Newspaper Page Text
T :
The Rise of American Shipping.
Mr. John Roach, ha hie statement
before the Tariff Commission at Phila
delphia recently, ventured the opin
ion that American whipping had
its birth in protection, and that the
protective policy, so far from injuring
the shipping interest, had in reality
fostered it. There appears to be some
confusion here. Certainly those who
represented the shipping interests of
the country at the time of the'adop
tion of the policy of protection diflered
considerably from Mr. Roach in their
views of the effect of that policy on
our merchant marine. The tariff re
ported by Secretary Dallas in 1816 is
generally regarded as the beginning of
the protective system. At that time
.New England represented the bulk of
the shipping interests of the country.
It is on record that Mr. Webster and
most of the members from the New
England States took ground against
the bill. In 1824 the navigating and
Ashing States opposed Mr. Clay’s bill
from an apprehension that is would
injure commerce. One of the main
objections considered by Mr. Clay in
his celebrated speech upon his meas
ure was that the tariff would diminish
our navigation. As to this the father
of the American system said that the
shipping interest, though a great one
and deserving encouragement, was
not a paramount interest and should
accommodate itself to the state of com
merce and manufactures. Mr. Web
ster, the spokesman of New England
and of the shipping interests, in his
reply to Mr. Clay, declared that the
navigation of the United States with
out Government protection challenged
competition with the whole world.
He regarded the bill of Mr. Clay as
threatening to lay new and heavy
burdens upon navigation, and eaid
that nothing oould prevail upon him
to give his support to t. bill which was
so burdensome and so dangerous to
that interest which had steadily en
riched and gallantly defended us. Of
the members from the three states
then classed as navigating and fishing
states—Maine, New Hampshire and
Massachusetts—three are recorded as
voting for and twenty-three as voting
against a tariff for the protection o(
domestic industry.
English Trades Unions.
Mr. George Howells has published
in the Nineteenth Century an account
the Trades unions of England,
which indicates that their con
dition is much better than has
commonly been supposed. The mem
bership in all of them he puts at more
Jhan 1,100,000 men, and, by the regu
lar monthly payments of these, the
pions are in receipt of an aggregate
icomeof about $10,000,000 per annum.
ie common assumption is that these
lions have no other purpose but to
^courage strikes ; and, though it is
le that the protection of its mem*
rs in the mattei of wages is the
lief reason for the formation of a
uiNpn, it lp also worth of note that
only a small part of the money raised
is used in sustaining conflicts between
labor and capital. Thus, in the re
turns for some years of a number of
4 ih<\ larger associations, it is found
V fc iile about fifty per cent, of the
^ent to sustain members who
lply out of work through the
of trade, twenty-five per
lelp those who were sick, and
cent, each for funeral charges
i a superannuation fund, only
/ cent, was paid out on account
Aes.
/r. Howells maintains that the
{ioism made against these unions,
the ground that they Insist upon
prmity in wages, is deprived of a
i deal of its force from the lact
only really able workmen are
wed to become members. He Bays
,t, in England, the reported tyran-
of the chief secretary of a union
xfks no foundation in fact; that criti-
m of an exceeding acrid character
1 the time going on, and, in the
l\]y publications, the secretary of
'on is compelled to print any iet-
jryilutlon criticising or rebuking
hioli any of the lodges xuay
send. The office, according
owells, is one which involves
ous amount of hard work,
e average Balary of the men
om the doing of this work
not over $1,000 per annum,
e eutlct expense of the manage-
ms of these great unions, ra
tions and payings in
is not over, on the aver-
i«\v9hnd a half per cent of its
Women’s Wrongs.
There is one class of laborers,
and that the worst paid of all,
who never strike, or if they do so
onjein a decade, it is not for higher
wages, but only to resist a reduction
of wages after they have already been
forced down to starvation point, and
when there is literallv nothing to
risk.
