smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

WORK YET TO BE DONE At RELL GATE.


People who viewed the great explosion from
Wards Island thought that an excess of pre-
caution was taken i'll keeping them back from
the waters edge, and away from more east
erly position on the island which would have
been nearer Hallett's Reef. There was, how
ever, n danger in this position additional to
that caused by its nearness to the $4,000
pounds of explosive material Midway be-
tween those spectators and the Astoria
shore, another package of dynamite lay be-
meath the waters not comparable in quantity
to the total of the charges in the mine, but
sufficient if in one mass TO do a great deal of
execution when exploded and perhaps to
render perilous position on the nearest point
of Wards Island. 1t had been considered
as among the possibilities that the
smaller mass might have been ex-
ploded by the conclusion from the
larger one. They were perhaps $50 yards apart.
1t is another evidence of the thoroughness
with which the explosives at Hallett's Reef
were confined to their work there, that no eff
Year: 1876

immediate success. There has already been
too much of unnecessary bloOdshed and de-
yastation. If the Seryan armies are strong
enough to push the Turks back over the bor-
der. and become invaders in their turn, they
may win more than they dream Of by adyanc-
ing at once. If they merely mean demon
stration for the sake of effect, they will forfeit
much of the sympathy they have hitherto re-
ceived The world admTes brave and en-
during, but not tricky and staggering race.
Year: 1876

behind all its sister cities, has free lending
library to vie in friendly rivalry with that of
Boston. The AstOr and Lenox Libraries on
the one side, and the Mercantile on the other,
are all good of their kind, but the ibcary Of
the future is of another sort, and New-York
must yet mate its splendid school system,
which takes the child almost from its cradle
and sends out n college graduate with public
library worthy of its culture and its wealth.
Year: 1876

Ten years ago the Republican party of Ken
tucky had no organized existence. Then, and
even after its organization, it was scarcely
more than little band of earnest men, who
bore much for conscience sake, and who had
the courage TO remain steadlast to Republican
principles. though on &" the daTl, and bloody
" ground" that was the very stronghold Of unre-
constructed and unrcconcllcd Democracy.
Now it is an organization casting nearly
100000 votes, ard actually aspiring to the
control of the strongest Of I'll the Democratic
States. An interesting account of this rapid
growth in the Republican party, and of the
spirit of the DcmocIacy-whic ~ is usually
the case, is all the more bitter because it did
none of the tigntinS-is given by cor
respondent on another page. The conclusion
is easily drawn from his observations that the
people on the other side of the Ohio may
have some reason for the alarm at the pros
pect of a solid South which thcy seem cspe-
ci9lly to feel
Year: 1876

Yesterday came in October, fresh, cool, breezy,
and bright with health and strength and the finest
and most innocent of exhilaratOns in every cubic
inch of the atmosphere There was just enough
taste of Winter in the air to render it pquant and
all the influences tended to make the mere act Of
living positive pleasure. OF course on such Sab
BATH all the places of public worship were uncom-
monty we'll attended; and the great travel over the
suburban lines of railway which has been partially
suspended for several Sundays resumed its Summer
proportions. Should the weather continue fine, as 1t
probably will the number of visitors to the Centen
NAL Exhibition will 10 doubt be very great
There must be 4 great many people who have post
poned their Exhibition trip until this the most
comfortable month in all the year for sightseeing
while the announcement Of the awards will increase
rather than diminish the interest with which each
object will be regarded.
Year: 1876

Attorney General Taft is not only p Repub-
ican with liberal views, but fearless, fair
minded man. And Attorney General Taft says
that ga solid South for the Democracy implies
fraud and intimidation in its worst form"
Year: 1876

Everything indicates that Servia is resolved
to prolODg the war until Spring, when it will
be more convenient for Russia to come to her
aid. From a military point of view Servia has
nothing to lose by this course, since Winter
viii impede military operations, and render it
Year: 1876

Savings bank depositors seem to have come
back to their sober senses, and the symptoms
of a general run that had developed them
selves have nearly disappeared. In fact, there
was much less to alarm dcpositors generally in
the recent suspension of two banks than
might at first sight appear Both banks
closed their doors voluntarily, taking this
action for the protection Of dcposltors. In
both the proportion of loss seems Likely to be
small, and much smaller than it wcu'd prob
ably have been if the banks had gone on in
the hope of living through. The Withdrawal
of these banks cannot affect Others save IN the
possible loss OF public confidence; aud the de-
crease IN the number is itself an approach to
a healthier s,ate of things. There has been at
no time any need of SO many banks as we
have had, and there Will not 6e SO many
hereafter A business that has been consider
ably overdone may thus be brought within its
legitimate limits.
Year: 1876

A week more of working days, and each of
the five States of Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, West
Virginia, and Colorado will have given q
pretty sure indication of the direction III which
its electoral vote will be cast. A full list of
candidates and comparative majorities will be
found on another page From Indiana word
comes that both parties are now ANXIOUS
rather than bOaStful, and are cOnccding every
where that the majority either way IA likely
to be small. That the Democrats should have
come to this pass, IN a State represented on
their National ticket, and which they claimed
up to the last moment by large majority, Is
at least Il hopeful sign.
Year: 1876

SEEING THE ABsURDITY OF TEMPERANCE
PoLIrIcs.-Occasional there is man in
the Prohibition party who sees the absurd


ity of running that organization as politi-
cal machine, merely to weaken the only
political party that has ever tried to do
anything for the temperance cause. The
Rev. A. G. Comingo of New Hampshire is
one Of the sensible ones. He declines to
be an Elector on the Prohibition ticket
because either Hayes or Tilden will be
the next President, and he does not see
any possible way for good to come to his
party through the Democrats, He urges
all of his friends, therefore, to support
Hayes directly instead of Tilden indirectly.
Year: 1876

SOLDIERS N SOUTH CARoLINA.-The great
est outcry of the campaign is that made by
the Democrats against the administration
for sending soldiers to South Carolina to
protect voters in their legal rights. This
assault upon the Republicans has been so
fierce and direct that we have really looked
upon the measure with some degree of dis
content, but it seems that there may be wis
dom in it after all. The Democratic out
cry is political "clap-trap," it would seem,
if we may judge from the expression of
some o. the South Carolina papers them
selves. For instance, the Nc,cs and Courier,
the leading Democratic paper of Charleston,
talks thus:


ITO put the case concisely, we contend
that the presence of the troops ought not
TO be injurious to the Democracy, because
the troops will simply prevent fraud and
violence. to which the Democrats have not
resorted and would not resort, and will,
besides, enforce that obedience to law
which the Democrats have never
refused. And we believe that it will be
worth three or four thousand votes to the
Democrats if a squad of United States sol
diers be posted at every polling precinct in
Charleston County, for these soldiers will
make it safe for colored men to vote for
Hampton, and will prevent the repeating
on which the Radicals rely for their najori-
ty. The chances are still in our favor, and
the proclamations, instead of disheartening 2
the people, should and will encourage them
TO work harder than ever before"


If this be the case, what are the Demo
Gratis growing about. While those of the
north are cOntending that the measure is a
blow at personal liberty, the leading paper
of South Carolina thinks it the very thing
to guarantee that liberty.


In this connection we will call attention
TO the remarks of Chas. Francis Adams, in
an item elsewhere printed in this issue.
Some of Mr.. Adams's Democratic friends
wanted him to condemn the measure, but
Mr.. A. said he could not say whether it was
right or wrong until he had a proper basis
TO 60 upon, like the Cabinet has. While
he could neither endorse or condemn a
thing in which he was not posted, he felt
sure that Mr.. Fish and other members oi
the Cabinet would not sanction a thing
they did not believe to be right.
Year: 1876

In writing of President Grant, a CORES.
pondent Of the London Times says En-
glishmen who are accustomed to think of
the President of the United States as one
of the most powerful rulers in the world, q
ruler compared with whom any monarch ofa
constitutional country is politically almost a
cipher, are not little astonished TO find
him leading the life Of an ordinary private
citizen of comfortable but moderate means.
There is nothing todistinguish his Cottage
from those of his neighbors except that all
day the passing excursionists have been
craning their nscks over his fences in the
hope OF getting peep at him as he walks
from room to room, some of them having
taken the iudicious precaution to brina
opera-glasses. Every Englishman
must hope that in England he will be
accorded the reception to which his high
reputation and illustrious career, and per
haps to certain extent the harsh treat
ment which has lately been dealt out ia
him here, so amply entitle him."
Year: 1876

When David Livingstone was boy he
was obliged to be at the mills by six o'clock
every morning, and he did not leave until
eight o'clock in the evening. 1t might be
we'll supposed that the little factory boy
would have been glad to rest during the
short time that he was not at work. But a
lad with such a spirit of determination as
Davie possessed was not easily to be deferred
from pursuing the course which he had
marked out for himself. When he received
his first weeks pay he forewith purchased a
Latin grammar with a portion of it, and
within very short time joined an evening
school. This school was a very humble
one, and it was partially supported by the
owners of the cotton mills for the benefit oil
those employed by them, the dominic
who carried it on being thus enabled to
give instruction at low rate TO his pupils
Davie now. began to learn in real earnest,
continuing, night after night, to attend the
school until ten o'clock, and then devoting
two hours-sometimes more, unless his
mother prevented him by taking his books
away-to the preparation of the following
days lessons; and SO absorbed was he al
ways in his thoughts that tho hard work in
which he was regularly engaged seemed
almost to be lost sight of by him.
Year: 1876

The Oxford Rieochet had better wait
until their record is finished before it ar
raigns the Representatives of Lafayette
in the matter of the public printing.
They will be able to show that they CO.
operated in reducing the rates to a just
and economical standard, and that that
branch of the service will present, under
Democratic rule, more signal example
of reform that any other.
Year: 1876

the want Of this sharpening influ-
ence, they are as easy dupes as he
pictures them to their keen, rapa-
cious Chinese neighbors. Yet his
own dealings with this simple
people furnished SO apt a contrast
to the graSping temper that we
cannot do better than conclude
with an example of their method of
transacting business. The mission
airy having offered a Tartar Lama
scales to weigh the silver rendered
in payment of a sheep, the Tartar
stepped backward and throwing up
his hands cried out, "Above there
is a heaven, below there is an earth,
and Buddha is the master of all
things. He desires all men to treat
each other as brothers. You are
of the West, am of the East. Is
that any reason why our dealing
should not be frank and true? You
have not cheapened my mutton;
take your silver unweighed.
Year: 1876

WHEN we had single executive officer,
the mayor, We knew who was responsible.
Then we had but one kind of pavement
Then we were not satisfied, and we OBJ
tanned Board of Public Works numbering
five persons; the result was five or six
kinds of pavements, and they were all
claimed by their inventors TO be the best;
but this board was objected to and ruled
out, and We obtained a trinitarian execu-
tive. This trinity determined that con-
crete pavement was the best, all things
considered, and they laid considerable of
it. But this Democratic ex Confederate
House does not approve Of our trinity. 1t
is evident, however, that the objection is
rather TO the persons of which it is com
posed than TO the trinity itself, for it has
provided triple commission to lay pave
ment on Pennsylvania avenue, which, we
are told, has determined to lay three kinds
of best pavements between the Capitol
and the Treasury. This is one apiece 1t
is enough to make us sigh for the good old
days Of the mayoralty again. But seri-
ously, there have been experiments enough
made in this District In the paving line to
enable three such men as Wright Gilmore
and Clarke to find best kind; to determine
whether concrete, Grahamite or Neuchatel
Is best adapted to this latitude. Let US
have clean thing, and not an elegant
piece of patch work. Select the best sam
pie of the pavement that has thus far
proved most durable, and give an Avenue
of that
Year: 1876

Restore the rights and values of the sill
yer coins Make them legal tender as of
yore! 1t was wrong to even partially de-


monetize silver at time when we were
struggling to achieve specie payments


The people were not appreciatively aware
of what was being done or it would not
have been accomplished. 1t is even doubt
full whether Senators and Representatives
who voted for it were fully aware of the
effect of their action upon the market
values of silver and gold respectively. and
its consequent effect upon the resumption
of specie payments. We measure values
by standard money. The expulsion of sill


yer from the coin family when we were
making every effort to make our green
backs par left gold alone as the indicator
of values. The immediate effect was to
greatly increase the purchasing power of
gold to the advantage of those holding coin
bearing securities, and to correspondingly
cheaper the purchasing power of silver to
the great detriment of those who produced
it, and of those also who were obliged to
pay coin interest. 1t was therefore this
movement which, perhaps, did more to
cause the reyulsion of 1878 and the shrink
age of values of IA, rs and '76 than all
Year: 1876

