New-York tribune., 1876-12-29
the grasshoppers will strike most people a.
queer, but it may nevertheless be judlcious.

| the grasshoppers will strike most people as
queer but it may nevertheless be judlcious.
| Commissioner John @. Smiths plan for man.
aging the Indians has some excellent FEATURES
Chief among these is that it proposes 10 90
away with the practice of treating lnulan
tribes AS il they were foreign nations un-
doubtedly the longest step Will be mauo
toward ending the Indian complication "heh
we shall find out and carry ont the best way
of making the Red Men good American clti-
zens and stop the foolery of conducting dlpio-
matte negotiations and making solemn treatles
with breech-clouted savages within our own
| domain.
Parents in this city who are rearing small
children will rejoice at the discontinue OF the
swindling milk dealers. 1t is creditable to the
iurv that they were not mystifed by the spe-
cious defense and the attacks upon the Board
of Health's lactometer. The experiment of the
iuryman who put the lactometer into goOd
milk and saw it mark above 100, ana tneh
poured in water and saw that the hight was less
than that figure, proved more convincing thah
any amount of theOrizing about pecullar COWS
There is not the slightest danger that our Guy
milkmen will adulterate the article they sell
| with an excess of cream.
A fire yesterday in Broadway buiidihg
which served as the chief entrance way 10
tbeater, sent, we are told, volumes OF smoke
throuch the auditorium and out of the Mercer
ST. windows. Happily this occurred at an hour
| when there was nobody in the theater. The
nropress of the flames in the photograph es-
tabIisbment was so rapid that two or three
| persons were rescued with the greatest diff
entity. Most readers will inyoluntarily ask
the question, What would have been the re-
suit if that fire had broken out when the the
oter contained its usual audience9 1t is not a
pleasant conundrum to contemplate.
The deadlock between the French Senate
and Chamber of Deputies on the Appropriation
bill was becoming dangerous to public order.
1t led yesterday to wordy encounter between
NJ. Gambctta and Minister Simon, wherein
the latter threatened to have the
Chamber dissolved in case the conflict
continued. NJ. Gambetta, who ought
to know the state of public opinion, answered
detiantly that he was willing to appeal to the
country. The majority of the Deputies ap-
near to have felt differently, for afterWard
their votes virtually ended the conflict. They
doubtless discerned that a question of pGrlia-
| mentary practice would DO spiritless as a
party cry.
The Patent Office has served to educate
considerable number of lawyers, who, alter
| few years of public service there, find them
selves specially qualified for the private task
of making or breaking patents. The present
| TON re pntlv
II is very needful for the interests of inventors
that mau of special and trained ability for
| the Office should succeed Mr.. Duell. Nearly
all our foreign critics at Philadelphia rcc0g-
nized the excellence of our patent system and
| its wise administration as among the cmel
causes of our national progress. Under the
| management of an incompetent Commissioner
of Patents that form of progress would be
checked. Let us hope that the appointment
will be given to man of ability, even though
he should be kept in Office only few years,
Friends of the rapid transit cause-and the
! number of our citizens who are not ITS friends
is proportiOnally very small-will rejoice in the
advantage it has gained by the decision of the
Supreme Court The field covered by this
decision is of the broadest. 1t really deter
mines whether the Elevated Railway Company
shall build road at all. An adverse decision
would have thrown back the company upon
the necessity of making a tubular road, and
il was long since recognized that that form OF
construction is too costly to be practicable,
besides involving many other Objectionable
features There seems to be no question thai
it was the intention of the Legislature to au-
thorize the company to build the road in n
different way. The constitutional right OF the
Legislature to authorize such change is very
fully shown in Judge Brady's opinion. Aside
from the legal points involved, he justitics his
decision by referring to the larger aspects Of
the question, and declares that Public i'm
provements always involve sacrifice. The
greatest good of the greatest number is
"justly the grand purpose of good govern
"ment, and the comparatively few who are
"iriured are required to submit to the laws OF
{" their rulers" If these sound maxims had
been generally accepted, the vexatious suits
that have hitherto impeded rapid transit would
never have found standing in court 1t is
hoped that there will now be no further OBJ
struction to building the railway Oh Sixtl-ave
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IN INFAMOUS PLAN
Any investigation which goes to the methods