smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

The alarm this morning from Box 2S
brought the Department promptly to the
locality to find that the fire was again in
the Children's Home, on Third street,
between Elm and Plum.


1t is supposed to have originated from
defective fiue, and was first discovered
by an employe, Lena Wankenleldter.
Sac ran with water to throw on the
flames, but they burst out so suddenly
as to burn her very badly. She fell back
unconscious with loud cry, which
brought assistance to her and caused
the alarm TO be given.


The arrival of the fire laddies soon put
an end to the fire, which had burned
through the roof, causing damage Of
perhaps $500. The children were all at
school except six babies, which were
promptly removed, the last, a sick child.
by Robert Carter, who darted in after
the flames had made considerable prog
ress. The injured woman is sufferin 9
terribly, but it is thought will recover.
Year: 1876




Apropos of the discussion in the House
yesterday the bill for establishing Bureau of
Architecture at the national capital is no
further Mr.. Hewitt's than as he consented to
introduce it, although it doubtless has his
approval. 1t was prepared last year by the
Board of Trustees of the American Institute
of Architects after correspondence with the
Secretary of the Treasury on the subject.
The first draft was then put into the hands
of committee of eleven well-known archi-
tects selected from nine of our principal
cities for revision. We have received copy
of the bill in its revised form. A brief state
ment OF its leading provisions will, perhaps,
remove the misconceptions into which por-
ton of the press has fallen respecting its
scope 1t is a mere substitute for the exist
ing method of constructing the national pub
lie buildings. 1t is not an attempt to do
something which has not been done before,
but proposal to do in q different way what
the government has been doing for a long
period. Among the present subordinates of the
Secretary of the Treasury are Supervising
Architect, an Assistant Supervising Archi-
tect and corps of clerks, draughtsmen, pho
tographers, &c. The bill introduced by Mr..
Hewitt proposes to substitute Bureau of
Architecture in the place of these officers, and
to organize it on plan which is thought to
be more conducive to good taste and sound
workmanship in the government buildings
1t provides for the appointment by the
prau Aaraf ora1 Of Gov ant
Architect" who is to be chief of the pro-
posed bureau. The selection of this officer
is required to be made from the fellows or
associates of the American Institute of Ar
chitects as q guarantee that he understands
his profession. He is to have deputy of his
own appointment, and also one chief clerk
and such other clerical force as the business
of the bureau may require. 1t is to be the
duty of the Government Architect to make
permanent rules relating to competition,
and all plans for public buildings are
to be submitted to the free competition
of all architects. For deciding among
the competing plans board of four experts
is to be selected in each case one member to
be appointed by the Secretary of the Treas
ury, the other three to be selected by the
Government Architect from the American In
stitute of Architects, and these four, with the
Government Architect himself to constitute
the Board. The successful architect in each
competition is to prepare the drawings and
specifications, to superintend the work and
to be held responsible for the goodness of
the materials. These being the leading fea-
lures of the bill it is not exposed to the
crude objections made against it by some
writer's in ignorance of its scope and pro-
visions
Year: 1876

The Investigations of the Assembly Com
mittee on Crime last summer have led to the
introduction into the Legislature Of num-
Der of measures for increasing the efficiency
of the police force of the metropolis. None
of these seems to us to meet the exigencies of
the occasion. In the first place, it is not an
increase of the police force that is needed so
much as ON increase in its efficiency. More
intelligence is needed rather than more men.
In July last the entire police force of this
city consisted of two thousand five hundred
and twenty-seven men, and the cost of main
tanning it is equal to, if not in excess Of the
cost of the police Of London or of the Pre-
lecture of the Seine. The total expenditure
of our Department of Police reaches in
the aggregate nearly four million dollars.
The cost for the Prefecture of the Seine,
which includes not only Paris but much
contiguous territory, is only sS,993, 761 per
annum, while the entire London police falls
below four and half millions. When the
difference in population and extent between
New York and these European capitals is
considered it will be seen that our police is
much more expensive than that of either
Paris or London. An increase of the force
at this time, as suggested by the Committee
on Crime, it seems to us, would only
lead to an increase Of the expense without
adding anything to the efficiency of the de-
partment. Let it be understood that what
this city needs first of all is better police ad-
ministration, and then any legislation which
the Albany statesmen choose to afford us can
be wisely enacted. We do not think, how
ever, that Mr.. Engleharts bill for the super
vision of persons convicted of crime is a
wise measure. 1t is anti-republican in
character and tends to make the criminal
classes distinct body in every community
by keeping alive the official stigma of con-
viction. We do not want every man in this
city who has ever been at Sing Sing in the
Penitentiary to become Bob Briefly or a
Jean Vatican. 1t is amazing that in repub-
lican America and in enlightened New York
representative of the people should be
found to propose law against the princi-
pies of which Victor Hugo directed his most
powerful novel; We are not disposed to
make the wrongs so powerfully depicted in
Lies Miserables" possible in this country,
and this is the only thing that would be
achieved by enacting Mr.. Englehart's bill
into law. Evidently the young statesman
has read history to little advantage if this is
his panacea for the crimes against society
and property If we desire police efficiency
we must begin with the police, and not with
the criminals, and all our Legislation must
be directed toward making the Police De-
partment honest, intelligent and capable.
Any measure which has any other purpose
will do harm rather than good, and we pro.
test against it.
Year: 1876

amendment very shrewdly, but the evil was
that in Nthe organization of lthe Centennial
terms inconsistent with good faith were per-
mitted. The basis of the Centennial, accord
ing to the Senate debate, was private spec
ulation, however patriotically it may have
originated. The criticism we make is in
regard to the original loopholes.
Year: 1876

It. is reported that some of the gas COM
ment, which we are sure the public will be
glad to hear; for what is more human than to
rejoice when ill fortune comes upon the natu-
raj enemy. Everybody will regret that the
government is not able to deprive them of
light or infict upon them some other great
annoyance unless they pay up by the day
after tomorrow; for, as this is the way in
which all gas companies deal with persons
in debt to them, the public would like to see
how they would behave in the presence of
an opportunity to find out how it is them
selves. The reports show the Indebtedness of
the companies to the government arose some
years since, under an erroneous interpreta-
ton of the law. They were taxed on what
they sold, and should have been taxed on
what they made. This seems to imply that
they made more than they sold There is
some error here. Either in the recital of the
news or on the telegraph this story has been
jumbled so badly that it comes to the public
as the military men say 'left in front" 1t
must in fact be just the other way. No gas
company ever made more gas than it sold, but
the whole public can testify that all the COM
panies sell more than they make. If the
bills of all the customers be taken as the
evidence of what they sell, and the capacity
of their machinery as the evidence of what
they make, their sales are no doubt from
twenty-five to fifty per cent in excess of their
manufactures, and it is great mistake if the
tax was not assessed on the sales


To GET New PUBLIC BUILDING through
Congress buncombe and ridiculous under
estimation of probable cost are invariably
united. The buncombe catches the votes OF
members from the section for which the
building is intended, and the underestimate
catches the stern-browed retrenching re-
former. There is much cheap talk, but
the bill is shaved a hundred thou
sand or two and passed. Then the
building goes up and stops at the second
story for want of funds, and in a couple o.
/ years an extra half million is grumbled ovel
and finally voted. Such thing rs large
building planned on the basis Of the appro
priation has been unheard Of There should
be some legal check on the Treasury archi
tects in this matter, for without il all the fin'
retrenchment talk will go, as it has gone, fo
worse than nothing
Year: 1876

A CoRREsPoSDENT in approving the course
of the HERALD in favor of harmonious, Hail
Columbia Centennial canvass, asks how we
are to manage with Conkling and Blaine. If
Conkling is chosen President he cannot
ignore Blaine, while if Blaine is elected he
does not wish to have Conkling in the Senate
as the leader of the opposition 1t happens
that for ten or twelve years Conkling and
Blaine have not spoken They had quarrel
in the House. 1t is said that Uncle Dick
tried to make peace when he was in Congress,
but the eagle of Oneida would not have terms
with the eagle Of the Penobscot. Is there no
way of making peace? If one of these states
men is nominated the other will be expected
to support him. Now there should be "a heal
ing of this breach. 1t will be remembered
that Benton and Jackson had quarrel one
time in which severe wounds were inflicted.
But Benton became the stanch friend of Old
Hickory. Grant and Butler were at swords
points for long time but when Grant be-
came President the statesman of Essex be-
came thick and thin supporter of our second
Washington. SO that there is hope that the
Conkling- Blaine quarrel may be settled and
peace restored.
Year: 1876

SENATOR SARGENT, of California, was the
statesman who called attention to the fact
that the terms of the House amendment
TO the one million and half Centennial bill
were not construed strictly in accordance
with the law under which the Centennial cor
poration was organized. The watchfulness
of the Senator, however, did not atone for
the wrong that had already been done.
We have cited the fact that looseness in
legislation, resulting from hasty patriotic
enthusiasm, gives room for sharp practice
at law Senator Sargent cross-examined the
Year: 1876

ST. DOMINGO has its usual ragamuf1in
revolution on hand, and although Hayti is
free from that luxury the teeth of the un-
easy are watering for little bloodshed to
enliven polite affairs on their half of the
island
Year: 1876

ABDUL Azrz's DEATH at this juncture in the
affairs of the Mussulman Empire might make
ON opening for sharper treatment of the
anomaly of its existence than seems at pres
ent practicable. Anything like q war of
succession would give the hungry Christian
Powers an opportunity they could not resist.
Year: 1876

With all allowance made for the romantic
and Kaleidoscope character of the Madrid
kilograms the case. has desperate appear
ance for the cause Of Don Carlos. His great
stronghold at Estells is carried and de-
stroyed-and this was the key to the coun-
try he has so persistently held. From that
point eastward, all the way through Cata-
lonia, the mountain wall presented a con-
tinuous barrier to military approaches
northwestward to the country the
country was equally difficult 1t was only
by way of Estella that the national troops
could get into his mountain bastion; and
while he held that with force, as he did till
so lately, every attempt against him failed
there. But that has been carried, the
troops of Alfonso are inside his great natural
lines of defence, and the rest can be readily
foreseen. He is certainly no worse off than
he was in the first year of his conflict as to
position, but his followers have likely lost
heart, and much of his best material is
doubtless by this time under ground. His
adversary, on the contrary, has changed in
the other direction. Then Carlos faced a
distracted country. There was Communism
in Barcelona, Communism in Andalusia,
and an almost helpless government at Mad
rid-without men, without money, without
morale. Alfonsos government if not first
rate, is great improvement on that and has
good army and apparently, the confidence
of the country-and these are all that is
necessary to give the finishing stroke to
Carlos.
Year: 1876

should have been given to the introduction
of all discriminating facts. The investigation
should have been thorough and complete,
so that there should be no opportunity to
say he escaped by technical objections. He
asked for court of inquiry because all
kinds of evidence could have been intro
duced, but on the trial in st. Louis his
lawyers made the mistake of opposing all
evidence AS it is, General Babcock will be
censured because of what the jury did not
hear in the way Of evidence.


The general feeling, however, without dis
tinction of party, will be one of congratula-
tion. We cannot but felicitate the General
upon his escape from doom compared with
which death would have been nothing, He
is entitled to the amplest measure of vindi-
cation. He has gone through terrible
ordeal, and he brings out of it his honor, his
freedom and his rank. More than all, the
verdict vindicates the President. Every
good American will rejoice at this result
for to-day at least, leaving minor considera-
tions to another time.
Year: 1876

