Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1896 — Page 7

TALMAGE’S SERMON.

THE PREACHER DISCUSSES THE STAR OF WORMWOOD. Another Unique Text Taken to Enforce a Needed Lesson—Conduct, Influence and Opportunity—The Free Nation of the Earth and Its Salvation. ***Destiny of Nations. It was appropriate that this sermon on the destiny of nations should be preached in what has long been called the Presidents’ church, because Presidents Jackson and Pierce and' Polk and Cleveland have attended it. Dr. Talmage chose for his text Revelation viii., 10, 11, “There fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third parttbf'the rivers and upon the fountaihs of waters, and the name of the star is called Wormwood.” Many commentators, like Patrick and Lowth, Thomas Scott, Matthew Henry and Albert Barnes, agree in saying that the star Wormwood, mentioned in Revelation, was Attila, “king of the Huns.,, He was so called because he was brilliant as a star, and, like wormwood, he imbittered everything he touched. We have studied the star of Bethlehem, and the morning star of the Revelation, and the star of peace, but my present subject calls us to gaze at the star of ,Wormwood, and my theme might be called “Brilliant Bitterness.” The King of the Huns. A more extraordinary character history does not furnish than this man thus referred to —Attila, the king of the Huns. One day a wounded heifer came limping along through the fields, and a herdsman followed its bloody track on the grass to see where the heifer was wounded and went on back farther and farther until he came to a sword fast in the earth, the point though it had dropped from the heavens, and against the edges of tfiis sword the heifer had been cut. The herdsman pulled up that sword and presented it to Attila. Attila said that sword must have dropped front the heavens from the grasp of the god Mars, and-its being given to him meant that Attila should conquer and govern the whole earth. Other mighty men ha,ye been delighted at being called liberators, or the merciful, or the good, but Attila,called himself and demanded that others call him the Scourge of God. At the head of 700,000 troops mounted on Cappadocian horses, he swept everything from the Adriatic to the Black, sea. He put his iron heel on Macedonia and Greece and Thrace. He made Milan and Pavia and Padua and Verona beg for mercy, which he' bestowed not. The Byzantine-castles,— to~ meet his ruinous levy, put up at auction massive silver tables and vases of solid gold. A city captured by him, the inhabitants were brought out and-put into three classes—the first class, those who could' bear arms, who must immediately enlist under Attila or be butchered; the second class, the beautiful women, who "were made captives to the Huns; the third class, the aged men and women, who were robbed of everything and let go back to the city to pay .heavy tax. __ ___ . ___ __ It was a cbmmon saying that the grass never grew again where the hoof of Attila’s horse had trod. His armies reddened the waters of the Seine and the Moselle and the Rhine with carnage and fought on the Catalonian plains the fiercest battle since the world stood—Boo,ooo dead left on the field! On and on until all these •who could not oppose him with arms lay prostrate on their faces in prayer, and, a cloud of dust seen in the distance, a bishop cried, “It is the aid of God!” and all the people took up the cry. “It is the aid of God!” As the cloud of dust was blown aside the banners of reinforcing armies marched in to help against Attila, the Sconrge of God. The most unimportant occurrences be used as a supernatural resource, and after three months of failure to capture the city of Aquileia and his army had given up the siege, the flight of a stork and her young from the tower of the city was taken by him as a sign that he was to capture the city, and his army, inspired by the same occurrence, resumed the siege and took the walls at a point from which the stork had emerged. So brilliant wag the conqueror in attire that his eneriiies could not look at Kim, but shaded their eyes or turned their heads.

A Peculiar Star* Slain on the evening of his marriage by his bride, Ildico, who was hired for the assassination, his followers bewaiied him not with tears, but with blood, cutting themselves with knives and lances. He was put into three coffins—the first of iron, the second of silver and the third of gold. He was buried by night, and into his grave were poured the most valuable coin and precious stones, amounting to the wealth of a kingdom. The gravediggers and all those who assisted, at the burial were massacred, so that it would never be known where so much wealth was entombed. The Roman empire conquered the world, but Attila conquered the Roman empire. He was right in calling himself a scourge, but instead of being the Scourge of God he was the scourge of hell. Because of his brilliance and bitterness the commentators were right in believing him to be the star Wormwood. As the regions he devastated were parts most opulent with fountains and streams and rivers, you pee how graphic is this reference in Revelation, “There fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters, and the name of the star is called Wormwood." JHave you ever thought how many imbittered lives there are all about us—mis-

