Newspaper Page Text
Old Series--Vol. 25. No. 122.
THE CONSTITUTIONALIST.
Jas. G. Bailie, Francis Cogin, Geo. T. Jackson,
PROPRIETORS.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
Daily, one year * lO 00
<> months 6 00
" s months 260
Tr 1-Weekly, one year 6 oo
" s months 260
Weekly. one year 2 oo
" 6 months l on
Single copies, 5 cents, lo news dealers, 2%
cents. , „
On and after this date (April 21, 1875 J all
editions of the Constitutionalist will be sent
free of postage. Subscriptions must in all
cases be paid in advance. The paper will be
discontinued at the expiration of the time paid
for.
Advertisements must be paid for when hand
ed in, unless otherwise stipulated.
G>rrespondence invited from all sources,
and valuable special news paid for if used.
Rejected communications will not be return
ed, and no notice taken of anonymous commu
nications, or articles written on both sides. __
Money may be remitted at our risk by Ex
press or postal order.
Ali letters should be addressed to
H. C. STEVENSON, Manager,
Augusta, Ga.
Oor letter from Sullivan’s Island
gives many interesting Revolutionary
reminiscences, its present appearance,
and how the people are summering
upon that historic ground.
We think the news from Fort Bar
rancas and that viciuity is a little bet
ter this morning. At least it is no
worse. Five deaths occurred yester
day, whilst the only new case reported
was that of the Chief Surgeon, Dr.
Sternberg.
The Chevalier Forney has gone to
Russia to engineer the Czar into the
Centennial. As our going depends
upon the Czar being there, we hope he
will be successful, though we don’t
much like being thus constructively
mixed up with Forney.
In our South Carolina correspondence
will be found marvelous stories o * the
late liail-storm, the condition of the
crops, and interesting news of Carolina
matters generally. They are suffering
for rain in many sections. But we do
believe our friends over the river are
better off than we are.
The troubles in the British cotton
mills continue to spread. The sus
pension of more than fifty are re
ported. It is a collision of capital and
labor, traceable to the hard times which
prevail in England. We regret to hear
of the derangement of these mills. It
looks serious, and we are afraid fore
bodes no good for the future of the
growing cotton crop.
The latest vagary of H. Whisnaut
Grady, is to elect Charles J. Jenkins
Chancellor of the University, and then
raze the office to a sort of figure head.
Let him remain in his comfortable quar
ters on the Sand Hills and go up to the
University semi-occasionally, like an
Army Inspector General. Asa Univer
sity runner Colonel Whisnaut is not a
success. He had better start something
else.
We are glad to see that the press of
the State almost universally endorse
our nomination of Jefferson Davis for
Chancellor of the University of Georgia.
Mr. Christy thinks that Mr. Davis
would decline it because the salary is
not sufficient. No doubt any other
great man competent to fill the office
would refuse it on that ground. But
what the Trustees ought to do is to
raise the salary large enough to secure
a mau who would not only earn it, but
more besides.
The suspension of Duncan, Sherman
& Cos. produced a great deal of com
ment all over the United States yester
day. In our owu city much anxiety was
felt to know what would be the effect
on the country—would it stand another
panic like that of Jay Cooke & Cos.? We
think not. It was a totally different
concern. Its chief business was gamb
ling in cotton, and such houses have
little connection, as a rule, with strictly
mercantile lirms. Besides, there is not
enough life and energy in this country
at this time to get up a genera! panic.
The House of Commons had up the
Shipping Bill again yesterday, and
passed Sir Charles Adderley’s mea
sure to its second reading. Although
Plimsoll made an ass of himself, he at
least succeeded in arousing public in
terest to the extent of demanding a law
protecting passengers from going to
sea upon rotten hulks, commanded by
incompetent officers. As Great Britain
now does our business almost exclu
sively on the ocean we have a direct
interest in this matter. Indeed, we are
as much concerned as Liverpool and
Dublin.
Under the heading “ The Georgia
Drouth,” we publish all the news re
ceived from the crop situation up to
last night. The extracts were taken
from papers published on Tuesday and
yesterday, and hence are late. The
crops are indeed in a deplorable con
dition. The late scorching hot sun has
played havoc with what was, up to
ten days ago, the finest prospects
we have had in ten years. There were
heavy, densely black clouds around the
horizon yesterday afternoon and Light,
and we hope to have more favorable
reports to-day. A gentleman from
Madison reports a fine rain there Mon
day. ____________
Bequest to the Widow of Stonewall
Jackson. —The Washington Sunday Ga
zette learns that a donation was made
at his decease, by will, by a certain rich
citizen of Memphis, of SIO,OOO to the
widow of Stonewall Jackson, of which
she is much in need. The donation
was made some three years ago, end
the estate is amply able to pay it in
.cash, and have a surplus left after pay
ing all indebtedness. The Gazette in
quires why the bequest is not paid
over. _
Twenty-Three Grains of Arsenic.
Louisville, July 28.— Twenty-three
grains of arsenic were found in Jack
son’s stomach.
(the fails (Constitutionalist.
DUNCAN, SHERMAN k CO.
Further Details of Their Failure —
Letters of Credit Issued to Travelers
All Right—Drexel on the Failure-
Transfer of $385,000 Just in Time —
No Effect in Europe.
New York, July 28.—William Butler
Duncan says in regard to persons now
abroad who have Duncan, Sherman &
Co.’s letters of credit, he will assure all
friends of such parties that every ar
rangement has already been made to
prevent them from experiencing trouble.
They are all right. Neither they nor
their friends have any occasion to bor
row trouble. They are in such a situa
tion that they can move hither and
thither, precisely the same as if nothing
had happened.
