Ligonier Banner., Volume 15, Number 36, Ligonier, Noble County, 23 December 1880 — Page 2

e c N Che Ligonier Banner, - J. B. ST‘OL—[—A, Editor and Prop’r.. IIGONIER, : : : 28DIaSA,

NEWS SUMMARY. Important Intelligence from All Parts.: r ' Congress,. v e following bills were introduced in the Senatd on the 15th: By Mr. Hill (Col), for the retirement ‘of small legal-ten-der mnotes; by Mr. Pendleton, to regulate the Civil Service of the United States and to promote the eflicieney thercof; by the same, to prohibit Federal officers, claimants and contractors from making or receiving assessments or contributions for politieal purposes. . The bill to devote to public education . apart of the proceeds of the sales of public lands was supportcd by Messrs: Burnside, Morrill and 8r0wn....1n the House Mr. Belford (Col.) introduced a bill for the retirement -of small legal-tender —notes. The- Senate Dbill granting a pension of $lOO per month to the widow of President Tyler - was passed. The Fortification Appropriation bill was considered in Committee of the Whole, reported back toithe House and passed. Mr. Gibson (La.), from the Committeé on Misgissippi Levees, reported a bill appropriating $1,800,000 for the improvement of the Mississippi River, to be expended by and under di‘rection of the Secretary. of War, in accordance with the recommendations, plans, specifications and estimates, and under the m}visory supervision, of the Mississippi River Commission. : Mg. MAXEY introduced a bill in the Senate on the 16th authorizing the President to place General Ord on the retired list according to his brevet rank of ‘Major-General with the pay . and emoluments thereof. Mr. Hoar presented a petition for woman-suffrage in the Territories, which, he said, was signed by ladies of the highest attainments and occupying places of the highest respectability in society. A prolonged debate took place on the Educational bili....A - concurrent resolution was adopted in the House—l2s to 74—providing for a recess of Congress from the 22d of December to the ith of January. ‘The Pension Appropriation bill ($50,000,000) .was reported from. Committee of the Whole and passed, Mr. Bland (Mo.) asked: and obtained leave to have printed a substitute which he proposed to otfer for the Funding bill; it- appropriates of coinin the Treasury ‘the sum of $100,000,000 for payment of the in-terest-bearing debt of the United States fall-' ing due during 1830 and 1881, and directs the Secretary “of the Treasury to cause to be coined the maximum amount of silver dollars in the manner now authorized by law, and to })uy out such dollars in redemption of the pubic debt; Section 2 repeals all laws authorizing the issuing of bonds for the purpose of funding or redceming the interest-bearing debt of the United States. . 'THE House resolution for adjournment of Congress from December 22 to January 5 was disagreed to in the Senate on the 17th—27 to Bl—and a motion to reconsider the vote was subsequently made by Mr. Ingalls. Mr. Wallace introduced a bill to establish a uniform system of bankruptey.. Mr. Blaine offered. a resolution, which was agreed to, that the Judiciary Committee inquirve into the expediency of increasing the number of Supreme Court ~Judges to thirteen. - The Educational bill was further considered, and an amendment offered by Mr. Teller, striking out the clause setting apart the procceds of lands and patents as a permanent fund, and provided' that 10r the first = ten years said proceeds.| shall 'be paid to ‘the several States aceording to the proportion of population over ten years .of age who cannot read and write, was adopted in committee—3l to 30—but was subsequestly lost—2B to 28, the Vice-President not being in the chair. The bill was then passed—4l to 6. Adjourned to the 20th....The House!passed the Senate bill granting a pension to the widow of General Heintzelman.” Mr. Aldrich introduced a bill ‘to give the city of Chicago title to eertain publi¢ grounds. A bill was passed limiting sessions of the Legislative Assemblies of the scv~eral Territorics to sixcy days' duration. THE Senate.wasnot in session on the 18th. ... The Military Academy Appropriation bill ($322,125) was passed in the House. The Consular and Diplomatic Appropriation bill (§l.140.430) was debated in Committee of the Whole and veported buck, when a vote was taken—--140 to Z—showing no quorum present. : 1 . Domestic. e A SPECIAL telegram from Buffalo on the 15th announces that there was no prospect of the grain boats, which were frozen in in the Erier Canal, getting through to tidewater, - Tiue Department; 6f Agriculture says of the condition of cotton that there is a decline in the return of December 1 as compared with that.received November 1. The continuance of rain and very cold weather in November lowered the estimate of the States bordering on the Mississippi River. ; : SEIDENBERG & Co., a well-known cigar firm of New York and Key West, employing 800 men at the latter place, made an assignment on the 15th. Liabilities stated to be about $500,000. Joseph Brown & Bros, wholesale dry goods merchants of New York, have also failed, with liabilities of $92,000. MaAry axp Ruporrn TorNEY died at Milwaukeeé on the 15th of trichinosis. ~ Ox the 15th two coaches on the Missouri Pacific Railroad flew the track near Eureka, Mo, and twelve passengers were badly hurt. ON the 15th a confidence operator at St. Louis was chased out upon the great bridge by a policeman, and ended his career by leaping ninety feet into the Mississippi. THE Alabama Great Southern Railroad has decided to tunnel Lookout Mountain, ~ THIRTY-SEVEN -steam-and 249 