The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

,^7/ - , : ' V , •\'1i v- r: '.?' -?r-V'- v-v: ,$'>. •;• . IKIIIIS THE PLAINDEALER •5 J. VAN SLYKE, Editor and Pub. McHENRY. ILLINOIS HOOKING FOR SPOILS. jMOVE TO SUSPEND CIVIL SEP- VICE RULES. Pressure Brought to Bear Upon Presi­ dent-Elect McKiuley--English Resi­ dents Alarmed by Threats of Philip* pine Island Rebels. ifff* § m m KS&v •VC- i'K m EP' Blv: Many Want Pln/ces. •Washington dispatch: The strongest kind of pressure is being brought to bear Upon President-elect McKinley to induce him to suspend the civil service law until Sie can have a chance to provide patronage for a reasonable number of Republican office-seekers. It is claimed by the civil 'service commission, and by those w® as­ sume to be authority in the matter, that the President has no power to suspend the operation.of the law after the rules have been put in force, but upon this point there appears to be a difference of opinion. Gov. Grosverior, who has just returned from a conference with Major McKinley at Canton, is strongly of the opinion that the President has the authority to adopt the plan suggested and also thinks that he ought to do so. The general believes that to the victor should be distributed- n fair share af the spoils. He, like all other Republican members of Congress, is overwhelmed with demands from con­ stituents for places, and he finds there are no places to give, or only a meager al­ lowance at best. The general did not say the President-elect was impressed with the arguments brought by the spoilsmen, but he is very earnest in saying that all legitimate pressure will be brought to bear upon him to the end that Republican workers can secure more recognition than is now in sight. Foreigners in Peril. The New York Herald Thursday morn­ ing publishes a letter from Mrs. Hodson. wife of the English manager of the docks near Cavite, the center of the rebellion of the Philippines. It says the Mestisos and other native Philippine employes of the dock rose against their employers and threatened murder, even against English people, who were hitherto regarded safe, as the native hostility was believed to be solely directed against the Spaniards. Mr. and Mrs. Hodson sent notes to friends In Manila, Hong-Kong and Shanghai from their hiding place inside a large disused boiler, where they took refuge from ritle shots. Faithful natives carried their let­ ters safely. What steps were taken by the British gunboats at Manila to secure their rescue is not yet known, but it is clear that the immunity hitherto enjoyed by other foreigners than Spaniards is at an end. old one, havrag been started in New Or-1 cents. The senate has approved the meas- leans in 1849 by Nathan Koch, the senior partner. They moved to New York in 1889. Poor business, hard collections and heavy losses are the cause. . • > •. WESTERN. NEWS NUGGETS. sm An American gunboat is needed at Bangkok, Siam, where Siamese soldiers have assaulted the American vice-consul general without provocation. Swift & Co., of Chicago, have nearly completed a deal for the purchase of the St. Joseph (Mo.) stock yards and the old Moran packing plant. The purchase price Is $420,000. Major Jacob Crosthwait, who has just died in Harrison County, Ky., directed in his will the erection of a silver monu­ ment base, with "Free silver at 16 to 1" inscribed on it. Four men were crashed to death at the Wadesville colliery of the Philadelphia- Reading Coal and Iron Company by the .breaking of a rope. Considerable dam­ age was done to the colliery. The Cuban committee in Rio Janeiro continues active work in behalf of th* revolutionists. The committee Tuesday renewed its demand upon the Government for the recognition of belligerency. The demand will be answered evasively or else entirely ignored. The Seattle, Wash., Savings Bank has closed its doors, owing to heavy withdraw­ als of county funds by newly installed officers Monday. Judge Monroe, on pe­ tition, appointed H. O. Shuey receiver. The statement is made by bank officials that the affairs of the institution are in good shape, but not prepared for a run. The liabilities are $70,000 and the assets $104,000. The bank was organized in 1890 with $50,000 capital. George A. Abel, chief grain inspector of the San Francisco Produce Exchange, is dead, having been asphyxiated by gas. He was found lying on the floor and it is supposed he got out of bed to turn off the escaping gas, but was too weak. Abel •was noted as a grain expert all over the •world, and foreign buyers always requir­ ed his certificate on grain cargoes pur­ chased by them. He had been chief grain inspector for five years. Six hundred settlers, representing every section of the Chickasaw Nation, assem­ bled in convention at Ardmore, I. T., and adopted resolutions protesting against the Choctaw treaty negotiated by the Dawes commission. The terms of the treaty,4fc4s claimed, make the settlers intruders and confiscate the improvements made by them on Indian lands. S. M. Talbert, a farmer, was delegated to go to Washing­ ton and present the claims of the settlers before Secretary Francis. Trustees of the Chicago Drainage k Board, by a majority of 7 to 2, took the final step which commits them to an ex­ tension of three years in the time before Chicago ctp have pure water, to the ex- - ipenditure of nearly $8,000,000 more than § V *s at Present provided for and to the em­ ployment of a paid lobbyist. The original plan of the men who formed the sanitary £: district was to have the ditch finished in 1896. The money they told the people, the taxpayers, they would need was $30 - 000,000. ' A Rome dispatch to the London Daily News says that news has been received from Macedonia that bands of starving Turkish troops have sacked Greek and Bulgarian villages and have killed the vil­ lagers. This dispatch also says that Italy has ordered the squadron which recently returned from Turkish waters to be ready gjgipl to. start again at a moment's notice. M'• ?