When the Democratic House of Repre-
sentatives assembled in December last
they saw clearly that there were but two
measures upon which they could hope to
advance the interests of their party. First,
to blast the reputation Of prominent Repub-
lican officials, and to convict the Admins
tration of great abuses Of public trusts; and
second, to reduce the appropriations and
thus to win the appreciation which is sure
to follow the supercedence of extravaganza,
by retrenchment and economy. Their
failure in the first of these efforts is too
conspicuous for discussion. With the ex-
ception of the downfall of one unhappy
man no Republican Official has been
proved recreant to a public trust, and
all the thirty odd investigations have
signally failed, notwithstanding the fact
that during their prosecution the drag
net has been cast over slums and sewers,
taken into prisons and lunatic asylums, and
embraced as its choicest sources of evidence
those worthless and dishonest public
servants who during the last eight years
have been dismissed from office by Re
publican Administration, and who gladly
embraced the profered opportunity of per-
sonal revenge.


The attempted tragedy has turned out a
farce. Not an iota of evidence can be ad-
duced to prove that the Government has
been defrauded by the value of a dollar,
except by those disgraced officials whom
the Democrats have taken to their embrace
for party ends. Foiled in this effort to
break down the Republican party, des-
perate charge was made upon the appro-
priations, and when the last bill was sent
to the Senate the Democracy kicked up,its
heels and shouted, Thirty nine millions
"saved, and the Republican party con.
"victed of wasteful extravaganza"


It needed a clear head and mind well
informed as to the needs of the Govern
ment to sharply analyze these loud preten-
sions, and to show how much is real and
how much spurious economy. That work
has been done in a handsome and states
manlike manner by Senator Window,
chairman of the Senate Committee on Ap-
preparations Boldly attacking the citadel
in which the enemy had at last entrenched
himself, and for eight long months stored
ND ammunition for the campaign, the Sen
ator has touched touched the fuse with the
torch of his searching analysis and blown
Year: 1876

other things combined. While it deprived
the Government of the power to redeem
its greenbacks by the enhancement Of the
value of gold coin, it equally enhanced the
value of the security pledged for the safety
of the National bank note. At about the
same time that Congress demonetized sill
yer, thus nearly doubling the value of gold
as was seen by the shrinkage of real estate
in New York and Chicago by fifty per
cent, and, of course, doubling the value of
gold d-bearing bonds, it passed an act allow
ing the banks to deposit greenblcks worth
eighty six cents as security for the redemp-
ton of National bank notes, and withdraw
gold bearing bonds worth thirty per cent.
more.


OF course many shrewd bankers began
to curtail their circulation and realize on
their bonds while they had the gol1en
opportunity. And this class now oppose
the reconciliation of silver by its restora-
tion to its old status of full legal tender.
But this is sbort-sighted policy, because
the inevitable result of making and con
tinuing gold coin as the sole measure of
values in this country will not only defer
resumption, but break the best customers
of the banks. The reaction of such gen
eral bankruptcy will break the banks them
selves. The only safe way out of this
dilemma appears to be an immediate re-
tracing of our steps on this silver question.
We are in no condition TO persist in the
demonetization of silver. The act of 1873
should be repealed at once. The burdens
of the people are nearly doubled by the
asnihilation of one half of that CON in
which all public obligations must be paid.
They feel the increasing pressure day by
day and are awakening to the cause. They
will sweep away in their hot wrath the
fimsy pretenses which the gold ring is
pleading as an excuse for this deadly blow
to industry and trade. 1t is not safe for
any man or party TO halt when the right is
as clear as the noon day sun.


