THEORIES have already been propounded in regard to Tuesday's earthquake, based on the general report of abnormally high barometer immediately preceding the shock. But the testimony of many students of seismology is to the effect that the greatest number of earthquakes occur during low barometer. It is considered probable that barometric disturbances have some connection with earthquake disturbances, but in what way or to what extent remains unsettled. The sum of evidence is that influences external to the earth have at most but an indirect bearing upon earthquakes, and that the direct causes are to be found in the earth itself. There are several recognized terrestrial causes and others of doubtful character. Volcanic phenomena are associated with a large number of earthquake disturb ances, but a still larger number can not be so explained. From all the attendant circumstances it is scarcely probable that the earthquake of Tuesday night can be attributed even remotely to a volcanic cause.

THE physical effect at Charleston explains the mutilated condition in which so much of the art beauty of the old world is unearthed. Temple and statue, arch and frieze, went down in such convulsions as that which prostrated Charleston. Over the ruins the drift of centuries spread a mat of turf, and kept awaiting the modem archæologist, what

The Goth, the Christian, time, war, flood and fire

had not been able to discover. The stupendous pillars prone far below the earth's surface are memorials of shocks which humbled in a moment the proud work of centuries. Charleston, more fortunate than the cities of the older world, will be rebuilt, but the architecture will be changed and the debris removed, so that when it time of decay has come and gone the future explorer will find little to remind him of the great earthquake of 1886.

THE more that is known of the unprecedented terrestrial disturbances of last Tuesday and Wednesday, the more confused and perplexed the scientists become. The phenomena are new and startling, overturning carefully-constructed theories and shaking to piece many very plausible explanations. A good deal has been said about the remarkable predictions of Prof. Dawson, of London, but even that eminent authority has had to confess that the phenomena of the convulsions in America had completely upset some of the conclusions which he had advanced just about the time that the earth began to quake. He was very confident that he knew something concerning the causes of earthquakes when he delivered his address, but since he has heard reports of the American shake-up he fears that he may be compelled to modify his teachings.

