smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1879

The advices from the iron regions Of
Pennsylvania are Of character to put an
end to ell smelling committees such
IS invaded this city last week. The
iron-masters report an enormous demand
for iron and steel rails for present
and future delivery, and prices ara better
than they hare been heretofore for long
time. Wages are 129 per cent higher, and
the advance in this respect is not borne out
by the appreciation in the iron
product. The general revival of busi-
ness is not confined alone to the
iron districts it is apparent everywhere and
in all lines Of trade. line crops were never
more promising. The harvest is in
full swing in the great wheat-groTing
regions Of the Northwest; corn in
dicates greater yield than ever before
known, the vacant places in the ranks
of labor are gradually filling up, our export
trade is steadily increasing, not only in raw
articles, but in manufactured goods, and
On every side are to be found the
indications of al active prosperity free
from all the 'feyerish fiction which was en-
gendered by q ductuatng and irredeemable
currency. This is no time for the lugubrious
howls of the bankrupis and other genteel par
asites on labor. Their occupation has gone.
But if they will persist in croaking and by
their inactivity strive to block the wheels
of prosperity, they should be subject
ed to q practical experience of the
Malthusian theory, and crushed out of
existence, on the principle that this world is
only for those who are most fitted to enjoy
its blessings and add to its usefulness and
happiness.
Year: 1879

THE FACTS ABOUT THE NEW ClTY-HALL.


The Investigation Of the condition of the
new City-Hall under the auspices of the
Council Building Committee, and the sup
Elementary report of the Committee of Ex-
perts, drawn out by series Of questions
which Mayor HARRISON addressed to that
body, place the whole matter in very DIFF
feTent light from that which the Lemont
Stone-Ring, assisted by its organ, attempted
to throw upon the building. The first re-
port Of the experts, who examined into the
condition Of the structure by taking the one
sided statements Of disappointed contractors
and discharged employees, was used by the
Ring organ as q basis for demanding the i'm
mediate destruction Of the building. Fortu-
nately, the Building Committee of the Coun-
ell thought it wiser to extend the investiga-
ton and submit the ec-parte statement of
the experts to the test Of rebuttal The
consequence is that oil the witnesses, with
the single exception Of Ed WALLER, are
agreed in pronouncing the stone-work supe-
rior as whole to the average work of sini-
lar structures, and Of very much better
quality than the Hame work on the
County Building, which WAS constructed
by the men who are now intriguing to
have the City Building torn out in order
that they (the old County and Lemont Ring)
may build it up again. Taking the testimony
all through, it appears that the only serious
defects are to be found in the brick-work
and this condition is explained by the fact
that Ed WALKER hes, had an interest in that
part Of the construction, and has supplied
some Of the bad brick that has been used.
It would be insane and criminal folly to
demoish the present structure in order to
lntrust rebuilding to the men who are alone
responsible for ali the serious defects that
can be found in the present structure.


The value Of the first report made by the
Committee Of Experts has been completely
destroyed by the positive refutation of one
OF their most serious charges. They declared
that there were two sets of plans; that
changes had been made which .were not
known nor submitted to the general con-
tracing public at the tina of letting; that
"no notice was given that changes
IN the work wera contemplated ~; and that,
- as the changes saved many thousands
of dollars in the work, it is very apparent
that intelligent competition was impossible.
This charge implied corruption On the part
Year: 1879

ThE. uEIAE00AVH 0A70 AAAo VNAe42'


The Congressional Committee appointed
to investigate the causes Of the commercial
and industrial depression which has pre-
vailed for several years has departed to pur-
sue the inquiry in other parts of the coun-
try. A previous committee Of Congress had
made tho came inquiry and produced an i'm
menso volume of evidence. Then and now
there was IN immense mass Of theorizing
both as to the cause Of this depression and as
to the remedy.


The cause of this depression is clear to any
person who will divest himself Of theories
suggested by personal losses, and who will
look at the subject MS plain natter OF fact
That cause WAS the enormous accumulation
Of debt. In the district embraced within
the jurisdiction of the United States District
Court there we're between G,000 and 1000
cases of bankruptcy. The Indebtedness rep
resented by these cases aggregated among
the hundreds of millions. Multiply this num-
ber of cases and the amount Of Indebtedness
by the number Of Judicial districts IN the
United States, and there can be no wonder
why there was panic, nor wonder as to
what caused it.


For years previous to this panic Of 1873,
the country had been actively engaged IN
creating debts,-public, private, and COT
porate. There was on active compeuuon as
to who could obtain the most credit on the
least proportion of capital. Men bought all
they could on time. So long as no cash, or
only small percentage Of cash, was required
to be paid down, no speculation was too
wild and no scheme too visionary to prevent
men contracting debts. the crention OF
debt was only limited by the exhaustion OF
credit. Every man was engaged in the
active endeavor to possess himself OF some
other mans property. For this purpose the
avarice of owners WAS appealed to IN every
form. Twice the real value Of property was
offered for it. with enormous interest On the
deferred payments. Indeed, competition
between men Of this class in the way Of Of
fering prices for property beyond any real
value it might have had was OF general oc-
currence. Purchasers on credit took the
chances each carried books OF printed
forms of notes. requiring the blanks oniy TO
be filed ANY rate Of interest demanded was
promised, and everything was booming.
Railroads were built without cash. Bonds
answered every purpose end cash was use
less. Credit WAS supreme, unlimited lnVg-
Grating. Meh without dollar OF cash
bought property at whatever price was de-
manded, giving notes. At last there was
pause. Some creditor thought it was time
to gather in portion Of his outstanding
riches. He demanded psyment,. and would
take no more notes. The suspicion Of dis
trust extended. Men had enough OF bonds
and mortgages, and demanded something
more tangible. Debtors got alarmed Men
who had put $4,000 money into pur-
chase Of 100000 became anxious Creditor
and debtor were both anxious, the one to
collect the debt, the other to recover what no
had staked on the venture. The moment
the expanded circle of credit recei7ed
check it snapped. In the mass OF debt
Year: 1879

morality, required him to keep faith. It Is
incumbent upon Mayor HARRISON to show
that Capt Hoop is g falsifer, or he himself
stands convicted of degree Of bad faith
which must inevitably deprive him of the
respect and confidence Of all who are III
formed of the circumstances Of the case
II the Mayor is shown to be unworthy OF
confidence in small things, he is equally IN
worthy in all things.
Year: 1879

The Day - Done.
The day II done and the darkness
Falls from the wings Of night.
Asa feather is waited downward
From eagle IN his aight-
I see the lights Of the village
Clean through the rain and the mist,
And feeling Of sadness comes Ger me
That my soul can not resist
A feeling and a longing.
That is almost akin 70 pain.
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles rain
Come read 10 me some poem.
Some simple heartfelt lay.
That shall sooths this restless feeling
And bAnish the thoughts Of day.
Not from the grand old masters.
Not from the 5srds sublime.
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors Of time
For like strains Of martial music
Their mighty thoughts suggest
2 LIES endless toll and endesvor.
And tonight Hong for rest
Read from some humber poet
Whose songs gushed from his heart
A showers from the clouds Of Summer
Or tears from the eyeiids start
Who through long days of labor.
And night devoid Of ease,
siu heard IN his soul the music
OF wonderful melodies
Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse Of care.
And come Like the benedietiOn
That follows after prayer.
Than read from the treasured volume
The poem Of thy choice.
And lend to the rhyme Of the poet
The beauty Of thy voice.
And the nights shall be hIled with music.
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
And silently steal away.


H. ". LOastsHo.0.
Year: 1879

The sun comes up and the sun goes down
And the day ant. the night are the same as
one;
The year grows green and the year grows
brown,


And what is it all when all is done?


Grains of somber or shining sand


Sliding into and out OF the hand.
And men go down in ships to the seas,
And a hundred ships are the same as one;
And backward and forward blows the breeze,
And what is it all when all is done?


