smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1875

Some of our newspapers are discussing
the propriety of the government founding a
national university at Washington. 1t is
said that if the army were cut down one-half
and the present expenses in transporta-
ton and quartermasters supplies saved that
we could endow a university equal to Ok
ford, Cambridge or the great schools of Ger
many. The question of establishing q
national university was considered as far
back as the time of John Quincy Adams.
That President did not approve Of it, for
constitutional reasons.


We do not know whether these reasons
still exist During the fifty years that have
intervened our old constitution has had
many wrench and twist. What might have
been impossible to an Adams would be en-
tirely feasible to Grant. Whether, even if
such a matter were considered, it would be
wise for the government to found a new uni
versity or to strengthen existing ones is a
problem. Already we have several flourish
ing colleges in America, and although none
of them can compare with the universities of
Europe it is too soon to expect this in q
young country. We believe in lessening the
number of our colleges instead Of add
ing to them. We should like to see a great
university in New England, and others in
the Middle States, the West, California, the
South. Cambridge, New Haven, Princeton,
Detroit, Williamsburg st. Louis, New Or
leans and San Francisco all have colleges of
varying excellence. If the government could





assist these institutions SO as to bring them
up to the standard of the great universities
of Europe it would be wise expenditure of
money. AS we understand the plan that is
now discussed, it is to found national
university at Washington on the plan of the
Naval Academy and West Point. That is to
say, the government shall endow the college
and the President and members of Con-
gress shall have right to nominate
students to its classes, as they now
have to nominate cadets to West Point
and Annapolis. The effect of this would be
to have students from every section of the
country. The national influences which
would be strengthened by this relation
would be profitable. Washington is well
suited for a great university The largest
library in the country is in the Capitol.
There are many museums and institutions of
art, science and learning. The sessions of
Congress, the society of the foreign Ministers
and the general tendency to make Washing
ton the winter capital would all add to the
value of university life. We would be glad
to see a university in Washington, national
in its character. To that extent we approve
the plans discussed by our contemporaries.
At the same time it is worthy of thought
whether it would be wise for the government
to take an active part in the founding of
such college, and especially whether more
harm than good would not come from the
creation of a university on the principles
governing Annapolis and West Point.
Year: 1875




The Sun confirms the appren tensions
expressed by the HERALD some time ago
that movement was on foot TO place the
telegraphic service Of the country in the
hands of a speculator. 'We learn" says
the Sun, ''that jay Gould is making an ex-
traordinary effort to get control of the West
ern Union Telegraph Company in the annual
election which occurs early in October. To
do this it is not necessary for him to buy
a majority of the stock, a sufficient
mass of proxies will be quite as
effectual For this purpose he is employ
ing an ingenious novelty, believed to be of
his own invention A great proportion of
the company's shares are in the hands of
brokers, who have advanced money upon
them to spectators by whom they have
been purchased. For the transfer of such
shares Mr.. Gould, as we are informed, is now
paying a neat commission. The shares after
being transferred are at once handed back to
their holders, so that they are in no danger
Of being sold by the new ostensible owner,
and can be transferred back again upon the
books of the company after the election
This secures to Gould or his representative
the right to vote upon these shares, and,
should he succeed by this means in getting
command of the company and electing a
board of directors to suit himself, he will
thus gain the power of distributing, after the
old Erie fashion, that immense part of the
company's stock which is held by it as re-
serve"


The explanation which the San gives of
the way by which Mr.. Gould is to obtain the
control of this great national franchise is in
teresting as showing the danger which is
constantly threatening our telegraph sys-
TEN. Without entering into the question of
the wisdom of postal telegraph in this
country, it is impossible for us to permit the
telegraph to be made mere football for dar-
ing spectators. Jay Gould has shown what
he could do with the Erie Railroad. He
made that company infamous in the
eyes of all prudent money lenders by
his operations in its management and
brought SO much discredit upon the
American name abroad that we could well
have afforded to pay millions of dollars
to have it otherwise. When he was turned
out of the direction he made restitution" of
millions Of property, which, by this act
alone, he admitted he had unlawfully taken
from its treasury. Now to put such a
man in charge of our telegraphs is to give
him dangerous control over our business
and commerce, our private, political and
social life. The telegraph system is only
another phase of the postal system. 1t is
the improved post Office. The time must
come when we will have to consider whether
it is not necessary for the good of the people
that the government should control this
great machine. The surest way to bring
that time about is to allow it to fall into the
hands of rapacious and desperate gambler
like Jay Gould.
Year: 1875

