The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-12-03
SPIRIT Of THE PRESS.
The English Papers of This Morning

The Commercial says: Public opinion
will very strongly sustain the Board of AL
dermen in their estimate of the figure per
| thousand cubic feet that would give the
Gas Company fair compensation for their
illuminating product. We believe it would
| be good policy for the Gas Company to ac-
cept the fgure($l 25) upon which the Board
of Aldermen have fixed. That there is
plenty of profit in gas manufacture at that
figure we are fully persuaded. With gas at
81 25 the consumption would greatly in
crease The coal oil lamps. now 50 numer-
Gus, would disappear by hundreds and
thousands, and gas stoves would be used in
summer for cooking and in winter for heat
ing. Although the Pittsburg Gas COM
pany supplies the city lamps at rs
cents per Thousand cubic feet. and con-
sumers at 81, it does not regard itself as
charitable institution. Winter has set in
in real earnest in Europe. The snow
storms which have visited Scotland and
England in the past few days are unprece-
dented for this season of the year, and are
in part accounted for by the long contin-
ued rains and general low temperature
which prevailed all over the continent dur
ing the summer and fall months The ques-
ton whether we should then go on coming
two million silver dollars per month, or open
the mints to silver entirely. might be
left to the intelligence of the people, under
the circumstances existing at the close of
the year $780, Our opinion is that the sill
yer question will solveitself before that time.
In the meantime we should have cheap
postal order system, which is an essential
part of the money machinery of specie
handling people. With the trade dollars
taken in and the small notes retired. the
country would quickly absorb fifty millions
of standard silver dollars. and no harm
would be done if we should coin one hun
dred s.-Overheating is one of
our characteristics 1t enters into
public and private life. 1t ap-
pears in the church, and is superlative in
the saloon. The Ethiopian revival hath it,
and it pervades the Presidential election.
1t rises up with the gas question and sits
down with the Board of Dirty-works. We
are passing away in the reek of Russian
bath. The abundance of fuel in this land
of forests and coal mines should not be
permitted to prevail to turn the citizens of
the temperate zone into tropical plants. If
this is, indeed, free country, let US
have the freedom of fresh air. The
basement of the towering Capitol is
labyrinthine internal region. There is a
miscellany Of, furnaces and paper rooms;
coal holes and kindling wood; pipes of iron
and tin ventilators and pneumatic tubes,
gas apparatus and blow ing machines the
points of concentration being under the
halls of tie Senate and of the House of
Representatives. The solemn Senators and
likewise the Representatives sit over the
orfices of furnaces and of ventilators. The
general result is a dreadful atmosphere, hot
and heavy, in which cur great men breathe
their own exhalations and stew in their
perspiration.
The Gazette says with reference to salaries
and fees in the United States District
Courts: The maximum compensation al
lowed now to Marshals and District Attor-
neys is Sc 1000, but this is dependent upon
the fees collected. If the latter falls short,
the salary falls short, hence the efforts of
officials to run up the fee account. The
Clerk is allowed 81 900 per annum, being
So 500 for each court. There is an addi-
tional perquisite. amounting to $1,000,
legally belonging to the Clerk. The full
COMPENSATION is therefore $1,000, which is
drube the salary allowed to the Judge of the
District Court. A sufficient salary for the
Clerk would be $500 per annum, while
$4,000 would be ample compensation for
the District Attorney and Marshal, I'm
der the present system it is the interest
of the officers to make the costs as large as
possible, and to create litigation in order
that their maximum salaries may be real
lied. In addition, the District Attorney is
allowed double the fee in case Of conviction
that he is permitted to collect in case of sc-
quittal. This is virtually q bribe offered by
the Cove, nment, and such practice Is dis
graceful. 1t is also to the interest of OFF,
cials to have as many indictments as possi-
BILE, for every true bill found by Grand
Jury carries costs with 1t. This temptation
should not prevail in a United States
Court. There is also law which is not
only shameful, but infamous, that
requires person on trial for crime
to pay tive costs of his acquittal.
Thus, man may be indicted for crime and
upon trial prove his innocence, and in
such case he is required to pay the costs OF
court, if able. This is a relic of legal bar
barism that ought t. be abolished
The impression seems to prevail among
best informed members of Congress that
nothing will be done about the cancellation