refinement will doubtless come to the front in greater measure than in the past. The spittoon of Dickens is disappearing, with many another custom of doubtful. propriety, popularly associated in the British mind with the typical American, although a too indiscriminate desire for praise of national institutions, customs, and scenery (inherited doubtless from ourselves) still occasionally embarrasses the traveler who desires to unite just appreciation with strict veracity. Life has become decidedly pleasanter for the European traveler since the days of the novelist. The Pullman car, with its luxuries and comforts; the elevated railroad; the commodious street conveyances; the magnificent steamers-all contribute to his happiness. But has not the democratic goddess been somewhat asleep of late years? Has she not winked at some innovations of decidedly aristocratic origin? The Pullman car can scarcely be said to be other than a first-class carriage under another denomination; and the liveried servants, the splendid equipages of Newport, and the clubs of New York and Boston, as well as the shooting and hunting preserves of fashionable coteries, somewhat astonish a stranger, who comes with the notion that American institutions can find no room for the luxuries of European life. Let it not be thought, though, that the golden youth of America are less manly than their fathers. On the contrary, the physique of the young man of the richer classes is vastly improved. Athletic sports hold a much higher place in American colleges than they used to do. Our universities and athletic clubs have of late years been taught, by sharp experience, that America can produce men capable of competing with them on equal terms in all sports in which Englishmen formerly prided themselves as facile principes. More cultivated, gentleman-like, and well-built young fellows it would be difficult to meet than the alumni of Harvard, and doubtless the same may be said of other American universities. If luxury has increased, charity and the love of man has not diminished. The benevolence and public spirit of wealthy men in the States is very marked. There is hardly a county town of any size which cannot boast of public institutions which it owes to the open-handed generosity of its citizens. Girard College, the Corcoran Gallery, the Tichnor Library, and the Agassiz Museum have a world-wide reputation; and the names of Wolff, Dodge, Jesup, Emery, Brace, and of many other workers for the good of their fellow-creatures are not unknown in this country. It would conduce greatly to the growth and perpetuation of kindly feeling between the two countries, and would be of educational benefit to the young men of both nations, if England would sometimes send her young men to complete their education in an American university, and if America would occasionally reciprocate the compliment by sending hers to Eton and Harrow, or to Oxford and Cambridge. The gain would be a mutual one, for there are gaps in the educational system of each country which the other could fill. The nearer the two countries are brought together, the better for the world. The American and the Englishman are to be found in the front of life's battle for progress and civilization in every quarter of the globe. The English language, at this moment, will carry a man further than any other. No other people would appear to equal this race in its colonizing power, or in its power of absorption, and none, on the other hand, shows a greater power of resistance to its own absorption by other races. Looking ahead, therefore, through a vista of years, it would seem as if America and England were destined to exert an influence in the world's future history far surpassing that which, in the past, has fallen to the lot of any single race of men. Their influences being world-wide, a conflict between these two powerful nations would mean greater suffering to mankind than that perhaps between any other two peoples. The world, on the other hand, would be vastly the gainer if England and America were always to be found on the side of progress and civilization, advancing with equal steps toward the accomplishment of the high purposes for which, in the providence of God, they would appear to be destined. Americans are sometimes heard to complain of the manners of a certain class of young Englishmen who ought to know better. They are accused of accepting American hospitality, and of neglecting the conventionalities of dress and etiquette which are customary in good European society. The American naturally resents the idea of an Englishman doing in America what he would not do at home, and very justly considers such action a want of proper respect toward his entertainers. It is hardly likely that any man calling himself a gentleman would deliberately wish to insult his host. It would be difficult to find a term too strong to characterize the atrocious nature of such an offense against good manners and gentlemanly breeding; the explanation is probably to be found in the crass ignorance in regard to all things connected with America, which is sometimes to be met with in England, even among the so-called educated classes. The ordinary Englishman's ideas about America are often hazy, and sometimes mythical. I hope the generation is now defunct which was under the firm conviction that all Americans were black; but there are, I fear, some still to be found who, when they speak of America, picture to themselves a country in the early stages of civilization. This is not to be wondered at when we consider how meager is the information imparted at English schools or colleges in regard to the history, geography, politics, or progress of this great country. The result of this is, that some Englishmen firmly believe that a dress-coat and a silk hat are unnecessary impediments to the trans-Atlantic tourist, and consequently scandalize their hosts by appearing at dinner parties in shooting coats, and on Fifth Avenue in knickerbockers. It is also difficult for them to realize that black coat is de rigueur not only at New York, but in more than a score of other cities of the Union, and that Americans are even more particular than Englishmen with regard to the little conventionalities of society. The former are, perhaps, a little over-sensitive upon some of these points; but this should make an Englishman only the more careful not to be guilty of any act which could be construed into want of respect for either the country or his hosts. The kindness, the hospitality, the courtesy which a traveler meets with in the States will make him anxious to do all he can to show his hosts that he is sensible of the trouble they have taken to make his stay in the country agreeable. There is a general disposition among all classes of Americans to be civil to Englishmen. On the street, in the cars, in the hotels, the traveler will often be astonished at the amount of trouble which the unknown American will voluntarily undertake in order to assist him, or to render his journey or sojourn in a place more agreeable. It is much to be feared that

Englishmen do not always as readily put themselves out for Americans when they visit Great Britain.-English Paper.

CORAL FISHING.-Though Naples, or, at least, Torre del Greco, is one of the great centers of the coral trade, the material found in the gulf is both small in quantity and poor in quality. There are submarine rocks, well known to the fishermen, though they are laid down on no chart, where a piece or two may almost always be found; but they are so few and their yield is so precarious and meager that, by a private agreement among the boat-owners, each of them is only fished once in every three years. There can be little doubt that other and more fruitful fishing-grounds are still undiscovered. In the opinion of many who ought to be well informed, wherever a rock rises above the sediment which forms the ground of a great part of the bay, at a depth of about three hundred feet or more from the surface, the chances are that coral will be found upon it. The discovery of such banks has hitherto been almost entirely the work of chance. When a deep-sea fisher found a branch among the refuse of his nets he gave information to the proper authorities, and received a reward proportionate to the value of his find. It was thus that the great bank of Siacca, on the coast of Sicily, was discovered, of which we shall have to speak further on. But, though new fishing-grounds may be found in the Bay of Naples itself, it is not likely that they will have any great importance.