anthropic, morbid, acrid, saturnine? The European plhnt from which wormwood is extracted, Artemwa absinthium, is a perennial plant, and all the year round it is ready to exude its oil. And in many human lives there is a perennial distillation of acrid experiences. Yea, there are some whose whole work is to shed a baleful influence on others. There are Attilas of the home, dr Attilas of the social circle, or Attilas of the church, or Attilas of the state, and one-third of the waters of ail the world, it not two-thirds the waters, are poisoned by the falling of the star "Wormwood. It is not complimentary to human nature that most men, as soon as they get great power, become overbearing. The more power men have the better, if their power be used for good. The less power men have the better, if they use it for evil. Birds circle round and round and round before they swoop down upon that which they are aiming for. And if my discourse so far has been swinging round and round, this moment it drops straight on your heart and asks the question, Is your life a benediction to others or an imbitterment, a blessing or a curse, a balsam or wormwood? Some of you, I know, are morning stars, and you are making the dawning of life of your children bright with gracious influences, and you are beaming upon all the opening enterprises of philanthropic and Christian endeavor, and you are heralds of that day of fospelization which will yet flood all the mountains and valleys of our ■in cursed earth. Hall, morning star! Keep on with Encouragement and Christian hope! Some of you are evening stars, and you are cheering the last day’s of old people, and though a ctond sometimes come* over

you through the querulousness or unrba*. sonableness of ypur old father and mother it is only for a moment, and the star soon comes put clear ijgaih and is seen from ail the iyilconies of the neighborhood. The old people will forgive your occasional shortcomings, for they themselves .several times lost their patience when you were young and slapped you.when you did not deserve it. ♦fail, evening star! Hang on the darkening sky your diamond coronet! , Wormwood. But are any of you the star Of Wormi wood? Do you scold and growl from the thrones paternal or maternal? Are your children everlastingly pecked at? Are you always frying “Hush!” to the merry voices and swiss feet, and their laughter, which occasionally trickles through at wrong times and is suppressed by them until they can hold it no longer, and all the barriers burst into unlimited guffaw aqd cachinnation, as in. high weather the water has trickled through a slight opening in the milldam, but afterward makes wider and wider breach until it carries all before it with irresistible freshet? Do not be too much offended ,at the noise your children now make. It will be still enough when ope of them is dead. Then you would give your right hand to hear one shout from their silent voices or one step from the still foot. You will not any of you have to wait very long before your house is stiller than you want it. Alas, that there are so manjf homes not known to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, where children are put ou the limits, and whacked and cuffed and ear pulled and senselessly called to order and answered sharp and suppressed, until it is a wonder that under such processes they do not all turn out Modocs and Nana Sahibs! What is your influence upon the neighborhood, the town or the city Of your residence? I will suppose that you are a star of wit. What kind of rays do you shoot forth? Do you us« that splendid faculty to irrmliate the world or to rankle it? I bless ml the apostolic college of humorists. The man thatmakeame laugh is tay-ben-efactor. Ido not thank anybody to make me cry. I can do that without any assistance. We all cry enough and have enough to cry about. God bless all skillful punsters, all rcpnrteeists, all propounders of ingenious conundrums, all those who mirthfully surprise us with unusual juxtaposition of words. They stir into the acid beverage of life the saccharine. They make the cup of earthly existence, which is sometimes stale, effervesce and bubble. They placate animosities. They foster longevity. They slay follies and absurdities which all the sermons of all the pulpits cannot reach. But what use are you making of your wit? Is it besmirched with profanity and uncleanuess? Do you employ it in amusement at physical defects for which the victims are not responsible? Are your powers of mimicry used to put religion in contempt? Is it a bunch of nettlesome invective? Is it a bolt of unjust scum? Is it fun at others’ misfortune? Is it glee at their disappointment and defeat? Is it bitterness put drop by drop into a cup? Is it like the squeezing of Artemisia absinthium into a draft already distastefully pungent? Then you are the star of Wormwood. Yo.urs. is the sumos a rattlesnake trying how well it can sting. It is •hs fan of a hawk try!ng how quiekly titcan strike out the eye of a dove. Worldly Prosperity. But I will change this and suppose you are a star of worldly prosperity. Then you have large opportunity. You can encourage that artist by buying his picture. You can improve the fields, the stables, tae highway, by introducing higher style of fowl and horse and cow and sheep. You can bless the world with pomological achievement in the orchards. You can advance arboriculture and arrest this deathful iconoclasm of the American forests. You can put a piece of sculpture into the niche Of that public academy. You can endow a college. You can stocking 1,000 bare feet from the winter frost. You can build a church. You can put a missionary of Christ op that foreign shore. You eftn help ransom a world. A rich man with his heart right—can you tell me how much good a James Lenox or a George Peabody or a Peter Cooper or a William E. Dodge did while living or is doing now that he is dead? There is not a city,” town or neighborhood that has not glorious specimens of consecrated wealth. But suppose you grind the face of the poor. Suppose when a man’s wages are due you make him wait for them because he cannot help himself. Suppose that, because his family is sick and he has had extra expenses, he should politely ask you to raise his wages for this year, and you roughly tell h*m if he wants a better place to go and get it. Suppose by your manner you act as though he were nothing and you were everything. Suppose you are selfish and overbearing and arrogant. Your first name ought to be Attila and your last name Attila, because you are the star of Wormwood, and you have imbittered one-third if not three-thirds of the waters that roll past your employes and operatives and dependents and associates, and the long line of carriages which the undertaker orders for your funeral, in order to make the occasion respectable, will be filled with twice as many dry, tearless eyes as there are persons occupying them. There is an erroneous idea abroad that there are only a few geniuses. There are millions of them. That is, men and women who have especial adaptation and quickness for some one thing. It may be great, it may be small. The circle may be like the circumference of the earth or no larger than a thimble. There are thousands of geniuses, and in some one thing you are a star. What kind of a star are you? You will be in this world but a few minutes. As compared with eternity the stay of the longest life on earth is, not more than a minute. What are we doing with that minute? Are we imbittering the domestic or social or political fountains, or are we like Moses, who, when the Israelites in the wilderness complained that the waters of Lake Marah were bitter and they could not drink them, cut off the branch of a certain tree and threw that branch into the water, and It became sweet and slaked the thirst of the suffering host? Are we with a branch of the tree of life sweetening all the brackish fountains that we can touch? Three Wishes. What is true of iddividuals is true of nations. God sets them up to revolve as stars, but they may fall wormwood. Tyre, the atmosphere of the desert, fragrant with spices, coming in caravans to her fairs; all seas cleft into foam by the keels of her laden,merchantmen, her markets rich with horses and camels from Togannah, her bazaars filled with upholstery from Dedan, with emerald and'coral and agate from Syria, with wines from Helbon, with embroidered work from Ashur and Chilmnd—where now the gleam of her towers, where the roar of her chariots, where the masts of her ships? Let the fishermen who dry their nets where once she challenged the admiration of all nations; let the.barbarians who set their rude tents where once her palaces glittered—answer the question. She was a star, but by her own sin turned to wormwood and has fallen. , Fall of Babylon. Babylon, with her 250 towers and her brazen gates and her embattled walls, the splendor of the earth gathered within her palaces, her hanging gardens built by Nebuchadnezzar to please his bride, AmyI tis, who had been brought np in* a mounI talnous country and could not endun the

