Helena weekly herald. [volume], August 21, 1884, Page 4, Image 4

About Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
<fl lC Ülcchly "ÿjcrald.
FISK BROS. - - - Publishers.
R. E. FISK. ...... Editor.
THORSDA Y. AUGUST 21, 1884.
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL TICKET.
FOU PRESIDENT.
JAMES C. 3LA1NE.
OF MAINE.
FOB VICE PKESIDENT.
JOHN A. LOGAN.
OF ILLINOIS.
Kv the Governor--- A l*roclumatioii.
Whereas, The Texas cattle fever having al
ready made it- appearance in neighlx>rir.g States
and Territories, ami this fatal disease having
attacked native cattle which grazed on or near
the trail of Texas herds from southern ranges :
And, being officially notified that Texas cattle
are eu route by railroad to Montana, to be turned
loose upon our ranges, thereby jeopardizing
nearly twenty millions of dollars invested in
cattle within our l>orders :
Now, therefore, in order to protect this great
interest and the fortunes of our own, as well as
those of the citizens of other States and Terri
tories. I, .Ino. Schuyler Crosby, Governor of the
Territory of Montana, do hereby declare a quar
antine established ag
coming into the Territory of Montana, by rail,
and I do hereby call upon all citizens to aid m
the enforcement of the quarantine aforesaid.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my
_,_ hand and caused the seal ot the lern
1 ) torv of Montana to be affixed,
j ' KAI • f Done at Helena, the capital of said
_^ Territory, this fifth day of August,
A. I). Iasi. jnO. SCHUYLER CROSBY,
Bv the Governor :
John S. Tookek, Secretary.
When the Democratic committeemen
gently intimated to the Sage ot Graystone
that he might now "tap the bar 1" to some
purpose, the answer, feebly whispered,
was : "Yes, yes ; put me down for—for—
the candidate. I'll give—give 111 give as
much—as much—moral support as any
ain 8 r all such Texas cattle I
Urn dispatches outline an infamous
slander aimed by the Indianapolis Sentinel,
Mr. Hendrick's home organ, at Mr. Blaine.
So malicious and atrocious a libel political
deviltry has never in our history concocted.
Mr. Blaine, apprised of its nature, imme
diately confronts it, stamps it a dastardly
lie, and directs an' action for libel to be
brought at once.
And we fancy that the average reader of
the Independent must have a better memory
than its editor, for he will remember who it
was in the last session of Congress that voted
down Converse's bill to restore the duty on
wool, and it will not take a very long
memory either to recall the fact that
within a few days past the same Inde
pendent indulged in some sell-congratula
tion over the defeat of this same man
Converse for a renomination. It the Dem
ocratic House had raised the duty on wool,
the Republican Senate and President
would have approved it, and it would have
been law to-day. _
The weather has been favorable to har
vesting throughout Dakota and a large
crop is reported. It will insure a good
business for the Northern Pacific railroad,
and will encourage still further settlement
of I)a*«ta. The first question is bread,
and as long as there is a penny left it will
go for bread. These good crops in Dakota
will encourage the building, of roads, and
while depression continues at the East,
there will be more move West to be nearer
the source of supply. Dakota bids fair to
become before long the foremost of all the
wheat growing States. __
® While we have a right to congratulate
ourselves over abundant harvests, it is not
always true that the largest harvests have
brought the most money to the country.
England is straining every nerve to supply
herself from India and the consequence is
that wheat is lower than usual and with
poor prospects of being higher. Our only
line of relief is to save the money we send
to England now for manufactured goods
and make them ourselves. The wheat now
sent over the seas to pay for British goods
would he worth more if sold at home to
those who made the same goods this side
of the ocean.
We may rejoice at the rescue ot the
Arctic explorers and feel a thrill of pride
at their discoveries, but when we are called
to read the history of their sufferings, that
it became necessary for starving men to
shoot one of their comrades for stealing
food to satisfy the awful cravings ot hun
ger, it presents a picture too horrible to
contemplate, whether cannibalism was
practiced or not. We do not pretend to
say that Greely was not justified in order
ing Henry to he shot, but only think of
the necessity ot shootiDg a starving man
for stealing food. It is enough to extract
all the glory and satisfaction from Arctic
exploration. There is something mourn
fully sad, too, in the fact that the last wishes
of the dying explorers, to l>e allowed to lie
buried in the region hallowed by their
sufferings and sacrifices, was not gratified.
