Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1874 — Page 2

RENSSELAER TJMOIT. i i . ■■■ ' .y JAMES A HEAU^fpoprk4^t. RENSSELAER, . INDIANA.

THE NEWS.

Foundering of a Steamer at Sea—Sixty Lives Lost. Prominent Persons Deserting the Carlist Cause. Public Debt Statement for the Month of November. New Hampshire Prohibition State Convention. Death of Mayor Hnvemoyer, of New York City. Meeting of the Ohio LegislatureState Debt Statistics. Later Prom the Black Htlla—No Gold in Paying Quantities. Other Interesting News Items. FOREIGN. "J The editor of the Yattrland , a Berlin newspaper, has been sentenced to ten months’ imprisonment for asserting that Kullmann’s attempt on the life of Bismarck was a sham plot, conceited hy the police. It was officially announced at Madrid on the 30th nit that Gen. Baballs, the Marquis de Yillad&reo and other prominent persons had abandoned the cause of Don Carlos. The French National Assembly reassembled on the 30th ult. M. Buffet was re-elected President, on the Ist, by a vote of 34S to three scattering. The Left did not vote. Grigua Land, according to a London dispatch of the Ist, had been absorbed by the British authorities, thus completing the territorial connection between Cape Colony and Natal. A Hendaye dispatch of the Ist says the Carlists had laid siege to Berga. The steamer La Plata, chartered to repair the telegraph cable, foundered off Ushant on the 29th nit Sixty persons were drowned. Fourteen persons were rescued by a Glasgow steamer after floating for about two hours. Among the lost were the Captain and all the officers, and Mr. Pickets, the chief electrician. Dr. Kenealy, the counsel of the Tieliborne claimant, has been dismissed from the British bar. A London dispatch of the 2d says advices had just been received from the Gold Coast that the British authorities there had ordered that slavery be abolished in Ashantee. The message of President MacMnhon was presented to toe French Assembly on the Sd. The President announced his intention to occupy the post which he had been called to fill, to the last day, with unshaken firmness and scrupulous respect for law. A Madrid dispatch announces the pardon of the American, Dockeray, who hud been sentenced to death as a spy by the Cuban au thorities. A telegram from Carlist' sources says the Government troops in Valencia had been totally defeated by toe Carlists with a loss-of GOO killed and wounded and 450 prisoners. In the German Reichstag on the 4th Prince Bismarck announced that the Vatican legation had been abolished, and the sum appropriated for its maintenance was stricken from the budget. ' v —r-* A deputation of Catholic ladies from England have reached Munster to congratulate the Westphalian Countess who was recently fined for signing an alleged seditious address to the Bishop of Padeborn, sympathizing with him in his resistance to ecclesiastic laws. Madrid of the_ 4th mention a mutiny in one of the regiments ordered north; Thirty arrests had been made. The Carlist leader Sohano was captured on the 3d while traveling on a railway train to Cordova. On the 4th he was shot, having been adjudged guilty of assassination and robbery. BOUKSTIC. The Board of Managers of the National Temperance Society have resolved to hold a National Temperance Convention at some point in the West the coming year. Later accounts from Tuscumbia, Ala., place the number of lives lost by the tornado in that place at sixty, and the value of property destrpyed at $500,000. About sixty persons were also wounded. Four hundred people are houseless, and great destitution prevails. Tuscumbia is a town of, about 1,500 inhabitants, situated on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, seventy-five miles west of Huntsville, and two miles from the Tennessee river , Gov. Garland, of Arkansas, in a dispatch of ' the 30th ult., in reply to a telegram from his counsel in Washington, says: “I am not concentrating troops to defy the President or Congress, as has been charged; nor for any other purpose. I am not concentrating troops at all, there being peace and quiet th roughout the State.” Walter Btrain, of Buffalo, N. Y., arrived at Des Moines, lowa, on the 28th ult, from the Black Hills, where he had been prospecting since August He made a thorough prospect, and reports some “ pocket” gold found, but not enough to pay. He declares that there is not a shadow of truth in the statements made as to the discoveries of gold in that countoy. Two of his comrades were shot by the Indians, of whom the hills are fulL The report of the Commissioner to prepare instructions to Postmasters concerning the prepayment of newspapers and periodical postage after Jan. 1, 1875, sustains the recommendations of Third Assistant Post-master-Gen. Barber as to a plan for carrying out the law in the most convenient aud simple manner. Instead of placing stamps on separate periodicals or papers, or on the packages containing them, according to weight, toe forms already printed show a current account with publishers, and after the printed matter is weighed the requisite amount of stamps is posted in toe form of a receipt given to the publisher or his agent at

the time of mailing, the credit and tlfc receipt having a corresponding number. The statement of the condition of the public debt Dee. 1 is as follows; Six peFoMt. bond*7.7.T.'."T7. . . ..1 rf1.157.f74.T01 Five per cent, bauds.... Total coin bonds.., JI.TIS.TW.WO Lawful inanev debt t . 14.ttTN.iMi Matured debt IN.IHi.fcJO Local-tender notes 3W2.076.afi7 Certificates of deposit 47.1**4)00 Fractional currency 47.SKVJIB8 Coin certificates. 85.045.400 Interest 33.ar.L11l Total debt. Cash in TreasuryCorn i JH3.043.762 Currency ~ . I6.tiitit.3i 1 Special deposits held for the redemption of certificates of deposit. 47,120.000 Total in Treasury.... $J4«,H«:1.0T3 Debt less cash in Treasury. ; $2,135,93N.3i4 Decrease during November 123.427 Decrease sffec June SO, 1874. --t—4.112.1107 Honda issued to the Pacific Railway Companies, interest payable in lawful monev. principal outstanding $64,623,512 Interest accrued and not yet paid... 1,615.587 Interest paid bv the United States.. 21.325.386 Interest repaid by the transporta- ■ tion of mails, etc : 5,510.044 Balance of interest paid by United States; 18.815.352 meeting in New York on the Ist adopted a resolution in favor of the resumption of insurance tmsrncgrrir Chicago. The newly-elected city officials of New Orleans were installed on the 30th ult. The American Cheap Transportation Convention met at Richmond, Va., on the Ist. About seventy-five delegates were present, the Hon. Josialt Quincy, of Massachusetts, presiding. A report on transportation was read by F. B. Thurber, of New York, in which lie argued in favor of trans-continental railroads in preference to canals. Committees were appointed. The aununl report of the Register of the Treasury says the total tounage of the c ountry exhibits an apparent increase of 104,820 tons, 5,635 tons in registered tonnage and 98,991 tons in the enrolled and licensed tonnage. The New England Nail Manufacturers’ Association have reduced the priee of ten-penny nails from $4.00 to $3.75 per keg, wfth fifteen cents discount to the trade. The entire business portion of the village of Wilton, N. H., was destroyed by fire on the 2d, tlicrlosg aggregatingirbput $100,1300; The> first annual session of the Alabama State Grange met at Montgomery on the 2d, W. H. Chambers, IV. M., presiding. One hundred delegates were present. The American Association of Short-Horn Breeders met in annual conventional Springfield, 111., on the 2d. The managers of most of the Western railroads held a meeting in Chicago on the 2d, and resolved to entirely abolish tile freepass system from and after Jan. 1, 1875. A recent Montgomery (Ala.) dispatch reports a meeting of colored men, representing twenty cotton counties of Alabama, to concoct measures for a wholesale emigration to States where the colored men are in the majority. The emigration feeling is represented as very strong. » A Washington telegram of the 3d says it was known in diplomatic circles that Spain had paid to Great Britain, only a part of her indemnity on account of the Virgiiiius affair, leaving the remainder aud other questions to be hereafter adjusted. The Supreme Court of the United States has recently decided that toe Confederate Government of the Southern States had no existence except as a conspiracy to overthrow' lawful authority, and tlTaTaircontracts-grow-ing out of purchases from it are void as "contrary to public policy. The Postmaster-General has issued an order forbidding letter-carriers circulating NewYear’s addresses calculated to induce the public to make them gifts. The last, official document issued by the late Mr. Havemeyer, Mayor of New York city, was a communication to the President of the Commissioners of Charities «nud Corrections, protesting against ' the alleged partiality shown toward Mr. Tweed in liis prison confinement, and asking an inquiry into the same; - 4/ : Hiram Smith was hanged at Watertown, N. Y., ou tlie 4tli, for complicity in the murder of Charles Wenham, Jau. 6, 1873: In the Cheap Transportation' Convention at Richmond. Va.. on the 41b. arrsnhmnn was unanimously adopted recognizing, in addition to the lines of transportation recommended by the United States Senate Committee on Transportation, the proposed Rock IslanA-ijg Hennepin Canal, in Illinois, —connecting the Mississippi with the Illinois River ' and Canal and the ekam of water-ways to the seaboard,as'a project of great merit, and urging upon Congress the necessity of speedy construction of the Work. The name of the association was changed to “ The American Board of Transportation and Commerce,” and Hon. Jositth Quincy, of Massachusetts, was elected President for the ensuing year; P. B. Thurber, of Now York, Treasurer, and R. H. Ferguson, of Troy, X. Y., Secretary. The next annual meeting is to be held in Chicago.

PERSONAL. Mayor [Havemeyer, of New York, died of apoplexy on the 80th ult Alderman Vance took the oath of office of Mayor on tne afternoon of the same day. „ NrThe boy in the family of F. IV. Barboursville, W. Va., who was supposed to have been the missing Charlie Ross, was t found, upon investigation, to have escaped ; from a neighboring poor-house, i William O. Key, cousin of Frank Key, : author of the “ Star Spangled Banner,” eom- : milted suicide at the Kennert House, Baltii more, a few nights ago. Deceased has been ! for some time past iu the hotel business. The case of toe Rev. John S. Glendenniug. before the Jersey City Presbytery, was eou- . eluded on~the 2d, resulting iu a verdict of acquittal ou all the counts. ' * The Tweed habeas corpus case came up before Judge Barrett, New York city, on the 2d, and. after argument, was dismissed aud the prisoner was remanded to prison. The banking firm of Henry Clews A Co. New York, has been adjudged bankrupt. WilbuY F. Storey, of the Chicago Times’ was married on the 2d to Mrs. Eureka C. Pearson. The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar, in session at New Orleans on the 3rd, elected Sir James H. Hopkins, of Pittsburgh. Grand Master; Sir Vincent L. Hurlbut, Chicago, Deputy Grand Master; Sir Walter L. j Bragg, Montgomery, Ala.. Grand Generalis- | simo; Sir Edward T. Schultz, Baltimore, ! Grand Captain-General; Sir Benton H. Lang- ! ley, Winona, Minn., Grand Senior Warden; Sir Charles R. Woodruff, Louisville, Grand Junior Warden. A New Orleans dispatch of the 3d says Judge Durell had forwarded his resignation to tbe President. , Rev. George D. Gillespie, of Ann Arbor, has

been chosen Bishop of the newly-created Western Dioccsgiif Michigan. J. H. Pickorclli of Illinois, has been elected President of the Short-Horn Association recently in session at Springfield, 111.; Secretary, 8. F. Lockridge. and Treasurer, Claude Matthews, both of Indiana. The next convention is to be held at Toronto, Canada, Dec. 3,1875. The trial of David A. Gage, ex-treasurer of tlie city of Chicago, for misuse of the city funds, terminated at Waukegan on the 4th in a verdict of " not guilty." POLITICAL. The New Hampshire Republican State Convention for the nomination of candidates for Governor and Railroad Commissioner is to tie held at Concord on the 12th of January. The Ohio Legislature met in adjourned sessiojqgUUoluminis on the Ist. The annual message of Gov. Allen was read in each house. The total local indebtedness of the’ State is $21,886,007.36; reimbursable debt, $7,988,205.80; total, $29,874,212.66. The irreducible debt is $4,132,191:86. The aggregate debts in Ohio, State, loeal and trust fund, $33,997,204.52. The taxes levied in 1873, • collectable in 1874, aggregate $26,474,459. The taxes levied in 1874, collectable in 1875, aggregate $27,614.729. The taxable valuation ID shown by the grand duplicate of 1874, is: Real estate in cities, towns and villages, $354.849,197: real estate notin cities towns and villages, $097.408,537; -personal property, $.528,121,588. Total, $1,580,879,324, which is an increase over the grand duplicate of 1873 of $13,104,865. The New Hampshire Prohibition State Convention met at Concord on the 2d and nominated Nathaniel White, of Concord, for Governor; David Heald, of Milford, for Railroad Commissioner, and the following for Congress: First District., the Rev, A. C. Hardy; Second District, J. M. Fletcher; Third District, Edward 11. Weston. The resolutions adopted affirm that the traffic in intoxicating drinks is a wrong of such magnitude that its suppression is imperatively demanded by both National and State legislation, enforced by vigilant Executives; favor a speedy return to specie payment; urge upon the friends of prohibition to avoid alliance or coalition with either of the old political parties, and heartily honor “ the noble Christian women who have made a crusade against the terrible trade whieli is carrying constant grief and eliuine to their households,” The returns from the Michigan Statfi election show the vote for State Treasurer to be as follows: William B. McCreery, Republican, 110,486; Sterling, Democrat, 98,049; Prohibition and Reform candidates, 4,119; making MeCreery’s majority over all 8,318. The remainder of the Republican State ticket w ill show about 7,000 majority. ' The Virginia Legislature met on the 2d. The Governor’s annual message was read. Several members of the Brooks party in the Arkansas controversy arrived in Washington on the night of the 3d for the purpose of presenting.their case to Congress and urging a decision as to the validity of the new Constitution; In the contested election case between Mr. MeDill and Judge Cate for the seat in Congress from the Eighth Wisconsin District, the State Board of Canvassers has decided in favor of Judge Cate, declaring him elected bytwo majority.