flat country round Babylon—these hanging gardens built, terrace above terrace, till,"-pt the beightof 400 feet there were, woods waving and fountains playing, the verdure, the foliage, the glory looking as if a mountain were on the wing. On the tiptop a king walking with his queen, among, statues 'snowy white, looking up at birds brought from distant lands, and drinking out of tankards of solid gold or looking off over rivers and lakes upon nations subdued and tributary; crying, “Is not this- great Babylon which I have built?” * What battering ram smote the wallj?What plowshare upturned the gardens? What army shattered the brazen gates? What long, fierce him of storm put out this light ■ which illumined the world? What crash of discord drove down the music that poured from palace window and garden grove and called the banqueters to their revel and the dancers to their feet? I walk upon the scene of desolation to find an answer and pick up pieces of bitumen and brjck and broken pottery, the remains of Babylon, and as in the silence of the night I hear the surging of that billow of desolation which rolls over the scene, I I;ear the wild waves saying: “Babylon was proud. Babylon was impure. Babylon w-as a star, but by sin she turned to wormwood and has fallen.” From the persecutions of the pilgrim fathers and the Huguenots in other lands God set upon these shores a nation. The council fires of the aborigines went out in the greater light of a free government. The sound of the warwhoop was exchanged for the thousand wheels of enterprise and progress. The mild winters, the fruitful summers, the healthful skies charmed from other lands a race of hardy men who loved God and wanted to be free. Before the woodman’s ax forests fell and rose again into ships’ masts and churches’ pillars. Cities on the banks of lakes begin to rival cities by the sea. Th'e land quakes with the rush of the rail car and the waters are churned white with the steamer’s wheel. Fabulous bushels of western wheat meet on the way fabulous tons qf eastern coal. Furs from the north pass on the fivers fruits from the south. And trading in the same market is Maine lumberman and South Carolina rice merchant and Ohio farmer and Alaska fur dealer. And churches and schools and asylums scatter light, and love, and mercy, and salvation upon 60,000,000 of people.