In Chicago it is simply incredible
how the working women live on
what they earn. One woman told
me she made calico dresses for a
rich firm here at $1.50 per dozen. Not
plain wrappers, but ruffled, puffed,
trimmed with bands and folds and
tucks, with ornamental pockets, and
a row of button-holes from top to bot
tom. Two young girls made child
ren’s suits, of fine material, elabor
ately trimmed and of richest goods
for fifty cents a suit With continu
ous work for sixteen hours a day,
they earned three dollars a week
each. They clubbed together and
nired a mean little room in a
wretched attio and lived on half ra
tions, as their appearance proved.
And yet these girls were ladies in
manners and education, and with
legant clothes their presence would
be an ornament to any drawing-room
en the land.
I asked a little cash girl the other
day in a store, the owner of which
had made his millions in Chicago,
what wages she received, "$l 60, a
week,” she said, “and worked from
7 o’clock a. m. t > 9. p. m.” Then, at
that late hour, she paid her car fare
home. She was about ten years old.
There were other-}—many of them in
the same store—some younger and a
tew older. They were on their feet
every moment, and had the fagged-out
look of old women of sixty. There
was no playfulness among them ; they
literally died on their feet, and I know
that no change of circumstances or
fate will ever obliterate the traces of
their past and present hard condition.
If there is anyone who fails to see how
money, that should befriend and bene
fit the race, has become the cruel mon
ster of its wretchedness and extermi
nation, let him come to Chicago and
see how the women and children are
worked and starved [at its behest.—
Chicago cor. N. Y. paper.
Mother Love.
We were at a railroad junction one
night last week waiting a few hourj
for a train, in the waiting-room, in the
only rocking-chair, trying to talk a
brown-eyed boy to sleep, who talks a
great deal when he wants to keep
awake. Presently a freight train
arrived, and a beautiful little old
woman came in, escorted by a great
big German, and they talked in Ger
man, he giving her ev identiy lots of
information about the route she was
going, and telling her about her
tickets and her baggage check, and
occasionally patting her on the arm.
At first our United States baby, who
did not understand German, was
tickled to hear them talk, and he
“snickered’’ at the peculiar sound of
the language that was being spoken.
The great big man put his hand up to
the good old lady’s cheek, and said
something encouraging, and a great
big tear came to her eye, and she
looked as happy as a queen. The
little brown eyes of the boy opened
pretty big, and his face sobered down
from its laugh, and he said: “Papa, it
is his mother!” We knew it was,
but how should a four year-old sleepy
baby that couldn’t understand Ger
man, tell that the lady waB the big
man’s mother, and we asked him how
he knew, and he said: “O, the big
man was so kind to her.”
The big man bustled out, we gave
the rocking chair to the littffe old
mother, and presently the man oame
in with a baggage man, and to him he
spoke English. He said: “This is my
mother, and she does not speak Eng
lish. She is going to Iowa, and I have
got to go back on the next train, but
I want you to attend to her baggage,
and see her on the right car, with a
good seat near the centre, and tell the
conductor she’s my mother. And here
is a dollar for you, and I will do as
much for your mother some time.”
The baggage man grasped the dollar
with one hand and grasped the big
man’s hand with the other and looked
at the little German with an expres
sion that showed that he had a mother
too, and we almost know the old lady
was well treated. Then we put the
sleeping mind-reader on a benoh and
went out on the platform and got ac
quainted with the big German, and he
talked of hurse-trading, buying and
selling and everything that showed
he was a live business man, ready for
auy speculation, from buying a year
ling colt to a crop of bops or barley,
and that his life was a busy one and
at times full of hard work, disappoint
ment, hard roads ; but with all of his
hurry and excitement he was kind to
his mother, and we loved him just a
little, and when after a few miuutes
t dk about business, he said : “You
must excuse me ; I must go in the
d .'pot and see if my mother wants any
thing,” we felt like taking his fat red
hand and kissing it, Oh 1 the love of
the mother is the same in any lan
guage, and it is good in all langu vgep.
