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dealers in cutlery and hardware at Chi­ cago, failed Monday. A statement was filed showing that ihe assets are $88,000 and the liabilities about $50,000. No cause is assigned _for the failure, except the general one ofDusiness depression and the -difficulty of making collections. The company-is an old one, the business hav­ ing been established twenty years ago by Henry Sears. Mr." Sears died about three years ago and since that time the affairs of the concern .have been under the management of George W. Korn, secre­ tary of ,the corporation. During the World's Pair he enlarged its place of business by leasing the premises at 110 Wabash avenue at a heavy rental and added a retail department, selling cutlery, bicycles and other goods. The heavy rental and the general business depression since then told on the receipts and for three years, it was .stated, the company has been doing business at a loss. It is said the assets will be sufficient, if prop­ erly managed, to pay all the indebtedness and perhaps leave a surplus after the af­ fairs of the company have been closed up. WASHINGTON. The other was Amelia Bingham,.^ whose husband conies of one of the oldest Knick­ erbocker families on Manhattan Island, and still has a fortune large enough to buy a goodly chunk of it. The young ac­ tresses met by appointment at the door of the Stock Exchange at noon to make a collection for the poor. Amid the scream­ ing of a busy, day the two beautiful wom­ en, gazing down from the visitors' gal­ lery, soon became the target of all eyes, and there was a lull in the seeming con­ fusion on the floor. • Henry Clews dropped a shining $20 gold piece into the out­ stretched palm of Miss Walsh and got a bewitching smile in payment. Dollars and dimes went into the hat? with a merry jingle. Miss Bingham made a pretty im­ promptu speech to ex-Gov. Roswell P. Flower in his office and he surrendered before she had half finished and handed out a crisp $10 bill. Firebroke out in the Senate wing of the Pennsylvania State Capitol at Harris- burg, and*the fire department was unable to control the flames. The fire originated, in the rooms of Lieut. Gov. Walter Lyon over the Senate chamber. It is supposed to have been started by an electric light /wire. The fire burned for several minutes before it was discovered. It had made such headway that little could be saved in the costly apartments of the Lieutenant Governor or across the hall in the rooms of the superintendent df public instruc­ tion, SchafFer, who was alone in his office when the fire was discovered; ,;Tj[e jii«]Lstf 1 he could to check the fire, but; if was not in his power. All he saved were the ap­ propriation books. Thousands of dollars' worth of records were lost. The flames had eaten their-way through the Senate room before the fire department, arrived. Part of the roof tumbled in before the water was started. Then the streams were so soial!,that they had no effect on the flames. Soon the great dome was a mass of flames. This burned like shav­ ings. The fire quickly communicated to the House side. The House was in ses- siorilwhen the fire was discovered, and it quickly adjourned. Before the great dome fell one patriotic citizen crawled through the m.'.ss of flames and hauled down the flag. He was loudly cheered. Several men were injured by falling timber. ILLINOIS. NAUSEATING TALE SOGUS BEEF EXTRACT MADE FROM HORSEFLESH. State Fund* Snow-Bound. One of the most remarkable episodes in connection with the blizzard in South Dakota was the blockading of the train containing about $200,000- of the State funds. Haying lost, a large amount through the peculations of State Treas­ urer Taylor, now in the penitentiary, the Governor and Legislature determined that if the State treasure was not now intact they would know the reason why,. Ac­ cordingly the treasurer was compelled to have all the- funds deposited in banks throughout the State brought to the capi- tol.: This • was done and every dollar counted by State officials. While trans- of the North Side High School chose the night for a sleigh ride to Minnietonka, thir­ ty miles away. The trip was1 eventful ad extremis on account of badly drifted roads and poor sledding. It was> also a very cold night for sleigh hiding, and*' the entire party was almost frozen. ' Family Starving and Btaby Dying. Of the five deaths from cold which oc­ curred in Chicago within two days, four were children. One of the saddest cases is that of R. Itochenberg, a Russian Jew, living with his yvife and eight children in one little room.' For eight'months the father has been out of employment, and when a physician and two policemen from the Harrison street station visited the family they found them starving and a mne-months-old baby dying for want of proper Jiourishment. caught in the Jriiszatfl a^'fjeoze both feet up to the ankles. He bagged at a dozen houses to be taken in long enofagh to thaw them out, but was everywhere refused and finally remained out of doors,- almost without fotid and with his feet! frozen until he reached Sioux Falls and asked the chief of police for help. The skin of his feet had turned black and his; vital- DiaenstlnK Product of a Chicago Firm --Closing Chapter of Col. Crjfton'a "> Kale at Fort Sheridan--Spain Makes I Concessions to Cuba. w MEHCi/K# qolKK U> The national debt increased $14,078,735 during January. 1 Sims Reeves, the famous English sing­ er. has been declared a bankrupt. Ex-Congressman James Wilson of Iowa lias accepted the office of Secretary of Agriculture in PriMsideftt MeKinley*s cab­ inet. -v. . .. ... v:. .. ' V. }'•' ' The Dawes Commission, after years of lal^op, • has finally succeeded, as.. appeals" frofti a report pent to the Senate, in se­ curing an agreement with the Choctaw Indians of.the five civilized tribep for the. division ^o^.ffaeir lands ijiTsevefriltyi' The Chickasaws, who own the-lands in< "com­ mon with the Choctaws, have not signed the agreement. , The First National Bank of Oakesdale, Wash., has posted the following notice on its doors: "At the annual meeting of the stockholders of this bank, held Jan. 12, it was unanimously voted to go into volun­ tary-liquidation. j^lII depositors are re­ quested to call and get their money," This is the Oldest bank in town, and although it has had its share of the business, the profits were small. The Moscow National Bank at Moscow, Idaho, has been closed, by Bank Examiner Wilson, acting under instructions from the Comptroller of the Currency. The last published report of the bank's condition at the close of busi­ ness Dec. 17 included the following items: J Cash on hand and in bank, $22,604; loans and discounts, $122,549; deposits subject to check, $37,463; time certificates of de­ posit, $67,014. The Supreme Court at Washington ren­ dered a decision, that is considered by con- stittitional lawyers as of the very highest importance, in that it materially enlarges the power of States to tax the property of corporations that have heretofore avoided taxation by claiming avoidance rights un­ der the interstate commerce laws. The case decided, or rather the group of cases, came up from the courts of Indiana and Ohio, and involved the validity of what is known in the latter State as the Nichols law. In brief, it authorises and empow­ ers the tax commissioners to assess and collect taxes on the franchises and ti pro­ portionate share of the capital stock of telegraph and express companies doing business in the State. The importance of this law in a material way to express com­ panies may be understood when it is stat­ ed that the tax commissioners of Ohio raised the assessment on express com­ pany property from $289,000 to $4,249,- 000. A similar advance in the assessment was made in Indiana and Kentucky, where the same law was put on the stat­ ute books. The cases were bitterly fought, and finally after three years of litigation reached the Supreme Court. The decision of the court sustains the State laws and establishes a new principle of taxation' which will be seized upon by Legislatures of many States which are in need of more funds, and which have found no way to get at the real' value of property of cor­ porations within their limits. J porting the money back to the banks the /train containing the largest amount got h hopelessly stuck in snow banks from five X to twenty feet high, and there it was, * guarded by State militia, until by the aid ^ of snow plows it was enabled to proceed. , Firemen Frozen to the Ground. L Two Chicago firemen fighting the flames* which consumed $500,000 worth of prop- I erty on Fifth ayenue, found themselves / frozen to the street when they attempted | to move. With difficulty they made known their predicament to their fellows, and it y was only after several minutes'work with axes, that, they were chopped out and re­ leased' v: • . „ r . .' ® Wanders for Days with Frozen Feet. H After wandering with both feet frozen for six days, Thomas Burke, a South Da­ kota farm laborer, applied at the police, Btation at Sioux Falls for help. Burke was out of work and was tramping the country in search of a situation. He was Frozen Noses Piizzle a Janitor. 