ESTABLISHED. FEBRUARY. 8. 1S46 Vol. -C. No. lU-EnterMl at ritMrnrg Postoflce November, 18ST, as second-class witter. Business Office Corner Smithfield and Diamond Streets. News Rooms and Publishing House 78 and So Diamond Street, in New Dispatch Building. EASTFT.X ADVERTISINO OFFICE. HOOM 76. TialtlIXE BUILDING. NEW YORK, where com- ?!ele files of THE DlsP.VTC II can always bo found, orcign advertiser-!, appreciate the ronven'enrc. Home advertisers and iricnds. oflHE DISPATCH, while in Xeiv York, are ako made welcome. TUE D1SPA TCII is rtsvlarly on aa'eat Brent-mo' s, I Umon.S'ivxm, Sew York, and 17 Art de VOjxra, Paris. Fmnce, Khere anyone who lias Veen duap- jwAlo! at a liotcl nuts stand can ootainu. TERMS OF TUR DISPATCH. POSTAGE FREE IX THE UNITED STATES. Daily Dispatch. One Year 'il00 Daily Ditatcu. Per Quirter I CO Daily DisrtTCH. One Month 70 Daily Dispatch, including Sunday, 1 year.. 10 00 Daily Dim-atcu. Including Muuli. Sni'ths, 2 50 Daily Dispatch, Including Sunday, 1 m'th. 90 SfMAY DlP vrcll. One Year 2 50 Veekl Dispatch. One Year 1 The D ult DibPATCH is dclli ered by carriers at 35 cents per w nk. or. Including Sunda Edition, at 20 nts per w cek. riTTMIUr.G. THfESDAY. FEBRCAKY 16 TWELVE PAGES CONbOLlD TIOX KOMOKS. The report appeared in this city yester day that the recent Reading deal has been extended so as to include the entire Balti more and Ohio system; that the combina tion thus effected is really backed by Jav Gould, who, with his Western system, will thus control a great transcontinental chain of railroads, and is thus asserted to be the master of the railroad situation. A great corporate transaction like the Heading deal even though it has been much overestimated through the predomi nance of water in its capital is generally followed by a cloud of rumors of this sort It has also been the rule of late years that our old friend Jay Gould is discerned by the eagle eye of the rumor-monger in the background. It would be hazardous to assert positively that Jay Gould is-not at the back of anything; but until there is more positive verification the report can be set down as improbable. It is not likely, simply for the reason that it indicates a sort of consolidation not in fashion at present The consolida tion which the Reading made with its ri vals was that of competing lines for the sunnression of competition. A consoli dation of Jay Gould's western lines with I the Baitimore and Ohio would be tnat 01 connecting lines for the increase of compe tition, while that of the Baltimore and Ohio with the anthracite roads would be simply yoking together two systems of entirely distinct character and purpose which are neither competingnor connecting lines in the large and Important sense. It is quite possible that the basis of the report is that the arrangement for the in terchange of business between the Read ing and-the Baltimore and Ohio, already a clearly defined policy of the two compa nies, has been increased and strengthened in the late negotiations. This is so mani festly to the advantage of both corpora tions that it is to be taken as a matter of course. GROWTH OF SLTJ5I POPULATION. Mr. Carroll D. Wright in a recent ar ticle on the growth of cities in this country, while recognizing that the increaseof their population is out of proportion to the growth of the whole country," argues that this does not imply that the population in the slums is increasing. He thinks the growth is mainly in the line of suburban population, and points out the probability that there will be a still larger growth of the same sort in the near future. While it would be satisfactory to adopt this belief to its fullest extent, we fear it will have to be accepted only as relatively true. Thus while the greatest proportion of growth is to be found in city suburbs, it is likely that there has still been an in crease of population in closely packed courts and alleys. We fear an inspection of an accurate census by minor divisions will disclose that nearly every city has had an increase of population in the wards, where the gain necessitates the packing of the population like bees in a hive, and that the sum of vice, disease and want in dicated by the tenement house population has grown rather than decreased as the country has gained in wealth. The growth of the suburban districts oc cupies relatively the same place to urban population as the settlement of new land does to the agricultural population. If we compare the old and settled agricult ural districts to the old and thickly built wards of the cities, it is much to be feared that we shall find that the population of the former has stood still or diminished while that of the latter has steadily grown. CCKIOS1TIES OF PATEKNAI.TS'tf. Strange ideas of the functions of govern ment are making themselves manifest in some quarters. The Nineteenth Century theory, that government Ls solely for the protection of the persons and property of its subjects and the restraint of acts in jurious to the rights of others, has had some wonderfully incongruous additions built on it of late. The imperious "war lord" of Germany, with his educational bill based on the dogma that it is the duty of government to see that the young are bred up in cor rect religious doctrine, furnished a strik ing example of the paternal theory. But the Kaiser was not satisfied with that German custom tcives flax-spinning par ties, closely equivalent to the quilting parties of our grandparents' days, at which young people indulge in decorous flirtation or serious courting. The paternal William has discharged his duly of watchful ness over the welfare of the young by an edict decreeing that the head of each lamily must accompany the daughters to these gatherings, and that no girlnnder sixteen or boy under seventeen shall attend them under any circumstances. It is intimated that the Imperial mind will next devote itself to restraining the bill ing and cooing of the turtle-doves. Yet even in republican America we are hardly so free from the absurdities of paternalism that we can turn up the nose of scorn at the eccentric William. A match for his follies is to be found in the proposal now pending in Congress to use the taxing power for the abolition of the deadly cigarette. The Dispatch the other day referred to the lengths to which this idea of reform by taxation might be carried; but no suggestion of that sort could carry the reductio ad aisurdum further than this proposition to fire the heavy artillery of Federal taxation at the bnipe of the cigarette habit When the taxing power Is employed to regulate the habits of the people even down to the smoking of cigarettes, there does not seem to bo much lett for legislation to interfere "with except the'evil of1 too heavy pinners or the crying abuse of the corn-producing shoe a size-aud-a-half too small for tho foot