The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1882-12-07

most other people were occupied in a vain
endeAvor to see Venus on the sun, this
couple were looking for blood on the moon,
and they must have found it, for it was re-
fiected in their eyes and would probably
soon have issued from their noses if friends
had not interiered. 1t seems that it was
only little quarrel, such as is liable to
occur in any well regulated family at al
most any moment. In explanation of the
cause OF the difficulty the devoted husband
said, if we understood him correctly, "you
see whenever wants SUNNI and
Lizzie she wants sunni els,
an we gels dat what Lizzie wants-as
we allus does-den she calls dat compum-
ize,' We didn't stop to inquire what Liz
zic wanted, but suppose that she was in
tatuated with one of those attractive, plain
scarlet saques- "danger-signal" saques-
which are now so much in vogue, and
Thomas Jefferson, or whatever his name
was, wanted "benjamin." They COM
promised in the usual way, but this time
Thomas refused to abide by the terms of
the compromise and "bolted'
Even the casual observer whose atten-
ton has been directed TO the subject can
not have failed to note the great improve
ment in safety of steamboat travelling in
this country that has been brought about in
the last tweuty years; but Supervising in
spector Dumonts report for the late fiscal
year makes it particularly emphatic In
the year 1851 there were 100000 pas
sengers carried in steamboats, with loss of
700 lives an average of one life lost for
every 50, 700 persons carried. In the last
fiscal year there We're 354,000,000 persons
carried and EOS lives lost--an average Of
only one to every l,727000, In other
words there were not one-fourth as many
passengers carried thirty.one years ago as
now, and yet in this one.fourth there were
three times as many lives lost. In one sin.
gle year--1S64- there were 1900 lives lost
by the destruction Of one steamboat, the
Sultana, short distance above Memphis.
The first efficient steamboat law was enac-
ted in 1851, and the marked improvement
in safely in steamboat travelling is attrbu-
ted to that measure, No small share Of the
improvement, however, ought to be credi-
ted to the fact that our steamboatmen are
more intelligent class of men, and more
thoroughly educated and disciplined in
their several vacations, than they were thir-
" or even twenty years ago. The govern
ment Itself, also, has done much to dimin.
ish the hazards Of steamooating by remov-
ing snags and other distractions from the
rivers, and establishing signal lights at
danger US places as guides to pilots.
st. Louis Republican: "Can board
Of experts Of such high professional capa.
city and wide experience as the Mississippi
river commission be convicted by the testi-
mony of Cowden, feathers and others Of
their ilk, who have been drummed up by
the Burrows and Hiscock smelling COM
mitteel The attempt is in itself a stupen-
dous farce. These same people were exam
lned at great length in Washington last
winter, and there was said then all that
has been said since this rowing commits.
sion having developed nothing by It's need
less ana expensive trip down the river, ex-
cept that the sy TEN of improvement
adopted by the commission had proved q
notable and undeniable success in the only
instance in which it has as yet been out to
a fair trial in controlling the tickle and I'M
certain waters of the Mississippi Cowden,
feathers and all the crowd, who say the
river cannot be improved according to the
plans Of the river commission, said the
same thing of tue jetties aud still say they
are failure This congressional commit
tee was convinced, sorely against its will
that the ietties are not failure, and why
should it accord any more respect to these
self-cons,ituted wsescres when they re-
new their predictions about the work of the
river commission1 The application of the
principle which worked so we'll at the
mouth to the control of the current at other
points, is what the commission propose,
and having seen that principle SO success.
fully vindicated in the one trial made OF
it, the public will not submit to any trhing
with the plan carefully matured and de,
librately accepted for the extended i'm.
proyement OF the channel from Cairo
down.
Council proceedings appear elsewhere
in this issue, and will prove interestin G
reading to those who are not callous abou,
public affairs all the year around except