°hn D. Rockefeller was re-elected sup­ erintendent of the Sunday school of the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, Cleve­ land. It was announced that a donation of $20,000 had been made by Mr. Rocke teller for benevolent work. EASTERN. "Jack the barn burner" is terrorizing Buffalo, N. Y. Nine, barns were destroyed |n forty-eight hours. , Jesse Pomeroy, the notorious murderer, •serving a life sentence at Charfestowm Mass., prison, once more almost escaped {from jasl Wednesday by removing stone And bricks in his cell! His work must have , occupied weeks, and his escape would have been possible in a few hours. Kjich, Dreyfus & Co., wholesale dealers fn watches and diamonds at New York, in_ financial diffieuities. The liabili es are over $200,000. The house is an Peter Hisholm and John O'Connell, bridge workers of Chicago, were killed at Butte, Mont., by the falling of an iron truss upon which they were working,. Miss L. Drayton Astor, daughter of the late W. D. Astor, of St Louis, and gtand- niece 'of John Jacob Astor. is working , as a chambermaid in a Sedalia hotel. She is an heiress, and prefers to work rather than live on the bounty of her relatives while waiting for her fortune. Charles Nash, who is serving a year'3 sentence in the South Dakota peniten­ tiary, is reported to have fallen heir to an estate valued at $140,000 through the death of a relative in England. Nash was convicted of running a "blind pig" at Alcester. His term will expire in April. C. E. Norris, a prominent Chicago brok­ er, is forming a gigantic combine of sal­ mon packers. Norris has been in Astoria, Ore., dealing with the canning men for two years and is said to have a great deul of influence. The continuation of the combine as it existed last year follows as a matter of course. Norris' new scheme is to enlarge it and practically form a trust of all the canneries of the river. The idea suggested by Norris is that the can­ neries be allowed to retain their present brands arid names until such time as the success of the association is assured. If success should follow, a general brand Will be established. During seasons when the packs are large there is generally a rush to force salmon on the market and the price is lowered as a consequence. This will be done away with if the trust is suc­ cessful. By far the greater number of packers are in favor of the scheme. Horace Hall, a white-haired man over 60 years old, and William Rusk, about twenty-five years his junior, are in jail at Santa Rosa, Cal.*, charged with a pecu­ liar offense. Rusk's father is a wealthy citizen of Atwater, 111. The young men left home about ten" years ago. The scheme was for young Rusk to die, figur­ atively speaking, and then under the name of Brown to become administrator of his own estate. Then Hall was to write to Rusk's parents, telling them that Rusk was dead and that he had borrow­ ed $4,000 from Hall, which Brown, the administrator, refused to pay until he heard from Rusk's father. The letter was couched in sympathetic terms, but made it very plain that it was Rusk's duty to send the money to Brown so he could pay the debt of his alleged dead son. Had it not been for the Illinois farmer's desire to see the remains of his son the game would probably have work­ ed, but after telegraphing a number of times about the body to "Brown" and Hall and getting no satisfaction he be­ came suspicious, and went to see his son's remains properly interred. Hall and Rusk bitterly upbraid each other for the failure of their plan. A Pittsburg dispatch says: A gigantic project is to be carried out by a joint stock company of Western Pennsylvania mill workers. It is the building of a great iron and steel plant at Port An­ geles on Puget Sound, northwest of Se­ attle, Wash. The plant will cover thirty acres, and the cost will be about $1,500.- 000 to $2,000,000. Work will begin in the spring. Already half the stock has been subscribed by about 1,200 stock­ holders in Braddock, Duquesne, Home­ stead, McKeesport, Turtle Creek, Wil- merding, Pittsburg and Allegheny. The stock rates at $100 per share. Many of the Carnegie mill workers and West- inghouse employes are interested in the project. The plan was formulated some months ago by George M. Nimon, a pat­ tern-maker at the Edgar Thomson steel works for the last twelve years, and son of G. M. Nimon, Sr., master carpenter and pattern-maker at those works. The Board of Trade and Chamber of Com­ merce of Port Angeles offered an im­ mense bonus, which was accepted. It in­ cludes eighty acres of land for the manu­ facturing site and 200 acres for a town site, with right of way for tracks to the Port Angeles wharves, where is water deep enough for heavy draught ships, with 500 feet wharfage, and water power and right of way to develop the same. Hi, m.. -v WASHINGTON. The Pacific funding bill was defeated in the house Monday by a vote of: Yeas. 102; nays, 168. This kills the measure outright. The papal delegate at .Washington, Archbishop Martinelli, has received dis­ couraging news from his vicar general, Roderiquez, in Rome, regarding the rebel­ lion in the Philippine Islands. In an in­ terview Mgr. Martinelli discussed the sit­ uation in both the Philippine Islands and in Cuba with considerable freedom. "Our order is very strong here," said the arch­ bishop, "as we have several bishops and 330 priests scattered all through the prov­ inces. It was too much to expect that all of them had escaped, and the news I re­ ceived is bad. I have two letters from my vicar general, and he informs me that five Augustiuian priests in parishes about Manilla have been carried off by tho rebels, and no news whatever has been re­ ceived from them. In the absence of in­ formation we believe that they are dead. Thirteen Dominican priests were also either carried away or slain by the rebels, and those who were taken off were after­ ward killed; so we suppose the same fate has befallen the members of our order. The rebellion in the Philippines is likely to prove a most horrible affair, as the na­ tives are only semi-civilized. Spain, too, andicapped to some extent by the fact that she maintains on the island only a scattered army of about four thousand men. Spain will have a difficult task to subdue the half-barbarous people of the Philippines." FOREIGN. ure providing for the iSsufe of $10,000,000 in mortgage bonds for the relief of the distressed agricultural districts. This re­ lief would give each ^farmer in the prov inces where the crops have been de­ stroyed about $10,000. In anticipation of questions to be asked upon the opening of Parliament, the com­ missioners of prisons have issued from London a report stating that the intro­ duction of doll-dressing as an employment for female short-term convicts in Hollo way jail and other prisons has proved eminently satisfactory. Until recently such of the women as could not be placed in the culinary, laundry and other domes­ tic departments of the prisons were ex­ pected to put in ten hours a day picking oakum. This task, however, was found unfitted for tender fingers; in several cases blood-poisoning supervened, and prisoners who had been sentenced for short terms for drunkenness and similar offenses were physical wrecks when re­ leased. Hence the substitution of doll dressing. The rough doll figures are im­ ported from Germany, where they are made in prisons, and a Manchester firm which exports dolls to all parts of the world .has made a contract with the pris- on authorities for all the dolls that can be turned out during the next five years. Madrid dispatch: A friend of the Duke of Tetuan has just revealed thie contents of a bold and extraordinary letter ad­ dressed to the Spanish Government Wed­ nesday. by United States Minister Tay­ lor. ,. It is said that the Queen Regent was greatly moved when Taylor's blunt message was conveyed to her, and that the Government now considers the diplo­ matic issue with the United States as fully defined. After announcing that Sec­ retary Olney had cabled approval of his condemnation of sham Puerto Rico re- forn^ as worthless and Of promises of greater reforms in Cuba as too vague, Minister Taylor wrote in plain terms his individual idea of what Secretary Olney meant when he urged prompt action upon Spain. He said in his letter to the Span­ ish Minister of Foreign Affairs that unless Spain offered clear and reasonable terms as the basis of peace in Cuba before President Cleveland went out of office the question of local self-government in the island would soon disappear from American politics, and the only question to remain would be the immediate and unconditional recognition of the inde­ pendence of the Cuban Republic. IN GENERAL, The disabled steamer Durham City, from St. John's, sighted Sunday night in distress, was on her way to London. She is now twelve miles south of Canso with a broken shaft. The Allan Line steamer Buenos Ayres, Philadelphia for Glasgow, which ground­ ed on Dan Bake's Shoals Saturday night, floated Monday morning and passed to sea. She was not damaged by being aground. Senator-elect Money, in an interview given Sunday to the Associated Press, says: "I have just returned after a two wseks' absence on a visit to Cuba. I went there to personally inform myself, for my own guidance as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as to the condition of things in the island. Ac­ counts have been so conflicting and the reports from Havana so diverse that I concluded to make some personal discov­ ery in the matter for myself. At the very outset I will say that everything I. saw and heard taught me that Spain is unable to cope with this insurrection. She will never put it down; Spain will never end this war with victory to herself. This ig also the opinion of Consul General Fitzhugh Lee, and he has heretofore ex­ pressed it to Secretary Olney. He has told the Secretary of State that the insur­ rectionists, whether soon or later, were bound to succeed." R. G. Dun & Co.'s Weekly Review of Trade says: "The year 1897 begins with one clear advantage. The last year has swept out of the way a great number of unsound concerns which in any time of activity would have been dangerous to business. Of the 15,286 commercial and banking failures in 1896, with liabilities of $276,815,749, a large share represented crippling Josses in previous years, or the violence of speculative storms in 1895 or the first half of 1896, while thousand's more resulted from the fury of the politi­ cal tornado last fall. Banking failures amounting to $50,718,915 during the year averaged $156,156 each, and were 145 per cent larger than in 1895. Commercial failures amounted to $226,096,834, a little over $1,000,000 having been added by the last day of the year, but the average of liabilities, $14,992, was smaller than in some years of great prosperity. The fail­ ures of brokerage and 'other' commercial concerns averaged $58,418 each, increas­ ing 183 per cent over 1895, while manu­ facturing failures averaged $28,SOS each, and increased 34 per cent, and trading failures increased 18 per cent and aver­ aged only $9,606 each. Over four-fifths of the increase in manufacturing and trading failures was in lumber manufac­ turing. While banking failures have not ceased at the West, apprehension about them has almost wholly subsided and no serious influence upon general trade is now expected. Many sound concerns were doubtless caught by the epidemic, but practically all the important failures are traced to disregard of law and of banking, sense at periods small distant. It is felt at the West that all business will be the sounder after its purging." Great Britain's new cruiser Terrible has a speed of 22V& knots an hour. United States Minister Willis, who was reported dying at Honolulu, is now said to be recovering. The Franco-Brazilian Bank at Rio Ja­ neiro has opened a government credit of £1,000,000, with interest to be at the rate of 5 per cent, annually. Constantinople dispatch: Owing to the refusal of the Turkish authorities to ad­ mit the dragomans sf the embassies to be present at the trial of Mazhar Bey the French and Italian ambassadors have re­ called their dragomans and have strongly protested to the Porte, demanding a change of venue in the trial of Mazhar Bey, who is accused of complicity in the murder of Father Salvatore, an Italian priest, who was killed in the convent of Jenidjekale, at Marash, in 1895, by Turk­ ish troops commanded by the Bey. The ambassadors insist that the latter shall be tried by a competent and impartial tri­ bunal here, instead of at Marash. The chamber of deputies of the Prov­ ince of Tucuman, Argentine, has passed a bill taxing the sugar monopoly at the rate of $25,000 annually. The budget committee of the national senate has made further reductions in tho estimates of expenses for the new year as promul­ gated by the chamber of deputies. These reductions amount to $1,500,000. SMALL LOSS BY FIRE. INSURANCE MEN AR AHEA MILLIONS SB ...ay; .•. . : _.-.v . >'• Year Just Past Has' Been aFa vorable One for Them--Amount of Property Consumed in the Twelve Months Will Not Exceed $130,000,000. Total Income Not Diminished. The officers and stockholders of the fire insurance companies doing business in the United States can look back upon the year 1896 with satisfaction, for it was one of unusual good luck and prosperity for them. At the beginning of December, men who had kept tab upon the fire losses for the year felt safe in predicting that unless some very big fires occurred before Jan. 1, 1897, the insurance companies would have had a great yearfor profits. x The losses from fire in the United States during the year will probably not amount to more thai^ $130,000,000, and large as this sum is, it will be the smallest since 1890. The losses in that year footed up $108,993,792. In 1891 the sum rose to $143,704,967, in 1892 it grew again to $151,516,098, and it reached its highest figures in 1893, when the total of our fire losses was the enormous sum of $167j544,- 370. Since then the losses were $140,006,- 484 in 1891 and $142,110,233 in 1895. Of these sums the insurance companies have had to make good considerably more than half. In 1892 the losses to the companies amounted in round figures to $93,500,000; in 1893 to $105,000,000; in 1894 to $89,- 500,000, and in 1895. to $84,500,000. The total of the losses in these four years was $601,000,000, and the total paid1 out by the insurance companies was $372i- 000,0Q0. This amounts to about 62 per cent of the total losses, and applying this same rule to the losses of 1896, the insur­ ance companies' share would be about $80,000,000, and it may fall below this. This would leave a margin of $4,500,000 extra profits to be added by the companies either to dividends or surplus in hand. The experts declare that although the premium charges of the companies may have fallen behind during the year on ac­ count of hard times, the natural increase in income from investments have probably kept the total incomes of the companies up to about the same sum as last year. Hard times, these same experts declare, Hannis Taylor* NATIONAL SOLOJJS. 7T fT\; •ft-W For the first time since last May our minister to Spain, Hannis Taylor the oth­ er night met the Queen Regent. It was at a banquet at the palace that the meeting occurred, and it was watched with deep interest by European diplomats present. After the dinner had been concluded, the Queen fepoke cordially to Mr. Taylor, and conversed with him for some time, avoid­ ing, however, all mention of either the Cuban problem or any question of politics. Hannis Taylor is from Alabama. He re­ ceives twelve thousand dollars a year, -but does not enjoy a wholly pleasant position as things stand. , Although het fully ac­ cepts Mr. Cleveland's policy and theory of presidential irresponsibility to Congress in foreign affairs as stated by Olney, yet, as the visible representative of the Unit­ ed States in Spain, he has to bear the brunt of the fury of the Madrid mob, only tempered by such police protection as the authorities are able to afford. It is cer­ tain enough that were it not for such pro­ tection the mob would tear him to pieces and destroy the embassy; His position is something like that of a man sitting on a keg of gunpowder with a lighted candle in his hand. If there is an explosion he may be able to get out of the way in time and he may not. Dr. Taylor was born in New- bern, N. C., in 1851. In 1869 he removed THE LION AND THE EAGLE AGREE TO ARBITRATION. And what will poor Canada do now, poor thing?--Chicago Tribune. usually have a disastrous effect, however, upon insurance profits from another cause --incendiarism. No one questions that 1896 was a "hard times" year, and yet the fire losses have fallen off. POPE LEO'S DELICATE HEALTH. MARKET REPORTS, Chicago--Cattle, common to prime, $3.50 to $5.50; hogs, shipping grades, $3.00 to $3.75; sheep, fair to choice, $2.00 to $4.00; wheat, No. 2 red, 80c to 81c; corn, Xo. 2, 24c to 25c; oats, No. 2, 15c to 16c; rye, No. 2, 37c to 39c; butter, - choice creamery, 18c to 20c; eggs, fresh, 15c to 17c; potatoes, per bushel, 20c to 30c: broom corn, common green to tine brush, 2%c to 5J/4c per pound. Indianapolis--Cattle, shipping, $3.00 to $5.25; hogs, choice light, $3.00 to $3.75; sheep, good to choice, $2.00 to $3.75; wheat, No. 2, 87c to 89c; corn, No. 2 white, 20c to 22c; oats, No. 2 white, 21c to 23c. St. Louis--Cattle, $3.00 to $5.25; hogs, $3.00 to $3.50; wheat, No. 2, S9c to 91c: corn, No. yellow, 20c to 21c; oats, No. 2 white, 17c to 18c; ?ye, No. 2, 34c to 36c. Cincinnati--Cattle, $2.50 to $5.00; hogs, $3.<R> to $3.75; sheep, $2.50 to $4.00; wheat, No. 2, 92c to 93c; corn, No. 2 mixed, 22c to 23c; oats, No. 2 mixed, 19c to 21c; rye, No. 2, 35c to 37c. Detroit--Cattle, $2.50 to $5.00; bogs, $3.00 to §3.75; sheep, $2.00 to $3.50; wheat. No. 2 red, 89c to 91c; corn. No. 2 yellow, 21c to 23c; oats, No, 2 white, 19e to 20c; rye, 38c to 39c. Toledo--Wheat, No. 2 red, 92c to 94c; corn, No. 2 mixed, 21c to 23c; oats, No. 2 white, 17c to 19c; rye, No. 2, 37c to 39c; clever seed, $5.25 to $5.35. Milwaukee--Wheat, No. 2 spring, 75c to 76c; corn, No. 3, 19c to 21c; oats, No. 2 white, 18c to 19c; barley, - No. 2, '45c tt> 35c; rye, No. 1, 38c to 40c; pork, mess, $7.50 to $8.00. Buffalo--Cattle, $2.50 to $5.00; hogfj, $3.00 to $3.75; sheep, $2.00 to $4.25 wheat, No>. 2 red, 91c ts 93c; com, No. 2 yellow, 25" to 26c; oats, No. 2 white, 21c to 23c. New York--Cattle, $3.00 to $5.25; hogs $3.00 to $4.00; sheep, $2.00 to $4.5tf; wheo^, No. 2 red, 88c to SOe; corn, No. 2, I.EO XIII. The . senatejilso reduced the tax on sugar for* 28c to 30e.; oats, No. 2 white, 22c'to,28c ' """* ' * butter, creamery, 15c to 21c; eggs, West­ ern. 14c to 17c. the next crop only 1 cent. «ugar export premiums is The tax on reduced 2 Death of Cardinal Sanfelice Has Greatly Affected His Holiness. In spite of official denials, the reports that the health of the Pope is very deli­ cate are confirmed by private advices. According to news from Rome received by Cardinal Richard, the Archbishop of Paris, the condition of Pope Leo is very disquieting. The death of Cardinal San­ felice greatly affected his Holiness, as Sanfelice was Pope Leo's probable suc­ cessor to the pontificate and regarded the Dreibund as a possible means of bringing about a reconciliation between the Quir- inal and the Vatican. Emperor William when he visited Naples last spring, asked Cardinal Sanfelice what attitude he would to Mobile, and was admitted to the bar. The University of Alabama conferred on him the degree of doctor of laws in 1890. Mr. Cleveland appointed him minister plenipotentiary from the United States to Spain on April 6, 1893. MAMMOTH RAILWAY PROJECT. Commission's Report Will Show Practicability of the Plan. The international railway commission appointed in 1890 to select a route for a railway connecting the United States with Central and South America is now engaged in the preparation of its final report. The final report will show the entire practicability of such a line and the interest being displayed by all the Governments south of the United States. Many of the Governments have al­ ready adopted the route laid down by the commission. The report will be made by the executive commission, composed of representatives of the United States, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Paraguay. The proposed line runs along the Pacific coast through Guatema­ la, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. The commission will estimate in its report that about 4,500 miles of road will have to be constructed, reaching from the Mexican frontier to Lake Titicaca, in Peru. A few hundred miles will have to be built by the Chilean Government in order to connect a terminus of her system with the proposed line. PEACH ORCHARDS DOOMED. take up if elected Pope, but the distin­ guished prelate declined to be drawn out. In view of Pope Leo's present condition of health it is stated that some of the Powers have already signified their wishes regarding the succession, France, Belgium and Portugal favoring Cardinal Parochi, the Vicar General of his Holi­ ness, while Spain, Austria and Russia sup­ port Cardinal Vannutelli, the Prefect of the Congregational Index. OUR SHABBY CAPITOL. New Concressional Library Makes the Big Building; Look Worse. A Washington correspondent says: It is to be hoped that Congress, stimulated by the new library, with its glistening dome, perfect outlines, and the exquisite finish of its surroundings, will be moved to do something toward improving the capitol, which is quite thrown into the shade, its imperfections emphasized, by the splendor oiits new neighbor. No building in the world is placed on a more perfect site than the capitol, and it is, despite the many architects who have at different times tinkered at it, a beautiful and imposing structure; but it wears a neglefcted and shabby air, which has never been so evident as now that it is in juxtaposition with so fine a building as the library. ** ' The exterior of the capitol could be much improved by a judicious architect, and the interior needs a thorough over­ hauling. No foolish sentiment should prevent the ugly and impossible mural decorations from being entirely removed a>nd replaced by works of ast and decora­ tions consistent with the character and dignity of this noble building. Trees Burned Beinsr Cut Down and to Kradicate a Pest. Sandusky exchanges report that the dreaded San Jose scale has invaded the fruit orchards on Cataba Island and the Marblehead Peninsula. Since that time Prof. Webster, of the Wooster State Agricultural Experiment Station, has been examining trees in this vicinity, and he has been making efforts to find some remedy for the disease. He has ascer­ tained, however, that the blight is incura­ ble and that the only thing to be done is to destroy all the affected trees, to pre­ vent its spread to other localities. In accordance with his decision many orchards in the island and peninsula re­ gions are being bereft of most valuable trees, and in some instances the greater portion of the fruit farms are b&iug clear­ ed of trees. The loss will fall heavily on many of the smaller growers, but the work of devastation must go on until every pest-stricken tree is reduced to ashes, as this is the only Chance there is of saving the trees of the remainder of the great fruit-growing belt of Northern Ohio. ' The Latest in Rpitqpha. Sift# lb Pittsburg : REVIEW OF THEIR WORK AT WASHINGTON. i Detailed Proceedings of Senate and House--Bills Passed or Introduced in Either Branch--Questions of Mo* ment to the Country at Large. The Legislative Grind. By a vote of 168 to 102, the House Mon­ day rejected the funding measure propos­ ed by the Pacific Railroad magnates. All substitutes were similarly disposed of, and the only thing left for the Government is to now institute foreclosure proceedings. The Pacific Railroad lobby was over­ whelmed at the large majority against the bill. Comparatively unknown members of the House appeared to have studied the question carefully and they poured hot shot into the Pacific Railroad and its management. President Cleveland has already announced in default of legisla­ tion by Congress he would proceed at once to foreclose the second mortgage which the Government now holds and either buy in the first mortgage or take the chances on, the Government securing enough for- its lien to make Itself whole. It is the general belief that if the President carries out his threat Mr. Huntington's friends will immediately make a new and much more favorable proposition to the Gov­ ernment, which can be accepted through the medium'of a new bill to be passed by Congress. Secretary Olney,• in behalf of the United States, and Sir Julian Paunce- fote, on the part of Great Britain, affixed their signatures to a new treaty, by which, for a term of five years, the two English- speaking nations agree to abide in peace and without a resort to arms, all possible questions of controversy being referred to a court of arbitration, with the single exception that neither nation surrenders its honor or dignity to the judgment of arbitration. Later in the day President Cleveland sent the treaty and a message earnestly approving it to the Senate, and that body immediately ratified it. The House witnessed a sensational episode Tuesday. Mr. Johnson (Cal.), who recently made a bitter attack on Ed­ itor Hearst of San Francisco and New York, was himself made the target of denunciatory charges by Mr. McGuire (Cal.). The wordy duel grew out of the publication in the Congressional Kecord, as a part of Mr. Maguire's remarks on Mr. Johnson's speech in which Mr. Ma- guire defended Mr. Hearst, and without the mention of Mr. Johnson's name, de­ tailed some matters in Johnson's early life when he resided in Syracuse, N, Y. Mr. Johnson got the floor on a question of privilege. He was at times dramatic. He denounced Mr. Maguire's attack on him as wanton and cowardly and told the story of his indictment thirty-four years ago in New York for forgery and how he had gone out to California to rear a new home and make a new n; aie. Then with a bitter invective he paid his re­ spects to Mr. Maguire and Mr. Cooper of Wisconsin, who characterized his at­ tack on Mr. Hearst as cowardly. In re­ ply Mr. Maguire said: "He whines at this attack on himself. He thinks only of himself. He does not think of the grief and anguish until it strikes him­ self. Why did not he think of these things when he made the attack on an­ other who was not present and who was not a member of this body. Those charges are false, and it ill-becomes the author of those charges to whine because I reply." Futile effort was made to have the remarks of both stricken from the Record. The Senate passed the day in lively political debate, upon the free homestead and fourth-class postmaster- ships. The Senate, in executive session Wed­ nesday, had up for a time the nomination of David R. Francis to be Secretary of the Interior, but no action was taken. Senator Vest, of Missouri, was the prin­ cipal opponent of confirmation, but he was seconded by Senator Pugh, of Alabama. Senator Gear introduced a new bill for the settlement of the Pacific railroad in­ debtedness, constituting the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of the In­ terior and the Attorney General a com­ mission with full power to make a set­ tlement of the indebtedness of all the bond-aided Pacific roads to the goverrir ment, upon approval of the President. After a very dull day devoted to passing bills of minor importance the House plunged into a warm controversy over a bill to tax oleomargarine and other imitations of dairy products The Senate Thursday passed the free- liomestead bill. It is a measure of far- reaching importance to the West. The effect of the bill is to qpeu to settlement all public lands acquired from Indians, free of any payment to the Government beyond the minor office fees, and to re­ lease from payment those who have here­ tofore settled on these lands. The num­ ber of acres involved is 32,252,541, which would have yielded the Government, at the prices heretofore established. $35,- 343,006. The lands are mainly arid and those who have settled upon them are un­ able to make payment by reason of tho scanty products of the soil. Thot Senate adjourned until Monday. The House spent almost the entire day debating the Grout bill, to subject oleomargarine and other imitation dairy products to the laws of the States into which they are trans­ ported. The bill was passed by a vote of 126 yeas to 96 nays. The advocates of the measure took the view that the States should be allowed to regulate the sale of a product sailing under false colors, and the opponents that the bill would estab­ lish a dangerous precedent, and invade the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. In a speech in support of the bill Mr. Henderson of Iowa snid with much emphasis: "The opposition to this bill comes from the capitalized institu­ tions in Chicago and Kansas City. It comes from men like Armour and Swift, who are destroying the great cattle in­ terests of my State and other States ^hy keeping down the price of beeves ana keeping up the price of beefsteak." Notes of Current Events^ It is said that Adelina Patti is anx­ ious to secure the decoration of the Le­ gion of Honor. Kate Dunn, 23 years old, a servant living at New York City, was shot in the head by Michael Minneter, a laborer. Mlnneter then shot himself in the head. The third and last of the torpedo boats being built for the United States at the Columbian Iron Works was successfully launched. Her total cost will be $97,500. She is 160 feet-long and sixteen feet broad. Bedros Effini, the Armenian who was recently appointed subkaimakan of Tscharsandjak, Turkey, was assassinated two days after his arrival there. 1 Secretary Herbert, of the Navy De­ partment, has decided to increase the present naval corps of inspectors of steel used in the construction of naval vessels of the United States by the appointment of a number of expert civilians; The appellate term of the Supreme Court of New* York has handed down a decision tp the general effect that a hus­ band, although living apart from <! his wife, Is responsible^ for debts contracted by her for necessary articles in the ab­ sence of any agreement to the contrary. V CHARLES H. WELL. The Busy Chairman of the McKinley Inauguration Committee. Charles H. Bell, the chairman of tho General McKinley Inauguration Commit­ tee, is not so well known in political a• he is in financial circles. His name sug­ gests the telephone and appropriately, for Chairman Bell is a cousin of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor. Charles H. Bell was in fact the man who organized the telephone service in .England and opened all the exchanges in that country. M CKABIiES H. BELL. His father, David Charles Bell, now of Georgetown, was once professor of Eng­ lish literature in Dublin University. The- chairman of the Inauguration Committee- was educated in the Irish capital, and in 1873 immigrated to Canada and studied banking with the Imperial Bank at To­ ronto. It was in 1880 that he went abroad in the telephone interest, and hav- » ing safely launched the big enterprise in England', he returned to the United States to engage in the banking business. At present Mr. Bell is - the president of the American Security Trust 'Company. He is one of the leading citizens of Wash­ ington, and it is in this capacity that h& is connected with the management of th» inauguration of the niew President. Reckless Banking Methods. It appears that the Illinois National Bank was carrying too many sons-in-law. --New York Press. The officials of Chicago's wrecked bank were daring financiers when it1 came to risking other people's money.--Washing­ ton Post. ' It is bad banking that has wrecked the National Bank of Illinois. No bank has resources enough to hold out against the consequences of recklessness in making loans.--Portland Oregonian. It appears that the directors of the Illi­ nois National Bank of Chicago did not know anything about the business of the bank except what the officers chose to tell them.--Louisville Commercial.----- - The managers of the Chicago bank ap­ pear to have been governed by the morals of the highwayman. They used and abused the bank to further schemes of spoliation.--Memphis Commercial-Appeal. It is now in evidence that the directors of the National Bank of Illinois succeed­ ed for some'time in covering up "the un­ safe nature of a, portion of their loans from the scrutiny of the examiner.-- Rocky Mountain News. The further investigation in the matter of the failure of the National Sank of Illi­ nois is pushed the more it becomes evi­ dent that the institution was managed by officials who are little, if any, better than common thieves.--Peoria Journal. Unhappily some of the Illinois Nation­ al's irregularities seem to have evaded the bpnk examiner at the time of his in­ spection of its accounts, which raises a suspicion that bank examinations do not always examine.--St. Louis Globe-Dem­ ocrat. The history of how the National Bank of Illinois in Chicago was wrecked, ais narrated by a friend of Vice President Hammond, recalls the days when the black flag, with its skull and crossbones, was floating free in the winds of the Spanish main.--New York Journal. For twenty years hardly one bank has disastrously failed without flagrant and long-continued misconduct on the part of its officers which even a tolerably honest and alert supervision would have discov­ ered and arrested in time to avert the catastrophe.--New York World. National banks are bound by every rule of honesty and good faith to observe the restrictions which keep them within the limits of safety. Any tale of selfish move­ ments of street railway monopolies as a justification for going over these bounds is entirely beside the mark.--Pittsburg Dispatch. Tronbles in Spain. Twenty thousand more Spanish troops are to be sent to Suba. Spain must have been very thickly populated once.--Cleve­ land Leader. That Spanish crisis that has been ex­ pected for several days must be held somewhere for unpaid postage.--Detroit Free Press. ^ Spain might learn something to its ad­ vantage if it would ask Lord Salisbury how he gets along with Uncle Sam.-- Syracuse Post. It is true that Mr. Weyler has been ex­ pensive. But Spain cannot complain that he has not given her a great many victo­ ries for her money.--Washington Star. Gen. Weyler has gone to the front with a good deseriptive writer and a telegraph operator, a-nd we may expect to have the battles of our \yar of secession served over in embroidered Spanish--Memphis ^Commercial-Appeal. „ Told in a Few Lines. Commander J. C. Morong has been ordered to the Mare Island navy yard as senior member of the inspection board. The Standard Cordage Company, at Boston, started up, after a shut down of neaTly ihree years. This will give em­ ployment to 400 hands. 0 The shipment of grain from Baltimore to foreign ports during the month of De­ cember were by far the largest in the his­ tory of that port, seventy-six steamers, clearing, carrying full or part cargoes of ••.. grain. Harry Sabin, 27 years of age, was ar­ rested while giving a bayonet exhibition in a saloon at San Francisco. At "the city prison he admitted he was a deserter from the United States army, having left Jefferson barracks, St. Louis, six years ago; , Through the alloged dishonesty of the assignee of James Blakely, in Pittsburg, in 1857, the title of property in East Liverpool, Ohio, valued at several mil­ lions, is questioned. The heirs have put their claims in the hands of attorneys and notices 'have beeH served on the own­ ers of over 150 lots in the business center of the city that their titles will be ques­ tioned in court.