A Rock of Safety. I pray that our nation may not copy the crimes of the nations that have perished, and our cup of blessing turn to wormwood, and like them we go down. I am by nature and by grace an optimist, and I expect that this country will continue to advance until Christ shall come again. But be not deceived! Our only safety is in righteousness toward God and justice toward man. If we forget the gdodness of the Lord to this land, and break his Sabbath', and improve not by the dire disasters that have again and again come to us as a nation, and we learn saving lesson neither from civil war nor raging epidem~tc~nor drought nor mildew nor scourge ~of~ locust and grasshopper nor cyclone nor earthquake; if the political corruption which has poisoned the, fountains of public virtue and peslimed the high places of authority, making free government at, times-a hissing and a byword in all the earth; if the drunkenness'and licentious-.jiess.that-stagger „and bla sphemein. the streets of our great cities as though they were reaching after the fame of a Corinth and a Sodom-are not repented of, we will yet see the smoke of our nation’s ruin, the pillars of our nationafand State eapitols will fall more; disastrously than when Samsoiutfulled down Dagon, and future hiatpuans will record upon the page bedewed with generous tears the story that the free nation of the west arose in splendor which made the world stare. It had magnificent possibilities. It forgot God. It hated justice. It hugged its>crime. It halted on its high march. It reeled under the blow of calamity. It fell. And as it was going down all the despotisms of earth from the top of bloody thrones began to shout, “Aha, so would we have it,” while struggling and oppressed people looked out from dungeon bars with tears and groans and cries of untold agony, the scorn of those and the woe of these uniting in the exclamation: “Look yonder! There fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters, and the name of the star is called Wormwood.”

DAMASCUS GUN BARRELS.

Secret of Their Manufacture Descends from Father to Son. The United States Consul in Liege describes, in a recent report, the manufacture of and trade in damascus gun barrels, wholly hand made, in the valley of the Vesdre, in Liege Province. These barrels are for sporting guns, and the industry’ is many years old, the workmen in the villages in the valley being almost all gun-barrel makers, and the trade descending from father to sou. The best barrels are a combination of the best primary substances, welded and forged by the. martelage a froid process; the steel comes, from Westphalia, the iron is manufactured at Couvln, in Belgium; the coal, which is especially suited for the work, from the Herve highlands, in Belgium, while the motive power of the factories is obtained from the River Vesdre. The industry has lncreased greatly in recent years. These armes de luxe, as they are called, are made by men working in pairs, each pair in its own little factory, quite independent of all others. They are paid by the piece, the wages being good, and about 2,000 men are engaged on the work In the valley. Medium quality barrels are made of coke iron and steel, while the superior quality, which are produced in the Vesdre Valley, are made ..of charcoal iron and steel. An Ingenious “marriage” of these metals gives a composition which, when manufactured, guarantees the required solidity and resistance. The improvement in thope damascus barrels dates from the introduction of percussion caps in place of the old flintlock. Formerly iron barrels alone were produced; now, to manufacture tha curled damascus, the Ingot is composed of thirty sheets of iron and steel, each having a thickness of four millimeters, which are enveloped in a sheet-iron box, placed in an oven and welded together at the lowest possible temperature. Each barrel receives 150 welding beats while being forged, and if a sin-, gle one of these is unsuccessful the barrel may be a failure, either by alteration of the damascened work or an imperfection in the welding. There Is no official test of these armes de luxe, but they are thoroughly tested by the manufacturers before delivery. The annual production of damascus barrels in the Vesdre .Valley js about 300,000 pairs, of a value of about 3,500,000 francs. Of this the wages alone—for all the guns are hand made-amount to 2,000,000 francs. The principal mar-, kets are Great Britain and the United States. About half the barrels made in the Vesdre Valley are‘sold to manufacturers of arms In Liege to be sweated.—Washington Poe* ,

DEMOCRATIC FISCAL FAILURES.

An “Endless Chain” Disaster Since the Advent of This Administration. In the year 1893, Secretary Carlisle gave his first estimate of the 1895 fiscal •year, anticipating a surplus of revenue over expenditure of $6,120,959. A year later, in 1894, he revised this estimate and predicted a deficiency of $20,000,000. Both prognostications were wrong, for the deficit reached $42,805,223, In 1893 he was $49,000,000 out in his financial ideas, and in 1894, only six months before the close of the 1895 fiscal year, he was $22,805,223 wrong. In 1894 Secretary Carlisle gave us his first phophecy as to the current fiscal year, ending June 30,1896. Then he looked for “a comfortable surplus” of $28,814,920. But again he was away off, and five months -aga .changed his figures to a deficiency of $17,000,000, a slight difference of nearly $46,000,000 In these two estimates. Indications are that the actual excess of expenditures over'revenue for the 1896 fiscal year ending June 30 will be $32,000,000. This will be a difference of $60,814,920. from his estimate in 1894, and a difference of $15,000,000 from his guess of five months ago. For the fiscal year 1897 this free trade financier expects another “comfortable surplus,” though hardly so “comfortable” as his first expectations for 1896, as he puts It at only $6,908,927. Let us tabulate briefly the Democratic financial expectations and realizations from “a tariff for revenue only.” They will be handy facts to carry around: , Free trade financiering: Carlisle’s Revenue Revenue report of expectation. realization. For fiscal year ending June 30,1894. 18935430,121,365 $372,082,498 For fiscal year ending June 30,1895. 1893.. ... ..$454,327,748 ... 1894 424,427,748 $390,373,203 For fiscaLyear ending June 30,1896. 1894.. ..... .$476,907,407' ~ . 1895 431,907,407 *5420,000,000

