The Portland daily press., 1886-01-18
CURRENT COMMENT.
A pennsylvania OBITUARY
.,.Io1,,l,ia pracc

A PENNSYLVANIA OBITUARY.
Philadelphia Press.
Harvey Schaske, of Elmira. fooled with a
gun. He didn't know 1t was loaded. he
never will.
AHAPPY IDEA.
North American.
Perhaps it would be well if all silver men
were like interchangeable of expressing
| their ideas in language that the people can
| comprehend.
MAINE TOWNS CLAIM.IT THEMSELVES.
Boston Record.
Each New Hampshire town points to its
neighbor as the place where the mercury
was lowest during the cold snap.
GRIN AND BEAR IT.
N. Y. Sun.
In our Judgment the best way to deal with
Mr.. Cleveland's administration in the inter-
est of the Democracy, is not to fight it, but to
make the best of it.
AN INCONSISTENT COURSE.
Norwich Bulletin
The reluctance of the President to inform
the Senate of his grounds for dismissing pub
lie officials is incompatible with his profes..
sionS of frankness or with a conviction OF
| the righteousness of his course in regard to
making appointments.
YANKEE FISHERMEN WANT PROTECTION
AND NO COMMISSION.
Ny. Tribune.
Those Yankee sailors consider diplomacy
lottery in which the Canadians invariably
draw the prizes. They do not desire the in
| PREVENTION of new joint commission. They
are willing to take their chances under the
Treaty of 1918 and the customs schedules,
and only ask to have one or two United
States vessels of war sent to the Banks dur
ing the fishing season to protect the rights of
the American feet. All they now ask is pro-
lection in their calling, protection in home
markets and protection against foreign dip
lomacy.
THE MEETING OF CONGRESS.
Philadelphia Press.
Senator Hoar's bill providing that Con-
gress shall meet On the first Monday in Octo-
Der in the odd years and on the second Mon
day in November in the even years is re-
ceived with some favor in Washington. The
reason for Congress not meeting in October
| every year is that in the odd years members
| Of the House have their elections to look af-
| ter, which cannot be attended to with advan-
| tage simultaneously with the discharge of
| legislative duties. The change proposed
| win give three months more of active life to
| Congress, and when that much additional
| time is not needed it will allow the long ses-
| sion to be adjourned before the hot summer
weather makes living in Washington intol-
cradle. A better change would be to have
| Congress meet in January Immediately af-
| ter its election. This would make two long
sessions possible in the life of each Congress
and do away with the lmpolltlc and an0ma-
| lous practice which now obtains of allowing
a House of Representatives to legislate after
| the people have elected new one
DEPRESSION OF PRICES IN GREAT BRITAIN
The Economist
A comparison of the prices of commodi-
| ties now and at the beginning of the year
shows that in most instances a lower level
has been reached. Of thirty-ive leading ar
| ticles, twenty-four are cheaper than they
were twelve months ago, and only eight have
advanced in price. In the articles classed
under the head minerals, the fall as COM
pared with the close of 1884, is almost I'M
broken, the only exception being steel rails,
which the combination of makers have kept
at the same price, and Lead which is IL S. ed.
per ton higher. Among the raw materials for
our textile manufactures silk and flax have
reached highest prices, but cotton has fallen
to phenomenally low point, and wool,
hemp, and jute are cheaper. Most food pro-
ducts also stand at lower quotations, the ex-
ceptions being American wheat, potatoes and
rice. And like downward movement is ex-
hibited by miscellaneous articles, where SUI
gar is the only article in which any improve
ment is recorded. Thus to manufacturers
and wholesale traders 1885 has proved anoth-
er year of hope deferred. 1t has brought
them no relief from the previous lOng-con-
tinued and persistent fall in prices, but, on
the contrary, has accumulated the decline,
and trenched still further upon the previous
ly narrow margin of manufacturing profits.