'The Jones school, in Chicago is attended mostly by Italians, Russian Jews and colored children. The janitor acts as sur- geon-in-chief to all and tries to treat all colors alike, in rubbing their noses with snow until frostbites are removed, but he is sometimes puzzled. "How are we to tell when a colored boy's nose or ears are frqzenV" he asked. ity was so low that the surgeon feared amputation of the limbs would kill him. Burke was removed to the hospital, where it is expected he will die. Hugjred the tove Too Closely. An incident of the blizzard in Chicago was seen in a Madison street car. Sit-' ting close beside the stovfc, which was glowing with heat, was a woman who wore a fur cloak. Of a sudden there was a flash and the garment burst into a flame. Slei&rhihg Under Difficnlties. A number of North Minneapolis young people had a chilly experience that cold Monday night, the remembrance of which will make them shiver when they are gray-haired. The sophomores and seniors Seqnel of Fort Sheridan Bow. I Col. Robert E. Crofton, Fifteenth In- I fantry, was arbitrarily retired Thursday I by order of the President. It has been I the desire of the War Department that I this officer should leave the service and I efforts have been made during the last j two years to attain this end, first through I Intimations to the friends of Col. Crofton J that his retirement would be granted if ap- j plied for, and, this failing, through the I |aw which obliges an officer to retire if I found physically unfit for service by a j medical board. ,. This last course was I adopted about nine months ago, but also I without success, the board finding that I the officer was in good condition physical- I ly. Finally recourse has been had to the I law which permits the President to re- j tire an officer arbitrarily when he shall I have reached 62 years of age. Col. Crof- I ton passed this milestone last month, and I the law has been applied to his case. This I is a most unusual proceeding, the last in- I stance of a forced retirement being in the case of Gen. Carr, who was forced out in I order to permit of the promotion of offi- I cers below him in rank. Col. Crofton Was in command of the Fifteenth Infantry while the organization was stationed at Fort Sheridan, near Chicago, and was, with or without just ground, held respon­ sible for the many incidents in the history of the occupation of the post that furnish­ ed matter for the courts. j , . j. Reforms for Cnba. I The queen regent of Spain on Thursday Bigned the plan for the reforms in the island of Cuba. It is understood that the reforms consist chiefly in the creation of an assembly, to be called the council of administration. The ^council of adminis­ tration fs empowered, firstly,- to prepare a budget; secondly, to examine into the" fitness of officials appointed; thirdly, to *make a tariff subject to the condition of Spanish imports having advantages over the general tariff. Other decrees concern the organization of the provisional muni­ cipalities, which are to be liberally repre­ sentative. The municipal councils gen­ eral will be empowered to elect their presidents and will have exclusive control of public education. According to an­ other decree the Government reserves to itself extraordinary powers in the event of any disturbance of public order and Cuba will continue to elect senators and deputies to the cortes as at present. Al­ together the reforms are much broader than those granted* Porto Rico. The Spanish Government will continue to vote budgets and treaties for the colonies. The Spanish products,^according to the reform scheme, will be allowed a rebate of 40 per cent of the Cuban tariff, compared with other imports. MR. WILSON ACCEPTS. the redemption of $9,586,000 in matured Pacific railroad bonds, which will be held as a debt against the company, and the interest payments for the month, -which amounted to $6,764,036. The debt proper, independent of the cash on hand, was in­ creased during the month by $2,120,776, which is chargeable to the increase in the amount of national bank notes outstand­ ing. The comparative statement of the Gov­ ernment receipts and expenditures shows the to.tal receipts during January to have been $24,316,994 apd the expenditures $30,269,389. This leaves a deficit for the month of $5,952,395, and for the seven months of the present fiscal year a de-^ licit of $43,854,792. The deficit for the same seven months of last year was $18,- 686,377. The receipts from customs dur­ ing the last month amounted to $11,276,- 874, a falling off of over $5,100,000 as compared with January, 1896. There was also a slight falling off in the receipts from internal revenue. WHEAT ALL OVER THE WORLD. labels are put upon them. All of these labels , assert that the stuff is Liebig's extract of beef, expressly prepared for bottling purposes. Around the neck of the jar is pasted a pink slip which states that the contents are derived from fresh beef and of a quality guaranteed to be of the best. Horses are cheap just now and the poor, gaunt, broken-down creatures are bought in large numbers at a price averaging about $2:50 a head. The hide is sold for about what was paid for the horse. The chunks and other parts devoid of fat are put into great cauldrons and boiled down into "beef tea." When the mass has been boiled sufficiently and reaches the proper consistency, it is highly spiced and put into parrels. Sometimes this is sold in bulk, but the greater part is put in jars