smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

WHEN a paper says that there has
never been a family fight in the town OF
Clio, Iowa, it little knows of the way
women have of choking their husbands
with the left hand to drown the noise OF
their screams as the rolling pin falls,
Year: 1874

ALMOST invariably the cry of a short
cotton crop comes up in September
from various sections of the country.
Reports from Augusta, Memphis and
Galveston this year take similar gloomy
views but from Mobile and New
Orleans a considerable increase Is an
ticipated. A review OF the entire heId
at the present time would probably IN
dicate nearly, if not quite, an average
crop.
Year: 1874

Abont six months ago the Directors of the
Erie Railway Company declared dividends on
the preferred and common stock out OF the
earnings of the road for the nine months
ended June 80, 1873. Almost Immediately the
question was raised whether the road had ac-
cumulated anything to divide out of its busl-
ness during that period. Both in London and
New York charges were freely made that the
accounts had been cooked" 1t was neces-
sary to borrow money to keep the road out OF
bankruptcy, and no money could have been
borrowed had the true condition of the road
been known. Hence the necessity of conceal
ing the actual results of the operations OF the
road under the new management


The view above presented of the financial
condition of the Erie Railroad receives strong
support from the communication we publish
this morning from Col. S. III. Dunan, late
General Auditor of the Company. The state
ments published by that gentleman during the
last four weeks have elected no satisfactory
RESPONSE from the officers and directors now
in this country. President Watson is expected
homo on a steamer already due, and we hope
that he will be able to relieve himself from
the unfortunate position in which he is placed
bythe statements of Col Dunan. The latter has
held for nearly two years a very responsible po-
sition in the office of the Company. The con-
dicling statements of President Watson and
Col. Dunan as to the disposition made of the seven
and a half million dollars derived from the
sale of convertible bonds present an issue OF
fact


1t should be settled at once. We have
have had the highest confidence in President
Watson. and this we do not mean to surren-
der until we are forced to it. But we
say to him in the frankness which
tho confidence we have heretofore
reposed in him warrants, that the affairs of
the Erie Road and his connection with them
are in such position that some explanation
from him is imperative. Col. Dunan is one of
Mr.. WatsOn's own appointees, and man
whose past reputation on the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad, and before that in Ohio, gives
him a prima fdcie title to consider
alton. He makes specific statements
In regard to the sources from which the money
was drawn to pay the last dividends, and
they must be met, if met at all, by statements
equally specific and better authenticated. This
is the more necessary since, so far as our
observations extend, the opinion is gaining
ground that the late dividends were not earned,
and that the Company, financially, is going
from bad to worse.
Year: 1874

About nine years ago, THE TRIBUNE pub
lished a letter from Mr.. Thomas Bach of
Rhode Island, recommending almost precisely
the plan of arbitration in the Alabama case
which, after infinite discussion, was finally
adopted and carried out to so satisfactory a
conclusion at Geneva. 1t is in reference to that
| early communication of Mr.. Balch that Prof
James Lorimer, the Regius Professor of Public
| Law and of the Law of Nations in the Univcr-
sity of Edinburgh, has written to him the let
ter which we print this morning. 1t is worthy
of special attention as the mature utterance
of publcist who, having devoted his life to
the study of international law and the theories
of international relations, and having been a
prominent advocate of arbitration and a con-
slant protestant against the barbarsm of war,
retains enough of impartial calmness of judg-
ment to recognize the limits which are prOba-
bly imposed upon the capabilities of arbitra


ton by the conditions Of human nature and
civilized polity.


Prof Lorimer expects nothing Of arbitra-
tion for instance in cases where one party is
morally incapable of entering nationally into
a contract, OF physically incapable of en-
forcing it's provisions when made. This
excludes most of the fighting which ordi-
nary falls to the lot OF England. 1t is
evident that neither the Emperor Theodore
nor the King Coffee Kalkalli was capable of
approaching any procedure except the one
which was put in force against them both.
Neither is there any prospect that the civilized
world will ever be able to interfere with the
progress OF the result Of civil wars. Prof.
Lorimer does not state this as his own con-
clusion, but his references to the Paris Com


mune and our own war of the Rebellion
would lead in that direction. In cases where
the real object of a war is to deter
mine the relative strength of two nations,
and where an unquestioned supremacy is
to be the prize of victory, it is clear that arb-
tration is hopeless, except by an armed inter-
yention of allied powers too imposing to be
resisted. 1t was, for example, impossible to
preyent the Franco-Prussan conflict The
trivial question of the interview of Benedict
and King William in the garden at Ems,
might of course have been arranged in any
half-hour's session of jury of gentlemen.
But the genuine, unmanageable question which
remained behind, was the one which could
not be peacefully settled; that is, whether
Prussia OF France was the stronger. The field
of arbitration seems therefore to be limited to
the class of disputes of which the Alabama
and the San Juan Boundary questions
are specimens. How narrow this field is,
NAV be seen when we reflect that except
in case of great popular excitement they would
never have been made a pretext for war, and
that If this excitement had really existed they
could not have been referred to aibitra ton.
The void is yet far frou that millenniaI
Year: 1874

