The Potter Journal AM) IST E"W S ITEM. COUDERSFORT, PA.. Jan. 3, 1873 THE N. Y. TRIBUNE. The arrangement to make Schuy ler Colfax editor-in-chief of this paper has failed, and it is to remain under Die management that controled it during the late campaign. We very much regret the failure, as the TRI BUNE, under the editorship ol'White law Reid, is about as unreliable a paper as comes under our observa tion. It called Alex. McClure and Charles R. Ruekalew REFORMERS, and stigmatized John F. Hartranft, and all who supported him, either thieves or the supporters of thieves, and yet had the assurance to claim for itself the position of an indepen dent journal. The TRIBUNE was always intensely partizan, but it was never so blindly and bitterly so as during the last campaign. We like men to be in earnest; in fact, have not much re spect for any one who can so control his feelings as to act the cool impar tial judge in any stirring contest over great questions. As with men, so with newspapers. We like best to read such as have opinions on all questions that affect the public wel fare, and that express their opinions earnestly, persistently, and occasion ally with severity, and we do not like to read a Republican paper that praises everything done by our par ty, and condemns without discrimi nation everything done by our op ponents. It is not, therefore, because the TRIBUNE zealously supported the nominees of the Democratic party for President that we are now ob jecting to it. It is because of the constant and egotistical assumption of independence and honesty which it claimed for itself, and denied to all who differed from it, that has alien ated so many of its old friends. And it is this spirit, so arrogantly pro claimed in the two-column editorial explaining the failure of the move ment to make it a Republican paper, that will prevent it from regaining the confidence of the best friends it had previous to its unnatural alli ance with its old enemies. The following extracts from this editorial explains somewhat of the late movements in relation to the paper, and of its present status: " The affairs of the Tribune Associa tion have been the subject of much unprofitable discussion recently in the newspapers, and of various idle gossip, for which there was little foundation in fact. It is now proper to state, how ever, that, as the result of certain in trigues and outside efforts to gain con trol of the palters and wrest it from the purpose to which our late chief devoted it, some changes have taken place in the proprietorship, and a large majority of the stock is to-day permanently concen trated in the hands of Mr. Greeley's chosen editorial associates —men whom lie trained for this particular duty, to whoa, he int rusti d the management of his journal 111 the gravest emergencies, whom he honored with the confidence of his thoughts and wishes, and whose purpose it now is to continue the work from which he was so suddenly called awav" ***** " In taking up the unfinished task, which fell from his hands a few weeks ago. we happily have the men whom he brought around him, the facilities which he accumulated, and means so ample that when, a few days since, over half a million of dollars was paid for the bare control of the paper, we, knowing the worth of what Mr. Greeley had built up, bid higher and bought it back." CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. For more than thirty years this question has been the subject of dis cussion by the press and public speak ers. The present pernicious system POTTER JOURNAL & NEWS ITEM. is an inheritance from the Democrat ic party. Under the earlier administrations it was the practice to iill vacancies in the subordinate offices with friends of the administrations, but not to re- j move faithful officers on account of political difference of opinion. Soon after the Democratic party, as organ ized under General Jackson, came into power, the demoralizing doctrine that ''to the victor belongs the spoils" was proclaimed, and a clean sweep was soon made of all office-holders that did not give in their adhesion to the powers that be. The perni cious system then adopted and rig idly enforced, has borne just such fruit as thoughtful men predicted. Following the inevitable law which i governs evil practices, the results ; will be worse and worse until there shall be a radical reform. President Lincoln saw this, and set his face towards reform; but the exigencies of the war soon required his whole attention and this work ' had to be postponed. President Grant came into power under more favorable circumstances, I and- is determined to bring back to practical operation the better system | of the fathers. In his second annual message Pres | idem Grant urged upon the attention of Congress the necessity of chang ing the present method of appoint ments in the following emphatic lan guage : "Always favoring practical reforms, I respectfully call your attention to one abuse of long standing which I would like to