which it tortures. These are curiosities, of- legislation al most qualified to 'take rank in the same museum as that imaginary measure which has aroused the oppositionof the minority of the House Coinage Committee, for the exchange at the Treasury of sixteen silver dollars for one gold dollar. the smoke discussion. , The discussion oMhe smoke question at the Engineers' Society the other night will be of great use not only in attracting pub lic attention to the agitation, but in defin ing the issue 'and indicating the lines on wjiich relief from smoke must be sought While there was a decided divergence of opinion, the actual result is to show that so far as present measures are concerned there is a ground for practical agreement 3Ir. William Metcalf, who appears some what in the light of an opponent of the anti-smoko movement, concedes that the smoke may be lessened by tho use of de vices in certain respects. But he holds that a hard and fast prohibitory law would simply drive away some of Pitts burg's important industries, the puddling of iron being the principal process in which Mr. JTetcaltthinks that the produc tion of smoke is an absolute necessity. On the other hand, the leaders of the movement aeainst the smoke do not propose to drive industry away from Pitts burg. They hold that the smoke maybe lessened by various devices, the value of which has been demonstrated in actual practice; that to whatever degree tho smoke is lessened by these devices is so much of a gain to the public; and they hope that, while the abolition of the pre ventable smoke is going on, science will demonstrate that the same great advance can be made in iron manufacture. In this position there is nothing' seriously conflicting with Mr. Metcalf's views. The departments in which smoke can be" lessened are important enough to give plenty of occupation for the present. In this respect, namely, the re duction of smoke produced by steam boil ers to a tithe, there is ample proof of its practicability, within ten minutes wait of The Dispatch can be found smoke appliances, which are working well and successfully. There are appliances which fail to meet the purpose; but any man who will take the trouble to investigate long enough to find a successful one, and then watch the chimneys from that plant in com parison with others, in which there are no such appliances, will go away convinced that the smoke from steam boilers can be re duced to one-tenth its present vdlume. If this was done for the down-town districts of Pittsburg and Allegheny the .gain in cleanliness and light would be a vast one, and the.present damage from the Bmoke to goods, clothing and architecture would be very much reduced. Carry the same re form to the residence quarters remote from the iron mills, and the public gain would be proportionately enhanced. While this work is going on there is cer tainly no reason to abandon the hope that scientific progress will advance toward the diminution of smoke from iron manu facture. If the gas process can be ap plied successfully to steel manufacture, as we gather, under correction, from Mr. Metcalf 's paper, there is another immense cause of smoke removed. Coke, is a smoke less fuel, and Sir. Metealf 's objection to the damage to rural districts from the pro cess of manufacturing coke there evokes the pertinent answer that it is better to have the smoke where it is an inconven ience to scores of people than where it is a drawback to thousands. But the manu facture"; of Connellsville coke wastes millions of feet of gas, and it is to be hoped thaVscience in search of smokeless fuel will evolve a process by which gas shall be extracted from coal, as one fuel, and a second-grade of coke, as a'by-product, shall be left for another. With the importance of the object to be attained, there is no reason why work in the direction of smoke abolition should not be earnestly prosecuted. No one expects to see smoke entirely disappear; but with the effort directed toward abolishing what-! is how preventable, and the search for further inventions in that line, we will make steady progress toward the ultimate realization of a smokeless manufacturing city. BALZ1C IN KEtl LIFE. One of Balzac's most powerful and at the same time repulsive stories, "Cousin Pons," told of an .old man, whose means were so limited that he depended on his relatives for his dinner, but who by a keen scent for rare works of art and bric-a-brac, which he picked up at- nominal prices, amassed a collection worth hundreds of thousands. One of the strongest exam ples of the realism in fiction of which we hear so much nowadays is the story of the plots and cheats resorted to to defraud the poor old man of his valuable posses sions before he had drawn his last breath. The' character and the circumstances which surround it are apt to strike the reader as overdrawn. But it is a striking fact that the character turns out to have been reproduced with practical fidelity in actual life by an old man whose-death fur nished an item to the New York papers and TnE Dispatch this week. . In this case we have a man who for twenty years lived by himself in a lodging house there. His income was so restricted that he performed the necessary work of caring for his room, so that servants were never admitted. But during that time he had used whatever he had to spare from his slender income in buying works of art, and after his lonely death it is found that his room is packed full of paintings, statuettes and curious books, including many of unique and positive value. Men like the imaginary Pons, and the real Gamage, who verified the creation of French fiction half a century after it was given to the world, are actuated by the miserly motive in an altered form. But it must be said that the man who gives his life to hoarding creations of art has a, dis tinctly higher aim than the one who de votes lumself to hoarding gold and silver. Chicago gas consumers are now assured by the President or tho trust that tho in crease in their bills was due to the dishon esty or unqualified registry men, and that their grievances shall be righted at once. This must bo good news for tho consumers, and it is satisfactory to find a eas company so ready to admit that its servants were in the wrong. Bnt it will be interesting to note th behavior of the officials who had ex plained the increase on the score of ex tensions and improvements. The opinion expressed, apropos of the Heading deal's latest developments, that the next news will be that the combination has obtained control of a transcontinental line to tho Pacific, is unwarranted by the indica tions. Wo may soon expect to hear that the Capitol has been bought up, and that the nation is in future to be run undisguisedly for the benefit of the monopolists. That the heroine of the spinning house scandal at