St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-11-07
Our New York Letter.

To the Editor of the Cdledonidn:
The great sale of eighty-six blood
horses from Mr.. Robert BOnner's stable
came off, as advertised, last Wednesday
representative horsemen from every
section of the country. The total real
lied, under $4,000, was certainly far
below the general expectation, though
probably those best informed might
know the stock was not the choicest of
the wonderful collection. The highest
price for any one horse was "a 900, paid
by Mr.. Charles A. Dana, editor of the
N. Y. Sun, an old and obliged friend of
Mr.. Bonner, for Jim Keene, a horse
which they say cost 800, 800. But one
OF two others fetched more than 81 900,
and then they dwindled very rapidly
low down in three figures. Gen. With
ers of Kentucky secured the largest
number and took young horses invari
bly,, evidently with an eye to the fu
ture.
1t is strange what devoted admira-
ton Mr.. Bonner has for fast horses and
what extraordinary sums he has paid
for them, often with what most people
would say, without the slightest infu-
sion of business prudence or sagacity.
For instance, | am told that he actually
paid for colt, somewhere up the Hud-
son, before it was born, to the very
handsome tune of $4,000. Whether it
pays, however, to buy or own such
marvels as Derter or Uneas, or the fif-
teen or twenty other perfect beauties
still retained in his stables, Mr.. Bonner
makes his business pay, as everybody
knows, and is just as liberal in his con-
duct of it as in the purchase of horses.
With his writers he is firm and con-
slant friend. He chooses them by their
notoriety, letting other people test and
| try them. When some lucky day a
bright reporter strikes a Big Bonanza
in the shape of a piece of news, which
he renders in Il way to capture popular
admiration, or some fOrlorn damsel
makes everybody weep with pathetic
poem, Mr.. Bonner at once seeks to open
communications with them, and their
future is thenceforth assured. Their
subsequent work may not be as good as
their first, but if not up to the mark of
the Ledger, it is quietly pigeon-hOled
and the authors get their checks all the
same, and when they grow old, or stu
pid, or otherwise untitled for the battle
of life, they still experience the boun-
ties of the kindly publisher. Just as he
pensions off his old horses who have
done good service or pleased his eye,
so he pensions off his poets. Happy
indeed is horse or poet who feeds at Mr.
Bonner's crib.
1t has again and again been asserted
that savings Oank has no legal right
to fail. 1t is supposed to be an estab-
lishment for the custody of the care
fully collected surplus of the hard earn
ings of poor people, to be invested in
Government securities or others equal
ly sound. Unfortunately, a great many
savings banks have failed, and it has
invariably been found that their Off
cials have guiltlly loaned money in
reckless fashion to business or family
connections, plausibly enough arguing
that the interest they get for such loans
is large. Perhaps it is, when they get
it, but as the Duke of Wellington re-
marked, "high interest means bad Sc
curity." The trustees of the Bond Street
Savings Bank have now been sued for
Sl3O,OOO which it is alleged, the Off
GERS of the Bank, over whom they were
supposed to exercise control and active
supervision wrongfully loaned in very
insecure securities. The public is look
ing for the upshot with interest,
Stock speculations have been vigor-
Ously carried on in Wall street, and the
brokers seem to think they are going to
make Il big thing of it. At any rate
they have resolved on charging their
premises, and after considerable negO-
tiation have secured the adjacent prop
erty to the Stock Exchange for the by
no means modest sum of S350,00O on
which they propose to erect magnifi-
cent addition to their already handsome
building.
The artillery of the National Guard
have just closed a very interesting
course of instruction by officers of the
regular army at Fort Hamilton. Squads
of officers and nOn-commisioned officers
from every battery in the state were
put through the gun drill as privates, as
well as in every other position in con-
nectiOn with their possible future func-
tiOns. Then, in the evenings they at
tended lectures on the theory of gum
merry. The progress made and the
interest exhibited have been very great,
and the experiment just concluded
has evidently laid the foundation for
systematic military instruction of the
best sort for our citizen soldiers. War
is an unhappiness that we may well
pray never to see again, but the best
way to avoid it is to be always ready.
!, 1t appears our military authorities
r seem to think New York by no means
sufficiently prepared to resist invasion
and two new forts are suggested, sc
made as to be impregnable to the beavi,
est modern ordinance, while carrying
metal enough to annihilate a fleet o.
obtrusive ironclads. If it is decided
that they must be erected, they viii
cost an immense sum of money, an(
| other military and naval men think tha
, with our tOrpedoes and other existing
contIivances, we could cool the ardor O
any unwelcome visitors. 1t is quite /;
: Journey across the Atlantic for any am
= bilious European potentate to under
0 take with force enough to hold New
! York a week, even if he could get in.
/, The gallant Seventh Regiment, o
i which New York is SO proud, has man
c. aged to raise among its own members