davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
THE FOOTING OF THE BILL.

The Reform Committee of Allegheny
citizens has not only an excellent purpose,
but promises to find its hands full in deal
ing with the irregularities of elected Off
cials. The one feature of this and other
reform movements in cities for the correc-
ton of abuses, which shows the superficial
light in which such questions are viewed,
is that the work is almost always left to
professional or business men. Yet it is
not upon these Sc much as upon the wage
workers that the burden of taxes falls.
The property-owner adds his taxes to his
rents; the grocer to the cost of his gro
ceries; the merchant to his wares, and the
doctor and the lawyer to their fees Thus
indirectly, but not the less surely, the men
who work for wages have to pay the bulk
of the bill in the end.
When they get to understand this, as
they must eventually, they will be found
cooperating with the business and profess
sional people in securing efficient and eco
nomic government of cities. 1t is pecu-
liarly the wage workers pocket which is
depleted by extravaganza and their own
interests which are attacked by official cor.
ruption. Though the proportion of taxes
levied on them directly is small, it can be
demonstrated that indirectly they have to
stand by far the greater part of the public
expenditures.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
TALK OF THE TOWN.

A Small Newsy Who Collided With Good
Luck and Cried-Our Fogs Not in 1t
With London's-A Queer Result Of Mr.
Graham's Lectures-Odds and Ends Of
Gossip From Curb and Corridor.
As small q newsboy as was ever seen,
dressed in the tattered clothes of an elder
brother possibly, for his coat almost touched
the ground, and his short trousers were
really long, stood at the corner of Diamond
and Smithfield streets on Thursday after
noon about $3.50. He was rubbing his little
eyes with smudgy little fist, and was try
ing to look up at passersby from under the
overhanging roof of a faded brown slouch
hat Of mans size while he held out single
copy OF an afternoon paper. A party Of
sports came out of Piatt's saloon and almost
ran over the diminutive newsy, who kept re-
peating in mournful monotone: Paper!
Paper! Evening paper"
one OF the men who perhaps learned to be
generous when ''the tiger" kept open house
in Pittsburg, and charity is regarded as an
insurance policy by gamblers, fished out
handful OF change and gave the hoy dime.
Two or three Of the sports followed suit
with pennies and nickels, and the tiny
newsy looked at the money in amazement.
His gooo fortune puzzled him and ior want
OF words to express his feelings he began to
cry, though he took the precaution of hiding
the money in q pocket of his caDacious
breeches at once. The sight OF tattered
little newsy sobbing and screwin9 his hands
into his eyes attracted the attention of more
travellers on the pavement, and one Of them,
a nicely dressed boy of ten, walking with his
mother, stopped and without a word gave
the fearful little fellow dime. This sur
prised the newsy so much that he forgot to
keep on crying, and in rather more cheerful
mood he sat down on the step of The DIS
PATCH business office and proceeded to reckon
up his riches. He had about 40 or 30 cents,
and his single paper was still unsold. When
last seen he was relating his adventures to
some veteran newsies of a tougher growth,
and their eager faces suggested painful
doubt about the eventual possession of the
half dollar.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
CORN IN EUROPE.
II Can Be Used as Substitute for Other
Kinds of Cereal Food.


Kinds of Cereal Food.
st. Louis Globe-Democrat.1
The effort which is being made by the
Federal Department of Agriculture to push
the sales of American com in europe oe-
serves the commendation of the whole peo-
pie. just at present the agent of the Depart-
ment is at work in Germany, and some sue
cess in his endeavors in that quarter Is
looked for with great confidence by tne
Government He is to continue his task, IL
is understood, for year OF two yet; ana III
doing this he is to consult with the prin-
cipal grain importers and commercial
bodies in the leading importing countries OF
Europe. There are reasons to expect gOOo
results from this missionary work. Corn mas
Qualities which cannot fail to make 1t pop
ular on the other side of the Atlantlc when
they are fairly understood.
1t is nutritious and cheap, and can pc pre-
pal ed for the table in more appetlzlng
fashion and in a greater variety OF ways
than any other cereal. When its good polnts
are thoroughly learned and appreclateo
and permanently increase. Among tne
poorer classes of continental Europe. VINO
rely on rye chiefly, corn must prove hlSniy
acceptable when once its virtues are mace
known. 1t will be a good SUBSTITUTE
for rye when that product, as at present, pe-
comes scarce and dear, aud wnen q
fair chance is offered for it to reveal
itself, it will probably to a large degree ois-
place rye among those to whom cheapneSs
in the selection of food is the prime cons1d-
GRAFTON.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
Kissing the B1arney Stone in sewickley.