Stage Coaching Fun in Cali
fornia.
Stage coaching on the wild moun
tain roads of California is described by
some as great fun. Here is a sample
of its delights. One night the only
outside passenger on a Placerville stage
was riding sleepily beside the driver
when a lurch in the coach aroused him
and, to his horror, he found the driver
was missing. The big headlight and
the two side lights showed that the
road was a down grade with a rocky
wall on one side and a precipice on
the other. The team was going at a
fast trot. The passenger reached
down to see if he could find the reins,
but soon realized that his search was
hopeless for the reins had gone over
board with the driver. What was to
be done ? The inside passengers were
all asleep. In a few minutes the coach
without guidance would go over the
precipice. Before he could think twice
he heard a hoarse voice which seemed
to come from the ground call out,
“ Jam your foot on the brake and hoi
ler whoa.” The passenger obeyed,the
team slowed down, the people inside
woke up and thrust out their heads.
Then the voice was heard again say
ing : “ You fellows get out and take
them leaders by the head, and I’ll see
if I kin crawl out of this.” It was the
driver, who had clung to the reins
when he fell, and, rolling himself into
a ball, had been dragged along the
road between front and hind wheels,
holding on in spite of bruises, because
he knew tnat it was death to his pas
sengers if he left go.
Yellowstone Park.
The Yellowstone Park embraces
about 8600 square miles, or rather
more than the total areas of Ruode
Island and Delaware together. It lies
in three territories, the greater part
being in Wyoming territory and the
remainder partly in Montana and
partly in Idaho. It is all reserved
from settlement for the purpose of a
National park. Ii is one of the most
wonderful regions of the globe, full of
magnificent mountain, valley and
forest scenery. Mineral springs
abound in every part of it, sonA of
them in the form of geysers sprouting
water into the air in columns of from
85 to 250 feet or more, and emitting
gas and steam with strange noises
that echo among the wonderfully col
ored cliffs In all varieties of sound,
from that of faint music to that of a
cannon peal. It was feareil that it
this region was left open to settlement
under the same laws as the rest of )he
public domain, its choicest portions
would be selfishly appropriated by
speculators, add these impressive ex
hibitions of nature’s wonders would
be shut in as private parks, accessible
to the public only on payment of such
fees as the owners might dictate. At
the present rate of railroad construc
tion this park will soon be accessible.
Ie is now in charge of a superintend
ent, and a telegram received from
Washington since the above was
written says the Secretary of the Inte
rior is about t> sign a lease for ten
years of a portion of this park to
company which proposes to build
hotels, supply guides, transportation
and telegraph facilities, at rates to be
approved by the Secretary.
The Fire Underwriters’ Convention,
In session in New York, adjourned
after electiug the following officers:
President, D. W. C. Skilton, of Hart
ford ; Vice Presidents, H. E. Biwets
and H. H. H ill, of New York, and
W. R Lyman, of New Orleans; Cor
responding Secretary, J. Montgom
ery Hare, of Now York ; Recording
Secretary, Charles H. Ford, aff New
York ; Advisory Committee, Varnuel
Appleton, Boston; J. W. Dtftuham,
Springfield; W. T. Bartou, ■?rovl-
deuce ; W. B. Bennett, Jr., Halford ;
James M. Anderson, Baltniore;
E. W. McAllister and II.]
Sherwood, Philadelphia ; T. P.
den, D. A. Heald, P. Notman,
Miller, Thomas F. Jeremiah
George T. Hope, New York ; ThoiVas
S. Churoh, Chioago; and Hei\v
Powlee, Newark, N, J.
Scraps.
When is a vegetable not a vegetable?
When it is what you cauliflower.
An old Japanese author says : All
the soldiers of a great aimy can be
captured, but the thoughts of the most
vulgar person cannot be arrested.”
