Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-03-08

Representative Beiford by publishing a card ad-
dressed I" to the country" In which he vehemently
denies Rerdalls testimony In court about q certain
check for $4,000 Mr.. Dorsey evidently Ine ms
WELL but 1t is strange that IL has not occurred to
him that the most complete and crushing refuta-
ton or Rerdeps story would be the production of
the stubs OF the book from which 1t is alleged the
disputed check was taken. simple card, spread
Out over the whole country, as IL were, becomes
zoo thin to amount TO much I'm the way OF pointed
and direct evidence A sworn statement as wit
ness, or the missing checS-book, would be much
more conclusive.
The funeral procession OF distinguished ex-
confederate officer in Baltimore yesterday was
composed o. the military and semLmilitary Or
carnations OF the men who served on both sides
during the rebellion. The ex-Union soldiers We'd
WIN the eX-cOnfederates in doing honor to the
memory OF the dead officer. The war really seems
20 be over, In spite of what the politicians say and
. do.
Corporal punishment as a means of enforcing
discipline in schools has been long since aban-
dOned In the best educational Institutions 1t Is
relic OF past era that is however, still preserved
end maintained In the Pennsylvania military
academy. The principal of that Institution has
just been tried at Chester upon the charge of bru-
tally beating pupil, and the accusation was SO
fully sustained that the academy ought to lose all
It's pupils unless several changes are made In its
corps OF instructors. The accused principal adj
mitted that he whipped q thirteen-year old boy
with a twisted rawhide, and other witnesses teSti-
NED to the bruises inflicted upon the boys body by
the beating. After this punishment the boy was
condemned to solitary confinement In box of
CELL One OF the officers of the academy in his
testimony justified the conduct of the principal,
and declared that his method was to "punish
boy until his spirit Is broken" He admitted that
In order to break pupils spirit he would do any
thing necessary Qn the way of brutal treatment)
'except Okill him" That sort OF treatment would
convert the best OF boys into the meanest pupils
Indeed, the effect of the lnhuman system OF discl-
pline was illustrated by the very boy whose abuse
had led TO the trial. The several Instructors who
testified In the case admitted that during the first
year OF his attendance the boy was an excellent
pupil, standing at the head Of his classes, and
making record for department above the aver
age. Under the spirit-breaking discipline, instead
OF advancing. he declined, and became negligent
anu unruly. 1t Is TO be hoped the jury In the
VIII render verdict that will teach the principal
and bis assistants lesson according to their own
theory OF severe puIiShmentS
The western Union Telegraph company has
bought half interest In an underground system
Tor laying wires, and Its president announces
that, after fair trial, II tie results satisfac-
tory, the Western Union viii substitute the sub
terranean for the aerial wires, the former
can be made available. The letter OF the preSi-
dent containing this announcement was read at
meeting OF committee OF the Philadelphia city
council, but there was nothing In 1t to indicate
that the policy OF the company as to underground
wires waste be confined to that city. On the con-
trary, the terms OF the letter convey the idea that
the plan contemplated Is to be general and not
ocaL In all the cities OF the country the hostility
OF public sentiment to air-strung wires Is so mani
test that the telegraph and telephone companies
- hot If to,
The free-and-easy- slash-around-no- matter-what-
the-Judge- thinks style which prevails In the trI.
bunals OF justice in Colorado does not seem to be
well adapted to the Supreme Court OF this Dis
Tict, as the Representative from the centennial
State" found out yesterday. to his cost Like other
roliick1ng rangers OF the Rockies, Colonel Beford
may find himself In an uncomfortable corner, oc-
caStonally, but ''hiS heart still beats warmly for
his native land" Likewise, "the man that lays
his hand upon a woman save In the way OF kind
ness, is wretch, whom 'twere gross fattery to
name coward" What nebler sentiments than
these does anybody want7
The result Of the volunteer &c nsus Of Philadel-
phia, recently taken under the direction of Mr..
Loren Blotgett OF that city, would seem to afford
an excellent opportunity to test the question
whether the figures furnished by the governme Mt
enumeratorS were correct not. According to
manufacturing Establishments In Philadelphia Is
o.a77, with 1882 employees. while Mr.. BloIgett
makes the number OF establishments II ,4a2, with
Ss BOO persons employed therein This difference
Is SO Willie that IL cannot be overlooked: and the
hgure5 aad conclusions of the census office have
been SO Often assaulted that 1t owes IL to itself and
70 the country 10 Establish IL 1t cam the correct
ness OF us STATISTICS where an issue Is squarely
Joined as II IS in this Unless its conclusions
nave the confidence OF tie public, they will ha We
little value for purposes of comparison or estt-
mate, their reliability ought be made clearly
apparent whenever a chance TO do so presents
Itself.
The mfllionaireS OF New York city have re-
sponded so meagerly TO the appeals for a subscrp-
tion fund OF s250,0O0 with which to erect pedes-
tai for the Bertholdi statue OF Liberty that only
$4,000 has been received and the great METROPOLIS
Is put In the humiliating attitude OF asking help
0om other cities of the country,
bifl requiring that from March list, 1885. tele-
graph, telephone and electric light wires shall be
sal0 underground has received favorable cons,d
Grafton In one branch OF the New York leyislature
ana the Indications arc that it will become law
The legislatures OF other states are considering
similar action and under the pressure OF law the
corporations using wires will soon ascertain that
Che underground system is practicable
THE $ ;loo WoRD F1sD1se Cosrrs7,