smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1875

from the New York Bulletin,


The country will accept ais d most
welcome surprise the oppositionsshown
in the Ways and Means Committee on
Monday to the increase OF oftaxation re-
quested by the Secretary of the Trea-
sury. The Secretary asked for an in
crease of $50, ,000, 900 from additional
customs duties. Mr.. Wood takes the
ground that no increase is needed to
provide for the ordinary expenditures.
and that as the sinking fund already
stands $500, ,000, 900 ahead. of the legal
requirements, its demands, for this
year at least, may be allowed to stand
over. Messrs. Kelley, NiLaek, Shell
doh, and Waldron are understood to
take the same view, and there appears
to be good reason for believing that
only three out of the eleven members
Of the committee fayorgany increase of
taxation. r.. y
he Secretary of the Treasury ap-
.peared to be SO strongly backed.in his
commanded for additional taxation that
the country had resigned itself to the
fate OF increased burthens, with feel
ing that it was useless to protest against
foregone conclusion, but neverthe.
less swallowing the prospect as bitter
pill. 1t is therefore gratifying sur
prise to find the Committee of WAYS
and Means treating the question with
some regard to the interests and wish
es of the taxpayers.


The Secretary of the Treasury asks
for increased taxation of enable him
to meet the requirements of the debt
sinking fund. No one can desire to
see that fund culpably neglected, and
the Secretary's regard for maintaining
the national obligations to it will be
respected by the people, and the more
80 as it was not properly any part of
his duty to suggest the propriety of
OF making any exception to the usul
appropriation for that purpose. But
what the Secretary might not do, might
be done with the greatest propriety by
Congress For series of years of Mr..
Boutwell's secretaryship, during which
taxation was maintained at rate vast
ly in excess of the ordinary expendi-
lures, very large amount Of securities
were retired, so that the sinking fund
now stands about eight years ahead of
the requirements of the law. This
large accumulation has been effected
at the expense of a most oppressive
taxation; and that excessive taxation
has helped very directly to produce
an extreme reaction in the trade and
industries of the nation, from which
we are at present suffering. 1t is very
much due to the effects of this past
overtaxation that the revenues are now
deficient, and the question before us is
simply this;-Shall we, under these cir
cumstances, put on additional taxes to
keep up the sinking fund payments? or
shall we keepithe taxes where they are,
economize on ordinary expenditures az
far as possible, and leave any deficien.
cy on payments into the sinking fund
to be Offset by the large excess upon
past contributions?


To ask this question is to answer it.
No one familiar with the disastrous
effects of the present excessive FEEDER
al, State, and local taxation will for a
moment, suppose that the taxes should
be in any other way touched than to
reduce them.
Year: 1875

Tho Civil Rights bill passed by the
House goes to the Senate for action ir-
respective of the Senate bill, now
lodged in the House. Some doubt is
expressed-in view of the great pres.
sure of public business, including the
appropriation bills and the brief time
remaining of the session-whether the
Senate will act definitely on the bill.


1t is said chat Pinchback has address
sed a memorial to the Senators. urg-
ing them to take speedy action on his
credentials as Senator from Louisiana,
on the ground that his good name and
the interests of the State will suffer
from delay; and that he is his dis
trlbuting copies of the memorial with
own hands,
Year: 1875

WASHINGTON, February 4-The
Sergeant-at-Arms of the House pub
fishes card this evening, denying
that Congressman-elect King, Of Min
nesota, has been seen in the city since
his name was developed lin evidence
as one of the principal recipients of
the Pacific Mail subsidy corruption
fund. The fact is, that as soon as
Kings name appeared in the testimony
before the subcommittee in New
York he Immediately left Washing
ton for his home in Minnesota, from
which place he left for Canada. and
has not been heard from since. Ex
Senator Cole, of California, who was
SO iavolvcd by Irwin's testimony and
by the discovery of an eightcen-'
thousand dollar check of A. FL. Whit
ing, payable to Coles order at tho
time the latter managed the subsidy
before the Senate, has not yet been
summoned, but is to be permitted to
send on statement in which it is all
legged he will make. an explanations
satisfactory to himself, if dot to the
committee, of his connection with
that remarkable transaction.
Year: 1875

