Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel], January 07, 1890, Page 4, Image 4

About Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890

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4
OATLY HERALD.
" —rUBLISKBD—
BKVKN DAYS A WKKK.
~JOBIPH D. LT«CH. JAMS J. AV«BB.
AVERS & LYNCH. - PUBLISHERS.
delivered bt carriers
At tOc. per Week, or 80c. per month.
Office ol PmMlcatlon, 128-125 Wert Second
Street. Los Angeles. Telephone No. 156
TI'ESKW. JAWCARY 7, 189 Q.
A Word of Friendly Advice to Our
Railroads.
When the round-trip ticket to all
points oa the Missouri river was placed
at $90, the travel to California became
greater than ever it had been before or
since. All parts of the State had the
benefit of this travel, and Southern Caii
fornia took a jump forward which ma-1
terially added to her population and
prosperity. The railroad companies, we!
were told at the time, found that the re
duced rates with increased traffic paid
much better than high rates with paucity
of business. They not only gave the
itinerant public the benefit of the reduc
tion, but they were liberal to excursion
agents, immigration agents and all sorts
of agencies for steering the tourist, the
home-seeker and pleasure hunter to this
coabt. To an ordinary business compre
hension the success of the reduction in
increasing the traffic twenty-fold proved
the wisdom of the new policy. It made
the roads pay, increased the population
of the coast, placed its exhaustless re
sources npon the plane of greater devel
opment, infused new life and activity
into commerce and production, increased
real values, and was generally produc
tive of benefit to all classes and all in
terests.
But in an evil hour for all par
ties, the railroad authorities returned
.to their former fallacious policy. They
said that if the public will stand $00 for
a ticket, they will not "kick" at a trifling
raise, and put up the price to $80. But
the public has not responded. The $20
raise was considered by them as an item
of interest, and they fell off very
markedly in their patronage.
Whilst the lines to California adopted
this new and injurious policy, the rail
roads of the East did not fail to take ad
vantage of it. Under the low rate of
fare, the tourists and pleasure-seekers
who had before made Florida their win
ter Mecca, turned their backs
upon the Everglades, and swarmed
to Southern California. But as soon as
the rate of fare was raised to California,
the Eastern roads at once took advan
tage of the situation, and made a very
material reduction in the round-trip rate
to Florida. By this means they won
back the winter pleasure-seekers, who
had found in California a better climate
and more attractive scenery, to the lately
abandoned hostelries of the State where
swamps abound and the alligator is
abroad in the land.
We would like to put a plain fact be
fore the understanding of the railroad
people who are interested in increasing
the business of their roads to this
State, and ask them if they have not
tried the high-rate plan long enough now
to show them that it don't pay nearly as
well as the low rate. It is not alone in
the amount of falling off in itinerant traf
fic that the railroads are injured, but
they are weakening the capacity of the
State to give them as ample profits as
they could secure by the prosperity that
attends every community that is rapidly
adding to its population and thus increas
ing its wealth.
With cheap overland fares California
will settle up rapidly; but if the fare is
kept at its present high figure the pro
cess will be slow. Under the former
policy we will add to our population in
two years what it would take six years to
secure wit'u high rates.
We believe that the overland com
panies would consult their own best in
terests by returning to the low rate. We
know they would greatly benefit the
State by doing so. This is a good time,
at the beginning of the year, for them to
reconsider their passenger tariff, and re
store the rates to the figure that proved
so talismanic five years ago in producing
an era of unexampled prosperity.
Mr. McLain and His Card.
An individual named McLain pub
lishes a wordy and ill-devised and ill
advised card in the Herald this morn
ing. This gentle contractor is doubtless
unaware of that aphorism of Goethe
which wound up with the pregnant sen
tence that silence is golden. In the
front portion of the aphorism, the hind
part of which we have quoted, the Herr
Goethe says that speech at best is only
silvern. As a matter of fact, Mr. McLain's
speech is scarcely up to the average
of pewter. He says that there was a
proposition to evade .the law by giving
the contract for the remodeling of the
old City Hall to J. M. Skinner. No
statement to this effect was made in the
Herald. What we said was tbat Mr.
