smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1870

Eds. COURIER


The Legislature is do.
ing its work with a will, and it be-
hooves it to do so for the accumula-
tion of business on hand is immense.
In the House especially is there !.
very large amount of work To do
The Senate passed bill for the gov
ernment Of the Insane Hospitals Of
the State and also providing for the
method Of determining the question
OF the insanity of a person by the ap-
pointment Of three Commissioners in
each county, one Of whom shall be a
Physician aud another u lawyer
these Commissioners to be appointed
by the Judge OF the Circuit. The
bill is one gotten up after careful labor
and dilligent study by the Trustees
Of the Hospital Tor the Insane at Mt.
Pleasant, and | think will be of great
practical benefit. The Senate also
passed the bill creating Depart
ment Of Insurance for the State; also
a bill legaliziGg the sale Of the Public
Square in the city of Bloomfield,
Iowa also a bill appropriating $751;
900, providing for the wants Of the
Iowa soldiers, who will assemble ut
the Capitol in June next at their great
reunion. understand this is to be
made the event of the year in this
State, and will be a grand day OF
socil reunion for the patriots ofnoble
young Iowa, who SO gallantly and
nobly represented their State in the
great Rebellion.


Several other bills passed the Sen.
ate today, but none others that now
recollect OF particular note.


The House was engaged tor the
most part OF the day in tho discussion
ola Railroad Commissioner BILL.
The exact provisions of the bill au
not conversant with, but its general
import Is to appoint . board of Com
missioners defining their powers and
duties, and looking towards the OBJ,
jest Of providing a remedy 50 iar as
Year: 1870

20 We have frequently had occasion to
admire the skill with which the man
in the rear of the striker, in base ball
parlance called the catcher, will catch
the ball, no matter from which, side it
may come, how great the serial dis
tanes it may traverse, or how dizzy
the height from which it may descend.
To our surprise, when walking
through Lafayette Square yesterday
afternoon, we saw a bevy of boys
playing base ball with-think of this
manifestation of progress, ye friends
of the national game Ia dog in the
capacity of catcher--a middle-sized,
yellowish dog, the offspring ofa,point-
en- but only materially pointer, the
sire having been of q less noble race
catching the ball in her mouth with
an accuracy that was really astonish-
ing. For half an hour, during which
we witnessed this novel game of base
ball, the dog did not miss the ball q
single time.-Nec 0leanS PicayWne.
Year: 1870

1t is curions how Chinese came to
wear pig-tails. Several hundred years
ago the inhabitants of China wore
their hair as we do ours, but there
was war between China and Tartary
and the Chinese were conquered.


When the first Tartar King of the
present dynasty came to the throne
he determined to humble the pride of
the Chinese. He began in 1914 by or
dering everybody to shave off all the
hair except tuft on the crown; that
being the way he wore his own hair.
There was great many proud and
high spirited gentlemen in China who
would not obey the command and the
result waa they had their heads
chopped off. Iti rather an uncom-
Portable thing for man to have his
head chopped off. The Chinese
thought so and concluded to shave
and braid their hair into pig tail, al
though it was an act of degradation.
they felt it keenly, but as years rolled
on they forgot the humiliation and be-
gan to rather like the fashion. AS
soon as pig-tails became fashionable,
the young gentlemen of China tried to
get up the longest, neatest and glossi-
est tails possible. They cultivated
them just as the young men of the
United States and every part of the
world, cultivate their moustache. and
whiskers, greasing, brushing and fin
gering them all the time. .. rgsfraT
Year: 1870

A MAN was Indignantly exclaiming
that his knife had been stolen, when
at last one of his neighbors, whose
garden had been robbed a short time
previous, said to him: 81 found your
knife among my cabbages; how came
it there? ?"
Year: 1870