St. Paul Pioneer-Press : The Chicago
Times, which gloats on that sort of garbage,
publishes two columns of imaginative gos
sip aboui au alleged escapade of Blaine s
youth when he was teaching school in
Kentucky, resulting in the lietrayal and
ruin of a young girl. This nasty story,
which is fabricated with infinite zest and
pains from shreds and patches of malicious
tattle, as an ofi'set to the Cleveland scandal,
is pronounced by Henry W atterson, who
sent his own reporters to investigate it, to
be wholly false and groundless. There seems
to l>e no use trying to avoid the printing of
such vile stufi', since the public in the end
will always insist on knowing what is the
nature of the scandal, however fanciful
it may bo, which every respectable news
paper would gladly suppress ; but in giv
ing the substance of it in this case, if it
can !>e said to have any substance, it is
pleasant to lie able with the bane to give
the antidote on such conclusive Democratic
authority as that of the distinguished edi
tor of the Courier-Journal.
THE IRISH NATIONAL LEAGUE.
The address of President Sullivan at
yesterday's opening of the Irish National
League in Boston, is admirable in senti
ment. as it is eloquent in diction. It is
an appeal to the convictions and sympa
thies of the world, that will not only at
tract attention but will make friends.
What more beautiful sentiment than the
following : "The shamrock on its ban
ner, tear-bedewed in its native bed, is
the symbol of the glorious union of that
race in threee homes, separated by the
seas that divide the continents, united
by the determination of a race to achieve
the independence of a nation." In this
we understand the allusion to be to the
Irish in America and Australia co-ope
operating with those at home
to secure independence for Ireland.
Distant and difficult as this end
may now appear, it is not impossible of
substantial attainment by united effort
and appeals to the reason and justice of
mankind. Not that we believe England
will ever allow Ireland complete inde
pendence. But we have an idea that
Ireland, Scotland and Wales will yet
have the same measure of sovereignty
with local legislatures of as extensive
powers as are now exercised by the
several States of the American Union.
There is going to be a change of the
British constitution before long; that is
evident. The extension of suffrage,
with popular education, is building up
a new ruling class in England that will
not much longer have use for lords and
kings.
Sullivan is not so blind that he does
not see that the people of Ireland in
escaping one danger are exposed to an
other. The farmer class has scored
a great victory already over
the landlord class, but there
are plenty of indications that the farm
ers are not disposed to be equally gen
erous and sympathetic to the more nu
merous and more oppressed class of la
borers under them. Sullivan thus states
the high and comprehensive purpose of
the League : "The National League
aims not merely at a reduction of rents;
not merely at a change from idle propri
etors to working proprietors, but at the
creation of a complete national life, and
the development of the diversified indus
tries which render a people self-sustain
ing and prosperous." That is the policy
that eyery people should adopt that
claims to be intelligent and expects to be
independent and prosperous. That is an
exact description of the policy that the
Republican party is seeking to realize in
the United States, the cultivation of di
versified industries, so that our
people may be self-sust*ining,
and each industry contribute to
the support of other industries. They
want this mutual industrial alliance to
exist between the manufacturing skill,
capital and power of the East, the coal
and iron mines of Pennsylvania, the
corn and wheat fields of the West, and
the cotton fields of the South. We may
not be able to grow everything, for that
requires diversity of soil and climate
that we do not possess, but anything
ihat only requires skill and power to
manufacture we certainly can supply.
Anybody who seriously studies the
situation of Ireland will find that the
misery and poverty of Ireland are trace
able to the commercial policy of Eng
land more than to all other causes, and
that same vicious, suicidal policy the
Democratic party is trying to introduce
into this country.
If the Independent is really anxious to
know what has become of the seven hun
dred millions that have been appropriated
to the navy department during the past
twenty-five years, it can find out to a cent
by going on to "Washington. As the term
covers the period of the war, it is not very
difficult to account for it. It has gone as
other hundreds of millions have gone to
the support of our navy, for the pay of
officers and men and supplies consumed
and a considerable share for repairs. "We
presume that even the editôr of the Inde
pendent can show hut little to-day for all
the food he has eaten and all the clothes
he has worn for the last twenty-five years.
No doubt if the whole thing were
to he done over again, money could
he saved, and we could have had more to
show for it. It is true beyond a doubt
also that if we should spend a hundred
millions for war ships within the next ten
years, that the improvements and changes
which might occur meanwhile might leave
us still with a nayy worth a great deal less
thau it cost. It is the same with all mili
tary expenditures. Old style cannon are
only fit for monuments. Every gqn in the
service has been altered over several times.
