Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-02-16
.Our New York Letter.
PoLITICAL-THE CHARITY BALL-LIFE INSU
RANCE-A SERIOUS CASE.

Our New York Letter.
PoLITICAL-THE CHARITY BALL-LIFE INsU
RANCE-A SERIOUS CASE.
| New YORK, Teb. ID, 1877.
To the Editor of the Free Press and Times
The passage of the compromise electoral
bill, has soothed the timid souls of the bust
ness men who had been bull-dozed by Tilden
and his gang. by fear of war. The straight
| Republicans don't believe in it, and never
| dill, for they knew it was trick of the Dem
oc itic spoilsmen, and was contrived to make
| the great demagogue President. 1t was art
fully contrived, and carried out with diaboli-
| cal skill. Tilden had his local coppernead
press breathe war and gore till he got the
business interest shaking in its shoes and
| then he appeared with this proposition to ar
| bitrate for place he never had the shadow
of claim to. 1t was eagerly accepted and
| the little game was about to win, when, pres
| to, one of those sudden changes which even
| 1ilden could not forsee, took place, and his
| kettle of fish is upset. Tilden expected to
have majority of the Supreme Court with
him, but the election of Davis to the Illinois
Senate made that impossible, and Bradley, a
good Republican and an honest man, takes
the place, giving the Republicans the majori-
ty of the Commission. Now the Democracy
are not so much in favor of :. as they were.
When it was supposed that Davis, a bitter
partisan, was to be the fifth Judge, thus CIV
ing the Iildenites q majority in the Commits
sion, it was all pleasant. But now that the
I ID
it is quite another thing, and the Sun and
other rabid Democratic sheets are as extrava-
giant in their denunciation of it as they were
in its praise week ago. Tilden is as mad as
| q March hare about Davis.
The position of Senator Conkling, of this
State is unfavorably commented on 1t is
not denied that he felt very much aggrieved
at the nomination of Hayes. He retired from
public gaze after the convention, and did
not emerge from his retirement till after the
| struggle was over He supported the COM
promise in way that was singular, to say
the least, Tor Republican, and his enemies
in the city assert that he is preparing for q
! change of base. 1t is not supposed that he
will go over to the Democracy, but it is ex-
pected that he, Davis, and dozen other Sena-
tors who have had half-and-haf affilmtion
with the Republican party, will organize an
independent clique, and be the Spanish flies
of the body. Conkling is sore-headed, and
| is in the precise frame of mind to make a
fool of himself, as greater men than he has
done. 1t is a pity that q man with the talents
he possesses could not be better balanced.
He has too good an opinion of himself
THK CHARITY BALL.
The charity ball, in aid of the Founding
Asylum Is rppnlorly ha of fha
and while it nets very considerable amount
of money for very deserving object, the
manner Of it is enough to turn a Christian s
stomach. 1t is as snobbish as anything can
well be. To begin with, it is made exclu-
sive, and all the snobs and all the would-be
fashionables have to have their names in all
the papers. The list of Lady Patronesses
| has to appear in long columns, and the cost
of advertising them runs up into the thou
sands.
Fully one half of what ought to be the
profit of the ball goes to feed the vanity OF
those who attend it that is they contribute
fifty cents to their own vanity. and fifty cents
to the poor. Perhaps it is well enough to get
| fifty cents on the dollar out of them. But
the ball itself is gorgeous affair When
| people dance for charity they 60 prepared to
do it. No woman of fashion appeared with
less than $4,000 of diamonds on her person,
and the cost of some of the toilets ran uI
into long way into the thousands. The
| ball cost the people who attended it probably
| $3.50, and the net result to the charity
was something like $4,000. $3.50, 600 fol
the world, and $1,000 for the poor
THE LIFE INSURANCE PROBLEM
The failure of three or four Life Insurance
| Companies, which will be followed in rapid
succession by thee or four more, makes
| decided ripple III financial circles. These
events are of more importance than appears
upon the surface. The companies gather
money from all parts of the country, and
hold 1t here in New York for investment II
| is loaned on real estate, and is presumed tc
be invested SO safely that nothing can affect
it. The Life Insurance Companies with iheil
millions upon millions withdrawn from the
circulation of the country, represent an i'm.