Ex-Recorder Graham has been delivering
some very interesting lectures upon what he
saw during his recent trip across the water
to the children of the sunday school Of the
First Christian Church, in Allegheny. 1t
sounds odd, but it is true nevertheless, that
the life of as fine baby boy as there is in
Sewickley was all but cut short as direct
result of the graphic description of visit
to Blarney Castle, in County Cork, which
formed part of one of Mr.. Grahams recent
lectures. In the audience which enjoyed
Mr.. Crab ANS lecture and admired the illus
trations furnished through a stereopticon.
was decidedly bright boy of some seven or
eight years, the eldest of three boys in
highly respected Sewickley family. Mr..
Graham's recital of how he climbed the
keep, all that now remains of the castle
built by Cormick McCarty, and how he
risked his neck to kiss the Blarney stone.
held by the heels by an orthodox guide for
that purpose, particularly impressed the
small Sewickleyan. a.
When he reached home in the vale Of
Sweet Waters he lost no time in repeating
as much as he could remember of Mr.. Gra-
hams lecture to his two younger brothers,
and to make the description Of the kissing
of the Blarney stone more vivid he took his
baby brother Frank and slung him by the
heels head downward over the edge Of a
sofa. This experiment was SO satisfactory
to the demonstrant that the infantile vic
tim was vergfng upon speechlessness when
his mother appeared upon the scene and
terminated the Infringement upon Mr.. Gra-
hams copyright then and there.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
A VERY COSTLY LIFE
Is the Cars Of Sufficient Value to Warrant
the Great Expenditure?

Is the Cars of Sufficient Value to Warrant
the Great Expenditure?
New York Advertiser
The fact that the Car of Russia during
his brief trip through Germany would not
even see the young Emperor William and
refused to have anything to do with him, is
q matter that may be settled between them
selves; and the only result apparent at pre-
sent is that young William feels that he has
peen severely snubbed, and is in very bad
rumor about it. And certainly it was very
unhandsome behavior on the part of the
Czar considering the extraordinary pains
young William took to protect the Gar
while passing through Germany. One would
suppose that away from home and outside
of his own dominions the Gar would be
tolerably safe.
But the precautions taken to secure that
safety were more extraordinary even than
those deemed necessary when the Gar
passes from one point to another on the
railways of Russia. No doubt the Cars
life is valuable-at least to him, and seems
to be of some consequence to young Will
liam, who had the Cars entire route
through Germany guarded by soldiers. But
business when such human efforts are es-
sential, not merely to keep royal ruler on
the throne but to keep his soul inside of
him? A life which requires constant
precautions and the employment ofan army
to protect it, must, after all, be worth very
little What costs SO much to keep is hardly
worth living.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
land BOoMs ON THE SLOPE.