A NIGHT OF TERROR.-The town OF Dauphin,
Pa, Is not pleasant place OF abode for timid
people during the prevalence of thunder storms
1t is located at the base of a mountain eight
hundred feet high, and eight miles from Harris
burg. In fact the town Is walled in by noun
tains; frequently the atmospheric phenomena
in this gorge are wonderfully to behold. Recent
lythree distinct thunder storms met seemingly
directly over the town. The electricity kept up
an almost continual play, while the thunjerous
quite continuous. The lightning darted along
the railroad, and the telegraph wires gave out
multitude OF sparks like those from a forge.
and fIequently large rocks were displaced by
the powerful fluid, and with loud noise rolled
down into the river. A barn was struck five
times, although provided with lightning rods.
As well may be supposed, the inhabitants were
terribly alarmed while the storm lasted, and
sleep closed few eyelids during the night.
no one was injured except a little girl, who was
killed by fiash of lightning.
Year: 1870

Our dispatches. this morning, pre-
sent the usual heterogeneous mass of
gossip. imagination and rumor. with
here and there an isolated tact, no
doubt, if We could only recognize it
when we read it. We must say that
o more mixed up state of affairs than
is manifested in our dispatches, for
the last three or four mornings, 1t
wnnld be impossible to conceive.
Year: 1870

10. That we approve the general course
OF our senator and Republican RepTesen-
tatiVes In Congress, and express our full
and entire confidence tEat they will act
with wisdom aud integrity In all that cou-
Germs the welfare of the people; and that
we ender thanks to Senator Morton for
his exertions IN so shaping the legislation
of Congress on the reconstruction OF the
late rebet States, as to secure the passage
OF the Fifteenth Amendment
Year: 1870

The report of General Banks Committee on
Foreign Affairs ia published elsewhere in our
columns this morning. 1t has not yet been
presented in the House, but soon will be- as a
movement is on foot among the members
friendly to Cuba to call for it if the
committee do not report in few days In
the meantime the report, with all its
details Of outrages and indignities heaped
upon Americans and the American flag by
Spain, is presented through our columns
to greater congress than the one at Wash
ington. Let the people read this report and
judge for themselves to what depth the weak
ness Of our Cuban policy has brought us and
to what straits we have permitted neighbor-
ing colony to be driven by our selfish dread Of
a war with imbecile Spain


1t will be remembered that when Mr. Voor-
hees, in the House, recently brought up the
question of the outrages in Cuba an almost
unanimous sentiment was expressed in favor
of more manly and fearless policy This
sentiment reflected so severely on Secretary
Fish that he is reported to have asked Gene
raj Banks why some of the republican
members did not defend him, and to have re-
ceived very unsatisfying reply. The fact
is that it is a national and not partisan
question, and republicans do their party
great good by scoring soundly the republican
Secretary of State who fashions so weak
policy. The republican party has shown itself
able to stand up, and for that matter to improve,
under the cauterizing process which Mr..
Dawes applied to it some time ago, and it
would probably improve under similar appli-
cation on another part of its body polite. At
any rate the great congress Of American peO-
pie to whom the HERALD submits the report on
Cuban affairs this morning will be very likely
to condemn in unmeasured terms the mer-
cenary policy of our State Department, and
when the matter is finally reported to the
federal Congress that body will be very likely
to follow suit without regard to party politics.
Year: 1870

We are certainly great and favored nation.
Only a few days since we gave voluminous re-
ports from all parts of the country in regard to
the prospects for the coming crops of the great
staples and cereals Of the country They
were all unusually favorable, and in the inter
val since their publication we have received
nothing calculated to dispel the auspicious
auguries of an abundant yield. To day we
give comprehensive statement, valuable to
the people at large as well as to the great
horticultural interests of the land. 1t covers
reports from various and remote sections in
regard to the prospects for the coming fruit
crops, end, it will be seen, in almost every
instance the accounts are unusually fattering.
We have yet to hear the growl Of the first
croaker One caterpillar sorehead out West
undertook to speak disparagingly Of the fruit
prospect in his region in communication to
a local paper. ''Unless there is immediate
rain" he declared ''the fruit crop is gone
up" And he modestly winds up long
winded paper with the following significant
postscript :-'It rains" Briefly, the prospects
for an unparalleled yield of the larger and
smaller fruits were never more suspicious than
they are now, and only visitation in the
shape of blight or some other untoward acci-
dent can prevent their realization.
Year: 1870

