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, - ■ ii —i A. L. Foktaiwb, Editok ajtd Puop.3 GRAND RAPIDS. - WISCONSIN. NEWS OF THE WORLD. DOMESTIC. There is anew whisky trust. Newspapers may be used as text books in Kansas City schools. Rain has broken the drought in many parts of the south and west. The three largest vessels in the lakes are to be built for Rockefeller. Four men were killed in a fight be tween settlers and sheepmen in Idaho. The jury in the case of Airs. Gov. Atkinson of West Virginia disagreed. Bishop Hennessey', just back from Rome, found the pope in good health. Baltimore wins the deciding base ball game with Boston for the Temple cup. Anthony Hope sailed for New Yorkv where he will give readings from his books. The Schuylkill Valley, Pa., was de luged by one of the heaviest rains in years. There is a considerable shortage in the amount of coal on the Duluth docks. A drop of two points in the average condition of corn took place in Sep tember. The evidence ended and argument began in the Luetgert murdei tiial, Chicago. Ell Torrance of Minnesota was ap pointed judge advocate general of the G. A. R. Leigh Hough confesses having mur dered Joseph Clark at Owatonna for his money. W. S. Gilbert, disgusted with the London critics, says he will write no more plays. Minnesota lumbermen will build a canal from the Lake of the Woods to the Seine river. Violence is threatened by peoplei stranded at St. Michaels on the way to the mines. John Armstrong Chanler, divorced husband of Amelie Rives, is in an insane asylum. The total available assets of the treasury June 30 last amounted to 74,764,377. Edward D. Adams has resigned as chairman of the board of Northern Pacific directors and the office is abolished. Seven girls were burned to death in a fire which destroyed " cottage at the State Industrial School, Planking ton, S. D. Seth Low has taken personal charge of his own campaign for mayor of greater New York. Mr. and Mrs. F. H Throop of Brooklyn are organizing a pilgrimage to the holy land. The democrats carried the municipal election in Indianapolis, reelecting Mayor Taggart. The Case threshing machine plant at Racine, Wis., was sold to eastern capitalists for $2,000,000. Burglars at Camden, N. J., killed aged Mrs. Emma Zane and her daugh ter Mrs Sarah M. Shaw. At Raleigh, N. C., Albert W T atson, a machinist, shot and killed his wife and then killed himself. Ali Ferouck Bey has been appointed Turkish minister to the United States to suceeed Mustapha Bey. W r . C. Drener of South Carolina has bn n appointed consular agent at Merkneukh'chen, Germany'. The Western Carolina bank, at Asheville, N. C., has closed its doors and will go into liquidation. A Minot (N. D.) bank president was indicted, charged with violations of tho national banking law. Senator-elect Money was appointed to fill the unexpired term of the late Senator George of Mississippi. Mrs. Hannah F. Gould of New York is organizing a party of thirty, chiefly women, to go to the Klondike. The yellow fever scare in Texas has led to the almost complete block ading of railroad travel in that state. A trolley car went over an embank ment near Cedar Falls, lowa, killing one person and injuring sixteen others. Ex-Judge Augustus M. Cunningham, one of the counsel in the famous T il tou-Beecher case in New York, is dead. The naval armor board will go on a trip to the south to look at sites for tho proposed government armor-plate piant. According to new arrivals frpm Klondike, the stories of the wealth of. tnat region have not been exagger ated. Jeremiah L. O’Sullivan, a well known journalist of Lawrence, Mass., died in Asheville, N. C., of consump tion. Former Gov. Boies, of lowa, in a letter said the Chicago platform had had its day in the '‘tribunal of last re sort.” Senator Foraker of Ohio was the principal speaker at a meeting in New York which ratified the municipal nominations. A tornado swept through New Jer sey from Far Hills to Elizabeth, kill ing John Clark and wrecking a num ber of buildings. j Detective William Moore of the New York police force, is in prison in that city on suspicion of having stabbed his wife to death. Dr, Van Giesen, the instructor in Columbia college, was sued for di vorce. The couple separated the day after their marriage. Secretary Sherman has invited Great Britain to take part in a seal conference in which Russa and Japan will not be represented. A deal by which the citizens' union ticket in New York county will appear on the Henry George ticket has an gered friends of the latter. The registration of voters so far in Aew York is not encouraging the friends of municipal reform, the fig ures being less than last year. Emmet C. Gibson, a street railway promoter, was discharged from cus tody in New York on a charge of at tempting to pass a worthless check. Dispatches from Skaguay, Alaska, state that a number of fatal and other accidents to gold hunters who were crossing the passes have occurred. A life-size statue of Commod *a : Vanderbilt, which has been given to Vanderbilt university by residents of Nashville, was formally presented. John C. Sheehan, the Tammany leader, predicts that the municipal ticket nominated by his organization will win by' fifty thousand plurality*. Victor Hugos Les Miserablea has been barred out of the girls’ high school of Philadelphia as a book for the pupils on the ground that it is im pure. New York importers will petition congress to modify the penalties in the Dingley tariff bill for under estimating the value of imported goods. In the United States supreme court the attorney general of California moved to advance the case of W. H. T Dunant, who is under sentence of death. Dr. John Guiteras, the government expert, has declared that four positive cases of yellow fever exist at Galves ton, Tex., and an exodus from that city has begun. Arrangements have been completed in New York for a large expedition to Bolivia, which will explore the coun try for the purpose of opening it to American settlers. The New York park commissioners have approved plans for a park at Fordham, in which will be placed the cottage in which Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Raven. Dr. Evans, the dentist of roy'alty, who made a fortune in Paris, will give millions to found educational and charitable institutions in several American cities. Two men and a woman, arrested for looting the home of Francis H. Scott in Orange, N. J., say* they spent a day in the house packing valuables, including Worth gowns. The announcement is made in New York that Dr. Thomas W. Evans, thq noted American dentist of Paris, con templates establishing a great dental university* in Philadelphia. John F. Maloney, who has returned from Dawson City, says that on Alex ander McDonald’s claim, near Daw son, one man shoveled in $20,000 of gold in about twelve hours. The United States would not sur render Evangelina Cisneros, who es caped from prison in Havana, or her rescuers, if a demand should he made by the Spanish government. Secretary Gage, Senator Mason, Mayor Carter H. Harrison and others made speches at the celebration of Illinois and Chicago day at the Ten nessee centennial exposition. Justice Field is to retire from the national supreme court bench in De cember, to he succeeded by Attorney General McKenna, which will occa sion several cabinet changes. Baron Kanopsky, a young Brazilian nobleman, attempted suicide in New York by* inhaling gas, but was rescued by Chas. Dana Gibson, the artist, to whom he wrote a farewell letter. Conferences held in Cincinnati be tween members of the societies of Sons of the Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution led to steps which will probably result in union of the two societies. Uneasiness is felt in European financial circles regarding the out come of the New York mayoralityj eketion, and the resumption of gold shipments to America has changed the outlook of the money market. The American flag was draped with crape and government by injunction denounced by labor organizations in Lynn, Mass., where a clergyman preached a funeral sermon for the twenty'-four men shot at Lattimer, Pa. Randolph Guggenbeimer, who was born in Lynchburg, Va., and who voted for President McKinley last fall, has been nominated by Tammany for president of the council to succeed Colonel Ruppert, who withdrew from the ticket. On December 1 the interstate com merce commission will give a hear ing to the representatives of 'rail roads which ask for an extension of the time in which they must be equipped with automatic couplers and train brakes. FOREIGN. The International leprosy conference opened in Berlin. An Abyssinan array was annihilated by Somalulias. The report of the serious illness of Cecil Rhodes is denied. Now it is Nicaragua and Costa Rica that go to fighting. The Britsh fleet in the North Paci fic is being largely reinforced. Some Servian liberals were system atically murdered at the instance of radicals. “Mrs. Jersey’s” (Mrs. Langtry) Mer man won the Czarewitch stakes at Newmarket Dr. Stoeber, a professor of medicine, was frozen to death while ascending Mount Ararat. Charles Pollock, a nephew of Baron Pollock, crossed the British channel from English to France in a baloon. Timothy Healy, who has made a bi cycle tour in Ireland, says the dis tress may approach starvation in