and sold to the city trade. Then it is peddled around to all the saloons which have placed orders for the stuff, believing it, it. is alleged, to be real beef extract. They can get it for $1.50 a pound, where­ as the genuine article costs from $2.50 to $3.00 a pound. When a jar of genuine extract of beef is placed side by side with one containing horse derivative the difference in the odor is at once apparent, the latter having a certain rank smell which the high spicing, although intended for that purpose, will not kill. Whoever will apply this test need not be deceived. A New Presidential Office. President-elect McKinley has had drawn a bill changing the'official title of the President's private secretary to that of secretary to the President. Mr. Mc­ Kinley has in mind a plan to enlarge the powers and add to the dignity of the office and to cause it to rank with that, of mem­ bers of the cabinet. It is said that he has asked Hon. Bellamy Storer, the Cincin­ nati lawyer and ex-Congressma.a, to ac­ cept the position, representing th&t under the new administration the office of Secre­ tary to. the President, which at present is that of a clerk and chamberlain of the Executive Mansion, will hereafter be one of great dignity and influence, the incum­ bent of which is to be the confidential legal adviser of the President of the United States. A Surplus of Gold. Just at the present time the treasury of the United States is enjoying the novel experience of being ^possession of more gold than it knows what to do with. The total cash balance in the treasury at the close of business Wednesday was $229,- 920,399, and of this amount no less than $143,889,380 was in free gold, available REED BREAKS THE RECORD Practical Farmer of Iowa Chosen for Secretary of Agriculture. Congressman James Wilson of Iowa will be Secretary of Agriculture in Presi­ dent McKinley's cabinet, he having an­ nounced his acceptance of the portfolio. James Wilson was born Aug. 16, 1835, in Ayrshire, Scotland, of parents belong­ ing to the farming class. His parents Immigrated to Connecticut in the spring of, 1852 and began farming ip the vicinity of Norwich. They went to Iowa in the fall of 1856, buying government land in Tama County. James is the oldest of a family of fourteen children--seven boys and seven girls. His father, John Wilson, was a stock farmer and began at an early day to fatten stock for the Eastern'mar-. Will Be the Father, and-Probably thO; Speaker of the House. Thomas1 B. Reed will be the father of; the House of the Fifty-fifth Congress, and' in all probability will be Speaker also, which will break the record, as no one1 ever was Speaker and father at the same'; time. Reed's friends say that he is still robust enough to wear both honors credit-' a b , y - . • " ; It caused surprise when it was discov-j ered that Mr. Reed had been a member, o f t h e H o u s e l o n g e r t h a n a n y o n e e l s e . j He was elected to the Forty-fifth Con-; gress in 1877 and has been in service ever, since. Judge Culberson, of Texas, was> elected in 1875, and was father of the The wife of Prince Philip of Saxe-Co- I burg has eloped with an Austrian officer. I Representatives of an English syndicate I have secured options on sixteen Ohio breweries for $9,000,000. Prof. Gaston, the well-known Paris philologist, lias been given a seat ir. the French Academy formerly held by Prof. Louis Pasteur. A report comes from London that Gen. j Weyler is to be succeeded as. Governor General of Cuba by the Spanish minister of war, Azcarraga. According to a Key West dispatch fif­ teen Spanish gunboats have been sunk by Cuban insurgents. One hundred men I are reported killed or missing. The two great French iron manufac­ turing firms of Schneider and Canet have amalgamated. The heads of these two iron foundries visited President Faure and assured him that France now had an iron manufacturing plant rivaling the Krupp establishment in Germany. Tewfik Pasha, until recently Turkish I minister for foreign affairs, has arrived at { Marseilles. He says that a reign of terror I prevails among the entourage'of the sul­ tan. He is fearful as to the fate of his family, whom he was compelled to leave behind him at Constantinople Sunder the protection of the foreign embassies. ' JAMES WILSON, House in the session of the last Congress, but he has"given way to another Demo-! crat, John W. Crawford. Congressman! Harmer, of Philadelphia, was elected inl 1871, but he was out in 1875. j Another old member is Gen. Bingham,j of Philadelphia, who was elected in 1879, two years later than Mr. Reed. Benton! McMillin, of Tennessee, was elected inj 1879. Joseph Cannon, of Illinois, was, elected in 1873; but he got into troublei through lapsus linguae in a stormy de-, bate in 1889 and failed to be returned fori the Fifty-second Congress. w. | Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania, was; a