*5271,370,202 for ten months, besides postoflice receipts. With such an exhibit of free trade financial incompetence, hbw can any Democratic politician or any Democratic newspaper have the brazen impertinence to offer advice or suggestions to Republican leaders or to-the American people upon any fiscal subjects? Kentucky Settles It. Democracy has still its position. The battle is set. As at Bothwell Brigg, the undisciplined levies have turned from their officers, turned upon them, rather—for poor Mr. Carlisle has lowed the lead of their fanatic field preachers into an array conducive of delight among their enemies. After the exposure of the soundmoney sham, the wearing through of the thin wash of gilt, so arduously applied by the administration one little year ago, the utter and complete revelation of the party’s nakedness in Kentucky, following similar frank disclosures in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, the Democracy will go into this campaign as a free-silver party. If it goes avowedly as such it will, for the first time lit twenty-eight years—since' its fatal blunder of repudiation—make Its battle shriven of its sin of perjury. It will not, at least, die with a lie on its lips. If it goes otherwise—under some patched-up banner pieced together at Chicago—it will die otherwise, as it has lived for a generation.—New York Press. »

America for Americans. I would secure the American market to the American producer, and I would not hesitate to raise the duties whenever necessary to secure this patriotic end. I would not have an idle man or an idle mill or an idle spindle in A this country, if, by holding exclusively the American market, we could keep them employed and running. Every yard of cloth imported here makes a demand for one yard less of American fabrication. Let England take care of herself. Let France look after her interests, let Germany take care of her own people, but in God’s name let Americans look after America! Every day’s labor upon the foreign products sent to the United States takes one, day’s labor from American workingmen. I would give the day’s labor to our own, first, last, and all the time, and that policy which fails In this Is opposed to American interests. To secure this is the great purpose of a protective tariff.—Hon. Wm. McKinley. Protection the Remedy. We ask our silver friends to look squarely at the truth. The gold standard is not the cause of this bigger debt in time of peace. The administration, In stating that such is the case, is hiding behind misrepresentation, and treacherously permitting the blow deserved by itself to fall upon an innocent party of. which it very ostentatiously professes to be the guardian. One hundred and fifty millions of dollars, or more than half the proceeds of the Cleveland bond sales, have been used In paying the expenses of the Government, for which that political fraud and financial fiasco, the Cleve-land-Wilson tariff, failed to provide.— New York Sun (Dem.).

Democratic “Prosperity.” The reactionary tendency in prices, shrinkage in railroad earnings, the falling off in bank clearings, and the fact that the present constitutes the beginning of the between seasons period, include the more conspicuous features of the general business situation. Bank clearings aggregate $991,000,000 throughout the United States this week, a falling off of 2.7 per cent, from last week and 10.8 per cent from the total in the third week of May, 1895. Bradstreet’s. Fitting Campaign Button.

This is a sample of a campaign button, that we respectfully subm't, to the Democratic | party, fittingly expressive of their free trade ideas.

Chinese Wool Competition. It Is not, perhaps, generally known that the wool industry of America is being seriously threatened, not only from the rapid Increase in the production of sheep in the Argentine Republic, Australia, Canada, and some European "countries, but also in China. Twenty-

five years ago there were no Imports inter this country of China wools. In 1870 there were 9,016 pounds of China wool imported, of the value £>f but $1,312, the import price per pound then being 10.45-cents; whereas in the present year (18s)5) the imports of China wool have reached poll nds. of the of $1,699,414, the import' price pound being 5.15 cents. This China wool, moreover, has been dem.onstrated to be equal to our low grade of merino wool.—United States Senator Mitchell of Oregon.

Trade for Farmers—POTATOES

Preparing to Go Wrong Again. In the one-ring circus, known as the Democratic party, preparations for a grand finale of flop are plainly observable. Mr. Harrity. has got his mattress ready to fall on. He says that the “integrity(sic) of the party” is of more consequence “than its position upon the financial question.” That amusing tumbler, ex-Governor Campbell, hurries on his silvgr-spangled breech-clout with the words, “The masses are always right.” The ancient Morrison long ago gave a full-dress public rehearsal of his double-back somersault. He is no w waiting behind the curtain of the dressing tent for the 16 to 1 cornet band to strike up. We shall probably next observe Senator HIU putting resin on the soles of his sandals—we observed it before, in 18$2—and within a month the whole troupe will be cavorting over the horses’ backs, while the poor old ringmaster tucks the treasury trick dogs under his arm and trudges off to the ticket wagon to draw* his pay and go home. Joking aside, the signs of a surrender on the part of the gold standard Democrats multiply.