The value of coral depends on its color and its size. The white or rose-tinted variety stands highest in popular esteem, perhaps chiefly because it is the rarest. It is mostly found in the straits of Messina, and on some parts of the African and Sardinian coasts. The bright red coral, in which the polyps are still living when it is fished up, stands next in value. Dead coral has a duller tint and is consequently sold at a lower price. Two entire different substances bear the name of black coral. One of them is not, properly speaking, coral at all, and it is commercially worthless, as it breaks into flakes instead of yielding to the knife, though it is often sold as a costly curiosity to foreigners. The other is the common red coral which has undergone a sea change, probably through the decomposition of the living beings that once built and inhabited it. It is not much admired in Europe, but in India it commands high prices, so that large quantities of it are exported every year. These are the four important distinctions of color, though they, of course, include intermediate tints which rank according to their clearness and brilliancy. The size is a still more important matter. The thickness of the stem of the coral plant we use the commercial and entirely unscientific expression-determines its price, and many a branch of red coral is valued more highly on account of its thickness than a smaller piece of the choicer rose color. The reason for this is clear. A large, straight piece of material affords an opportunity to the artificer; a crooked one, if it is only bulky enough, can at least be turned into large beads; mere points and fragments can only be used for smaller ones or made into those horns which are said to be invaluable against the evil eye, but which do not command a high price in the market, perhaps because it is overstocked.

The coral fishery of Naples has now, for the most part, fallen into the hands of a few wealthy firms. Formerly fishermen would club together and try their forA tune on co-operative principles, but this system has almost entirely died out. few single padroni still remain, but their exertions are entirely confined to the gulf. They are usually men of experience, who can decide how the net is to be laid and drawn, and who hold the guidance rope in their own hands. The boat and the nets are theirs, and they pay their subordinates a fixed sum to serve under them for one or two days. The whole yield, under these circumstances, of course belongs to the padrone. The larger firms could make an end of these boatmen easily enough, but it is not worth their while to do so. The yield of the gulf is comparatively small, and houses that possess from ten to thirty large boats of their own find it more advantageous to purchase the rough material from the local fishermen than to crush them by a cruel and irresistible competition, as they train the men who are afterward employed in expeditions to a distance.

The instrument with which the coral is taken consists of two strong beams of hard wood, which are fastened together in the form of a cross by metal claspings, to which a weight is added. Strong hempen nets are fastened to the arms. When a bank is reached this primitive instrument is lowered, and moved up and down against the submarine rocks by means of a capstan turned by the whole of the boat's crew, except the padrone, who directs the movements of the apparatus by means of a second rope, which is attached to the chief one some feet above the The coral branches point where the latter is secured to the center of the cross.

are caught in the meshes of the nets, and remain hanging in them. Those that are broken off by the woodwork are usually lost. In some places, especially on the coast of Sardinia, the ends of the arms are surmounted by a circle of curved iron teeth, like those of a garden rake, but larger and stronger, below which open nets are suspended. In this case the beams are nearly double the length of those generally used by the largest boats, as they often measure six or seven metersthat is, nearly eight yards from end to end.

The banks, or rather rocks, that are most frequently visited, lie at a depth of from 250 to 450 feet below the surface of the water; it is very rarely that an attempt is made to reach those which are lower than 600 feet. Indeed, it lies in the very nature of the case that, even if they exist, they should remain unknown, and that if they were known, they would hardly repay the cost of fishing while it is conducted on the present system. They are scattered all along the coasts of the Mediterranean, sometimes close to the shore, and sometimes at twenty-four, or even thirty hours' hard rowing from it. At many stations there is a small local fishery; but the bulk of the trade, at least in Italy, is in the hands of large firms, which, for the most part, have their centers in Genoa, Leghorn, or the Bay of Naples. These firms both supply and equip the boats, which, according to their size, are manned by five or ten fishermen. In addition to these a padrone is allotted to each, who exercises large disciplinary powers. He is a man of knowledge and experience, and usually receives a percentage on the value of the season's take, as well as his regular pay. The selection of the crew of his boat is often left entirely to him; he is always consulted with respect to it, and enjoys a right of veto. The men are hired for the season, by agreement, for from sixty to seventy

francs a month, a large part of which is usually paid beforehand, and their food, which is of the coarsest kind. As a rule, the season lasts from April to the end of September, but it depends greatly on the weather, as fishing is impossible in mist, or when the sea is high.

The labor is exceedingly hard. At dawn the padrone calls his men and, after a short prayer, the net is lowered; from then till sunset the work continues almost without interruption. The exertion required to let down and wind up the net under a blazing summer sun is extreme, and it has to be done on ship-biscuit of the coarsest kind, and water that on more distant stations has often become foul by long keeping. In the evening a sort of soup is made. Garlic and peproni, the pungent fruit of a southern plant, are boiled in water; olive oil is added, and this is poured over biscuit which have been broken and placed in a dish. For months this diet is hardly varied, and yet the men retain their good spirits. After the evening meal has been taken they indulge in guitar playing and singing, and on the more frequented banks the boats answer and vie with each other.

