Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1874-12-31
TOPICS OF THE DAT.

Il
A GRAND centennial tea-party was held
at the Capitol in Washington on Wednes-
day last, and is represented to have
been a stunning affair. Nearly every
body in Washington attended except
the members Of the British Legation,
to whom the occasion was too suggestive.
Hon. S. S. Cox has introduced in the
lower house of Congress bill
to provide for the enforcement of
the payment of subscriptions to the
stock of corporations. 1t provides, in
effect, that when any bill, note, bond,
or coupon, payable to bearer and issued
by any corporation chartered by the
United States, except national banks,
remains unpaid after maturity, the
holder may sue any subscriber or stock
holder of the corporation whose sub
scription or stock has not been fully
paid, and recover judgment for sum
not exceeding IN amount the unpaid
subscriptiC-.
The prevalence of crime is much
oftener noted than its punishment but
one day OF the past week furnished a
notable exception TO this rule. Two
burglars shot and killed on Long
Island; convict under ife-term SEN
tence hung by a mob at Des Moines,
Iowa; a lady IN Memphis puts bullet
through man for grossly insulting
her; murderer in Pennsylvania SEN
fenced to death ; negro hung by mob
in Mississippi for the horrible crime of
rape; Michigan man, guilty of the
same crime, sentenced to the peniten-
tiary for twenty-five years-such is the
catalogue of one days retribution, as
chronicled by the telegraph.
CoNGREssMAS JOHN B. RICE, of Chi
cago, whose death occurred at Norfolk,
Va, a few days ago, was a self-made
man in the fullest sense of the term.
He was born In Talbot county, Nd,
where his father, who was very poor,
obtained a livelihood for himself and
large family by the two-fold occupation
of cultivating farm and making shoes.
Young Rice spent his youthful days
alternately between the pillow and the
Crispins' bench, but when he grew up
he became FESTIVE under the restraints
of an agricultural life and the limited
means of enjoyment in small hamlet,
and determined TO strike ont in the
world. So one day young Rice packed
his scanty wardrobe and quietly stole
away to Baltimore, where, in seeking
for employment, he drifted into thea
ter. He possessed marked dramatic
talent, and in q few years rose to emil
nence in the profession, went West in
1647, and located at Chicago, where he
built Rice's Theater, and managed it
successfully for years. Having amassed
a large fortune, Mr.. Rice in 1853 re-
tired from the business, disposing of
his theater to NJ. J. II. McVicker He
served as Mayor of Chicago from 1865
to 1869. and was elected to Congress
from the First Illinois District in 1872,
declining a denomination in 1874.
Representative HURLBUT, of Hi
nois, Las been authorized by the
House Committee on Railroads and
Canals to report his bill for a narrow
gauge railroad between the East and
the West. Tie proposed road is to run
from Washington City, through West
Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to
st. Louis and Chicago. The capital is
fixed at SIS, 900, 900 in 5 per cent. gold
bonds, secured by first mortgage, and
the road is to remain highway and
postal route for the use of the govern
ment, for which consideration, and a
sinking fund, the United States are to
guarantee the interest on the
bonds. The bill is significantly
silent in regard 20 the subject of freight
rates. The House Committee on Rail-
roads and Canals have also approved
the Ft. st. Philip and the Hennepin
canal schemes, and the Portland and
Salt Lake railroad project-the latter
road to be 700 miles long, and the gov
eminent to guarantee the interest on
its bonds at the rate of 200 per mile.
The James River canal scheme and the
progect for government railroad from
New York to Omaha have been put
aside by the committee.