some places. Mr. Balfour announced that no special session of parliament would be called to deal with the distress in Ireland. Count Castellane sold the yacht Valhala after his Norway cruise for $30,000 more than be paid for it a few weeks before. The Prince of Wales was sponsor for the young son of the duke and cuchess of Marlborough, who was baptized Saturday. Gen. Ramon Blanco, the new cap tain-general of Cuba, says he will act with great energy against the insur gents. M. Maertons, a distinguished Rus- > sian jurist has been selected as um pire by the British-Venezuela arbitra t on commission The social democratic congress at Hamburg abrogated the prohibition against participation in elections for members of the Prussian diet. The Swiss national council has adopted a bill making insurance against, sickness compulsory for per sons without independent means. Dr. iSauareili, the South American physician who has discovered what he relieves to be a curative serum for yeiiow fever, will test his discovery in Brazil. Spanish anarchists have begun the publication of a periodical entitled uerminal, ihe word used by Angioimo, the assassin of Senor Canovas, on the scaifold. A shepherd named Vacher has been arrested at Beliey, France, and has confessed killing three shepherds, three girls and two old women. The victims were horribly mutilated. 'ihe secretary of the lederal trades or London, comprising thirty indus tries, announces that the executive committee has decided on a strike in sympathy with the engineers, to begin on Friday. Rhomboid Stenzel, editor of the Hamuurg Echo, has been sentenced to eight months in prison for publishing an assertion that King Leopold, of Belgium, habitually encouraged gamb ling. The queen regent of Spain has or dered that assistance be given to the families of the anarchists executed at Barcelona some time ago and that their children be educated at her ex pense. A riot took place at the ministry ot the interior in Rome, where a dele gation went to protest against in creased taxation. Six policemen were injured and one rioter was killed and many wounded. The first general national conven tion of the Irish Independent League was held in Dub in. Eight hundred delegates attended, and great enthus iasm was displayed. The delegates shouted: “Down with Britain.” The sixth anniversary of the death of Charles Stewart Parnell was the occasion of a unique demonstration at Dublin. 5,000 nationalists marched to his grave and heaped it high with flowers from every county in Ireland. No crepe was displayed, but in its place ivy and shamrocks were worn, and the bands played lively airs. It w r as sem-officially announced in Madrid that the reply of Spain to the note presented by the United States Minister Woodford will say that Spain is unable to fix exactly the date when the war will be over, but the ministers are persuaded it will not he long. The reply further states that the pacification of Cuba would have been more rapid if the rebels had not had the succor of filibusters under +he shelter of the American flag. Spain’s reply it is stated, will re ject meditation and decline to fix a date for ending the war in Cuba. It is asserted President McKinley will advise the Cubans to accept autonomy, and that if they refuse he will make no further efforts in their behalf. Switzerland has made insurance against illness compulsory upon all save the wealthy. TIPPING. How Paris Waiters Manage to Live Without Receiviiig a Salary. An English resident has investi gated the extent of the tipping habit in Paris restaurants and has brought to light some interesting figures. The investigator examined conditions in one of the largest restaurants in the city and found that from tips the waiters average SCO a month each. The custom there is to put the tips in a box which is opened every fortnight by the head waiter ard the contents distributed. The breakage amounts to S2OO a month, of which the waiters pay half and the proprietor half. Of course, the waiters get no salary, it being well understood that they are paid by their “pourboire” or tip. In some cases the proprietor pays old hands from $5 to S2O a month. Head waiters get from S2O to SIOO a month. The waiters also get a commission on all the wines and cigars they can sell outside. Inside the house the cellarers only get commissions on the wines sold to guests. The Parisian waiters do not favor the abolition of the tipping system. Under it they sometimes make SBO a month and soon save enough to set up in business for themselves, which is the great ob ject in life of every Frenchman. Tips in Paris are higher than in New York, and are given by the in itiated with