ING. the ouestion whether the nation shall
adopt lying as q policy aud false promises for
a currency, men are standing of from each
other, talking about party lines that existed
in a period gone by upon issues that are
dead. swept out into the limbo, impossible
of resurrection. What question is there to-
day that approaches in Importance this one
that so comes home to the national honor,
and in which, as every thinking man can see
are involved far higher considerations than
any that have ever at any time before entered
into our politics II is waste OF time to
talk about parties or preserving parties before
such an issue as this. The worst that threat
ened us during the dark days of the war was
defeat Better have been defeated then than
disbonored now There is no cause for THIS
Infamous action; no pretext OF excuse for 1t.
The people do not want it. They have the
sense to see that it will not profit them. and
they have the honesty to reject and spurn IL
if it would There can be but one object IN
il. and that is to enrich gang OF specnlatlng
politicans who are, in the language OF the
Street, "loaded up for RISE" Is there not
virtue enough in Congress to throttle this IN
fanny, to save the honor of the country, and
redeem the promise which all parties have
united in makingf That is the question OF
to-dav
Year: 1874

" her about the derivation Of words" The
bapDv woman, having finished her triumphant
statement urges all mothers to 90 and do
likewise. When the children crowd into the
kitchen to see a chicken pie put TO bake,
is the time, she suggests, Tor lecture on ths
anatomy of tho fowl and instead Oh Mother
Goose and Puss in Boots, why should nos
they learn the difference between Pterodactyb
and f. primo genius Why not, indeedf


Now there is no reason why we should reIer
to this appeal any more than to the innocens
cackling of any other well meaning vain mother
over her brood, except for the fact thai It
indicates the error and danger which under
lie our American system OF education. Ihero
is no such INSCRIPTIONS exDerimenter as the
young, haf-taught, ambitious mother, resolved
To cram into the unprepared weak brains or
her children the mass of vague undigested facts
which she has brought away from school. The
merest smattering of physiology, or, If she have
not that, her own common sonse, should teach
her that her business for the first hye years is
to make of them healthy, honest little animals,
who can properly digest their food, play, sleep.
and tell the truth. She has her child's brain
in her keeping-the most delicate of all instru-



for future use. An attempt to a.rain or set 1t
prematurely to work is simply an irreparablo
physical injury. Yet not only this mother, but
the mothers of countless unfortunate wesfis
make them the victims of their theories, and
send them to school with weak bones, sallow
skins, and prOtruding foreheads, their brains
full of a misconceived tumble of irrelevant
scraps. which a wise teacher must root out
before he can lay the foundation of scientific
knowledge. Unfortunately the wise teacher
ia not always found. Children Of from SIX tn
twelve years old in the majority of our schools
are given masses of dry, meaningless facts, or
abstract rules which they can by no chance
comprehend, day after day, to cram into their
brains, which are meanwhile never taught to
observe. to reason, or to decide, unless In their
games during play time.


Let any of our readers follow his nine-yeaf
old boy through one days routine and he WIN
find his rank in school determined by his
ability to jabber of abstract and concrete
nouns. or to give the hight of the Himalaya
peaks. What Intelligent idea for years 10
come can that child have of the real meaning
of grammar which a months study with
mature mind would master, or of what earthly
importance is the hight of Hlmalayan
peaks to himf Meanwhile it Is left to chance
to give him the love for learning, or for books
the sense of honor, the keen eye, the ready
hand, the trained judgment which will make
or unmake him as man. The mass of school
textbooks now in use are but little moro
effective in training an immature mind than
the young mother we have quoted when she
teaches her babies to say parrot-lke, MY
" heart goes thump, thump, and my stomach
goes chum, chumw
Year: 1874

able by recent outgivings from the Quaker
City. That some change in the Treasury De-
partment is almost certain may be assumed
by those who do not suppose Gen. Grant to
be blind and deaf and dumb. The statement
elsewhere given on the subject from Phila-
delphla we have reason to believe entirely
authorized.
Year: 1874

The Legislature talks of adjourning about
two weeks before it can possibly get through
the business necessary to be done. To our
thinking, however, there is neither merit nor
dignity in passing such resolutions as that
unanimously adopted by the Senate yesterday.
Don't disparage yourselves, Senators, but go
on and finish your business as becomes the
picked representatives of the people, and not
act as though you were afraid of being kicked
ont of the Capitol
Year: 1874

