Newspapers / The Weekly Raleigh Register … / Jan. 21, 1885, edition 1 / Page 1
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ADVERTISING RATES. Advertisement will b Inserted for One Dullar "r square (one Inch) tor the lint and Fifty Onto for etch subsequent publication. Contracts for adverOAing for any space or time may be made o' the RALEIGH REGISTER, i,oDd Floor of Ftsaer Building, Fayetteville Street, next to Market House. By P. X. HALS. x OFFICE : Fayetteville St., Second Floor Fisher Building. RATES Or SCBSCBtPTIOH : One copy one year, mailed post-paid $3 00 One copy six months, mailed post-paid. ... 1 00 VOL. 12 RALEIGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1885. NO. 47. 9" No name entered without payment, and no paper sent after expiration of time paid for. Oil, HA I KNOWN. H1KRIBT PHB8COTT SPOFFOHD. f I had tnougni so soon sue wouia nave aiea, He said, ! had been tenderer In my speech, I bad a moment lingered at her side, And held her ere she passed beyond my reach; If I had thought so soon she would have died. That day she looked up with her startled eyes, Like some hurt creature where the woods are deep, With kisses I had stilled those breaking sighs, Witt kisses closed those eyelids Into sleep, That day she looked np with her startled eyes. Oh. had I known she would have died so soon, Love bad not wasted on a barren land, Love like those rivers under torrid noon Lost on the desert, poured out on the sand Oh, had I known she would have died so soon. VANCE, tHEBSAN, DAVIS. Governor Vanee'a Comments. (.'nDuressional Record, January- 14, 1885. Mr. VANCE. Mr. President, as the S'tmtc will probably pass this resolution and place upon its records an unofficial ilrr, filed in the War Department i,v General W. T. Sherman, which cm tains statements affecting certain per sons, it is but right and proper that all pcr-oii so a fleeted should be heard in the same forum. As one thus interested, I ilesirc to notice some statements made in that commum'eatitei to the War Depart ment. In order that I may not be misin-terpn-ted I have placed in writing the ma-ti-rinl portions of what I desire to say, which shall be very brief. It is understood and, I believe", not de nied thut in a speech made not long since in St. Louis, Mo., General Sherman said hi- iutd seen a letter written by Mr. Jeffer son, Davis to a Governor of a Southern State during vthe war, now a Senator, in which Mr. Davis threatened the- coercion f any Southern State that should at tempt "to secede from the Confederacy. As there are, I believe, three Senators at h-ant on this floor who were 'Governors of southern States during the war, myself U iiij; one, I immediately on the appear ance of that statement denied through the w of this city that any such letter had ever been received by me. The newspa pers soon afterward stated that General .Sherman ' had been interviewed as to my denial, and had stated that he had not al luded to me as the person to whom the al leged Hftter had been addressed. I very natural! thought that this denial at both ends of the line had concluded the matter so far im, I watt concerned ; but it seems not. In ,the statement filed in the War Department, a published in the papers of- the country. I find the following assertion "At Raleigh, though the mass of the public records had been carried off, yet a number were left behind at the State house aiid at the Governor's Mansion called the 'palace,' which we occupied as headquarters during our stay there, name ly, from April 13 to April 29, 1865. , 'These records and papers were over hauled by provosts-marshal and clerks. who delivered to Adjutant-General Saw yer such as contained material informa tion, and my personal attention was only drawn to such as were deemed of suffi cient importance. Among the books col lected at the palace in Raleigh was a clerks or secretary's 'copy-book,' contain iiiijTtise sheets and letters, among which the particular letter of Mr. Davis to which I referred in my St. Louis 'speech.' I gave it little attention at the time, be cause Mr. Davis was then himself a fugi tive, and his opinions had little or no im portance, but it explained to my mind why Governor Vance, after sending to me commissioners to treat for his State sepa rately, had not awaited my answer. It was the subject of common talk about my headquarters at the time, or, as stated by Colonel Dayton in a recent letter to me from Cincinnati, 'I am quite sure that we generally talked that it was the desire of Governor Vance and the State officials to take North Carolina out of the Conf ed- racy, as I have stated, but they were afraid of Jefferson Davis and wanted pro tection. Concerning this I have the following observations to make : 1. I hat no letters or documents of a public character were ever left at my resi dence in the Governor's " mansion, while I was Governor, at any time. 2. No clerk or secretary of mine ever used as a repository for my correspondence a "copy-book;" all official or public let ters being first copied in the letter-book required by law to be kept in the execu tive office, and then bound into bundles and placed in the tiles, where they re main to this day. 3, General Sherman did not find in that copv-book " the particular letter of Mr. Davis to which he referred in his St. Louis speech,'' for the simple reason that there was no sach letter there. 4. I aver most positively, on the honor of a gentleman and an American Senator, thut uo letter 'containing such a threat was ever-teceived by me from Mr. Jefferson Davis. All letters from him to me of any nature are to be found copied in the letter lxoks of the executive department of North Carolina, now in the War Depart ment in this city. Tli reasons given by General Sherman liy way of corroborating his statement are such as would scarcely be relied upon by a respectable lawyer. He says he paid "little attention to it at the time,'' and does not say that he ever saw it afterward ; and further, that Mr. Davis was then him st if a fugitive, and his opinions had little or no importance! It was. perhaps, the lttlc attention given to the opinions of an unimportant man that enabled him to re-mi-iuu.