member of Congress back in 1849; whenj he was Speaker of the House. He and) Mr. Reed are the only living ex-Speakers; now members of the House of Representa-j tives. Mr. Grow, however, was out of| politics from the Thirty-seventh to thej Fifty-third Congress. FRANCE WANTS A TREATY. ' The European Republic Wishes tol Abolish War's Possibility with Us. j The initiative taken by Great Britain j and this country relative to an arbitra-; tion treaty between them is closely follow-i ed by France. Rather, indeed, Francej claims the distinction of being the pioneer/ in arbitration proceedings, for as long) ago as July, 1895, the minister of foreigni affairs, M. Handtaux, was desirous of having a treaty of arbitration established, between the ^reat republic of Europe andj the great republic of America. The af-i fair, however, never came to a head. Now, however, that a treaty has been; arranged between Great Britain and the United States, France is desirous for the. drafting off a similar treaty with this; country. Her public men strongly advo-. cate it and it is proposed by some of them to immediately bring the matter before, the Chamber of Deputies. -' * Let us; hope that the matter may be. pushed to a satisfactory conclusion so that] never may the sword be raised betwean: the chivalric French people and the re-, public here which they sacrificed lives and wealth to found. Melting hnow to Obtain Water. Many complaints of the scarcity of wat-, er were made at the city hall in Chicago.; In many houses on the West Side resi-' dents were unable to get water above the, first floor. In many places the pipes were, frozen and there was no water at all. It! was no unusual thing to see people scrap­ ping up snow and taking it into the house,' to melt for washing and drinkiilg pur-! poses. Mrs, James Smith buried her Irish set. ter doS Franklin in the Lexington (Ky.)' cemetery at 'the foot of her husband's grave. She is the widow of Samuel M. Smith, a retired New York broker, who raised the dog frpm a pup. ' ----- J -- . W. H. McDoel, receiver of the new Mo> non Railroad, has filed his report for De­ cember. It shows: Receipts, $556,630.88;, ' disbursements, $391,566.45; balance on hand. $165,064.43. UNITED STATES CRUISER BROOKLYN. Bin Vessel that Came Near Being Sunk by a Hidden Ledge of Bock in the Delaware Biver. MARKET REPORTS, for current expenses, or to act as a re­ serve to redeem the outstanding paper money. This leaves in the treasury as a fund to be used for ordinary purposes 6nly $86,031,019. This is far from., being an enormous sum when the extensive opera­ tions of the Government are taken into consideration. The treasury is running behind still, and for the first month of the year the excess of expenditures over re­ ceipts is $7,293,516 and the deficit for the fiscal year thus far is over $45,000,000. y; ... 6 Arthur Palmer, of New York, was ar­ rested at the Planters' Hotel,-St. Louis, Mo. He is a handsome, well-dressed man of 45 years old and had been at the hotel a week registered under the name of Paul Jones. Sheriff Johnson of Westchester County,' N*. ?Y.', "had wired that Palmer murdered his mother, brother and sister about nine days ago. Palmer is supposed to be insane. South Africa are ready, and in December New South Wales gathers her harvest. HORSE MEAT TEA. It Is Being Sold Kxtcnsively in Chii ^ cago for Ffeef Tea. A new apd somewhat serious problem has confronted the health authorities Of Chicago. Extract of horse meat under the name of beef tea is being sold in a large number of saloons and in other places in the city. The sale of the stuff under any name is a violation of a city I ordinance, and its^ consumption as-food, except when its preparation has been con­ ducted according to most rigid rules, is de­ clared by those in a position to know to be very--dangerous. This horse tea is prepared in large quan­ tities just outsjde of the city; limits. It is brought,, in bulk to1 a certain place in | the city, where it is placed in' bottles and At Dover, Del., the constitutional con­ vention, by an almost unanimous vote, has recommended that the power of grant­ ing divorces be Jtaken from the Legisla­ ture. cr The bulls and bears of New York's Wall street had to stop their busy barter Friday when their narrow thoroughfare was in­ vaded by two of the prettiestand plucki­ est Women on the American stage. These w actresses forr sever^" hours tramped ^Ihrough the miie left by the blizzard to plead for the suffering poor of New York. Blanche Walsh was one of these heroines. Shows Increase for January of Over Fourteien Millions of Dollars. \ The statement of the public debt fchowj? the debt, less cash in the treasury On Jan. 31, to have been $1,007,008,317, an' in­ crease for the month of $14,078,735.: This increase is accounted for by. a decrease of nearly $13,000,000 in the cash on hand. The decrease in the cash is the result of