Cambridge, England, is impris oned for drunkenness and disorderly con. duct should, not prevent the measures under way for the removal of ftn'inst'tutioh whioU is an anachronism in this century, whatever may have been its uses in the past. There can be no doubt that the powers of tho Uni versity at 0 open to abnse, and the fact that the victim in this instance has lost her char acter should in no w iso militate against a re form that is much needed. Tiie President's message to Congress on mine inspection is no doubt an excellent little campanrn document. But it is none the lets true, and worthy of national attention, that "Economies whiclV1 involve a sacrifice of human life are intolerable." We can go further, and with equal truth, assert that such things are not economies hut ex travagances. Governob McKinlky made a new de parture in political tactics by his affable re ception and lecognition of tho Democratic minority. Let us hope he was instigated by something more than a desire to make friends with the mammon of unrighteous ness, and that his promise that the party should be fairly represented on the hoards of trustees of State institutions is indicative ofa spirit of justice, and an intention that fltness'slniUhavosomo weight in assigning public appointments. TrrE number of Anarchists now under arrest in Spain is evidence of the prompt measures which aie being taken for their suppression. The number and holiness of those still at large clearly shows the serious condition of social problems in thatunhappy country, which has so woefully fallen fiom its quondam proud and high estate. Tite appointments of Chief Brown in tho polico department follow upon strictly civil service lines; and, apart from the capacity of the appointees, which is un questioned, this represents the true princi ple for public service. If it could he ap plied in all caes the results would soon tell. Where the hopo of promotion is held forth to men in all grades of public employment it acts as the best stimulus to faithful and satisfactory; work. If is to be hoped that nothing bnt Cana dian jealousy is the foundation for the ac cusation that pore packers in this country have fraudulently adopted the Canadian brand. We cannot afford to let the report pas unnoticed, and our packers will do well to vindicate their high standing by prompt disproof. Plague, Pestilence and Famine with their thiee sisters. Poverty, Want and Care, are doing their work in Kussia. These are irresistible allies, and the present agonies of that down-tiodden and barbaious, country may he the birth throes of a hap'pier state of existence. If there were ever an excuse and a call for revolution they are to be found in Itussia now, and bloody though' the transi tion would be, it could not fail to be the dawn ofa brighter day. Political clubs which insist on making Blaine their candidate for nomination, after his definite withdrawal from the contest, ex hibit thoir folly by their disbelief in the sin cerity of the man whom they admire. Although the bill introduced inio the Ohio Legislature providing that all baking powder containing alum, sold in that State, shall bear a label to the effect that this is one of its ingredients, may be objected to on the score that it is intended to be made use of as an advertisement, there can be no doubt that the public should in some man ner be insured against the adulteration of such a common article of food. The old saying about solitude in a crowd haB seldom been more forcibly illustrated than by the life of Mr. Gamage, tho art loving recluse of New York. By the smallness of her appropriation for World's Fair purposes England is cutting oft her nose to spite her face. There must be many men in Britain who are intelligent enough to see the shortsightedness of this parsimony, and no doubt they arc chagrined by the news that progressive Japan has jnst quadrupled the amount which was con sidered sufficient fqr English enterprise. PEKTINEXT PERSONALITIES. The King of Greece speaks 12 languages. The Emperor of Austria writes to the Pope every week. The ex-King Milan of Servia is the most frequent royal theater-goer in Europe. Madame Patti thinks that singing should be taught to a clpMd as soon as it can speak. Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lome, is going to follow her husband's example and write a story. Seth Lowe, the youthful President of Columbia College, is a man of somewhat portly figure, with the general appearance ofa prosperous merchant or banker. Frances E. Willaed recently refused to enter the dining-room of the Sunset Club in Chicago until the dinner was over, lest she should see any of the diners in the act of imDibing wine. Mes. John A. Davis, of Chicago, as the only surviving granddaughter of Lady Eleanor Stanhowe, succeeds to -tho title of Lady Thrush Stanb.owo.and to Cavan House and the Clantalieu. They say that Thomas Nast, the great cartoonist, grows younger as the years Bile up their burden on bis shoulders. In his New Jersey home at Morristown he is some times seen cantering about on horseback like a boy. HAD A HAND IN THE DEAL. Deacon White Consulted the Stars and Thenihe Racket Commenced. a New York, Feb. 17. S. V. White is credited with having had a hand in the recent Lacka wanna deal, and is populaily supposed to have made quite a handsome sum toward re covering his impaired fortune. The good deacon, as everybody knows, is addicted to the study of astronomy, and incidentally is believed to have more or less faith in as trology as well. He has a powerful tele scope on' the roof of his house in Brooklyn, and ever since his recent disastrous attempt to corner the wheat market he Is said to havo been a more persistent student of the stars than ever before. Night after night ha found nis best eye slued to the little end of the far seeing tube as he swopt the firma ment and calculated on the couise of the shining oibs. Ho wan especially anxious for the conjunc tion of Venus and Jupiter, and calculated if they came together as expected it meant fame and fortune to him in the stock mar ket. J. Pierpont Morgan.was born under the planet Jupiter. With Morgan in the deal and Jupiter hobnobbing with the lucky star Venus, it meant that fortune would lavor the great; coal road deal thou on foot. The Deacon watched and studied the stars. Nearer and nearer the two planets came to gether, and on Friday, February 5, they touched. With a shout of joy tho Deacon cried out: "It lias como to pass even as it was writ. The stars favor us. Let tho deal go on and the boom boom." Next morning Lackawanna began to move up, and the world knows what a racket there was in the market before the week ended. FILLED WITH SPLIKTZBS. The Strange bequal to an Accident of lonths Aso. Mt. V'ERXOif, O., Feb. 17. Last year Ford Wolverton lell from A scaffold on a Gambier street building and