Drexel, Morgan & Cos. said to a Herald
reporter: “It has been known that
Duncan, Sherman & Cos. have been
largely engaged in cotton transactions,
their agent in London being Mr. Kitch
en, of Collie & Cos., who placed all cot
ton shipped by the firm, making his
sales of cotton to arrive to spinners in
England and on the continent. Within
the last four weeks cotton has fallen
off about three cents per pound. Now,
supposing that they had 25,000 bales
in transit, not a large amount for them,
but a heavy amount for other firms,
their loss would be about $375,000, cer
tainly not enough to send them under.
But we hear that they are also largely
interested in Mobile and Ohio, Atlantic
and Great Western, and slightly in
Erie.”
It is stated that among the heaviest
losers is the Mexican Consul at this
port, whose individual and consulate
funds were on deposit with the sus
pended firm.
London, July 28.—The suspension of
of Duncan, Sherman & Cos., has no ap
preciable effect on the general market
here. Thirty-one mills closed at Dun
dee, and 12,000 persons are out of em
ployment.
New York, July 28. —On Monday
last Mrs. Sarah M. G. Sherman, widow
of Wm. Butler Duncan, of the firm of
Dunean, Sherman & Cos., made a trans
fer of real estate in this city to A.
Duncan, amounting to $385,000.
The President of the Bank of the
State of New York, where the
suspended firm kept their accounts,
says that the suspension of the firm
had caused him much surprise, as no
intimation, in any shape, had been
given to the officers of the bank when
they opened that the suspension was
contemplated. He thought he could
say that his bank held some three hun
dred thousand or four hundred thou
sand dollars of securities of Duncan,
Sherman & Cos., all of which was avail
able stock.
London, July 28. — A dispatch from
Paris says the failure of Duncan, Sher
man & Cos. has spread consternation
among the Americans in that city. •
The Rothschilds gave notice early to
day that they would not honor the
credits of the firm. They even at
tempted to recover moneys which were
paid to-day at their house here before
it was aware of the failure. Their
agent took a gentleman, who refused
to refund before Minister Wasbburne,
who supported the latter in his refusal.
The feeling among Americans is very
bitter.
THE SHIPPING BILL.
Sir Charles Adderley’s Bill Passed Its
First Reading.
London, July 28.—1n the Commons
this afternoon, Sir Charles Adderley,
President of the Board of Trade, intro
duced a bill further to empower the
Board of Trade to prevent unseawor
thy vessels from sailing. In presenting
the measure he stated that Plimsoll’s
bill was not acceptable to the Govern
ment, because based on wrong princi
ples. Here he was interrupted by cries
of “ No.” Continuing his remarks, he
said the bill was also objectionable be
cause, besides punishing offenders, it
actually takes upon itself the conduct
of the marine service.
The act of 1872 already empowers the
Government to stop unseaworthy ships.
Since then 958 vessels had been stopped,
of which 515 were found to be unsea
worthy. The present bill was intended
to strengthen and facilitate the more
rapid and direct action, and provide
a sufficient number of officers to effect
ually detain unseaworthy ships. It
also allows a fourth part of the crew to
demand a survey. Finally it was merely
an earnest of fuller legislation next
session. Mr. Sullivan thought the lead
liue provision for storing grain should
be engrafted in the bill. Mr. Roebuck
denied that the bili would satisfy the
country. He advocated continuing the
consideration of Pliinsoll’s bill. Va
rious other members followed, more or
less censuring the bill, while wishing to
extricate the Government from its diffi
culty. Finally the bill passed its first
reading. The second reading is fixed
for Friday morning.
MINNESO i A REFTJBLICAN CON
VENTION.
Nomination of John G. Pillsbury for
Governor—A Hard Money Platform.
St. Paul, July 28. — The Republican
State Convention met to-day. Large
attendance. John G. Tillsbury was
nominated for Governor. The ticket
nominated is regarded as a victory of
the regulars, or Ramsey men, over the
Davis faction. Every candidate nomi
nated was a strong friend of Ramsey
during the Senatorial contest last Win
ter. No nomination for Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court was made.
The convention, instead of so doing,
adopted resolutions expressing the be
lief that the choice of judges should
not be a party matter, and recommend
ing a return of the present incumbent,
Judge James Gillfau.
The general resolutions reaffirm the
principles of the Republican party;
favor that financial policy which keeps
in view the return to specie payments;
hold to a tariff strictly for revenue,
and would regard a third term a dan
gerous innovation.
Floods and Storms in Ohio and Indi
ana.
Cincinnati, July 28.—A dispatch from
Cambridge City, Ind., says rains the
past few days have been falling almost
constantly and have greatly damaged
crops in that vicinity. Farmers are
discouraged. A tornado through
Switzerland county, Ind,, prostrated
the growing crops. The wheat crop is
believed to be lost in Urbana county,
Ohio, also in Fayette county. Heavy
rains last week caused it either to rot
or sprout.
Minor Telegrams.
Vienna, July 28.—The Insurgent
bands at Neunesime and Belik have
been dispersed by the Turks.
London, July 28. — Freeman won the
Goodwood stakes.
.A.UGrTJST-A_, GbX.. THURSDAY MORNING, JURY 29. 1875.
FOREIGN DISPATCHES.
Suspension of More British Cotton
Mills—Rapidly Spreading.
London, July 28.—Fifty mills closed
in Ashton and 8,000 operatives ousted.
Both employers and operatives have
held meetings and resolved not to
yield. If the Holdham strikes should
extend to all the mills in that district,
30,000 persons will be out of employ
ment. The trial of Alexander and Wil
liam Collie, of the late firm of Alexan
der Collie & Cos., on the charge of ob
taining money under false pretenses,
began at Guildhall this morning, but
upon the conclusion of to-day’s pro
ceedings it was adjourned for a week.