see remedied by this Congress. It is a reform in the civil service of the country. I would have it go beyond the mere fixing of the tenure of office of clerks and employes who do not require 'the advice and consent of the Senate' to make their appointments complete. I would have it govern, not the tenure, but the manner of making all appoint ments. There is no duty which so much embarrasses the executive and heads <>f departments as that of ap pointments; nor is there any such ardu ous and thankless labor imposed on Senators and Representatives as tli,at of finding places for constituents. The present system does not secure the best men, and often not even lit men, for public places. The elevation and puri fication of the civil service of the Gov ernment will lie hailed with approval by the whole people of the United States." The position of President Grant met with such general approval from the people, that all parties in the late campaign gave it hearty sup port. The Republican National Con vention made it an important part of the Platform, and is the sth plank therein as follows: "A nv system of the civil service under which the suljoiilinate positions of the Government are considered rewards for mere party zeal is fatally demoralizing, and we therefore favor a reform of the system hy laws which shall abolish the evils of patronage and make honesty, efficiency, and fidelity the essential qualifications for public positions, with out practically creating a life tenure of office." In view of this action of the Na tional Republican Convention, and of the universal acquiescence in it, pending the election, we do not see how any Republican member of eith er branch of Congress can honorably oppose CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. Why is it not as injurious to the party to oppose this leading plank of the Platform, as it was during the campaign to oppose the election of the candidate? If treason to the party is to he punished by exclusion from chairmanship of committees, by what right shall Senators Logan and Carpenter retain theirs? We heart ily endorse the action of the Senate caucus on this subject—so far as it went. Clearly the friends of the Ad ministration, being a majority of the Senate, ought to control all impor tant committees. But how can a Senator who opposes one of the chief measures of the Republican party and of the Administration, with any propriety be counted among its friends ? The Democratic Conversion. Senator Sumner, and other old-time Republicans asked the colored men and their friends to support the Democratic candidate for President in the last cam paign, on the ground that the Demo crats had abandoned their opposition to equal rights, and were converted to the i Christian view of this great question that God made of one blood all the na i tious of the earth, and gave to each hu man being precisely the samecivil rights. As the Democrats themselves made 110 such pretensions, we could not un derstand how sensible Republicans could make it for them. But the Tribune \ , begged and plead with its old readers to j j accept as a fact the conversion of the j Democrats, and to vote for their candi- j dates from President down to County j Auditor on that ground. Every vote given in Congress, and in the state Legislatures, when the rights of the colored man were concerned, flat ly contradicted this assumption ; the j whole history of the Democratic party contradicts it; still the people were ask ed to believe that a willingness to vote for II orace Greeley was evidence of sound conversion. In view of their past course and pres ! ent temjier. this willingness seemed to us only an evidence of a desire to de feat the Republican party on any terms. The vote of all but six of the Demo cratic members of the Constitutional Convention to disjiense with our assist- J ant sergeant-at-arms —to prevent a col ored man from lieing elected to that jHisition —clearly shows there was no conversion. The same thing was shown in Congress a few days ago by a vote thus explained by the Washington correspondent of the N. V. Independent under date of Dec. 14: The House yesterday did not hesitate to make use of the doctrine of equal rights to tide off a bill to reimburse Wil liam and Mary College for the alleged destruction of property by United states soldiers during the war. The sum to lie given the college was s<>s,ooo. and nearly all the Democrats and some Republicans favored it; but an ingenious opponent of the measure offered an amendment pro viding that the college should be open to colored students. Of course the Re publican meml>ers could not resist the logic of their principles, and the amend ment was agreed to; and then the amend ed bill lost every Democratic vote and was rejected by an overwhelming ma jority. Lectures. Gov. Curtin is lecturing on Russia — ] a fertile and interesting theme. He spoke in Lock Haven a few days ago. Anna Dickinson, on Labor Reform, speaking for some of those whose labors cannot be comprised in the limits of eight hours a day. Bret Ilarte, on "The Argonauts of '49'-; that early California madness that was worse than war. But the most interesting lectures of which we receive any accounts are those of Prof. Tyndall on Light. The won derful discoveries that have been made ; within the last few years almost make one feel that we had not known what light was. It is well that we can use things without knowing much aliout them, that the sun, and moon, and stars answered all the purposes of illumina-j tion before we understood how far off j they were, what their motions, or what j the nature of the emanation wecall light, j But stay! it is no longer an emanation, | but a "form of motion." The illustra tions and experiments make the lecture I plain, it is said, to all. Far West. The Independent of Dec. 5 publishes a long art icle on scenes in the West, along : the Northern Pacific railroad commenc ing "Duluth to Sundown—so my tick et facetiously read:" "Four years ago the country where Duluth now stands was all forest and the verdure sloped unbroken to the lake. And yet to-day it claims 5000 insula tion." Going West, "at Aiken we strike frequent lakes, some of them so close together that the railroad twisted and turned in many sharp curves to pass them. These lakes are from lOntolOOO acres in extent, sometimes a mile long, hut generally not more than one quar ter to half a mile. They seem to IK* all of one characteristic look, a wild forest of birch and timber hemming them closely in. The fishing is said to le splendid and they are the breeding plact s of millions of wild ducks." Of the "Red River country"he says, "It is one of the greatest curiosities in agi icultural scenery. Level as the floor and stretching to the horizon all around you without a swell or depression; wild as the desert, lifeless as if forsaken, treeless as the ocean, it surprises the traveler and yet leaves a pleasant impres sion." * * "The Red River valley is about sixty miles wide, twenty to thirty of which are on the Minnesota side of the river and thirty to forty in Dakota, and extends without a break 400 miles north to Lake Winnipeg." IN THESE days when rapid communi cation, brings to our ears every heart rending calamity that takes place in any part of the country, there is no need of playing on our feelings by inventing tales of disaster and death. Quite lately there was a sad story of the destruction of a lighthouse, at Anti cost i by a storm, and of the death of all of a family of eight persons in a house near by, by lightning. Now this is shown to l>e without foundation, and we are all in some degree prepared to doubt other reports of accident and trouble. < >f course it would be immense comfort if we could doubt them all; but while we know that there are suffering and misery in the world and that we must all do what in us lies to help those who suffer, it is very hard to have our I sympathies unnecessarily worked upon. The difference in statements made by I different papers, which unavoidably see things in adverse lights, brings us eon fusion enough without any trouble lieing taken to manufacture spurious eases. Weather. The excessive cold of the last ten ; days seems to have tieen very general j over this continent, while storms and floods are desolating many parts of j Europe. We have in the same paper, accounts of hundreds of people, drowned by the overflowing waters, and their property, their homes, even the earth of their fields swept away, as though no precaution or effort was of any avail; and of accident and loss of life in various parts of the country here, owing to the.intense cold. One woman was killed in her kitchen in Ilarrisburg, while preparing breakfast, by the explosion of the water back of the range. The water pipes were frozen during the night, and the range got very hot before any water flowed in, so that when it did come, the iron flew all to pieces. .1 udging by the reports of low tempera ture and falls of snow in various parts of the country, it would seem that our high region has been quite as easy a place to live in as any. The thermome ter went as low in Lawrence. Kansas, as in Coudersport, and in most places in or near our own latitude it was lower. So we could not have the satisfaction !of thinking people were comfortable elsewhere, if we were cold : and we fear that few. if any. were letter supplied | with the means of keeping warm than THE following is taken from " The Ju bilee Singers'* Campaign,'*'' by G. I). Pike. Boston, "The doctor 1 ' being the one to whom all the stories of the campaigners are told, and whose remarks run through the liook adding no little to its interest. " 1 often think of these things." said the doctor, "and feel that we are living in the most blessed days the world has seen. Sometimes, when lam attending an evening's entertainment in some spacious hall, I get a conception of the possible revelations of the future. I notice, 011 entering, how dim and shadowy everything apiiears. People are massing together, but you cannot recognize even your friends in the dis tant part of the house. The splendid paintings, the statuary, the carving, and the frescoed ceilings are obscured by the darkness till the time comes for the en tei tainment to commence—till the dis tinguished iersoiiage of the evening with his attendants, arrives. Then bv one turn of tin* janitor, on Hashes the light, and every person and thing an pears with all the Lauty and gladsome ness the heart could wish. So, l tlifhk, it will lie in the visible church. The multitudes are gathering. One work man may not see another, eye to eye, as yet. The ten thousand adornments and accessories that will gladden the millennial morning are hidden in the darkness. Nevertheless, the beautiful mosaics of the heavenly walls, the golden candle-sticks and the harps of gold are all there. The great table for the mar riage supper is being spread, and the garments, pure and white, are almost ready. When the fullness of time shall come, when lie shall api>ear with all His holy angels, with one turn of Providence it shall lx j light."' ♦♦♦ THE American Missionary Associa tion reports the total receipts during the year just closed as $329,938.93. They have ninety-nine common schools with 8731 pupils, twenty-one graded and high schools, with 110 teachers and 6277 pu pils; and seven chartered institutions of a higher character with thirty-six instructors and 1800 students, of whom 333 are-under College instruction and thirty-four studying theology. The re port is very interesting, and any one reading it and some accompanying let ters. will not wonder that they want more money, and few could resist their appeal. 11 ox. Soivi KSKi Ross, of Coudersport, has been elected a Director of the At lantic and Great Western Railway. The fact acquires peculiar signiticance be cause of' Judge Ross's connection with the l'ine Creek Road. It is understood to indicate that the A. and (i. W. is in terested in building the new line and thus securing an independent route to Buffalo. Judge Ross deserves great credit for the energy and persistence with which lie has worked for the road which will contribute so much to tlie growth and prosperity of this distrl.r and if lie now secures its speedy comple tionasa link in a great railway thorough fare, he will deserve the lasting grati tude of the people of Potter and Tioga counties. — Wcltsboro Agitator. The Lam-aster Express says : "The handsome design for the pro posed soldiers monument is now on ex hibition at Barrs's bookstore." So it seems that Lancaster County is slower even than Potter, in building her mon ument. A very fine description of it is given, but if not yet commenced will it ever be done? We would think a plain and simple monument, built at once, would-be I letter than a splendid one lin ! gering through years ere its completion. When shall we give money for such a work as freely as when our hearts are sorest for its need: " As an evidence of reviving interest in the completion of the Washington Mon ument. it may be stated that the first fiuits of a recent apjieal to the Masons of the country in behalf of the monu ment were lately received by the socie ty, in the form of a draft for the equiva lent in currency of $125, gold, from the Grand Secretary of CaL. Mr. Abell, this sum being the contribution of two suli- I ordinate lodges of the state, which | should In* credited with their patriotism. Gibsonville Lodge, 158, $100; Sierra Lodge, 144, $25. Mr. Abell reports that other lodges are moving in the cause, and from the advices of the society it is be j lieved that this is but the commence ment of a general and generous response on the part of tlie Masonic Fraternity, of which Washington was so exalted a member. •The states also are taking hold of the matter. New Jersey and Minnesota hav ing already followed the example of New York, the former contributing S3OOO and the latter s IOIHI. New York.it will be remembered, appropriated $ 10,000 to the fund. Similar appropriation bills were introduced in the Legislatures of a num ber of other States, but they were not reached for final action before adjourn ment. The scxiety makes these acknowl edgements,'' ♦♦♦ IT is stated that papers, letters, and manuscripts of the historian Prescott were destroyed by the Boston fire. Dur ing the absence of the family having possession of them, they had been stored for safety in the vault of a large ware house. "Many of these manuscripts were copies of rare works and docu ments relating to early Spanish and American history. Their loss will be a great calamity to the literary world. THE production of bituminous coal I in Great Britain has heretofore been 170,(MX),000 tons annually, while that of the United States has been but 3,000,000 tons. Now, however, England is im porting coal from France and Belgium, and the United States are exporting it to the West Indies and other countries ; hitherto supplied by England.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers