Chicago daily tribune. [volume], October 06, 1878, Page 4, Image 4

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SOCIETY MEETINGS*
CHICAGO COMMANDER Y,* NO. 19. K. T.-Attcn
tion. Sir Kolfthta-Statea Conclave Monday evening.
Oct. 7, 1873. at Asylum* corner Ualsied and Kan
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LAFAYETTE CHAPTER. No. 2, R. A- M.-HalK 76
Monroc-st- Special Convocation Monday evening, Oct.
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Corinthian chapter, no. cs, r. a. m.-
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panions are cordially invited. By order
O. W. BARNARD, H. P.
1. O. O. F-, EXCELSIOR ENCAMPMENT (Uniform
ed). No. IDA— Hall, Twemy-eecond-at..between Stale
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be conferred next Friday cvcnlnc. Oct. 1L Ylslllnc
brotbera invited. A. H. WAGGENER. C. P.
SUNDAY, OCTOBEB G, 1878.
In New York on Saturday greenbacks ruled
steady at 99J cents on the dollar in gold ahd
silver coin.
The Grand Jury of the Criminal Court
yesterday returned true bills against Joseph,
St. Petek and Mrs. Clark, for the murder
of the latter’s husband at La Grange a few
weeks ago, and also against Policeman Jones
for the shooting of young O’Bbien.
Tbe, amount of building done in Chicago
during the first nine months of this “ hard
times year” 1878 is something for the
croakers to meditate upon and explain if
they can. Up to Oct. 1, a frontage of nearly
fire miles of new houses and stores has been
built, and $5,000,000 distributed among
mechanics, laborers, contractors, merchants,
etc.
There were forty-seven deaths and 105
new cases of yellow fever at Memphis yes
terday, the heavy increase being undoubt
edly due in great measure to the return of
absentees unwilling to remain longer from
home. While this foolhardy invitation to
disease and death continues there is no hope
that Memphis will be freed from the horrors
and the crushing disasters of the plague.
A great deal of angry feeling has been oc
casioned among the members of the Produce
Exchange of Chicago at the determination of
the American Express Company to enter in
to competition with them, and the commis
sion men yesterday held a meeting and passed
resolutions denouncing the Express Com
pany for its invasion of their business do
main, and pledging themselves to retaliate
by refusing to handle any produce transport
ed by this Company.
Th-dek's propensity for cipher telegrams
as a means of facilitating fraud and theft is
shown once more in the examination at
Detroit of his counsel, “the Hon.” Thomas
Hahland, upon the charge of feloniously
adding in the larceny of the New York Mine
books of account jvhilo' the taking of
testimony in the income-tax case was
going forward at Marquette. All the
dispatches containing instructions as
to the mode of procedure for the
abstraction of the books were in cipher, it
being calculated beforehand that this would
be a valuable aid in baffling the inquiry cer
tain to follow the theft of tie books. • Of
course “the Hon.” defendant will refuse to
translate the telegrams, and their exact pur
port is likely to remain unknown. The tes
timony yesterday before the United States
Commissioner at Detroit indicates the prob
ability that Haklaxd will be held for trial in
the United States District Court.
Exciting reports are received from the
region in Nebraska where the hostile Chey
ennes are known to be. CoL Thok-cbuboh,
with all the force ho could collect at short
notice, is_ in hot pursuit, and at last ac
counts was close upon the heels of the flying
redskins. Other commands were hastening
from all directions’ to effect a junction
with him, and Gen. Cnoos himself
is on his way to the North Platte to assume
direction of the opera aons. There seems
to be no longer any danger that these rene
gade Cheyennes will escape the vigorous pur
suit that has been instituted, or that they will
succeed in effecting a coalition with the
disaffected Indians of the Bod Cloud
Agency, which has been their manifest
intention. The route taken in then
flight leads past the Niobrara River
region, where vast herds of cattle are
ranged by the wealthy stock-men of North
western Nebraska, but at the rate Col.
Thornburgh is pressing them they will
have little leisure for depredation by the
way. Our dispatches point to the gratifying
probability that the entire band of Chey
ennes will be overtaken to-day or to-morrow
and completely annihilated.
"We fancy the reputable portion of the
Democratic party in Chicago and Cook
County will scarcely admit that they have
been fairly represented by tho Bummer Con
v enlions that have been held under the un m o
of Democracy, and we should think-'drat
they would be inclined to resent the action
of the mob if they have «fty parly, or local,
or even personal,.pridain'the matter. With
tho single exception of their North Side
Congressional Convention, their gatherings
have been of so disreputable a character as to
rtfleci upon the whole community, and, with
the exception of one or two candidates, who
have been nominated by'a bare majority, the
persons’who have been; presented to the
suffrages of tho people are conspicuously nit
nt, and should be defeated without any ro
gard to their political connections,
•the Democratic nominations for'Con
gress in tho First and Second Dis
tncts were bad enough; the Legislative
nominations were still worse;' but worst of
all, amounting to an insult, to the intelligence
of the people, 'was the renomination for the
County Board of the very men who hare
made themselves most obnoxious to the tax
payers, and who have constantly been identi
fied imh the worst element of the County
Bingsters. The hold of the Democratic parly
upon this county is ■ not strong enough to
warrant such tampering ■ with the interests
of the taxpayers, and, unless responsible
Democrats are willing to lend themselves to
the purposes of the “ gang,” the Demo
cratic ticket will be defeated by an over
whelming vote. The mob ruled the Demo
cratic County Convention a year ago, but
it was not able to elect its ticket. The same
condition of things this year ought to be
followed by the same result
.S 1.50
. 6.00
EOBBEET—AMD NOW MUEDEB.
' The schools for the encouragement and
promotion of crime, especially burglary,
robbery, arson, and larceny, which the
Municipal Government of Chicago has so
long licensed and protected, have at last
added to their studies the graver crime of
murder. On Friday evening some thieves
and burglars, who had robbed a wholesale
store safely, delivered one wagon-load of
plunder atanominal pawnshop onState street.
When the wagon containing the second load
reached the place of delivery a police-officer
happened to be passing; he put his hand on
the cloth with which the goods were covered,
intending to lift it, asking one of the men at
the same time, “ What hove you got here ? ”
and he was instantly answered and killed by
a pistol-shot.
This murder, as well as the antecedent
robbery, and perhaps a hundred other like
robberies committed within the year, is due
directly' and notoriously to the barely-dis
guised shops for the receipt of stolen goods,
which shops, with a full knowledge of the
character of their business,.are to be found
in all parts of the city, and are protected in
their, nefarious traffic by licenses from the
city authorities. This state of things is not
new in Chicago. Every police-officer knows
that nineteen out of every twenty shops
licensed and kept as pawnshops are, in fact,
places for the reception of stolen goods;
that they are, in fact, the places to which
nine-tenths of the goods stolen from - stores
and private houses in this city are taken and
sold by the thieves; and no policeman is so
credulous and simple as to believe that in
any case the keeper of any one of these
shops is not fully satisfied that the goods he
buys are stolen.
During twenty years there have been
spasmodic attempts to convict the keepers of
these establishments, and every attempt has
been a failure. No matter how strong the
evidence nor how overwhelming the proof,
this class of criminals has invariably been
able to defeat justice. If we remember cor
rectly, it has not been more than four years
since a family of these keepers, caught with
$15,000 to $20,000 of stolen goods, some in
their possession and some of it shipped by
them to confederates elsewhere, without a
loophole through which an ordinary crimi
nal could escape, was able for several terms
of Court to prevent grand juries finding in
dictments, and, when the indictments were
found, succeeded at last in placing men. of
their own choice on' the trial juries, who
refused to convict them. In this day of
“ Unions,” and “Protective Alliances,” and
“Brotherhoods” there is no more infamous
Association, no more dangerous and corrupt
ing Brotherhood, than the alliance of the
keepers of these shops for the receipt of
stolen goods,—an alliance extending all over
the country,—for their mutual protec
tion against legal proceedings.. Fifty
thousand dollars, or three times that
amount of money if necessary, will
be forthcoming to purchase all the pro
tection against outraged law and justice
which may be required to screen the crimi
nal from punishment Thisis a community of
crime which has for many years successfully
baffled justice. The Grand Jury within six
months made an earnest appeal to the Mayor
and Common Council 'to adopt some regula
tion that would limit and control these
schools of crime, but the Common Council
put the paper away without giving it the
least consideration. On Friday night an
honest, faithful officer was murdered at one
of these dens,—murdered by a licensed
thief. Let us hope that this deed will so
arouse public feeling that the Mayor, Coun
cil, and. police will be induced take effective
steps to rid the city of these robber-dens,
which are tenfold more infamous and cor
rupting in their agencies and effects (linn the
gambling-houses and.the brothels, which are
made the subjects of police visitation and
prosecution from time to time. '
THE CREDIT SYSTEM
The failure of the City of Glasgow Bank
reveals another chapter in the inevitable
history and outcome of speculation and the
attempt to substitute credit for capital. The
revelations are of the common kind: The
inducements of interest on deposits by the
bank to swell its funds; the loaning of these
funds at high rates of interest to desperate
speculators; the taking as collateral specu
lative securities; the kiting of paper between
various banks doing the same kind of busi
ness; the investment of funds in East
Indian, Australian, and even South American
speculative jobs, such ns the loan of money 1
on herds of wild cattio roaming the pampas
of Paraguay! To this must bo added, of
course, the loaning of large sums on ques
tionable paper to Directors and to the friends
of the Directors. For the fifty millions of
dollars that the bank owes it has notes,
bonds, mortgages, assignments, and other
cats and dogs which will yield but a
small percentage at the end. of a long inves
tigation. ' In this country, and even in this
city, we have a painful experience of the
worthlessness of the assets of a bank which
has been plundered oy its officers in a system
of reckless speculation.
During tho last twenty-five years there has
been a great change in the mercantile system
in Great Britain, and the change has been
largely adopted in this country. Previously,
merchants engaged in business to the' extent
which their actual capital, and. a reasonable
credit founded on that capital,’justified, and
only increased their business as their capital
.was increased by profits. This is changed.
Kow the men .of capital do not engage'per
sonally in trade.' They lend then: money to
a new class of merchants;- who do "business
on credit* and-who* push‘that credit to the
utmost limit. The business is vastly in
creased by this process, but the margin of
cash capital on which it is done is so small
that any serious depreciation of values, and
sudden ilarm in credit, or heavy loss, is sure
to carry down tho operator, and, with him,
all others whose credit is mixed up with his
own. To this constant and universal expan
sion of credit is due the ever-recurring break
downs. When credit fails, collapse in trade
follows of necessity. . •
Banking in Scotland seems to have adopt
ed this credit system and carried it to ex
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE; SUNDAY. OCTOBER 6, . 1878—SIXTEEN PAG;
tremities, just as it has been carried in this
country. So long as credit holds out, so
long will speculation thrive, and wealth, and
accumulations, and prosperity assume gigan
tie proportions. But when credit reaches its
utmost tension, and there is a snapping of
the cords, then it is discovered how purely
imaginary were the supposed wealth and
accumulations under the system of expanded
credit. This country had its credit era,
followed by the era of vanished fortunes and
wrecked prosperity; and that mah is a public
enemy who now proposes to renew the
period of false values, speculative operations,
andwild and frenzied extensions of the credit
system. There can be but one end to this
system, anil thatds poverty and want. The
§r.0,000,000 of the depositors of the Glasgow
Bank have perished in the vain effort to in
flate values by watering securities and in
Cat property in the four quarters of the
globe.
POLITICAL BLACKMAIL.
It is said of a low-down, but wily politician
of this city, wbo has enjoyed a good many
small successes in bis day, that a favorite
electioneering practice of his was to go
around the African quarter and distribute
pennies and nickels to the little pickaninnies,
and that he was accustomed to secure a good
many colored votes (though a Democrat) by
this cheap show of liberality. But of late
the little darkies have been swindled out of
their election sweetmeats by a more sys
tematic order of blackmail. Pennies and
nickels, and even subsidiary silver, distrib
uted among the saloons, do not count for
much in a political contest nowadays. In
stead of a Utile candy for the babies volun
tarily contributed, household stores for the
winter and rum-money to last over tiU the
next election are exacted from the candi
dates for political honors and emoluments.
PoUtical blackmail has grown from a spo
radic ailment to the proportions of a recurrent
epidemic. It breaks out twice a year,—in
the fall and in the spring,—aud it
fastens on every man who has the temerity
to announce himself as a candidate for office,
high or low. It is a disease that attacks the
pocket, and its virulence and endurance are
measured only by the capacity of the victim.
The present season seems to be peculiarly
favorable to its spread in Chicago.
There are various kinds of poUtical black
mail, but every variety has a distipetive and
well-organized character. The candidates
for party nominations are the first victims !
to this disreputable traffic. They are not
confined to those who voluntarily seek‘nom
inations at the hands of the primaries and
conventions, for the bummers search out
promising subjects to operate upon. At this
particular stage of blackmail the confidence
operators are Republicans, Democrats, and
Nationals, —every one of them belongs to
all the parties in the field, and professes to
control all the primaries and all the conven
tions. The blackmailer may be a profession
al gambler, or a saloon-keeper,, or a “ slug
ger ”; but be.. 'is a Democrat' among
Democrats, a Republican among Republic
ans, a Greenbackor among Greenbackers, and
bo on; he will be found at oil the primaries
and all the conventions, and howls, and
pushes, and swears, and blackguards with*
out any unfair discrimination as to parties.
The candidates are divided up among those
self-constituted office-brokers and victimized
according to their weakness and means. In
order that the material may not give out,
each sot of blowers and strikers discovers a
good subject and preys upon him till the last
ballot is taken. The late Democratic Count}'
Convention furnished a fair sample of the;
modus operandL There was a wealthy Irish
butcher who was persuaded that ho was the
proper man for Sheriif of this county, and
that the Democrats would nominate and
elect him. According to all reports, this
worthy beef-killer became convinced some
weeks ago that political life was his destiny,
and ever since then he has contributed
freely to the blowers and strikers who took
him in charge. He was under the im
pression that the Irish would rally around
him in. overwhelming numbers, and that the
nomination was so certain that he only need
reach out his hand to clutch it. Butwhenthe
Convention met and the ballot was token,
thc“b*yes” evidently concluded that they
had exhausted the available’means and pa
tience of their rich butcher, and so they
rallied around a bntoher-boy more after their
own heart,—a fellow with a well-marked
physique and a reputation as a fighter,—and
the rich victim hardly got enough votes to
know he was in the field.
After the nominations, the office-brokers
and bummers divide up ‘into party lines.
Some of them call themselves Democrats,
others Republicans, others Nationals, others
Socialists, —and then the candidates are made
to contribute in order-to get elected, just as
they had previously contributed in order to
obtain the privilege of running. If the
“ b’yes ” have succeeded in getting & partic
ularly “green” fellow, with a particularly
fat pocketbook, on one side, they are apt to
concentrate on him. This was the experi
ence of another Irishman of large moans
on the North Side a year ago, and
a wealthy Stock-Yards man on the
South Side two years ago. But
the concentration on this particular candi
date does not indicate by any means that he
will be elected; it simply means that ho will
be plundered more than his competitors. He
is expected to visit the saloons often, ask
everybody up to drink, put out a $5 bill,
and not wait for the change. He is also
expected to slip a small amount of money
into the outstretched hands of all the fel
lows who approach him personally. But he
is bled worst of all by half a dozen men of
“influence,” who generally keep saloons or
run gambling-houses, and who confidentially
inform him that, for self-protection, he must
confide the money into their, hands in bulk
for redistribution “where it will do most
good.” If he yields to this soft persuasion,
this higher grade of blackmailers generally
conclude that the money “will do most
good” by saving it for a rainy day or to help
them over winter, and they spare themselves
the trouble of redistribution. Their favorite
candidate i 4 usually defeated, which it is
extremely difficult for him to understand. If
he asks for an explanation, he is usually
informed that he hasn’t■ been “liberal”
enough.