The decision delivered yesterday by the
Supreme Court of the United States affirm
ing the judgment Of the Court of Claims that
the Union Pacific Railroad Company (and,
of course, all the Pacific roads, are not bound
by law to pay the interest on the bonds
issued to them by the government until the
principal becomes due at the expiration
thirty years from their date-will
shock the public sense of justice however
conformable it may be to law. Attorney
General Pierrepont showed in his argument
by citation from the debates, that Congress
intended that the interest should be paid as
it accrued, but the Court put this line of
reasoning aside and refused to consider it,
resting their decision on the language Of the
statute itself If the decision is cor
rect the statute was huge blum
der. In addition to all the other
swindles perpetrated by this company, in
cluding the scandalous Credit Mobilier, it
artfully contrived to get law passed couched
in such language as defeats the intention of
the Congress which passed it. 1t is a most
extraordinary and unexampled thing for a
debt of thirty years to be allowed to run
through the whole period with the interest
unpaid until the principal falls due. 1t is as
repugnant to all sound business principles as
it is contrary to custom If such be the
meaning of the statute Congress did not pass
it with its eyes open, but was hoodwinked
by some of the cunning tricksters who had
the enterprise in charge


The long argument of the Court in justifi-
cation of so monstrous law does not seem
particularly pertinent All the considera-
tions founded on the necessity of the road
for purposes of national defence are
quite extraneous to mere ques-
ton of Interpretation. Of course Con-
gress recognized the necessity of the
road, or it would not have given the enor-
nous subsidies in the form of land grants,
nor have issued and guaranteed the bonds.
But it does not follow that Congress meant
to violate the plainest business principles in
allowing the bonds to run to maturity
before the payment of the interest. If
the strict wording of the statute
requires the Treasury to be thus
swindled the Supreme Court would have
discharged its duty in so declaring, without
trying to Justify Congress in passing SO alb
surd law. The Court has quite needlessly
gone out of its way to indorse blunder for
which Congress is alone responsible We
are bound to accept its decision as the true
construction of the law, but the passage of
such law was fraudulent and indefensible.
Nobody has any reason to rejoice at this de-
cision except Jay Gould and his associates,
Year: 1875

grace and disaster on the party in 1871 u
forced II to 90 out of its own ranks for
Presidential candidate and got beaten IN
1872; it caused the defeat Of the party
both in this State and this city in the late
election. 1t now seeks to save it.
self by clutching at the skirts of
Mr. Kerr and claiming his election
as a trophy of its power. Tammany
may drag him down, but he cannot lift
Tammany up. That odious band of secret
conspirators is maneuvring TO control the
next Presidential canvass, and Mr.. Kerr's
election to the Speakership is the first step
in their game 1t is something more than
mere plan to take the Speaker from the
West, in order that he may not stand in the
way of Presidential candidate from the
East ; il is a policy of ''rule or ruin" in
tended to force the democrats of the House
to such committal on an exciting public
question that the party would thereafter
stultify itself by running Western demo-
crat for the Presidency Nothing less than
this is the Tammany scheme, and nothing is
so certain to foil it as the knowledge of its
origin. When Tammany, after having been
beaten and disgraced at home, attempts
to transfer its scene of operations to
national politics and again resorts to
the stale trick of masking its character be-
hind a respectable fgurehead, it deludes
nobody but itself The democracy of other
States understand the artful underhand
ways in which Tammany influence has
been exerted to get Mr. Kerr pushed
in places remote from New York and
thereby escape detection. The plot is
perfectly seen through, and the fact that
Tammany is at the bottom of it will cover it
with democratic scorn. All the underhand
activity which has been expended during an
industrious summer and autumn, with
view to make the democratic organization of
the House a means of killing off every
Western candidate for the Presidential NOM
ination, has completely miscarried, as will
be seen when the question of the Speaker
ship is brought to a vote in the democratic
caucus
Year: 1875

Fernando Wood and the speakcrship.


