Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-10-26
OURNEW YORK
BusInesS-The ObeIIsk-AnOsher Strike
The Last SygIndIe-POIIGieal-L

AAe LasA SSEln0le-H-OAAAAcAA- AStaeH-
les.
AS everything pertaining to the business
of the country is of interest, called upon
several Of the heaviest iObbers. The re-
ports we're all alike. Business is now
healthier than at any time since the war.
The volume of trade is not so large, more
discretion and judgment is being used,
and the quality of the goods purchased is
different. The purchases Of fine goods
are much less, and trade runs largely to
neeessaries. In brief, merchants are buy
ing literally, though very carefully, and
buying intending to pay. The reports are
all to the effect that the farmers are doing
well, and buying fairly well, while the
worEing-people in the towns, especially
those that are dependent upon manufac-
turers, are poor, and are buying very little,
as yet But there is a strong hope of i'm
provement in these, as the good condition
of the farming community cannot but i'm
prove their condition. Altogether the
merchants are of the opinion that the
times have commenced, and that they will
continue till we get back to good, safe,
steady going condition of things.
THE oBELIsK.
The English succeeded in getting per-
mission yf the Khedive of Egypt to reno
to London the Alexandrian Obelisk, which
every sehool-boy has read of, known as
.'Cleopatra's Needle" 1t is now on its way
to England, and will be set up in Trafal
gar square. Not to be behind hand, an
American merchant, withholds his name
persuaded the Khedive to permit another
one to be brought to New York, and he
donated the cost of bringing it-SlOO,-
600. The papers are all drawn, and as
soon as steam can do it, an obelisk that
Moses and Aaron looked upon will be set
up in the youngest of the great cities OF
the world. Who the doner is, no one
knows, but time,win reveal'the secret. 1t
was a generous and noble act.
ANOTHER STRIKE.
This time it is the cigar-makers. Five
thousand of them, and doubtless justly so,
have quit work, and are trying to make
the strike general. The notable feature in
this emute, is the fact that woman IS
one of the leaders, and a principal one
Mary Heisler, young Bohemian woman
who has gained a great deal OF influence
over the laborers of the city by her tervld
oratory and advanced cummunistlc ideas,
was elected vice-president of the Centrai
Association, and she at once took position
as its real head. The cigar-makers, who
are largely foreigners, look upon her as
second Joan of Arc, and they obey her CON-
mands without question. The majority Of
the cigar-makers are the lowest of Ger
ma ms and Poles, whoIlive in the filthiest
tenement houses, doing their SFork there.
Tney are underpaid and overworked, for
the reason that the trade is easily learned,
and there is such glut of workers that
the employers can get any amount of la
Dor at their own price. The employers are
almost all foreigners, and are merciless
toward the poor of their own nationalities.
The strikers now number five thousand,
and it is probable that the movement will
go on till it will embrace all the opera
tives in the city.
THE LAST swINDLE.
The last swindle is a variation of an old
one, which originated in this city, and is
being prosecuted from here. The modus
operandiis is very simple. 1t is wire fence
of not very new pattern, and which is
not even patentable. The smooth-tOngued
agent shows it to farmer, and solieits
him to become an agent for it. As an
inducement he is,offered fifty rods free,
provided he will put it up along the
road where it can be seen and. serve as an
1t Is a handsome fence
and the farmer bites at the offer. First he
gets fifty rods for nothing, and if he
does take an order, he gets liberal com
mission. He signs what he supposes is an
order for fifty rods, and Immediately the
wire is shipped him. Then comes anoth-
er agent who demands pay for one hun
dred and fifty rods. Indignant farmer
explains that he was to have fifty. rods
free. Agent says, Certainly, but you
have ordered one hundred and fifty rods, |
you must pay for at four cents a foot"
And he produces an order with the far
mer's signature, to that effect. The pro-
cess is very simple. The farmer saw
contract for fifty rods, but when he came
to sign, that order was slipped up, and he
really put his name to another one for one
hundred and fifty rods, that lay just un-
lerneath. He is frightened into giving
lis note for, say 5000, which he expects to
'esist, but he always finds that it has been
discounted at the nearest bank, and he
Jays it. When will farmers learn that all
hese gifts and everything of the kind are
merely swindles, and that there is always
cat under the meal.
POLITICAL.
The Democracy of the city opposed to
,smmany are attempting to combine their
orces, so as to make a successful fight
gainst the hydra-headed monster. The
Ft6use says, ''they procrastinate," and of
purse they procrastinate. as anti-Tam :
lsny did and always will, for there is
othing honest in the movement The
Democracy are just like the
her Tammany Democracy, only they hap
an to be the ones left out in the cold.
hey organize, not to beat Tammany, but :
compel division Of the Spots. If they
e weak, Tammany laughs at them;-if