-r so well the contents of the letter m which they were expressed after the 'pse of nearly twenty years.! The sugges- n as to the orobable fate of that mvs- trrious letter, that it was burned in the ureat fire in Chicago, is a mere apology for its non-production, which at the same i ime contradicts the idea of its importance; f"r had it been such as he says it was, it would certainly have found its way to the public files. I Hut there Ur another matter averred by fjeui rul Sherman' that more nearly con cerns me, and to which I shall very briefly ask the attention of the Senate. It may be that Northern gentlemen who were on the vie tor ions side daring the civil war caunot properly appreciate the feelings and sentiments of those whowrere on the side of misfortune and defeat I hey seem to regard it as quite a sin; that we uo not reaUilv ioiu in the denuncia tions of him who was our leader in the war, and hasten to condemn him on all occasion as. the sorest way of excusing our conduct and commending ourselves to the good opinion of our late opponent. Surely no man of even the slightest sense "f honor could respect a Southern man who would thus debase himself. Surely the most flagrant and rampant traffickers ' " '" issues tot u'ftional hatreds would prefer an adversary who walked upright on his feet to the one who crawled upon his belly. If not, what must be thought of his own manhood? Now, sirs, be it known to you, that those of us who pledged our faith to each other for the establishment of the confederacy gave up all for which we contended when it failed, retaining to ourselves only one solitary satisfying reflection, and that was that we had .at least served our country faithfully, honestly and devotedly, as we understood it. This satisfaction General Sherman's statement would to some extent take from me, and this it is, sir, which I resent. It is well known that I was drawn into seces sion unwillingly; it is also well known that in regard to many of the details of administration I was at vuriauce wilL the authorities of the confederate government; but it is equally well known, 1 hope, that, after my -own honor was engaged and the honor of my native State, there never was an hour during all that unhappy time in wnicn i did not give everv energy ot my body, mind and soul to the success of the cause to which I had pledged my allegi ance. General Sherman, professing high respect for me, for which I thank him, thinks, perhaps, that he does me a kind ness and commends me to the people of the country by holding out the idea that. I was disaffected while governor toward the cause for which I was ostensibly fighting, and that I was anxious to separate myself and State from the confederacy, but was restrained by fear. Sir, I want no man's respect or good will based on the supposed virtues of treason to my Country and the ueseruon oi my associates, me gooa win of a man who would respect these traits in anotner is not wortn picKing up trom me dust of the common highways. General Sherman says that the commissioners whom I sent to meet him as he approached Ral eigh, to-wit, ex-Governor Swain and ex- Governor Graham and burgeon-General Warren, told him that I wanted to make separate terms for the State, but was afraid of "Jeff Davis." I do not believe it. It cannot be true. The two gentlemen first named are dead ; they were eminent North Carolinians of most exalted character in all respects, and most especially for truth. They knew I was faithful to the confeder acy. They knew that I was not afraid of opposing Mr. Davis when I differed from him, because they had seen me constantly doing it, and they never told General Sherman or any other living man the con trary of what they knew to be true as per fectly as anv men in North Carolina. The other commissioner. Dr. Ed-ward Warren, was surgeon-general of the State of North Carolina, is now living, and is an eminent physician in Pans. Misstatement would surely carry as much proof of what was said there as that of the witness cited to prove that there was talk about camp of "the desire of Governor Vance and other State officials to take North Carolina out of the confederacy, but they were afraid of Jeff. Davis and wanted protection True it is that I sent a commission to him under a flag of truce to ask protection, not separate terms for the people of my Mate, but at that moment the war wa3 virtually ended. Iee had surrendered, Richmond had fallen. President Davis and his official household were fugitives, and General Johnston, commanding the last remnant Of an nrmv devoted to the South, was about to march westward, no one knew whither, and uncover the capital of the State. With his consent and approbation that embassy was sent, and through his. lines under his permit it went. Before its. return Raleigh was uncovered and I had left to join Mr. Davis, at Charlotte, where the surrender of General Johnston was authorized and the finality of things brought about. Then and there I took my leave of Mr. Davis and of the confederacy, and went back with his full approbation to share the fate of my people. General Sherman finds an explanation of my failure to await the return of my em bassy in the contents of the mysterious letter that I was afraid, of Davis, then a fugitive without an army. Bold enough' he says I was to send an embassy to the enemy, but I was afraid to await its return ! Was ever conclusion more absurd? The reason why I did not wait was that I had been told my embassy after passing through the confederate lines had been captured by Kilpatrick's cavnlry, promptly robbed of their personal effects, and taken before General Sherman as prisoneis. Not returning up to midnight of the day on which they were sent, I concluded this to be true, andieft with the retreating troops. How well and how faithfully I served the lost cause the country knows. My own people, sir, about whose opinion I nm most concerned, will wonder that anybody can be found to question it. THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Need of Paid County Superintendent. Mr. Scarborough's Report, January, 1885. J I desire to repeat largely and with em phasis very much of what I said to the Legislature of 1883 in reference o the ne cessjty for this office County Seperinten denjj iu order, if possible, to induce the Legislature of 188.5, to which body this repdYt is to be submitted, to enlarge the scope of the duties and responsibilities of these olhccrs and to increase their pay so as to secure competent men and enlarged usefulness for them, with the benefits to the system and the schools which they so mujh need and mutt have if we are to have an efficient school system. We do not! need, and our people now will not bear long with a worthless system, holding outpromiscs never to be fulfilled. When the Legislature of 1881 met, there was; a verv decided opinion among the friijnds of the public school system and of popular education iu the State, that some thing more than had been done ought to be done for the school system, and a de mand came from all parts of the State for as thorough revision of the school law as was possible. The old system was pro nounced to be worse than no system ; and in truth there was but little system about it. ,i The Normal School at the University had been established in 1877, and good re sults had followed. A