sail ‘vessels ‘are laid up for the winter in Chicago harbor. Tur Comptroller of the City of Chicago ‘has closed out a four per cent. loan of §843,000 inside of .nineteen hoprs. These bonds were offered at par in small denominations, in order to distribute them generally among the citizens. : ; A New Yorxk dispatch ‘of the 16th says a banking firm in that city had already received subscriptions in advance for the new three-per-cent. bonds to the extent of $200,000,000. A prominent foreign lezation alone had subscribed for $500,000 of these securities. i -IN his annual report the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics says the United States al- . ready surpasses every other country in the - magnitude of its exports, both of breadstuffs and provisions, and it is maintained that the market for American breadstuffs and provisdons in Europe can be still further extended. * The five leading articles of export during the year ended June 30, 1830, were as follows: Bread and breadstuffs, $288,036,835; cotton, unmanufactured, - $211,535,905; provisions, $127,043,242; mineral oils, $36,218,625; tobacco and manufactures thereof, $18442,293. TrE National Hotel -at Olean, N. Y., was ‘destroyed by fire a few nights ago, and the ‘wife and two daughters of the proprietor -perished in the flames. . ' « Tue population of Georgia, officially re- - ported, is 1,542,618, an increase of 358,509, or _thirty per cent., since 1870. iy b GOoVERNOR NEIL, of Idaho, in his message to the- Legislature, says: “Polygamy is being rapldly introduced from Utah. The statute {s defective, as it is found impossible to rrove * the ceremony. The Territory is in danger of becoinin:g,a‘ second edition of Utah.” The Governor expresses the hope that the Legislature will adopt measures to crush out the - practice. He also advises the punishment of those who advise and preach the doctrine of ‘polygamy. - . o Tue National Board of Trade concluded - its labors on the 17th ‘and adjourned aine die. A resolution wasadopted favoring post- - al telegraphy. o - L. M. Mygn,of Augusta, Ga.. reports having been recently robbed of $lO,BOO in a “sleeping-car between New York and Philadelphia. i ' o

Mgzs. Hixz and son, of Beaver Dam, Wis., have recently_died from trichine, and two ‘members of Mr. Millarck’s family were prostrate. A piece taken from the dead boy's arm was alive with parasites., . : Tue Oklalioma adventurers at Caldwell, Kan., were visited on the 17th by the leaders of four nations of the red men and informed thav if the Government should permit them to invade Indian Territory, the Indians would speedily exterminate them. | , A FEW days ago a negro couple of Prince George County, Va., locked their two children in the house and went out to pick peas, when the building took fire and the little ones perished in the flames. . : S . THomas KELLY,/a planter near Smithfield, N. C., recectly died from the effects of a white ‘powder administered. by a conjuror. The charlatan has fled the country. OX the atternoon of the 17th robbers ransacked the reésidenceé of Mrs. Georze Tod, at Youngstown,: Ohio, and carried off diamonds and jewelry valued at $7,000. P Tue compléte_census of Nevada is stated to show a population of 68,400, ah increase of 26,000 in ten years. e : Tue wall-paper manufactory of Birge & Sons at Buffalo, N. Y., and the Union -Malthouse, adjoining, were 'destroyed by fire on the night of the 17th, involving a loss of £:80,000. In the former 150 workmen were employed, of whom about tfixi-rty ‘perished in the flames. | : : A 81, Lovisi telegram of the 17th says Dr. Wilson, the representative of the Oklahoma colonists on the border of Indian Territory under the surveillance of the military, had left that city for Washington, where he would endeavor to obtain orders to enalie the colonists to proceed on their journey unmolested. i _ THE giving way of a cylinder-head in the Granger foundry at Providence, R. L., on the. 17th, scattered the brains of Timothy Mullen in all directions. : {

A St. PavL (Minn.) telegram of the 18th says General Terry had information from Major Brotherton that Scout Allison started from the vicinity of Woody Mountain on the 11th with Sitting Bull’s camp of Indians, with the plan of going into Fort Buford to surrender. The Indians were said to be starving. They were few and in poor condition, and appeared to have but a small amount of ammunition. Ox the 17th Abraham Henry killed his uncle, Joseph Lewis, near Uxford, Ind., and on the 19th shot dead Deputy Sheriff Pierson, of Warren County, who' attempted to arrest him. : i ' : A RECENT explosion in a manufactory on Twenty-sixth Btreet, New York; carried a four-thousind-pound boiler, -almost unbroken, a distance of nearly two hundred feet, doing no damage on the route. Tug liabilities of B. G. Arnold & Co., the bankrupt coffee firm of New York, are reported by the assignee at $2,157,914, and the .uSsets at $1,571,198. S THE total population of the State of Maine, according to the returns made to the Census Office by the enumerators, is 648 945. Of this number 324,084 are males and 324,801 are females; 590,076 are natives and 58,869 are foreign born; -646,903 are white and 2,042 are colored. { ) : Durixeg the week ended December 18, 415,995 standard silver dollars were distributedDuring the corresponding week in 1579 the number was 434,990, | : . Tae Chief of the Bureau of Statistics reports tie total values of exports of domestic breadstufls for the eleven months ended November 30, 1880, at 5250,762,350; same period in 1879, $230,791,604. e L . SECKRETARY SHERMAN on the 18th inspected the plates, seals and bills captured by SceretService oflicers with the ' Brockway gang of counterfeiters. Mr. Casilear, of the Bureau of Engravinz, pronouncéd the work the equal in every way of that' produced by the Government. . e . TrEe population of Montana Territory is as follows: * Total, 39,157. Males, 28,180: females, 10,977; native, 27,642; foreign-born, 11,515; white, 35,468% colored, 3,689. : - OX the night of 'the 17th the wall-paper manufactory of Birge & Son, at Buffalo, N. Y., was consumed: by fire.