Old forts are wortless before modern
ordnance. Meanwhile to ofi'set this ex
pense and depreciation, we have had the
use of our navy, and no one can knowingly
say that it has saved us and been worth to
us all that it has cost, even though it has
cost more than it ought. The business of
live, practical, sensible men is to determine
what is present duty. Look at the
speeches and votes of Democrats in the
last Congress if you want to find how that
party cherishes the navy to-day.
We had hoped at the outset of this
campaign that it would be free from bit
terness and scandal, but the present indi
cations are that it will be not only the
fiercest but the foulest fight ever seen in
the country. We have tried our best to
turn the contest into one of principle over
rival systems of political econemy. In the
case of either party it is true that the
worst things said of its candidate has
come from former party friends. Possibly
the stench that fills the political atmos
phere at present may blow away and the
October skies be more serene. But if
things go on as they have begun it will be
horrible before November, and the news
papers will hardly be fit to read. For
those who have any sense of decency it is
the time now to bring it into use.
PREVENTION OF PANICS.
The address of Mr. John Thompson
before the Bankers' Convention at Sara
toga on Wednesday, contains many gwod
things on the general subject of "Pre
vention of Panics." Beyond all question
panics can be in a great degree prevent
ed. Men lose their heads, not only in
the presence of great «langer, but just as
often in the presence of small ones that
come unexpectedly. The fact is that
there are comparatively few men who do
their own thinking, and this is just as
true of small thing as great ones. As
men turn over their souls to the care of
priests and preachers and their bodie
to the doctors, soin money making every
body is watching somebody else, and the
man who gets the reputation of being
the shrewdest operator is the subject of
study and imitation by others. It is so
much easier to let somebody else do our
hard and serious thinking for us ! But
this common style has its disadvantages
as well. When we are simply following
somebody else, if he drops out of sight
we are lost, whereas, if we are continu
ously following our own reckoning it
may be slower progress to start with, but
it is better in the end and we are not apt
to lose our heads.
Mr. Thompson says that it is not true
that men lose their heads in the panic
and depression that follow inflation and
a boom, but they have lost them before.
This may all be very true, and probably
is true to a certain extent, but it does
not help or simplify the case at all. It
is a common expression of those who
are plunging wildly into speculation,
that " the fools are not all dead yet."
Each set of fools looks for another set
more foolish still and generally finds it,
but there always comes a last set that
gets left.
We do not see how Mr. Thompson
helps us out at all. There is a wild de
sire and determination abroad to get
rich by short methods, taking desperate
chances, that causes all the trouble. It
may fasten on to any object in the world,
even such a steady thing as real estate,
or may hitch on to the more flighty and
fractious teams, of railroad and mining
stocks. This mania is always present in
society in one form or another and in
varying degrees. We fancy the world
as a whole is growing wiser all the time,
but so too it is growing more wealthy,
and it is a failing of our nature, that the
more we have the more we want—and
just as sure as this desire for greater
wealth increases, so sure will it be that
men will take more and more desperate
chances to secure it.
There is a sure, solid, sensible way
for every one to get a competency, if
that would only content them. It could
be shown that it is the method that
gives contentment to the mass of man
kind, and to each one, take life as a
whole. There is no doubt that it would
be best to maintain a steady growth, de
void of both booms and panics. Banks
might exercise a restraining influence if
they would, but it is to be remembered
that capital is not only timid, but its
avariciousness makes it bold at times to
rashness.
It would be wise to have some more
elasticity to our currency at certain
crises, and we can see no objection to the
plan proposed by Mr. Thompson. It
would not prevent the ebb and flow of
credit, but might aid to break the force
and promote a reoovery.
The conservative forces in the mone
tary world are not yet properly organ
ized. There is lying and stealing going
on in every department, and the means
of detection vet employed have proved
unreliable and inadequate.
The fluctuation of railroad stocks is
something altogether abnormal. Take, lor
instance, such a road as the New York
Central, one of the most substantial rail
road properties in the world. In 1877 its
stock was down to 85J. In 1881 it had
reached 151 J. In June last it was down
to 94}, and two months later it is up to
110}. Take the Chicago & Northwestern ;
in 1877 its stock was worth 15: in 1881,
132, and last June 81 >. In 1877 the Chi
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul was as low as
11, and in four years had gone up to 129,
and in June last had fallen back to 58}.
