Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-08-27

| THE GREAT FAILURE.
To the Editor Of the Free Press and Times:
One not entirely conversant with business
morality would really feel very sorry at the
failure Of banker or merchant, particularly
if the said banker or merchant had long en-
joyed the confidence of his fellows. In i'm
agination We picture the man waking up
some morning and finding himself unable to
meet his engagements, and we fancy the
anguish that tears him almost limb from limb.
Then comes the sheriff, the eviction, the
giving up Of the grand mansion, the taking
of humble rooms, the humiliating search for
employment, and all that sort of thing. That
used to be the programme some years ago,
but it isn't now. Duncan, Sherman & Co.
failed few weeks ago, but there wasn't
any anguish about it. They put accept
ances on the market wherever it was pos
sible; they gathered in all the deposits they
could they turned over most OF their real
| estate to their fathers and wives, and then
in the coolest and most dignihed manner
possible they announced their Inability to
meet their engagements, and each member
of the firm retired to his country seat. Mr..
Duncan has the grandest palace on Staten
Island. His magnificent mansion stands IN
the center of forty acres; and within tina;
mansion there Is silver-plate and furni-
ture enough to buy a county in the West.
The richest conservatives, the most delight
iul grounds, an array OF servants, horses and
carriages-all these things Mr.. Duncan has
always enjoyed and always will. lie has an
income, fixed and secured, enough to keep
up the establishment in the same hOsplt-
able manner that has always distinguished
it.
How did they fail? Easy enough. They
took the money other people placed in their
hands and speculated with it. Their speeu
lations resulted adversely, and they went
under And would you believe it, there i
but one newspaper in New York that has
dared to characterize this thing as a villeny
only one.
JOHN MORRIssY,
the pugilist gambler and leader of DemOc-
racy doesn't propose to be killed as easily as
Kelly and the other Tammanyites would
wish. The fact is. John is stronger than
Tammany. He has an immense following
of the lower classes of Irish and Americans.
and he can control more caucusses than any
man in the city. With this strength az his
back, John objects to being counted out as a
man of no account He wants his say in
matters; be wants mis- share Of the ofice-
he wants his dip into the Treasury; IN
short, the short-haired John wants to be
leader of Democracy. So when Tammany
struck him, he struck back, and Tammany
was astonished at the force Of the blow. As
the Democracy are very likely to split, there
Is remote possibility that the Republicans
NAV get control Of the city at the next elec-
tion. | saw remote, for somehow the many
factions of the Democracy have 4 trick OF
coming together when the spoils are in dan
ger.
POLITICS AND BUSINESS.
The city takes very lively interest in the
Ohio election because of the peculiar position
fthe parties. The stand the Democracy have
taken for initiation has awakened feeling
here against the party that finds very free
expression. The best Democrats here pray
for the defeat of Allen and his rag-money.
New York is suffering more from the gener-
al depression in business than any of the
cities, and they all know that initiation
would be temporary relief, but they know
also that settling day must come sooner or
later. and as they are part way TO 1t, they
prefer to hold on till it i here. What they
want Is something settled and fixed. The
merchant now goes to bed with $500, 600 IN
goOds-he wakes up to find the decline ln
gold has knocked off per cent. which of II
self i profit. True, 4 rise helps them.
but as he is a merchant and not broker, he
does not want his trade affected by causes
which he neither understands nor can in any
wav control If the business men Of New
York had their way, Allen would be beaten
by 100 900 majority.
TIE HOSPITAL BARGE OF ST. JOHN 5 GUILD.
Mention was made last year in these let
tiers of the excursions for sick children, sent
out BIZ the active and wise charity of this
noble association Thousands of ailing in
fants and their mothers, twice week, went
out in the bay, in the steamer chartered by
the Guild, and the days spent in cool, pure
air, away from the fetid, stiiing dens they
inhabit, were the only things that stood be-
tween these little lives and death. The
statements of the health officers show that
the decrease in infant mortality among the
poor is no imaginary result OF sentimental
charity. Probably twenty-five per cent.
of the sick children reached by this aid owe
life and health to these hours of pure air.
This year the Guild was able to own barge,
fitted up as floating hospital, with every
convenience for the sick, and every pleasant
day it carries out load of patients away
from the heat and smells of the city, Into the
blessed GOODNESS and brightness of ocean.
A better work, more truly becoming the
name of Christian, was never done in our
cities.
wOMENs DRESS.
The difference in wemen's dress Is a strik-
ing comment on the hardness of the times.
The trim figures in debege and plaid Oxford
ginghams that ELL the promenade. offer few
of those gorgeous exceptions in lace and
ruffled silk that used 20 make gay the pave
ment before the Fifth Avenue Hotel, alter
Moons Money buys three times as much as
il used to, but where is the money? Women
look as pretty as they used to, even prettier.
The subsistence of the late extravagant styles
of hair dressing and paniers reveals the fact
that they wero originally made with some
attention TO the lines of grace. But the
heavy silks and overdress of lace the costly
bonnets of marabout and tulle. and wonder
ful combinations of train, oyerskirt, and
pouf that struck wonder to the heart of by
ISLANDERS, are known no more, and as a result
dressmakers are going out of business by the
score.
TELEGRAPH MONOPOLY.
jay Gould, having gobbled the Union
Pacific Road and the Pacific Mail. has swal-
lowed the Western Union Telegraph Com
pany, and is paving the way to take IN with
it the Atlantic and Pacific, its only rival.
What times weshall have with our dispatches
when the only wires in the country are un-
der the control of the most unscrupulous
man in the country, Heavens how he
will fay us, Now, with the lines in actiTe
rivalry, telegraphing Is to some points not
more than four times what it should be-
but when the opposition is removed BY con-
solidation, up 60 the rates to Just whatever
point will satisfy the cormorant. There Is
but one remedy for this, and that is the
placing of the telegraph in the hands OF the
Postal Department, just as the Transmission
of letters is and always has been. When
Mr.. Gould's plans mature, and he puts the
screws on little, possibly the people will
see it. and instruct their representatives so
plainly to do it, that Gould and his ring
will not be able to buy them. There can
be just as many reasons given why the Gov
ernment should not carry letters as why 1t
should not send telegraphic dispatches.
BUSINESS
is still wretchedly dull, and there are no
signs of its being any better in the tall. In
fact, business men have given up the idea
of any decided change till next year, or at
least till after the present crop is harvested
and marketed. By that time they believe
the stocks on hand will be exhausted and
that exchanges must commence again. They
are encouraged somewhat by the later re-
ports from the country. Despite the ter
rible rains, the average production will be
good, and there will be fair European de-
mand for it. So, buoyed up by hope, they