: The phases of political blackmail we have
mentioned are, of course, entirely outside of
the regular practice of “assessing” candi
dates for what are called the “ legitimate ex
penses ” of, a campaign. Legitimate ex
penses, strictly interpreted, would be the
printing of tickets and hiring; of halls for
meetings, with perhaps a few incidentals.
Each party could probably defray all proper
expenses of an ordinary local campaign for
$1;000 at the outside. As a matter of fact,
however, the candidates are compelled to
pay a good many thousand dollars, each ac
cording to the' importance of the place he is
seeking. The candidate for Sheriff will
probably be assessed SI,OOO, the candidate
for County Treasurer SG,OOO. the candidate
for Congress §I,OOO or §1,500, and so on.
Even the candidates for the Council, to
which service no pay is attached, and the can
didates for the County' Board, where the
lawful pay is very small, are made to
contribute heavily; indeed, there is a wide
spread impression among the bummers that
the candidates for offices without salaries
ought to pay the most, on the ground that
they are the most profitable. The office
holders who are not candidates are also as
sessed “for the good of the party,” and they
generally contribute because they expect to
be candidates at some future day; they for
get that, when they again solicit nomination
and election, their contributions while in
office will not be counted in their favor, but
that they will bo made to “ come dow*n ”
again.- Sheriff Keen could probably explain
how this is from his own experience.
It Is not practicable to enumerate all the
devices for blackmailing office-seekers, but
there is one new method which deserves
mention for its brilliant ingenuity. Noth
ing is more gratifying to a candidate than to
be invited to speak,—especially when
he is running for Congress' or the
Legislature, where speech-making is the
chief attraction. la former times it
was tho custom to invite candidates
to address their constituents on proper occa
sions, and it was thought that the practice
was of mutual benefit to the office-seekers
and the people. But it has been left to the
keen inventive faculty of the Chicago bum
mer to turn this practice into a source of
revenue. In a certain district of this city
candidates receive a polite note saying that
they will he permitted to address tho people
at a certain time and place on theissnesof tho
day, with a post scriptum to tho effect that
they will he expected to contribute' $5, or
$lO, or S3O (according to the importance of
the candidate) for this rare privilege. Now
it may be inferred from what wo have said
that we do not approve generally of the
practice of political blackmail, but we can
not withhold our admiration from this par
ticular variety of tho practice. There is cer
tainly some justice in making most candi
dates pay for the privilege of making
speeches, for it affords a small compensation
for the few people who consent to bo bored
by listening to them. Vie cannot deprecate
this phase of the disreputable business ns
much as wo do the others, but would only
suggest that tho speakers be assessed in pro
portion to their stupidity and dreariness.
THE AMERICAN COUSIN.
It is seldom that the dignified 'and con
servative London limes so far forgets itself
as to exhibit a fretful' dislike for the people
aud institutions of this.country. It is now
over a hundred years since that little unpleas
antness occurred between the Mother Coun
try and her Colonies which led to a dissolu
tion of the copartnership and the establish
ment of a business on this side of the water
on account of and in %be name of the junior
partner of the and the lapse ,of
time, if no other consideration, ought to
be sufficient to make each party forget what
ever is disagreeable about the past, and gen
erously acknowledge whatever is good * and
noble in the career of the other. This the
r.' .
Times is usually disposed to do, but occa
sionally it allows the'Spirit of jealousy to
dominate its bettor judgment, and then it is
disposed to search fori the mote in its Ameri
oan Cousin’s eye. i; ‘ -
* 'jji
The recent the JS r orth Ameri
can Review contains fen article from Mr.
Gladstone’s pen, -eErtltled “Kin Beyond
Sea,” in which a parallel is drawn between
the twoformsof government, and the English
and the American system is contrasted with
the rhetorical directness that always charac
terizes that learned gentleman’s literary pro
ductions. And, indeed«*£o much of my Lord’s
article redounds to the and gloiy of
this country, its Constitution, laws, institu
tions, and methods, that the great Thunderer
permits its equanimity Jto be disturbed there
at, and its milled temper is displayed in an
ill-natured criticism of Air. Gladstone’s pa
per. It is puzzled to know in the first place
whether Mr. Gladstone intended his essay
for the edification of readers in England or
America, and declares that in either
case the writer is redundant and de
fective,” as “Englishmen will hardly care
to be told of the rapid decadence of their
own country, and of the moral certainty that
they will before/long be passed and out
stripped by their American rivals.” The
arguments that Mr. Gladstone advances to
establish these propositions the Times does
not consider worth while to controvert, bnfc
contents itself with trying to neutralize
whatever is creditable to'oar people by some
thing that is decidedly derogatory. To the
remark of the essayist that the American na
tion is paying off its debt with great rapidity,
much more rapidly than the English Govern
ment is doing, the Times is moved to reply
with intentional sarcasm that they “ confess
to the whole of it, and ha'oe not proposed any
■currency juggle to scale away either principal
or interest” The Times need not have print
ed its ironical reference to the prevailing fiat
money lunacy in this country in italics, in
order to make the sentence bite’;
but the slur is deprived of its sting
by the recollection that our National
Government does 54 confess to the whole ” of
the debt, and never has proposed to cheat
any honest creditor out of a single cent of
it, nor to pay any portion of it in what is
not regarded as money the world over.
Neither the American nor the English Gov
ernment can consistently be held responsible
for the vagaries of political parties nntil
their impracticable theories are crystallized
into law, and thus bo made a public policy.
Mr. Gladstone thought he saw something
very extraordinary in the way in which the
huge armies of both Federala and Confed
erates have gone back to civil life and have
melted into the moss of peaceful citizens;
but the Times can find an instance to the
same effect, “without being driven back to
Cincinnatus.” Its knowledge of history re
minds it that Ceoitwell’s army did the same
thing, and that the disbanding of Croii
well’s Ironsides “ was not followed by such
events as the Pennsylvania railway riots.”
Indeed, Mr. Gladstone does not make a point
in his long and elaborate essay in favor of his
“Kin* Beyond Sea” that the querulous
Times does not seek to offset by reference
to some discreditable phase of American
society, or to some incident, wholly excep
tional in its character, that is calculated to
throw dishonor upon republican institutions.
It even complains because Mr. Gladstone
“ has adopted the American form of ‘spell-'
ing as often as it differs from ours” (and of
course ours is the only correct method), and
his offense is still further aggravated by the
fact that “queen” appears with “a small
initial letter, while President is more dis
tinguished.” This is an insult not to be
passed over in silence, and is worthy of
loudest thunder of “ The Thunderer,” al
though it admits that the disrespectful way
of spelling the good Queen’s.name may have
been tlie fault of an ignorant and perverse
compositor, who -was aided and abetted by a
royalty-bating proof-reader. “But,” con
tinues the indignant 'Times , “ that America
is to wrest from us our commercial primacy;
that in her Very next census, in the year
18S0, she will be exhibited to the world as
the wealthiest of all the nations; and that
she is, indeed, passing us by in a canter,—
all this can hardly be a mere printer's freak.”
No, indeed. Mr. Gladstone must face this
dreadful responsibility, and not attempt to
shift it upon the shoulders of the poorpriuter,
behind whom so many of .us often try to
skulk. ' ■ .
The whole tenor of the criticism upon Mr.
Gladstone’s very just and discriminating
article in the lleeiew, by the Times, is so
erroneous and fault-finding that we begin to
suspect the traditional healthiness of roast
beef and plum-pudding may well be called in
question: and, now that the bank of Glas
gow has failed, wo do not even dare to sug
gest that the digestive apparatus be stim
ulated and the editorial temper improved by
a moderate infusion of Scotch ale.
THE BIBLE REVISION.
The revision of the English Bible which
began Hay G, 1870. is now more than half
done. It is probable that the New Testa*
merit at least will be published in ISSO.
This work is the most important of its kind
that has been undertaken in the Christian
Chnrch since the King James revision. It
is, indeed, the first concerted effort by En
glish-speaking Protestants to correct the er
rors and archaisms of that edition, and it is
the only one that has the least promise of
general acceptance. It derives its impor
tance largely from the fact that all the prin
cipal Protestant denominations are repre
sented in the committees engaged on the
revision. The movement the En
glish Established Chnrch, bnt, with a liber
ality quite worthy of the occasion, the first
Committee was authorized to associate with
itself in the work Christian scholars of other
churches using the King James version.
The object of the revision is said by Prof,
Schait, President of the American Com
mittee, to bo the bringing.of King James’
version up to the present State of the En
glish language, and to the present standard
of Biblical scholarship. The principles
adopted by the Committee for its own gui
dance are as follows:
1. To introduce ns few alterations as possible in
tbo text of the authorized version, consistently
with faithfulness.
2. To limit as far as possible the expression of
such alterations to the language of the authorized
or earlier versions. (Only one new word has been
introduced iu the New Testament.) •
3. Kuch company to "o twice over the portion
to be revised, once provisionally, the second time
dually.
4. 7 fhat the text to be adopted be that for which
the evidence is decidedly preponacratinz: and
that when the text so r iopted differs from that
from which the authorized version was made, the
alteration be indicated in tbo margin.
5. To maxe or retain no change' in the text, on
the second final revision by each company, except
two-thiMlsof those present approve of the same;
out on the first revision to decide by simple ma
jorities.
0. To revise the headings of chapters, pages,
paragraphs, italics, and punctuation.
The need of revision is shown in several
articles contributed by American members
I of the Committee to nn extra number of the
Sunday-School I Vorld, which now lies before
us. Prof. Ezra Abbott, of Cambridge,
Hass., writes on the imperfection of the
Greek text of the New Testament from
which our common English version was
made, and onr present resources for its cor
rection. He shows that the King' James
translators had no manuscripts earlier than
the fifteenth century, whereas there are now
available for purposes of Biblical criticism
the Sinaitic and tbo Vatican manuscripts,
which wore written as early, probably, as
tbe middle of the fourth century, and two
others, —the Alexandrine and the Ephraem,
—which belong to abont tbo middle of the
fifth, besides many valuable fragments of the
fifth and sixth centuries. It is a matter of
course that many errors crept into the text
daring tbe thousand years that elapsed be
tween the date of the earliest manuscripts
and the writing of those which King James’
translators used. Many such errors have
been discovered on a comparison of the
originals. Most of these have been due to. a
confounding of the text with interlineations
or glosses only suggested as probable or de
sirable by medieval scholars. Notes on tbe
margin made for devotional or critical pur
poses have also been included in the author
ized version, and Have passed ever since for
the word of God,
Among the longer passages in .the New
Testament, of which the genuineness is*
more or less questionable, are the Doxology
in the Lord’s Prayer; Matt., xviii., 11
(“For tho Son of man is come to save that
which was lost”); Matt, xxi., 4-4 (‘/And
whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be
broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will grind him to powder ”); Matt, xxiii.. It
(“ Woe unto yon, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses,
and for a pretense make long prayers, there
fore ye shall receive tho greater damna
tion”) ; Matt, xxrii., 35 (“ That it might bo
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets.
They parted my garments among them, and
upon my vestures did they cast lots”);
Mark, vi., 11 (“Verily I say unto you it
shall bo more tolerable for Sodom and
Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for
that city”); Mark, xv., 28 (“And the
Scriptures were fulfilled, which saitb, And
he was numbered with transgressors”);
Mark, ivi., 9-20 (The entire passage in re
gard to the appearance of Jesus to Mart
Magdalene, including many favorite
texts); Luke, ix., 5G (“For the
Son of man is not come to destroy
men’s lives, but to save them ”); Luke,
xxiii., 31 (“Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do”); Luke, xxix., 12-
JO (concerning tho Eesurrection); John, v.,
1 (about tho angel moving tho water in the
pool of Bethesda); John, viii., 11 (“She
said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto
her, Neither do I condomn thee, go and sin
no more”); Acts, ix., 5-0 (the conversation
between Paul and the unseen spirit) ; John,
x., 7-8 (the famous text of tho three heav
enly witnesses). Some of the questionable
additions are from parallel passages, where
the words are genuine ; but others have no
manuscript authority whatever. The above
comprise all the considerable changes that
will bo required by a revision; but the par
ticular words and phrases that will be affected
would fill a volume by themselves. There are
in all 150,000 various readings of the text
of tho New Testament, Of these. Prof.
Abbott says hineteen-twentieths may be
dismissed from consideration at once. “ This
leaves, we will say, 7,. r »00. But of these
again it will appear that nineteen out of
twenty are of no sort of consequence as
affecting the sense. This reduces the num
ber to perhaps 400, which involve a differ
ence of meaning often very slight, while a
few exceptional cases among them moy rel
atively bo called important.”
Besides the errors of the text, there ore
the errors of interpretation of the King
James translators. The questions arisingjn
this department of criticism are even nicer
and more difficult of settlement than those
in the former. Prof. Thaxer, of the Ando
ver Theological Seminary, writes on this
subject in the S'tndny-School World.
The King James translators disregarded
verbal criticism, provided the sense did not
suffer. This Prof. Txiayek regards as a grave
error. “By translating the same word in the
original by different English words, distinc
tions are inevitably suggested where they do
not exist; on the other jinnd, by rendering
different words in the original in one and the
seme way, differences in the sacred writers’
thought are hidden from the modem reader.”
Thus the New Testament “ atonement ” and
“ reconciliation ” are identical, ns ore “hope ”
and “trust,” and “chanty” and “love.”
On the other hand," Hades ” and “ Gehenna,”
“demons ” and “devils,” translated by iden
tical words, are in the original radically dif
ferent things. Prof. TitAtzr. giv.es many in
stances of errors of this description which
we have not space for. Ha shows how
easily they might arise by pointing the
different shades of meaning in the following
passages, which in the original are identical:
Beware of the scribes, I Beware of the scribes,
which lore to go in long which desire to tcatk in
ctol/untj , and love sr.lu- long robes, end love
tations in the marhet-loreetingsia the markets,
places, and the cAie/jaud the Uiohest seats in
scats in the synagogues, ;the synagogues, and the
and the uppermost foom»;cA(>/' rooms at feasts:
at feasts; which devourlwhich devour widows*
widows' houses, and furbouscs, and for a shew
a pretense make longmnkc long prayers.—
prayers.— Mark 12: USihul'e 20: 4U sq.
sq. I
Dr. Howabd Cnosnr writes of the archa
isms in the Bible, showing that changes in
the language have caused many words in the
authorized version to have for the common
understanding a radically different meaning
from that which they conveyed, and were
intended to convey, in King James’ time.
Thus “adamant” is used for “diamond,”
.“ aha ’’ for “ hurrah,” “ admire ” for
“ wonder at,” “ all to ” for “ completely,”
“ bravery ” for “ splendor,” camphire ”
for “ cypress,” “ turtle ” for “ dove.”
Prof. Sxco.N'Q writes on the paragraphs,
chapters, and verses of the Bible, showing
that the present arrangement is a loss in
every respect. The sense is greatly injured
by the bad method at present in use, and
would be improved by a new and intelligent
division into subjects, the old numbers being
retained only in brackets or on the margin
for reference.
The articles which wo have abstracted in*
dicate how radical the revision will be, if it
bo carried out according to the wishes of the
American revisers. The scheme is so com
prehensive that it has already caused some of
the faithful to sound tho alarm; and we
find onr esteemed contemporary, the Xnte~
nor, serving due notice upon whom it may
concern that the errors of the old version
are precious in the eyes' of the unlearned,
who will, it is said, “ watch with jealous care
even the smallest omissions.” This wam r
ing, which, we imagine, represents not
merely tho views of zealots in the
Church, but of many cultivated persons,
places the revisers in a most perplex
ing dilemma. It is n notification
to them that they most either do violence
to their feelings by pronouncing • true and
the word of God that which they knew to be
false, or run the risk of having their version
rejected. The condition of mind which can
induce any man to declare error sacred is
perhaps more to be wondered at than con
demned. It is too soon yet to say what the
effect of tho revision will be; but it seems
reasonable to expect that it will for a lime
furnish much ammunition, to the enemy,
and unsettle ' the minds of a few who have
hitherto supposed that the Bible was handed
down with the tables of stone to AToses on
Sinai. The apprehension of this result has,
no doubt, had much to do with the warnings
which the Interior and other orthodox
authorities have Taised, —none too soon, it
seems, to avert tho danger feared.
CLERGYMEN AND MUSTACHES.
The question whether clergymen should
wear mustaches is once more , agitating the
English Church papers, and it is not alto
gether unlikely that our own religious world
may be exposed to convulsions and storms
over this highly-importautjsubject. Should
the question come up in our own community
whether our clergymen shall be close-shaven
as a new-born babe or scolded hog, or wear
the hirsute ornament which Nature intended,
we trust they will not stop at the mustache,
but demand tho right. to full beard.
There is danger in wearing the mustache
alone. Nearly all the circus-agents, negro
minstrels, faro-dealers, prize-fighters, and
gilded youths of rapid style, wear only tho
mustache. No minister, therefore, should
expose himself to the suspicion of being
one of this class.
It is somewhat curious that any argument
should ever be made upon the propriety of
the full beard for clergymen, since all the .
sacred authorities favor it. Christ is always
represented with full beard. Tho Apostles
did xiot confine themselves to the mustache,
or wear the odious aud artificial whisker
which is clipped into the shape of a mutton
chop, but wore long and flowing beards.
which gave thorn a dignified and venerable
appearance. Among all the multitudinous
pictures of saints in the galleries of Europe,
it is hard to find one without beard, —those
without being usually saints of a cheap and
ordinary kind. The close-shaven monk and
the clean-faced priest are latter-day inven
tions, and are not pretty or nice. Fancy
St. Plul with no beard and his head sand
papered ! Could we have any reverence for
him, or for any other saint, with head and
face as smooth as a young pig T
The Bible itself bears significant testimony
upon this question. In laying down his very
tiresome laws, Moses was particular to
'worn tho Jews against meddling with their
beards, and in Leviticus declares, “Youshall
not mar tho corners of your beards.” "When
Ezra reflected upon the abominations of
Israel, the most intense manner in which he
could display his sorrow was to pluck out
every hair in his beard. Isaiah and Jere
miah, who wore morbid people, addicted to
looking upon the dark side of every subject,
and croaking like two old ravens • whenever
they considered the burden of Moab, were
accustomed to breakout into the most dismal
lamentations, rave about sackcloth and ashes, ’
and chant funereal dirges; but in all tbeir
long catalogue of wo there was never any
thing so dark as their visions of the time
when Jloab should howl over Nebo and
Lledeba, “and on all their heads shall
bo baldqess and every, beard cut off.”
One can faintly imagine, therefore,
the manner in which these cheerful old
wallers ■ would have regarded some of our
ministers nowadays with not a hair visible
where tho hair ought to grow. How differ
ent the genial David, who, when he smote
his harp to sing the praises of dwelling in fra
ternal unity, could find no stronger illustra-
tion than the ointment that ran down Aabon’s
beard, —Aaeon, as will' bo remembered,
having a beard that was superior even to
that of Moses, who used to boost himself
somewhat upon its length and style. Sam-
son did not come to grief until he fell W
the clutches of the adventuress Dzum,
went to sleep upon her shapely knees, nai
before he could wake, was all shaven and
shorn, and exposed to the mockery of tin.
Philistines, who did with him as dis
pleased. The beard was the glory and
strength .of man, os' the hair was the grata
and beantj' of woman.
As Christ, the Apostles, the saints tin
blessed martyrs, and all the Fathers of tin
Church, wore beards; ts the Bible nowhere
condemns, but on the other hand even.
where encourages, the practice; as lucre ij
no regulation of the Church forbidding i£.
and as ministers, like other men, look better
wearing them, we cannot conceive why then
should be any discussion over the matter at
all. -The full beard will improve their loot,
and ministers ought to look well. It will
give them a patriarchal aspect and air of
dignity and venerability, and this ts the as
pect and air they ought to have. It will i m ;
prove their health, and this they need
much. Nearly all ministers have the bron.
chitis, and hake it so bad about the latter
part of June that they have to leave their
flocks to the unskillful cate of rural shea,
herds who are not used to the waywardness
of the urban lambs, however well they may
tend the staid and decorous rural sheep, and
absent themselves until September. Now, the
full beard is a natural cover for the throat
which wards off bronchitis, and its use
would obviate the necessity of going away la
the mountains or to Europe every summer
leaving the sinners all alone in the unequal
contest with the Devil, who never takes va.
cations, but works 565 days every year and
twenty-four hours every day. It is not nn.'
likely some of the elder sisters might object,'
having become accustomed to the dose
shaven face as part and parcel of the minis,
terial office, and looking upon the mustache
and beard as worldly appendages, character,
izing children of darkness; but the ycWer
sisters would be delighted with the change.