General Sherman is the best random speech
maker in the country. His studies in the
artillery may have cultivated natural fac
ulty for getting the range of things in next to
no time, but whether for that or some other
reason there is no other man called upon
from time to time to air his vocabulary before
miscellaneous audiences who so readily
falls into sympathy with the people about
him, or more infallibly grasps the central
thought of the occasion, or puts it more
clearly and vigorously in good words. His
speech at Utica is a new evidence of his felic-
ity in this respect, and its tribute to General
Thomas evidently reached every heart of
those who knew that stanch and typical
! soldier. General Sherman touched upon a
topic of some quaint interestr-the circum-
stance of the naming of armies from rivers
and said 'this has been the fashion for years
with different nations, and 1 will take occa-
sion here to say that 1 do not know the reason
why" In another part of his speech he said,
''War consists in accomplishing some direct
result" and he might have added that at
least eight times in ten this result is accom-
plished in the valley of some river, great or
small, or at point that is necessarily reached
by march up or down some watered valley.
Indeed the relation of armies to rivers in
war is constant, and is, of course, as familiar
to General Sherman as to other soldiers. So
simple q circumstance as the mere want,
twice day at least, Of an enormous guam
tity of water that could only be supplied
Ic r r


low the line ofa stream and camp on its banks
or near some tributary; but this might be
forced still more imperatively by the fact that
rivers are natural lines of highwav-the un-
obstructed routes of the primitive world
and war, that destroys other routes, always
brings humanity to its primitive needs in
this respect. These points may be seen
more clearly on the map of France than else
where, for there the geography gives unusual
Importance, in q military sense, to the rivers,
and in that country this mode of designating
armies was first, perhaps, systematically
adopted. In the wars of the French Revolu-
ton there were the armies of the Rhine. OF
the Moselle, of the Sambre and Meuse, and
so on. That is to say, armies were formed
to defend the country from enemies ap-
proaching by those valleys, or to invade for
eign territory in turn by those lines; and
the indication naturally was that the Army
of the Moselle was ''the army formed to
operate in the valley of the Moselle;" but
all that was shortened to the name ''Moselle
Army" for convenience. Subsequently an
army named from one river might cooperate
in operations on other rivers, as when
our Potomac army operated on the James
and even then, though the original signifi-
cance is lost, the name adheres because q
definite designation is always useful. There


is poetical spirit in every true soldier, and
to such a spirit there is an appeal and an
identity in such names that is superior to
what can be obtained by the numerical desig-
nations of First Army" Second Army"
&C., as employed in Germany.
Year: 1875

CoAL-No subject can be of greater
interest to all classes at this time than the
price of coal during the approaching winter.
AS is the case nearly every autumn, dealers
are already putting up the prices, and the in
crease, as usual, will fall most heavily upon
the poor. This is an injustice that ought to
be remedied, and it would be if there was suf-
ficient regard for business honesty in the
community to make the combinations of the
operators and the transportation companies
disreputable.
Year: 1875

Of the papers read before the British Asso-
citation at the beginning Of this month, one
of the most interesting was a report from a
committee appointed two years ago to con-
slider the combinations of capital and of la
Dor. The English papers give a somewhat
meagre summary of this report, from which
we learn that the general question before the
committee was whether combinations, either
of capitalists against laborers or of laborers
against capitalists, can affect the rate of wages
permanently The committee answer No,
as was to be expected. They admit what is
claimed by the trades unionists that the ef-
forts Of the unions have at times and in some
notable cases succeeded in extorting higher
wages from employers and Professor Leone
Levi added that the unions had in some in
stances been able to accelerate the operation
of natural laws, but that also their acts often
checked production.