Why Believe Them Nows Considering the notorious free trade fabrications that have always been published by the Evening Post, the' New York Times, the New York Herald and other papers of that ilk, it Is surprising that any single person can be found to credit their currency theories and ideas. If these foreign sheets desired any degree of prosperity for the United States they would advocate the policy of protection. The Procession Proceeded. From this time forward business may be expected to proceed just as if we had not held an election.—New York Herald, Nov. 10, 1892. And the procession has been headed by the sheriff, followed by Coxey’s army of unemployed, the tramp of the hungry to the free soup house, and of the naked to the Herald office for free clothes. Canada’s Hay Crops. The Canadian farmer must be looking forward with satisfaction to the harvesting of his next hay crop. During the McKinley tariff period our impprts of foreign hay averaged only 80,000 tons a year, but in nine months of the current fiscal year we imported noless than 246,814 tons, practically all of which came from Canada. The Little Left to “Go On.” William L. Trenholm. President of the American Surety Company, said: “Business will go on without any interruption.”—New York Sun, Nov. 11, 1892. Yes, what was left of it to “go on,” but that has been at the rate of $37,000,000 a day less this year than In 1892. Free Trader* Know It. Tariff, is paramount with Republicans.—New York Times, May 25, 1896. This is the conclusion that a New York free trade paper has arrived at after investigating, through its correspondents, the political situation “In every State in the Union.” The reports cover nearly three entire pages of the issue.

Panic Order Failed. The stock market refuses to obey orders for a panic. The business world has the best of reasons for refusing to go into a panic, and it looks hopefully forward to definite improvement as soon as political uncertainties are out of the way.—Dun’s Review. Logical Candidate*. Grover Cleveland and William LockOut Wilson are the logical Democratic candidates for President and Vice President. Capturing Our Market. It looks as If 60,000,000 pounds of foreign raw cotton would be Imported during the current fiscal'year. He Arrested the Horse. Ingenuity is a desirable quality everywhere, but especially in a new country. Witness the following special dispatch to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat from Guthrie, Ok.: “A justice of the peace, who is also a school teacher, and who also serves as his own constable, thought there was a stolen horse In a certain pasture. In his perplexity how to get hold of him be concluded that ttje best way was to arrest him. On this idea he wrote out papers of arrest as justice, read and served them upon himself as constable, then read them to the hone, and took the animal Into custody.”

NATIONAL SOLONS.

