The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-01-17
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.

ton generally very bad, while behind crcuches a
monkey Democrat) with bis tail cut of and his
face expressive Of intense disgust. Below i this
question, " What sort Of a time have you had zr 1t
is an allusion 70 d rather coarse story about a
gentleman who entered one morning the room
where his parrot was kept. and found bin stripped
Of his wing and tail feathers. e~xcltedly swinging
backwards and forwards on his perch, screeching
at the top Of his voice. " a h-l Of a timel a hi
Of a time :" while the monkey who had assaulted
him was crOuching in the corner Of the room. This
incident il animal pOlemics is used by that most
respectable journal to illustrate the political situa-
ton Every party man feels that while his own
party has not gained much, the other party are
having as bad a time OF it az the parrot. The Re
publicans have won the battle, to be sure. but il
was gained against a divided force. Ii is not com
Portable for them to dwell on the fact that the
united Democratic vote was in a majority OF
$4,000. President Hayes turned Cornell, the Gov
ernOr-elect, out Of the Custom House. on the
ground that be could not be trusted to press civil
service reform. Senator Conkling, who backs
Cornell, got mad and ran the machine regardless
OF Hayes. The independent Republicans refused
to vote for Cornell, and the ticket was badly
scratched. The Tilden party Is demoralized, and
Tammany is knocked into a ." cooked hat" The
really curious feature Of the affair is that Mr..
EVarts, Secretary OF State, who was chiefly insiTu-
mental 10 removing Cornell. on the ground of his
incompetence as Collector Of the port. came to this
city and urged the voters to elect the Republican
n IL NiAu ! say very muCu ABOUT OOruell
personally, but urged party unity. People who
cultivate the dangerous and most unreasonable
habit Of thinking for themselves ask why Evarts
made that speech in favor Of the man he turned out
Of Office And they answer it by saying that no
Republican can be elected President if New York
State fails 10 go Republican next year that
EvaTts, who would not feel grossly insultpd if he
received the nomination next year. concluded that
IL would be : best" to work for the ticket, even
though Cornell was at the head of it. This incl
dent shows that the Administration has no distress
sing affection for civil service reform, and are dis
posed to think like the Admiral in the " PinafOre,'
that such reform, like equality Of rank. is good for
everybody but themselves. II they can't afford to
be wholly good, they will be a little good, like the
old daTkey who was stealing a pair of boots, but
under a sudden conviction of sin let the boots go
and stole a pair of shoes.
Congressman are ~infesting Washington just now,
but they are a quiet lot. The coming game will
be a close one. and a false move may be fatal.
The crop Of Southern Outrages' is small this
year and besides, Northern men are at last get
ting some sense on the relations of the blacks and
the whites at the South. The datkey does not meet
fond expectations. He Is not the sublime. whole
sOuled. gentle, unselGsh creature the old Abolition
ist took him to be. Several years ago 1 predicted,
and so did some others who studied the case, that
II the North would let the South alone, the &" Solid
South" would soon melt into thin air. / know that
/ was called a renegade Republican for saying so.
Just now these predictions are coming true. The
issue in Virginia during the late Fall election was
the payment or nOn-payment of the State debt.
The Conservatives. or Democrats. who have been
in the majority in the State since the war. have
generally favored the payment vi the debt. But
as they could not all hold Office, some Of them be-
came discOntented and got up a party of %repudia-
tion-nOt really TO repudiaie the debt but in order
TO get into Office. Debtpayers and nUn-drbt-payers
are generally Confederate soldiers. and nearly all
were SecessIOnists. The regulators were led by
General Malone, an old Confederate officer. The
negroes voted against paying the debt-the young
men because they were in slavery when it was
contracted, and the old men because they were
told ID { they would be sold into slavery TO pay
the debt The result of the election is that in the
Legislature the whites are quite evenly divided
and the few Republicans hold the balance of
power. The nOn-debt-payeTs have therefore bought
out the Republicans and IN Richmond this trans
action occurred last week. that in a Southern
Legislature, in which the old rebel element is in a
vast majority. the . Solid South p so melted away
in the political dickering and trading that a one
armed Confederate soldier 1dS turned out Of his sit
ttqtiOn as dOOrkeeper Of The LOtceT House. and q
negro Republican tcGS PIT IL his place. Tell this
not 10 Gath! Do we need an army at the South to
protect the negro Do We need d" stalwart' Re
publicans 70 protect the negro in Congress. when
he Is being protected by a power greater than that
Of sword or &" sialwart"-by the irresistible logic
OF events
Al item regarding gas companies Will interest
you. For a long time ttr city was divided up into
large districts. and each district was lighted by one
gas company, which made IT, own terms. Several
years ago. new gas companies were formed under
charter from the Legislature, tmOney being freely
paid theTefOrl with right to put down pipes and
1rAA hA5 ~ any HAAh VI ~ Nltg- AhNSt W" Nbh-
Germs at once came in competition with the old
companies. and a war of rates commenced. Coal
only was used in making the gas. Now. some 30
years ago, Tessier du MO!ay made a water gas by
decOmpOsing steam at a high heat. Coal was also
used. The carbon OF the coal united with the
oxygen from the steam and nitrogen Wa obtained
from napbtha. The gas was good and cheap
enough. but the high heat melted pipes, joints and
valves So the process was abandoned. LACEY a
Brooklyn man tried soapstone in the places where
the heat was intense and made "A success OF II. One
Of the companies bought the right to use it. and is
now making this water gas, aud selling II at q
price which is simply ruinous to all the other com
panies. The result i u grand row. The prices Of
gas stock have declined. dividends are passed and
investors are uneasy. As there l. some ten million
OF dollars invested in this city in gas stocks. it be-
comes a serious business. The int-res, in lighting
by electricity still continues. and much money IsN
spent in experiment. II was told yesterday. by
high authority, that Edison bad at last succeeded
in producing a practicable apparatus. and that
within a few weeks the town OF MenlO Park would
b. entirely lighted by electricity by the power OF
one steam engine. and at one fourth the present
cost Of gas. / don't think electricians have much
faith in Edison. but be has money to spend in ex-
periments. and may make a great - hit. as he is a
very ingenious mechanic. My high authority has
invested largely IN him, and states positively That
the thing is done. SO Honolulu may soon be
lighted with the white light. l believe that there
are about twenty companies now working at the
problem Of lighting, but they don't make much
Roadway. On the kindred subject Of telegraphy
there is an interesting item. Over twenty years
ago, a man named Eastman invented the process
Of insulating wire and cables by means of gutta
percha- He finally obtained a patent in 1865, and
died shortly after. His widow offered it to the
Western Union Company for a small sum. but she
was badly snubbed by them. The matter died out.
Recently, however. a speculatOr bought ont the
widows right for a trihe. then brought suit against
the Western Union Company for the infringement
of the patent. and obtained a decree in his favor.
The result is. the company cannot use its insulated
wire any longer, and, it is said, will be compelled
to pay over a million Of dollars damages for the
infringement. The Speculation made a good point.
W. y. A.
The intelligence of the British juror has sell