The observations of our correspondent,
Mr. Breen, upo1 the character of much
of the land booming done in the West,
concur with advices from other sources.
There is, of course, a great future for the
West, but in many sections the disposition
to discount this future has been greatly
taken advantage Of The flight of time
cannot be fastened by the most glowing
prospectus. 1t requires time and business
actually in sight to make enormous per-
m&nent increase in land values anywhere
While the newspapers have been full of
reports of the great advance of real estate
prices at various points along the Pacific
Coast, it is doubtless as Mr.. Breen points
that the harvest has been for syndicates
and prospectus men rather than for the
Eastern folk who took their dollars out
there 10 exchange for mere possibilities.
The experience of Southern California in
this respect is likely to be duplicated
further North
An investigation would show that it is,
after all, in the older and substantial
cities of the country that by far the
largest improvement has taken place in
real estate values. In these older COM
munities the demand, which establishes
the market values, springs almost invari-
ably from the visible needs OF existing
husiness. This insures the quality of per-
manency, and makes tine investment feat
ure safe. The next generation may wit
ness similar evidences of assured position
and permanency iii the new cities now
Being founded on The Slope but up to the
present there is 10 doubt, as Mr. Breen
points out, that there is great deal of
the General Choke" and "Garden of
Eden a" extravaganza about the announce
Jneuts of their attractions.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
WAGES WERE RAISED.
Twelve Per Cent Added Since the McKfn
ley Bill Has Been Operating.

Twelve Per Cent Added Since the McKin-
lev Bill Has Been Operating.
New York Press.I
Repeated challenges from the free trade
press to produce instances where wages
have been raised in this country since the
Mckinley bill went into effect have been as
repeatedly met by reports from various
parts of the country of increases in small
lines of business affected by that measure.
1t was not to be expected that wages would
be increased generally until the unemployed
labor of the country had been brought into
employment. Nevertheless the instances in
which wages nave been raised continue to
be recorded.
One of the places where wages have been
increased is at Dolgeville, n. Y, which is so
near the center Of free trade literary manu-
facture for this country in this city that it
has been overlooked by the free traders.
They always see easiest things which are a
long way off and not susceptible of easy
proof or disproof The Dolgeville Rerold is
authority for the statement that "the wages
have been raised Il per cent since the pas
sage of the Mckinley bill" in that manu-
featuring village, "while the hours of work
have been reduced from ten to nine and q
half"
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
THE REAL WRONG.

Mr.. Albert Bolles, of the Pennsylvania
Bureau of Statistics, discusses at length,
as will be seen by an abstract of his report
in our Harrisburg correspondence, the
question of railway rates as affecting
Pennsylvania agriculture. His conclusion,
after a somewhat labored review of the
| question, based exclusively on the corpo-
rate representation, is that the railways
are not to blame, and that the farmers are
very much mistaken in charging the de-
crease of their prosperity to them.
In one sense Mr.. Bolles is correct In
stating that the railroads cannot help
transporting Western products at low
rates and charging proportionately far
higher prices on the products of Eastern
farms. So long as the system concen-
trates the forces of competition on Certain
portions of railroad traffic and abolishes it
on Others they must give low rates on the
competitive traffic, and will make high ones
or that where there is no compulsion on
them in the shape of lost traffic if they do
not give as low rates as competitors. New
ertheleSs, it is the fact that the rates for
which Western products are brought to the
seaboard represent what the railroads can
do and find profit in it under the influ-
ence of competition and the rates which
Pennsylvania farmers have to bear show
what is the condition of things WITHOUT
competition.
The Indictment against the railway pol
icy goes deeper than Mr.. Bolles supposes,
in that it is so welded to the system of
exclusive privileges and monopoly of local
traffic that all attempts to equalize the
action of competition are met with mis-
representation and hostility. Mr.. Bolles'
profound statement that the interstate
Commerce law has not succeeded in rails
ing Western rates reveals such depth of
ignorance concerning the purposes of that
enactment that it would be remarkable if
like errors were not common with public
lists who make practice of accepting the
corporate misrepresentation of that act
as authoritative premises. But we need
not GO outside of State legislation to find
an example of railway determination
that competition shall not reach the inter-
mediate traffic. The people of Pennsyl-
vania have an especially strong ground of
complaint against railway policy in that
its frankly brutal declaration thatno COM
peting lines shall be built through Penn
sylvania has reached the degree of over
riding and nullifying both the Constitution
of the State and the decree of the Courts.
With these circumstances Mr.. Bales
discussion of the idea of rates based on the
value Of the products is beside the mark.
Let the same force which determines the
value of grain, the price of iron, or the
cost of making coat, namely, the general
consensus of what people are willing to
do the work for under the free action Of
supply and demand, determine all railway
charges. In other words, establish free
competition in every department of rail-
way traffic and the question of rates will
settle itself as completely on the railways
as it does in river, lake and ocean naviga-
ton.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07