The Law Department.

Washington, Dec. 3. The Attorney-General’s annual report shows that there were judgments during the fiscal year in cl* il suits iu favor of the United States of $2,021,724; amount actually realized, $867,192. Of the criminal eases, 6,018 were terminated, including 2,623 convictions, of which 102 out of 966 were under the Enforcement acts. The total suits to which the United States were not a party is 19,194, of which 11,490 were terminated," the judgments being to the amount of $10,508,624. The expenses of the Marshals, Commissioners, etc., for the year were $2,669,730, ers36l,138 less than the previous year. The amount awarded by the Court of Claims was $2,418,804, against total claims of $4,054,366. The Attorney-General recommends that the United States District Courts be given authority to issue supumas directing the attendance cf witnesses before the Court of Claims, and that the latter be given power to punish for contempt any failure to obey; that the heads of departments be given authority for use Tu the court of the Confederate records in possession of the Government; that the police—force—of—the —District of Columbia be increased; tliat all District Attorneys and Marshals be paid by salary only, fees being abolished; that a penitentiary be erected in the District of Columbia for" the confinement of convicts, instead of that of Albany; that a uniform mode be provided for tlie selection of jurors for United States Courts, and the enactment of a law regulating tlie fees and costs of clerks. Marshals and attorneys of United States Courts.

Stanley’s African Expedition.

We have received communications of a most interesting nature from our commissioner, Mr. Henry SI. Stanley, announcing the successful exploration of the delta and main channel of the Hirer Rutiji, which flows into • the sea some seventy miles to the south of Zanzibar. The letter, which is very long and copious in information, is dated from Zanzibar the 19th of October. Leaving that island on the last day of September, in his yawl, the Wave, Sir. Stanley, accompanied by his two Englishmen, Pocock and Francis, sailed down the SamboOrango mouth,in the Delta, and proceeded up this into the main stream, which he stemmed to a point much higher than had previously been readied. lie found two wide and navigable mouths and an upper channel, which carried his boat on five feet of water to Kisu—the point where the slave caravans of the interior, as he found, regularly cross on their way to Dar-Salaam and the northern ports. From information acquired in many quarters he reports that canoes and lightdraught launches plight ascend as high as 240 miles from the coast, and his obs&vatiofrs establish the possibility of a flourishing and prospeious trade in ivory and gum copal, drugs and grain, with the populous tribes of the alluvial plain through ■tfiiieh the Rutiji flows. He also points out with clear detail how the launches of Her Majesty’s squadron upon this coast mav, by ascending, properly equipped, to ftisu* completely stop, the overland slave traffic which now crosses the stream at this point. ■ ___ Mr. Stanley reports most favorably upon the sailing qualities of his little vessel, the Wave, and after surveying and mapping the delta of the Rutiji and visiting the island of Mana, in the offing, he returned, all well, to Zanzibar, and was enlisting his men for the expedition Into the interior at the date of nis letter —London Telegraph. —The Conduit Pipe Company, of Pittsburgh, have completed their line of pipes and are pumping oil from Millerstown to Faigview at the rate of 4,000 barrels pew day. Sr

Postoffice Report.

sf Washington. Nov. 29. The report of the Postmaster-General is completer - The revenues for the rear ending June 30, 1874, were $24,596,568, and the expenditures $32,120,414. The estimated expenditures for the year ending June 30, 1876,“ are $36,964,034; total estimated revenue, $29,148,150. leaving a deficiency to be appropriated out of toe general treasury of $7,815,878. These estimates do not include appropriations for steamship service and stamps, amounting to $2,098,501). Tlie use of the registered-letter system is steadily increasing. There has been a marked gain iii the time of transporting through mails, an average gain from New York to San Francisco of live hours and thirty-two minutes, a gain for mails to New Orleans of two hours and fifty-seveil minutes,, and going north of one hour and fifty minutes, and a perceptible gain on all through routes in regularity and certainty. The foreign mail system is in better condition than ever before. The number of pos to Hires in operation June 30, 1874, was 34,294; total number of appointments during the year, 9,428. The results of tlie extensions of the letter-carrier system are of the most gratifying character. There has been a gain of over 30 per cent, in the amount of fees received from money orders. There has tieeo only one erroneous payment in 59,677 payments, and only 74 in all. The increase in "money exchanges with Great Britain and Switzerland Ims been very marked. :== newsi'aUk taJSTAUH. By an aft of'Congress approved June. 23, 1874, it is required tliat on and after the Ist of January, 18i5, postage on newspapers and periodical publications mailed from a known office of oublieation or news agency, and addressed to regular subscribers or news agents, shall be charged at the rate of two cents per pound if issued weekly or oftener; and at three cents per pound if issued less frequently than once a week. The act provides that matter shall be weighed in bulk and preoaid with adhesive stamps to ,be especially devised for the purpose. The manner of applying stamps is left discretionary with the department, and a system, which it is hoped will work satisfactorily, has been devised for carrying the law into effect. The stamps are now in course of preparation, and will be ready at the time appointed for their .use. It is expected that the revenues of the department from postage on printed matter will be increased by the enforcement of this act, notwithstanding that rates are cheaper tlian before, as now postage will be prepaid, while heretofore much loss has been occasioned to the department on account of the non-collection of postage at the point of delivery. THE MONEY-ORDER 3TSTEM. The money-order business of this department appears to Be rapidly growing in public favor, and is undoubtedly a very great accommodation to a large number of persons who are not within reach of banking facilities, or who are unaccustomed to the use of them. Yet I see no reason why this branch of service should not be made self-sustaining. The apparent profits of the moneyrirder system during the last year are about $105,000, while the certain expenses to the amount of $182,000 for clerk hire and stationery in the Postoffice Department, Auditor’s office, and for money-order clerks in the postoffiee are not charged to the monevorder business But are paid out of appropriations; so that, while the money-order system appears to yield a revenue of $105,000, there is, in fact," a deficit of $70,000. I suggest, therefore, that the fees of money orders be increased in accordance with the views of the Superintendent, submitted herewith (see appendix) v ovthatthe money-order system shall, . dike any other business, be made to defray all its own" expenses. . TRANSPORTATION OF MAILS. Tlie number and length of mail routes in the United States require an expenditure for transportation which dwarfs into insignificance the cost oft similar service in other countries. For the year ending June 30,1876, it is estimated that this item alone will exceed $10,000,000. The poction to be paid to railroads will amount to more than $8,000,000. Opinions have differed widely as to the best method of determining the rightful rates of compensation to be paid to the railroads for services., rendered to this department. Heretofore their pay has been based on the weight of mails, with an additional allowance on certain thoroughfares for providing postal cars. At present the matter is in a very unsatisfactory condition, and some equitable mode of adjustment should be at once devised and sanctioned by law. Some of the roads haVfc represented to the departmentthat the carrying of the mails was little or no object to them, because the express companies were willing ter pay much more for the accommodation furnished than the department woqld allow. On the other hand, representatives of the leading express companies have contended that the act, which took effect July 1,1874, permitting the transmission by mail of packages of merchandise w eighing not over four pounds at the rate of one cent for each two ounces is taking away the most profitable part of their business, and will soon render . them unable to meet the heavy rentals demanded by the roads. Thus is presented a curious anomaly, Hie roads claiming that the Government does not pay as much as the express companies are ready to pay, and the express companies claiming, on the other hand, that the law is effecting such a diminution of their'revenues that they are unable to accede to the demands of the roads. I find no disposition on the "part of any railroad or transportation company to deal otherwise with the department than in a spirit of fairness ana justice. I trust Congress will adopt some equitable plan of adjustment which will not be burdensome to the Government, and which will be satisfactory to the companies. Tbe act of March 3, 1873, readjusting the pay Q.f railroads on the basis of “the weight of the mails carried, added much more largely than was anticipated to the expense of the department. The appropriation for that purpose having become exhausted, I have declined to make further payments. I would suggest that the time has come when a resolute effort should be made to determine how far the Postoffiee Department can properly-go in its eflbrts to accommodate the public without trespassing unwarrantably upon the sphere Of private enterprise. There must be a limit to governmental interference, and happily it better suits tlie genius of the American people to help themselves than to depend on the State. THE FUNCTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT. To communicate intelligence and disseminate information are primary functions of this department. Any divergence from the legitimate sphere of its operation tends to disturb the first rule, that in the ordinary branches of life the recipient of a benefit is the proper partyto pay for it, since there is no escape I from the universal law that every service ! must in some way be paid for by some one. i Moreover, in; a country of vast extent like ! this, where most of the operations of the de- | partment are carried on remote from the coil: j trolling center, tlie disposition to engage in i internal enterprises more or less foreign to ‘the theory of the System will tend to ejnbari rassments whereby expedition would be difli- ; cult. For years the franking privilege was : an incubus ou the department and an obsta-- ; ele to efficient postal reform. Its abolition, ; for which w e are largely indebted to the resolution and wisdom of my predecessor, opens the way for other measures, which have yet i to be inaugurated and pressed to a successful issue before the department can become self-sustaining. While I do. not flatter mvself that I shall be able to accomplish this most desirable end during the short period of me service, I propose to keep it steadily in view and to direct my best eflorts toward its attainment. For the first time in toe course of a life devoted actively to business I find myself m charge of au establishment the expenditures of which largely exceed its" receipts —a state of affairs which strikes with great force a» mind more or less disciplined by that (Hose inspection of accounts enforced in mercantile pursuits. In ordinary affairs there is but oae «nd to this condition of affairs —bankruptcy. The deficiency of this department has varied of late years from 15 to 20 per cent., while from the best data at my command I hare 'been compelled to submit estimates for toe year ending June 30,1876, which will show

an expected excess of tlie expenditures over receipts of nearly $8,000,000, or about 25 per cent, of the entire reveuue of the department. HoV far the American people will be willing to go in this direction remains to lie seen; Tbe difficulties in the way of adopting and enforcing a policy of economy which, while properly guarding the revenues of the department, shall also afford to the new and growing patrons of our country the mail facilities to which the enterprise of the people entitle them, are few or small, but in some way they can and must be surmounted. I deem it suitable to say here that I propose to guard with strict vigilance the expenditures ot this department, sanctioning no-putlay which can lie avoided without detriment to the service, and so to conduct its affairs generally that the interests of the public shall be paramount to those of any individual, corporation or party. Very respectfully, your obedient servant.

MARSHALL JEWELL,

The War Department.

Washington, Dec. 3. Tlie Secretary of War states that the actual expenditures of the War Department for the year ending June 30, 1873, including river and harbor improvements, were $46,325,308.21, and the same for the last fiscal year, ending June 30, 1874, were $42,326,314.71, showing a reduction of $3,998,903.50. The report will also contain the following recommendations: v Monthly additions to be-allowod to toe pay of officers"acting as Assistant Quartermasters; a renewal of recommendations for the purchase of sites of posts in Texas, in accordance with the report previously made to Congress; a system of mileage, and the paviitent of officers and employes traveling on duty to be restored, in lieu of the actual expenses, as now allowed under the law of last year; that private soldiers be permitted to "compete for the position of Commissary Sergeants as well as noncommissioned officers; the exemption of subsistence stores from the operation of tlie lawrequiring the proceeds of sales of public property to be covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous at the expiration of each fiscal year, the law to be so changed that appropriations for subsistence stores can be made available prior to the commencement of tlie fiscal year for which they are appropriated; that provision be made for the publication of 5,000 additional copies of the Medical and Surgical History of the War. Attention is called to the recommendation of the Chief of Engineers for an additional appropriation for ammunition for target-firing, which is recommended. Much larger appropriations than have heretofore been made should be made annually for the manufaetui ‘of arms. An increased appropriation is desired for arming and. equipping the militia. Steps should be taken to relieve the various States from the indebtedness for arms charged to them during toe rebellion. Sales of various arsenals, such as those at Allegheny-, Columbus, Detroit, Pikesville, Watertown and Washington, are recommended. The Springfield Armory, the Frankfort Arsenal and a few others are recommended to be retained. The proceeds of those sold should be*applied to tlie erection of one grand arsenal for manufacturing purposes, to be established near New York. The proceeds of the sales of those named would he amply sufficient for that purpose, and there is no necessity for their retention. A powder depot and experimental grounds, for testing heavy ordnance, are estimated for. The revised statutes which were enacted into a law at the last session of Congress included much absolute legislation, which has been inconsiderately included, and attention is called thereto. Desertion should be considered felony, cognizable by courts of criminal jurisdiction; the offenders should be arrested hy Marshals and deputies, like other criminals, but the jurisdiction should be concurrent with that of the military courts. Jurisdiction is recommended to be confei red on military persons charged with murder and other felonies. The reduction of the army is discouraged at present. A reduction of the number of men without a reduction of officers and posts is not economical. A larger appropriation for the publication of official records of the war of the rebellion, both of the Union and Confederate armies, is desirable. This should become immediately available. The President should be authorized to drop from the rolls of the officers of the army those who intentionally and criminally duplicate their pay-accounts—-in other words, present accounts for the same month mqre than once and obtain payment dhereon. The provisions of the act of May, 1874, as to the extension of time during leave of absence in which full pay can be drawn should apply to all officers stationed in tlie Department of Texas. Calling attention to the names of those officers who have been sent to the Senate for brevet appointment for service in the field in action with the Indians, the confirmation of those brevet appointment is recommended. The pay of Sergeants should be increased. An appropriation