It has been ungallantly said that the
telephone does what society rulers
have always been unequal to—compel
women who use it to talk one at a
time.
One man can deceive anuder in de
matter of friendship, but it ain’t dat
way wid women. Among women
dar’s a perfeck un’erstandin’ dat da
doan put no confidence in each other.
It was not in theboundlew’jWest.but
in Connecticut, that a lawyer de
scribed the mout of a wituess as
“stretching across the wide desolation
of his face, the sepulchre of rum and
the geyser of falsehood.”
“How far is it to Manayunk?”
asked a weary Irshman, who was go
ing there afoot. “ Seven miles,” was
the reply. “Whom do you wish to see
there?” “ Faith,” It’s myself I’d loike
to see there,” was the reply.
“ Breddren,” said a plantation
preacher, “ I will now discourse to you
out ob de “yistle ob Clover / “No
Pomp,” cried one of his sable congre
gation, “you means de epistle of
limothy.” “No matter,” replied the
preacher, “any kind ob grass will do,
so dat it be good fodder.”
“ Well. Andrew,” a gentleman re
marked to a Scotchman who, with his
brother, was the only remnant of a
narrow sect. “I suppose you and
Bandy are the only bodies who will get
to Heaven now ?” “ Deed,sir,” replied
Andrew, shaking his head, “an I’m
no’ so shur j about Sandy.”
A Townsontown young man was
seen coming hurriedly out of a busi
ness house in this city which he had
entered to secure employment as a
salesman. “Did the boss engage you
as salesman ?” he was asked by an
acquaintance. “ No, he wanted me to
travel,” was the ambiguous reply.
He was a young man for kn Arch
deacon, relates a sporting contempo
rary,and his wife was old enough to be
his mother. They were the guests of
the evening at a country house. The
whole country was invited to meet
them. An extra man was taken on
for the occasion. He had to announce
the guests. The master of the house
coached the extra man up. “ When
the Archdeacon arrives you are to say,
“ The Venerable Archdeacon Blank.”
The drawing room was full. The
guests of the evening arrived. The ex
tra man looked at the Archdeacon [and
then at the lady, and he got mixed.
At labt he got it right. He saw how
he stood. Great was the consternation
when he announced “ Archdeacon
Blank and the Venerable Mrs. Blank.”
“ No, sir,” said the shopkeeper. “I
don’t think you will do. We want a
man who understands the rules of
orthography, and you have spelt “ sit
uation” in seven different ways, at
least in your application.” “ Well,
whai,o’ that! Ain’t that a mark of
genius? Doesn’t it show versatility?
*1 want you to understand that I ain’t
one o’ them fellers that has to spell a
word the same way every time. No,
sir! If that’s the kind of a man yer
want, you’ll have to take somebody
else. I ain’t the feller to pin himself
down in tnat way. Good mornin’;
e'l
is truly king, in some respects. It
o^sts more money and works a more
wide-spread and impressive ruin than
any of the others, Jt is imbibed in
every form, from the fierce, fiery
spirit itself, down t> the mildest beer.
The following table, shows the per
centage of alcohol in the drinks most
commonly in use:
Rum ...60 to 75
Whisuy 54 “ 60
Brandy 50 “ 60
Brandy (Fienoh) 50 “ 65
GiD 48 “ 68
Port Wine 14 “ 24
Bherry 14 “ 27
Claret 9 “ 14
Hungarian Wines 9“ 15
Rhine Wines 7 “ 15
Champagne 7 “ 18
Burgundy 8 “ 12
Cider 5 “ 9
Of the alcohol family, beer is the
beverage more In request, and its pop
ularity seems every year increasing.
Last year Germany oonsumed eight
hundred^^aod^fl^iion^Mmillionsofj^ah
Ions. The consumption in the United
Slates was nearly three hundred mil
lions of gallons.