We are pleased to observe that Mr.. Fer
nando Wood has withdrawn from the con.
test for the Speakership. In view of all the
circumstances this action on the part of Mr..
Wood is wise and proper. He could scarcely
hope for an election, and by remaining in
the field he might have done infinite harm
to his party and the country. 1t is possible
that Mr.. Wood, who is an unusually astute
and clever politician, was influenced by these
considerations in Withdrawing from the con-
test but accepting this as the fact it will not
do for him to stop here. still greater duty
is imposed upon him, for no one knows
better than he the trickery of Tammany
Hall, and no one can deal heavier blow
just now at the one-man power of that or
ganization. If he wants to place the coun-
try under still greater obligations to him for
his act of self-sacrifice he will throw his in
fuence in favor of Mr.. Randall, because to
support Mr.. Kerr would be to assist Tam
many. Should he fail to do this he will fail
in his duty and injure himself. Knowing
Tammany Hall as well as Mr.. Wood knows
it, there would be no excuse for him should
he help to fasten the rule of that odious
society upon the whole country. We hope
he will not allow any such imputation to be
fastened upon him, either by giving his sup
port to Kerr or showing lukewarmness in the
contest
Year: 1875

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF CHIEF JUSTICE
WAITE that he will under no circumstances
be candidate for the Presidency before the
Republican Convention is an example that
might well be followed by the President of
the United States, It'may be said that it is
beneath the dignity of the President to take
this step, but certainly the dignity of the
President is not less than that of the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court. If President
Grant will only follow the example of his
learned colleague in the government, the
head of the Judiciary, it will be--good for
The republican party
Year: 1875

The interest excited by the publication of
the weekly cable letter from Paris, which APP
peared in Sundays HERALD, justities us in
again drawing attention to the opening of our
Paris Office on the Avenue de pOpera. We
have attached to this Office reading room
containing newspapers from all parts of the
world, and especially from the United States.
We have on file at this time over two hundred
and thirty American journals, representing
thirty-nin States of the Union, so that any
citizen sojourning in the capital of France
or travelling over the Continent will
find all that there is of America
in the way of journalism in the Paris
Office of the HERALD. This makes our
Paris Office the rendezvous or the focus
around which continental travellers cluster.
Heretofore Americans were driven to the
banking house and hotel rooms for sight of
an occasional newspaper from home There
was no general place where they could meet
and compare notes and feel that they were
in the atmosphere of home. The Paris Office
of the New YORK HERALD supplies this want
and illustrates more and more the tendency
of journalism to bring the great cities of the
world together.


Whatever we may think of the French
people and their character, their customs
and their government it is certain that we
are largely dependent upon France. In our
art literature and drama and fashions France
is the source from which we derive q great
deal that tends to beautify and illuminate
our social life in America. Therefore when
o journal like the HERALD finds itself tele-
graphing every week q special letter from
Paris we are simply answering the same de-
mand which made us years ago telegraph
letter from Washington. The telegraph is
SO universal in its range, 50 swift and so
accurate in its service, that the true journal
Is compelled to use it for every purpose.
There is no more reason why citizen of
New York who reads the HERALD should have
to wait two weeks for news of the last play
of Dumas, or the latest fashion, or the gov
erning sensation in Paris, than that
we should have to wait for stage coaches
and the mails to bring us in the
detail of the debates in Washington Paris
20 90 nooA W No" AoAh Dy CcioSIaPn 10
Washington. To be sure the distance
makes telegraphing more expensive, but
this is q question that cannot be con-
sidered by an enterprising journal. Our
duty is to utilize any agent which enables
us to print to-day the news of yesterday. If
that agency costs us seyenty-five cents or
dollar word, as is the case with the cable
news, or only few cents, as is the case with
dispatches from Philadelphia and Washing
ton, that is our concern. The public has its
rights which the true newspaper is only too
glad to respect.
Year: 1875