wlion picked up he was found to be a liVing splinter depository. To all appearances they were entirely lemoved, but the young man failed to recover. He suffered pains in the lower parts of his body and could not rest comfortably when he assumed certain positions. Examinations revealed nothinguntil a day or two ago, when Dr. F. C. Larrimore located in the lower bo el a splinter which was pocketed in one sloe of the intestines, tlie other end being firmly embedded in the same manner. It required delicate surgery to lemove the intruder. The splinter is five and a half inches long and over half an inch wide, though not very thick. William's Trouble Just Begun. Chicago Inter-Ocean. Springer's free wool bill is now befpre the House. Our William's trouble has jnst begun. " liyJE.WASHINGTON JVAIFS. Bryan's Free Binding Twine Bill Beady Car Coupler Talk Before the Inter- State Commerce Committee of the Sen te Knssian Hebrew Resolutions. Washington, D. C, Feb. 17. The first of the reports from the Ways and Means Committee on the three tariff bills reported to tlio Housahas been prepared by Repre sentative Bryan, of Nebraska, who drew up the bill. It is to accompany the bill making binding twine free of duty, and will be pre sented to the House in a day or two. The piesent rate or duty on binding twine, the report says, is seven-tenth3 lc per pound, this rate having been fixed as a compromise in conference, alter the Senate, by a vote of 3 to 24, had placed binding twino on the free list. The report adds: "That great in dustry, agricultnro.which lies at the founda tion of all others, and upon the wayfare of which all interests of the country so largely depend, has been neglected. It has been discriminated against forjthe benefit of tho protected industries; and the injury has been aggravated by the imposition of use less duties upon a large number of agricultural products under the pre tence that such a tariff would Inciease tho price of such products, although the farmer has been assured that a similar tailff on manufactured articles ill not put Up the price of the" goods ho buys. The large part of the surplus products of thefaim must be disposed of in a foreign market, and the price of that surplus, fixed by freo competition, regulates the price of the portion sold at home. If the articles necessarily used by tho farmor in tho har vesting of his crops are made dearer for him than for his competitors he must bear the burden alone,ior there is no one to whom bo can transterit. Ttie tariff on binding twine cannot be justified except upon the princi ple that the taxing power sh'iuld be used to prevent importations entirely, and that principle, besides being unsupported by constitutional authority, would destroy all income from impoits, and compel us to look to t-oiuo other source for the necessary revenues. "There aro in the United States 35 cord3go and binding twine factories, 29 of which aio owned andconti oiled by tho National Cord ago Company, of Now York. The 29 in tho trust if it may bo so termed pioduco 60 percent of the total output. There were produced and consumed in the United States in 1830, 50,000 tpusol twine, all but 7.0JO tons oi wnicn was inaae iroin , ioreign grown fibers. If the seven-tenths of I cent per pound is added to the price, as is probable, this tax cost tho farmers of the United States, in the year lb30 alone, $700,000, and this does not include :i large additional sum charged for profits ontheincieased price by the various dealers through whose bands tho product passed. Not one dollar of this large tax reached the Treasury. Surely theie can be no excuse for allowing this trust to continue the exjfction of this tribute. The raw material Ironi which this twine is made is already on the fiee list." The Senate Committee on Inter-State Commerce listened this morning to an argu ment by Hon.Kichard Olney, of the Chicago, Burlington ana Quincy road, on a measure before the committee known as the pro cedure bill, which contemplates the deflnl nition of a method of procedure in healing railroad cases belore the Inter-State Com merce Commission. Ho held that the meas ure was unconstitutional, and that it should not be enacted into a law. George Crocker, of Boston, spoke-in favor of the car coupler bill now Before the committee. Mr. Haines, Piesident of tho American Kailroau Associa tion, opposed any intcrfeience by Congress in the determination of the type of coupler to be used by railroads. Mr. Wilkinson, Grand Master of the Biotherhood of Train men, expressed tho views of switchmen in the matter. Ho said they were In favor of prompt action, but believed no coupler had yet been invented which would give satis faction. T. P. Sargeant. of Indianapolis. lepresenting the Locomotive Engineers and Firemen's Association, thought a commis sion should be appointed composed of rail road officials and their mechanical em ployes, to test and make a thorough investi gation into the best device to be adopted and to report its results to Congress for ac tion. The House Committee on Territories gave a hearing this morning to the oppo nents of the proposed legislation to give local government or "homo rule" to the Ter ritory of Utah, as proposed by the bill intro duced by Mr. Caine, the delegate from that Territory. The committee was addressed by O. W. Powers, representing what is known as the Liberal party of Utah. That party, Mr. Powers said, was composed of Democrats and Republicans who, for "the time being, had cast aside their national political preferen-eesvand had joined hand for.tno purpose of building up an American State in the mountains. It was because the Mormon people were honest and sincere that the Liberal party oppose the measure the time not having come for it, in its opin ion. Much of Mr. Powers' argument was in refutation of several statements made on the other side of the question by H. W. Smith before the committee last week. He read to the committee a letter from M. A. Bieeden, an attorney, of Ogdeu City, stating that Mr. Smith had told him, before leaving that city for Washington, that "Statehood in Utah would be a great calamity: that if the Teller bill should be come a law no Gentile, conld live in that Territory: that he had -no faith in the Mor mon people; that they were simply driving the people to gain power; and that as soon as the conditions were changed the breth ren would have another revelation, re-establish polygamy, and drive Americans out of the lerritory." The statements made in tne letter were denounced by Mr. Smith as a lie. He denied having been in Ogden before coming to Washington, or having any con versation mith Mr. Breeden. In refutation of statements made by Mr. Smith, calling in question the honor and probity of United States Judge Miner, of Utah, Mr. Powers read numerous telegrams from influential people denouncing as false all chaiges and imputations against the moral and judicial integrity or the Judge. The sub-committee to whom the Foreign Affairs Committee referred the four or five Russian Hebrew resolutions introduced in the Uonse have reached an agreement upon this resolution to be zeported: "Resolved, That the American people, through their Senators and Representatives in Congress assembled, do heieby express sympathy- for theltnssian Hebiews and their depressed condition, and tbo hope that the Govern ment of Russia, a power with which the United States has always been on terms of amity and good will, will mitigate as far as possiDle the decrees lately issued respect ing them." The sub-committee added to this resolution the lollowinc amendment: "And the President is requested to use his good offices to induce the Government or Russia to mitigate said decrees." The leaders of the contest in the House for free coinage of silver have received from Speaker Crisp assurances that a special or der will be bi ought in the House in favor of the free coinage bill. The Speaker told them as soon as Mr. Catchings, of Mississippi, who is at present-in mew rorjc on unsiness, re turns to Washington, that the Rules Com mittee will meet and'will take" prompt ac tion upon me jjianii resolution maKin tno silver bill a special order. The Speaker has assured them that be is in favopof consider ation of the bill, and or it being finally dis posed of in the House within a leaso'nable time. Senator Carey to-day reported to the Senate, from the Committee on Education and I-abor. with a favorable recommenda tion, a bill in the natuie of a substitnte pro viding lor the adjustment and payment of the accounts ol laborers and mecnanics arising under the eight-hour law. It pio viues that suits for claims may be prose cuted in the Court or Claims. Kepeesentative Bankhead, of Ala bama, to-day introduced in the House a reso lution authorizing the Judiciary Committee to investigate the published charges against Hon. Andrew P. Mccormick, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas. A bii.Ii was reported to the House to-day appropriating $50,00 lor the constiuction of a revenue cutter lor use in the Sun Fran cisco harbor. The House Committee on Labor will ask the House to authorize it to investigate the charges concerning the employment of con vict labor on public works and the use "by the government of materials and supplies, the product of convict labor. The com mit tee.alter exhausting its.present authority lor obtaining information on this ques tion, has no information that convict labor is being used by the Government in tho con struction or repair of the public buildings or other public woiks or that the product ofcouvict labor is being furnished to or ior the use or any Department of the Govern ruent, or that the product of convictlabor is being used upon public buildings or other W"WS public works. The committee thinks if -this Jiractice prevails it should be prohibited. It t does not prevail they owe It to themselves and those persqns they lepresent to dem onstrate its nonrexistenre. Seceetaey Poster said this afternoon that there was nothing in the financial con dltion of the Treasury to cause the least un easiness, and that it was simple to suppose that he contemplated the use or the $100,000, 000 gold reserve to meet the current obliga tions of the Government. He said also that while the present net cash balance of $27, 500,000 consisted almost entirely or subsidary coin and'monoy on deposit with national banks, it did not include the national bank l-edcinption fund or $5,500,000 and disbursing ofllcors' b.ilinces amounting to $25,000,000, both of which sums are subjeot- to the action of the department, and should not be regarded as "demand liabilities." SUEBOITNDED BY WATEBBPOUTS. The Steamship Kelat Had to Do Some Lively Dodjlnf. New Yobk, Feb. 17. Captain 'McKay, of the ship Kelat, which arrived yesterday. saysvtliat during two days of the trip his vessel was kept busy dodging waterspouts. "We parsed about a dozen of them," he con tinued, "a whole family, in fact, containing large and small member'. We had several nanow escapes, and consider ourselves lucky in getting through without Inj my or los3oflife." The Kelat sailed from Chitta gong, India, on October 21 last, with a cargo of Jute, and several times during the voyage the crew foired that they would never reach Now York. Tho ship is one of tho best of ner kind afloat, and her captain is an ex perienced 'seaman. On the 12th or this month the first of the waterspouts appeared. The vessel was then in latitude 25 north, longitude 65 west. At about tho middle of the afternoon a gicat column of water seemed to rise suddenly from tho ocean about 100 yards ahead of the vessel. It whirled around like a tower on a pivot, tho summit extending above the tallest of the masts. Tho ship was making good headway at the time and was dangerously close to tho im menso body of water. Captain McKay give his orders qulcklv and the Kelat changed her course to avoid the fall. The sight was a beautiful one to contemplato at a safe dis tance. The sun was shining brightly and the great column sparkled like diamonds. The column curved and finally disintegrated in drops liko those of an unusually heavy raintorm The ship had scaicely cleared the danger when a smaller spout started up about halt a mile away on tho port bow. ft was succeeded by ono after another Until more than a dozen had appeared. One gieat column seemed 12 or 15 feet in diameter and wasnear enough to make it necessary to tack a second time in order to avoid a catas trophe. A sharp lookout was kept during the night, but nothing furtheroccurred until the next afternoon, when another display of spouts of various sizes occurred. These, however, were all at a safe distance from the vessel. Their disappearance was followed by unusually severe gales from the south west, west and northwest, during which considerable damage was done on deck. DIV0BCED IK HIS TEENS. A Yonng Man Pays 91,000 a Tear Rather Than Live With Ills Wife. Baltimore, Feb. 17. I8pecial. Malcolm Parker, a yonng man still in his teens, has been granted an absolute divorce from his wife, Minnie Parker. Parker's family is among the wealthiest here, and when Mal colm's father died B. F. Newcomer, tho china importer, was appointed his guardian. The boy, well provided with funds, traveled at pleasure. Last spring, while in Philadel phia, he met Annie Birch, a handsome girl thiee years his senior. He forthwith fell in love and married her then and there. The groom's mother, who moves in the best society refused to recoenize her daughter-in-law, whereupon the couple settled down in Philadelphia. For a month they lived to gether apparently contented. Cne day, however, Malcolm disappeared. His wife, after waiting a reasonable