good grace, as it is well understood that they are the only source of income of the waiters. Some time ago the waiters in a Paris res taurant struck because the proprietor wished a percentage of the tips. Such occurrences are, however, infrequent. The generous man finds ample oppor tunity in Paris; he may tip the 1 cellarer, who brings his wine; the j head waiter, who ushers him to his j seat, and the waiter who puts on the [ dishes. A DIFFERENCE. “You women,” said he, in the peculiarly exasperating way a man has of saying those two words, “you women buy bargain things because they are cheap.” “We do not,” said she. “We buy cheap things because they are bar gains.” The distinction w T as almost too subtle for the blundering mascu line intellect, but it was there, —Ex- change. PICTURES OF WOMEN. It is doubtful whether pictures cf women can ever become hackneyed os advertising illustrations. They will le popular so long as pretty faces retain then perennial charm for manki iJ. ROBBED A POSTOFFICE. Hudson, Wis., Oct. 13.—The post office and store at North Hudson, oc cupied by James Sherry, was entered by burglars and S9O in postage stamps taken, EX-SENATOR JONES DEAD. Pensacola, Oct. 13. —Charles W Jones, former United States senator Bum Florida, died at Detroit Tuesday after a sickness of several weeks. HE WINS A FORTUNE E. A. SHORES RECOVERS A BIG SUM FROM JOHN CANFIELD. i CELEBRATED LUMBER DEAL Plaintiff and Defendant Entered Into An Agreement Whereby Shores was to Hunt Up Land which Can field was to Buy and Give Former % of Profits. Milwaukee, Oct. 16. —Judge Seaman rendered a decision in the suit of E. A. Shores against John Canfield to recover profits growing out of their celebrated Wisconsin lumber venture in the United States court Friday. The result is a complete victory for Shores. Canfield entered into an agreement with Shores whereby the latter was to hunt up lands and se cure them while Canfield was to fur nish the money and attend to the rest of the work. Shores was paid a certain salary and alleged that he was to have one-fourth of the profits amounting to $125,000. FOR STAMP COLLECTORS. Afghanistan stamps are “cancelled” by having a piece torn out of each stamp. Incidentally a piece of enve lope or letter is torn out at the same time. From a collector’s point of view this is a barbarous proceeding; and we hope that the new idea of cancell ing stamps by branding them with a red-hot platinum wire will not be adopted. Yet this has been suggested in some of the German papers. If it is ever adopted we shall have to col lect unused stamps only. A German philatelist classifies collectors as fol lows; 1. Beginners. 2. Average col lectors. 3. Serious collectors (whose albums represent a value of $10,000). 4. Important collectors (collections worth $25,000). 5. Prominent collect ors ($50,000). 6. Great collectors who Lave spent over SIOO,OOO on their col lections) . The report that the govern ment purposed to change the color of the 2c. stamp from red to green, as a measure of economy, brought out a flood of protests. Any intention to use green instead of red could be car ried out for a few months only, as all the governments represented at the Postal Congress will aim to bring uni formity in color in f camps of different countries of (practically) the same de nomination. Red is the color adopted for stamps of 2c. (10 centmes, etc.)— Harper’s Round Table. WISCONSIN NEWS. Interesting Budget of Matter From Many Places. The Superior Forum has raised the name of Isaac Stephenson of Marin ette as a candidate for United States senator to succeed John L. Mitchell. Five barns with stock and contents and one dwelling were burned at Mon roe. The dwelling was owned and occupied by John Howe, and the barns were owned by J. H. Durst, John Howe, Matt. Elmer, Samuel Cother man and Marble Green. The state medical board adjourned at Oshkosh after issuing forty licenses and examining four applicants. The next meeting will be held the second Tuesday in January in Milwaukee. All physicians who came before the board began practice since July 1 last. Parties have been in Stevens Point interesting business men and aider men in anew railroad it is proposed to build from Oshkosh to Stevens Point via Omro, Lake Poygan and Waushara county. They say they are backed by plenty of capital. Judge Webb has granted permis sion to Receiver Pfliffner of the Com mercial bank at Stevens Point to make a further disbursement of $9,375 among the creditors. The bank failed in April, 1895. Thus far dividends amounting to 45 per cent, of the claims have been allowed. An extra freiglit on the Wiconsin Central road was wrecked two miles north of Theresa. As the engine was going down a grade, a coupling broke and the train parted. When the en gineer began to slow dow r n, the rear end crashed into the cars attached tc the engine and ten cars were thrown from the track. A deal by which the board of nor-1 mal school regents acquired five and j one-half acres of land adjoining the normal school campus at Stevens Point from N. Boyington, was com-1 pleted. The price was $2,500. Part 1 of the new tract w'ill be fitted up for j athletics and the remainder will bej converted into a park. The Wisconsin Telephone company when the Northwestern company es tablished an exchange at Oshkosh, re duced rates to $24 a year for business places and sl2 a year for residences. Now notices have been issued that on Jan. 1, rates will be advanced to S3O and $lB respectively, the same as those of t£e Northwestern company, ■which is backed by local capital. Mrs. Elsie F. Weisbrod, who was buried at Oshkosh, was 75 years of age. Mr. Weisbrod died in 1876. Mrs. Weisbrod is suivived by two daughters, Mrs. B. L. Edgarton and Miss Anna Weisbrod, and a son, C. J. Weisbrod, all of Oshkosh. She was also the mother of the late A. Weisbrod and the late “Chubb” Weis brod. The former was a brilliant young lawyer who died a few years ago. The latter was graduated from the state law school before his death Sunday, Sept. 5, Edward A. Gard ner, a Fond du Lac architect, left on his wheel for Hartford, taking build ing plans with him and expecting to be gone only a day or two. Tuesday Mr. Johnson, his partner, received a letter dated at Iron Ridge on Monday and postmarked at Hartford on Tues day saying that business would detain him in that city longer than he had anticipated. Nothing has been heard from Mr. Gardner since. Gardner came to Fond du Lac four years ago. The tools left at his boarding house I are valued at $4OO. A meeting of the La Crosse Board of Trade to take action towards or ganizing a company for manufacturing the Brown binder was held. This is a machine patented by Viroqua parties and is said to have some radical points of difference from any harvesting machine now in use. The most no ticeable one is that the cut grain is not elevated to the binder but passes through the big wheel which offers a clear space above the center. If sat isfactory work is done by the machine capital will be paid in for a large fac tory. J. B. Canterbury has offered to donate five acres for a site. The jury in the case of Mary Schald ler agaiijst the Chicago & Northwest ern road, which has occupied the court a week, brought in a verdict at Sparta for $2,000 damages. John Schaidler of Norwalk, husband of the plaintiff was driving across the track Oct. 4, 1595, when his wagon was struck by a train which killed one horse and turned the vehicle on top of Schaidler. He got out and walked home unassisted, apparently not greatly injured. He went to bed and died thirteen days later. The de fendant claimed he died from disease and not by reason of injuries received on the railroad. BURGLAR. He Dressed Faultlessly and Lived in Sumptuous Apartments in Paris. There have been burglars in even ing dress before, on the stage, for in stance, but the Paris police say there was never one with such a distin guished air or aristocratic residence. He had dukes and duchesses for next door neighbors. A gentleman living in that district caught the burglar ransacking h'fc rooms. He was dressed in the most correct evening clothes and had an air of distinction. The gentleman no tified the police. They saw the burglar walk uncon cernedly downstairs and carefully ex amine his floral decoration as he hummed an air from an opera. When he was arrested he gave an unpro nounceable Slavonic name and his ad dress in the Avenue des Champs Elysees. Thither went some of his captors, a.nd found that he lived in an expen sive bachelor’s flat, or celibate’s snug gery, beautifully furnished. A search was made there, and brought to light a remarkable assort ment of burglar’s tools, as well as a list of persons whose apartments could easily be entered and plundered. It has been ascertained, in fact, that the man is a practised burglar, and that ue adopted fashionable attire in order to defy suspicion. General housebreaking operations lately effected in the Champs Elysees and similar districts are now put clown co his credit, and it is probable that his trial will lead to some curious discov eries. THE BIGGEST PASSENGER-SHIP. Barring accidents, the biggest pas senger-ship in existence will come to New York this week. She is the new North German Lloyd liner Kaiser Wil helm der Grosse, a marine monster, an eighth of a mile long (648 feet, to be accurate), 66 feet wide, 43 feet deep, and of a tonnage of 14,000. She sailed from Southampton on September 20, at 8 p, m., and is credited with an as piration to break the record on her maiden voyage. All her details and dimensions are Brobdingnagian. She can carry 1520 passengers, besides her crew of 450. Her engines are expected to develop 28,000 horse-power, and her cost is estimated to have been about two million dollars. She is so much bigger than the other big liners, and bas so many novelties of construction, and such great expectations of speed and comfort and safety, that her first trip across the ocean is an event, and the reports of her behavior will be read with almost as much interest as one of Mr. Kipling’s mechanical stories. —Harper’s Weekly. A BIG BUILDING. “Very few Know it, but it is a fact,” explained a prominent builder to a Washington Star reporter, “that the pension office building is the largest brick building in the world. It has been subjected to much criticism, but it can stand it, for as time passes along there are many things seen about it that escaped notice when it was newer. In all, there are over 10,000,000 bricks in the building. Gen. Meigs took liberties with bricks that no other architect had ever attempted. He not only used bricks exclusively for the building, but he used them in constructing the stairs throughout tne building. In the matter of stair build ing bricks have often been used for the riser, but the step has always been of iron, w’ood, slate or stone. In the pension office both riser and step are of brick. Asa brick building, there fore, pure and simple, it is unique in construction, outside of the fact that it is the largest exclusively brick build ng in the world.” The standing of the editor is never appreciated until his spirit has winged its flight to realms of endless space. This is clearly evidenced in the fol lowing letter of condolence sent by a awyer to the window of an editor; “I can not tell how pained I was to hear of the death of your husband. He is in heaven. We were bosom friends, but, alas! we can never meet again.” —Newspaperdom. While stopping one night at a farm house in Missouri a traveler was astonished to see his hostess walk up to her husband about every fifteen minutes and box his ears or give his hair a pull, in the morning the guest, seeing the woman alone, asked an ex planation of her strange conduct, and her reply was: “You see, stranger, me and the old man has been tighten’ for ten years to see who shall boss this 'ere ranch, and I have jest got him cowed, but if I should let up on him for a day he would turn on me again, and my work would all go for noth in'.” FIELD’S RETROSPECT I VENERABLE JUSTICE REVIEWS HIS LONG SERVICE. 40 YEARS ON THE BENCH He Has Written Opinions in 1,042 Cases During His Service as a Judge—Touching P.eply from His Associates Who Laud the Retiring Jurist’s Work. Washington, Oct. 15. —It was an nounced in the supreme court Thurs day that Justice Stephen J. Field of California had notified President Mc- Kinley of his intention to retire as a member of the court, and had in formed his colleagues of this fact, ihe members of the court, after ad journment at 4 o’clock, called in a body on the retiring justice to pay him their respects. It is expected that his successor will be named by me president immediately after the convening of congress in December, and that Attorney General McKenna, also of California, will be named for the office. Justice Field, it is learned, notified the president last April of his intention to retire, but the president did not acknowledge it un til Oct. 9. The following letter was given out Thursday afternoon: “Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C., Oct. 12, 1597. Pear Mr. Chief Justice and Brethren: Near the close of last term, feeling that the duties of my office had become too arduous for my strength, I transmitted my resigna tion to the president, to take effect on the first day of December next and this he has accepted, with kindly ex pi essions of regard, as will be seen from a copy of his letter which is as follows: • “ 'Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C., Oct. 9, 1897. —Hon. Stephen J. Field, associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, Washing ton, D. C. —My Dear Sir: In April ast Chief Justice Fuller, accompanied by Mr. Justice Brewer handed me your resignation as associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, to take effect Dec. 1, 1897. “ ‘ln hereby accepting your resig nation, I wish to express my deep re gret that you feel compelled by ad vancing years to sever your active connection with the court