THE FUNERAL SERVICES in Boston yester-
day over the remains Of the late Vice Presi-
dent Wilson were Of the same imposing
character rs in Washington and in this city.
il was only when he was dead that the coun-
Try knew how profoundly the homely virtues
and sincere patriotism Of Mr.. Wilson we're
respected, and the death Of few Of our public
men has been attended with such general
and widespread grief His remains will be
finally inferred at Natick tomorrow.
Year: 1875

ganization from the continued reticence OF
President Grant as to the third term. The
President does not seem disposed to follow
the example of the Chief Justice. We have
only to say that if he allows his ambi-
tion to exceed his patriotism, and if he still
clings to the idea that his name or military
exploits or political power make him an in.
evitable candidate, it will be--bad for the re-
publican party
Year: 1875

themselves that parties can be kept within
the bounds of decorum and be made to pay
a due regard to the public welfare in select
ing their nominees" Upon this record Mr.
Dana would carry the city by furious ma
jority, and we do not know but that, after all,
he becomes the most available of all candi-
dates to succeed Mr.. Wickham.
Year: 1875

restraining the railroad company from tho
contamination of this purpose. Upon the
order to show cause why the injunction
should not be continued the whole question
was argued yesterday, but the decision is
reserved. The arguments in behalf of the
injunction are at best only technical, and we
see no reason why commerce should be i'm
peded by legal bubbles.
Year: 1875

THERE Is ONE FACT which ought to be re-
membered by democrats, especially in con-
sidering the Presidential question and the
Speakership. They cannot go into bust
ness on a national basis and take charge
of the country with success upon any
honest man in the New York democracy
and Mr.. Kerr the only honest democrat in
Congress. This is the nature of the present
canvass for the Speakership in Washington.
1t is danger that the democrats should avoid,
because if the country should take them at
their word it might turn out-Jad for the
democratic party
Year: 1875

The fact that Mayor Wickham contem-
plates retiring from the Mayors Office
and, resting as he does under the ostracism
of the last municipal election, he cannot re-
tire at too early day-should stimulate him
to do something to vindicate the confidence
of his friends who chose him to the honor
able position of Mayor. He should rise
above the temptations and alliances of
political schemes and remember that he was
thrown overheard by Tammany Hall in the
crisis of the last campaign. He has taken
occasion to say hundred times that this
treatment was harsh and unjust to the last
degree. Now, let him go a step further.
Let him say that he will use his patronage,
not for Tammany Hall, not for John Kelly
nor any other John, nor for political leaders
or bosom friends, but for the people.
Let him begin this new departure
by nominating some such man ms John t.
Agnew to be Commissioner of Public Works,
in place of Fitz John Porter. A nomination
of this kind--like the action of President
Grant in calling Bristow and Pierrepont to
his Cabinet at n time when everybody sup
posed the administration was going to the
devil-will do more to restore public conf
dence in the Mayor and to enable him TO re-
tire with honor at the spring election than
anything else he can do.
Year: 1875

The SAVINGS BANK SCARE continued yester-
day. and there was q run on one or two
of the suspected institutions, but no addi-
tional suspensions took place Now is the
time to stop all unsound banks for savings.
and no other course will satisfy the public,
in view Of the revelations OF the last few
days.
Year: 1875

The TWEED SUITS There is some pros
pect that the Tweed suits are to be tried at
last, the cases having been placed on the
calendar for the month We trust that moth
ing will be allowed to interfere to prevent
the trials
Year: 1875

The fact that the Attorney General has
concluded to prosecute the leading members
of the Brooklyn city government is of deep
interest from two points of view. In the
first place, it shows that Governor Tilden is
bent upon reforming this end of the State
as well as the canal regions; and in the
second place, if these officers of the Brooklyn
Ring are innocent of the crimes charged
against them, the sooner that fact is proved
the better for themselves and the public
morality. We do not express any opinion
as to their guilt or their innocence, except to
say that we trust that they will be
speedily tried and, if innocent, released
from the odium that has fallen upon
them. Public opinion has become disgusted
with the reiteration of these charges against
tho rulers of great cities like New York and
Brooklyn. Now, If these men are not guilty,
then it is due to the public that they should
be promptly and thoroughly acquitted. If
they are guilty they should be punished
with a severity which we need not attempt
to exaggerate We trust that the trials of
the Brooklyn Ring will be more successful
in attaining the ends of justice than the trials
of the New York Tammany Hall leaders.
The result Of the trials in this city is to
demonstrate that the law is almost helpless
for the purpose of protecting the people
against the peculations of men in authority.
We trust that different state of affairs will
be found in Brooklyn. If the members of
the Ring are guilty let them be punished
and the Ring smashed. If innocent they
cannot be in too much Of hurry to demon
strate that fact before the court and jury.
Year: 1875

