New-York tribune., 1884-02-28

that nor was typographical error ior non. put IN
view of the perfectly fcrocous things that have
lately been said about John Kelly, it may occur to
The Times that that printer knew more than the
Editor or was willing to tell moro OF what ne
| knew.
The indifference Of Congress to the danger which
the currency placed in by the continued coinage
Of silver is an impeachment either Of the compe-
tenoy or the public spirit of that body. Every bus
mess In the country sees that If action is not
speedily taken we shall be thrown helplessly upon
| the single silver standard. Yet with premium on
gold already threatened, and Treasury policy in
prospect which must preciptate the disaster, the
| peoples agents at Washington exhibit as much
apathy and carelessness as though all this mischief
was happening in some distant quarter of the globe
and had nothing to do with them. But If this
apathy lasts much longer popular feeling will take
to political expression and then somebody will get
hurt, and they will know what hurt them
Controller Chaplin evidently does not purpose to
iniure his future in the Democratic party by any
present devotion to Civil Service reform that can be
seen with the naked eye If anybody calls him
second George III. PendletOn t will not be his fault
not if he knows it. The clerks that go out OF his
office Republicans, the clerks that take their
places are Democrats. Perhaps Mr.. Chaplin can
succeed in serving two masters-serving the reform
element in his party in theory and serving the other
element IL practice. And perhaps not
The Great Eastern has been purchased by the
British Government for use as coal hulk at
Gibraltar. "How have the mighty fallen" may
may well be said of this unluoky vessel. Born out
of due time she has fulfilled the hopes of her
projectors Her only useful period was when she
employed in laying submarine cables. AS a
freight and passenger steamer she dismal
failure. She was too big for any port in
Great Britain but Milford Haven Her career
has been puDctuated by disasters. She has
been tried in a dozen capacities, and has failed in
all and now she is degraded to the humiliating
function of coal hulk. Nor is there yet prob
ability that the demands of commerce trans
portation will ever Justify the building of vessels
of her size. For not only is the difficulty of finding
work for such monsters almost insuperable, but
they are objected to on the practical ground that
it is always unsafe to put too many eggs in one
basket
Mr. david Dudley Field should not allow
his alteration of the work of his own hands to get
the better of his judgment The TRIBUNE
was not influenced in the least by hostility to
Mr.. Field or his Code in making its canvass. 1t
simply desired so far as practicable, to get at the
sentiment of the bench and the bar concerning
that Code, and if every reply which it received to
its queries had been filled with enthusiasm for Mr.
Field and all his works, it would not have hestated
to print the facts fully and freely. Itnever blinks
the truth SHES fIOm it, Its circulars were sent
to all the lawyers of New-YOrk and Brooklyn
whose names and addresses appeared in the Legal
Directory, and to many Others In various parts of
the State Any suggestion that an attempt was
made to pick out men opposed to the Field Code is
ridiculous.
The BufalO Courier. writing of the electoral COM
missiOn-a subject to which it never loses oppor
tunity to return-declares that the result arrived
at was due to the weakness and wckedness of the
men who constituted majority of the Electoral
Commission" 1t follows, of course that the failure
of the minority to agree with the majority due
to the minOrity's strength and goodness. The
majority was Republican, the minority was Dem
ocratic 1t may be proper to add that The Courier
is Democratic. Will our contemporary permit a
question What is your custom in Buffalo when
two persons agree to leave dispute to thirdf Is
it customary for the one who is decided against to
devote the rest, residue and remainder of his
mundane existence to abusing the referee1
1t was interesting to observe how the opponents
of the Roosevelt bill in the Assembly prOfessed to
be concerned only for the dear People and how
dreadfully afraid they were lest the Mayor should
become Caesar or Gar The People themselves
must have felt somewhat bewildered TO hear that
the Aldermen had no motives in desiring to retain
the control of the appointments but a pure regard
for the public interests for certainly this cOnclu
sion could never have been reached by a cOntem-
plation of the appointments which the Aldermen
have insisted upon. The truth, however, would
not have been much of a support to the opponents
of the BILL and they were driven to assume vir
tue which nobody has ever made the mistake of
crediting them with