- The flames spread so rapidly that egress from the building was cut off, and several of the workmen perished in the flames. On the 19th three corpses were recovered from the debris and fivé boys were still missing. It was thought that the Joss of life- was between fifteen and twenty. faiis o i " A FEw days. ago Charles Sickler, of Scranton, Pa., gave his sick wife by mistake carbolic acid instead of hydrate of chloral. The wife died and Sickler became insane. - CuARLES JoNEs was locked up in jail at Charlottesville, Va., for shooting a woman. On the evening of the 18th he wrapped his bed-clothes about his neck, saturated them with kerosene, set them on fire and perished in the flames. = . ; ;

Personal and Political, PreEsipENT HAYES on the 15th nominated Judge William B. Woods, of Georgia, of the Fifth United States Judicial Circuit, to the United States Supreme Bench, vice Justice Strong, resigned on account of ill-health. . Toe American Woman’s Suffrage Association met in Washington on the 15th. Twelve States were represented. A teleoram was received: from Governor Hoyt, of Wyoming, indorsing woman’s suffrage. Congress would be asked to enact a law giving women equal political rights in the Territories. Tue San Francisco Board of Trade have telegraphed a request to the California delegation in Congress to sustain the Nicaragua Canal project. . TuE State Grange of Indiana demands that the Agricultural Bureau be raised to a Cabinet portfolio, and that a National Railway law be enacted, to prohibit discrimination in freichts. o o Tue Democrats of the Third New Hampshire District have nominated Colonel J. B, Hosley to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Farr. . - 'Tre United States Senate has unanimously confirmed the nominations of Colonel William B. Hazen to be Chief Signal Officer, with the rank of Brigadier General, and Colonel Nel--Bon A. Miles to be Brigadier General of the army. : : Tuw National Board of Trade on the 16th adopted, for transmission to Concress, the draft of an act to prevent food adulteration, and also a resolution that the coinage of silver be left to the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. . AT its session in Columbus on the 15th the Ohio State Grange adopted a resolution that hereafter all candidates for public office asking the support of Grangers shall be request: ed to publicly express their sentiments upon railway corporations and their relation to the people. J. H. Bingham was re-elected Master.. , GENERAL GRANT visited both houses of Congress on the 16th, and in each a recess of ten minutes was taken in his honor. . By direction of the President a general order was issued from army headquarters on the 18th assigning Brevet Major-General O. O. Howard to the Department of West Point; Brigadier-General C. C. Augur to the Department of Texas; Brevet Brigadier-Gen-

eral Henry J. Hunt to the Department of the South; Brevet Brizadier-General R.'S. Mackenzie to a new Department comprising Arkansas, Louisiana and Indian Territory; Ma-jor-General John M. Schofield to the new military division of the Gulf, and Brigadier-Gen-eral N. A. Milesto the Department of the Columbia. : N , . THE official vote of Tennessee has recently been declared, and is as follows: For Hancock, 129,569; Garfield, 107 677; Weaver, 5,917; Dow, 43. Hancock’s plurality, 21,802; majority over all, 15,932, - EateE CHASE SPrRAGUE has filed a petition for divorce from her husband, William Sprague, in the Washington County (R. L) court. L i A WasHINGTON dispateh of the 18th saysthe certificates of the Electoral vote had been received by mail from every State in the Union. THE Louisville Cowrier-Journal of the 19th gives the following as the footings of the official popular vote for President, derived from official sources: Hancock, 4.453.498; Garfield, 4.461,249; Weaver, 307,998; Dow, 9,834; scate terinz, 9,579. Total vote, 9,241,158. Garfield over Hancock, 6,751. A

: - Foreign. : Josian CALDWELL, the great railway contractor of London, has failed, with liabilities of $2,500.000. ’ - A REVOLT of negroes recently occurred in Cuba, which was promptly checked by the execution of a few of the leading spirits at Santiago. ) . : HeaLy and Walsh, indicted Land Leacuers; were acquitted at Cork on the 15th. In the evening they were complimented with a serenade. John Power, one of the party who slit the ears of a bailift near Tralee, although identified by his victim, has been acquitted, Tur Earl of Crawford died in London on the 15th. o ; i . It was acain asserted on the 15th that the Czar of Russia would retire to the Crimea, leaving his authority to a Council under the Presidency of the Grand Duke Alexander, on condition that the Czar’s marriage with the Pr neess Dolgorouki be declared legal. - LATE Peruvian advices say: that a Chilian fleet of eichteen vessels 'had atrvacked and captured the town of Pisco and burned the rolling-stock of a railroad belonging to British capitalists. = The Peruvians lost 150 and the Chilians 400 men. A force of 10,000 men then landed from the fleet and took -up its march through the Yea Valley for Lima, a distance of 126 