more lively interest in the subject of general education was everywhere apparent. The teachers at tending the University Normal School, and the colored teachers attending the colored Normal School at Fayetteville, had received valuable training and went to their respective fields of labor with en larged views of their work and much bet ff preparation foK4he discharge of the "duties of a teacher. The increased value of their services was everywhere recog nized by the thinking men and women of; our population. The new methods or teaching and wise changes in .school government and discipline made of the school bouse a pleasant home instead of a prison, and study a delight instead of an irksome task to be avoided on every possible excuse. ilThese teachers, thus prepared, found two, great difficulties before them: first, ignorance, preferring cheap teachers be cause of their cheapness, however incom petent, to well-qualified teachers, if in crease in qualification required recognition by increased salaries. Their services were largely lost to the public schools, though the State had prepared them for the work ; fo, failing to get employment in the pub lic schools, many ot them sought and ob taincd situations in private schools. Sec ond. The school fund was too small, if school committees sought their services, to pay anything more than the mere pittance of a salary without greatly shortening the school terms. Consequently the tendency Was to seek situations of more permanency rather than to move about over the coun ties teaching short sessions of public schools, thus losing quite half their time ffom school room work. The larger num ber of teachers of the public school who djid not attend the Normal Schools, were incompetent, wanting in habits of study apd in a knowledge of how to study to advantage, and consequently non-progressive, knowing nothing of any studies ex cept such as they had imperfectly learned at the ordinary schools and nothing of the improved methods of teaching and school management by which the exercises of the School are made pleasant to teacher and pupil alike, and the best results possible obtained with the least friction possible. Xhey were simply school keepers, nothing ore. j The committees of the Senate and House of Representatives on Education at the pension of 1881 recognized the necessity bf as thorough revision of the entire school 4ystem as was possible under the circum stances and requested me, as State Super intendent, having had opportunities for our years for specially studying our own "and other systems of public schools, and thereby knowing something of the defects of our system and of the proper remedies to be applied, to draft a bill for them pro viding for such a system as I thought gwould meet the demands and be as practi cable as possible under our circumstances land condition as n State. , i Iu obedience to that request I drafted ithe bill known as "Senate; Bill" No. 439 session 1881. This bill, i'n its main and more important features, became a law at 'that session. This law did more to itn prove our schools and inspire the friends .of education with new hopes for the future 5of popular education in the State, than . ... . ... . iany previous legislation had done; and two years of its operation the Statistics that are Doubted. every man wanting the district school near Tm residence. About one-half of the districts were without houses and with no money to build them. This resulted in continued controversy as to where the school should be taught. A, B and C of any given district liad an unoccupied house that would do. Each urged upon the committee-the importance of having the sjchool taught in hi house. The com mittee was forced to choose between them and selected the house of A ; it was the best they could do in their judgment. B and C objected, became enemies of the school, threw obstacles in the way of the teacher, advised their next neighbors against sending to the school, circulated petitions for the division of the district, and presented them to the next meeting of the county board of education and de manded immediate action. Said board, recognizing the right of petition, ordered the division demanded, and the result was the district, already too small, was divided into two, neithr one of which had funds enough to continue a school for a longer term than four weeks with a very ordinary teacher. The above is a true picture, in the main, of hundreds of coses in the State, all because there was no one with a wise head charged with the special duty of visiting the people, advising conserva tive measures and unity of action in the interest of the schools. Confusion and division reigned supreme ; enemies of pub lic schools were increased in number, and the outlook was anything but hopeful The larger number oT school houses which had been previously erected were either in a dilapidated condition, needing re pairs, or were constructed without refer ence either to neatness in-appearance or of comfort. All these and many other sen ous obstacles lay before the county super intendents. These difficulties could not be met and overcome in the short period of eighteen months. There was necessarily hostility to new methods and sudden changes from the old paths to which the people of a community had been long accustomed, no matter how wise and superior the new may have been as compared with the old A school system, in an old community specially, is necessarily of slow growth. and it takes years of patient labor and wise management to accomplish needed reforms. Our State is not an exception to the rule. The object before us is emi nently worthy of our best efforts, and in the work to be accomplished we must learn to labor and patiently wait for the results. Under the guidance of the county su perintendents many of the counties were redistricted with reference to proper size in territorial limit and the school popula tion to be accommodated. The people were addressed by them on the subject of education and the needs of the schools. Informatiou was given in reference to va rious departments of school work and the more thev saw of a wise, energetic, pro gressive superintendent, the less they to say against the office and the more they realized its necessity to a good system of schools. Under their leadership the teachers were greatly improved, the standard of their scholarship was raised. The best teachers under the old system were made better by the new One hundred and twenty-three Teach ers' institutes were neia, in oo counties, during 1881 and 1882, and in these 2,260 white and 650 colored teachers were in structed in matter and methods and their usefulness and qualifications as teachers greatly enlarged. County teachers and educational