If the pilgrimage of the new Dock Commits
sioners around the water front on the East and
North rivers-a full account Of which we pub
lished yesterday-should result in carrying
out the views which We have repeatedly
suggested their little trip will not have been
in vain. These gentlemen must have gath
cred some experience about the condition of
our docks that they never had before. The
wretched and rickety concerns which we call
piers, composed mainly of rotten wood and
decomposed filth, are disgrace to any city
which, by its splendid harbor and its boundless
enterprise, invites the commerce of the world
to this port. The Commissioners of course
saw all this and cogitated upon it. We believe
that there is some hesitation on the part of some
members of the Commission to 60 into this
work of reconstr ucting our docks and piers at
once. We hope they will not be deferred by
the magnitude of the undertaking. 1t is a
very heavy and serious job, no doubt, but
there is no public work which demands more
speedy and thorough action.


The suggestions Of President Agnew ac-
cord entirely with the views which the
HERALD has been urging for a long time. He
proposes to build stone bulkhead along the
river fronts, and to run out at suitable dis
tances substantial stone piers, wide enough to
permit the erection of commodious ware
houses, or else to build the latter on the bulk
head proper, for the convenience of shipping
This might demand large outlay, but few
millions Of dollars spent in this way would
give the city of New York an enduring system
of docks and piers, worthy of great mari
time and metropolitan city-structures that
would not have to be patched up every month
The cost is the least consideration in the mat
ter. Economy, Of course, is desirable, but
we hope that the competent gentlemen who
comprise the commission are willing to accept
the responsibility on that head and that no
corrupt jobs will stain their record. At all
events we want to see the work of erecting
stone docks and piers all round the CITY CON-
menced at once.
Year: 1870

Election Cases.


The Senate had another attack of the Frank
ing bill yesterday. II came up as unfinished
business, and some Of the more reckless SEN
ators-who probably do not care much whether
it passes in good faith or not-went so far as
to discuss it for few minutes. Mr. Harlan,
however, proposed to take up the Indian Ap-
preparation bill, and stated that there was no
necessity for immedicte action on the Frank
Ing bill, as everybody knew 1t would pass
The appropriation bills are parts of necessary
legislation, which ought to be passed early,
in order that both houses may agree upon
them before the busy hours OF the closing
session, when number Of jobs are apt to find
their way into them among the unheeded
amendments. Mr.. Harlan is therefore right,
and IT, as he says the Franking bill is sure to
to opass, we ought to be content to wait. But,
like Mr.. Conkling, we would like to feel
assured that Mr.. Harlan has good reason to
know that it will pass, and as it is apt to pass
the Senate laden with amendments If 1t pass
at all, and may consequently be driven about
between the two houses like shuttlecock for an
indefinite time, it would be well to pass it at
once. for fear that it may fail at the end of the
session and thus thwart the cherished expecta-
tons of those Senators whom Mr. Harlan had
heard express themselves in favor Of its pas
sage The vote, however, on laying aside the
bill, which was expressly made test indi-
Gated that Mr.. Harlan was mistaken, and that
the Senate does not intend to pass it,


In the House bill! regulating compensation
in cases of contested elections was reported
and was generally discussed. II provides sub
stantally that no money shall be paid to the
sitting member or contestant so long as the
case is pending, and the unsuccessful COM
petitor shall receive nothing whatever on the
decision of the case Heretofore it has been
the custom to pay the sitting member the
usual salary, and at the close of the case to
allow the contestant liberal allowance for his
expenses. Thus the cost to the people at
large is about doubled when case is contested,
whereas equity would require the people alone
Of the district contested to pay any such extra
expenses. Besides, as the people of each dis
trict are allowed to choose their own repre-
sentatives in case of contest they should be
allowed to choose between the contestsnts,
1t is we'll enough for the House to decide upon
the qualifications of its members, but it is
clearly not within It's jurisdiction to decide
upon the legality or illegality of an election,
probably in distant part Of the country. The
present Congress has been so uniformly parti
san in deciding the contested cases before it
that it is simply astonishing assurance on its
part to charge frauds or illegality in elections
The income tax was further discussed, and IL
was agreed to take vote on it to-day.
Year: 1870