The letter from Toronto which is published
on our third page to-day contains, among
other things, statement of troubles which
may possibly produce complications between
Great Britain and Canada. The fact that the
party now in power is acting as the champion
of denominatiOnal education in this affair
seems to indicate that it arrogated claims to
Liberalism to which it is not much better en-
titled than its opponents.
Year: 1874

The report of the Assembly Committee on
Cities on treet-cleaning contracts in this city
is printed on our second page. The Committee
appear to have gone into the inquiry with
great earnestness and a desire to find out all
the facts Their recommendations contemplate
a much more thoroughly organized street.
cleaning department than we have yet had.
Year: 1874

There is bill before the Legislature to get
rid of Controller Green by declaring his Office
vacant and ordering a new election. Perhaps
Mr.. Green is not faultess as Controller, but
certain it is that the movements which are
made from time to time to get rid of him
are inspired by those who dislike him for
his virtues. In the treatment of this city by
successive Legislatures for the last dozen years
we fail to discover any great consideration
for popular sovereignty. 1t has very sus-
piciOus look that Mr.. Green is proposed as the
first sacrifice to the popular will, or. to call
things by their right names the rings of small
politicians who control nominating conventions
in this city according to directions received
from few head men. While we say this,
however, we desire to add that, in so far as
Mr.. Green is responsible for the discreditable
practice of employing for his Depart
ment lobbyist at Albany, he deserves
the severest rebuke. A reputable citizen there
in that capacity could only bring the Controller
into disrepute Mr. Dexter A. Hawkins is
disgrace to him.
Year: 1874

Quick Transit received some attention in the
Legislature yesterday. The Senate passed the
Beach Pneumatic and Broadway Underground
Railroad bills; it also ordered to a third read
ing the bill extending the time for the COM
pletion of the Gilbert Elevated Railway. We
have had so many promises and so much de-
lay about these various projects for rapid
transit that feeling of Encouragement has
become quite general. But it is natural to be-
leve that out of some of them we may finally
succeed in one. The Eastman bill is expected
to pass, it seems, although the Railroad Com
mitteemen and their friends would like to re-
venge themselves on its author for the uncom-
Portable shower which he succeeded in bring
ing on their deserving heads.
Year: 1874

The Society for the Diffusion of Universal
knowledge had benefit in the Senate yes
terday The occasion was the introduction
of proposition to print certain public
documents This brought up the question Of
franking and printing at the public expense.
Senator Carpenter defended the whole costly
system on the plea that great Government
like ours should not suppress information.
That the public documents which burden the
Government Printing Office should be called
information" is good joke. To say that
refusal to print this stuff is a suppression of
anything worth knowing is misapplication of
the English language. To say that it is hon
est for Mr.. Carpenter. or any other man who
accepted and before the people defended the
Philadelphia platform and the candidates
placed upon it, is an insult to the common
sense of the community.
Year: 1874

this indoor process Of erial deterioration,
fertile of disease, more than to any geographi.
cal or local soil conditions, our metropolitan
winter epidemics are to be ascribed. The
poor workwoman, shivering over a few embers
and scantily supplied with fuel, should know
that her store of coal would 60 much further
and furnish her more and more salubrious
heat If care were taken to supply herapartment
with an abundance of vapor formed from
pure water. No doubt the failure to do this
explains the sickness and feverish languor
which hushes the wan face of the tenement
inmate and makes effective indoor labor
almost impossible. The numerous charitable
associations, public and private, might render
enormous assistance to the poor by instruct
ing them in the sanitary reform of their
homes as well as by replenishing their need.
Without health no relief is adequate, and
health cannot be had where the domestic
arrangements invite and detain the conditions
OF deteriorated atmosphere. Until public
attention is largely fixed upon this kind Of
sanitary reform it will be vain to hope for AN
adequate relief Of the winter sufferinrs of the
poor in our crowded cities.
Year: 1874

Great engineering achievements have been
the marvel of modern times-the Mont Cenis
Tunnel, the Hoosac Tunnel, the Suez Canal
which has immortalized the name Of De Les
seps, and the election of the democratic can.
didates being among the most notable-but
none in the neighborhood of New York has
surpassed in difficulty and success the OPEN
ing of He'll Gate. So long as this city has q
history He'll Gate has been q nuisance, and
its name very forcibly expresses its reputa.
ton. American literature is indebted to it,
however, for one of the finest passages in the
splendid series of one of the best of modern
novelists, James Fenimore Cooper. Proba-
bly, the most effective scene in his picturesque
novel of the "Waterwitch'' Is the chase Of
the smuggler which bore that title through
He'll Gate by British frgate II
is model Of delicate nautical detail
thrilling in its excitement, and very
accurately illustrates the period when He'll
Gate was an almost impossible bar to COM
merce. Since then the rocks that many OF
our readers remember have been partially re-
moved, but they are still an obstacle to
navigation through the Sound. Recently the
United States government has renewed its ef-
forts for the removal of the distractions at
this point, and we print to-day full account
of the methods employed and the degree of
success obtained. General Newton and his
corps of assistants have ably conducted the
difficult labor of subterranean tunnelling and
blasting, and the estimates Of six hundred
thousand dollars to continue the work next
year are moderate There are few more inn
portant plans for the improvement Of our
harbors than that Of the removal of the OBJ
structions OF He'll Gate, for it is indispensable
that all the doors to New York should stand
wide open for the good of the entire nation.
The history we print of the great undertake
ing is well worth the study of the public.
Year: 1874