The Philadelphia Bulletin remarks in
conn ection with the Presidents declination
to attend the Augusta Exposition, that "the
President cannot take such a trip as ordi-
nary travellers can, comfortably seated in
the cars, with nothing to disturb him. He
must make a speech at every stopping
place, and must have something new to say
In every one" On what compulsion must
he? If we are not mistaken, Presidents have
found themselvs able to take journeys by
rail without enliven;ng the public with
speeches from the rear platform. There is
nothing wrong in President Harrison's con-
tinuing to make those happy, little remarks
of his; but there is neither any constitu-
tional nor political reason why he should do
so any longer than he thinks he can get q
political usufruct out of them.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
TOURISTS ExPENsEa
They Make the Balance of Trade Show
Against tho United States.

They Make the Balance of Trade Show
Against tho United States.
Chicago Tribune.l
According to statement we are $50, 00o, ,00o
ahead on the business Of the last nino
months, our exports having exceeded the
imports by that amount. If the case were
truly stated by these figures our indebted
ness abroad was lessened by that difference,
noted as the "balance Of trade" But, as
previously shown in the Tribune, the re-
ported cost of the goods imported is that
given at the foreign ports of shipment,
which is less than the cost to us by the un-
LIBERALIZATION Of goods, taxed ad valorem,
and the charges paid for insurance and
transportation to our shores. If we alleged
for these three items, which are omitted
from the Treasury reports, an addition Of
only Is per cent to the tabulated $637, LA, $50
of goods imported the balance will be $H,-
100000 the other way, indicating that we
have had to send to Europe securities to
that amount to balance the business of the
nine months.
But in addition thereto there is nearly
$lOo,OOO,0 900 which has been spent by Ameri-
can tourists in Europe this year. We are so
have exported far more wheat and cotton,
and also parted with twice as much gold.
1t will be observed that the value ofimports
was nearly the same for each of the two
terms. The exports for this year include
$5, ,757,6S9 of domestic GOLD, 81, 1876, ,sE of
foreign do, 1921. 100 of domestic silver, and
s., 743 276 of foreign do. Imports for the same
time include $l3. 595 of gold and $11 490, $50
of silver. The October exports of produce
have been so large that they will much in
crease the above stated nominal balance of
trade and cut down the actual disadvantage
of the term ending with September. But the
years balance will still be considerably
against us and will be squared as usually by
sending stocks and bonds to Europe to draw
interest against US, and which sooner or
later must be paid.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
THE CoMPTRoLLER'S REGULAR PLEA,

A striking illustration of the pass to
which Government supervision of the
national banking system has come is
furnished by the fact that the Comptroller
of the Currency is again compelled to
seek a scapegoat in the person of the
National Bank Examiner.
In the matter of the Maverick National
Bank the Comptroller is quoted by Re-
publican organ as denying that he had
been informed by the Examiner at Boston
of the insolvent condition of the institu-
ton. This stock resort is not so much of
a boomerang as the similar plea in the
case of the Keystone Bank at Philadel-
phia, where the Comptroller's Indictment
of the Examiner had to be accompanied
by practical admission that he continued
the official in a position of trust after he
knew of alleged conduct on his part that
required his prompt suspension. The
death of the Examiner at Boston permits
the general assertion on the part of the
Comptroller that he was not informed of
the condition, and the case, therefore,
presents another illustration of the re-
markable alleged tendency of Examiners
not to let the Comptroller know when
they find bank to be insolvent.
Yet even this plea does not a whit miti-
gate the responsibility of the Administra-
ton. The appointing power is responsible
for its appointments. If the principle of
selection has been such as to produce
bank examiners who wantonly neglect
their most urgent duties, or Comptroller
who has not vigor enough to make his
subordinates report to him when they dis
cover million-dollar shortages, the respon-
sibility for vitiating and relaxing the safe
guards of national banking is no less
heavy burden for the Administration to
bear
On the Comptroller's own statement
there is the most urgent necessity for the
selection Of bank examiners who are of
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
sible for the fact that people paid their

sible for tie fact that people paid their
license fees to someone else. There might
be responsibility on the Mayor; but sup
posing the fees to have been turned over
properly, if the Mayor has nothing worse
to answer for, he will get out all right
OF course, the licenses issued under these
circumstances are technically illegal; but
as the money was indisputably paid it is
not likely that any attempt will be made
to compel new payment from source of
revenue resembling last years birds
nests.
At the present rate Allegheny will soon
discover by the study Of her municipal
departments what ought not to be done to
have good city government. Let us
hope that the lesson will be profitably en-
ployed with the result of putting the ad-
ministration on a business-like, honest
and unimpeachable basis.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
P1TTsBURG, SATURDAY, NOV :. 1881.
TWELVE PAGES
AN EARLY DECISION WANTED.

Tie announcement that test case of
the new street laws can be passed upon in
time to have a decision by the Supreme
Court in January is a satisfactory one. 1t
is 10 he hoped that it will be done. That
course will clear away all doubts as to the
constitutionality of the act, and if the law
is sustained permit work to be planned
for the ensuing season. Ii the act is over
ruled the city will have the more reason
for shaping its course accordingly.
If q decision on the street act can be
Rad then a decision on the curative act
should be possible at the same time. The
city officials will surely not be guilty of
the .fG1lr pas of getting decision on one
and leaving the much more urgent ques-
ton Of the other still in doubt
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
THAT ARGENTINE DEBT.
It Is So Large That It May Have to Be
Repudiated.

Repudiated.
Cleveland Leader.1
The public Indebtedness of the Argentine
Republic and of the various provinces con-
stituting that country is equal to about 500
for every man, woman and child living
within its boundaries. At the close of
the Civil War the debts of the United
States and Of the States did not
amount to more than $50 per capita. In
other words, the public indebtedness of the
American people when their burden was
greatest did not amount to half so much, in
proportion to their number, as the load of
debt under which the Argentines are stag
gering.
1t need scarcely be said that the ability of
the people Of this country to pay their OBJ
legations was vastly greater, man for man,
than that of the inhabitants of the Argen-
tine Republic, many of whom are only
semi-civilized. In the light of such
figures it is easy to see that repudia-
tion on a largo scale is almost
inevitable, despite tho natural wealth and
wonderful reeources o. the La Plata Valley,
and it is clear that rublic bankruptcy and
individual ruin, in many cases, must for a
long time to come blight the prosperity of a
region which, but for the folly of wholesale
imitation, would have enjoyed very bright
prospects and almost universal comfort.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
BRITISH FORGETFuLNEss
An Occurrence in Guatemala Called to Eng
lands Memory.

An Occurrence in Guatemala Called to Eng
lands Memory.
San Francisco Chronicle
When the British press undertakes to show
that the Americans engage in bluster when
dealing with weaker nations, and by impli-
cation that England does not, it calmly
ignores the fact that Great Britain has al
ways acted the bully in dealing with small
countries. The San Diego linton recalls the
following instance to illustrate the truth of
this assertion In 1882 the British Vice
Consul at San Jose, Guatemala, Mr.. MCGEE,
was challenged to boat race to an incoming
Pacific Mail steamer by the boarding officer
of the port.
MI. MCGEE was successful and was on the
gangway ladder of the steamer just as the
boarding officer reached the step, but the
two went aboard together Mr.. McGee's
success SO incensed the officer that he
notified the Guatemalan authorities that
Mr., MCGEE had violated the customs law by
preceding him aboard the steamer. Mr..
MCGEE was arrested, convicted and punished
with 80 lashes on his bare back. He ex-
planned the occurrence to his home Govern
ment, and within 80 days British man-of-
war was in the port and demanded that the
Vice Consul be paid 81. 900 for each lash, and
that the boarding officer be taken out and
shot or the city would be bombarded. The
demand was complied with.