In these days of progress there is no good
reason why the minister should not cone
into closer contact with the world,. aad
adopt its ways, so far as they are not harm,
ful or out of keeping with his sacred office. 1
As the beard and mustacho were specially
characteristic of the founders of the Church
and all the early Christians, as there is ao
law in the Bible or the Church against them,
and as they do not interfere with any of the
fundamental principles of theology, the mm- '
ister, like the doctor, and the lawyer, and
other professional men, and like all other
men of good sense, should ent loose from
their silly notions and throw away their
razors.
An extremely interesting history is givea
in a New York dispatch this morning of the
celebrated Jumel-Chase-Bowen will case,
which is still in litigation, the answer of the
American defendants and heirs to the bill of
the French heirs/having been fifed yester
day in the United States District Court in 1
New York, An outline of the events „
connected with the great lawsuit
is essential to a correct understanding -
of its present condition, which is that of
being os far as ever from a settlement. The •
enoimons sum of 83,000,000 is involved in
the contest over the property left by Madame
Juitel, who, from being the frail and un
savory inmate of & Rhode Island workhouse,
became first the mistress and then
the wife of Stephen Juhel, the rich
Frenchman, inheriting, or at least acquir* ;
ing, alibis vast estate, and then become the;
wife of Aaeon Bunn. The long fight.ofthe '
American heirs for tho possession of the ;
property is no sooner ended than tho French
heirs put in an appearance for tho great -
estate, and it is the settlement of this latest
and probably last section of the big contro
versy that soma of the leading lawyers of
the United States and Prance are now en
gaged in. '
Dr. T. F. Foard, of Raleigh, N. C., has writ-
ten a pamphlet which has been largely circulat
ed in that and other. Southern States, and is
said to .have “made a profound impression.”
It is devoted to the presentation of an elab
orate argument that as a centennial peace offer
ing the nation should compensate the South for.
the losses it sustained in the Rebellion. 3lr.
Foard discusses this subject at length, declar
ing that the Government should pay the Hebei
claims as a matter of justice and right! After,
devoting several pages to setting forth the
losses sustained by the Southern Rebels, ho
uses these words; “The easiest and best way.
to heal them”;—the-wounds made by the War
—“ is to compensate those who lost so mach in
the conflict.” Tnc last page of this book con-;
tains the following,' as embodying its aim: . '
That co-operative action be had in ibis matter, a ‘
form of memorial to Congress is appended to tbes(* ; •
nages. Let every one wpo feels an interest In tac ~
"rent work copy and obtain the signatures 01 his- ! 1
uciuhboru to it, aud iucioac it to one of our Sena- ;
tors or Representatives, in Coiwrcss as early as
practicable, and urge its adoption: 1 '
J>nrm of a meowrlut to Vongres*, f
State of . County of —•—, I*7.—T*> Wli
n>mnrcliU Senator* amt J ft wn Of the limit of Hut
rfsentuife.i <f He Unit ft stutea, in I'o-tuftt*
blrd: We, the cUixeusofihc United States, most re
spectfully petition your honorable bodies to enact a law
by which all citizens of every section of the United:
states may he paid for all their property destroyed for
them by cue Governments ami unities of both .•/Tr.vdur-
Im; ills ]ftte war heta'ocu the stales, jn bomU hearing 3 .
per cent interest per annum. maturing witULi the next
hundred years. ■ *
This Democratic scheme, it will be seen, em-‘
braces compensation for the four millions of :
emancipated slaves, which at only SDOO per
head would doable the national debt. The
other Rebel losses would add several thousand
millions more to the mountain of debt, and for
a hundred years the nose of the loyal North f
would be held down on the grindstone to par*
the annual interest, and subsequent generations
would be called on to pay the principal and ad
ditional interest.
For .the sake of conciliating the mourners for.
the Lost. Cause, we suggest as a compromise the
issuing of. sav, tea billions of flat-absolute
money, to be received by them in full comncnsa- f
tiem and liquidation of all claims aud demands
they have against the North on * account
of the thrashing and smashing it gave them ,
when they were trying todismcmbcrtlicKepublic.
In this way they all could be made whole for.
their losses without its costing the North a cent,
except part of tne expense of printing the fiat. .
Our Southern brethren tyould then be condll- ..
ated and thereafter love us, and oar “ Nation-,
al ” neighbors would all be enriched by. the
diffusion of the ten thousand millions of non
exportable, always-stay-wlth-you, “absolute” ,
money. And, to make everything lovely, the
remainder of the community, who would not
want to deprive the “ Nationals ” of the fiat
money, would do their business on the basis o*
coin contracts, and odious, uncivilized, barba
rous gold and silver.
Some observing fellow-citizen of a literary *
turn will write a readable chapter one of these
days entitled “Street-Railway Manners.” He
will not probably discuss tli6‘relation of ’
corporations to the public, nor the rights of the .
pubiicto decent treatment at the hands of the ,
agents and managers of those companies, bnt
he will note the manners and customs of .the ..
people, male and female, who ride in the cars,
and show their good or bad breeding while in
transit. First of all, be will remark that the
average American* citizen is more and. more,
disposed to keep the scat that ho has paid for,.
and not surrender it to the first female, white or
black, who comes ‘in too late to secure a seat
for herself. He will see numerous well
dressed ladies standing up' in overcrowded cars,
holding on to the straps overhead, while imper-.
turbable gentlemen Quietly remain sitting, and