A tide with never a shore in sight


Setting steadily on toward night
The fisherman droppeth his net in the stream
And hundred streams are the same as one
The maiden dreameth her love lit dream,
And what is it all when all is done?


The fishers net the burden breaks,


And after the dreaming the dreamer


aWakeS.
Year: 1879

puiilicans would be likely TO do 1t they had
n desperate fight to make for the Presidency
acainst the great odds which the possession
Of New York would give to Mr.. Tildenf Is
il possible they imagine that any practcai
politicians would let themselves be troubled
under such circumstances by considerations oi
Custom House reform


Dut fortunately Governor Robinson Will not
be reelected. 1t will be seen when the ballots
are counted that the great mass OF RepuDii-
can voters have clear understanding OF the
proper course of the party, and correct
judgment of the relative importance OF the
questions submitted to their decision anu
when it is MI over we have no doubt
that our disappointed friends will cheertully
resume their places, and be found, as before
pointing the way. The bowsprit will 20 back
to its own end of the ship.
Year: 1879

Certain estimable and high-minded Republi-
cans, whom the party has been In the habit
of choosing as spokesmen of its policy on
great moral questions, find themselves this
year in q false relation with their former as
sociates They are dissatisfied with the course
which the majority have thought 1t wisest to
pursue. 1t has seemed proper to them that
the party in this State should take advan-
tage of the approaching election to renew a
family quarrel over certain administrative
practices about which there have been honest
differences of opinion. The vast majority of
the party have thought otherwise, admitting,
indeed, that the principles for which the few
wish to contend are sound, but believing that
the attempt to enforce them in the way pro-
posed, and at>the time proposed, would result
In certain disaster. The State Convention,
all the recognized party leaders, the Presi-
dent, who of all persons in the United States
is the most conspicuous, the most uncom-
promising, and the most courageous advocate
and representative of these principles, the
members of the Presidents Cabinet, and the
most distinguished Republicans In Congress-
agree that the course which the few dissatis-
fed New-YOrkers recommend is suicidal


But they will listen neither to friendly adj
vice nor to indignant remonstrance. They
mean to do as they please, under the delusi0n
that whittier they lead the voters will follow.


The gentlemen who take high positions
at public meetings, who deliver patriotic
orations, write essays, sign circulars, and, as
the phrase runs, impart tone to popular
assemblies, have sometimes very little In
fluence over the course of the multitude be-
t. 10 Al
n campaign requires certain gifts-prudence.
for instance, knowledge of men, the habit of
intellectual composure, and the ability TO see
both sides of a question-which are not
often found in combination with the impulsive
temperament of the orator and the rcformer.
Except in times of strong popular excitement.
like the great uprising of 1861, parties are
not guided in the tactical and stIategical
operations of a campaign by the patriots who
stand in the front. To borrow nautical
expression, the ship steers by the stern.


There is sure to be inconvenience when. as
in "The Hunting of the Shark" the bowsprit
gets mixed with the rudder. 1t happens olien
that everything goes backward If the patri-
otic but somewhat unwise gentlemen who
have now dedicated themselves to n work for
which nature never intended them should
succeed in their purpose of preventing the
clear Republican victory which we look for
tomorrow. they would not only do great
wrong to the people of the State, but they
would insure the indefinite postponemept of
the very reform upon which their hearts are
set. The necessary and obvious result of the
reelection of Governor Robinson would be 10
clear the way for Democratic success in
New-York next year. From the Democracy,
of course, the Reformers expect no help.
Have thew stnnn"d to inquire what the Re-
Year: 1879

1t is not out OF place, now that the cam
paign is so nearly ended, to remind Repub-
lcans that their nominee for Governor has
come out of the ordeal of hostile inquiry and
criticism, which candidate for high Office
must always undergo, with character both
as public official and private citizen that
is absolutely without bemish.


Mr.. Cornell is not an obscure man who has
no record. For many years ho held positions
of responsibility and prominence The keen
scrutiny of his political antagonists has failed
to find single act in his career which
cannot stand the test of the highest
standard of official integrity. And when
that scrutiny has been directed to
the relations of private life 1t has dis
covered nothing to place against the unani-
nous testimony of the neighbors who have
known him from boyhOod to his personal in-
tegrity and moral worth. In all the affairs of
life Mr.. Cornell has borne himself as an up
right. conscientious gentleman. True. there are
men who can write more ingenious political
letters and make better figure as orators. As a
cryptogamst lie would never be success.
He could probably not invent system of
ciphers, If he were to try. He has a
plain, blunt nature, that goes straight
forward to its objects Everybody knows
where to find him. In politics, he
is an earnest, unswerving stalwart Republican.
In business relations, he pays his debts to the
last penny. whether the law obliges him to or
not, and is scrupulOusly honorable in all his
transactions. In his country home, he is a
good neighbor and a public-spirited citizen.
In official station, his conduct is regulated
by n standard of duty that Is never lowered
at the bidding Of personal interests. When
Mr.. Tilden, who stands sponsor for his princi-
pal antagonist, was engaged in evading the
payment of income tax on enormous sums,
Mr.. Cornell insisted on paying larger tax OH
his salary than the Government required,
because he believed the Governments inter-
probation of the law was wrong, and would
not stand the test of judicial revision.


Republicans have therefore no reason to be
ashamed Of their candidate, nor have they any
occasion to defend him. The Democrats
themselves, by their failure to find any flaw
in either his official career or his personal
reputation, have demonstrated his fitness for
the place he occupies in the canvass and the
place he will be called to occupy 10y the re-
suit of the election. AS a candidate leading
the Republican ticket, he Is without reproach.
As Governor of New-York, his record and
character give the right to expect that he will
be prudent conscientious and devoted to the
people's business. What more could be de-
sired
Year: 1879

politics than city people. They read fewer
newspapers perhaps. but they think about what
they read, and their beliefs are the fruits OF
their own sober judgment. Thus they are not
easily shaken in their party attachments.
When the issues of canvass do not appear
strongly to their sentiment of patriotism.
they may refrain from voting through lack OF
interest, but the transfer of u large body OF
rural voters from one side to the other very
rarely happens.


rhis year is especially bad time
for tho success of the Tilden scheme.
No class of Republicans was so quick to
take alarm at the Democratic plot to destroy
the results of the war the farmers. Their
indignation was hot and fierce before men in
towns and cities became fully aroused. Less
subject to the transient excitements which
sway the minds of people in the centres or
population, and less concerned about the
minor questions Of politics that come up from
year to year. the terrible struggle between
the Nation and the Rebellion remains fresh In
their memories. The approaching election
they regard as their opportunity to protest
against the breaking down of all distinctions
between loyalty and treason, and to strike a
blow at the conspiracy for multiplying the Con-
stitutional Amendments and turning the conn
try over TO the rule of the Solid South. These
are the last men to he deceived by talk about
Robinson's "refOrms," or by attempts to create
n prciudice against the head of the Republican
ticket. They clearly understand that vote
for Robinson is a vote TO indorse the alliance
between the Northern Democracy and the
Southern Brigadiers, and to help along the
Nf &c
vote for Cornell is q vote to condemn that al


lance and to defeat its aims. Chairman Faulk-
ner is wasting paper and postage In sending
secret circulars to this class of voters.


Nor is there any class of Republicans open
to appeals of this sort There is no half
way house between the Republican and Demo
cratic camps this year. The issues are too
important and too sharply defined for any
self-respectng voters to draw off upon
middle ground and avoid meeting them.
Whoever believes in National supremacy,
National honesty, and the right OF every
citizen to cast an unintimidated ballot and
have it fairly counted, belongs in the Repub-
lican party and will vote the Republican
ticket. Whoever wants to destroy the safe
guards of National elections. undermine the
stability of the National finances and en-
courage the South in its career of repudia-
ton, notification and assassination, will vote
the Democratic ticket. The men who propose
to stand one side and throw stones at beth
parties are not numerous enough to be worth
counting; and as for Republicans who intend
to desert to the enemy, there are none such.
When q man Is found supporting Robinson
who claims to be Republican,, little In
quiry will show that he has been voting the
Democratic ticket for years past. Mr.. Tilden's
committeeman would do well to devote their
efforts wholly to repairing the breach in their
own lines. They will not be able to break
into the compact Republican ranks.
Year: 1879

When the returns come in tomorrow
night, the Tiden campaign managers will
find that their efforts to persuade Republicans
to vote for Robinson have been thrown away


In nothing will they be as much deceived AS
in their notion that the Republican farmers of
the State are class peculiarly open to their
persuasions. The Newly Republican farm
ers are not the sort of men who wait for some-
body to come around and tell them how to
vote. They have stubborn political convic-
tions. AS a rule. they are more Interested In
Year: 1879

The letter of a Pennsylvania Republican,
which is given on another page, sets forth the
reasons of the writer-who is well qualified
to judge-for expecting a handsome Repub-
ican majority in that State. 1t is evident
that the well-meant solicitude expressed in
Washington about the condition of the can
vass in the Keystone State was not wholly
justified, and we may look for a majority
worthy of its reputation.
Year: 1879

The secret circular which the Robinson State
Committee have been sending out to Republ-
cans, seeking to arouse sectarian hostility
to John Kelly because of his religion, will re-
act, as it should, upon the men who resort to
such weapons. The common sense of the peo-
pie of this State is against all efforts to STIR
up questions of race and religion, and the
Democratic Committee will lose by this little
speculation.
Year: 1879

Smith Weed keeps still as he did in the eli
pher business He deserves the credit of try
ing to sneak out of his rickery when he is exposed
He is a slippery customer but he has not tried to
pass himself of as a Reformer.
Year: 1879

The intention of the British Government to
insist that the Porte shall carry out the prom
ised reforms in Asia Minor may do some good,
especially as the demand is to be backed up
by fleet kept ON the Turkish coast. The
Ottoman Government will first measure care
fully how far England is in earnest, and then
shape its course accordingly. Should 1t find
that the English jealousy of Russia can be
turned 10 account, it Will endeavor, as it has
done before, TO develop that feeling at the
expense OF the oDpressed Christians. But. in
the end. England will find that there is little
use Ia trying 10 wrn@ Justice from a race
Year: 1879

And now Sherirs posse has gone into
the misunderstanding business. A Tennessee
Sheriff being in search of certain railroad
conductor stopped his train, uncoupled the
engine and searched the ears. Not finding
him, the train was allowed to proceed. But
it was necessary first to remove obstructions
which the Sheriff's posse had placed on the
track. This was surely an extraordinary pre-
caution to take. Suppose that 10y some acci-
dent the train had not been stopped before
reaching the distractions!
Year: 1879



 NEW YORK. August 13.-1te Sun says It would certainly have been a ridiculous as well as tragic ending Of Conkling proud career if be had died at the mouth of that shotgun in the hands of an enraged husband but 1t would have been in perfect keeping with his infamous part in the Congressional effort to gag 8 free press and to kidnap an editor. In smother article the Sun hints pretty broadly that the Tribune and Herald have been bribed to keep quiet on the Conkling Sprague matter

 PROVIDENCE, R. l. August 13. 1t IS now definitely known that Senator Coakling vas hinself the authority For the original story that the trouble at Governor Sprsgue's mansion related entirely to the Ger man tutor. Conkling denied to an Associated Press reporter that he had any personal alsercation with Spra- gae There are several positive witnesses, however, of such an alter cation, who talked freely on the sub ject The Press, a newspaper chief ly owned by the Spragae estate. cor roborates the story that Cohkling vas driven from Sprague's bouse. Ihe affair has given yoice and fight Co old Washington scandals affecting the same parties. which hitherto were only privately y current.