time, brought three suits against Mrs. Parker. Mr. Necomber and Mr. Frank Enlen, the latter her husband's uncle. She charged them with kidnaping her husband and restraining him of his liberty. The latter denied this, and claimed that the boy was inveigled into marriage. Ever since then the lawvers have been trying to effect a set tlement, and last month agreed that, in con sldeiation of $1,000 per annum, Mrs. Parker, Birth, should not contest a suit for divorce brought by the husband. This agreement has been carried out. DETECTED BY A P ABBOT. How Swindler Was Exposed by a Wise Chicago Bird. Chicago, Feb. 17. Edward A. Trask, the notorious swindler who was arrested on a charge of obtaining money by false pre tenses, appeared before Justics Glennon yesterday. On January 15 Trask called on a jeweler and, representing himself to be worth $90,000, purchased some jewelry that came to $163. He gave the jeweler a bogus draft. The jeweler was unable to locate Trask, and he even went so far as to offer a reward for information as to his whereabouts. Trask loomed at 534 West Lake street, and the information which led to bis arrest came in a very novel manner. The husband of tho woman who rented the room to Trask left home eight months ago to attend to business in Virginia. The couple were de votedly attached to each other, and they parted with tears and kisses. The parrot screamed "Papa, papa," a word always used when the head of the family was abont. Re turning, the husband found the parrot had added a name to his exclamation "Papa." It said "Papa Trask." The indignant hus band gave the police a tip and they arrested Trask. PLAYS TO COME. 'The Charity Ball," which has already been favorably received in this city, will be again presented by Charles Frohman's com pany at the Alvin next week. The scenery lor the production is all new, and the mount ing, which is so necessary to the "Charity Ball," will'be all of a highly artistic order. As a society play "Tho Charity Ball" is still a strong attraction. The engagement of Margaret Mather at the Bijou next week will possess unusual inter est from the fit st performance. here of hor new play, "The Egyptian,'1 which was pro duced on Monday last in Chicago. "The Egyptian" is founded on Victor Hugo's great story, "Tho Hunchback of Notre Dame," and it is said to afford Miss Mather, who is so well liked in Pittsburg, a great chance to dis play her talents as Esmeralda. Mr. Otis Skinner and a good company will support Miss Mather. Manager David Henderson's spectacular production of "Sinbad" is now enjoying its second week in Pittsburg this season. The house is packed nightly to its extreme limit, and the Wednesday matinee, yesterday, was even larger than the Wednesday matinee of the previous engagement. Another fact has been demonstrated already by "Slnbad"and Mr. Henderson. Pittsburg will support a meritorious attraction two weeks. The sec ond edition of "Sinbad" is to be given next week, and already the advance sale for the second week indicates that it will be just as laige as the'ttrst. Pittsbuig's second edition will introduce a number of new features, in cluding the celebrated Spanish danueuses, tho Chitten sisters; also new songs, new dances aud new jokes. Manager Henderson will bring his new play next season for threo weeks. BLUSHES IX THK SKI. The aurora borealis is cheaper than elec tric light. Here is a chance for capital. Toledo Blade. It looked a little suspicious for the sky to be painted led so soon after the meeting of Jupiter and Venus Chicago Times. Saturdat night's auiora borealis has not yet been claimed "by the Hill men of New Yolk, because they only want the earth iVeto York J'rest The uurora borealis was exhibited from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the lakes to the gulf. It! nos the finest spectac ular performance of the season. Boston Herald. Whatever the auiora borealis maysiguify. it certainly does not presage a Democratic victory next fall. That is one thing that cannot possibly happen under this year's conditions St. Louis Globe-Democrat. It is offered us an explanation or the celes tial phenomenon of baturday evening that the heavens may have been blushing for the recent labors of Mr. Hill and his friends in Albany. It takes a big section of tho uni verse to do an amount of blushing, adequate to the deeds of some of the Tammany min ions. Chicago News. , t.Si'W.S-TlFWfe T IJTTHEGAY WHIRC Notes of Social Events of the Fait nnd of f -Those to Come. The promised exhibition of the recent pictures and sketches of Pittsburg's artists will be opened this evening by one hundred and seventy-third reception of the Art Soci ety at the Academy of Science and Art building. Pittsburg artists have been in dustriously engaged during the winter and it is hinted that some or their works are nf the first order ormerit. Many of these will be exhibited and it ls expected that those present at tho reception will obtain an ex cellent idea of the status or this branch of creative art. It was a quiet-wedding party that gath ered in the parlors of the Rev. Charles Ed ward Locke, on Dinwiddle street, last night, at 9:30, to witness the marriage ceremony of Miss Mary Porter and Edwin O. Christy. Only the Immediate friends of the contracting- parties attended. After tho marriage the delighted parties were driven to tho Hotel Schlosser, where a wedding supper was served. Miss Dorothy Bishop talked interestingly upon the Del Sarte system at the Allegheny nigh. School yesterday afternoon. Miss Bishop found much to admire in the system and awakened quite an enthusiasm in the hearts of those who heard her on tho sub ject. Mrs. Mary A. Livermore .will lecture this evening on "The Boy of To-Day" at the Fourth Avenue Baptist church. Mrs. Liver moro is a charming talker and is able to make the most of a snbject such as she will handle. The lecture Is under the auspices of the Woman's Press Club, which bespeaks success for its reception in advance. The ladies of the Arch Street M. E. Church will give their usual supper this evening in the lecture rdom of the church. These suppers are becoming events or real pleasure to the members of tho church and their friends. Calvary Church ladies, this afternoon and evening, will spread a supper in Gymnasium Hall, East End, and will offer dainty works and wares for sale. The pioceedsaro to be devoted to the good of the church, and a3 the ladies are noted for their good works and charity as well as for the cordiality or their receptions they will no doubt reap a lich re ward for their labon. A rehearsal for the tableaux to be given for the benefit of Emory M. E. Church, on March 8 and 9, took place last evening in the lecture room of the church. Abont 40 or 50 young ladies and gentlemen were present, and, judging from the Interest taken, the colonial reception promises to be a