Even the old steady and reliable Rock
Island advanced from 82} in 1877 to 146}
in 1881, and in June last receded to 100}.
These are among the most stable stocks in
the country. They have not been used
for gambling purposes like the Erie
and the Wabash. The latter in 1877 could
have been bought lor fifty cents a share
and within four years Gould had worked
it up to $96. . There is no connection what
ever between the actual value of these
roads at the several dates and the market
value of the stocks. It would be for the
interest of the old established roads to de
vise some method to secure honest admin
istration and truthful reports. Railroad
stocks have become about as fluctuating
as mining stocks without half the excuse
for it. If government can suppress lotter
ies, it ought to suppress those features that
correspond in lines of business that have
been called legitimate. Lying and steal
ing are never legitimate and must be
smoked out everywhere.
The Union Pacific line to Oregon is now
completed to Huntington, Oregon, a dis
tance of 540 miles from Granger, Wyom
ing, the point of divergence. From the
west the Oregon Railway and Navigation
Company have their track laid within 77
miles of Huntington and promise to have
all the grading done during September.
The distance from Portland to Hui tington
is 410 miles, from Portland to Granger,
Wyoming. 950 miles, from Portland to
Omaha 1,827 miles, and from Portland to
Chicago 2,319 miles, very nearly the same
as by St. Paul and the Northern Pacific.
Troy, N. Y., has three Irish American
Blaine clubs, with a total membership
of 780.
REDUCED FARES.
The statistics of English railways for
1883 show the receipts from third-class
fares to have been £17,050,100, against
£7,000,000 for both second and first
class rates. This was a gain of £700,000
over the previous year in . receipt- from
from third-class fares and a falling away
in both the others, ft shows that the
third-class receipts are nearly three
times as much a- the other two together.
It was actually the profit on this third
class business that enabled the English
roads to pay 4} per cent, on their in
creased capital. Considering the in
creased cost of first and second-class
cars, and the . tact that they
are seldom half full, there is a
loss on this part of the business,
notwithstanding the higher charges.
The important deduction that we
would like to draw for the benefit of our
railroad managers, is that they might
just as well increase their profits as not
by reducing rates of fair. No doubt
there is a point below which it would
not pay to reduce, but this is a long way
olf. If fares generally were on<*half the
present rates there would probably be
three times as much travel. The exper
iment has been tried over and again with
such uniformity of result that it ought
to be considered no more an experiment.
Our great railroad managers are all
the time spraining themselves to get up
some new combination to put up rates,
and their work isnosooner accomplished
than it is undermined and overthrown.
It is the hardest kind of work and it is
unpopular work too, and we do not won
der that men engaged in the business
want big pay. Their lives are shortened,
their peace and prospects destroyed.
And all of this is worse than useless.
Railroad men could, if they would, make
money and popularity at the same time
at half the cost of self respect and gen
erous sentiments.
There is coming a day when this fact
will be found out, that more money is to
be made bv cheap fares than high ones,
and by trying to please the public than
in defying and irritating it, and it will
be the most pleasing revolution that the
historian can record. Of course railroad
men will say that it can't be done. They
have said it so often that they are afraid
to try lest the event may prove their er
ror.
It was the same falacy that existed so
long about postal rates. There is more
money to be made in carrying letters at
two cents than at twenty-five cents. And
the next step in the experiment will be
to one cent postage without a doubt of
its being a good thing for evt *ybodv.
We do not pretend that high tariff
produces the most revenue. Lower
rates would unquestionably yield tjie
most. In that respect we are seeking
protection to home industries rather
than more revenue.
But in the case of railroads, now that
the game of watering stocks is up, the
increase of revenues by legitimate means
should be the principal subject of study.
When it is found that the road which
treats the public with the most liberality
and fairness makes the most money also,
there is a chance that all will fall into
line, and that railroadsjmay become to
us a source of wealth and profit, of
which we have had little conception
from any former experience.
It is no new principle, and no railroad
will have to pay a royalty for the use of
it. There's millions in it.
Work is progressing on the Northern
Pacific branch to Puget Sound from both
directions. On the east it is advancing up
the Yakima valley, which is almost in a
direct line by the Yakima pass to Seattle.
Already about thirty-flve miles are com
pleted on the east end, and it is exected to
reach Yakima City, sixty miles, this season.