of which you have been so long a distinguished member. “ ‘Entering upon your great office in May, 1863, you will, on the first of next December, have served upon this bench for a period of thirty-four years and seven months, a term longer than that of any member of the court since its creation, and throughout a period of special importance in the history' of the country, occupied with as grave public questions as have ' ever confronted that tribunal for decision. “ T congratulate you, therefore, most heaitily upon a service of such exceptional duration, fidelity and dis tinction. Nor can I overlook that you received your com mission from Abraham Lin coln, and graciously spared by a kind Providence have survived all the members of the court of his appoint ment. “ ‘Upon your retirement both the bench and the country will sustain a great loss, but the high character and great ability of your work will live and long be rememberd, not only Dy your colleagues, but by your grate ful fellow countrymen. “ 'With personal esteem and sincere best wishes for your contentment and happiness during the period of rest which you have so well earned, I am, dear sir, very truly yours, “ ‘William McKinley.’ “My judicial career covers many years of service. Having been elect ed a member of the supreme court of California, 1 assumed that office Oct. 13, 1857, holding it for five years, seven months and live days, the latter part of the time being chief justice. “On the 10th of March, 18(13, 1 was commissioned by President Lincoln, a justice of the supreme court of the United States, taking the oath of oflice on the 20th day of the following May. When my resignation takes effect my period of seivice on this bench will nave exceeded that of any of my pre decessors, while my entire judicial life will have embraced more than forty years, r may be pardoned for saying that during all this fenod, long in comparison with the brevity of hu man life, though in the retrospect it has gone w r ith the swiftness of a tale that is told, 1 have not shunned to de clare in every case coming belore me for decision the conclusion which my deliberate convictions compelled me to arrive at, by the conscientious ex ercise of such abilities and require ments as 1 possessed. “It is a pleasant thing in my mem ory that my appointment came from President Lincoln, of whose e.ppoin ■ tees lam the last survivor. Jp to that time there had been no repre sentative here of the Pacific coast, A new empire had risen in the west whose laws were those of another country. The land titles w r ere from Spanish and Mexican grants, both of which were often overlaid by claims of first settlers. To bring order out of confusion, congress passed an act providing for another seat on this bench with the intention that it should be filled by someone familiar with these conflicting titles and with the mining laws of the coast, and as it so hapi-ened that I framed the prin cipal of these laws, and was, more over, chief justice of California, it was the wish of the senators and lepresentatives of that state, as well as those of Oregon, that I succeed to the new position. At their re quest Mr. Lincoln sent my name to the senate and the nomination was unanimously confirmed. This was kindly extended in March, but I did not at once enter on the discharge of the duties of the office for the reason that as chief justice of California I had heard arguments in many cases, in the disposition of which and es pecially in the preparation of opin ions, it was that 1 should par ticipate before that bench. And 1 fixed ti.c _cen of May' as the day on which take, as I did, the oath, because it was the eighty-second birthday of my father, who indulged in just pride at my accession to this exalted position. At the head of the court when I became one of its mem bers was the venerable Chief Justice ianey and amj„g the associate jus tices was Mr. Justice Waite, who had sat with Chi Ci. malice Marshall, thus constituting a nun between the past and the future, ana as it were, bind ing into unity nearly an entire cen tury of the life of this court. During my incumbency three chief justices end sixteen associate justices have passed away, leaving me pre cious remembrances of common la bors and intimate, agreeaule compan ionship. V hei. * ume here the coun try was in the midst of war. Wash ugtou was oue great camp and now and then the boom of the cannon could be heard from the other side of the Potomac. But we could not say inter arma silent leges. This court met iu regular session, never once tailing in time or place, and its work \\ ent on as though there was no sound of battle, indeed, the war itself simply added to the amount of litiga tion here and elsewhere. But the war ended in a couple of years and then came the great period of reconstruc tion and the last amendments to the tederal constitution. 1 do not exag gerate when 1 say that no more dif ficult aud momentous questions were ever presented to this or any other court. 1 look back with pride aud joy r to the fact that 1 was permitted to take part in the consideration of ail those important questions and that it was not infre quently that I was called upon to express the judgment of this court thereon. Now that those times of angry debate have passed it is pleas ant to realize that the conclusions an nounced by this court have been ac cepted, not simply of necessity, but in the main as in themselves both correct and wise. As we all know the period, of war has been followed by oue continuing event to the pres ent time of a marvelous material de velopment. Indeed, the conditions of life have essentially changed from those that prevailed prior to the war. Cut of this changed social and eco nomic conditionhas sprung litigation of character vitally effecting the future prosperity and safety of this country. To this court have come for final de cision many of these cases. By the blessings of Almighty God, my health aud life have been preserved and 1 have been enabled to lake part iu the consideration of all these cases. Few appreciate the magnitude of our la bors. The burden resting upon us for the last fifteen or twenty years has been enormous. Tbe volumes of our reports show that 1 aloue have written 520 opinions. If to these are added 57 opinions in the circuit court and 365 prepared while I was in the supreme court of California, it wil] be seen that 1 have voiced decisions in 1,042 cases. “As I look back over more than a third of a century that I sat on this bench, I am more and more impressed with the immeasurable importance of this court. Now and then we hear it spoken of as an aristocratic feature of a republican government. But it is the most democratic of all. It has. indeed, no power to legislate. It can not appropriate a dollar. it carries neither purse nor sword. But it pos sesses the power of declaring law and in that has found the safeguard which keeps the whole mighty fabric of the government from rushing to destruction. “With this 1 give place to my suc cessor, hut 1 can never cease to linger on the memories of the past. Among the compensations for ail the hard work that a seat on this bench im poses have oeen the intimacies and mendships that have been formed between the members. 1 hough we oiteu differed in our opinions, it has always been an honest difference, which did not affect our mutual re gard and respect, 'these many years ha\e, indeed, been years of labor aud tail, hut they have brought their own rewards; and we can all join iu laanksgiving to the author of our being that we have been permitted to spend so much of our lives iu the seivice of our country. With pro to uud respect and regard, i am, my dear brethren, ■‘Very sincerely, always yours, —"Stephen J. Field.” The following waa the court’s reply; 'Dear iliotaer Field: —We are pro foundly moved by the letter in which you announce to us your retirement Horn the bench. The termination of a judicial career of such length and distinction cannot fail to inspire among ail of your countrymen, in deed, wherever the ralm ot jurispru dence extends, a keen sense 01 moss, which to your colleagues assumes the aspect of personal bereavment. For the intimacy necessarily incident to the conauct of a work so constant, so exciting and of such vital importance as ours, inevitably draws us together oy ties or the closest character which cannot be dissolved without emotions of deep oadness and regret. We feel that our parting involves not sim ply the deprivation of the assistance afforded by your learning, your vast experience and your earnestness in the advocacy of your convictions, but the severance of those relations which have contributed so much to lighten the hardest labors of the road. This is not the time nor place to dwell on the reputation you have achieved a.s a jurist. The record is made up and may safely be committed to the judg ment of posterity. But we cannot part with you as an active member of this court without the fervent expres sion of the hope that you may be spared for many years to enjoy the repose you have so thoroughly earned and the commendation be stowed on good and faithful service. We are, dear brother Field, your af fectionate brethren: “Melville W. Fuller, John M. Har lan, Horace Gray, Davis J. Brewer, Henry B. Browm, George Shiras Jr., E. D. White, R. W. Peckham.”