grand success. A reception will be given at the residence of Mrs. J. C. Porter, on Beech street, Alle gheny, on Thursday of next week in honor of Miss Geyer, of 'Washington, D. C. The wedding ot Miss Stella Brennen and Mr. J. G. Vilsack is announced for next Wednesday at the St. Agnes' Church on ilftli avenue. The happy couple will go South on their wedding trip. The Western TJniverMty Glee Club will give its first concert to-morrow evening at the Central Presbyterian Church. A pro gramme of 12 numbers has been arranged and as there is to be an orchestral accompa niment the affair will be an event of the first magnitude. DEATHS HERE AXD ELSEWHERE. James Beard, Traveler. James Heard died Monday of apoplexy at the home of his nephew. Captain W. H. Wilson, of Black liock. Conn. He was born on the Isle of Jfan, but when young ran away to sea. Early in Ufe he became a Mason, and had 'attained to the highest eminence in that order, having taken the degree with the Prince of Wales. Forty-six years agu he disappeared, and up to two years ago was not heard uf.N At that time he was in Fort Angeles Wash. During his absence he had vtptted nearly every leading city in the world. While he was in the Northwest on a-nrosnectlne tour for the Government several years ago lie was seized with an attack similar In all outward appearance to the apo plectic shock which killed nun. The attending Ehvslcian pronounced him dead, and he was to ave been buried on the following morning. A tire swept the town that night and barneil the under taking establishment, but the body was rescued. It became necessary to keep him several days before a casket could be seenred, and, daring that time, he aw oke from his trance. His mfnd had remained active, but his body was paralyzed, and no heart movement was perceptible, and r-e could do noth ing. B. C. Benham. B. C. Benham, one of the most respected citizens of Beaver Falls, died yesterday morning from pneumonia. Deceased had long been a resi dent of the Beaver alley, and was widely known In that section, as also In Pittsburg, where his son. Kev. DeWItt M. Benham, ls pastor of the Point Breeze Presbyterian Church. Mr. Benham was 63 years old, and was one of the pioneer explorers of California during the gold excitement of 1349. Deceased lives a lamily. consisting of his widow. Mrs, Benham, the Kev. DeWItt M. Benham. Mr. W. M. Benham and Miss Marie Benham, who have the sympathy of a wide circle of friends In their be reavement, ine mnerai win lane place to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock at Beaver Falls. Attorney J. XV. Gllson, Canton. J. W. Gilson, a leading attorney of Can ton, O.. and prominent throughout Northern Ohio as a legal advocate, died there yesterday morning of diabetes, aged 43 years. He went to tnat city three years ao from Westmoreland county. Pa., and Immediately assumed a high place at the bar. Adam Neinhanser. Adam Neinhauser, father-in-law of M. Iff. Frey. thcwell-knowu Diamond street caterer, died on Tuesday at the residence or his son-in-law after a long and severe Illness. Mr. Nelnhauser was in his 72d year, and resided for 33 years In the Flf- teentn.wara. ine mncrai win lase piace irom tne residence of Mr. 8:30 A. M. to-day. Frey, No. 60 Diamond street, at Obituary Notes. MR. Sverdruf, ex-Prime Minister of Norway, Is dead. Eeenezeu 11. Curtis. postmas ter or Maple town shjp. Pa., for 43 yer, died Monday lu his 80th year- ISev. William Morrison, S. J., of tne George town, D. C. University, died there, Tuesday, of rheumatism. . n IIesuy HARXifK, a weU-known musician of the Cumberland Valley, died in Chambersbarg Monday night, aged SO ears. right name was Dennis Keajcan. He had been on the stage nearly 20 years, and was a valuable per- lormer in Dunesque. George Drew, formerly noted as a minstrel and variety comedian, is dead in an Francisco, aged 38. He was a native of Philadelphia, and his Aeter a long illness Mrs. Babetta Loewentbal, aged 63 years, wife of S. Loewentlial,' of No. 303 Locust street, died yesterday morning at 2 o'clock. The funeral wul be held to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock. DR. K. W. Weller, of No. 135 Irwin avenue. dledTuC8day. Hels a war veteran, and member or the One Hundredth Pennsylvania Volunteers. The latter will meet this afternoon at 2 o'clock to at tend tliefaneraL Joseph F. Beret, theatrical manager, who died In San Antonio. Tex., recently, had at various times directed the tours of Katie .Putnam. Carrie Swain, J. H. WalUck, Marguerite Fish and other stars. At tbe time of his, death he was assistant manager of the Grand Opera House in ban An tonio. A HIPPOPOTAMUS WITH THE GRIP. He Is a Bis Fellow and Ills Doses of Medi cine Aro Proportional." " New York, Feb. 17. Special. Caliph, tbe big hippopotamus at Central Park, was con valescent to-day. For a week he Has been suffering fi Oman attack of (be grip. Super intendent Conklln thinks Caliph Jias been suffering from stomach ache. Caliph is 18 feet aronnd the belt, and bis stomach aches are big in proportion. His temper has been very disagreeable, and he has spent much or his time sulking in bis tank. He does not approve of medi cine, and it took seven keepers, a veterin ary surgeon and Mr. Conklln to force down his throat a few pills containing croton oil and other thing-, and in size somewhat smaller than a tootball. These big doses tv ere poked down Jiis throat with a pole while ho was lassoed to an Iron railing in his cage. Culipli was fenced off from tbe rest of the family to-day, and be spent most of bis time pudding around in his tank. Caliph's death would mean the loss of a specimen which coulu hardly bo replaced, and he is sure to receive the best care. His dose of pliena cetiu wa increased from 1.C00 to 1,200 grains to-day, but the water in his cage was heated beyond its usual temperature. Eager to Practice the Gospel. Chicago News. Andrew Carnegie is still preaching the "gospel of wealth" and a trembling multi tude is still eager for the opportunity to practlceit. ' 'CURIOUS CONDENSATION fAW r -Bazorville is the unique name of atoi In Maine The daily consumption of salt .in I Louis Is said to be nearly 1,000 pounds Twenty English and American worn are studying at the University in LeiDSic A young man of Jtockville. Conn., i had a coat made of tne cpons"hehajislj this winter. One hundred thousand young Jan locked salmon are to be placed in Mac waska Lake, Maine, this year. It is said that one woman in every in London is a gin drinker, or in every 20 pauper and one in 13 illiterate. There are 400 widows of Confedera soldiers on the Georgia State pension 11 which compels an annual tax of $400,000. Berlin has 191 common schools wi 3,223 classes and 2.S60 class rooms. The I tendance on last January was S6.303 boysai 88,875 girls. The jelly-fish hasnU any teeth, but us. " just as li no were a piece or pap when he Is hunery.gettinghidfoodandTthi wrapping himself about it. An inventor in Michigan has Revised typewriter for musical composers which, 1 filmf wiI1 ST"""'? facilitate oDeratIonsai secure very satisfactory results. Marriage licenses were issued inCh cago last week to John adjackowski, Hau Rniavie. T'1ns Yon PsoI Xagaen. wraki. jUanalyutz and Fawel Kzyezt England's last and best warship, tl Blenheim, has boilers as leaky as all or mo . ,e ottle". There is probably hardlv fit rorVsef BrltUh niVy "ith ""e" "U A curious case of perverted appetite i reported-from Germantown, Pa. A dog i SSLtoV re,fuses to cat sweetmeatsbut dl Scdine S' t0rnipS and POS -11 Tiie ocean cables of the world no stretch over 120,230 miles. There are LO Sct.lri" a',1, re5rI7 a of English man na7S5Iost,ortIlecaWesre owned an operated by privato corporations. Prussia's income from the cultivate public domain Is about 4,000,000 annual!