for a permanent military prison is recommended. Pay ment of soldiers by checks is discouraged, and attention to the Paymftster-GeneraPs-application for the appointment of additional Paymasters is invited. Appropriations for walls aud lodges at certain national cemeteries are recommended. The recommendation is made that the bill which passed the House of Representatives authorizing the President to establish a regulation for the army should be taken up and passedby the Senate. Boys should be enlisted as "field musicians, as formerly. When vacancies occur in the office of Regimental Quartermaster and Adjutant, no reappointment should be made to these positions, but the dut'es now performed hy them should be performed by detailed officers. The establishment Of a professorship of rhetoric and English literature at West Point is recommended. THE ORDNANCE BUREAU. The Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, in his annual report, recommends the rearmament of the navy with breech-loading rilled cannon, which can he done at a very small cost iu view of the reduced number of ships and of guns required. The present types of foreign armed cruising ships carry four and one-half and six inches of armor, and at present we have no guns except the fifteeninch in the monitors which will seriously injure the lightest of these armored vessels. Substitute a seven or eight inch rifle for the eleven-inch smooth bore, which even our smallest ships carry, and few of them would come off without great damage. The Chief of Ordinance says the reeent experiment on the Conversion of smooth-bore to rifled cannon developed no unexpected results, and he does not deem it possible to “convert a cast-iron smooth-bore into an efficient rifle by any system of rilling. —The servants of a family living in Providence, R. 1., were alarmed the other morning by an unusual rustling sound proceeding from a box of rubbish in the cellar. The box was carried into the yard and turned upon its side, when a pair of sharp black eyes and a brown, hairy, pointed nose peered forth from within. The family cat was called upon, but refused to attack the stranger, though she had previously encountered large rats without any hesitancy. A gentleman finally advanced with a club find after a vigorous. assault dragged out a line large woodchuck. —A boy went to visit his cousins in Kentucky, near the Ohio River. His parents, "fearing the water, had bidden him to shun the boat which his cousins used, and the lad had promised. A letter to his father graphically described various excursions and the “ good time” he had enjoyed, among the very last, one in w hich the cousins had desired to visit the Ohio shore. ” They went over in the boat,” writes the boy, “ but I remembered your wishes in that respect, and so swam the river.” —The North Carolina State debt is $38,921,848.05. « , r. ‘

Postmaster-Genera..

FACTS AND FIGURES.

—Forestville, Conn., turns out 1,000 clocks daily. —Michigan has gained 130,000 in population since 1870. —The school population of Kansas has doubled in live years. —One Massachusetts firm converts two tons of paper into envelopes daily, —There are over 24,000 idiots in this country who are acknowledged as such. T-Eiglit hundred new buildings have been erected in Pittsburgh Pa., this year. —lt is believed that California wilt gain during the year which will end with Dec. 31 fully 50,000 population. —Notwithstanding its almost univqr- . sal use in kindling fires, there are now on hand 4,000,000 barrels of surplus petroleum. —Nine million horses in the United States: value $660,000,000. France has 3,663,000. Austria 3,100,000, England 2,666,200, Germany 2,500,000, Prussia 1,800,000, Turkey 1,100,000. —One-sixth of America’s population of over 30,000,000 cannot read or write; 5,000,000 out of a total school population ot almost 13,000,000 receive instruction. —The value of musical instruments exported from this country last year was $550,227, Of this amount reed organs absorbed $292,151, the balance being for pianofortes. —We have now of all classes of pensioners in this country 236,241 persons, and the expenditure for them is about $26,250,000 per year. Among this list are found the names 410 widows of soldiers of the Revolutionary w ar. —low T a has $4,519,688 raised to instruct a school population numbering 491,344, of whom 347,572 are enrolled in public schools and 12,132 in private ones. The sum of $1,163,953 has been expended in this State in the erection of new' schoolhouses and supply of libraries and apparatus. This makes the amount devoted to educational purposes upward of $3 for each inhabitant, and upward of $lO for each child enrolled in school. The number of buildings has been increased by 1,246 in two years past; the value of them, allowing for deteriorations, by $1,391,308; and the value of school apparatus by $122,337. The average attendance on public schools is 83 per cent, greater than ten years ago, exceedmg considerably the increase of school population.

A Scottish Hero.

Charles Reade lias discovered in the poorer portions of Glasgow a veritable hero and martyr. The story of his wondrous life is fold by him in the New York Tribune. His name is James Lambert. He was a factory operative in his younger days, with a penchant amounting almost to a mania for saving the lives of drowning people, “singly and in battalions.” For most men it would be hazardous to attempt the rescue of one man, so terrible and unreasonable is the clutch of the victim; but with James the rescue of one person was an easy task. Aside ironi the frequency with which the rescues were effected, there was one exploit which has very few equals, and for which, as a literal fact, Mr. Read not only vouches, but oflers to produce abundant proof. It is as follows: Many of the factory hands lived on one side of the Clyde and worked on the other, crossing by ferry. One cold evening the boat was overloaded and sank in the middle of the river, James Lambert be ing one of the passengers. His reputation as a rescuer impelled his companions to make a rush for him, and those who couldn’t get hold of him clung to those who clung to him. Now began the most remarkable feat in its line of which there is any record. The story told in the Scotch dialect by Lambert himself to Mr. Reade runs thus: “ Birr, when yeve twa feet i’ the grave, your mind works hard. I didna struggle, for it was nae marr use than to wrastle wi’ a kirk. I just stranchened myself oot like a corp, and let them tak me doon to the bottom o’ the Clyde; and there I stude upright, an’w T aited; for I kenned the puir sals would droon afore me, and I saw just ae wee, wee chance to save them yet. Ye shall understand, sirr, that when folk are drooning they dinna settle dOon till the wafer fills their lungs and drives the air oot. At first they waver up and doon at sartain intervals. Aweel, sir, I waited for that, on the grund. I was the only one grunded, ye’ll obsairve. A slight upward movement commenced. I took advantage and gied a vi’lent spang wi’ my feet against the bottom, anti wi’my choosing my time, up we a’ caine. My arms were grippit, but I could strike oot wi’ my feet, and before ever we raached the surface I lashed oot like a deevil for the'quay. Aweel, sirr, wi’ all I could do, we didna wend abune a yard, or maybe a yard and a liauf, and doon they carried me like leed. I stranchened myself as we sank, and I grunded. The lave were a’ roond me like a sou. I bides my time and when they are inclining upward I strikes fra the grund; an’ this time, mair slanting toward the quay. That helpit us, and in a dozen violent strokes we maybe gained twa yards this time. Then doon like leed. Plays the same game again, up and doon again. And noo, sirr, there was something that turned sur against us; but then there was something for us, to balance it. It was against us that they had all swallowed their pint o’ water by this time, and were na sae buoyant; it was for us that the water was shallower now, maybe not more than twa feet ower heed.- Noo this twa feet wad droon us as weel as twenty; but wi’ nae mair nor twa feet abune us I could spring up fra the grun by mere force; for the grun gies ye an awfu’ power for a foot or twa. Sae noo I’m nae suner doon than up again, and still creeping for the quay, and the w ater aye, -a w T ee bit shallower. The next news is, I gat sair spent, and that was bad; but,. toJbalance that, some folk on the quay gat rapes and boat-hooks, and pickit oft. one or twa that was the nearest ; and now ilka time I cam’ up they pickit onsoff, and that lightened my burden; and. bymby I drave a couple into shallow water JiyseT, wi’ my feet. When I was in seven feet water ntysel’, and fewer folk hauding me doon, I got to be maister, and shovit ane and pu’d anitker in, tilFwe landed the whole saxteen or seventeen.” This seems almost incredible, but it is not a sheer impossibility. One can see that such an exploit would be performed by a very stong and long-winded man, perfectly self-poised and w : ith a genius for doingthe right thing in an emergency. The hero is now very poor and stone blind. His blindness resulted exposure in his favorite amusement, for such it might almost be called. But for Reside he would have been whelmed ia oblivion.