New-York tribune., 1874-08-04

party-which, indeed. we knew pretty well
already.
LAYING our WORK.
The destruction of the grasshoppers Is not
the only problem with which the Great West
is wrestling; for the enormous activity OF
human nature in those parts finds various
vents. To hold a convention whether of County,
State, or District delegates, is there the COM
monest labor or diversion and to pass resolu-
tons by the roam. a task which is its own ex-
ceedne great reward There is an abiding I'M
preston that something is wrong, and that
the world will go to pieces unless that some
thing is set right We are even looking Tor "a
meeting to consider the insect invasion, Ii hapiy
the hungry hordes can be crushed out by u
convention. Meanwhile, the great question o.
currency imitation being as it were IN aDey-
ance few of the more active spirits are
busily annhilating secret societies. There Is
something highly alarming to these suspicious
spirts in breastpins and other badges. Inere
isreasonabIc ground for apprehension II Dot ter
ror in the institution Of every new lodge. There
is mischief lurking in those mysterious initials
understood only by the initateG-A. D. Il. NJ,
augmentations of G.. NJ, or W. p, or n. q. 1t
is time for vigilance when two or three are
privately gathered together, man WIN a
drawn sword guarding the outside door, ana
protecting the brethren inside, all arrayed III
horse-colars and aprons, from the intrusion OF
"cowans and eavesdroppers." We are able to
announce that against these prlyy persons
Hamilton County, in the State Of Indiana, IS
moving And also seconding. Aud also pass
ing unanimously. These earnest folk held
their convention at Noblcsvilie, III Indiana
aforesaid, on the 22l ult. Fifty delegates at
tended Forty of them made speeches IN
which the approaching ruin of the community
from various pas,ferous influences was more
or less c,oauenty set forth. Somebody was
present with shcaf of resolutions already
neatly cut and properly dried. Everybody
voted for them, and then, with delicious re-
assurance of personal and public safety, every
body went about his business.
We must admit that what strikes us
most forcibly in respect of these resolutions Is
their opulent miscellany. The Convention
pledged itself to do great number OF things
and, among others, those: |. To put down
Secret Societies. ,. TO suppress the traffic In
stinUlant beverages; 3. To attack al mono
poles by which the laboring classes are dam
aged; 4. TO assist in establishing high
Court of Nations for settling all National
Difficulties 5. TO support every great and
wholesome reform Those who were in favor
of these pledges voted "Aye!"; those opposed
but there was nobody opposed, and so nobody
said "Noin 1t was a very cOnsenting time.
The great Fifty of Hamilton County swore, if
necessary, to turn the whole State of Indiana
upside down-to overthrow the etiete mon
archies of the old world-to suppress the An
cient Order of Red Men and all other Orders
whatsoever-to abolish those nulsances some
what indefinitely termed Monopolies-tO ar
rest at once the consumption OF the deleteri-
GUS whisky and the seductive lager-in few
words, to set the whole world in general
to rights, and to regenerate Hamilton
County i'll particular. And then they ad-
jouIned. And now, we suppose, they are
dong it. Considering the comet, and the
grasshoppers, and the great floods, and the
Brooklyn business, this Q6i4 is really re-
markable year.
We should be 10th to say anything disre-
spectful of any honest hero who, having en-
couptered what he deems an evil has sol
cmnly resolved to fasten to it and to take the
noxious life out of it, This world is MT an
over sweet one. but it would be much less
fragrant if indiscriminate acquiescence in good
and evil were the rule. At the same time,
we must caution those who feel that they
have a mission against making that mission
too multifarlous. We have always thought
that Don Quixote would have done much bet
fer if he had confined himself either to the
windmis or the focks of sheep. There is
not so much moral energy in the world that
we can afford to waste it, Still less is 1t good
economy of our strength to try to beat upon
more than q dozen anvils at a time. The first
thing which a reformer needs is precise and
definite comprehension of what he really
wants to do. Next let him determine the
means which are needed and their adaptation
to the ends desired. Finally, let him under
stand that a Convention of One-if we may
say so-is sometimes much more necessary and
more likely to do something than II Conven-
ton of Fifty.
The Pail Nall Gazette Enthusiastically accuses
"many living Englishmen" of writing of America
in a strain of eulogy which would be fusome if
anplied TO Utopia Yet it confesses that Canon