The work is not being pushed for the very
good reason of lack of funds. The ad
journment of Congress without passing
any act of forfeiture gave an opportunity,
by hurrying up, to have settled the whole
question before talk of forfeiture could be
resumed. From all that we can learn
through parties recently returned from the
Yakima valley, there is nothing very in
viting in the general quality of the land
along the route. We are told of ranchmen
settled in some of the more choice loca
tions hauling their water six miles. Even
if this portion of Washington is as poor as
it is represented, if a good practical pass is
found over the coast range without too
heavy grades, the day will come that the
Puget Sound branch will be one of the
most important lines in the country.
Puget Sound is equal to all the harbors of
the world combined, and the fisheries of
Alaska are equal to thœe of New Found
land, besides the commerce of the Orient,
which in time may be a big thing.
A comparison of the railroads in the
United States and Great Britain for the
year 1883. shows that we had 120,552 miles
representing a capital of $7,163,100,966,
against 18,681 miles representing a capital
of $3,814,718,576 in the latter. This would
make a mile of road in the U. S. represent
$59,409 in stock and bonds, and in Great
Britain every mile represents a capital of
$204,203, or more than three times as
much. Our roads are much more cheaply
built—the right of way has cost very little
and the equipments are inferior. There is
a safer margin for future growth and im
provement to American railroad securities,
provided any further watering can be pre
vented. While only about twenty-five per
cent of the earnings of American roads
comes from passengers, that item reaches
forty-one per cent in England.
Patrick OMara, a prominent Irish
American of Rock Island, 111., and Demo
cratic member of the Legislature, is out in
a card declaring for Blaine and Logan.
O'Mara is the third Democratic member of
the Legislature who has recently left the
party and joined the Republicans.
There were loyal Democrats, hundreds
and thousands of them, during the war
for the Union, and some in the highest
rank, not all Fitz John Porters, as well as
in the rank and file, but never one of them
drew his inspiration for that service lrom
any official deliverance of the Democratic
party for the last forty years. The official
head of the Democratic party said there
was no power in the General Government
to prevent secession. A Democratic
national convention pronounced the war to
■ c .. . Giorp Ins
preserve the l mon a failure, and there nas
scarcely been an act of any kind, either to
save or benefit the Union, that the Dem
eratic party, as a party, has not blindly
and malignantly opposed. After the coun
try iules almost unanimously against
certain features of Democratic policy,
we find they drop out of their
platforms after a while. At the great
onfederate reunion in Texas last week,
where the principal speaker was the same
individual who presided over the late
National Democratic Convention as its
temporary chairman, the same sentiments
were expressed as before and during the
war. They avowed a pride in everything
they had done to destroy the Union and
said they would do the same thing again.
They asserted loudly and solidly that
"states rights'' doctrine was neither dead
nor changed. It is possible to find some
good things in the Democratic record, if
you go far enough back, but vie defy any
any one to point to an act or a principle of
the party in the last thirty years, either
cieditable to it or serviceable to the coun
try. It is the presset generation ot Demo
crats that ask for popular confidence, and
what showing of its own can it make to de
serve it?
We are not ashamed to say that we are
in favor of an honest silver dollar, just as
much as an honest gold dollar. Because
silver is mostly used by poorer people, less
able to protect themselves against imposi
tion, is no good reason for us why it should
be short of weight and short of value. In
this silver business like all others the Dem
ocratic party has got a crotchet in its head.
Because 412 grains were made a good sil
ver dollar, some men think it should do
the same to-day. They prefer history to
present facts. if we were coining silver
dollars for circulation fifty years ago, when
all the ideas of the Democratic party origi
nated, it would be all right, but
for present use it would be more
sensible to pay some attention to present
market values. If the Czar ot Russia
should do what our government is now
doing—buying silver at market rates and
issuing it in coin at twenty per cent, ad
vance and compelling its use—it would be
cited as one of the most oppressive acts of
tyranny. Such acts by royal authority
has always been ranked as crime. Now
we have a crime of such strange nature
that men are sent to the penitentiary for
issuing coin that are worth more than
those issued by the government. Those
vi ho are forcing th* present coinage are
raising an opposition to the use of silver
that will do it more harm than the open
opposition of all its enemies. As a genuine
friend of silver, we desire to put it on a
solid basis, where it can stand on its own
merits and circulate beyond the reach ot
our land. ______
Possibly the Irish orator, Alexander
Sullivan, may have got his ideas about the
dangers from alien landlords from the col
umns of the Independent, and, as "turn
about is fair play," won't the Independent
call the attention of its readers to what
Sullivan ha» to say about "encouraging
Irish products to the exclusion of English
goods," and "investing in domestic indus
tries," and about "crushed manufactures."
The danger we are in from alien landlords
is a trifle compared with that which threat
ens us from a system of laborsuch as Dem
ocratic policy would introduce, whereby
we should only raise raw material for Brit
ish factories to work up. The vetry policy
that English tyranny has forced'upou Ire
land to complete the poverty and misery of
its people, the Democratic party is se&king
to introduce into this free and enlightened
country.
With reference to printed comments in
last exening's paper about the water com
pany, Mr. Duff says that the Herald had
better pay its water bill before commenc
ing to kick.— Independent.
Were the Herald the only kicker, the
above suggestion might appear relevant
and timely. But the kickers are many,
and the Herald speaks as much for oth
ers as itself. With Mr. Duff we have noth
ing to do. He is simply toll-gatherer. If
the Herald is a debtor for water, the
company knows how to enforce its de
mands and secure payment. Under the
original organization a sense of liberality
and fairness characterized the Helena
Water Company in dealing with the pub
lic. With the reorganized corporation and
change of management the satisfactory
policy formerly and for years following
ceased. Rates on many consumers were
raised four and five fold. Complaints of
extortion are unheeded. It is confessed
that the Water Company has now the up
per hold, and for the present at least the
community is forced to submit, unwilling
as it may be to be further victimized.
They are obliged not only to put up with
an insufficient quantity of water, but to
pay any price demanded for the scanty
supply we do get. If the water company
thinks this community will long acquiesce
in an unjust advantage taken of their ne
cessities, we say they are mistaken. For
the time they may be defiant and with the
notion that they are masters of the situa
tion. Though they taunt, " what are you
going to do about it ?" we kindly but firm
ly tell the gentlemen, there is no griev
ance the public cannot redress ; there is no
hardship suffered for which a remedy can
not be found. It is the easiest matter pos
sible to force the issue. The Herald is
not averse to taking a hand in it.
From the Glendive Times, August 9th :
"Say to all my friends in Dawson I will not
be a candidate."— Martin mHaginnis, August
5th , 1884. That sounds familiar.— New
North- West, 15th. Come to think of it, it
does seem as if Democrats had heard some
thing of the kind before. But, remember,
the Major always said that before, not af
ter, the nomination.
"THE MAN ABOUT TOWN.'
The oldest inhabitant says that the late
warm spell was the hottest ever exper-,
ienced in Montana. From all parts of the j
news comes of Mins hot |
then there .3 one cooling ■
consolation and that is that winter will
United States
weather. But
soon be here when the thermometer will
register the temperature ou the other end
of the tube. It takes all kinds oi weather
to make up the seasons, and the people
should ever be thankful that they live in
„ ,
* country where winter don t last all tne
year or summer either.
The Fair time is fast approaching and
the people of Montana should bear this im
portant fact in remembrance, and arrange
their business affairs so that they can at
tend. The farmer, stock grower aud in fact
everybody else, should be on band with
their exhibit of crops, stock and wares.
You will have a chance to talk with your
old-time friends and find from them how
they raise such good crops and how they
manage their stock to make them look
so well and fetch such good prices. Re
member, the fair comes oft September 8, 9.
10, 11,1*2 and 13, and you are all expected
to be present.
And the whole cry is water, water, water !
and in a great many instances the cry is all
in vain. The monthly pay-day comes, how -
ever, whether you have water or uot. This
should uot be so. The water supply of
Helena should he sufficient to furnish every
family with all they want to use. It is
a burning shame to the enterprise and en
ergy of the people of our beautiful city to
he, as they are, deprived of a bountiful
supply of pure water, when there is such
an abundance of it in the mountain streams
all around us. There is a remedy, and the
City Council should go to work at once and
construct city water works. The cost of
such works would lie trilling in compari
son to the great blessings a copious flow of
water would shower upon this people.
;
1
:
i
!
Trade must be pretty dull with the Cali
fornia doctors this summer when they
have to go into the show business for a
living. The latest "strike" on behalf of
the profession is by one Dr. O'Donnell, of
San Francisco, who is now in New York
selling photographs of and exhibiting two
leprous Chinamen to the refinement of
that earthquake-shaken city of the At
lantic coast. The object of the doctor is
to convince the people how disgusting the
lepers are, and to try and arouse the neces
sary feeling for their expulsion from
America. The next thing we hear of the
profession doing will he the exhibition of
small-pox patients or cholera victims.