BY our latest kilograms from the south Of
Europe we have news that bands of republi-
can agitators have assembled on the Swiss
frontier of Italy, and appear to be in full
understanding with the insurgents who have
recently been giving trouble in Caabria and
the vicinity of Naples. At the same time the
partisans Of Mazzini are fomenting fresh dis
cord in and around Genoa Thus we find the
serenity of Victor Emanuel's realm assailed
in three quarters at once, and it is very pro-
bable that we shall next hear of demonstra-
ton on the Adriatic side of the peninsula as
well The recent causes that have directly
led to this unhappy state of things are vari-
ous Among them we may reckon financial
pressure and increased taxation the contnu-
ance and reinforcement of the French army Of
occupation at Rome and Civita Vecchia the
presence Of the Ecumenical Council at Rome,
and the evaporation of the revolutionary
party at their late severe defeat by the friends
of Napoleon Ill. in France


The humorous journals of Florence and Tu-
rim, mixing little gall with their mirth, have
very significantly published caricature repre-
senting the headless body of Revolution"
decapitated by the Napoleonic axe at Paris.
taking flight to the summit Of the Alps and
there waving aloft her fiery torch. This hint is
clear enough, and the Mazzinists Of Italy have
seemingly followed it at once. The Italian
kingdom, however, is strong in its reforms, in


its schools, in its improved administration and
in the attachment of both army and peasantry
to its soldier King, ''the gentleman monarch"
or ''Re galantuomo," as they are fond of call


ing him. Therefore we have reason to be-
lieve, as we certainly hope, that this renewed
attempt to retard the restoration of a noble
country and patriotic people will as COM
pletely fail as all the previous efforts of the
ultra reds and the bitter reactionists, who
secretly aid and abet them with treacherous
intent, have hitherto done.
Year: 1870

All our recent news goes to show that Spain
is approaching point in her history which
promises to be critical-very critical. Prlm
has fixed point by promising TO make full
statement on the Gsh of July of all that has
been done since the revolution and fight Of
Isabella in the matter of the throne. 1t is a
lamentable fact that Spain has for period of
nearly two years been begging sovereign
begging hard, but begging in vain The
regency is good enough in its way; but the
regency, every Spaniard knows, is only tenn
porary-at best compromise, and therefore
unsatisfactory to the nation at large. Under
the new constitution Spain is still monarchy,
and IL does seem as if the people really pre-
ferred that form of government. AS the nation
has not abandoned the monarchical form of
government it is in the last degree desirable
that some satisfactory settlement Of the throne
question be arrived at with as little delay as
possible.


1t is still uncertain who is to be the King
Of Spain. All the old candidates seem to
adhere to their original purpose. They will
not have the throne. Montpensler Is the only
candidate who has not refused to bear the
royal burden. Unfortunately, however, the
throne has never been offered him since it
has been possible to offer it to any one. Mont
pensier had promises before the revolution was
a fact Since it has been fact there has been
no fruit. Montpensier is the only candidate
who now wishes the Spanish throne, so far as
l., b,,i 81 yl,o
have been mentioned in that connection he
seems to have the smallest chance. We have
been glad to learn that the name of Dom Fer
dinand of Portugal is again in favor. Dom Fer
dinand should be pressed. He is father to
the King of Portugal During his reign
the two neghboring kingdoms would be likely
to grow into mutual good feeling. In the
natural course of things Dom Luis, the King Of
Portugal, would succeed his father, and the
sister nations, which have really no good
reason for remaining apart, would become
one-harmoniously and happily one. 1t is
we'll known that Dom Ferdinand has no desire
to be burdened with the cares of State but it


is just as well known that for years he gov
erned Portugal with wisdom and with great
success If Prim is wise he will press in this
direction. It is the only statesmanIke course,
so far as we can see. OF all possible courses
this alone offers immediate as well as ultimate
gain.


