£IK (fontfr Dcmncral. BHUOKRT k FOBSTER. Editor* VOL. X ftk (fritter jOrmocrai. Terms SI.AO per Annum, in Advance. 8. T. SHUGERT ind R. H. FORSTER, Editors. Thursday Morning, March 3, 1881. SENATOR W. A. WALLACE has ac cepted an invitation to deliver the ad dress before the Literary Society of Muhlenberg College during the com mencement week. The students of that institution may expect a rich treat from au earnest ami accomplish ed orator. HARD ON CONGRESSMEN. —A Meth odist preacher in Cincinnati is credit ed with the declaration that there will not be as many congressmen in heaven as there are icicles in the other place. Nothing to worry ths statesmen in that! Bob Ingersoll has froze up "the other place" long ago, and no doubt this preacher has been in his company skating on iLs plane surface with all the agility of an admiring partisau. THE Philadelphia reformers are still reforming,and are now after the rogues —the corrupt election officials, the ballot-box stufTers and repeaters, whom they propose to prosecute to conviction in every instauce where sufficient evi dence can be secured. If they |>er form this duty faithfully without re gard to individuals or parties, they will deserve all honor. Philadelphia elections, for some years, have been a scandal and a reproach, and any i means taken to give even a show of j decency to them is to be commended ! ami encouraged by the whole people of the State. THE KINO BILL presented in the legislature to handicap the new May- ! or of Philadelphia in the matter of the appointment of the police, by vest- I ing the selection of these officers iu a Police Commission, to be appointed by the council, has been very properly sat down upon by the committee to which it was referred. There is no means sufficiently mean to restrain these ringsters. The emphatic con- j demnation of a partisan police by Un people of Philadelphia at the late clec- i tion, might at least have warned them that the people of Philadelphia are j not in temper to be trifled with in j their corporate affairs. Rurus K. HHAPI.EY, Mayor Stok- j ley's private and official counsel, and one of the ablest and most eloquent advocates of his re-election, turns out to be the author of that exquisite po litical satire, "Solid for Muihooly." Mr. Sbapley wrote the book when his chief was dancing attendance on the Reformers, and was the candidate of the Committee of One Hundred. By the time Mr. Shapley got his book into print Stokley had changed partners and was the choice of the bosses. Thus the strange anomaly was wit nessed of bhapley on the stump for Stok ley, pleading with his Mulhoolies and Blossom Bricks to support his candidate, while Pattison, Caven and others were using his own ammunition to defeat him. As a political "Butter cup," Mr. Shapley is a success. He had things badly mixed. THE invitation to General Hancock to attend the Inauguration ceremonies of the opponent "elected" over him (by treachery in New York and corruption in Indiana) is one that low enemies would like to lay hold of for invidious comment on the distinguished soldier, whether be accepts or declines. But surely if there ever was a case where a man might be left free to decide his course according to his own pleasure or sense of what is right and proper, this is the one. There is no call for any one to sneer, whether Gen. Han cock is present or absent. If he re mains away, it will not unlikely be due to a modesty which shuns an ova tion that would throw that extended to his rival into the shade, since this one would be genuine —to the man, and not to the office. "Ket them do so; better this than sink the independence of the country, and ac knowledge the mastery of these soul less tyrants. The bill they war against anticipates ami provides against these raids upon the Treasury and assures the domination of the government over the hanks. We remember that nearly the same opposition was made against the 4 per cent, certifi cates, under the plea that no one would take them, and yet when they were placed upon the market, the rush for them was so great that the supply was found to be inadequate, and thou sands were disappointed and unable to purchase even at a premium. Every one will remember the rush for their certificates even in our own lit tle town. This demonstration of the hanks to coerce legislation is another warning which should not escape pub lic attention. It was against this as sumed power of the money kings that Andrew Jackson interposed his great name and invincible power of will and patriotic duty to crush out, and we doubt not that in due time another Jackson will appear to save the gov ernment from the dangers that now menace it from the same source. THE President-elect started from Mentor on his way to Washington to lie inaugurated President of the United States on last Monday afternoon and arrived at the capital on Tuesday morning. A large number of hia old friends and neighbors congregated at the railroad station to say good hye, and Mr. Garfield made a feeling and appropriate speech to them. He also spoke from the platform of his special car at several other points in his old Congressional district along his route of travel. The trip was very quietly made, and after leaving Ohio without interest or special incident to attract attention. BKLLEFONTK, l'A., TIIUKSDAY, MARCH 1881. The River and Harbor Bill That annual steal called the river and hubor appropriation bill, in which every member of (ongress tries to get all ho can for bis district, this year assumes larger proportions than ever. The bill which passed on last Saturday appropriates about sll ,'()<),- 000. It is only necessary to go hack a few years to show what a monstrous abuse this annual raid upon the pub lic funds has grown to be. In 1870 an expenditure of not over $2,000,000 was found to he amply sufficient for repairs and improvements to har bors ami for improving the navigation of a few of our principal inland streams. But now every Congress man seems to have a trout stream to be improved. These gentlemen com bine their influences. Their estimates go into the bill and the money is vo ted with a reckless and brazen disre gard of the interests of the |>eople that deserves the severest condemnation. These men are unfaithful to the trusts confided to their care and an outraged public opinion should make itself felt iu ccusure of their shortcomings. Among the faithless, however, it is a pleasure to note the few faithful, and !to know that this outrage upon the treasury was not permitted to pass without strong protests against its enormities from such Senators as Thur man, Wallace and Kt-rnan. They j were not strong enough to prevent the I passage of the hill, and unless Mr. Hayes will favor the country with a veto it will undoubtedly become a law and a large portion of the millions voted under it be squandered upon useless and unnecessary projects. The Harrisburg Patriot expose* the char acter of some of these "navigable rivers" of the country Upon which it is propped to spend the public money. The Patriot says that "one of these great navigable rivers upon whose bosom i- to be borne the, commerce of the country is the majestic Elk river in West Virginia. The engineer Wil liam P. Craighead, reports that before this river can be "properly prepared for the full development of trade," some or all of the private mill dams upon it "should certainly be modified or improved." His estimate is that with much less than SIOO,OOO the mill dams can lie "modified" and the noble Elk opened for commerce. The money thus sjient, be savs, will give the Elk "ten or twelve inches' depth at lowest water," and the Elk is put down for a handsome appropriation in the river and harbor hill. Imagine what mighty vessels will float down the stream with a depth of ten or twelve inches of water. Another of these mighty streams is the Eittle Kanawha in West Virginia. By lil>eral appropriations in the past, as the engineer reports, rafting is now practicable on the Little Kanawha "at a much lower stage of water than ever before." But as the navigation for rafts is not fully improved on this stream a further appropriation was necessary. Appropriation is also made in the bill to improve the Guyandotte river for "push-boat navigation." One of the items in this bill is to make "pole boat channel" in the Sa vannah river above August*. Thia great improvement for commerce is to be accomplished by putting up wing dams on the river so as to concentrate the water. This will make a channel three feet deep. Fortunately there are no mill dams that need to be modi fied. Jay Gould and his associate monopolists will tremble at these statesmanlike efTorts to establish a system of water transportation in competition with the railroads. When the mill dams on the Klk aro "modi fied," when navigation for rafts is es tablished on the Ouyandotte, and when the upper waters of the Savan nah are opened for pole boats, a new and mighty commercial epoch tor the country will begin, according to the rredictions of the statesman of Cteorgia. t is only necessary to pile up the ap propriations, and pole boats, scows and rafts will dispute the carrying trade with the gigantic railroad monopolies." THE drcndful catastrophe that oc ! curred at Hcranton the other day, by which seventeen orphan children lost their lives, leaves an impressive lesson behind it which should not be unlieed ; cd. These children were locked in their dormitory and died from suffoca tion. But for the iron bolt that burred their egress, they might have escajx-d the terrible fate that befell them. It is the custom iu many asylums and schools for children to lock them into their rooms at night, and this is not the first awful sacrifice that has result |ed from this practice. But it ought |to be the last, for there is no excuse for taking the risk of burning children to death merely to save the expense of I a watchman. It would he sufc to say that more than half the children who ! have been suffocated or burned to ■ death, l>oth in private houses and pub lie institutions, have fallen victims to the horrid custom of locking them in. Not many weeks ago, iu a Western village, six children were locked into i the house, asleep, while their parents went to church. The dwelling burned and all were lost, but the [xjsition of i tbo charred remains showed that they | had vainly striven to force an egress through the hx-ked dour. It is a hor rible practice, and those who follow it are guilty of criminal disregard of ' the lives of those under their charge. ALL attempts to pass the Apportion ment Bill have been met by the Repub lican members by filibustering and dil atory motions under the lead of that Congressional nuisance and obstruc tionist, Conger, of Michigan, fur which there was no excuse, as the I >cmocrats offered to meet them fairly in the most lilteral terms of compromise. The ob ject of this course is to force an extra session of Congress. The failure of this bill will also involve the necessity and expense of extra sessions of the legislature in more than one-half of | the Status of the Union at a fearful j c(t to the people. The Republicans arc thus making a record and estab lishing precedents that will certainly 1 return to plague them in the future, and why the sensible Republicans, if there are such, do not curb the officious blatherskite who leads, is a mysterv that ran be accounted for only by par" tisan blindness of the must ultra and inexcusable character. THE unwavering loyalty of the stalwart |>atrioLs of the National capi tal has just received another strong exemplification. These gentlemen will not march under the leadership of the "rebel brigadier," and have raised a hornet's nest about (Jen. Sherman's ears for selecting (Jen. Field to com mand one of the divisions of the in augural proceaaion. The "rebel brig adier," however, in the organization of the United States Senate is not to be sneezed at, and these aatno super-loyal gentlemen will not object to receiving any advantage that may come to them through the vote of Mahone. When there are spoila to divide and the "reb el brigadier" is a potent factor in the securing of them he is not such a had fellow and may be safely tolerated. THE man who for four years filled the high position to which the people of the United States had called Sam uel J. Tilden, steps down and out to morrow, He will retire to obscurity, despised by mankind, and in the future will only be thought of as the one in whose person fraud first triumphed over the rights of the people. ANOTHER appeal for* aid ia made for the colored emigrants in Kansas. They are said to be freezing and starv ing in large numbers and there ia urgent demand for prompt relief. THEcompieted tabulation of the pop ulation of the United Statea, as given in the late census, shows that the ex cess of males over females ia 888,29 ft. His FRAUDULERCY, Rutherford B. Hayes, retires from hia stolen office to-morrow. Book Notice**. TIIK tnoit striking thing* in Ihe March | ST. Nl< not. AK lire Mrs. Oliphanl'S ml MI Ta ble pajier giving the touching story of : 1 I.Hily Juno Urey ' (to be followed iri j April by the companion article on "Mary, (pieeii of Scot*"); HII illustrated account of two sturdy Icelandic boys and their desperate "Kncounter with a Polar Bear" ; "Mary Jane Describes Herself," an illus trated sulohiogrnphy of a Sunday-school scholar ; a new scientitic in-door amuse ment called "Ihe Magic Dance"; an inci dent of Adeline I'alti's childhood, when traveling in the United States, in IS. VI, with e- I sfrc.yrr, and her New Gun," i# the subject ; of a paper, by Charles Barnard, which ha. the advantageof presenting the first draw ings of this long-exjocted piece of arma ment, with some fresh details. Never before-engrased jairtraiu of Charles and j Mary Lamb, from old paintings, embellish i a short paj-er by Mr John Arbuckle. "In le.*d | >len ; more "Notes of a Walker.' including j discussion of Bhakspere's natural history, by John Burroughs; "A Dangerous Vir tue, a striking short story, by Mr. H 11. Boyoaen ; and the fifth p.art of Mr. Schuy ler s "Peter the (treat a* Ruler and Re former," illustrated by Blum, Neblig, and others. Among the p>oems there is a son net ("Two Home*' ) by Itr. Holland, who, in "Topics of the Time," writes of George Kliot" and "The Metropolitan Museum,' and take# note of Bishop Coxes excepition to part of a recent paper in SeaI IIJSKR on the Bible Society. "Home and Society" treats of "A Mother s Duly to her Girls,' "A New Cooking-Stove," and "Servants' Rooms and (Quarters." "The \\' orld a Work" deals with "Artifi cial Ballast," "Power for Pleasure-Boats," j "Optical Tests for Milk, etc., and "Brie a-Brae" has humor and pleasantry of its own well-established kind. Famous Bathers at the lint Spring*. Ff"a tl* Ul*r4kn. Five years before his death, the Hon. O. I'. Morton, of Indiana, catne here to check, as far a* possible, the progress of his disease. The Hon. James G. Blaine has been a sojourner here during three season*. United State* Senator elect f'amden, of West Virginia, comes here with his family every year. ExGover- 1 nor Hendricks, of Indiana ; the Wash- i burn* brothers, E. B. and C.C.; Senator Veat, of Missouri; Senator Maxey, of Texas; Senator Voorhees, of Indiana; j W. B. Astor. of New York; the Herri- i sons, of St I-ouis, are habitual visitors here; ex Gov. Beriah Magoflin, of Ken- i lucky; Col. Tom Nelson, of Indiana, and ex Gov. Merrill, of lowa, are at 1 present here. The Hon. Fernando Wood, New York, was one of the latest arrivals, but soon succumbed to his ailments. Maine New*. Hop Rittera, which are advertised in our columns, are a sure cure for ague, biliousness and kidney complaints! Those who use them say they cannot be too highly recommended. Those afflict ed should give them a fair trial, and will become thereby enthusiastic in the praise of their curative qualities.- /Vl tflW Argvt. Gen. Garfield's last Sunday at Mentor preceding his ttip to Washington, to ! assume the duties of President, was very quiet In the morning he attend ed church, accompanied by his family and the remainder of the day passed in the usual quiet manner. All prepara tions for the trip were suspended. There were few, tf any nailers and Lawn field was more like iUetf, a year K, than an almost any praoeding day tha nomination. TOMS: $1.50 per Annum, Advance. UENCRAL NEWS. The favorite ie in Washington so fifty have big, brown eyea, smooth dark r i hair and large mouth* that know how to smile. A stone pitcher used by John Brown • during hi* iinpri*onnient in Charles. ; town, Vu.. ws sold at auction in Balti . , more on Wednesday for #7). Ixindon, with a population of 3,500,- 000, manages to get along with a fire department of 406 men, and still clings : lo the old fashioned hand engine. Last f-riday Governor Hawkins' mes sage was presented to the Tenneasee , Legislature. The debt of the State is over 500,000. including interest. I lie Governor believes the best interests of the State will be subserved Wy a ( speedy adjustment. Vanderbilt, the elder, gave Nashville, Tenn., a university, and in Nashville now the people have a regular Vander bilt fever. I hev have a " Vanderbilt shirt factory," a "Vanderbilt barber shop, a "\ underbill corn cutter" and [ more to come. Sheridan Matthews, 10 years of , *ge. w* fearfully mangled by cars last , i ' bursday, at < arbondale, while on bis i way home from work. He was employ ed on a level of the Delaware and iiud son Gravity road and at quitting time attempted to board a moving train and fell under the wheels. His escape from instant death was miraculous. A man and woman were married at the cantonment on the Bad Land*, in • | Dakota, on the 10th, Jtev. Mr. Stevens, of Hismark, officiating by telegraph. i Iwo citizens witnessed the parties re sponding to the minister's questions from one end of the wire, while a news paper correspondent and others saw . the minister do his duty at the other. Major lien Perley I'oore, the "father" . of the reporters' gallery, went to Wash ington in ilewa*born in George ( town, and was very young when he began hi the National Legislature to ' r fP° rt . 'tews of the capital for a New York newspaper. He has lived in He ha* a very distinct recollection of every inauguration from the time of John fjuiney Adam*. General Sherman, Grand Marshal of the inaugural ceremonies of General , Garfield, has issued a circular detailing the programme to f-e observer! by the military ecort of the President elect: I be First Division will be commanded by Brevet Brigadier General Ay res ; the Second by Major General Hartranft; the 1 liird by Major General Fletcher, and t be 1 ourth by Major General Field. Ihe Legislature of Tennessee on the 17th accepted an invitation to attend the inauguration. rite Census office announces the fol lowing approximate distribution of the total pnj uUtion of the country among the several classes : Males, 25,530,582; I females, 24,632.284; natives of the I nited Male*. 1 ;,475 506; foreign born, !6t|; white*, colored, 6,5i7,l -1 ; Indians and half-breeds not in tribal relations on reservations under the care of the Government, 65,122; < hinese, 105,463 ; other Anastica, 255. Ibe numb- f colored persons to each 100.000 whiffs is 15,153, against 14,528 -in 1870, The MUDber of females to : every 100,000 males is 96,519. against v7.Mil m 1870. The nutnl>er of foreign born person* to every 100,000 natives is 15,359, against 16,875 in 1870. W hen the < tcean City people saw some strange object far out at sea, the other morning, they got out their glass • and went down to the beach. They discovered that the object was an im mense ice field, which appeared to be drift ting nearer and nearer. On the following day the floe, which was from three to four feet thick and which stretched out to sea three miles, drifted to the shore. The roar of the surf was bushed for several hours, when the ; tnass was |>artly broken up. Hundreds of people from the surrounding country witnessed the novel sight. The liabilities of Mount St. Mary s College, Ltnmil tsburg, Maryland, are stated at #165.000 to #200.000. and the assets at #50,000 to #IOO,OOO. The prin cipal creditors are Mrs. Anna P. Mar ! shall, first mortgage, #17,000; First Na tional bank of Hanover, Pa., #25,000 and #IB,OOO of paper discounted for the college; Gettysburg (l*a.) Hank, #6,000; First National bank of Frederick, #5,000; I.iltletown (Pa.) Bank. #2,400. There are over one hundred creditor!, but very little of the indebtedness is in Baltimore. Captain James MoSherry, | lawyer, of F'rederick, is the receiver. A special from Kmmilteburg says that the graduating class of the college has rebelled, left the institution and lodged st a hotel in the adjacent village. Kev. lather Hill, the President, will return to Brooklyn. The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chioopee, has taken a long stride toward a return to the old apprentice system. The Company has been very much troubled to get skilled help, and also by having men leave after they have learned enough to begin to be use ful. It hat now adopted a plan some thing like the former system, only the I term of service is not more than three | or four years, instead of seven, und ap plications come in by ecorea. The men | sign a contract to stay to the end of the term, and the company will teach them the different branches of the business, so that when they go out they will be masters of the trade, instead of knowing how to run but one machine or to do but one particular kind of work. The company keeps 10 oenls a day from their pay until it amounts to #IOO, which is given to them at the end of the apprenticeship. NO. <>.