From Spain.
Madrid, July 28. —It has been de
cided that the colonies shall be govern
ed by special laws, and have represen
tation in the Cortes. Colonial elections
will be regulated by a special system,
which will be enacted at the proper
time.
The bombardment of Scudeurgel
continues. It is reported that the Car
lists there have mutinied aud spiked
their guns.
Burning of a Glasgow Cotton Mill.
Glasgow, July 28.—Grant’s Cotton
Mills of this city have been burned.
Several girls and two firemen were
severely burned. Three hundred em
ployes effected their escape with much
difficulty. Loss half million.
The Chevalier Forney Going to See
Czar.
Berlin, July 28. —Col. Forney goes to
St. Petersburg by way of Austria and
Hungary. The object of his journey is
to induce Russia to participate iu the
Philadelphia exhibition.
The American Team at Woolwich.
London, July 28.—The American
team, with Major General McCurdo,
visited Woolwich arsenal to-day. They
were received by Colonel F. A. Camp
bell, the retiring Superintendent, Col.
Younghusbaud. his successor, Deputy
Assistant Superintendent R. S. Fraser,
inventor of heavy guns, and Colonels
Lyons, Field and Gordon, who accom
panied them through the works. The
visitors had an opportunity of witness
ing the manufacture of eighty-ton
guns. Every facility and courtesy was
shown them by the officers of the in
stitution.
The Goodwood Cup.
London, July 28.—The Goodwood
Gup was won by Freeman, Bertram 2d,
Escort 3d. The finish was very excit
ing. Escort was the favorite.
Moody and Sankey.
Messrs. Moody and Sankey are mak
ing a tour in the north of Wales. On
Monday next they will assist at the
laying of the corner-stone of a Presby
terian church at Roseth, near Wrex
ham.
The French Assembly.
Versailles, July 28.— The proposed
list of members of the permanent com
mittee consists of 13 deputies of the
Right and 11 of the Left.
M. Raoul Duval intends iu the As
sembly to ask the Government why the
indemnity due French citizens for
losses sustained by them iu the United
State, during the late war, has not been
paid, while the claims of other foreign
ers have been settled.
EADS’ JETTIES.
Proclamation by President Grant.
Washington, July 28.—The following
Executive order was issued yesterday:
Execuiive Mansion, July 27th, 1875.
Orders.—lu conformity to provisions
contained in the River and Harbor act,
approved March 3d, 1875, granting to
James B. Eads and his associates, au
thority to use for the construction of
jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi
river, any materials on the public
lands of the United States that shall
be suitable for, and may be
needed in, said works, under
such regulations as the Secretary
of war shall prescribe, it is hereby or
dered and directed :
1. That the general supervision of
all matters properly appertaining to
the grant therein made is placed iu the
office of Engineers. Maj. C. B. Com
stock is detailed by the Secretary of
War under the provisions of the said
act to report to him the depth of water
and width of channel secured and
maintained from time to time in said
channel, together with such other in
formation as the Secretary of War may
direct.
2. The protection of the in
terests of the United States, so far as
the taking of material is concerned, the
said Eads and his associates shall,
prior to taking material from any
public lauds, obtain authority to do so
from the Secretary of War, their ap
plication specifying the kinds and
amounts of material they wish to take
from each sub-division of the public
lands, and they shall at once cease
from such taking on being notified that
the authority is withdrawn.
3. Protection of the interests of the
United States, so far as structures are
concerned, said Eads and his associ
ates and contractors are authorized to
erect at their own expense such shops,
dwellings, storehouses and wharves on
the military reservation at the mouth
of the Mississippi as may be necessary
for the prosecution of work, ands jall
furnish a list and plan showing the lo
cation of the same to the Secretary of
War ; but these shall be erected in such
a way and at such places as not un
necessarily to interfere with the navi
gation or any other interest in which
the United States is concerned, where
of the Secretary of War shall be the
judge. At his direction any such struc
ture shall be at once removed.
4. Protection of James B. Eads’ in
terest. No person save said Eads and
his contractors shall erect any build
ing, tent or other habitation on the
military reservation at the mouth of
the Mississippi river. Any person so
doing may be sumarily ejected by the
United States Marshal or his Deputy;
but, as authority has already been
given to James B. Eads by the Secre
tary of War to collect the material
aforesaid until he should be fur
nished with the regulations, as now
herein given, the said Eads is author
ized to continue collecting materials
under that authority until the Ist day
of September, 1875, after which time
these regulations will go into effect.
(Signed) U. S. Grant.
THE YELLOW FEVER AT BARRAN
CAS,
The News a Little Better—No New
Cases at Fort Pickens—Dr. Stern
berg Down,
Washington, July 28.—Commodore
Cooper reports no cases of yellow fever
at the navy yard or villages in the vici
nity. Five deaths at Barrancas. Dr.
Sternberg is down. No new cases from
Fort Piekens the past 36 hours.
FROM WASHINGTON.
Capital News and Notes.
Washington, July 28.—The Syndi
cate has the option till November 15th
to take the remaining forty-eight and
one-half million five per cent, loan un
der the Funding act.
Bristow has called in $14,890,200 of
5-20 bonds. Interest ceases on the 28th
October. This call includes all out
standing bonds issued under the act of
February 25th, 1862.
Ex-Chief Clerk Avery was arrested
on a warrant from St. Louis, and re
leased on $5,000 bail, i J
The amount of the indemnity from
Spain growing out of the capture of the
Yirginius, has been received by this
Government, and is ready for distribu
tion. Claimants to any share therein
should address the Department of
State.
Baron Scholesser, the German Am
bassador to the United States, will soon
return to Washington.
MORE HEAVY FAILURES.
A New York and a Philadelphia Su
gar House Goes Down.
New York, July 28. — The Commer
cial Warehouse Company has failed.
Cause, heavy advances on Cuban crops,
which early x’ains destroyed. The
house also advanced largely on rail
road securities, which depreciated. Li
abilities, one million and a half. It is
stated that the assets of the Commer- |
cial Warehouse Company will foot up
four million.
Philadelphia, July 28.—John Mason
& Cos., a sugar house, suspended. Lia
bilities, $200,000.
“ Ten Years in the Priesthood.”
Philadelphia, July 28. —Ex-Priest
Gerdeinann lectured to night to an au
dience numbering two thousand per
sons. Subject: “ Ten Years in the
Priesthood.” It was thought by many
that there would be trouble by the
Catholics of the city, and the authori- !
ties took all precaution to preserve or
der. The lecture was a protest against
the manner in which the lecturer said
Priests and Bishops control the poor
people of their flock. He explained his
course in leaving the priesthood and
said that he thought of the matter for
three years before he took the step
The Irish Protestants were present in
force, and everything paused off quietly.
i ■ i
Tlie Indian Commission.
Long Branch, July 28. —The Board of
Indian Commissioners met here to-day.
The session was chiefly devoted to a
review of the work of the standing
committee for the last quarter, and a
specially rigid scrutiny of the work
done by the purchasing commissions.
Also the adoption of new methods for
prevention of frauds in the future de
livery of beef, flour and other supplies.
Fall River Manufacturers.
Fall River, Mass., July 28. —The
manufacturers declined meeting the
delegates of the operatives, the dele
gates being composed of outside par
ties, each treasurer or agent being
■willing to consult with liis owu opera
tives. I
Assassination of the Cherokee Chief
Ross.
St. Louis, July 28. —A special from
Springfield, Mo., says it is reported
there that Wm. P. Ross, principal Chief
of Cherokee Indians, and a candidate
for re-election to that position, was as
sassinated yesterday fcly a party of
Downing men.
$2.94 ON THE SIOO.
Why Real Estate is Dull iu New York.
[N. Y. Herald. July 21]
The taxpayers of New York will
have to pay the tux collector this year
two dollars and ninety four cents on
every one hundred dollars’ worth of
property they possess. That is to say,
a man who owns a house assessed at
thirty thousand dollars will be com
pelled to pay to the city eight hundred
and eighty-two dollars, If his house
is mortgaged for fifteen thousand dol
lars his account will stand about as
follows :
Interest on $15,000 mortgage... $1,050
City tax 882
Insurance 152
Rates 20
Repairs and decay, one per cent.. 300
Total $2,403
A house of this assessable value
would rent at two thousand two hun
dred dollars a year, or, at an outside
figure, say two thousand four hundred
dollars. The owner has sunk the
money he has paid down between the
purchase price and the mortgage, and
hence loses the interest on that sum.
If the house cost thirty-eight thousand
dollars he has paid twenty-thi’ee thou
sand dollars in cash. The interest on
this amount, if he had invested it at
seven per cent., would have been $1,610.
To have rented the house at the out
side figure would have cost him in ad
dition to his interest, seven hundred
and ninety dollars a year. For the
privilege of owning the house, under
our present ruinous rate of taxation,
he loses about sixteen hundred dollars
a year.
How a Young Man’s Money Goes.
[Fort Wayne Gazette.]
A young man in this city, whom we
have known since his early childhood,
told us yesterday that he had taken
pains to keep quite a correct account
of his unnecessary expenses from the
4th day of July, 1874, to the 4th day of
July, 1875. The first item that ap
peared on the list was cigars. During
the year he said that he had smoked
not less than eight cigars each day,
which amounted to 2,920, and that the
cost of the same was eight cents each
on an average, which amounted to
$233.60, and that the length of the
same, if laid out in a straight line,
would reach about 7,200 feet, and that
the smoke in exhausting the weed
would fill several storehouses ; further,
that, the liquor drank would amount to
about ninety-one gallons in one year—
enough to drown a street commissioner
or a member of the common council.
The amount of tobacco he used would
fill a common beef barrel, and sicken
an entire township. The amount of the
unnecessary expenditure would have
fed twenty-five families for the entire
year. __ *
A Handsome Birthday Gift.— United
States Senator Robertson, of South
Carolina, is at the Warm Springs with
his family, ineffiding a son who has
been at Georgetown College. Monday
was the young man’s twenty-first birth
day, and on raising his plate at break
fast he found a check from his father
for slo,ooo.— Staunton ( Va.) Vindicator.
A pointed joke—Butting a bent pin
in the schoolmaster’s chair.
I PUTS, CALLS AND STRADDLES
| SNARES OF WALL STREET SHAR
PERS.
A Description of the Game of Specu
lation, and Some Account of the Men
Who Are In It—A Warning to Ambi
tious Speculators.
Imperial Correspondence of the Philadel
phia Times.]
New York. July 24.
“Howto Speculate Without Risk!”
‘Puts,” “Calls,” “Straddles,” and
“Double Privileges!” Such are the
head-lines in whole columns of adver
tisements in our city journals. Now, I
want to expose one of the most bare
faced swindles connected with Wall
street, and it will be no fault of the
Times if any of its readers are captured
by the “put and call” brokers in Goth
am. The newspapers have generally
lit these gentry alone, because their
fp'vertising patronage has been liberal.
The press, iu fact, have been their con
federates, inasmuch as without the use
of their columns the disgraceful btisi
4*ss must long ere this have eoine to
.shell a disastrous end.
But such publicity was given last
week to the damage the brokers were
doing to a worthy class as workingwo
men, that to longer tolerate these' gen
try, aud permit them to flout their gild
ed signs iu tho faces of the whole com
munity as “bankers,” would be to
acquiesce in a public shame.
What is a “put?” For the benefit of
the uninitiated I will explain. It is a
privilege to deliver a certain stock at a
given future time at a certain price,
generally 3 or 4 per cent, beyond its
market value at the time of the nego
tiation. For this privilege sums are
charged varying from SIOO to S3OO ac
cording to the time and nature of the
contract. Now, this is a very tempting
form of gambling, say, for example,
that Rock Island is selling at 105, and
a person believing it much too dear,
can buy the privilege for 60 days of
putting it at 100—100 shares of stock,
representing in money slo,soo—and all
this for SIOO and the' broker’s commis
sion. If, then, Mr. Tracy, the president,
dies, or Mr. Vanderbilt is thrown out
of his wagon in Harlem lane, or any
other important event happens, down
goes the stock to 90 or 96. In
that case the buyer of the “put” takes
iu his stock at the lower figures,
and pockets the difference between that
and the higher price. All this looks
very well on paper, but there are sev
eral reasons why the poor dupes are
reminded of the thimble-rig game of
“Now you see it—now you don’t!” In
the first place the brokers are nearly
all of the “confidence” class, and gen
erally buy and sell puts and calls on
straw men, whom they represent as
reputable, but who, upon a decline or
rise in the market of three per cent.,
would incontinently fail; and, in that
case, all that is left is a printed con
tract in which the owner is plainly
written down an ass. In the next
place a stagnant and unfluctuating
stock market, where prices do not
change two per cent, in a month, is
often to be contended with, and in that
(svent the money is surely sunk. The
dupe, however, is induced to invest
once more, on some confidential “point”
in regard to some stock by which he
can surely get his money back.
The “call” is exactly opposite to the
“put.” The broker agrees to give the
buyer the privilege of calling a stock,
say Pacific Mail, at such a figure iu
thirty or sixty days. Pacific is selling
at 40, for example. A call will be sold
at 45 for sixty days for one per cent.,
or, with commissions, $106.25. If the
stock goes to 50, and the odds are fifty
to one it won’t, the purchaser of the
call makes five hundred dollars, les9
his outlay, aud double commissions for
buying and selling—in other words,
about $375. If the stock vibrates be
tween forty and forty-one dollars per
share, or goes down, the poor moth who
has been fluttering’'about the candle of
speculation for thirty or sixty days
finds his financial wings singed to the
extent of his investment in the call.
All of the risks besides are incurred,
as in the case of the put, bad faith,
straw men, etc., etc.
Now for the “ straddle ” or “ double
privilege.” It takes a small-sized
capitalist for these ventures. The
other inducements were for shop boys,
clerks and sewing women; these
“ straddles ” are for petty storekeep
ers who have an ambitious itching to
become speculators, and to be known
on ’Change. These straddles cost
from three to five hundred dollars, ac
cording to the stock desired. They are
called “ double privileges ” because
they embrace both a put and call.—
Take again the familiar instance of
Pacific Mail. It is selling at 40. A
straddle can be bought at the market
price, say, for four per cent., or four
hundred dollars. This is for the privi
lege of putting it at 40, or for calling it
at the same price within sixty days.—
Now the stock has to go to 36 on the
down course before you ever get your
money back, or to 44 on the upward
tack, and then any error iu judgment
in buying in your stock at the decline,
or selling it out at the advance, is fatal
to the speculation. Figures, however,
are paraded before the public iu the
newspapers to show how much Smith
and Jones made in one month by buy
ing privileges, and exceptional ad
vances and declines are cited to make
their arguments plausible. The Times’
readers, it is to be hoped, will not be
misled by any such sophistry.
The principal dealers in these privi
leges formerly were such capitalists as
Russel Sage, Daniel Drew, Stephen Al
den, Dick Schell and Jay Gould. Near
ly all have failed or gone out of the
business, but Russel Sage and the no
torious Gould. In the panic of ’73 Al
den failed, and Dick Sohell went back
on all of his contracts. When tho lat
ter was approached by a poor dupe,
who asked him to redeem one of iris
New York Central “calls,” Schell said :
“I have no money ; why I even find to
borrow my wife’s carriage to ride down
town this morning!” Sublime audaci
ty! His indebtedness for $2,500 was
sold one month ago by the same poor
victim for $25. Daniel Drew has re
tired from active speculation, and it is
rumored he is comparatively poor.
Stephen Alden is bankrupt, and none
of the big fish swim, except Sage and
Gould. The former, while President of
the Pacific Mail Steamship Company,
was censured by Rufus Ratch, the cele
brated managing director, for leaving
his duties in the board to go outside to
sign “puts and calls.”
Jay Gould still sells his privileges,
but is considered to be in the whole
sale business. Retail firms go to liis
house, at the corner of Fifth avenue
and Forty-seventh street, in the morn
ing and bargain with him for privileges
on one, two or three thousand shares.
He makes a discount to these petty
brokers, and they in turn split up the
puts and calls into one hundred share
lots and peddle them out to their cus-
tomers at a profit. It is a notorious
fact that when Gould or Sage have sold
a large number of puts or calls on a
certain stock, they manipulate the mar
ket so that there will be no fluctuations
of any account until the time of the
privileges expire. Their great wealth
permits them to do this.
Now for the small fry. There are
probably a hundred of these in Wall,
Broad, New street and Exchange place.
Their circulars flood the country; they
even publish small newspapers, which
are scattered broadcast over the land,
doing Heaven knows how much mis
chief. A young Cuban, only 16 years
of age, was arrested the other day, at
No. 0 Wall street, for defrauding a poor
woman in a stock privilege. He made
a defense that he was a minor, and was
discharged by the Judge. The Presi
dent of the Stock Exchange, Major
George W. McLean, received a letter
from a poor shop girl residing in Phila
delphia, begging him to try and recov
er for her $106.25, all her savings,
which had been invested iu a “call” in
one of these offices. She had called
for months iu vain for her hard earned
money. The governing committee of
the Stock Exchange have tried to put
a stop to the practice of selling puts
and calls by their members, but
iu vain. They, however, in
their own body, have thrown some
safeguards around the practice. Froth
ingham, Tumbridge & Cos., and many
minor firms are now the leaders in
furnishing cheap puts and calls to the
masses. Why, they will even sell a
chance on twenty-five or fifty shares of
stock if you only waut to tickle the
bubble of speculation and not pick it
wholly. Bulwer wrote that “a broker
is a man who makes an income out of
other people’s funds, a gleaner of stray
extravagance; aud by doing the public
the honor of living upon them may
fairly be termed a little sort of State
minister in his way.” Now I would
suggest that some of these parties
should do the State some service upon
tho pleasant islands adjoining Manhat
tan, and thus be prevented from fol
lowing out their business, which is
nothing more or less than deluding the
unwary and trading upon the credulity
of a mass of gullible fools who never
die, and one of whom is bom every
minute.
Tlie Soda Fountain Boy.
[Detroit Free Press.]
He was rinsing the glasses when the
old lady entered the store. It was hot
weather, and the soda fountain looked
so tempting that she conquered her
avarice and walked over and told the
boy that she would take a glass.
“Do you wish for a fly iu it?” he in
quired in a wisper.
“A fly! grashus ! no !” she replied, a
look of disgust on her face.
“Just as you say, madam,” he went
on as he drew some lemon syrup. “Peo
ple are so different in tastes, you know.
Borne object to flies and some don’t.
I’ll mix some pineapple syrup with this
lemon, aud now will you have a great
deal of gas and a little water, or a great
deal of water and little gas ?”
“I’m pretty thirsty,” she said.
“Well, then you want more water
than gas, and there won’t be so much
danger of an explosion.”
“Explosion ?” she queried.
“That was the word, madam. We
have had but few such accidents here
this Summer, aud I truly hope that we
may have no more.”
“Does soda water blow up folks?”
“That depends on the state of their
health. Some people could stand here
and drink all day, while others might
get the glass tipped up this way, and
boom ! they’d go !”
“Bust?”
“Ycs’m—fly into a thousand pieces.
You never saw a human being explode,
did you?”
“Mercy, no!”
“Well, you don’t have the least warn
ing. They may be laughing or talking,
and all at once the store is filled with
false hair, monogram garters, bustles,
corsets, feet, teeth aud rolled plate
jewelry. It makes a great muss around
here, and if we hadn’t three of the
smartest negroes in town to pick up
and sweep out we’d have to shut up
the store for a whole afternoon after
an explosion.”
He stood with the glass in his hand
agitating the syrup and waiting, and
she said :
“I didn’t suppose it was dangerous
stuff.”
“Well, as I told you, it depends on
the state of the system. If your liver
is torpid and your digestion impaired,
one glass of soda water would blow
you higher than Gilderoy’s kite, aud
the coroner would be lucky to find as
much as your spectacles to hold an in
quest on. If your system is all right
you might drink a hundred glasses aud
feel no disastrous effects. Now, then,
you’ll have a good deal of water and
but little gas, eh?”
She made a deprecatory motion, and
asked:
“How’s the stuff made?”
“Well, I can’t go on and explain all
the process. There's marble dust, acid,
gas, sugar-coated pills, giant powder,
cologne water and kerosene all mixed
together and then distilled. The dis
tilled liquid is placed in a retort, where
a chemical action separates it. and the
gas forces it up separate pipes.”
“Kerosene and pills!” she gasped.
“That’s what I said, madam. You
look innoeent and honest, and I hope
you won’t say anything about it. I
tend this fountain in order to support
a widowed mother and seven father
less children. If you should say any
thing, I’d be discharged, and if I were ,j
discharged, I should commit suicide.
You’ll have plenty of water, eh ?”
“No, sir, I won’t,” she replied. “Do
you suppose I’d drink acids and kero
sene ?”
“Not in their crude state, madam ;
but this process ”
“I don’t care for the process!” she
snapped ; “I wouldn’t touch the stuff!”
“It is a mild beverage, madam, and
the doc ”
“Well, J don’t want any. When Igo
to swallowing tar and lard and kero
sene, you'll know it! S’posen I’d (Rank
some and exploded!”
“Don’t mention it!” he whispered.
“Don’t speak of it!”
“I’m sorry for you, young man, but
there’s a constable living right in sight
of our house, and I think—l—l !”
“You’ll drive me to a suicide’s grave,
you mean !”
S|he lowered her spectacles, took a
long look at him, and went out without
replying.
It is .easy to see where the present
fashion of ladies’ skirts is leading to.—
Sooner or later one leg is certain to en
franchise itself, and the Goddess of
Liberty will stand confessed, — Harris
burg Patriot,
Tricshin® have lately been found for
the first time in the flesh of a wild boar,
killed in the Hartz Mountains, Germa
ny. Hitherto this parasite has been
supposed to be confined to the domes
ticated animal.
JNfew Series—Vol. 3* TsTo. 169.
THE GEORGIA DROUTH.
Appalling Accounts from the Crops—A
Universal Prayer for Rain—-Corn
and Cotton Dead and Dying.
We gather from the Georgia press
received yesterday the extracts found
below. It will be seen that up to the
time they were printed, Tuesday and
Wednesday, the crops were suffering
terribly for rain. From the indications
of the clouds at the time we write it is
hoped that the prolonged drouth will
soon be ended. Unless rain falls during
the week, there is no telliug what will
be the consequences.
Richmond County.
Above the city the drouth has con
tinued for fifteen days. Corn and cot
ton, all the smaller vegetables, and
even the trees in the forest, are parched
and withered. The farmers vehe
mently insist they will not make over
two-thirds of a crop even if they get
rain shortly. A black cloud, heavily
charged with electricity, passed down
the river, on the south side of the city,
at five o’clock yesterday afternoon, and
bore indications that the earth under
neath was blessed with a flue rain. Up
to that hour that portion of the coun
try was as bad off as on our northern
and western sides.
The Long Continued Drouth.
For two months hardly any rain lias
fallen in this section. For the same
time last year over twelve inches fell ;
this season there has not been three.
What little came has been very partial.
It may have been plentiful at one place,
but on all sides the weather has been so
hot as to quickly dry up all the moist
ure and blister and scorch all vegeta
tion. The thermometer has averaged
five to six degrees higher than last sea
son, and for the past few evenings it
has been eleven degrees higher. It has
been unchanged in this regard as
the fare at a Columbus hotel or
boarding house, where you are fur
nished only with staple dishes. Yes
terday the clouds collected, and the
dim-muttering thunder was heard all
around, but no rains came. If the
drouth continues, starvation will stare
this section in the face, as crops will be
ruined. Cotton is shedding as fast as
it can ; corn looks as if it had been
boiled until all the life had gone out.
Small trees are dying for the want of
moisture. A gentleman who rode into
the country Sunday says he saw at
least five hundred dead trees. In
coming out of the court-house yard
yesterday we noticed that the leaves,
twisted and browned, were falling as
thickly as during the Fall. Farmers
are very gloomy. For three weeks,
now, no rain has fallen, and the heat
has been more intense than any Sum
mer since the war.— Columbus Enquirer.
Tlie Weaker and Crops.
Excepting a very slight shower last
night, we have had no raiti for more
than a week past, and the weather has
been very hoc, the thermometer exceed
ing ninety every day. This weather is
telling very disastrously on tho crops.
One of the best farmers in the county,
living west of the city, gives it as his
candid opinion that crops are not as
promising as they were this time last j
year. We learn that in the Southeast j
portion of the county the drought is
serious and crops are almost ruined.—
Milledgeville Recorder.
Tlie Cry for Rain.
The dryness iu Griffin and through
out most of the county is becoming
distressing. From farmers all around
here comes a cry for rain. Crops are
suffering. In many places it is feared
they have been materially damaged.
A good general rain now would remedy
the evil, aud probably undo the mis
chief of the drouth; but if it does not
come the injury to the crops is great. ;
Farmers say one more good rain will
make the corn, but if this rain does
not come that the crop will be con
siderably short of their anticipations, i
The melon crop is suffering considera
bly. In the city everything is pain
fully dry and covered with dust. Rain
is needed ali around us. The air has
grown thick and heavy. A good,
long, gentle raiu would set matters all
right. It would iuspiro the farmers
with new hope and spirit, and would
add to the city a charm of which it is
now destitute. Ou Saturday and Sun
day afternoons showers fell at Mrs.
Johnson’s place, on the edge of tho
city. Some of our planters declare
that the crops are being injured hund
reds of dollars daily. —Griffin News.
Scorching Weather.
In our last issue we reported crops iu
splendid condition. This was true then.
But a great change has been going on.
It was then very warm and dry. The
weather is now absolutely hot, and the
earth seems to be parching. The re
sult is that crops have been failing
rapidly, especially corn, which suffers
more than cotton. If we do not get
rain within a few days, both corn and
cotton will be cut off to a large extent.
Garden vegetables are burning up, and
fruits are roasting on the trees.—
Athens Watchman.
Rain.
We are still without rain enough to
take the starch out of a linen coat. —
The streets are as dry as though no
rain had fallen iu a month. Other sec
tions, however, have been more fortun
ate. Vineville had a good shower on
Monday afternoon. Water ran in the
jroads, and stood for some time in the
furrows in the fields. A little farther
out there was a severe storm, accom
panied by heavy wind. It was particu
larly severe on Mr. W. S. Brantley’s
place, near tho Laboratory. There
the wind was very heavy. Two
chimneys on this place were blown
down, fences and trees were prostrated
and other damage done. A gentleman
who was in Atlanta Monday afternoon
says they had quite a heavy storm up
there. Another reports a fall of hail a
few miles up the Macon and Western
Road, A young lady who came up
from MarsUallville yesterday evening
says they had a refreshing rain at that
place Monday evening. A colored man
who arrived yesterday from Jasper
says from Clinton to Walnut creek there
were signs that a good rain had fallen
the night before. Beyond Clinton there
was not enough rain to do any good.--
Macon Telegraph.
Tlie Crops on Skidaway Island.
We learn from Peter Johnson, an in
dustrious old colored man, who is plant
ing on Skidaway Island, that the whole
crop in that section is burned up by the
excessive drouth. The corn is almost
entirely ruined, and it is estimated will
uot yield more than a bushel to the
acre, when the average in past seasons
has been ten bushels. potato and
pea crops have been abandoned, and
tlie condition of the small farmers on
the island, is deplorable, as they are
without means for existence m: to pay
their rent. It is too late now to hope
for any material good from rain, and
the outlook for these tenants is indeed
gloomy. In the language of Peter, they
can only “look to the author of all
goodness to temper the wind to the
shorn lamb,” and hope for kindly con
sideration, in their distress, from those
who have escaped such misfortune. —
Savannah News.
Wilkinson County.
At this writing the bright crop pros
pect of a week ago lias become gloomy
on account of dry weather. The al
most daily showers with which some
localities have been visited recently
had caused the corn and cotton to ob
tain a splendid growth and give prom
ise of an abundant yield, and the
drouth that set in about ten or twelve
days ago has told fearfully upon their
growth and thrifty appearance, and the
farmer views the prospect of making a
good crop with gloom and despond
ency.—Southron.
Sprinkle at Columbus—Show ers Else
where.
Yesterday afternoon, about 6 o’clock,
a slight sprinkle of rain, not enough to
measure, fell on Columbus. Seasonable
showers descended on the line of the
Mobile and Girard Railroad, between
Colbert and Seale, and between the lat
ter point and Fort Mitchell. Five miles
southeast and south of Columbus
good rains are reported, extending
as far as McElvey’s, ten miles of the
city. Some seemed to fall north and
northeast of us. We aro also told that
good corn crops have been made in
Chattahoochee and Marion counties.
The oldest inhabitant is coming to the
front with recollections. He says this
is the most protracted drouth he has
known in Juno and Jilly since 1818. He
has no memoranda and depends solely
on his memory. Of course he is correct.
Five miles southeast of the city was
visited last afternoon by a considerable
wind, hail and rain storm.— Times.
~ !*►
WIT AND WISDOM,
A blonde-haired man and his money
are soon parted in the middle.
An Indianapolis boy, who has eighty
boils, has quit sliding down the banis
ters.
Why is a solar eclipse like a woman
whipping her boy? Because it is a hid
ing of the sun.
It was a Connecticut editor who
wrote, “Is there a balm in Gilead?”
and read next day, “Is there a barn in
Guilford?”
Cincinnati’s despair was turned to
delirious joy on learning that the seiz
ure of its whiskey did not include an
analysis of it. —lndianapolis Herald.
It’s now explained why the Prince of
Wales needed so much money for his
Indian trip. He expects to fight the
tiger, you know.
Mark Twain : Where’s the best place
you can have a boil ? Give it up? Why,
on some other fellow, of course.
A Rhode Island man has invented a
new lawn game. Thirteen girls kiss a
man thirteen times each during the
play.
If the Carlists will permit themselves
to be licked around the country this
way they needn’t hope for any sympa
thy in the United States.
When a young man is far, far from
home amid gay company, such a trifle
as his collar button flying off will hurt
him more than to break a leg.
A synod of the Roman Catholic
clergy, of the diocese of Liverpool,
have enjoined their clergy against the
use in the church services of music
having a theatrical tendency.
“If Jones undertake to pull my
ears,” said a loud-mouthed fellow on a
street corner, “he will just have his
hands full, now.” The crowd looked at
the man’s ears and thought so.
It is declared to be a good ground cf
divorce for a woman to tie her husband
to agate post during a violent thunder
storm, with a patent lightning rod
hitched to his spinal column.
When you see a man in a hay field
suddenly jump from the grouud, fall
down and roll over, spring up and rush
for the barn, you may bet your last
dollar that something besides sun
stroke ails him.
A cruel joke at the expense of those
ladies who are perpetually striving to
gain a hearing in the press has been go
ing the round of literary circles, to the
effect that “they look much better in
muslin than in priut.”
“ The Emperors of Russia and Ger
many seem to understand each other
thoroughly.” This is very significant.
It shows that the tutors who instructed
them in the languages didn’t fool away
any time. —Louisville Courier-Journal.
The California Farmer (edited by
Col. J. L. L. F. Warren, formerly of
Boston,) estimates the value of the
crops in that State at $50,000,000, and
that this vast sum is wholly squander
ed In the use of tobacco and liquors by
the inhabitants.
Poor women ! When they wear
loose, ample skirts, everybody con
demns their extravagance. Now that
the pretty and graceful tie-back skirt
comes in, the newspapers call it inde
cent. Why, it’s the prettiest thing in
the way of dress since Eve left Eden,
and what’s the use of howling abtsut it?
— Exchange.
An ancient darkey was observed
gathering up a basket of bones in rear
of a boarding house the other day, and
when asked what use he intended to
put them to, he replied : “Dere’s lot o’
Northern chaps walkin’ around heah an’
axing for relics of de war, an’ Ize gwine
to please de crowd if it takes all the beef
benes from out doah in Vicksburg.—
Vicksburg Herald.
Recently three young men came all
the way from Boston to Long Blanch
to see Anna Louise Cary in the surf.
They carried small Russia leather car
pet-bags, and wore plain black clothes,
with waistcoats buttoned up to the
throat, and turn-down collars; had pale
high brows, deeply furrowed by lines
of thought, phosphorescent eyes, and
divided publio opinion at the Branch as
to whether they were disguised grass
hopper sufferers or theological stu
dents. —Brooklyn Argus.
Elections occur this year in the fol
lowing order:
Kentucky Monday, August 2
California Wednesday, September 1
Arkansas Monday, September G
Maine Monday, September 13
lowa Tuesday, October 12
Ohio. Tuesday, October 12
Virginia Tuesday, November 2
Kansas Tuesday, November 2
Maryland .Tuesday, November 2
Massachusetts.. .Tuesday, November 2
Mississippi..... - Tuesday, November 2
Minnesota...... .Tuesday, November 2
Missouri Tuesday, November 2
New York ..Tuesday, November 2
New Jersey..... .Tuesday, November 2
Pennsylvania... .Tuesday, November 2
Texas .Tuesday, December 7