associations were organized in many of the counties and made the vehicles for disseminating information among peo ple and teachers It is true, that since the changes made in the law by the Legislature of 1884 we have not gone back to the level on which the system stood before the legislation of 1881. It is to be hoped that we snail never again stand on that level. But we have gone very far back in the line of pro gress, and unless something is speedily done to restore the expansive power and elevating and progressive force of the sys tem, it will not be a great while before we shall lose all we have gained and turn on the downwaru road. I would not be un dcrstood as reflecting adversely on the character of the members of the Legists ture of 1883, or as attacking their patriot ism and good intentions for the well being of the State, or their ability as men and their progressive statesmanship. That be far from me. 1 here were scores oi large hearted, large minded, patriotic, prorres sive men in that body, the latchet of whose shoes, in such matters, I am unworthy to loose. Their action under the circum stances, as they saw them, seemed to them necessary from popular demand coming THE GRANT INCIDENT An ome New York Talk of It. Bfor the two years of its operation the re- Isults were not disappointing to the friends from here Bnd tere where tne people, tof the schools, but were hopeful in a high from lhe 8hort tjme tne new aygtem had Macon. Ga., Telegraph.J A few days since the Jfdnufacturer't Record, of Baltimore, published a state ment which was sent broadcast over the country by the Associated Press that dur ing last year 1,865 manufacturing and mining establishments were organized in the South with an aggregate capital of $105,269,500. This statement would be verv encouraging to the people of the South if it were true. We have no means A at hand to determine what was done in the direction indicated by the people of Georgia last year. We are without knowl edge of anv important 'investments in --o- . . . ... . -J mining or manuiacturing in ims section oi the State. We do not imnK iney couiu. have escaped attention. We can see no good to be accomplished by extravagant estimates vx iiupiuvvuicu. vu um taken place. We do not believe the state ment of the Record is warranted by the! facts, and would suggest that the tax re-; Jturns in the offices of the Comptrollers- V . . . - n. . tn l t t2 - Ueneraloi tneainereni outies win uuuuruB our judgment. The Record made a sim-i ilar statement the early part of last yeari We saw it and regarded it as very much exaggerated. We call attention to the figures published a few days since to pu ourselves on record as doubting their cor- rectness. We had rather see a list of the' establishments, their locations, and th amounts invested. Are any of them in Middle Georgia? If so, name them. degree. The unfortunate action of the P T 1 . . C 1 Dog . . 1. i:rA . 1 MAn :eglliuuit; ui iood tub hue isie buu cueijjj t)ut of the system, and has Hard Lines on all Sides. Lowell, Mass., Courier. A patient in Haverhill the other dajf killed two birds with one stone by having one doctor amputate a finger while anothej doctor administered other and extracted seven teeth. The time occupied, includl ing the administration of ether, was fifteeri mmiititD 1 4 J An Unattractive Lot. minutes. Lowell Courler.J There was an interval of nearly four years between the last two marriages in Haverhill, N. H. It is estimated that at this rate it will take 2,500 years to -marr off the marriageable portion of the popif bition. I great iv crip- tuled the work bv destroying the efficiency f of the County Superintendency. In the law of 1881, where it differed from former school legislation, the principal features were increase of school taxes from 8 1-8 cents to 12 1-2 cents on the $100 valuation of property, with consequent increase of poll tax, provision lor bounty superinten dents of schools, provision for County Teachers' Institutes for the improvement of teachers, requiring the County Supei intendents to conduct, and the public school teachers to attend them. . The studies to be taught in the public schools were prescribed and a standard for exam ination of teachers in the same was fixed for the guidance of County Superintendents in said examinations. In another statute, chapter 141v section 5, laws of 1881, pro vision was made for four additional Nor mal Schools for each race. The enlargement of the school work in the other particulars mentioned led to the provision for the County Superintendents and the laws prescribing the duties to be performed by them. The office was created to take effect from and after the Tuesday after the first Monday in June, 1881, and consequently had been in operation up to December 1st, 1882, date of county school reports to this office, onlv eighteen months. This was too short a time, especially with our lim itcd amount of school fund, erippling the system and flogging it at every step, to test the value of the office to the school system. These officers, upon assuming their du ties found the school system and the schools in a very bad condition. Want of properly directed interest ow the part of large numbers of our people and of the district school committeemen, by rea son of the want of proper information from some executive head, prevailed in all the counties. The county board of edu ration, however much they might desire to promote the interest of the schools, were practically in the dark for the same reason. The people, looking at the ques tion of convenience only, hatf ' petitioned and were still petitioning for a 'division of the school districts into smaller districts, been on trial, had failed to see the real benefits to be derived from a larger outlay in school supervision. But in my judg ment, after an experience now of eight years as the head of this department of the State Government, tne action oi tnat ooay was a mistake, fatal in the end to the proper progress of our educational work. We cannot nuvcagooaanaemcient scnooi system (to 'have any other is a waste of money and energy), without paid County Superintendents, and they must be paid such prices as will secure the services of reasonably good and competent men for the important duties they are to perform. It will be the wisest economy to our sys tem to make the necessary outlay. The larger number of our best County Super- intnntnta nave neia on to ine nosition. crippled as it has been, only in the hope that the Legislature of 1885 would come to the rescue, and by its action enable them to do the work which they, better than all othees, know is absolutely neces- sarv for the education of the children of the State for future usefulness as citizens. Believing this to be a necessity, I