We note among the virtues accorded to tho
late Reverdy Johnson desire to "place the
freedom of the press on a safe foundation"
1t seems that the distinguished lawyer was
in dread lest in our drifting away from the
constitutional limitations imposed upon US
by the fathers we should do something to
limit the freedom of the press. We appre-
ciate the efforts of the lamented lawyer, but
so far as the freedom of the press is con-
cerned there has been more cant written
than on most subjects, and that is saying
good deal There is no institution so free
in this country as the press. If there is any
weakness in the law it is in the other direc-
ton. We have law of libel, but it is a
dead letter. This is partly because there is
no paper of any standing which is not strong
enough to fight any libel suit 80 as to ex-
haust an ordinary suitor. The laws de-
lays are proverbial, but we never brought
them to perfection until within the past few
years. 1t took three years to try Scannell
for murder. and although Tweed's thieveries
were known as far back as 1870, we are only
now trying him for his gains. 1t is not
rougn estlmate TO say that In the last ten
years there have been about hundred thou
sand libels in New York, and we do not
know that there has been single successful
action at law for one of them. The truth is
that the recklessness with which some of our
papers assail private character has led to in
difference on the part of the people. The
way to remedy this is for editors to advance
the standard of criticism, and for our legis-
latures to make law that will deal with a
case of libel as with burglary. The libel
is much worse than the burglary. In the
one oil that is lost is some trumpery prop
erty, while in the other it is a reputation,
often the result of long years of labor, and
the only capital its possessor owns. Editors
have nothing to fear from a severe LIBEL law.
We fear the license of the press more than
its freedom.
Year: 1876

The STRATH-CLYDE DISASTER. at is high
time that reckless seamanship leading to the
loss Lives should be punished as crime.
The action of the Coroner's jury at Deal,
England, in returning verdict of man.
slaughter against the officer in charge of the
Franconia at the time of the collision will be
approved by the public and all thorough
seamen. Inquiries ending in mere
censure have little or no effect, reckless
captains acting in defiance of all reprimands,
just as big bullies on express wagons believe
that no matter what the rules of the road,
the weakest should go to the wall. They
have the biggest ships and therefore all
smaller craft should look out for themselves.
To cool the ardor of some of these officers by
consigning them to prison where they can
serve as beacon to their brother bullies of
the sea will render navigation safer and do
something to restore public confidence in
travelling by water
Year: 1876

Senior Castelar, ON the French Assembly.


The French Assembly which expired at
the beginning of the year has had many
critics, and their judgments have been very
various. It's history was one of surprises,
which, on closer view we trace to the num-
Der of parties SO nicely balanced that per-
manent advantage could not accrue to any OF
them. The shifting of groups, the machina-
tions of intriguers, the strenuous intolerance
of leaders all tended to prevent any party
from assuming the role of conqueror whose
caucus made the law. Yet, divided as it
was, it had to give the nation a reason for it's
existence, and this was only to be done by
assuming the formation of permanent gov
ernment To carry out this it had to COM
promise at every step. Thanks to Gambetta,
whose strong but then unframed hand took
up the sceptre of power in the peoples name,
insensate trickster of Sedan, the Assembly
met under the auspices of the Republic.
Shadowy as the Republic then seemed, in
the hands of its enemies as it was, it has
proved immovable. 1t had possession, and,
while its foes wrangled to overturn it, its
foundations were sinking deeper and deeper
until they rested upon the bedrock of the
national common sense. While this process
was in progress the monarchists and Bona
partists of the Assembly had to keep on
building the superstructure of the con-
stitution. They would attempt to sink
inches for saints here and shape pedestals
for princes there, but they could not agree
on the designs, and so all their work made
for the practical Republic which France has
at length proved herself able to enjoy. To
sketch these dainty masons of the monarchy
and vulgar bricklayers of Bonapartism assist
ing in building the temple of the Republic,
and many of them falling in love with their
work as it progressed, is task worthy of a
brilliant pen, and such one is to be found
in the hands of Emilio CASTELAR,.