portant factor in the financial interests of the
country, and anything that disturbs them
| dlsturbs the whole country. They are the
| depositors of the peoples money, to n great
er extent than are the savings banks, and
their relation to the people is one of conf
dence purely. For the man in the country
knows very little ofthe people in Whose hands
he entrusts his earnings, and he has to take
| it on faith. Now when one ui these com.
panies breaks, and it is slo~ II that for years
there has been systematic stealing: that the
statements have been cooked TINT assets
that never existed have been put III that
| liabilities that did exist have been lett out,
and that the whole fraud has been sworn to,
and that the officers created by the state are
| not shrewd enough to detect the swindle ii
| is calculated to uproot things in rather un-
comfortable manner. The Continental was
mass of corruption all through. and the
Security-Heaven save the mark was still
worse. The good companies feel it sorely.
There are perfectly sound companies, and,
lie insurance Is necessity. There is nc
more reason for denouncing life insurance
because of three scoundrelly companies than
there Is for denouneing Christianity because
an occasional clergyman makes slip.
CASE OF SERIOUS TROUBLE.
curious case eliminated last week A
young swell belonging to one Of the rich
families was engaged to be married to a
young lady who possesses more beauty and
brains than money. The young fellow is a
fool, as is the case with the most of the
young fellows who have money in the city,
but the girl accepted him, because he was
| reputed to have ar income of S35 900 per
annum. The wedding was to have taken
place last week. but it was unaccountably
postponed. Finally the cause transpired-
the young mans income came entirely from
real estate, mostly on Broadway. and the
young lady had very prudently been making
inquiries One store which had rented for
Sl2OO0 was empty, and there was no pros
pect of its being occupied for some time
another was occupied at a reduction OF seven
ty-iive per cent, and to sum it all up, the in
come of S35 900 had shrunk to less than
$40, 200. She promptly declined to enter
INTO the marriage state on any such money,
and notified the groom i'll expectation, that
the nnptials would be postponed till the odd
S25, 600 could be made up. The young man
was IN despair. There was no use of trying
TO do anything with real estate, for that is u
drug, and SO, between desperation and bran
dy, he raised money by mortgage. ..and went
into Wall street. Need detail the result ?
He came out of that place plucked clean as II
pigeon, and from IN income of $4,000 he
was young man about town with no income
whatever to SPEAK Of He threw himself
upon her mercy. She declined to see him,
and forthwith engaged herself to another
iool whose father was smart enough to put
his money INTO gas stocks. which never can
depreciate, having city to swndle And
the discarded lover is wandering about the
city accepting invitations to drink from those
who knew him i'll his better days. Moral
Tor the benefit of your sons invest in gas
stocks. Yours, ALTON.
AN IMPORTANT DECISION A hearing was
had before Powers, Chancellor. at the
Pavilion hotel, in Montpelier, on Jan. 26th
and eth. in the great mining case of Bick-
nell and Pollard, Of New York, vs. The
Vermont Copper Mining Company and
others. The orators had procured writs of
sequestration. authorizing soquestration of
the company's property TO the amount Of
SI50, 900. and by virtue thereof had caused
the ore on the roast beds of tte company to
he duly sequestrated by deputy sheriff.
The company continued to use ore from the
roast beds, notwithstanding the sequestra-
ton, and the orators moved that the com
pany's officers be dealt with and punished for
contempt of court. j. W. Rowell and Gov.
Peck, on behalf OF the orators, contended
that the sheriff. in serving the writS of Sc
questration, was an officer of tho Court of
Chancery, and that il was contempt of