In 1871 our people paid eight hun
dred or nine hundred millions of dol
lars for liquor. In 1874 the drinkers
of Great Britain paid six hundred and
fifty millions. These tremendous
sums exhibit only a fraction of the
tax which King Alcohol levies on
Christendom.
TOBACCO.
Tobacco is perhaps the most univer
sally diffused of the stimulants. In
digenous to America, it is as widely
known as the grape, and is chewed or
smoked in every clime, by every na
tion and tribe from Iceland to Hin-
doostan—the civilized and savage, the
Christian, Heathen and Mahomme-
dan being all alike its votaries. The
essential principle of tobacco is a vola
tile oil called nicotine, which is a
most active and deadly poison. The
Cuban leaf contains about two per
cent, of this oil, the Virginia weed
about seven per cent. This plant
which yields this soothing narcotic, is
too well kuown to need description.
Whatever the effects on the adult—
and this is a swjtct of much heated
controversy—there is one point upon
which all are agreed : the use of to-
bacoo by boys is certain to be followed
by “stunted growth and premature
decrepitude”.
TEA.
Tea is the dried leaves of a shrub of
the same name, a native of China and
Japan. It grows to the height of five
or six feet, and dies usually at the
age of about thirty years. The best
leaves are gathered from the shoots or
sprouts, which are caused to spring up
by cutting down the main stock,
when the same is seven yeari old.
Tea was introduced into Europe by
the Portuguese in the early part of the
17th century. During the first half of
thf 17th century it was known
in England as an aristocratic, rare,
and very expensive refreshment.
After 1767 its use began to become
general.
Tea is the favorite beverage of those
who live in the higher, colder lati
tudes, just as coffee is the prized
drink of the dweller in the equatorial
and tropical regions. Tea, like to
bacco, is pronounced decidedly injuri
ous to children. It is the stimulant
most valued by aged people.
CuFFEE.
Coffee is the bean or seed of an ever-
rreen tree or bush, which bears beau-
iful white flower } of delicious odor.
In its native state it will attain a
height of twenty or even thirty feet;
but when cultivated it is pruned down
to from six to eight feet. It grows
wild in Southern Abyssinia and
Western Africa, whence it has been
introduced into and culivated in most
tropical countries—aspecially in Brazil,
Java and Ceylon, more than half j
entire product of the world
ing raised in Brazil. The first coff
house in England was established in
1651,and at the end of the cei^iry onT
one hundred tons per annum were im
ported. The United States, Great
Britain, France and Germany are the
great coffee consuming nations.
Tea and coffee differ from opium,
cohol and tobacco, in this: they ar
stimulants without being narcotics.
Bo from inducing sleep, they—especial
ly coffjeare anti soporo/lcs. The in
creased activity and pleasant exhilara
tion they Impart, are not followed by
any reaction or depression. Both aid
digestion — parlioularly ooffhe. The
tter also ip believed to contain nu
tritious properties—in a large measure
bsolutely supplying the place of food,
ioth confer a more “sustained power
f endurance” than other stimulants.
[Both taken to excess, are inj irious to
ertain temperaments, oftimes produc
ing a most obstinate sleeplessness.
The following figures will give some
idea of the tremendous appetite for
stimulants among the sons and daugh
ters of men :
The amount of opium consumed
yearly is twenty-five millions of pounds
in a population of seven hunderd mil
lions; eight hum'red and sixty-five
million pounds of tobacco per annum
are distributed among eight hundred
millions of people; three thousand
million pounds of tea to six hundred
million individuals, while two hund
red and twenty million pounds of
coffee and cocoa are required for two
hundred millions of population. As
for the consumption of alcohol it al
most defies calculation. There is pro
duced every year, “enough,if collected
into one sea, to float the unittd navies
of the world.” These statistics were
for 1870. Biuce then the increase of
all these stimulants has mor? tk
doubled in every portion of the olvili
ed world.—Planters Journal. Viols*
burg, Miss.