Too full of the warm love for democratic
institutions to dwell upon the exquisite
irony of fate visible in this scene of the
slaves of caste piling up the walls of a tenn
pie of Freedom, he paints it in rich colors
and with marvellous breadth of treatment





In the foreground are seen the figures that
move and talk and preach and fret and fume
amid the historic surroundings of the the
atre at Versailles. But in what wonder
full lights he paints them The faint
glow of classic remembrances, the
transient CLEAN of the lurid cannon
flash, the dim sombre light by which men
saw each other in the days of defeat, the cold
gray light of granitic facts in turn illumine
the moving figures until the whole is trans
figured in the rays of the rising sun of lib
erty. Allied to powerful mind and wide
learning Senior CASTELAR, has sad and stern
experience of government to guide his pen
His letter which we print elsewhere can
therefore can be read with pleasure and
profit
Year: 1876

and are total losses. The crews were
saved. In colnsa the levees were
broke by the food. In the Sacramento
river bottom the whole country is
under water. Much loss Of stock, but
none OF human life Is reported. AT
Port Oxford schooner was washed
ashore and is a total loss. 1t is still
showing in the mountains and the
northern portion of the State.
Year: 1876

There Is q fellow in New York who invar-
iably gets seat in crowded street car by
carrying an old oyster can, which he dspos-
its with extreme tenderness beneath the
legs of the most timid looking passenger,
begging him for Gods sake not to move his
feet around much, for there is enough nitro.
glycerine In that can to blow up thousand
such cars. The passengers who don't hap
pen to sit in the corner eeats, generally get
out through the window, 80 that before
throwing the can away the man has
choice Of seats on both sides, with the priv
ilepe, as far az the conductor Is concerned,
of putting both cushions on one side, and
lying down with bis feet cooked upon the
indicator. Another pleasant and efficient
method is to label small valise marked
"savannah, )" and carry it with the labelled
side out, assuming meanwhile distorted
expression of countenance, as though I'll the l,s
plan is rather more genteel than the oyster
can method, and operates with equal sud-
denness,
Year: 1876

That the Reading Railroad Company Il
suffering serious embarrassment because OF
the almost universal prostration OF the IN
dustrial interests which are ordinarily large
consumers of anthracite coal, must be obvf-
GUS to every intelligent observer; and the
public should be slow to accept any OF the
readily-invented rumors Of the street I'M
pupning the direction of the company. we
are assured from q source worthy of credit
that In few days the actual causes OF the
prostration of the Reading shares Will be
known to the public, and then just criticism
and the dispassionate Judgment Of business
will excuse, justify or condemn without feal
or favor.
Year: 1876

\ HEw leather tanning process,
which was rut into operation on an eX-
tensive scale at Detroit, Michigan,
some two months ago, promises 10 be
productive of important results. The
great feature Is the short time requir
ed 10 do the work. BY the new plan
work, which under the old process re
quired one TO two years time can be ac-
complished in from three TO six weeks.
Under the old process the hides lie in
the vat with the bark many months,
the longer the better, gaining firmness
and strength with the lapse of time.
BY the new process the tanning Is
done in an hour, ami all the time spent
is that required for curryiug and dress
ing. The process is a chemical one,
performed by the action of certain in
expensive chemical materials the com
pounding of which in the right proper
tions is a secret. Robes tanned with
the hair on are said to be as soft as
the finest wool hides of the deer,
horse. dog, etc, are smooth and soft,
while calf and kid show most desir.
able texture and grain. Another
great advantage is the economy of the
process, no bark being required ex-
cept little 10 give the proper color
10 the leather.
Year: 1876

BRooM-SwEEPlNG.-lf brooms are
wet in boiling suis once a week they
viii. become very tough, will not cut
q carpet, but last much longer, and al
ways sweep like new broom. \
handful or so of salt Sp:inkled on the
carpet will carry the dust along with
it and make the carpet look bright and
clean. a very dusty carpet may be
cleaned by setting pail of cold water
out by the door, wet the broom in it.
knock il 10 get off all the drops. sweep
a yard or so, then wash the broom as
before and sweep again. being careful
to shake all the drops off the broom,
and not sweep for q time. If done
with care it will sweep carpet vary
nicely, and you will be surprised at the
quantity of dirt in the water. The
water may need changing once or
twice if the carpet is very dirty. Snow
sprinkled over 3 capet and swept off
before it has time 10 melt and disolye
is also nice for renovating soiled car.
pet. Moistened meal is used with
good effect by some housekeepers
The broom wears out carpet quite as
much as feet do.