IT Is SAID that Sunset Cox is claiming to
have ten, or fifteen, or twenty, or we don't
know how many votes as candidate for
Speaker. Sunset Cox should not throw
himself away upon contingent of this
kind-personal friends who vote for him as
they would drink glass of wine with him,
in courtesy and friendly feeling He should
take his contingent, if he really has any,
over to the banner Of Randall, Of Pennsyl-
vania who represents the backbone of the
democratic party. If he does not we are
afraid that Sunset Cox will find the sunset
Of his political life really at hand He can
not afford to throw his canvass away on
champagne cocktail votes, which are the
most plentiful about Washington before an
election like this, but which never amount
to anything when the votes are really
counted Above all, Mr.. Cox must not, from
apathy or supineness, or even from any
direct action Of his own, contribute to any
action that will tend to nationalize the influ-
ence of Tammany, or aid in the election of
any Tammany candidate for Speaker. Such
q course will make him more odious in our
New York politics than If he had voted for
the salary grab ten times over
Year: 1875

The EXAMPLE or CHIEF JUSTICE WAITE
in retiring from all competition for the Pres
idency and declining positively to be named
in connection with that nomination suggests
the danger that threatens the republican or
Year: 1875

The PANAMA RAILROAD COMPANY having
determined to establish line Of steamships
to be run in competition with the Pacific
Mail steamers an injunction was obtained in
the Supreme Court, before Judge Donohue,
Year: 1875

Ine Fun Oh steamboat kaclOSs


Mark Twain, in late issue Of the
Atlantic Monthly, speaking Of the
steamboat racing on the Mississippi in
former times, says:


s'Racing was royal fun. The public
always had an idea that racing was dam
gerous; whereas the very opposite was
the case-that is, after the laws were
passed which restricted each boat to
just SO many pounds of steam to the
square inch. No such engineer was
ever asleep or careless when his heart
was in race He was constantly on
the alert, trying gaugecocks and watch
ing things. The dangerous place was
on slow, popular boats, where the en-
gineers drowsed around and allowed
chips to get into The ''ioctor" and shut
off the water supply from the boilers.
In the flush times" of steamboating,
a race between, two notoriously fleet
steamers was an event of vast impor.
tance. The date was set for it several
weeks in advance, and from that time
forward the whole Mississippi valley
was in state of consuming excitement.
Politics and the weather were dropped,
and the people talked only Of the COM
ing race. AS the time approached the
two steamers stripped and got ready.
| Every incumbrance that added weight,
or exposed resisting surface to wind
or water, was removed. if the boat
could possibly do without it. The
'spars, and sometimes even supporting
derricks, were sent ashore, and no means
left to set the boat afoat, in case she
got aground. When the Eclipse and
the A. L. Shotwell ran their great. race,
twenty two years ago, it was said that
pains were taken TO scrape the gliding
off the fanciful device which hung be-
tween the Eclipse's chimneys, and that
for that one trip the Captain left off his
kid gloves and had his head shaved


But always doubted these things. If
the boat was known to make her best
speed when drawing five and half feet
forward and five feet aft, she was care
fully loaded to the exact figure she


wouldn't enter dose of homeopathic
pills on her manifest after that Hardly
any passengers were taken, because they
not only added weight, but they never
will trim boat They always run to


the other side when there is anything to


see, whereas a conscientious and expe.
e rience steamboatman would stick to the
center of the boat and part his hair in
E the middle with spirit level.