There is nothing like turning an honest
penny when business is dull.
The construction of sidewalks appears to
lie the order of the day in every part of the
city. A good walk in front of your house
adds to the v»lue of your property. If a
walk is laid down right it will last for
years, but a half-built one will be a source
of continual expense in keeping it in order.
The plank should be laid close and pinnet
down with wooden pins to good sleepers
laid on a solid foundation. The abomina
ble custom of putting the planks down
half an inch apart should be discontinued.
These kind of walks are not only hard on
shoe leather but they are the cause of
many a broken cane. The use of wooden
pins is an evident improvement on the
spikes that stick up as the wood wears
away—the pins wear away with the plank
and there is no damage to ladies' dresses
or high heeled slippers.
An old gentleman who resides not a
thousand miles from Helena tied a long
clothes-line around his horse's neck the
other evening and led the animal out oi a
grassy plot to pasture. The old gentle
man also took the Herald along, with
which to while away the time, stretched
himself upon the green grass, hitched the
line to his left leg, and was soon deeply
interested in the news of the day. Things
went along smoothly until a gust of wind
blew the paper from the old gent's hands
and carried it directly under the horse,
and so frightened the generally quiet ani
mal that he started off on a 2:40 trot, drag
ging his lord and master after him feet
first. A few yards from the starting
point the old man's legs ran astride of a
fence post. There was a brief tug-of-war
contest between the old man and the
horse, but just at this interesting junction
the rope broke, much to the relief of the
old gentleman, who was a little strained
in his muscles, hut not much hurt. He
says a man is never too old to learn by ex
perience, and he' will never again hitch
a horse to his leg, no matter how
gentle the animal may be. Experience is
a dear school, bnt fools will learn by none
other.
There is scaftely anything that can be
quite as bad as the ordinary country road,
and the man who does even a little toward
making it better is a benefactor in no small
way. In the spring and fall some of the
Montana roads are almost impayable and
now is a good time to put them in good or
der. Road making is one of the arts that
has not found many followers in the West.
The ordinary roadmaster is generally a far
mer and he makes a road as he would pre
pare his potato-field, soft and mellow as
possible, and as a natural consequence the
bulk of the large sums of money spent on
the country roads is wasted through }the
ignorance of the persons who are selected
to expend it, and the roads are generally
in a worse condition than before any work
was done upon them. A man who under
stands good road-making is certainly one
of Nature's noblemen, bnt where is that
man and who is he? True, all of the
country roads cannot be made thorough
fares like we have in Helena, but a great
majority of the really dangerous and bad
places can be greatly improved by a little
judicious work, and now is the time to do
that work, and not wait until fall or spring.
A few dollars invested now in road-mak
ing will save a good many dollars in the
wear and tear of horse flesh, wagon repairs,
etc. Make hay while the sun shines.
" hy can't the contemplated Helena
street railway be run by electricity ? It
would be a great saving in horse
The experiment of an electric street 7ail
way was recently tried in Cleveland m
am | was so successful that the <o '°'
is going to chaöge its entire 8y8
prising over t ' "®
raUroad The curren , «•»
underground conductors, laid into conduits
like those of the cable road Tho
iut cars
were started and stopped aud reversed
with the greatest of ease, and without tie
disagreeable jerking incident to horse rail
roads. The economy of running is claimed
to lie greater thau that of the
cable roads, and the cost of construction
less than one-third as great. Any number
ot cars up to fifteen can be run at one time
a single circuit and from one machine
which is a result not obtained by any 0 f
the European systems now in opération
The result of this experiment has made a
great sensation in noth street-railway and
and electrical circles. The rapid growth
of Helena will demand something better
than horse-cars in the near future, and it
would lj* economy, and show to the out
side world that we are abreast of the times
in our street-railway management to start
in with the electric system. Let the old
horse rest and try a higher power.
AN INFAMOUS SLANDER.
An Assassinating Libeler of Rlain«
to be Dealt with at Once.
Indianapolis* Ind., August 11.—On
the 8th inst. the Sentinel (Dem.), of this
city, contained an editorial charging that
Blaine had seduced his present wife in
Kentucky and then tied to Maine, where
the young woman and her father followed
him, and that he married her at the point
of a shot gun. This having reached Mr.