Skinner had offered to do the work for
$1,600. He also says that he did the
work which Mr. Skinner offered to do for
$1,600 for $1,200. This cannot be known,
as neither Mr. Skinner's plan nor Mr.
McLain's pUn was ever adopted
by the Council. What the Herald
does know, and what the citizens know,
from a plain statement of the facts, is
that the law was flagrantly violated, of
which fact McLain's card itself gives
abundant evidence.
McLain denies that there were two
bills from the California Lumber Com
pany, two from Crane Bros., and he adds
that there was no bill whatever from
the Los Angeles Lumber Company.
The list of demands printed in
the local columns of the Her
ald was taken from the de
mands in the hands of the Mayor,
which is the source of authoritative,
official statements in such matters,
maugre Mr. McLain's somewhat insigni
ficant ipse dixit. Mr. McLain says tbat
there was a special contract made with
Mr. Fostnir by the city to furnish the work
on one of the bills for $299. No such con
tract was ever made by the city. No
each contract was ever approved by the
THE LOS AW GELS DAILY BBRALD: TUESDAY MORNING JANUARY 7 1890.
Council, or signed by the Mayor on
behalf of the city, as required
by the charter. He also says that the
bill for $101 rendered by Fosmir was for
additional work, which was necessary.
The stopping short at $299 —one dollar
less than the $300 limit which the
charter requires to be contracted for by
bids—and the addition of this $101 as a
supplemental bill—proves completely
what the Herald has all along asserted,
that the provisions of the charter are
being shamefully evaded, and the bills
split up into fractions to give a color of
legality to the fraud.
The Mayor's message is authority for
the statement that the work cost $1,500
more than it should have cost. So much
for Mr. McLain and his card. We shall
have something to say of the general
merits of tbe question raised by the
Herald elsewhere.
A Reminder and a Reminiscence.
The City Charter provides that the
Council shall cause proposals te be pub
lished in the press for bids to take care
of the city moneys. Last year, in spite
of the fact that a responsible Savings
Bank of Los Angeles' undertook to take
care of the municipal funds, and to pay
therefor a handsome premium, these
funds were kept in the favored banks of
the City Ring. By this unlawful and
indefensible action the city of Los
Angeles has been defrauded of a large
sum of money, which would have been
exceedingly valuable in such times as
these, and this was done absolutely
without any warrant. For the past
year, owing to this infamous action of
the City Council, the burdens of the
taxpayers have been largely and un
necessarily increased. Still, on tbe
scriptural principle of letting the dead
past bury its dead, we address our
selves to the present conjunc-
ture, and remind the City Clerk
tbat, according to the charter, he must,
as soon as possible after the first Tues
day in January, advertise for proposals
from banks and other responsible per
sons, to take care of the city funds for a
consideration. He would do well, there
fore, to insert an advertisement to that
purport at once; and tbe Council would
do well, when the bids are received, to
award the custody of the public moneys
to the lowest and bast bidder. There
ought to be some mode of judicial pro
cedure which would render the
Councilmen personally liable for
such a gross breach of the
law. The charter is singularly deficient
in providing penalties for the infraction
of its provisions. Doubtless, however,
the law itself, if invoked, contains in its
i range, common law or equitable, some
protection to the hard-bested taxpayer.
If it does not, it ought to contain it. For
every dollar out of which the City
Treasury has been defrauded by this
peculiar policy, the Councilmen indi
vidually and collectively ought to be
responsible.
A Gross Breach of the Law.
Mayor Hazard returned yesterday to
the Council without his approval the
items for the remodeling of the old City
Hall animadverted upon in the Herald
His message was that of an honest man
and a good citizen who sympathized
with the taxpayers. Of course the Coun
cil paid no attention to his protest, and
referred the extortionate items to the
Building Committee, who had incurred
these expenses without warrant of law.
That body will next Monday report that
the items are all right, the Mayor's veto
will be overruled, and the taxpayers will
be robbed, as usual. That is the size of
it. In addition, the Mayor, in a special
message, has drawn attention to the eva
sion of the charter involved in splitting
up bills so that they shall fall below two
regulations of our municipal organic law,
the first of which provides that no bill of
the amount of $300 shall be contracted
for without an order of Council, and the
second ordains that for any work exceed
ing $300 in amount bids shall be invited.
Our esteemed contemporary, the Ex
press, attempts to break the force of our
arraignment of the Council for its mani
fest violation of the law. In the same
issue of that paper which contained its
feeble plea, there were printed two able
messages of a Eepublican Mayor almost
identical in language and presentment of
facts with the articles which have ap
peared in the Herald. Instead of ac
cepting Mr. Hazard's counsel, and call
ing a halt in their nefarious proceedings,
the grave and reverend seigneurs of the
City Council accff at these documents as
"scolding" messages. Things have come
to a pretty pass when a Council, unani
mously Republican, instead of accepting
the honest and sagacious counsels of a
Republican Mayor, attempt to cast
ridicule upon them. The people have
their eye upon these civic individuals.
Popular resentment may be delayed, but
it is gathering a resistless force. Every
member of the Council who on Monday
next shall vote to despoil the city treas
ury by paying these unlawful bills will
have made a record for himself which
years of repentance will not blot out.
The text of a franchise to a new wßter
company was published yesterday in the
Herald. There eeems to be a dis
position in the Council to hurriedly pass
the measure. As it grants the rights
and privileges incident to the public
distribution of water for fifty years, we
may well aek the Council to go slow in
the matter. Quite a plum is put into
the franchise in the shape of requiring
the company to furnish water for extin
guishing fires, for public buildings, etc.,
free of charge. Curiously enough these
very rights were reserved to the city of
San Francisco in the original franchise to
George H. Pjn6ign,under which the SpriDg
Valley Water Company now operates;
but in spite of the reservation the city
has been a rate-payer for years for all
the water it consumes. The argument
used by the company to enforce rates
against the city was that if the city got
its water free the consumers would have
to make up for it in higher rates than
would otherwise be charged. In other
words, the water furnished for public
uses was worth so much to the company.
If the city got that much water for noth
ing, its value to the company was recom
pensed by raising the rate to consumers.
Should the city determine hereafter to
own its own water works, this franchise,
if granted, would stand very much in
the way of carrying out so desirable a
purpose.
It would not be safe for any fair
minded person to allow the fact that Mr.
Parnell has been made co-respondent in
the suit for divorce, instituted by Captain
O'Shea, to raise any serious prejudice
against the great champion of Irish
home-rale. There are many suspicious
circumstances connected with the asso
ciation of the name of Mr. Parnell with
a scandal of this prominent character at
this particular time. The case of Parnell
against the Times is at that peculiar
stage where the commission is making
up its final report to be submitted to
Parliament. Although Captain O' Shea's
alleged domestic grievance dates back as
far as 1886, it is somewhat singular
that he should have waited to this par
ticular time to ventilate it before the
courts. It will not be forgotten that
O'Sbea appeared in the witness-box for
the Timet to prove the genuineness of
the forgeries of Pigott, who took refuge
in suicide when his crimes were discov
ered. Nor will it add to the weight of
O'Sbea's charges against Parnell that
the latter endorsed him six years ago as
a safe person to represent the Irish Na
tionalists in Parliament, and who, when
he secured his seat, betrayed both hia
friend and his cause. O'Shea is evi
dently a political commodity, and looks
for a reward commensurate with the
value of his services if he can help Salis
bury at this crisis by giving the Home-
Rule party a black eye through their
leader.
*'A Possible Case."
A large and appreciative audience as
sembled at the Los Angeles theater last
night to greet the first presentation in
this city of A Possible Case by the Union
Square Theater Company. The play is
a capital one, and the personnel of the
combination embraces artists of marked
and varied talents. In the second act
husbands become as thick as huckleber
ries on a June hillside in an Eastern
State. In fact, as to the Seiiora Men
doza, they recall Queen Glumdalca's in
junction to one of her favorite maids, in
Fielding's comic opera of Tom Thumb,
"to pick out as many husbands as you
think you'll need."
The play was presented in a specially
attractive manner, the stage settings
being often novel and charming. The
plot is ingenious, the dialogue sparkling
and the company far beyond the usnal
range of such organizations. Mr. M. A.
Kennedy, as the much married "Otto
Brinkerhoff," developed abilities of the
first class as a comedian. No man
now on the stage could give a mel
lower interpretation to this rule, which
requires humor of a high order, a digni
fied yet genial presence, elegant manners
and the bonhommie of the practiced man
of the world. All these were embodied
in an exceptional degree in Mr. Kennedy.
This gentleman is an old California
favorite. As the manager of the Bush
street theater, some seven or eight years
ago, he wa? one of the most popular men
on the Pacific Coast. His notable merit
has heen appreciated all over the Ameri
can continent, and we are glad to record
the fact that he improves with the pass
ing years. He is quite entitled to rank
in the same grade as Ben Do Bar and
Mark Smith, and he possesses a delicacy
which both of those great actors, who,
like himself, wore managers, lacked.
The company in its ensemble is clever
to an unusual degree. The "Violet Men
dozi" of Miss Helen Russell is a clear
cut study which is heightened by a most
picquant face and graceful presence. Her
arch play of expression is a histrionic
endowment. Miss Belle Archer made
an interesting rendition of "Gladys,"
and reinforced good dramatic methods
by beauty of face and person. 1 The
villain of the piece, "Stfior de Vidas,"
is a capital hit in character acting. His
make-npand accent are notably thorough.
In this specialty Mr. Herbert Archer
has really achieved something essentially
artistic. Mr. Charles Dickson made a
very pleasant impression as "Allen
Weeks," and the whole caste was far out
of the common.
No greater triumph has ever been
chronicled in Los Angeles than the Bet
ting of this play, the company bringing
its own eceDery. We may add that no
play has been presented in California
since Diplomacy was given with Mon
tague, Maude Granger and Jeffreys-
Lewis in the caste—all in their prime
that assures a more even enjoyment.
The Mexican glamour is an offset to the
brilliant Monte-Carlo and European in
cidents of Diplomacy. The success of A
Possible Case has been all that could have
been hoped for by the management.
No one who loves an eveniug of genuine
enjoyment should fail to put in an ap
pearance for at least one night of the
season. It holds the boards at the Los
Angeles for the remainder of the week.
Juch opera Company.
A telegram was received last night by
Mr. Fennessey, agent of the Juch Opera
Company, stating that the company will
not play here this week. It is given aa a
reason for their non-appearance that the
railroad company will not guarantee the
transit of the company to thia city.
Thia seems strange in view of the fact
that passengers are arriving here daily
from the North. The company will play
in San Francisco next week,and arrange
ments will be made for a visit to Los
Angeles later in tho season. Purchasers
of tickets at tho advance sale will be re
funded on presentation of their coupons
at the box office.
Cndellvered Telegrams
At ihe Western Union Telegraph office,
corner Court and Main streets, January
6, 1890 : 0. 8. Hardy, Robert Hteen
H. G. Gwyn. M. A. Mayes, Jasper
Woodward, W. C. Higgins. Mrs. Geo.
H. Bancroft, Miss Lillie Kirke.
There is an undelivered telegram at
the Postal Telegraph office, No. 19 West
First street, for G. A. Straub.
BEYOND THE ROCKIES.
Fatal Explosion of Naphtha
at IJni ). Ohio.
A SERIOUS MINING DISASTER.
A Howling- Blizzard Prevailing in
Kansas—La Wrippe's Many
Victims.
[Associated Press Dispatches to the Herald.
Lima, Ohio, January 6.—Thia after
noon one of the large stills of the
naphtha works at the Standard's Solar
Refinery exploded with a force felt all
over the city. A number of the men at
work were covered with debris. The oil
immediately caught fire, causing consid
erable excitement. William Culver, fore
man, waa found insensible under a pile
of brick with a bad gash in
hia head. Peter Devine had his
right leg broken in two places,
and was badly bruised and burned.
Their injuries are fatal. J. F. Deyman,
William Murphy, J. L. Galler, L. E.
Heleer, Walter Evans, Frank White snd
John Sullivan were seriously burned.
Charles Lahdkammer was thrown quite
a distance into a tank of water and came
near drowning. The fire was quickly
extinguished.
LA GRIPPE'S VICTIMS.
Tlic Epidemic la No Hespector of
Persons.
New York, January 6 —The vital sta
tistics for the twenty-four hours ended at
noon today, show the number of deaths
to be 146, a decrease of 100 compared
with the previous twenty-four hours. It
is believed at sanitary headquarters that
the worst of the influenza epidemic is
over. The sick list in the police depart
ment, however, shows no abatement, but
the reverse.
Philadelphia, January 6.—Over 230
policemen of this city are sick of la
grippe. .Three deaths due to the malady
were reported today. One hundred and
sixty-two deaths of pulmonary difficulties
occurred last week.
Boston, January 6. —Nineteen hundred
pupils are absent from the public schools
and down with hifluer.z*. The death
rate per day is higher than ever known
before.
Washington. January 6.—Secretary
Windom ia suffering with a severe cold,
and it is feared he has la grippe. Con
gressman C. H. Gibson, of Maryland, is
seriously ill in Baltimore from pneu
monia consequent to la grippe.
Albany, N. V., January 6.—La grippe
is creating a pro ound impression in the
Mohawk valley. At Amsterdam there
are 2,000 cases. Among the sufferers are
the three principal physicians. At Fort
Plain 5,000 have it; at Canajoharie,
3,000. Several hundred cases are re
ported at Fultonville and St. Johnsville.
Cornwall, Ont., January 6 —Three
hundred cases of influenza are here.
Niagaha Falls, Ont., January 6. —La
grippe has broken out here. Over one
hundred cases are reported, principally
among railway employees. The men on
the Michigan Central and Grand Trunk
roads have to work double time.
London, January 6. —The number of
cases of influerza in this city is con
stantly increasing. A large number of
nurses in the hospitals, doctors and
clergymen are prostrated. The epidemic
continues to spread among the police.
Many members of the police force of
Bradford are incapacitated for work by '
influenza. A number of employees in
the postal and telegraph service at
Belfast, are suffering from influenza.
The disease has also attacked maDy
college students and professors.
Paris, January 6.—lnfluenzi is de
creasing here.
Gibraltar, January o.—lnfluenza has
made its appearance here. Tnere is no
interruption of communication between
the American squadron of evolution and
the shore.
A MINE DISASTER.
miners Imprisoned Beblnd a Wall
of Fire.
Wilkebbarre, January 6—At the
Nottingham mine, in Plymouth, this
evening, where a cave-in occurred last
week, a tenific explosion of !gas oc
curred. The brattice work and timber
at once caught fire and burned
furiously. Five men were caught
between the cave-in and fire, and
their exit cut off. The report
spread, and in a few minutes a hundred
men, women and children gathered at
the mouth of the slope. The wives and
children of the imprisoned menj lost all
centrol of themselves, and sorrowful
scenes were witnessed. About half an
hour after the fire broke out,
John Humphreys and John Rich
ards were lowered into the mine. When
they reached the fire they heard cries
and shouts on the other side. Putting
tfa ;ir hands before their faces they
plunged through the fire, and dragged
the five imprisoned men out. one by one,
uninjured. Thomas Richards, who was
in another part of the mine, was fatally
burned. Water is coming through
near where the cave-in occurred last
week, and the miners fear the river may
break into the mine. Should this hap
pen many mines would be drowned out
beyond the hope of reclaiming them,and
operations would have to be suspended.
Blizzard In Kansas.
' Emporia, Kan., January 6.—The worst
blizzard of tho season struck this place
yesterday afternoon and has been in
progress ever since, with a fierce west
wind, accompanied by snow. The ther
mometer fell fifty-two degrees in a few
hours, and this morning was twenty-four
degrees below the freezing point." The
storm continues this evening, and it is
feared railroad travel will be delayed
Will Tour the State.
San Fbabcisco, January 6.—The Rail
road Commissioners will soon undertake
a tour of the Btate, visiting the various
shipping and passenger centers, with the
view of acquainting themselves with the
railroads ol the State, and to give any
who have complaiuts to make, an oppor
tunity of ventilating them.
Tbe Launching- of a Ship.
Bath, Me., January 6— The full-rigged
ship Rappahannock, the first built here
since 1835, was launched from the yard
of Sewall&Co. today. The Rappahannock
is tbe largest vessel ever built in Maine,
and her carrying capacity exceeds that
of any square-rigged wooden ship built
on the Atlantic Coaat. A. Sewall &Co ,
and others of San Francisco, ar i owners.
As the outcome of President Harrison's
visit here in August, Mr. Sewall received
from the President a framed portrait of
the President, with the following auto
granh inscription: t
"May every voyage of the ship Rap
pahennock be prosperous.
"Benjamin Habribon."
The portrait is hung up in the cabin of
the ship.
i\if uM vi' <;omniEKCE.
Pioaoitd Amendment* and Addi
tion* to the Law. •
Washington, January 6.—ln the third
annual report, submitted to Congress to
day, of tho Interstate Commerce Com
mission, recommecdatioi.s looking to the
amendment of the law in the following
particulars are made:
First-An amendment to the first sec
tion to correct ambiguities of language
and make more definite the transporta
tion, both interstate and international,
intended to be subject to the provisions
of the act.
Second —An amendment to the thivd
section, relating to the rating and inter
change of traffic between carriers; to
better provide for through traffic at
through rates over connecting lines.
Third —An amendment to the twelfth
section, relating to the attendance of
witnesses, and the taking of testimony
by depositions.
"Fourth—An amendment to the twenty
second section, allowing the free trans
portation of persons injured in railway
accidents, and of the families of railroad
employee).
The new sections Ruegested are:
First —The piohibition of the pay
ment of commissions by one lailroad
company to ticket agents of another.
Second—The abolition of ticket bro
kerage, by requiring the ticket seller to
be duly authorized by the railroad com
pany which assumes the ref ponsibility
for his acts.
Third—Requiring mileage to be paid for
cars used belonging to private companies
or individuals.
Fourth —The extension of the law lo
make it apply to common carriers by
water routes.
Eaatern Echoes.
There have been no new developments
in the Senatorial situation in Ohio.
The Lee-Deming Grocery Company, of
St. Louis, hai confessed judgment in the
sum of $68,000. The firm's liabilities
are $242,000; assets, $262,000.
General T. O. Jordan, a prominent ex-
Confederate and for several years At
torney-General of Arkansas, was found
dead on his ranch near Gainesville,
Texas.
At Keene, N. H., freight trains on the
South Chester railroad collided. En-i
gineer S. W. Slate and Fireman Gibson
were killed. Others are reported in
jured.
A misplaced switch wrecked a freight
train on the Shenandoah Valley road
near Charlestown, W. Va. The engi
neer and fireman were badly, and the
brakeman fatally, hurt.
The engagement is reported of Miss
Ellen Bayard, youngest daughter of the
ex-Secretary of State, to Count Lewen
haupt, formerly connected with the Swe
dish legation in Washington.
It is rumored that Sir Charles Tupper
will shortly cross the ocean again, and
that he will be authorized by the British
Government to assist Sir Julian Paunce
fote in the fishery negotiations at Wash
ington.
Dispatches from Kansas and Missouri
say a blizzard of considerable seventy
prevails throughout those two States.
The temperature is generally near the
zero point, and the snow is drifting
badly.
A band of Mexican horse-thieves am-
I bushed a party consisting of three men,
two women and four children, near Chi
huahua, Saturday, and shot and killed
two of the men. The murderers sup
posed the murdered men were officers.
A military guard has been sent to arrest
the Mexicans, and if captured they will
be summarily dealt with.
Edward Church, a 17-year-old boy,
living with his father, near Huntington,
W. Va., is charged with poisoning the
entire family by putting poison in the
bread. One little girl is dead and four
others of the family are in a critical con
dition. The young murderer confessed
to a friend and then fled. He has not
been apprehended.
Application has been made for a
receiver for the furniture house of R.
Dsimel & Bros., the most extensive
manufacturers of parlor furnituie in
Chicago. Frank A. Helmer has been
aopointed receiver in bonds for $100,000.
The total liabilities will probably ex
ceed $300,000, while the assets at the
most liberal estimate cannot exceed
$250 000. The heaviest claims are in
the East.
A mail train on the Pennsylvania rail
road, when passing through Tyrone,
killed Yardmaster Wolfgang and prob
ably fatally injured Conductor Worley.
The men were standing on the track and
were struck by the engine. At Benn's
creek, about ten miles east of Pittsburg,
the s.me train ran over and killed two
unknown men, supposed to be Hungarian
laborers. They stepped out of their
cabin on to the track directly in front of
the engine, and were run down and
horribly mangled*
Cable Flashes.
Parnell has retained Bir Charles Rus
i ell in the O'Shea case.
The condition of the Dowager Empress
Augusta is improving rapidly.
Queen Victoria has rheumatism and
wilt not be able to open Parliament in
person.
President Carnot has entirely recov
ered from an attack of influenza.
the remains of the ex-Empress of Bra
zil have been brought to Lisbon from
Oporto. The interment will be in the
Breganza pantheon.
The Boulangists are concentrating
their political efforts in Paris. The latest
phase of the Boulangist conspiracy is
that the municipal government whall con
trol the police, and Boulanger shall con
trol the municipal government.
It is confirmed that Russia has sent a
circular note to all the powers that
signed Ihß treaty of Berlin, in r> gard to
the violation of the treaty by the present
condition of things in Bulgaria, and par
ticularly by the pretended sovereignty of
Prince Ferdinand.
More doubt is now cast upon the report
of the massacre of Dr. Peters. Den
hardt wires to the Emm Relief Commit
tee that he has received from Dr. Peters
addressed to the committee, letters which
are of later date than that of the re
ported massacre, and which were written
at a place on the Peters' route, beyond
that at which it was reported he was
killed.
The London Times' Lisbon correspon
dent says: "Anotber note from Lord
Salisbury was delivered today. It ia be
lieved that the note threatens that un
less prompt satisfaction for Pinto's action
is made, there will be a rupture of diplo -
matic relations. The Cabinet immedi
ately convened." A dispatch to the
Standard says the Portuguese Govern
ment has employed German engineers to
lay torpedoes in the Tagus in view of
possible action by the British fleet.
SILVER BULLION
As a Basis for National
Bank Circulation.
MR. JOHN JAY KNOX'S BILL.
Text of the Measure, Supplemented
with the Author's Argument
in Its Support.
Associated Press Dispatches to the Hbeam>.)
New York, January 6.—John Jay
Knox has prepared a bill which will be
introduced in Congress- soon, the princi
pal object of which is to provide for the
use of silver bullion as a baßis for na
tional bank circulation. The bill pro
vides that after the passage of the act
every national bank shall be authorized
to issue circulating notes in an amount
not exceeding 75 per cent. This circula
tion shall be secured by United States
bonds, or at the option of each bank one
half of said 75 per cent, may be secured
by a deposit with the Treasurer, under
regulations to be prescribed by the Sec
retary of the Treasury, of gold coin or
bullion or silver bullion at the current
market price. Whenever the markejt or
cash value of bullion and United States
bonds deposited is reduced below the
amount of circulation issued, the Comp
troller of Currency may demand and re
ceive the amount of such depreciation
in other bullion, or in gold and silver
coin, to be deposited with the Treasurer
as long as such depreciation shall con
tinue. Or the amount of circulating
notes of such bank may be reduced by
charging the excess of circulation to the
redemption fund. An account to be
designated ''The National Bank Safety
Fund," is authorized to be opened on
the Treasurer's books by reducing the
amount of United States notes now out
standing $1,500,000, and by reducing the
national bank redemption fund the same
amount, and crediting three million dol
lars to the safety fund. To Baid fund
shall be added a duty of one-half of one
per cent, each half year, upon the aver
age amount of national bank notes in
circulation.
If any national bank becomes in
solvent, and any of the circulating notes
remain unpaid after the assets and indi
vidual liability of the shareholders are ex
hausted, such circulating notes shall be
redeemed, cancelled and destroyed and
the amount charged to -the safety fund.
Mr. Knox, in explaining the provisions
of the bill, said it is estimated that lost
and unredeemed national bank notes
amount to at least one per cent, during
every twenty years; but only one-half the
amount estimated to be lost is to be
placed to tbe credit of the safety fund to
cover the thirty per cent, of the circula
tion not secured by bonds or bullion. It
is not necessary, however, tbat this ap
propriation should be used for the safety
fund if serious objections are made, as
the tax on the circulation, which amount
ed in 1889 to $1,410,331, is abundant for
creating and maintaining a sufficient fund
for the absolute redemption of thirty per
cent, of all tbe issues of all the national
banks.
The Comptroller's report for 1889
shows that during the last twenty-five
years the total circulation of insolvent
banknotes, each year, on an average,
was $600,000, 30 per cent, of which
would be $180,000. The tax on the cir
culation last year was nearly eight times
the amount of the safety fund required.
If the circulation is increased, tne tax
will be correspondingly increased, so
that the amount to be added annually to
the safety fund from it is, without doubt,
abundantly sufficient to provide for 30
per cent, of all the insolvent banks of the
country.
The profit on the circulation under this
proposition would not be large,but would
be sufficient, to induce many, if not all,
the smaller national bauks to deposit
silver bullion and take out circulation.
Mr. Knox estimates that at the end
of the next twenty years, or at the date
of payment of the four per cent bonds in
1902, a safety fund would have accumu
lated of at least $25,000,000, so that from
that time onward a sufficient amount of
n itional bank circulation would remain
permanently in existence, well secured
by gold and silver bullion, and suffi
ciently profitable, to make the present
amount ol United States notes to respond
to the demand of the business of the
country. It would also give banks in
the West as well as East, who have con
fidence in the future value of silver, an
opportunity to invest in that metal, and
he believes such investments would be
made for the next three years equal at
least to $20,000,000 annually, and thus
relieve the Treasury from excessive pur
chases.
V. S. SIPItHIE GOUBT.
* Utah Case Decided—Toe Neag-le
Case Met for Hearing.
Washington, January 6.—The United
States Supreme Court today rendered an
opinion in the case of Nephi W. Clayton,
appellant, versus the People of the Ter
ritory of Utah. The appeal is from the
Supreme Court of the Territory. This
case arises ont of the peculiar situation
of affairs in Utah caused by the Mormon
question. Clayton was elected Auditor
of Public Accounts of Utah in ISJ9, and
has held the office ever since, refusing to
turn over his office to Arthur Pratt, ap
pointed to the place by Governor Murray,
of Utah. It is contended that Clayton is
unlawfully in office, for the reason that
an act of the Legislature of Utah
passed in 1852, creating the office
and providing that it should be
filled by popular election, is in
contravention of the organic act of the
Territory, which vested the appointment
of all, except local, officers in the Gov
ernor. The Supreme Court of Utah de
cided against Clayton, and this court
affirms the judgment.
The decision of the State Supreme
Court in the case of James Jack, elected
Treasurer of the Territory, was also af
firmed.
The Neagle ease, arising out of the
killing of Judge Terry in California last
summer, was set down for argument
March Ist, ne was also the case of the
Tulare Railroad Company of California
involving the right of the State to impose
special taxation on railroads.
Public Opinion Against Him.
Trenton, N. J., January 6.—Dr.
Kniffin, the husband of the woman found
smothered to death in bed Friday morn
ing, took an ounce of econite and gashed
hiß wrists and throat with a razor. Doc
tors were summoned and stanched the
flow of blood. The jugular vein was not
reached. Owing to the largeness of the
dose of aconite, it acted as an emetic
and was all thrown off. The doctor is'
out of danger. He Bays he attempted
his life because he was discouraged by
the strong tide of public feeling against
him.