REVIEW OF THEIR WORK AT WASHINGTON. Detailed Proceedings of Senate and House—Bills Passed or Introduced in Either Branch—Questions of Moment to the Country at Large. The Legislative Grind. The new deficiency bill, framed to meet the objections of the President'? recent veto, passed in the Senate Monday, as it came from the House, amid great cheering. When the immigration bill was taken up Mr. Morgan of Alabama spoke in support of his amendment, that tjie restrictions of the act should not apply to persons coming to this country from Cuba. He said no country had contributed a better class of people to this country's population than Cuba. In the House, the Sherman resolution relative to Virginia bonds was adopted. A special deficiency bill providing for the pay of salaries of members seated by the House and for several other minor matters was passed under suspension of the rules; also a bill to establish a site for the erection of a penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The conference report on the Indian appropriation bill containing the, 'compromise relative to the old settlers’ claim was agreed to and the bill sent to further conference. Mr, Daniels again called up the Aldrich-Underwood contested election case. This aroused the ire of the Democrats. The question of consideration was raised, but this time the House decided, 130 to 68, to consider the case. During the progress of the roll call many of the Democrats left the hall. Mr. McMillin of Tennessee attempted to force a division on the conference report on the District of Columbia bill as a means of developing that no quorum was present, but Mr. Dalzell of Pennsylvania, who was temporarily in the chair, manipulated the parliamentary situation so as to prevent this, and subsequently, despite the warm protests of Air. Terry of Arkansas, declined to entertain an appeal from his decision. The District of Columbia appropriation bill was sent baek to further conference, and the house took a recess. The Senate Tuesday agreed to final conference reports on the naval and Indian appropriation bills. The resolution for an inquiry into the circumstances of the award of the statue of Gen. W. T. Sherman was defeated. A supplementary deficiency bill, covering mileage of new members of the House and other minor items, was passed. A House bill was passed authorizing the Attorney General to select a site and secure plans for a Federal prison On the military reservation at Leavenworth, Kan. The House gave its final approval to conference reports on two of the four appropriation bills—the naval and the Indian bills. Most of the day in the House was devoted to the consideration of the Aldrich-Underwood contested election case from the Ninth Alabama district. The Democrats attempted to filibuster, but were overcome, and when the vote was taken the contestant, Mr. Aldrich, wpo is a brother of Mr. Aldrich who was seated in the place of Mr. Robbins, was given the seat by a vote of 116 to 107. Fifty Republicans voted with the Democrats against this action. A number of bills were passed by the Senate Wednesday, including the important bill giving trial by jury and other safeguards in prosecution for contempt of court. The measure has been vigorously urged by labor interests, particularly railroad employes. It is the outcome of the agitation resulting from the imprisonment of Eugene V. Debs for contempt of an injunction issued at the time of the Chicago strike. The bill as passed continues the power of summary punishment when an offense is committed in the immediate presence of a.judge. But in indirect contempts, such as violation of an injunction, the bill provides that the accused shall be given a full hearing, with opportunities to summon witnesses and offer a defense. The Senate bill to increase the pay of the letter carriers was passed. An enormous amount of business was transacted by the House. Fifty-three bills and joint resolutions were passed, the most important of which, probably, was the bill appropriating $200,000 for the Transmississippi exposition at Omaha. Bills were passed to extend the scope of the investigation of the Agricultural Department into the question of road improvements, to authorize the Butler and Pittsburg Railroad to construct a bridge across the Alleghany river, ana to grant permission for tne erection of a monument in Washington in honor of Samuel Hahnemann. A bill was passed to pension the widow of the late Brigadier General John H. Gibbon at the rate of SSO per month. A bill was passed to amend the shipping laws so as to provide still further for the comfort and health of sailors. Congress adjourned Thursday. The snal session oT the Hrntso was devoid of public interest. The speaker closed the tession in a graceful speech, in which he thanked the members most cordially and felicitated them on the work of the session. The President’s executive clerk announced the President’s approval of the two appropriation bills last passed. The committee appointed to wait on the President appeared and Mr. Dingley, the chairman, announced that the committee had performed its mission, that the President had informed the committee that he had no further communication to make and congratulateu Congress on the early completion of its labors. The last obstacle in the Senate in the way of adjournment was removed when, soon after the session opened, the enrolling clerks brought in the last of the great supply bills—that for the District of Columbia. The Vice-Presi-dent announced the appointment of Senators Harris, Faulkner and McMillan as a committee to inquire into the charities of the District of Columbia, with a view to ascertaining the extent of sectarian control. The inquiry was provided for in the District of Columbia appropriation bill. Mr. Harris (Dem.) of Tennessee offered resolutions expressing the thanks of the Senate to Mr. Frye of Maine, president pro tern., for the uniform courtesy and ability with which he bad presided over the Senate. A similar resolution of thanks to Vice-President Stevenson for bis dignified and impartial service as presiding officer was offered by Mr. Allison. Both resolutions were unanimously adopted. A few moments before the hour set for adjournment the Vice-President rapped. the Senate to order and said: “Senators, I am deeply touched by the resolutions personal to myself adopted by the Senate. It has been my earnest endeavor impartially to execute the rules prescribed for the guidance of this body. For the aid you have so generously given me in the discharge of the duties that pertain to this office, as well as for the courtesy uniformly shown me, I am profoundly grateful. And now, wishing each of you a safe return to home and constituents, it only remains for me to declare the first session of the Fifty-fourth Congress adjourned without day.” The gavel descended with a whack at the last word, and the session was over. v

Precedence and Salary.

The Chancellor of Ireland gets $30,000 a year. All titles of nobility originally had a military'orlgin. A viscount ranks higher than the oldest son of an earl. The expenses of the Queen's household are £172.500.

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK. Mr. and Mrs. Austin’* Seventy-fowr Years of Wedded BHsa-rJohn Graham, a Man of Mystery, Diesat Anderson—Oil Men Despondent. A Remarkable Couple. Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah T. Austin, of Rolling Prairie, near Laporte, are believed to be the oldest married couple In Indiana. They recently celebrated their seventy-fourth wedding anniversary. Mrs. Austin was Miss Hannah Teeter and she became the wife of Mr. Austin before coming to Indiana in 1834, they being pioneers of this section of the State. Both husband and wife are hale and hearty, a living testimonial that early marriages are not detrimental to longevity. The residence of the couple in Laporte County has been continuous from the time they came West from New York in the days when northern Indiana was yet a wilderness of forest trees. Twelve children were born of this union, five of whom are living—two daughters and three sons. Mr. Austin has been si<jk but few days during his life. He has always been temperate and the venerable couple believe that they will live to celebrate many more anniversaries. Their faculties are unimpaired and life with its changing scenes is still sweet to them. Slump in Petroleum Prices. The week just passed has been a disastrous one over the Indiana oil field, and men who were considered in high luck a month ago are in anything but an easy fratne of mind now. The decline in the price of crude oil has been so great as to make it unprofitable to work the Wells, and the demand being so small, the tanks and repositories are filled tb the fullest capacity. Three or four deals have been engineered where owners of wells have closed out all they had on hand at 25 cents a barrel. This makes a loss’to them. Companies and private individuals all over the gas belt have shut down their wells and are waiting for times to brighten and the men who were erecting derricks are stopping the work. The outlook to many is hazardous and to all very dismal. It is safe to say that the number of wells completed this month will- fall 50 per cent short of last month, while it showed a decrease over the preceding one. Leasing of land has stopped, altogether; and many options have been dropped. A month ago money was passing hands live- . ly, but now it is being held close.

All Over the State. William Jones, aged 17, of Bourbon, was drowned while bathing in Gilbert Lake. Two -.children of J. E. Jones, a mail clerk on the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern Railroad, were drowned at the North Vernon water works dam Sunday. One of the children was 8 and the other 11 years old. The supposition is that the younger child fell in and that the older one attempted to rescue him. The drowning occurred within 160 yards of the home of their parents. A verdict for SIO,OOO damages, the largest ever secured in that county, was awarded to Henry Bane in his suit against Keeper & Fisher, contractors, in the Wabash Circuit Court. The action was baaed upon injuries sustained by Bane While in the employ of defendants nearly two years ago at Huntington. He is entirely blind from an explosion. The trial lasted al! the week, was hotly contested and the jury was out seven hours, agreeing on the amount of damages, however, on the first ballot. N. E. White, a merchant at Moran, was awakened at an early hour Sunday morning by burglars entering his store. Calling several villagers to his assistance, he attempted to arrest the thieves, and in the effort fired five shots from his revolver, four of which took effect. Gustave Schmidt, one of the thieves, who claims to live in Terre Haute, was shot twice in the arm and once in the neck, and his companion, George Hal), of Columbus, Ohio, was shot through the legNeither of the wounds is dangerous. On the thieves were found goods stolen from M. Bolts at Cyclone. • Lee, Edward and Theodore Shotski, brothers and well-known Shelbyville, young men, met at the house of Flo Dowden. when they began drinking. Edward and Theodore were ejected, after which they stoned the house. On reaching home they laid down on the lawn and fell asleep. About 1 o’clock Saturday morning Officer Magill heard screams of murder in the vicinity of their homeland on investigation found that both men had received fatal-wounds on the head with thejiutt end of a billiard cue. Theodore recognized his assailant as* his brother Ix?e, and he is now in jail in default of $5,000 bail.

A fatal -shooting affray occurred at Birds, Lawrence County, IIL, Monday morning, between Dr. J. H. Daily and Prof. Sampson T. Mickey, two of the leading citizens of that county. Prof. Mickey walked into Dr. Daily’s office and asked Airs. Daily to retire, as he wished to have a private interview with the doctor. She had gone but a few steps when firing began. She called for help, and, accompanied by others, entered the office. Dr. Daily lay dying before his desk, with a revolver clutched in his right hand, and Prof. Mickey stood near with a smoking revolver in -his hand. It was empty, while the doctor’s was fully loaded. Five shots were fired by Prof. Mickey, three of which took effect. He at once gave himself up, and said he shot in self-de-fense. The trouble occurred over a girl named Emma Smiley, who made her home with Dr. Daily’s family, and who was betrothed to Prof. Mickey. It is reported that his visit to the doctor was to demand an explanation of certain stories. Others say Dr. Daily had ordered him not to come about his house. The body of Fred Friedley, drowned Saturday near Aurora, has been recovered and taken to his home at Scottsburg for burial. Scull, a fellow student, who; nearly lost his life in attempting Friedley's rescue, is out of danger. Mrs. Jacob Pickett, of Greensburg, is dead, the result of a fright. Mr. and Mrs. Pickett moved a few days ago into an old cottage which had been vacant for soma time. On the first night some fishermen, not knowing the hut was occupied, tried to get in. The woman, having heard that the house was haunted, went into hysterics. from which she never recovered. At Green’s Fork, a small place northwest of Richmond, Dr. Charles Fear and Edward Wright quarreled, aa a result of which the latter shot the former four times, each ball taking effect, but not producing fatal wounds. Wright gave himself up. Lase Cumming, a noted insurance worker, arrested at Kokomo three montha age for burning a house for the insurance, broke jail Saturday night and escaped. He was supplied with saws by one of two women, who say they are his wives* one from Millersville, the other from Indianapolis. His trial was set for Monday, several insurance companies being preoared to testify against him. 1 • Ti