We see from our latest news that the ques-
tion of slavery in the colonies is engaging the
attention of the Cortes If Spain is wise and
wishes to command the respect of the modern
world she will wipe out this foul blot at once.
Under her new conditions the prolongation of
slavery is the prolongation of scandal and
an outrage. She needs the sympathy of the
nations; but SO long as she clings to this sin
she cuts herself off from the good feelings and
Year: 1870

The Ohio democracy, in State convention,
have nominated their State ticket and pro-
claimed their platform for the coming October
election. Their platform embraces subdued re-
iteration Of State rights; denunciation Of the
present tariff aud the bill before Congress as a
scheme Of gigantic robbery of the people; a
denunciation Of the present internal revenue
taxations as unbearable and oppressive
denunciation of the prohigacy of General
Grants administration and of the system Of
squandering the public lands upon railway
monopolies pronunciamento against the
act to enforce the fifteenth amendment as
unconstitutional resolution in favor of tax
ing the national bonds and one for the aboli-
ton of the national banks and, finally, a
resolution denouncing ''the trucking of the
federal administration to Great Britain and
Spain, and the efforts of the party in power to
reduce whole States to vassalage to the gen.
eral government"


There is good deal Of humbug, claptrap
and twaddle for buncombe in this platform
but there are several issues presented,
such as the tariff internal taxes, bonds,
banks and public land grants to railroads,
upon which the Ohio democracy will be able
to make good fight; and, in re ference to the
policy of Mr.. Fish towards Spain and Great
Britain, they will have the advantage of
throwing the republicans upon the defensive
with very little to boast of. AT all events, the
Year: 1870

| I,ll0000. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Sf02 500, 300
The government receives, then, but one
fourth or thereabout, of what 1t ought to
receive. 1t is defrauded Of seventy-fye mil
lions year. This may seem startling, but is
nevertheless true. A large number of
wealthy Americans are in Europe, and never
pay the tax; a great many change their
residences and cannot be followed or found
Thousands upon thousands give in falls,
returns, and perjure themselves rather than
pay. A vast number reinvest portion of
their incomes, call that capital in business
without returns, and otherwise quiet their
consciences to avoid the tax. In fact, there
are so many ways of evading the law, the
assessors and collectors, and it is so utterly
impossible to detect most of the frauds, that
people have learned to look upon the obligation
to pay the tax with much the same Indifference
or contempt that professional smugglers do
the revenue laws. The mass of the COM
munity have set their faces against the tax,
and begin to think there is nothing wrong in
evading it. This decentralization will increase
should the tax be continued, and the proba-





would not collect over fifteen millions, or even
ten millions from it.


Some of those who advocate the continl-
ance of the income tax attempted to argue
that it was popular. 1t is no such thing 1t
is unpopular. The mass Of those who have
to pay and who can be reached are people
with salaries or very limited and we'll known
income-people who can only just make both
ends meet. They have to bear the burden,
while men Of large capital-those who live
extravagantly by speculation-and the slip
perry rogues evade the tax in whole or in part
How can such an inquistorial law, which
invades the private affairs of people and
spreads over the face of the country an army
of tax gatherers, be popular? 1t is in direct
conflict with our free and repub lican institu-
tions. It is inmical to that sense of inde-
pendence and private right which Americans
have always cherished from the foundation of
the government. Such a tax would never
have been thought Of but for the extraordi-
nary demands of the government for the war.
1t was, as Mr.. Mccarthy properly said, war
measure only, and ought to be left to die q
natural death. There is nc necessity for the
tax. The income of the government is much
too large and should be reduced. But if there
were no other reason for abolishing the income
tax fis demoralizng effect upon the commu-
nifty, in leading to false swearing and other
fraudulent snhterfuges too numerous to men
tion, calls imperaiiyely for its discontinuance.
Let this inquisitoriaI, obnoxious and un- -Ameri-
can law expire by its own limitation. Let it pass
away as the other evils growing out of the
war are passing away, with the hope that no
necessity will ever arise for its revival.