A gentleman who has just returned from
an extended tour of observation in the
Western and Northwestern States informs
us that In conversation with business men
of all classes he has not found single ad-
vocate or apologist for the decentralization
of silver. Only two prominent Western
journals sustain this wrong. The Chi
cago Times and the St. Paul PtO-
ncer. Press Tribune are its only advo-
Gates. The residue Of the Western
press is a unit in favor of honesty to
the labor of the country as well as to its
creditors. We must be just to ourselves
while we are just, not to say generous, to
the holders of our securities. This is the
crowning question Of the hour. To ignore
it is moral treason to the rights and inter
ests of the people. To neglect it as party
is little short of political ldiocy. Let all
other measures wait on this. This OBJ
noxious statute must he repealed. The
people are crying out for its repeal, and
no man or party can safely refuse their just
Year: 1876

THERE is one very direct road for the
paving commission TO proceed without
difficulty. 1t is the one pointed out by us
some days since, viz: Select the best sam
pie of pavement, pay the royalty for its
use and lay 1t yourselves by days work.
In this way only can you be sure that you
will get what you contract for. In this
way the contractors expected profits will
go into the pavement or remain in the
Treasury
Year: 1876

bachelor, would take as much interest in the
multiplication of the species as he did in
urging young men not to enlist in the war Of
the Union, the dear people might possibly find
something in him worthy Of respect, if not adj
miration.


The Indian haters are crying 'Sitting Bulls
Sioux will Lot strike without having the ad-
vantage of their foe.'' True; neither will
Crock nor Terry strike until they have the ad-
vantage. That was the trouble with the
lamented Custer. He did not have the ad
vantage of his dusky opponent.


In response to the sentiment of "BristOw aud
Jewell, two noble brothers." made at the Cap
itol by an admirer of those two distinguished
gentlemen, the reply made by a member of
Congress from Maine was "A race for the
White House-Bristow and Jewell united in
life in death not divided"


A Boston physician says that passionate love
brings on most of the heart disease cases.
This is the key TO the mystery of the preva-
lence of this affliction in America. Here ami
there and on all sides old and young men are
falling about us, and they call it apoplexy,
epileptic fits and vertigo, when, according to
this learned devotee of the Esculapian art, it
is nothing but the result of too passionate
love. But doctors disagree.


Yesterday Mr.. Singleton made speech in
the House, and commenced it by saying that
"it was no pleasure for him to discuss this
subject" The subject he referred to was the
condition, political and social, Of Mississippi.
We are not amazed that he should not find
any pleasure in discussing the subject. An
accomplice to a crime never takes pleasure in
rejecting on his culpable acts. A man who
robs another of his worldly effects never enjoys
meditating on his crime. Neither can Mr..
Singleton, who aided and abetted the Ku-Klux
of Mississippi in robbing the colored race of
their elective franchise privileges, take pleas
ure in discussing the questions which have
arisen from the result Of the infamous out
rage. Lady Macbeth, in her despair, cried,
"Out, out, damned spot ~ but the blood of
her victim would not be cleansed away. So it
is with Singleton. The work OF his banditti
rests heavily on his conscience. He takes no
pleasure in recalling their deeds. The blood
of the three hundred negroes who were slain
on the highways of Mississippi and " lost in its
swamps" cries out against him, and he shrinks
from the appalling influence. The forty thou
sand colored voters of that great Common
wealth, who we're disfranchised by his lawless
thugs and bully-raggers, are living witnesses
against the new conspiracy which wrested the
State forcibly and by fraudulent means from Re-
publican power. No! Mr.. Singleton takes no
more pleasure in rejecting on these sufferings
inflicted on humanity and outrages against the
law than he does in meditating on what he
lost in the failure of the late Confederacy.
His conscience is sort of tough conscience,
but not tough enough to bear these crimes
without a 1ang of genuine regret, we hope.
Year: 1876

If Samuel j. Tilden, the hard-hearted old
bachelor, would take as much interest in the
multiplication of the species as he did in
urging young men not to enlist in the war of
the I Union, the dear people might possibly find
something in him worthy of respect, if not adj
miration.
Year: 1876

The Indian haters are crying "Sitting Bulls
Sioux will Lot strike without having the adj
vantage of their foe True; neither will
Crock nor Terry strike until they have the ad-
vantage. That was the trouble with the
lamented Custer. He did not have the ad
vantage of his dusky opponent.