On the whole, the report if we may judge
of it by the summaries at hand, is inconclu-
sive, and so far weak. 1t expresses no de-
cided opinions on some of the most vital
and interesting parts of the labor problem.
The committee hesitates to condemn restric-
tions on production where these have in view
the raising of prices, and the most important
advice it has to give is that employers and
laborers should advise with each other, and
conduct their affairs amicably.


That is perfectly sound advice, but it does
not cover the ground. Nor, indeed, did the
questions before the committee have scope
enough. The difficulties between capital and
labor are greatly increased, if they are not
mainly caused, in England, by over produc-
tion, which causes periodical gluts in the
market, stagnation in trade stoppage of mills
and works and lack of employment The
real problem before the civilized world is
how to carry on the great operations of in
dustry in such way as to make
them constant, to relieve them from
the periodical losses inflicted by over pro-
duction and stagnation. It is doubtful if
even such wise bodies as the British Associa-
ton or our own Social Science Association
can contrive any 'Morrison's Pill" to use
Thomas Carlyles phrase, for the disease of
the industrial world. But careful inquiry
and investigation, made by the leading
economists of both continents, would be of
extraordinary value as q help toward the
solution of what is, on the whole, the gravest
problem of the present century. Few
thoughtful men are content to believe that
industry must continue forever to vibrate
between feverish activity and panic stagna-
tion, and that the millions of laborers must
of necessity remain the helpless sport of cir
cumstances. The trades unions have in a
purblind way sought some remedy, but, on
the whole, they have rather aggravated the
disease. In this country, for instance, they
neither did anything to prevent the present
deplorable stagnation nor are doing any
thing to remedy it. We hope the British
Association will try again, and we should
like TO see it appeal for help to the econo-
mists of the United States, Germany and
France.


TuAT rrr-p aN-r, Cr.r t1,o Count
Year: 1875

Some months since the country was graft
fed to hear that the reform lawyers had put
the hand of the law upon the millions of
property which had formerly belonged to
William M. Tweed, but which, in anticipa-
ton of these complications he had trans
ferred out of his hands. We were then told
that the result of these suits would be that
the city would realize largely upon the sales
of the property which had been purchased
by money stolen from the Treasury. But
Tweed's lawyers, who had genius enough
to take him out of the prison to which he had
been Justly sentenced, are also able to
save his property. Every day or two
we read in the court reports that some
Judge has removed the lis pendens from
in Tweed's name. Perhaps in some cases
this removal is just.


We are afraid that the end will be that
when the time comes for trial Tweed's prop
erty will be as safe from the hands Of the law
as he is himself from Sing Sing. Our lawyers
are resolved to show that while in New York
the ham stealer may be sentenced to twenty
years imprisonment, the robber of millions
and the enemy of the public credit has only
to pay them half million dollars in fees to
escape. Otherwise, if the law could really
punish malefactor like Tweed, it would be
sad blow to the legal profession, and might
put an end to this profitable business which
many of them have enjoyedfor these past few
years. So long as lawyers are above the law
there is q chance for every honest attorney to
earn living from clients like Tweed.
Year: 1875

''To THE NUMBER OF FIFTY. The Ma
tional Labor and Union party, which has
been drifting about Boston for the last few
weeks, does not seem to attain encouraging
dimensions. We observe that a meeting was
held at Boston the other day at which there
were delegates present "to the number of
fifty" Although General Banks is the can
didate of this party for the Presidency he
was 'unavoidably prevented from attend
ing" Evidently the General has not much
confidence in his new body of supporters, or
he would be more diligent in encouraging
their deliberations
Year: 1875

coming and that great preparations are
making for their reception. The only ques-
ton is, how these twelve thousand additional
soldiers are to be fed but Valmaseda is
equal to the emergency. The royal decree
prohibiting the importation of American
potatoes has been set aside, and tax of fifty
cents per barrel is to be levied for the benefit
of the officials and the treasury. There is
no fear of the potato bug in Cuba while it is
possible to make money out of the esculent
Year: 1875

The EASTERN QUESTION is one Of those in
ter1ninable problems which it is not possible
for anybody to understand, but which no.
body can ignore. The latest opinion on the
subject is that of Prince Gortschakoff, in his
interview with NJ. Theirs, when he declared
that its solution would eventually consist
in granting autonomy to Bosnia and Herze-
govina. An obstacle to this settlement of the
question is the determination of Christian
nations to sustain Islam rule.
Year: 1875

Mr. BEEcHER has declined the reception
which was rendered him at the Academy Of
Music in Brooklyn on his return from his
summer vacation. This was wise, and the
announcement Of his determination will be
received with much qualifications
Year: 1875

The POLITICAL CANVASS IN MARYLAND was
opened last night at Baltimore with speech
from Mr.. Reverdy Johnson. We present
synopsis Of Mr.. Johnson's remarks this
morning, from which it will be observed
that the distinguished speaker was especially
emphatic in defending Mr. John Lee Carroll,
the democratic candidate for Governor, from
attacks on account Of his religion-Mr Car
roll being as his grandfather was before
him, a Roman Catholic We had hoped the
days Of religious bigotry had so far passed
away as to make an appeal like this unneces-
sary but it seems q political campaign is
still able to develop good deal ofintolerance.





The Truth about our financial manage
ment, and especially about Comptroller
Green, is that he is a quack, and his system,
instead of curing the city, is bringing upon
it additional misfortunes AS Mr.. Dana
tersely expressed it on recent occasion,
Green does the city as much harm by his
policy Of sitting as Tweed did by his thiev-
ing. The true way to insure municipal re-
form Is for our rulers TO bring the expenses
of the city government down to the lowest
possible figure, and having done this TO in
sist upon the people paying taxes enough
from year TO year to leave no deficit and to
pay q portion of the debt. Let us make this
a cardinal principle in our municipal re-
form.
Year: 1875

EvANGE11zAT1oS.- Mr.. Moody is still con-
tinuing his good work in Northfeld. We
trust the great evangelist will bear in mind
that the harvest in this vicinity is quite
ready for the sickle.
Year: 1875

Are the republicans in Ohio and New York
sailing under false colors They charge
their opponents with being infationists, and
this is imputed to the Ohio and Pennsylva-
MIA democrats as a serious crime 1t is truly
so, and there is no excuse for these demo-
Gratis, who are false to all the traditions of
the party and to the repeated declarations of
their own leaders during the late war. But
if the democrats, who have been out of
power and have had no control over the cur
rency since 1861, are wicked destroyers of
the public credit, what are the republicans,
who have had power all that time? What
have they done since the war closed? Have
they really done anything toward the re-
sumption Of specie payments or have they
continually inflated the currency?


The plain fact is that we have to-day,
under the rule Of the republicans more
paper money ahoat and lying idle in the
banks than we had at any time since 1865;
and not only this, but the republicans in
Congress have defeated every measure look
ing toward specie resumption and have op-
posed and crushed every sound financial
plan which has been brought forward. They
are fighting under false colors 1t is i'm
portant to make this fact plain, not only that
a false pretence shall be exposed, but also to
show to the people, misled by democratic
demagogues, that the country is not suffer-
ing from contraction, but from a vast ex-
pansion of the currency.


The truth is that we have to-day two mill
ions more paper money in circulation than in
1874; twenty-nine millions more than in
1873; forty millions more than in 1872; fifty
eight millions more than in 1871 ninety-one
millions more than in 1868. That is to say,
| during the administration of General Grant,
who is put forward as the sure and faithful
friend of a sound currency, the rag
baby has grown to the extent of
ninety-one millions. And we have to-day
one hundred and sixty-seven millions more
of paper money than in 1864, the last full
year of the war, and five hundred and fifty
three millions more than in 1859, when the
country was prosperous and everybody had
enough to eat and sufficient employment


The pretence then, that the republicans
are the friends of sound currency is as
baseless and hollow as the Ohio democratic
,pretence that the country is suffering from
contraction. 1t is ruined by expansion, and
the republicans have done the work, which
the democrats now want to do over.
Year: 1875

He is renovator, and he does not
ask for money, and this is the way he
gets at it. First. He has discov-
cred certain process for colored, and
black goods, by which after cleaning
them, no matter how faded or rusty
they may be, he restores them to their
original newness of appearance. and
then he only asks for cast off clothes
as payment for his work, so don't let
us hear any more about hard times
but muster up all your old traps, and
take them to his shop. His name is
Horatio Marteen and he keeps at No.
"a, Arcadia street, one door below
Main and adjoining Mr.. Signorets sa-
loon. decl I'm
Year: 1875

Taken in fun doses on retiring for the night, it


will be found to exert the most powerful influence
on the organs of circulation and perspiration. Per


spiration flows from every part of the body, glow


o: heat extends from head to foot every muscle and
iore is relaxed, and in state OF the most crafty


ing repose, while pain, soreness Of the bones and
muscles disappear, ard the poor sufferer, in state
OF mind at once composed and happy, sinks into a


refreshing Sleep lasting until morning from which
ne awakens a man. mild dose before break


fast and another before going ont for the day. will
prevent his taking more cold.
Year: 1875

A writer in the Galaxy says +" I'VE
drove for an hour along the southern
bank of Salt Lake, famed by the breath
of it's sea air, and looking over its waste
of waters dotted with mountain islands.
1t required but little Imagination to
transport ourselves to the shores of the
Atlantic, for extending as it does ninety
miles to the north, no land could be
seen beyond the line of the clearly dc.
fined horizon. Some years ago steam
boat of three hundred tons was built
for freight and passenger traffic, in con-
nection with the Union and Central
Pacific roads, but her fair prospects
were ruined by the construction OF the
Utah Central, aud she now lies at the
wharf, her only value being her aid in
making our imaginary ocean seem more
real. How this great basin of salt
water came to be deposited in the inte-
rior of the continent has been study
for geographers and naturaists. The
water is 30 densely saline that it is inn
possible for a body to find the bottom.
1t is capital place to acquire the art
of swimming with perfect safety. In
former times three barrels of water left
to cvaporate would produce one barrel
of salt but the freshening within the
last twenty years has 80 weakened 1T
that now four barrels of it are required
to obtain that quantity. 1t has become
fresh, therefore, in proportion of
somewhat more than one per cent.
yearly. Hence it follows that in less
than one hundred years the name OF
Great Salt Lake should be changed for
by this time it will, like Mormonism,
be cleared of all its impurities. lhave
previously noticed the regular water
lines, called benches, which are 30 dis
tinctly defined on all the mountain
ranges surrounding these various val
leys, and which afford such unmistaka


BILE evidence that in former days they
enclosed vast inland seas. The deep
alkaline soil of the bottoms has led to
the supposition that these seas were of
salt water, and that all of them, except
ing this, have been completely evapor


rated, Salt Lake being the sole survl-
vor, and that being destined to dwindle
to puddle and then to dry up forever.
But tho last part of this theory is mega
tived by tho, evident intention of the
lake to assume somewhat of its original
proportions; while it is becoming
fresher it is growing larger. Within
the twenty seven years that the country
around it has been settled it has en-.
croached all along its low banks nearly
a mile upon the land and deepened five
feet. Several fine farms are now per
manently under water, and the road on
which we travelled has been moved far
inward to accommodate its aggressive
ness. At the same time that this change
is going on atmospheric causes for a
part of it are apparent. The climate is
becoming more mild, although it is still
excessively dry. But each succeeding
season brings greater rainfall. This
has doubled within twelve years"