One of the most popular Sunday amuse-
ments is sleeping, and, excepting when it is
cultivated in church, it is not prescribed by
the clergy. 1t is a harmless and delightful
occupation, and the only trouble with it is
that its merits are only recognized when one
is awake. To sleep late on Sunday morning
is conceded to be general right, and as
rite it is, therefore, religiously observed. But
it is a misfortune that few persons who have
not thoroughly studied the art can sleep all
day. The majority of people are compelled
to get up some time or other, and their
natural reluctance is, in many cases, only
overcome by dinner The question then
is what they shall do. Our sincere advice
is to go to church; but as it frequently hap
pens that church is over, such counsel is not
always Of any value. Consequently the ir-
resolute citizen has little to do but to 90 to
sleep again in the afternoon, and, if his
strength is equal to the effort, to take nap
in the evening


But for those who have not the talent for
slumber developed to degree of genius the
employment of the Sunday hours, after break
fast is over, is often matter of much deli
cacy. They may read the Sunday papers,
but even that delight must come to an end
especially if they try to read them all, when
the JOY is transformed to pain They may
walk out to the Park; but even its attractions
may become wearisome. They may 90 to
beer saloons or taverns; but then every one
does not care for beer or whiskey sufficiently
to devote whole day to the investigation of
their effect upon the nervous system and the
reasoning faculties. 1t is an interesting
study, but is attended by this incon venience,
that it frequently exhausts the student. To
many persons what to do on Sunday thus be-
comes question OF great difficulty, and they
are apt to settle it by doing nothing.


In the meanwhile the public is earnestly
debating during the secular week what is best
to be done with the Sunday, and we add to
the contemporaneous literature on the subject
new contributions of interest and value. One
Of these is from the skilful pen Of Miss Clara
Morris, who replies generally to Mr.. Tai
mage's mild objections to theatres and
another is u defence Of that gentleman, and
we know Of few persons who need defenders
more than he. But while the discussion
between church and theatre is so earnestly
conducted We have only to repeal our advice
to open the public libraries and free reading
rooms. If all their doors we're thrown open
to the public the question Of what to do on
Sunday would not be SO often asked or, if
asked, would have satisfactory answer.
Year: 1874

A statement has recently been made and
copied in the public press that, under the
advice OF eminent counsel in England and
America, plan has been formed for the con-
version of the bonds of certain delinquent States
into a security that can be enforced by legal
proceedings AS somewhat vaguely described,
this plan is said to contemplate the passage of
laws under which the holder OF the new
security can, by judicial process compel the
exercise of the power of taxation to provide
the means of satisfying his claim, and this is
supposed to be warranted by recent decisions
of the Supreme Court of the United States.
especially by the case of Won Hoffman VS..
Quincy. Bills, it is said, have been prepared,
which the Legislatures of the defautino
States will be asked to pass. We should be
disposed to assist in any rational plan that
will rescue any of our States from the disgrace
Of reputation f; but there are some things that
cannot be done. and, therefore, false hopes
are not to be encouraged.


When our federal constitution went into
operation its judicial power extended to all
suits to which State could be made party.
Dut Dy Tue huOptlOu VI tue eleventl amend
msnt, in 1898, the judicial power was re-
stricted to suits between States, because it was
declared not to extend "to any suit in law or
equity commenced or prosecuted against one
of the United States by citizens of another
State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign
State" No private individual, therefore, citi-
zen or foreigner, can enforce any contract
against State OF this Union in the federal
courts, and he can have only such remedy
against the State in its own courts as the
State may choose to give him. If the plan to
which we have referred contemplates legisla-
ton by which State shall open its courts to
the holders of that States obligations and
give them a right to have taxes levied in
defined mode for the collection Of the debt.
the right and the remedy would con-
stitute part OF the contract which
the State could thereafter do nothing to i'm
pair. But the federal judiciary could not be
appealed to unless the Legislature Of the State
should undertake BY law to impair the obliaa-