miles. The Peruvians had sent out three divisions to check the invaders, and the Chilian fleet had returned for reinforcements. s EMiLE DE GIRARDIN, the French statesman, announces that he will close his political career with the present chamber. , . - THE Greek Minister of War has invited proposals for supplying provisions to eighty thousand soldiers on the Turkish frontier. | A LAND-MEETING at Portadown, Ireland, on the 17th whas attacked by Orangemen, who wrecked the platform and dispersed the crowd.. The Earl of Inneskillen, Grand Master of the Order, has appointed a Vig ilance Committee to protect property in Ire land. : S ; 4 - MicuarL Davirr, the Land agftator, haa bhad his ticket of leave canceled, and it is announced that he will be imprisoned at Dublin. Tne foot and mouth disease is spreading rapidly among the cattle in Great Britain. A LAND-LEAGUE meeting was held at Mullinger, Ireland, on the 19th, at which 10,000 persons were present.. o - Ox the 19th 2,000 persons met in Berlin and resolved to buy nothing from Jewish shops, and to return no Liberal to Parliament who will no®vote to suppress the liberty of the proscribed people. ' _ A cniLp named Mary E. Gurd was killed by a street car in Toronto a few days azo, and her mother, on viewing the remains, became hopelessly insane. : ' - A DuBLiN dispatch of the 19th says that Mr. Downing, a Justice of the Peace in County Mavo, had been compelled to flee to Dublin for having issued writs of -ejectment. Police with drawn bayonets alone prevented the wrecking of his residence by a mob of two thousand persons. Fraxcis T. Buckraxp, the English writer on natural history, died on-the 19th. :

. LATER NEWS, | JONES & McDoxALD and Ray & McLaury, two Chicazo commission firms, suspended on the 20th. THey had been operating heavily in wheat. Jones & McDonuld’s liabilities were placed at $500,000. Ox the 20th snow fell to the depth of five inches at Richmond, Va. . DispaTcuEs received from the Oklahoma invaders on the 20th report that provisions were running short at Payne’s camp. Information had been received that a camp of thirty-eight wagons and fifty men had been established on the Cimarron within the limits ol Indian Territory. Broapway, in New York City, from Union Square to Twenty—eighthfi street, is nightly illuminated by electricity. : | Tuz Catholic Bishop ol [Virginia has induced thirty Catholic liquor-dealers of Richmond to ‘sign a pledge to close their saloons on Sunday. OF 150 caseg of diphtheria in Brooklyn, N. Y., during the week ended on the 18th fifty were fatal. TrE United States Supreme Court has recently decided that an individual stockholder of aninsolvent National Bank cannot be compelled to pay more than his full proportionate share of the bank’s liabilities in order to make good a deficiency caused by the iuability of other stockholders to pay their proportionate shares." e PresipENT Hoves has requested General Crook and General Miles, of the army, William Stickney, of Washington, and Walter Allen, of Newton, Mass., to proceed to Indian Territory and investigate the Ponca question. - ‘ j ' GOVERNOR FOSTER has withdrawn-from the contest for the Ohio Senatorship. / - A LATE conflagration at Rangoan, in Burmah, caused damage estimated at $13,000,000. ] : DusLix dispatches of the 20th say that British troops were daily being landed at Queenstown, and that the troubles in Ireland were as pronounced as ever. The constabulary had been instructed to use the utmost vigilance to protect bailifs and care-takers. Ix‘the United States Senate on the 20th the House concurrent resolution for a recess from the 22d to January 5 was finally agreed to—=33 to 26. Mr. Cockrell presented a petition of certain citizens of Missouri and Kansas for leave to settle on lands in Indian Territory. Mr. Hoar introduced a memorial from New England busihess» men and corporations in favor of a 'uniform Bankruptey law. In the House | Mr. Dunn introduced a resolution that lands in Indian Territory to which the Indian title has been extinguished are subject to settlement under the Homestead laws. Mr. Ellis presented a bill to abolish the Government directorships in the Union Pacific Railroad. The Consular Appropriation bill was passed. A motion to suspend the rules and pass a bill to dispense with stamps on banik checks was defeated—--129 to 68—not the nccessary two-thirds in the affirmative. 1 ;

- Interesting Commercial Statistics. : - . WASHINGTON, December 16. | _ TaE annual report of Joseph Nimma, Jr., Chief of the Burean of Statistics, on the foreign commerce of the United States, is comg}eted. In regard to our -export trade, Mr. Nimmo says: * TFive leading articles of export during the year ended June 30, 1880, were as follmvsjz Bread and breadstuffs, $288,036,835; cotton, unmanufactured, $212,535,905; provisions, sl2i, 043,242; mineral wils, $36.218,625; tobacco and manufactures thereof, $18,442,273. The United States, he says, already surpasses every other country in the magnitude of its exports, bot;h breadstuffs and provisions, and it is n}amtained that the market for American breaistutfs and provisions in Europe ¢an be still further extended. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland stand tfirst among ¥mporting countries with respect to the value of imports,both in breadstuffs and pmvisionsi" Tables are presented showing that of the following commodities imported into Great Britain and Ireland the percentage imported from the United States was as follows: Wheat, 68 per cent.; Indian corn, 9 per cent.; live animals, 44 per cent.; beef, salted, 99 per cent.; beef, fresh or slightly salted, 93 per cent.; butter, 12 per cent.; cheese, 6414 per cent; bacon, 84 per cent.; hams, 98 per cent.; lard, 96 per cent.; meat, preserved otherwise than salted, 72 per cent.; pork, salted, 87 per cent. The report says: * During the last ten years the competition ot Am'eri(cam breadstufls and provisions in British markets has greatly reduced the price of those commodities, and consequently the profits of producing them in the Unitpd Kingdom. Apprehensions have been awakengpd as to the ultimate effect of this competitipn upon the agricultural interests of the latter country. The gquestion is, in a politico-econo-mic sense, a very large one, since it cxnbrzlubs‘ not only the interests of the Britizh farmers, but also the rate of wages paid to farm-labor-ers, the value of lands devoted to agricuitural purposes, and the revenue d(:gived therefrom by the British land-owners. The growth of the exportation of breadstuffs from the United States has also led to serious apprehensions in competing grain-producing countries in which inferior methods of agriculture prevail and facilities for handling and transporting grdin and existing’' ‘methods of commerce. are l¢ss advanced than in this country.”” o Regarding the maritime interest of tile United States, Mr. Nimmo says: * The decadence of that branch of the American m¢rchantmarine which is employed in the foreign commerce of the country continues to éngage public attention. This decadence is iu_dichtéd by the tollowing facts: The building of ships and barks employed by ouar foreign commmerce fell from an annual average of 233 during the ten years from 1851 to 1860 to an annual aver--age of fifty-six during the ten years from 1871 to 1880. There were only twenty-three ships and barks built during the year ended June 30, 1880. The iron steamship is now the cuntrolling vehicle of commerce on the ocean. The tonnage of iron vessels built in this c'odutry the’last five years amounted to only 1(11,823 touns, almost entirely for our coastwise or home trade in which no foreign competitibn is allowed under the provisions of our Navigation laws, whereas the iron ship-building of Great Britain during the last five years reported amounted to 1,800,193 tons. It is stated that the iron steamers designed for transatlantic trade now in course of construction in the ship yards of Great Britain would, if placed in line,'extend about one mile. The total tonnage of the United States employed in.the foreign trade fell from 2,379,595 tons in 1860 to 1,314,402 tons during the year ending June 30, 1880. During the year ending June 80» 1880, the total value of the commodities transported in American and foreign vessels (imports and exports) amounted to the sum of $1,689,472,093, of . which the wvalue transported in American vessels amounted only to %240,005,497. The value transported in foreign vies.sels amounted to $1,509,466,496. A marked decline in the proportion of commodities cslrri[e<l in American vessels has'taken place during the past year, the falling off having been from 23 per cent. in 1879 to 17.6 per cent. in 1880.” | After stating in detail the causes of the decline in that branch of American merchant marine employed in féreign commerce, the geport continues: ‘‘The fact that capital finds abundant and more profitable employment 1n the home industries and enterprises of this country of vast and widely varied resources than in the employment of yessels. upon the, ‘ocean has undoubtedly had a strong influence towards diverting attention from ship-building and ship-owning enterprises. This is the main, underlying cause of our maritime declension, in so far as relates to foreign commerce.”” The branch of American merchgnt marine which is employed in the internal and «coasting commerce of the United States, it is shown, also exhibits a decline, notwithstanding the fact that under our Navigation laws no foreign vessel is allowed to engage in this trade. The tonnage thus employed fell from 8,293,439 tons in 1874 to 2,637,655 tons ‘in 18%0. The total tonnage built on the seaboard, embracing the Atlantic Gulf and the Pacific coasts, including both tonnage built for coastwise and for foreign trade, but chietly for the coastwise, fell from 1,013,040 tons during the five years from 1866 to 1870, to -only 669,362 tons during the five years from 1876 to 1880. The American tonnage built on the great lakes, almost exclusively for internal trade, fell from 214333 tons during thefive years from 1866 to 1870, to 74,499 tons during the five years from 1876 to 1880. The tonnsage employed in the domestic trade of the United States (the ship ton being 100 cubic feet of space) on Juné 30, 1880, amoupted to 2,637,685 tons. This embraces vessels employed both in the carriage of passengers and freight. But the capacity of railroad cars ot all descriptions employed on the railroads of the United States amounted, according to ‘the latest and most reliable information, to about 7,100,000 similar tons of 100 cubic feet of space. This railroad_car tonnage, however, the report says, actually affords means of transport for a much larger amount Of freight tonnage than -is indicated by the foregoing comparison. After further remarks regarding the excess of commodities by rail over the commerce’ by water, Mr. Nimmo continues: * The efficiency of the railroads as highways of commerce has, however, increased much more rapidly than their mileage. This increased efficiency in railroad transportation has been mainly the result of a substitution of steel for iron rails, and of improvements in the equipment ‘at[ld methods of managing traffic.” : o The gross earnings of the railroads of the United States for the years mentioned are shown to be.as follows: In 1851, $39,436,358; in 1861, $130,000,000; in 1871, $403,329,208; in 1879, $529,012,999. This increase in gross earnings has taken place notwithstanding the constant -and very large decrease in the average rates of transportation.. The number of freight cars employed on'the railroads in the State of New York increased from 16,525 in 1867 to 47, 868 in 1879, and the number of freight-cars employed on ail the railroads in the United States increased from 384,903 in 1876 to 480,190 in 1870. The tonnage of the New -York State canals fell from 5,859,080 tons in 1869 to 5,362,372 tons in 1879, but the tonnage of the two railroads competing with the canal (the New York Central and the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroads) inereased from 6,594,094 tons in 1869 to 17,228,394 tons in 1879. : | These facts, it is maintained, serve to illustrate the most striking commercial development of the age—namely: the fact that the vehicle of commerce on wheels has, in our domestic trade, to a great extent superseded the vehicle of commerce on the water. ** The same facts,” it is held, *“‘also indicate the cause of the decline of shipping employed on internal water lines and in the coastwise trade of the United States.” ! In conclusion the report says: ‘' Aside from the economic and commercial considerations, bowever, the American merchant marine, both

with respect to that branca which is employed in foreign comme?}e ‘and to that branch which is employed in the internal commerce of the’ country, has claims to public consideration which cannot possibly be presented by means of statistics of tokmge built and employed. The sublfect has mot, however; received that thorough investigation which its imnportance. demands. It is a matter of interest to advert to the fact that on: the 29th of January, 1880, the French Government adopted the somewhat extraordinary scheme -of - subventions for the promotion of the French merchantmarine. Bounties were provided for ships built in France, .and gubsidies granted. in favor of all vessels built, at the rate of 1% francs on every ton for each 1,000 miles traveled in voyages to and from that country. These measures are evidently in a high degree protective and enabling, both to the shipping and commercial ‘interests of France. Aside from the appropriations for improving’ or providing highways of commerce, public gentiment in the United States has always regarded with ~disfavor direct grants from the Treasury in aid. Jfi particular industrial or coramercial interests. except for the purpose of taking the initiative in industries promising large publie ° benefits in development, or for the purpose of-promoting enterprises directly conducive to the Nation's safety or conservative of the Nutionah honor. To what extent the merchant mnriine of the United States presents claims of thig character is a question to be determined by the’ legislative branch of the Government. |The situation of the American merchant marine is peculiar, so far as it relates to the possjiibility of adopting diseriminating and protective measures which in their practical dperation shall prove to be’ beneficial. In so far us relates to industries other than the buiiding of ships and their émployment.in our commerce with foreign eountries, foreign competition may be regulated or abzolutely shut out through the adjustment of duties upon imports. This discretionary power is ample, an | may always be exercised effectively. But the casc is entirely ditferent with the respective branch of our merchant marine which is engaged in foreign commerce. The Government of the United States has not exclusive power of determining the proportion of American shipping which shall be employed in oiir trade with: any particular foreign country. It is highly important, however, that the Government of the United States should accord as gltfeut advantages to American ships, when dnguged in commerce with foreign nations, ad are accorded by the Governments of those nations to their own ships when engaged in commeree with the United States. : - i “The question of restoring the American merchant marine! is undoubtedly a diflicult one. Nevertheless, the apparent difficulties in the case _Ehould belan incentive to a thorough investigation of t_fie whole subject, in all its bearings, and to the adoption of all practicable measures which niay tend toward securing the desired result. The abundance and superiority of the natural tygencies and the force in'this country essential| to success in shipbuilding and navigation affiord a ground for the belief that prosperity will at some future time dawn upon the maritix’p'e' interest of 'the United States. Reference is here had especially to our vast resourceb of coal and iron, and the extent to which imventive genius has, in the manufacture of iron and in the construction of ships, substitn{ted mechanical power for human labor. The approximation of the rate of iuterest;m money in the United States to the rates which prevail in the countries of Europe and the ragid accumulation of surplus capital in this ¢ountry are also circumstances which tend strongly toward turning capitel to investment in ship property.”-

—— e The Terrible Fire Disaster in Buffalo. s . BuUFFALO, December 17. A MmosT disastrous conflagration -occurred here this evening, the sad and deplorable feature of-which is that it was attended by the greatest ioss of life known upon a similar occasien in yery many ‘years. The: building in which the fire broke out was a five story brick structure, 300 feet in dépth and ecighty feet wide, owned by George W. Tifft, and occupied by M. H. Birge & Sons, manufacturers of wall paper.. About ten minutes before six o’clock one of the men employed in the third story reported to the foreman, Thomas Henry, who was on the floor below, that one of the printing | machines was! on fire. He speedily made his way up-stairs, and saw the press at the rdarjof the room ecnveloped in flames, which'had, by this time, spreid ‘to the adjacent woodwork, while the place was tilled with dense smoke. AS a temperuture of ninety degrees is maintajined continually throughout 'tfihe factdry, to assist the drying process, and as this hid rendered everything as dry as tinder, Mr. Henry réalized that the spread of the tlames wbuld"be*tcrribly rapid, and it was folly to think that anything could be done to avert it. He turned and ordered the cmployes to fly for their lives, immecdiately warning as best he could - those ~who were in the fourth and- fifth stories, they being principally boys. In the meantime an alarm had been sounded, to _which a portion of the department responded, and a second and generdl alanm.brought the remainder. The scene now presented was one that would touch the stoutest heart. The building was wrapped in seething ilames. Employes jumped trom the highest windows, while many boys in the two u’pper stories, who had been unsuccesstul in their efforts to escape, or became too bewildened to follow the example of their companions; appeared at the windows with white and territied faces, and frantically shouted for help. But their torture was ot brief durstion, flor, almost -simultaneously with their cry for glid, they sank back, overcome by \suffocatiopn from the smoke, and, within twenty mlinutes from the time the alarm was sounde;l, the walls c¢rumbled and fell with p crash. |Cne small boy whose name could not be learned, courageously jumped from thelfifth story, and, catching the telegraph wires, which then gave way, slid down one of them, and escaped with badly cut hands. John/ Malone, aged fifteen years, jumped from the tifth story, struck the sidewalk, and ~ was almost instantly -killed. John Fields, employed as overseer aniong the boys, jumped from the fourth story and was picked up dead. John T, Berry jumped from one of the upper stories and sustained a fracture of the spine and of both arms. He will probably die. With the falling of the walls the firemen were required to give their attentid@n to the Union Malt House, an extensive brick structure, also owned by George W. Tifft, and occupied ij John B. Manning. 1t was already ina fair way for destruction, and, though every 'effort was made, the best.that could be done was in preventing the further spread of the fire. | Wild rumors were atloat in regard to the loss of life, and anxious parents crowded ax_‘ound with blanched countenances and weeping bitterly, while they tremblingly inquired for their missing boys:. When the excitement had subsided somewhat, an effort was made to get some knowlege of the wounded. The list, ad far as can be learned, in addition to those before mentioned, is as follows: John Griffin, jumped from the fqurth story; arm broken and injured internally, Moses Malone, jumped fiom the fifth sflory; leg broken. Patrick O’Brien, arm broken and badly burned about the head and back. Edward McCormick, juinped from the fifth story; cut about the head.. Moses Malone, jumped from the fitth story; leg -and arm - tractured. Michael O'Brien, leg fractured. Stephen Hackett, Martin | McGee, Peter Schwander, John and James Stout, Jay Voltz, Thomas MecCue, Charles Chapman and Thomas Quinlan, all boys, are among those who are reported missing, and, it is thought, perished in the flames. Without a doubt there were many more who met the same fate, and it is believed: that twenty boys 1!: not more were roasted alive in the fire. e employes numbered between 150 and 160. James Ryan and John Kennedy jumped out of a fifth-story window, but sustained no material injury. L

- INDIANA STATE NEWS, - Tae report of the Trustees and officers of the State Prison North have made their report to the Governor for the year ending October 31, 1880 From it it appesars that the receipts and earnings of the institution were §74,>77.90; expenditures, includin - officers’ salaries, repairs and improvements, $73 943.15, leaving a cash balance to the credit of the Prison of $934,75. It|also states that all the convicts are steadily employed on contracts - let to manufacturers by the Prison officers. Including the 542 convicts on hand October 31, 1879, there have been cared for during the year 846 prisoners, of whom 577 remained on * the 31st of October: = - . - Tug. following- are the members of the State Board of. A'gi'i’?gltme .whose terms of office will expire next January, namely: : ‘J. W. Cofield, representing the Fifth District: Clarke, Jeilerson, - Switzerland, Jennings, Ohio and Ripley. Counties; S. R. Quiek, representing the Sixth Distriet: Dearborn, Franklin, ' Decatur, Bartholomew and Rush Counties; Dempsey Seybold, representing the Eighth District: Owen, Clay, Vigo, Parke and Vermillion Counties; W. H. Ragan, representing the Ninth Districty” Putnam, he‘mlricks. Montgomery and Boone Courities: H. C. Meredith, representing thePenth Distriet: Fayette, Wayne, Union and Henry:Counties; J. P. Barnes, reépresenting the Eleventh. District: l(umi‘«‘)lph.\' Delaware, Madison; Hamf&iok, Hamiiton,' Tipton ‘and. Jay Counties;.H.T. Sample, representing -the Twelfth District: Clinton, Fountain, Tippecanoe, Warren. Newton, Benton and White Counties: John N. Turner, representing-the Thirteenth District; Blacktord, Grant, Huntington, Wells, Adams, Wabash and Howard Counties: | : 4 Mzs. MiLtoN Woorgy, of Williamsburg, found on returning froma fire "at her husband’s mill early on the morning of the 12th, that.her baby had died - duritig her absencewithout any apparant cause. . e Samuen C.. Whrtesoy; a Cambridee City Jawyer Has lately disappeared. -A néte from him at Kayisas City says he- has ' started for the Pacitic coast. Itis stated that he left to escape the consequences. of ‘some irregular transactions. : L o HARRY ¥PRANKLE, twelve vears old, son of A. H. Spraukle, of Covington, while skating -on the Wabash River at ‘that plice on the morning of the 121Lh‘,' ran into an air-hole and was drowned. e B ' At Indianapolis a few davs ago Duncan De War, ten years old, attempted to cross the street.in front of a street ear, and in doing so was knocked down by the mules and , thrown under the trucks. - The wheels passed over his abdomen, inflicting injuries immediately Tatal. < % + L Mzs. PerrLE, the State Librarian, reports an expenditure in two years of $1,271 for new books and binding. - o v Tue State Treasurer made | his amnual report on the 11th. " Receipts, $533,751.92} bal. ance on hand, November 1, 1879, $4,(35,960.94; ‘net disbursements for the year, 3,357, 6o 1L leaving a balance, October 1, 1389, 'of $885,865.37. Total receipts of general funds, £l,704,194.83; disbursements from this fund, &1,199,299.80; leaving a halance of $504,804.74. A gain for the year of $278,310.03. The State indebtedness'is thus given: Foreign debt, 5 per-cent. stocks, $l4 460.99; 214 per cent. stocks, $2,925.13; 6 per cent. loan bonds, $139,000: 5 per ¢ent. bonds held by the Brooklyn Savings Bank, due’ December 1, 18?9, but redeemable at the pleasure of the State] $200,00; 5 per cent. bands due April 1, 1884, '5385,000; 5 per’ cent. bonds held by Purdue University, $25,000, and additional s\per cent. temporary loan bondsheld by same, $200,000; twenty-one internal 'i-mpr(g)ve;me;nt_ . bonds past due, $21,000; besides -six of the same bonds held By the United States, $6,000. Total foreign debt, $1,093,295.12. The domestic debt consists of 6 per cent. non-negotiable bonds due the fommon-school fund amounting to $3,904,783.22; makiny the total domestic and foreigndebt $4,998,178.24. . = . THE general store of Josiah Lawrence, at Hartsyille, - was * destroyed by fire on the morning of the 15th. - The loss, including the three adjoining buildings that were burned, was in the néighborhood of $6,0,0. ‘ JaMES FETHERS, of Indianajolis, has sued aformer rival and his father-in-law for alienating the offections of - his wife. He thinks that he has been. injured to the extent of $lO, 000. e - : ..'C.°O. Lirg; the local agent of the Singer Sewing Machilne Company at Columbus, has .been arrested‘on the<charge of embeézz.ement. He is charged with selling machines for cash and reporting them as credit sales, and appropriating the money.. : ! + MRrs. OLIvER P"MoßrroN visited Postmaster Holloway’s office, in Indianapolis, a few days : s nez, and examined the model of the monument and statue to be eréeted to the memory of her husband. -She was not entirely satisfied with the bust of the dead Senator. Mrs. CLEM has been in prison at Indianapolis nine months; so that the boast of her attorney that the‘Supreme Court would soon set her free has not been realized. : ) A FEW days ago a five-year-oid son of Madison Kisiter, of Boone township, Gass County, accidentally swallowed a large two-cent piece, and since that time every effort has been’ ‘made by physicians, with medicines, to relieve him of it. Thus far they have been unsuccessful, and fears are entertained that the ¢hild will be poisoned from the copper unless the surgeon’s knife is resorted to. : . Ox the morning of the 15th at Fort Wayne, Henry Gellner, a switchman, was struck by the east-bound express in the yard of the ‘Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, and fatally injured.. Gellner was forty years of age, and had been sixteen years in the employ of the road when Kkilled. He had $550 on his person. - Seiima s At Lafayette early on the morning of the 15th Police Officer Neville, iu the discharge of his duties while faking an -arrest of ¢ Punch” Jones, a noted rough, shot him through the breast. - It ‘is doubtful 'whether he will live. - - G Miss ApplE HaY was engaged to teach school near Jeffersonville, and ‘whep the school-house was burned the District Trustees failed to provide other quarters. Miss Hay has now, by process of law and 2 Supreme Court. dicision, obtained her salary for the entire,term. e e Miss MATTIE LAFOLLETTE, only daughter of Judge *D. W. Lafollette, of New Albany, has been adjudged insane from injuries to her spine by being thrown from a buggy a few weeks sinogr -l 00l e a 0 THE Indianapolis grain q\ntations are: Wheat, No. 2 Red, sl_-(}rfl@l-fll. ;3 Corn, 41@ 411/¢: ts. 89 85¢. The Cincinnati 0= tu‘t/;{(fx; sggei’;-%V%i‘@.it, No. 2 Red, [email protected]%1;(; Corn, 45@46¢c; Oats, 81@37%c: Rye, Y7@9Bc¢; Barley, [email protected]. - -. . < e ONE of the most remarkable traits of ‘this:peculia._r];{eople in Alaska in their aversion to salt, -which they will not eat in any form. A recent visitor says: 1 have seen them, when offered a choice piece of corned-beef on the vessel, taste it, and, on finding that. it had . been salted, spit out the mouthful with a wry face and throw the remainder on the deck in disgust. No matter how - putrid a whale or seal may be, they eat it raw and- unseasoned, with evident I is reported that Senator Sharon’s daughter g‘(l)br‘a is engaged to be married toan Englishlord:: - = . -