Blaine, he telegraphed Col. Holloway, of
the Times, that the statement was
maliciously and infamously false in every
particular. Political slanders, he says, he
pays no attention to, but this, attacking
the honor of his wife and children, cannot
be submitted to. Holloway was asked to
secure the services of lawyers at once and
bring suit against the responsible pub
lisher of the . entinet. Col. Holloway has
placed the matter in the hands of Senator
Harrison's law firm, and papers are now in
course of preparation in accordance with
Blaine's direction.
BLAINE'S DISPATCH.
The Slanderer of Hist Family Order«
ed to be Sued for Lihel Without
an Hour's Délai.
Indianapolis, Ind., August 14.—The
following is the text of Blaine's despatch
to Holloway :
Bar Harbor, Me., August 14.—71> (of.
A.R. Hollowag : I have this moment ic
ceived the attrocious libel o. the Indiana-
olis Sentinel. It is utterly and abominably
false in every statement and in eveiy im
plication. Political slanders I do not stop
to notice, but this editor assails the honor
of my wife and my children. I desire jon
without an hour's delay to employ the
proper attorney and have the respensihle
publisher of the Sentinel sued for libel in
the United States District Court of Indi
ana. It is my only remedy. I am sure
that honorable Democrats, alike with hoa
orable Republicans, will justify me in de
fending the honor of mv family, if need be
by ay life. JAMES G. BLAINE.
Complaint tiled.
Indianalolis, August 14.—JIarrison.
Miller & Elam, attorneys, this evening
filed a complaint with the clerk of the
circuit court against the Indianapolis
Sentinel Company and Jno. C. Shoemaker
for libel, laying the damages at $50,090.
It is understood that to-morrow proceed
ings will be begun against Shoemaker and
the author of the libel under Grubb's libel
law in the State court. This will compel
Mr. Blaine's attendance as a witness. The
attorneys say that the suit and criminal
proceedings will be pushed with all possi
blo haste.
A Democratic Roarback Promptly
Nailed.
New York, August 10.—Henry Watter
son has made a very manly statement here
about the Democratic plan to devise a
scandal in Mr. Blaine's early life, to lie
used simultaneously in a number of I>em
ocratic newspapers. This statement of
Watterson was given in a conversation in
one of the uptown clubs. Mr. Watterson
says this scandal directed against Blaine's
early life in Kentucky is now in type. It
was recently offered to him to print in tie
Courier-Journal. Mr. Watterson said that
he refused to even consider the proposition.
He said that he had the whole story in
vestigated in the most thorough fashion
by his own reporters, aa<l it was found that
there was absolutely uot one word ol truth
in it; that Mr. Blaine's life while in, Ken
tucky was absolutely blameless.
Veteran Reunion.
Bangor, Me., August 13.—The attend
ance at the Maine Veteran reunion was
large, aud many prominent military men
from outside the State were present.
Blaine was present at the banquet, and re
sponded briefly to a toast. He congratu
lated the people on their noble ancestry,
and said he had been in the habit of bear
ing that this stock had degenerated, but
he instanced the venerable ex-Senator
Hamlin, who sat at his side, as proof ot the
falsity of this assertion. Ifl-vne was loudly
cheered.
Reported Cattle Disease.
St. Louis, August 13.— A dispatch from
Topeka, Kansas, says : The Veterinary
Surgeon has received advices that the
Texas fever has appeared in Pottowotamie.
Morris, Wilson and Johnson counties,
making eight places in the State where
the disease exists.
Chicago, August 13.— It is reported that
the pleuro-pneumonia has broken out in a
herd of cattle near this city. Dr. Solomon,
of the Washington National Agrieultura
Bureau, has gone out to investigate. __
Harrisburg Pa., August 13.— The »ta
authorities to-day received word ot a ne
case of pleuro-pneumonia near Euphra * >
Lancaster county.
New York, August 13.—Pleuro-pc*";
monia has been discovered in the cow-s
bles at Bli8sville. The stables will e
once closed.
Divorce Refused.
Paris, August 15—The advocate'^
Madam Patti presented a petition w
for her husband, Marquis D e } aa '. .V,
opinion expressed by the bar is, t ia
court refuses to grant a divorce 0 .
ground that the law reserves the «"j
divorce to such applicants as have re ^
an injury in the marriage relations
application for divorce was also ;
terday by Duc de Beanfframont.
ground on which this is based, is
ruinous extravagance ot his wife.
A Monument to Gen. Shield*'
New York, August 13.—Measures
been taken to place a monument <> 0 f
grave of Gen. James Shields, the > ,
three wars, and U. S. Senator at d' 1 *
times from three States.