have dwelt thus on its importance and submit for the information of the Legislature of 1885 extracts from school reports and ed ucational documents, voicing the views of the ablest and wisest educators on the im portance of well paid and competent local supervisors to a good and efficient school system. I trust the Legislature will give due weight to the views of men who have made a specialty of this work, in deter mining what it shall do for the building up of our educational work. The matter is with that body. (New York Sun.J As a matter of course the Grant-Van- derbilt incident is the topic of general and highly animated discussion in business as well as in idle circles. Even women talk about it, and it is well known that when they take up a public question argu ments are sure to become mixed up with a considerable amount of sentiment, igno rance and foolishness. It would, there fore, be useless to reproduce these argu ments here. Their most intelligible por tion is that General Grant had no business to make his wife refuse the donation which Mr. Vanderbilt was willing to make to her under the existing circumstances. The representatives of the fair sex seem to e perfectly .sure that Mrs. Grant did not know anything about her husband's finan eial transactions, that she is entitled to a Comfortable living, and that the interest on the $250,000 fund is not suthcient for the support of her husband and herself in a oeniung siyie. But some of the arguments brought tor- ward by men of mature age and more or less sound common sense seem to be worth recording, Here are some of them summed up in as few words as possible, and without any comment pro or con. They come from men of vastly different walks in life and quite varied political views : General Grant is not entitled to a read- mission into the army, except for actual services, lie left the service of his own free will, carrying with him, as it is sup posed, all he was entitled to rank, honor, money saved or made ; and if he had been in a country where resigning officers are pensioned, be would have carried his pen sion, too. (All over the civilized world, if a retired and pensioned officer reenters service he loses his pension and is put upon the pay of the new post he occupies, ex cept in cases where the pension is attached to an order, a medal, a wound, or a par ticular grant for a particular service.) To readmit an officer into the service for the mere purpose of placing him upon the re tired list and giving him fall pay would be considered an absurdity, even in a coun try where the will of a despot makes the law. If General Grant gets a pension or any other allowance from the Government, the money for it must come out of the pocket of the nation, and there are a great many people in this country who are not favora bly disposed toward him, and never were so. 1.1 he refuses the money ot his ad mirers, why should his non-admirers be made to pay ? He left the army for the purpose of tak ing the highest office in the gift of the nation. He held it for eight vears, and was well paid. He went into the office poor, he came out ricn. tie cnose to em bark in gambling, and lost his money. He was actuated by greediness, and allowed his name to be used for purposes of crooked speculation. The result was natural and the penalty deserved. But the man was at one time a national hero, and as such should be enabled to finish his days in comfort. Any nation would do that much for a great artist or poet disabled by acci dent, or even by vice. But everything done in sucn a case snouia oe aone voiuniaruy, without the slightest interference on the part of the Government. The tact itseu, out oi wnicn tne wnoie incident arose, is commented upon in a still more radical way : Mr. vanderbilt has been always a per sonal friend of General Grant. He is un der many obligations to him, a goodly part of his fortune having been made through the lenity of General Grant's Ad ministration. The fortune of Mr. Vander bilt is estimated at $200,000,000. The sum he loaned to his friend does not make one thousandth part of his fortune. How many a poor old woman not worth $1,000 in all her wordly belongings, gives a dol lar and even a five dollar bill to a friend in distress or sickness! How many a poor clerk gives a week's salary to get a chum out of a scrape I Tet they don't rush into print; they don't go to courts; they don't say a word to anybody. Keeping in view how both Mr. Vanderbilt and General Grant hate the press, the fact of their rushing so eagerly into print on this occa sion shows that there is some object in doing so. they were so -anxious to have everything printed that some of our contemporaries had to alter their Mon day leading articles on this subject long after midnight to suit the purpose of be lated private correspondence between the parties concerned. There seems to be at the back of the whole thing an attempt to bluff the nation into a big disburse ment, and all the talk about the records of private benefaction containing few ex amples of a hner liberality than tnat shown by Mr. Vanderbilt is sheer hum bug. He loaned a friend a 1,333d part of his fortune, and is not quite sure of get ting his loan paid. There are probably 13,333,333 human lK-ings upon this conti nent who are in the same, and a great many of them in a much worse position. All this is city talk, a free and easy ex pression of opinion which may be right or wrong, but which, at all events, seems to be worth recording. Anyway, there is verv little else talked about. Leaving these articles and coming down to the matter of bread-stuffs, we find that Milwaukee Club wheat, worth $1.29 per bushel in 1870, had fallen to 82 cents at the close of 1884. Extra State flour bad fallen from $5.50 to $3.10 per barrel, and Western mixed corn from $1 per bushel to 59 cents. In the article of canned goods, which have come into general use, tomatoes have fallen from $2.10 per dozen cans in 1870 to from 75 to 90 cents 1884. Maine corn was then quoted at $3 ; now at from 90 cents to $1.20 per dozen. Peaches have dropped from an nverage of $4 per dozen then to about $1.65 now. i Cove oysters from $1.50 to $1, and Columbia Iliver salmon from $1.82 to $1.27$. The Philadelphia Times, which has ex amined the Grocer1 tables, says that in most of the articles in this list the decline has been gradual and uniform, the present prices being the lowest reached during the fifteen years included in the comparison. This is especially true of sugar, tea, coffee, rice, codfish, wheat and wheat flournd canned goods. Pork, lard, butter and cheese and corn were lower than at present for a short period during part of the years 1878 and 1879. It must be borne in mind that the prices quoted above are the aver