- The total number of employes in the Go; Ww"051"1 and "lesraph offices and c the Government railways is 137,771. The largest power dam yet built in th? ""7 ""loeiiiatnow In process of c( S."Sn cJ0Sf..tle Colorada river at A feetiong, bO feet high, and is reside attl ..w, ac.v. n Wiii no n,.n Mm.l.t.j . Plays in Paris cenerallv begin al o clock and never finish until about mlc nignt. If they were over earlier thn nri ence would not think that they had receive theirmoney's worth of badair andgoS Ibe French artists are making so mac money in portrait painting that the exh for a full length picture is said to be abou the top price. u The mortality from measles in Englan is said to exceed anything that can thus fa ?nSi",fiJ?hCd- to tha linnenza. There ar 1J,000 deaths from measles annuallv in Ent land ana Wales, and the mortality has Ir creased greatly during the last decade. The cost of lighting the "World's Fai at Chicago will be about ten times the cos Sfrti?" 4J?hSnB f. the exposition held a ii m P 5???" ls ,at Present placed a $1,500,000, and it Is estimated that the lizh Sn!1.6! plant wl11 be one of leas ",ooo horse-power. Although in the ordinary course a things it Is the general rule for the heirs at parent to the thrones of Europe to marry a -soon as thev r.rrive at a fitting age, the "hie tory of England alone affords several exceo tlons to a practice which is rendered neces sary by reasons of the highest policy. Axolotl, or fish with legs, is the nami Mexicans give ton queer creature which cai swim like a fish or run up a smooth wal like a fly; can live and grow when kept con stantly in water like a trne fish, and yet cai live and grow entirely away from water (ex cepting a little to drink) like a true air breathing animal. Singular as it may appear, the Gennar capital maintains and pays an official bird catcher. The catching of birds is prohibited but the collections and educational ini'titu tions of tbe university require-, for scientific purposes birds, birds' eggs, nest, eta, anc tne taxidermist, Icram, is the only persoi commissioned to furnlsh-them. The Chinese and the Japenese eat evVr thing that comes out of the sea. All tb fishes are good to their taste, and are caught with great skilL Sea weeds or several sorti are sent far into tbe interior to be used ir thickening soup", gravies and pndding, anc are highly prized because they srive a relish ing flavor of silt, which is a luxury beyond the reach or most Chinese peasants. Among the recent innovations in Berlin is a matrimonial clubhouse. It is a large, roomy building, divided into several apart ments, in one of which portraits of each woman subscriber aro exhibited, with -full uvjni(Hiujm ui ner age, talents, rortune, color or hair, eyes, etc., size or hands and feet, and general contour. There is also a brier account of her life, whether widow or spinster. In Danzig two weeks ago the shop keeper Gode; rrom Pasewalde, was. sen tenced to eight days' imprisonment for frightening his mother-in-law, Fran Weiss, with a telegram. Gode owed Fran Weiss money, and she provoked him br writing for it. She bad once warned Gode'never to send her a telegram, as she "was so nervous that it would kill her." Immediately after receiving the dnn from her, Gode tele graphed back: "My wife is dead." Fran n eiss fainted, and was ill fora weekbefore she learned that Frau Gode was well. There is no need now for any man for getting his engagements, no matter however much occupied his time may be. A recent invention is made up or a switchboard, connected with a clock and an alarm, so arranged that, bv plugging the proper hole in the switchboard, the alarm will be rung by an electric current at any time desired. All a man has to do In order to be sure to remember his engagements is to plug up the proper holes in the morning, and when the times for keeping them coma round, the alarm will be automatically rung. nUMOKKSQUE LORE. "You know," said the young man who wanted to elope, 'that'iove langbs atlocksmlths." "Yes," she answered, 4,bnt It doesn'tgo this time. All ray Jewelry ls In the safety deposit vault, and papa has the key." Washington Star. "All the world loves a lover, the poets say. And I'm your lover, sweet May. " said he. "Not all the world loves a lover, "said Mar: There's one exception, and that ls me." ' Sew York Press. Mrs. Bawnso I regret to learn that yonr daughter's conga Is no better. Of course, you have employed tbe best medical talent. Mrs. Grubstakes Oh, yes; noeipense has beea spared. We think now of trying this new gold cure that everybody ls talking about. Puck. I remember, I remember, The hickory trees so high That I wonld cUmb with hope to bag Some shellbarks on the sly. Of coarse it was a childish whim Bat ah! 'twas Utile Joy To find how Farmer Jones' dog Conld masticate a boy. Boston Courier. Mrs. Dix Hicks will get a cold snack to night in place ofa hot dinner. Dix Anything wrong over there? Mrs. DIx-He told Mrs. Hicks this was bargain dayatthepostofflce, when they sold 13 stamps for 1J cents. Ariel Sews. . There's many a man of bluster, As bluff as you can find. Who blows In all directions. Yet cau not raise tbe wind. Smith. Uray Co.'s Monthly. He You can always tell when a woman has told all she knows about a piece of neighbor hood gossip. She-How? He She concludes with. "I should be glad to ttt you all about It, but my lips are sealed." Jr. T. Herala. The gas man when your bill you pay Assumes a light and airy way. j But as to what we burn at nlitht The stuff Is airier for than light. Washington Star. Stern Father Are you aware, sir, that my daughter has always been accustomed to every luxury that money could bny? ' J Theyoongman-Yes: bat. bless you. that won't makeiny difference with me. I'd.Justai.uo marry that kind of girl as any Other. Chicago 'ZnJtuK, ., ii ' .. .- . "i w- A. J ' s&- .x-h v --.- . w- J
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers