southern rlection tricks with them. If tho Re, publicans succeed in noitung tneir own. in face of their skilled opponents, they will show themselves possessed of uncommon ability. ssMMsbsbssjsbsssmsjjsmbsMsIsbsbsMbssssbsbMWbiissI m When James Putnam Kimball reluctantly departed from a subordinate position in the Treasury Department, where President Harrison had kindly permitted him to remain longer than he should, ho left behind him a book of biographies which he had written and caused to bo printed at tho public expense, which were intended to include tho name and fame of every conspicuous man who had been an official in the Treasury Department. In that work, Alexander Hamilton's achievements are cut down to twothirds of a page, and such eminent financiers as Albert Gallatin and John Sherman receive less space, but when the natno of James Putnam Kimball Is reached, a page and a half is devoted to his record and his ancestry. And so it may happen if, a hundred years hence, the compiler of school histories shall take his data from official publications, in answer to the question, "Who was

the first financier during the past century

of the Republicr tho answer is likely to be: James Putnam Kimball. And who is he? asks tho reader. Ho is the personage whom Mr. Cleveland called to the office of Director of Mints, and who signed himself President Director of all tho Mints. In other words, he is the blue-ribbon misfit harlequin of the Cleveland regime, which is saying a great deal when one recalls the infinite capacity of Mr. Cleveland for making collections of such monstrosities. 'IIiYESTMENT OF ENGLISH CiPITAL. The Journal does not understand that the recent deal between certain English capitalists and the brewers of this city was a purchase and sale, in the sense of involving a transfer of the property to new ownership and control. It would bo better described as. a capitalization of the breweries, their real estate, plant, business, good will, etc., on an agreed basis, upon which the English capital ists take a certain interest, less than a controlling, with a guaranty that they are to receive a fixed per cent, on their investment, while tho original owners remain in control of the business and continue to draw dividends ontheir own interest and salaries for their personal services. The deal is like many others recently consummated in different parts of tho country. They are tho outgrowth of the superabundance of capital in Eng land. Capitalists in that country aro glad to invest money safely at 2 or 3 per cent. Any amount of idle capital is seeking investment at these rates. Its owners say to an American manufact urer, miller or brewer: "If you can 6how us by your books and balance-sheets that you have been making 12 per .cent, a year for the last few years on an investment of $500,000, wo will give you $500,000 for a third interest in your plant and business, provided yon will guarantee us 4 per cent, a year on our investment, you to retain a two-thirds interest and twothirds of the annual profits. In this way a foreign investor gets an interest in an, establishcdbusiness,with a guarantee of 3 or 4 per cent, interest a year, without risk or worry. Probably he takes a mortgage as security against contingen cies. The original owner receives for a part interest in his business enough to make him wealthy, and holds a controlling interest and the active management. , The Englishman is quite as con tent with 3 or 4 per cent, as the American is with 7 or 8, and it is a good deal on both sides. Tho plant is not removed, the management is not changed, and tho business goes on as before, except that cousin John Bull receives an annual remittance of his 3 or 4 per cent, dividend. In a general way. this indicates the nature of the recent transactions. Tho present case has one aspect of public interest, in that it will result in bringing at least $2,000,000 of foreign capital to the city for local investment in real estate and active business. Tho Journal has no prejudice against foreign capital. - - CLEVELAND'S ANTI-8ILVER POLICY. It is sometimes instructive as well as conducive to gratitude to know what perils have been passed or what dangers avoided in a journey that is ended. Looking back over the last administra tion, we find' abundant cause for grati tude in the fact that Mr. Cleveland's urgent and repeated recommendations for tho repeal of the silver coinage law wero not adopted. If they had been the country would now be in tho midst of a terrible financial panic, caused by a contraction of tho currency. Until Mr. Cleveland adopted the freetrade hobby, opposition to silver coinage was his special fad. He began to air his views on this subject beforb ho . became President. In February, a week before his in auguration, ho addressed a letter to Congressman A. G. Warner and others, in which he referred to the continued coinage of silver as a very dangerous policy and primarily responsible for "tho financial crisis which, under tho operation of tho act of Congress of Feb. 28, 1878, is now close at hand." Ho 6aw tho panic in his mind's eye. In this letter he stated that "silver and silver certificates have displaced and aro now displacing gold," and that the amount of gld in the Treasury available for tho redemption of greenbacks, "if not already encroached upon, is perilously near such encroachment." He laid down these propositions as "facts which, as they do not admit of difference of opinion, call for no argument." Ho therefore urged tho immediate suspension of the purchase and coinage of silver. In the light of subsequent experience and present facts, these views of Mr. Cleveland appear utterly ridiculous. His letter was written in February, 1885. The coinage of silver dollars has continued right straight along at the rate of $2,000,000 a month. Tho financial crisis tjien "close at hand" did not come, and has not come yet. Gold, instead of being driven out of tho country, or out of the Treasury, has continued to increase. A table accompanying the last report of tho Secretary of tho Treasury Cleveland's own Secretary 6hows that in February, 1885, when the foregoing statements were madc,t he total amount of gold in the Treasury was $240,020,843; it has continued to increase ever since, and is now $076,G19,715. Of this amount $100,000,000 is held for tho redemption of greenbacks and tho balance for the redemption of gold certificates. This large and steady increase in the amount of gold in the Treasury shows hpw false a financial prophet Cleveland was. Instead of "parting company," as he said gold and silver would do, they have been going hand in hand and cultivating closer acquaintance. Mr. Cleveland continued to make war on silver, and to urgo upon Congress tho repeal of tho silver-coinage act. Ho aired these views in every one of his annual messages. Ho warned Congress that "the authority to coin money given to Congress by tho Constitution, if it permits tho purchase by the government of bullion for coinage in any event, does not justify such purchase and coinage to an extent beyond tho amount needed for

a sufficient circulating medium." In his message in December, 18S5, ho said: "If this silver coinage be continued wo may reasonably expect that gold and its equivalent will abandon the field of circulation to silver alone. This, of course, must, produce a severe contraction of our circulating medium, instead of adding to it." In his next annual message, December,.18SC, he said, "I have seen no reason to change the views expressed in my last annual message on the subject of compulsory silver coinage, and I again urge its suspension on the grounds contained in my former recommendation;" and ho added petulantly that "there seems but littlo propriety in building vaults to store such currency (silver dollars), when the only pretense for its coinage is tho necessity for its use by the people as a circulating medium." In spite of these repeated recommendations of Mr. Cleveland and his predictions of panic, reiterated again iu his message of 1887, tho coinage of silver dollars continued at tho rate of about $2,000,000 a month. As tho coinage accumulated in tho Treasury, certificates were issued against it, which went into the hands of tho people and helped to swell the volume of circulation. During the last three years the amount of national bank circulation has been largely reduced, and silver certificates have taken its place. The vacuum caused by the retirement of national bank notes has been filled by silver certificates. On the let of October, 1886, the total amount of silver certificates in circulation was $100,300,800. Tho public debt statement, issued on the 1st inst., shows there are now in circulation $276,619,715. This increase of $170,319,000 in silver certificatesindicates approximately the docrease of national bank notes. But for the issuo of silver certificates, our paper currency would have undergone a contraction during the last two years of $176,000,000, without any mean's whatever of replacing it. This would have caused a financial crisis and universal distress. The only thing that averted such a disaster was tho refusal of Congress to adopt Sir. Cleveland's repeated recommendations for the suspension of silver coinage. Had his recommendation prevailed, tho crisis which, in 188G, he said was "closo at hand," and which in 1887 he said was liable to be precipitated by some "unforeseen and unexpected occasion" the panic which he constantly saw in his mind as tho result of silver coinage, would now be on us in full force. It has been avoided by the rejection of his advice.

THE STBIET-BAILEOAD SERVICE.' The revival of the controversy between tho Council and the street-railway company relative to double platform cars and conductors seems' like a movement to the rear. The public had reason to hope that controversy was settled, and that a continuance of tho liberal policy of the present management would preclude the possibility of its being reopened. The compan' will make a great mistake by permitting it to bo reopened. The day of bob-tail and conductorless cars in this city has passed, and cannot be restored. That ground has been fought over, and the people do not want any further controversy about it. The company has agreed to place double platform cars and conductors on certain lines, and it should do so without grumbling or unnecessary delay. i The Journal has heard it suggested that there is some doubt as to tho legal right of the Council to enforce performance of the company's asrreement iu this regard. That, if true, should not alter tho case. Tho company cannot afford to take advantage of any technicality as a pretext for denying the people their just rights. If it is not legally bound to furnish the needed improvements, that is a strong reason why it should do so as a matter of equity and wise business policy. A corpbratton which owes its existence totho people and its support to public favor cannot afford to cultivate other than friendly relations with the public, and, therefore, in a question of improved facilities and service it had better waive legal technicalities in favor of tho people rather than insist upon them in defense of a narrow or niggardly policy. Tho policy of the present company has, for the most part, been liberal and progressive. It has made great improvements in our street-railroad system and given the city much the best service it has ever had. In many respects it has shown a progressive spirit and a disposition to promote tho public interests as well as its own. It would bo a great mistake for a company which has started out so well and which has earned so largo a measure of public approval, to revert to the narrow' and niggardly policy of tho past the Johnsonian policy of disregarding orders of Council, flouting the people and damning the public. CORRECTLY DESCRIBED. An Eastern Bourbon paper has styled tho excursion of the delegates of tho Pan-American Congress through tho country as "Blaine's Traveling Show." At a time when Democrats are loudly claiming the credit of the affair, this bit of vulgar sarcasm is in the naturo of a give-away. That the Pau-Americau Congress is a Republican project, and that Mr. Blaine tried to mako the experiment eight years ago, is a historical fact. Then it was denounced by Democratic organ, and orator. In 1S88, when the Cleveland leaders were casting about for something which might save their floundering ship, Secretary Bayard had the cheek to present aud advocate tho Blaine scheme as an original discovery of his own. It was tho only wise thing he did in four years tho only thing that relieved his administration of the State Department from being an unbroken stupidity and that was stolen from Republican statesmen. Yes, it is a Republican traveling show; and if it shall result iu forming new ties between American nations, and in building up wider commercial relations, as there is every reason to believo it will, and as our European competitors fear, it will prove a great triumph for tho wisdom and sagacity of Republican statesmanship. Very fortunately for the country, tho execution

of the plan is in the hands of a President and Secretary who have full faith in its aims and purposes.

The quarterly report of the secretary of tho Board of Charities says, among other things: "Although I still could wish wo had fewer, and, there fore, larger jails, yet the small poor asylums which result from the division into small counties, although not susceptible of tho palatial arrangement's of largo ones, are yet, by their more simple and home-liko conditions, able to do better work at less comparative expense." Does the secretary or the board really believe .that "palatial" arrangements, provided at public expense for paupers, are desirable under any circumstances? If so, they aro out of harmony with the prevailing idea that the best interests, moral as well as financial, of the community are served by furnishing tho necessities of life to tho indigent poor and not" luxuries to encourage indigence. Superintendent Bell excuses the numerous changes in the railway mail service on the ground that he has been removing 'incompetents," in order to make place for competent men. It is a mere accident, of course, tbat all the alleged incompetents happen to be Democrats, while the newlyfound competent men happen to he Republicans. St. Louis Republic. . It may bo an accident, but it is the mostnatural one in the world. When a Democratic appointee of the Cleveland administration is found in the service it is pretty safe to say that he is incompetent. More power to Superintendent Bell. May he continue the good work until tho railway mail service is onco more brought up to its former standard of efficiency, promptness and accuracy! The Superintendent of the Census has decided to include church statistics in the special inquiries to be made for the next census, and has issued a circular asking the co-operation of all religious denominations in making the statistics as complete and reliable as possible. The inquiry will embrace all religious organizations, and the information sought will relate to membership, number of churches, seating capacity, value of church 'property, etc. Dr. H. K. Carroll, editor of the Independent, will have charge of this work, and will endeavor to collect the statistics by means of written reports, independent of the census enumerators. It is for this reason that the cooperation of those interested in the various churches is asked. You might just as well be ready, for your hour is nigh at hand, at least that is what Second Adventists say. The 7th of October was fixed upon for the end of the world, but, the end failing to come, a revised calculation became necessary. The mistake is said to have been caused by the difference between Jewish and Roman calendars, aud corrected figures fix the rolling up of the heavenly scroll at any .time letween the 10th. and 25th of this month. ' . : Emperor William's subjects are deprived of a great luxury by the law forbid-: ding the importation of American sausages, breakfast bacon and sugar-cured hams. No really kind-hearted ruler, with the best interests of his people at heart, could permit the prohibition of these toothsome .viands. In their yearning for them, hungry Germans have American sympathy. s;Ant now Eastern paragraphers are ac crediting the philanthropist who divided his fonr-hundretl acre farm into forty homes for as many widows and old maids to Steuben county. New York, instead of Indiana. They ought to know without being told, that any'man who does anything worth mentioning in these days is in Indiana. . L' " ' If women will insist upon invading all the masculine fields of .usefulness they must expect to stand the natural consequences. The young ladies now languishing in the jail at Paoli for horse-stealing have none but themselves to blame. In this particular industry competition is already sharp enough in Indiana. "Ccrbstonino" is the term used in Philadelphia to describe the art of reading a gas meter from tho curbstone a practice frequently indulged in by inspectors in that city and elsewhere. A short term to designate tho making out of hills for gas that does not illuminate, needs to be. invented, next. Col. Brice missed it by a trifle over 15,000 in his varicolored prediction about North Dakota. Hereafter this cheerful guesser would do well to content himself with the simple prophecy that Texas will go Democratic The Czar did not linger in Germany after insulting his imperial host by talking French at him. Evidently he thought comparative safety lay in getting back to Russian dynamite. . There are three weeks more of the Ohio campaign, and as that State is not a hundred miles away there is no necessity of getting out winter overcoats just yet. ABOUT PEOPLE AND THINGS. Lawyer George Bliss, of New York, said in a ''reference" lately given to a former coachman: "I have frequently seen him 6ober." Anton Rubinstein actually completed his half century of public musical activity some months ago, but the event will not be formally celebrated until Nov. SO. Miss1 Rachel Sherman, the youngest of the daughters of General W. T. Sherman, is booked to sail for Europe on the 20th of October. She has been invited to spend the winter with the family of Minister Whiter law Reid, in Paris. Tnc Shah of Persia begot a peculiar passion in England. He became infatuated with cape-coats, and had a large number made ol all colors and from various kinds of materials. He wears these garments at all times, and seems to feel that a caDecoat of gorgeous hues is especially adapted, to glorify the king oi kings. t WlLFORO Woodruff, tho president of the Mormon Church, was born in Connecticut eighty-two years ago. He has the compactly-built figure of Grant. In the square face, the strong nose and the set of the eyes there are reminiscences of tho old Commander sufficiently strong to make strangers comment upon the likeness. An architectural curiosity, for which the world may thank Dean Howson, is to be found in the corbels of Chester Cathedral, where Mr. Gladstone is represented wield ing a crowbar and trying to demolish the church, while Lord Beaconsneld as energetically strives to brace tip fhe sacred edifice. The likenesses aro exceedingly accurate. Baron Hirsch, who has finally decided to mako his home in England, has rented for eight weeks the celebrated manor of Merton Hall, in Norfolk, with the shoot in g privileges. He pays 20,000 for these eight weeks, aud must bear all the running expenses as welL Although there is one wood ou this estate where nix guns somo years aim killed 1,5?.: pheasants in a single day, the- price seems rather high. Ellen Terry is said to suffer agonies of anxiety whenever she undertakes a new part, and she can scarcely bear any one to

speak to her on the days preceding the first

performance. It is her habit to spend tho greater part of the time in driving far out into the country, so that she feels secure against ine intrusion oi visitors, mo onjy person whose company is welcome to her on these occasions is her daughter, Ailsa uraig. Sir Frederick Young, who is over seventy years of age, has returned to London after a remarkable journey. During his sojourn in South Africa he has visited the Kaffirs in their kraals, passed a fortnight in the bush without entering a house, interviewed Mr. Paul Kruger, completely traversed the Transvaal and traveled al together iust sixteen thousand miles, lie has not had a day's illness since .he left England. His journey will stand as one of the most remarkable ever xnado by a man of his age. IIuxichen, the deaf-and-dumb landscapepainter, ,whose death is announced from Wittenberg, was a memorial of the horrors of the Russian invasion of Germany in 1S13, He was born in 1812 at Birkenbush. One day during the Russian bombardment of tho town tho villagers all left their homes to watch the firing from 'the heights, and 1 ran Hunchen, with her infant, was left alone in her cottage. Suddenly there appeared at tho door two brutal Cossacks, who asked for monev. The voumr mother tremblingly told them she had none; whereunon thev seized her and her child, bound them together, and flogged them with their Knouts uuin tuey were ooin inseusiuie. On the return of the villagers they were restored to consciousness by medical aid, but, as a result of the injuries he bad received, Hunichen remained deaf and dumb until the end of his days. COMMENT AND OPINION. Tittt erTpat ftafprtt. in thft iffht-hnnr labor scheme is that its advocates insist on ten hours pay. The world cannot be reformed on that .principle. Philadelphia Inquirer. TnE Sugar Trust is almost twoyears old, Vnt.'it. mi II TiAvr ffilAhrntft th third ftnniversary of its birth. .The party which is rue resolute ana- aggressive ioeoi comltinAfi' o twI fnnnnnnlioa rif - ft.11 snTrsl 1 a run ning this government just now. St. Louis i i : a. uiuuo-1euiuciuu , The Democratic press NoTth should "go inside and 'pull the blinds down." . It has no influence upon the Democrats of the South, never did have, never will have. As we before have remarked, doughfaces are not horn with the attributes of leadership. Chicago Inter Ocean. , ' ' There ought to be one evolution right away in Chicago. Treasonable utterances and insults to the Nation's flag ought to be punished surely and severely. The authorities in Chicago can make it very unhealthy for these unwashed, beer-swilling revolntionits if they will but act firmly and swiftly. Pittsburg Dispatch. Would the government of the United States ever consent to exchange a homo market comprised of sixtv-five million of - 1 1 1 A " J A peopie ior a nome market compriseu oi nve million? Is this fair trading? It is not. The heads-I-win-tails-you-loso system of trading will not strike the average American Congressman favorably. New York Press. The Reform Cluh of New York (Free trade) is spending $20,000 qn documents the current year, an oil' year, and it is only one of the many. We doubt if any protectionist club in the country has half this sum to expend in 1SS9, and yet the friends of this cause must know it was never as vigorously attacked as to-day. Philadelphia Press. A policy of isolation and total indifference to the affairs of other nations has served its part, if it ever had an honorable part, in the country's development. Now, at least, the interests of the United States in every material and moral sense are to be promoted by closer relations of amity and mutual helpfulness with other nations on this continent. New York Tribune. KIXXEI BY A X.OW TARIFF. The Pearl Button Manufacturing Industry Ru ined An Object-Lesson for Free-Traders. Philsdelpliia Press. Charles Schintzel's pearl-button factory at 347 North Fourth street was as empty yesterday as a fashionable church in midsummer time, for, besides the proprietor, there was only one workman there, and he had practically nothing to do. The proprietor was there for two reasons, the farst being that of custom. The second reason was because he expected a former workman, over sixty years of age, and now reduced to want and beggary, to call and get a little money which Mr. iSchintzel had said he would give him to keep him from starving. The incident tells the story of itself of tho suffering and misery in this and other cities caused by the decadence of tho industry of pearl button-making beconse of the competition of prison and cheap labor abroad. The noise of twenty-nine factories in this city has ceased, and only four are nominally open, each employing one or two workmen. This means that fully 1.000 skilled laborers are out of employment, many of them becoming aged, unfitted andunsuited for work in other trades. A year ago the Press printed the story of the decay of the indnstrv solely from the tariff stand-point. Since then the factories have been patting up their shutters and workmen have been sent upon the street. Employers are suffering as well as workmen, and in some cases have had to sell their machinery for old iron at $1 a ton. . Most of the strongest of the skilled workmen aro now day laborers. Ten years ago they were ablo to make from $30 to $28 per week, and now they are reduced to $8 or 29, and some can't even get that. One of the brightest street-car conductors on the blue line of the traction cable system is W. P. Laurens, who lives at 1939 Hamilton street. Six years ago he was employing 103 hands on North Fourth street, and could not turn out tho work fast enough. After the last tariff revision the duty was reduced from S3 per cent, ad valorem to 25 per cent., and the industry began to go down. Four months ago he was compelled to shut down entirely, simply because the American pearl buttons ran no longer be sold in this country. He had sunk all his profits and accumulations, and to keep the wolf from the door got'a job on the street-cars. One of his workmen, "one of tho best skilled workmen in the business," as Mr. Laurens put it, yesterday, "had to go to digging on the East Park reservoir at $1.50 a day, iu the broiling July sun, after having worked in-doors all his life. He had a family, and had to find work." "That tells the whole story," said Mr. Laurens yesterday. "Some are working as laborers, others are on street-cars. Others still are begging, and practically 1,500 people thrown out of a calling established for hfty years in this country because of lowpriced competition abroad. There is no duty on the raw materials, and hence tho decay is due to the lack of sufficient protection to American workmen." Mr. Laurens, feels keenly his retrograde from a thriving manufacturer to day-work on the cars, but he said: "It is honorable work, and Pm not po bad off as most of the workmen, and we hope to get the tariff back to where it should be, so that pauper and prison labor shan't affect us. In some placss in Austria the workmen only get S cents a day, wo are told, and there is a new prison building; in Hamburg, Germany, where the leading industry will bo pearl-button manufacturing." . The value of the machinery alone in the plants now lying idle is at least $100,000. It is good for nothing else. In Newark, N. J., the same state of affairs exists, and altogether there are ninety-eight manufactories in the country "whoso workmen are said to be vainly seeking employment.. When Mr. Laurens was visitiug Newark, recently, a leading and wealthy manufacturer begged him to take two of his emplo3'es, who had learned their trade of Mr. Laurens, back to Philadelphia with him. "I am just keeping them here," said the Newark employer, "and wish you conld take them away with yon, for 1 have nothing for them to do." Mr. Laurens not only failed to mako his own factory go, but he tried to lift others from tho quicksand. Among them was that at Pratt and Farmer streets, at Nicetown, employing 120 hands. They employed him as foreman, but he conld not save the shop. They offered him the shop to run for himself, but he conld not accept the oiler. He says that other factories have made similar offers to their foremen, but it came to nothing in each case. Of the few factories whose doors are open most of the proprietors have become importers, and have ceased to be manufacturers. John Thornton & Co., of No. 211 Church street, gave up their business and sold thirty tons of their machinervat about $1 a ton. In the factories only about onehalf were men, and the rest boys and women. The men did tho turning and carving with lathes, and tho others did the polishing. Tho hel Is come from all parts of tho world, aoino of those from tho Pacific coast

being especially beautiful. The business

uau rcacucu bucii a siaije 01 dedicate workmanship as to call for skill in dyeing .;Th"raSTahvay! ou,?t.lingto fearn in it." salu Mr. Laurens, "and its dnvt

was a constant study. It seerns a pity that Congress should allow it to go to waste causing manufacturers to bo mined and worRmen to go hungry, simply because tho duty was taken oft. It is not just to citizens of America who havo grown up in the business." The pearl-button industry is essentially an English industry. It came hero from there after the tarilt was raised, so that it paid better to mannfact uro in America than in England. After the war it took a big jump, and in 1877, at tho time of the big button craze in fashion, great profits were made at the business. The manufacturer of the Mtaple white button was stopped, and, although tho duty was against it, one of the manufacturers said 3'estcrday: "The styles changed so ofteu that we could, not get in the market aud out of it before imports from the other side reached here." The aim of the trade is to raise the dutv on staple goods so as to give employment at steady work to tho m?n uowr walking the streets. Last winter V. P. Laurens and J. Linforth, of this citv. and Thomas Webb and Henry Panel, of Newark, went before the Senate tariff committee and sought relief. They hope to get it thU j'ear, and last winter tho Senators said they would try to raise the dutv. "Jf we succeed," said Mr. Laurens,, "there will bo great Joy here, and it won't make- your heart sick to go into the empty factories or to meet your old workmen, as I do most every day, walking the street in rags." m UNIQUE MUNICIPAL, SITUATION. Business of a City Government Transacted In Secret to cap Creditors. 8t raul Pioneer Press. The city of Watertown, Wis., presents the unique- example of a city without a city government. Some years ago, in a fit of thoughtless generosity, the city voted a largo amount of bonds as a bonus to ad incoming railroad an amount so large that it threatened to baukrupt tho municipality if paid. To avoid paying tho obligations the city officials, excepting those of minor degree, resigned and lett th corporation in an acephalous condition. Now the officials are elected annually, meet in secret, vote the appropriation necessary to keep the municipal machine greased, transact whatever business is necessary, hand in their resi gnations and once more the street commissioner or somo one of about the same degree is in charge. The railroad has tried in vain to lind an officer on whom to serve a summons. Detectives have been in tho city hoping to surprise the secret Council meeting, but the interests of tho people are so united as to prevent a successful coup of that sort. In fact, instances have been known when the meeting was being held in au upper room of a business block while the emissaries of tho railroad, armed with fo midable legal documents, were watchfully patrolling tho sidewalk below. A pnbfic offico is a public trust" seems to be directly apropos to the situation. Hero are some railroad bonds that our English cousins might invest in after buying up all the obligations of the late Confederacy. Mr. Grady Grows Tensive. Atlanta Constitution. The season continues, as we may say, to accumulate. The ripening persimmon gives evidence that the 'possum is fat enough to eat, if, perchance, ho can be caught, though the old breed of 'possum dogs appears to have played out entirelv. These dogs had long heads, longears and keen noses, and if they soelt at the treo at all it was because a very small 'possum had ,clumb" it. If the 'possum was a largo one; he was in a small tree, and we trust that tho war and its results have not changed theso matters. But the season is here, and it brings its responsibilities, whether they come in the shape of 'possums, persimmons or chestnuts. Not Exactly Jcfiersonlan. Boston Transcript. One of the Brazilian delegates says no king ever traveled in tho 6tylo in which tho Pan-Americans are making the tour of tho United States. Tho Kepablic is entertaining its guests with tho most lavish generosity. Traveling in cars that are palaces on wheels, eating the best viands of tho land, and in prohibition cities liko Portland, Me., drinking the choicest wines of France, the delegates are willing to voto that republican simplicity as exhibited ou this occasion is good enough for them. Falling Into Obscurity. Troy Times. It does not seem to be generally known that John P. St. John stnmped the State of Connecticut in behalf of tho proposed prohibitory amendment, which was so cTTaatrously defeated this week at the polls. Ho somehow does not cast so long a shadow as he did a few years ago. This fact is not his fault, for ho is as active and ubiquitous as in the past; hut the publio has becomo more interested in a different method of contending with the liquor traffic than tho one which he advocates. The new attraction is called high license. The Chicago Socialists. Detroit Tribune. If in any case an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure it certainly is in this case. Freedom of speech does not mean license to talk treason or threaten to "kill, burn and 'destroy." Criminal negligence should not be mistaken for chant v. Toleration , of wrong is not generosity. Every true and loyal American citizen, knows and feels that the red flag of anarchy is treason's banner. A tittle Previous in Their Joy. Chicago Mail t There seems to have been undue haste in announcing to the world that Montana, was safe in the Democratio column. Thero has been a readjustment of returns out there, and it now appears that the Kcublicans have a good majority in the legislature on joint ballot. One never can tell how these future States are going to settle their political affairs till the last say has been said. ... 4 - Sevr Way of Calculating a Gain. .Kansas City Journal. Apparently the Indianapolis Sentinel counts it a groat Democratic gain when the Democratic voto shows no falling o:T. The Sentinel announced a gain of IMS votes in the ward in which President Harrison lived, but tho Journal prints the election returns, showing that the Democratic voto was exactly the same as at the presidential election. New Orleans Aristocracy Disturbed. . Anjrasta Chronicle. The latest iu the Louisiana bond caay is the issuing of two writs of sequestration, one against Maurico J. Harland. the other against Miss Laura Jraines. a sister of Mrs. E. A. Burke, both to recover certain portions of stolen fctate bonus which are alleged to have been transferred to thesa parties by ex-State Treasurer Burke. l' Latest Charge of the Mugwumps. rbUadelphia Press. Perhaps the most serious charge which the melancholy muewuraps have preferred against President Harrison is tbat ho has an inordinate liking for frnit pie. To keep solid with the wumpy brethren the President shonld never partake of anything less English than pork pie or Yorkshire pudding. No Provision for Jurors. Milwankee 8-ntlncL The Wyoming Constitution has a provision that no man may vote who is not able to read. It is hoped that thi'-will . induceevery male citizen to learn hit. letters. But where does Wyoming expect to get her ju- , rors? t - Th Nepro's Ufe Held Cheap. Hartford CooranL A telegram from Waycross, Ga., announces the lynching, Thursday afternoon at Jesup. that Mate, of a negro train hand named William Moor, for tho, otlense of throwing a stone and hittiug & white mam t t r The Jones Party. New York Press. George O. Jones will call himself to order again as thedrecnback-Laborparty of New York at vt ho Grand Central Hotel. Oct. i!. If he carl captnre a bell-boy for secretary he will get afon very well. . The Ilomele Mugwump. Iovra register. One by one the mugwumps wholeftth JCepuoiican pariy ueraui mey wauicu free fraue aro mming tueir proper piac the Democratic party.