age wholesale prices for the years named, and not the prices the consumer has paid the retailer. In most instances, however, the retail price has fallen in as great a pro portion, and probably greater, as the re tailers are generally making smaller profits than in 1870. NOTABLE DEATHS. Bfra. Blrra Clark Gaines. CIVIL SERVICE REFORM And Its Possible Outcome. New York Sun. There are a little over 100,000 offices of the national Government. Of these 15, 000, or about one-seventh, are subject to the regulations of the Pendleton act. Whoever wishes to fill one of them must be examined. The Executive can appoint no one but a passed competitor. But the occupant of any one of these places can be hustled out of office in the most per emptory and short-shrifted manner possi ble. In fact, the more activity and change among these reformed 15,000 the greater would be the pride and satisfaction of the true blue civil service reformer. His chief delight is to shake the examination papers in the face of the baffled politician ; and the oftener the examined are chosen and thrown overboard, the more examinations are necessary, and the more frequently do the examination commissioners sit in sol emn conclave while the able-bodied appli cants for permission to keep the hooks of our Uncle Samuel at a modest salary tell all they knowabout the culture of the coffee planffn its native soils or of the consumption of beans in Boston. It isn't the removed the reformers care about. They have nothing to do with them. They are for the examinations and the ex amined, and every clerk appointed under their prescription is gleefully regarded as a tribute to their novel and estimable genius. If President Cleveland should turn out the whole 15,000 Pendleton clerks all at once, there would be an ecstatic whoop and delirious bustle among the re formers at the prospect of having to sup ply twenty or thirty thousand examined candidates at once to fill up the vacancies. New commissioners would have to be ap pointed with more and bigger salaries, and perhaps the civil service reforming ma chinery would grow to be bigger than the departments themselves, something almost too good to dream ONE LIKES TO READ But Cannot Help but Laugh. Colonel McClure's Cause and Effect. "When she (Virginia) should have prof ited by her naturally advantageous rela tions with the capital and industry of the North, and could have made her moun tains, so richly studded with wealth, and her vast water-powers, so easy of access, fruitful sources of enduring prosperity, she turned upon herself with suicidal hand, thrice repudiated her thrice accept ed debt, effaced honor from the jewels of the once proud Commonwealth, and made capital and industry and integrity shun her as the valley of death." 3SONE OF THAT HEBE ; BULLY FOR T78 ! "North Carolina is now single from the other reconstructed States in having at tained, solely by the fforts of her own people, a higher degree of general pros perity than was ever before attained in her history. She has a more prosperous and thrifty people to-day than at any period of the past, and there is more capital em ployed and less debt, State and individual, than at any time in the last half century. Her legitimate debt is steadily reduced; her treasury has a large surplus; her hu mane institutions, conducted with equal care and outlay for both races, are monu ments of credit; her public improvements have kept pace with the growing wants ot her people; her authority reflects the pride of the State in its stainless integrity, and thrift and content are the common bless ings of her people." New Thins; Under the Bun. New York San.l The approaching completion of the In diana State House has developed a start ling condition of thinn. The original appropriation for building the structure was $2,000,000, but the prospect is that the cost will be $188,000 less than this amount. It is thought that there must be some mistake, for no architect or contrac tor in the possession of his senses would deliberately come short of his estimate ( worth at present $23, CHEAP VICTUALS And Figures that "Cannot Lie." Charleston News and Courier. The American Grocer publishes a table, taken from its own files, showing the aver age wholesale prices for each year since 1870 of sugar, coffee, tea, rice, pork, lard, but ter, cheese, wheat ,and wheat flour, corn and canned goods the principal articles which go to make up the daily living of the average family. The list begins with sugar, showing a gradual decline in the price of that staple. Crushed sugar aver aged 14 cents and granulated 13 cents per pound for the year 1870. The former was quoted at the beginning of the present year at 6 J and the latter at 5, a falling off of more than fifty per cent, all around. A notable element in the reduction in cost of sugar is to be found in the changes of methods of refining. It cost 4 cents per pound to refine sugar in 1870 ; now one half cent or less. Fair Rio coffee in bond was worth about 12 cents in gold in 1870; now less than 10 cents. Good medium Japan tea averaged from 56 to 59 cents during 1870; at present it is worth from 19 to 20. Carolina rice, which was quoted' then from 6f to 7J. according to quality, is now rated at from 4 to 8 cents. Mess pork, which in 1870 was worth $26.88. is now less than $8. Lard, then worth 15 cents, is now quoted below 7. The average wholesale price of butter fifteen years ago was from 82 to 35 cents; daring 1884, 20 to 23. - Cheese, which sold then at 17 to 18, is now quoted at from 12 to 12 cents per pound. No. 1 Shore mackerel, worth then from $29 to $30 per barrel, is and George's Bank NOT BAD ADVICE The story of Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines, who died a few days ago at New Orleans, is as romantic as any that ever was con ceived by the novelist, and she herself was an object of peculiar interest as the claim ant in one of the most celebrated law cases of the century. The basis of her claim was a will said to have been made, but never found, by which her father, Daniel Clark, bequeathed to her real estate in the city of New Orleans, worth at present, it is said, over $50,000,000. From the time of her marriage, at the age of 20, to Mr. W. W. Whitney, until her recent death, at the age of 80, Mrs. Gaines mode this lawsuit the chief busi ness of her life. When about 33 years of age she was left a widow with three young children, having up to this time been un successful in litigation. Before many years, however, she was befriended by an old fiiend of her father, Gen. E. P. Gaines, whom she married. With his assistance and money she renewed her efforts to gain her case. Three times it was carried to the Supreme Court on questions of prac tice, but in 1848, sixteen years after the original case was brought, Mrs. Gaines gained a victory, the United States Su preme Court deciding in her favor nfl giving her a right to four-fifths of Clark's estate. But the victory was a barren one, and Mrs. Gaines soon found that she would have to bring suits against each nf th owners of the disputed lands in succes sion. When her suit against the execu tors went up to the Supreme Court, Mrs. Gaines, at the end of nineteen years, found herself non-suited. In 1849 her second rmahnnl no Gaines, died, and she was left to fight her battles alone. She did not appear to be aismayeo, nowever, and began a new suit ousi as ine war broke out she seemed apout to realize the fruits of victory, but a was pui. ior iour years to all pro ceedings. After the war, Mrs. Gaines re newed her litigation in its various phases till finally, the city of New Orleans was made a defendant. The suits in New Orleans had been pushed to a point where, it is claimed, her rights had been legally sanciionea, Dut there were manv techni calities that prevented her from enjoying iucui. a. ouik against ine city of .New Or leans is now pending before the Supreme n . mi i . vyuuiu luis involves about S200 000 The judgments she obtained i n New Or. leans entitled her not only to theprooertv but to rents, &c, during the time she was kept out of its possession. As the deeds were warranted by the city of New Or leans, the city defended the suits, and, meanwhile, it is said, the persons owniug the different pieces of property had so ar ranged that there was nothing in their possession from which she could recover the sums due her. She then began action against the city. The long litigation has acted like a blight upon certain quarters of the city of New Orleans, checking all improvements. Mrs. Gaines, it is said, was offered $1,000,000 for her pretensions uy a new lurx synaicate a few vears ago, but refused it. unc would imagine that she would greet the approach of death with gladness, as a welcome release from the multitudi nous vexations of the law. Daniel Web ster, Caleb Cushing, Charles O'Conor and Judah P. Benjamin were engaged on one side or the other of the case, and it is said mat Mrs. Games once argued her own case before the Supreme Court against Daniel Webster. A contemporary says of Mrs. Gaines : "All the years of law were also years given to charity, to art, and to society by her, and none of the duties of mother, grandmother or great grandmother were ever neglected. Sorrow and tragedy and disease punctuated her experience. States men, presidents, diplomats and heroes were her intimate friends for over sixty years. All the dreams of romance seem prosaic beside the realities of the life of this little lady, who was less than five feet high, less than 100 pounds in weight, but who in her body held a mind that was stored withunusual powers and a courage worthy of that of ' the indomitable heart of Armand Richelieu.'" Washington, Jan. 13. Of course the great suit of Myra Clark Gaines will go on just the same as before her death. Her son-in-law, Mr. Christmas, who was with her when the will was signed, will push the suit. He seems to have been a great iavoritc witn tne little queer old woman. When he quarrelled with her own son and killed him in her own house, she did not cast him off, but seemed anxious for his acquittal, sitting by his Bide in the court room and counselling in his behalf. She was a pretty good lawyer, wasthis wo man. She had been at law half a century. and had herself followed every step in her famous case or rather large number of cases. Belva Lockwood cites her as being the first woman in this country to argue a case in court. Years ago she had some important case in the court, and, her law yer failing to appear at the proper mo ment, she took the matter in her own hands, and made a strong and concise le gal argument in her own behalf. terly as a "superfluous veteran to the general public, his funeral developed un expected phases of his life. His body lay in a cloth and velvet covered casket with white satin lining. Some loving hand had laced fresh flowers on his breast. A be oved relative had sent a simple bunch of immortelles, which lay on a sheaf of wheat at the foot of the casket. The room was filled with venerable men and matronly women. The walls were hung with pic tures, the mantels were ornamented with bric-a-brac and works of art, and brother f Masons of Strict Observance Lodge, to which he belonged for fifty-seven years, j stood reverently about the coffin. It was a scene suggestive of peacef ulness. of wide- i ! spreading friendship, of long life, and a stability of character which a casual ob-, server of the Captain's manner might not i anticipate. It was a strange gathering of rich and poor ; of professional men and me-, chanica; of politicians of varying belief; of the various circles in which the Captain was known during the 81 years of his busy life. TWO VIEWS. The "Good Old Times' i As seen by Boston Courier. The true gentlewoman of the olden time would have scorned a rudeness, however: small, as unworthy of her birth and her-' self. She prided herself -upon her price less collection of yellow laces, and kept! them put away with care in caskets of carved sandal-wood and silver; her fine,! noble and exquisite manners she did not! put away, but kept them in daily use tof the joy and peace of all about her dwell ing, f All Gammon In the News and Courier's Notion. j This sounds exceedingly pretty, but it gives the impression that only the true gentlewoman of the olden time looked and! behaved so. Times havo changed, and manners with them, but the true gentle-! woman of to-day has preserved in the carven casket of her own beautiful being all the best treasures of the gentlewoman of the past. f Now-a-days Iwomen can .be brave with, out being boldA strong without being rude; and full of lifers best vivacity and frankf ness without theleast flavor of that qual ity described by "the adjective "fast.'' li-, is no longer true that "no lady will ever wear imitation lace, "ses our grandmothers used to assert; but thesspirit that gave birth to the preference forVhe more costly and enduring, and usually morebeautiftu fabrics, is not by any means obsoleteL Imitation laces rival, at least in beauty, the hand-made laces of the past, but wo men have not lost their appreciation of the more valuable possession. Many a woman of moderate means treasures up her bits of "real" old lace, which figure first in her" maiden adornments, then in the wonderful trousseau, and after a while in baby's chris tening cap. Such a woman will wear a linen collar any day in preference to a dis play of cheap machine-made lace. Not withstanding this she realizes that machine-made lace has its uses, and is often very tasteful and effective. j The girls of the period need not be dis couraged, because the pessimists confront them every day with the shadowy ghosts of their grandmothers. These girls have a beautiful future before them, and, in many ways, are far stronger women than their grandmothers ever were. Perhaps they are suffering now for their ancestral follies, but their opportunities are wider, and their equipments better. Yellow laces are all very well in their way, bat the modern girls need not narrow their treasures to caskets of lace. Only let them take care that their granddaughters shalL not suffer for any faults of their grand mothers, and the pessimists may talk us they will. - Custom Iflakea Strong Uwi, f Baltimore American. A fee of $5 is regularly exacted from young members of the Bar on their admis sion by the crier of the Supreme Court in this city. Many years ago, when youg lawyers were scarce and rich," and liberal because they could afford to be, an eld woman, known as Nell Gwynn, who used to sell apples and cakes about the courts, took it into her head to tax all the young lawyers $5 on their admittance to the Bar. The lawyers laughed and complied wjth the old lady's fancy. The practice con tinued during Nell's lifetime. When she died the crier of the court thought the field a good one to cultivate, and he young lawyers of his time were induced to follow the example of their predeces sors. The courtesy came in course of time to be regarded as a right, and is no longer a contribution, but an exaction, although the crier is not dependent on fees, but fe ceives a fair salary for his services. To " Flue-Writing" Editors Also. Indianapolis Journal. J " When I first came into the Treasury," says Assistant secretary oon, "l naa oc casion to write a communication for Treas urer Spinner one day. He took the letter, read it through carefully, and with a pre monitory 'hump,' said, Yes, this is very good, but what does it mean?' I ex plained very fully, and he looked at me over his spectacles and remarked, 'I un derstand it now, but the other fellow may not. Young man, whenever you write a letter write as though you were addressing another fool ! ' I have tried to follow his advice." Wine and a Dry Tongue. Hebrew Journal. 1 Two Polish coreligionists were on journey on a hot summer day. "Have you anything with you, Matthias?" "Yes, bottle of Hungarian wine. What have you got, TiloflT' "A dry tongue.' "Good. Then we will divide our provis ions." "Very good! Begin." Matthias produced a bottle of wine from his wallet and its contents were honorably divided. After this had been done, Matthias, wiping his mouth, asked his fellow-traveler to bring out his provisions. "If answered Tiloff. "Why, yes, your dry tongue." "I haven't got one now!" was the reply. Florida's Progrea. Schuyler ColCax. and thus demoralize the business. codfish has fallen from $8.50 to $4.50. A "Fair Count" In Utah. Carl Pretsel's Weekly. A Mormon editor of Salt Lake City had the following in a recent issue of his paper: "The unknown woman who was killed at this place about three months ago by the cars proves to be one of the wives of the editor of this paper." A new count ap pears to have revealed the fact. Mankato, Mihh., Jan. 18, 1885. This morning, when the 10 o'clock tram on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul road arrived, an elderly gentleman of portly physique stepped from the coach, and, with satchel in hand, walked to the Omaha depot, as is supposed, for the purpose of taking the eleven o'clock train on that road west. He walked up to a gentleman outside of the depot and inquired for the gentlemen's waiting room, and was direct ed thereto. After stepping inside he walked up to a map on the wall, and after perusing it for a while walked across the room to a window and looked out for a short time. He sat down with his over coat on his lap. There were at the time three persons in the depot. The stranger was noticed to grow pale, and one of those present hastened to him with water, sup posing him to be faint. . He settled back in the seat and gave one gasp for breath. which was the last evidence of life he manifested. Papers found on him showed the dead man to have been Schuyler Col fax, Vice-President with Grant He passed from good public repute on account of alleged connection with the "Credit Mobilicr"; frauds. Mr Colfax was born in new i otic m laza ana removed to In diana in 1838. Beginning as a clerk in a country store, he became afterward a law ver, an editor, a delegate to the Whig National Convention of 1848, and in 1854 a member of Congress. By successive re elections he continued in Congress until 1868, when be was elected Vice-President on the ticket with Gen. Grant. fNew-Tork Tribune Letter. New Orleajts, January 8. Florida is an exception to the Gulf States in general in that its white population is increasing in greater proportion than us colored pop ulation. This is due to immigration from the North. In the lost census period the colored people increased 88 per cent, and the white people 49 per cent. If the same proportionate increase has continued, the population of the State now reaches , 832,000 as compared with 268,000 in 1880,'' and there is an excess of 24,000 In the white over the colored inhabitants.- That is the way General W. H. Sebring, the Florida Commissioner to the Exposi tion, figures upon the State's population. He says that Florida is becoming more popular than ever with Northern -people, and that after a long sleepy existence it is making rapid strides in the way of utiliz ing its valuable raw materials and in di versifying its industries. Naught But Good of the Dead. Arizona Editorial obituary. The stalwart foftn of out genial friend and fellow-citizen, Abe Gunner, is stiff and cold, 6wing to a little trouble he had with Bite Off Ransom. It is not our prov ince to say which was right, but to voice the general sentiment of regret that Abe is no more. As a mixer of drinks he reached up into the artistic, and the patrons of the Montezuma all recognized the fact. Abe will be buried with all the bullets which he received in the encounter, none of which, we are glad to say, are in his back, as it is not deemed necessary to get them out. The best people of the town will unite in doing honor to his memory. Isaiah Bynders. This old-time TammaoyChief died of apoplexy last week, aged 81. Known as a New York "rough" for year, and lat Prevents Enty and lealouay. Albion, Mich., Record. Gov. Alger's private secretary gets $1, 600 a year. The Governor himself, poor fellow, gets only $1,000.
The Weekly Raleigh Register (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 21, 1885, edition 1
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