The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-11-21
OUR WAsFTNGToN LRTTER.

action oi the publishers and lob print
: ing hrms in the city, who have entered
> INTO combination among themselves
= not to pay 80 cents per thousand here
after for composition, and have pub-
= lished a vigorous protest against the
} Government Printing Office I-niop
> debating terms for private establish
ments. As a consequence, the Union
has denounced the combination as
"rats," and threaten to visit eternal
punishment upon any merchant who
will sell to either Of the revolving firms,
and the same upon any printer who
will work for them. The Government
Printing Office Union has heretofore de-
termined the scale of prices for compO-
sitiou throughout the city, and fixed
the rates at so cents, the price paid by
the government; but as Baltimore COM
positors get only 40 cents, the rule of
the Union has resulted in driving our
job work over to Baltimore, hence the
rebellion by our jobbers. The Daily
Post has also refused to be dictated to,
and now hires "rats" at 40 cents. Some
Of our Sunday papers pay as low as
| 20 cents per thousand during the week,
and 4j cents on Saturday. There is ev-
cry Indication that this rebellion will
be successful, for the jobbers can Sc
cure all needed skilled help from Balti-
more.
The Sunday Capital is jubilant. The
q 81
cided that, inasmuch as a newspaper
publisher is a manufacturer, the appli-
cation of a creditor to have the Capital
adjudged manufacturer and thus be
brought within scope Of the bankrupt
law, must be refused. Don Piatt thus
gets years supply of white paper for
nothing. Like Mieawber, his I. O. L.
cancels the debt, and the paper maker
who sought by judicial proceedings to
! enforce payment OF certain promissory
notes given by Piatt in consideration
for the white paper on which the Capj-
tai was published for year, must be
rated as the veriest Ounce, for he well
knew the autographs upon the notes
were sufficient Quid pro quo for his
wares.
The expensive funerals INDUCED in
by our laboring classes have induced the
ministers of all denominations in the
district to unite in protesting against
= them. They urge in a series Of resolu-
tions, the wealthy to set an economical
example in the selection Of caskets, use
Of flowers and number Of hacks. This
protest against general extravaganza is
an admirable document, and should be
needed; yet those who mix with the
working people realize that the univer-
sal desire for display at the grave is so
strong shat no amount of protestation
can prevent the re-oecureuce Of past
displays.
Admiral Porter is now the subject of
a suit Of law in our District courts, i'm an
action commenced by Lieutenant Wet
more, of the navy, who sues for the re-
eovery Of monies which the Admiral
had deducted from the Lieutenant's
pay for Mrs. Wetmore's benefit. He
charges the Admiral also with criminal
intimacy with Mrs. Wetmore, both be-
fore and after Wetmore secured a di-
vorce from her in 1872; she not resisting
the decree. The gay sailor boy, the
Admiral, will now, like many other gall
laut tars, have to pay roundly for his
marked attentions to one of the
fair sex, should Wetmore establish the
fact as he claims he can by iudisputa-
= ble evidence. II is aprOpos of this
scandal in high circles to refer to the ap-
|pearauce in our Police Court within the
last day or two Of four young girls aged
b from Is to Is years who were taken from
/ the brothels Of the division" at the
request Of friends. They had gone down
5 to ruin, and defiantly refused to listen to
the entreaties for reformation. 1t is only
few weeks since three young girls
aged about Is were taken by the police
, from room which they had fitted up
as a brothel. 1t is to be hoped that this
! last arrest will be the last chapter in
this scene Of youthful depravity.
Our Police Courts are now showing
: the results Of Cohen's labor agitation ia
this. that nearly all negroes arrested for
.
4 petty larcenies were followers aud CO.
# horts of this pestiferous communist.
a There is but one recourse for the man
2 that won't work, and that is to steal;
y hence it occasions no surprise that the
h recent strikers have drifted into whole
I. sale thievery, and appear daily more or
! less Of them as candidates for prison,
= where their bed and board are had with
r out labor.
a laugnable Incident occurred yester-
day on one of our street cars. The horse
r which is used to assist each car over the
incline at the City Hall, changed his
, programme Of going to the front, by
= walking bodily into the car, to the in
tense horror and fright of the lady pas
sengers, and the merriment Of the out
= siders. FELIX.
e Washington, d. c., October Is, 1873.
Z ----=
A clergyman who was recently called
up to hold services in the State prison at
Sing Sing, prefaeed his remarks TO tD9
a prisoners by saying that he was si"u
= to see so large a number present.