In 1878 the discovery of the Sciacca bank, which lies at a considerable distance off the southern coast of Sicily, roughly speaking, between Girgenti and the island of Pantellaria, caused a crisis in the coral trade. At one time nearly a thousand boats might be found fishing there, and seeming to form a city in the midst of the

sea.

Each of these is said to have taken between one and two hundred weight of coral a day. . It is certain that within three years 88,000 German centners were taken from this bank alone. A great part of this coral was dead, and much of it was of the black color that only finds purchasers in the east. The large firms did everything in their power to prevent the market being overflooded. Many of them still retain hundreds and some thousands of cases which have never been placed in the hands of the artificers. Still the price fell, and it is only at a considerable sacrifice that the greater houses still keep their boats at sea and the workshops open; but they know that if they let them fall the fate of their old competitors in Marseilles awaits them, for both the fishing for coral and its treatment by the artificers depend upon traditions which, when they have once been lost, it is difficult to revive.

One of the matters of general interest which the bank of Sciacca placed clearly before those who were interested in it from other than a mercantile point of view was the fact that not only were dead and live coral there found side by side, but that in many cases the latter were growing on the former. Signor Lo Bianco spent several days on one of the boats for the purpose of inquiring into this and other scientific matters. Few men possess a keener eye for such sides of nature, or have enjoyed so good an opportunity of training and regulating it as his connection with zoological station at Naples has afforded him. In his opinion the original bank was submerged by volcanic action, and the mud killed the mature polyps. The germs and larval forms, which still existed in the water, settled upon such branches of the dead coral as still arose above the sediment, and so began life anew. If he is right, the Sciacca is a kind of submarine Herculaneum. There is not likely to be any immediate improvement in the coral trade. As soon as prices rise, the large firms will be tempted to sell a part at least of the If the depression stock they have hitherto reserved in the hope of better times. lasts, they may be compelled to do so, which would lead to further fall. This can have but a small interest for the general public, but the sight of the boats whose crews sail or row for long distances without the aid of a compass, guided only by the stars or the glimpse of some distant headland, and in their fishing employ instruments which are said to have been hardly modified since the days of the first Roman emperors, may suggest a summer afternoon reverie.-Saturday

Review.

a

FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

THE BUSINESS SITUATION.-There is every indication of a good fall trade in the reports for the week. The movement of general merchandise has been large, and in the West grain is coming forward steadily to the primary points of shipment. The total receipts from July 24 to August 28 were 39,000,000 bushels of wheat against 25,000,000 last year, and for other cereals the increased receipts are heavier in comparison with last year. It is now pretty generally conceded that the wheat crop in all parts of Europe and India is at least a partial failure, and that a large The foreign markets amount of American grain will be wanted across the water. have been weak, and prices are manipulated on the bear side in Chicago during the time of heavy receipts from the country. Provisions are stronger under the influence of the circular of Armour & Co., which was exceedingly bullish on mess pork, ribs and bacon. Dry goods continue active, but the only feature was the sale at auction of nearly 26,000 dozen American silk handkerchiefs, which was moderately successful. This is the largest sale of American silk products ever held. Sugar is still depressed and the supply is far ahead of the usual stock and the demand. Iron is firmer, and there have been a few sales at a slight advance in prices. The outlook for the anthracite coal trade is excellent-the demand is very good and prices are the best of the year, with a likelihood of another advance this week. All these facts have made the railroads very busy, and there is not an important line in the country which is not taxed to the utmost to carry the traffic offered. Wool has been very strong. The London sales beginning to-morrow are expected to influence the markets here. The August report of the cotton crop shows that there has been an improvement in the condition of the crop in the Eastern belt, which was quite unfavorable in July, and that in the Western and Southwestern sections there has been a falling off in the condition on account of hot and dry weather. Generally the prospect for an average crop is fair. The corn crop will mature this week, and there is no reason to expect that any harm will come to it, though reports of frost are constantly sent out for speculative purposes. These were successful in slightly advancing prices during last week. The crop is somewhat ahead of last year in point of time. The stock market has been

very dull, scarcely averaging 100,000 shares a day for the week in New York, but there was a partial revival of interest during the latter part of the week and prices advanced somewhat. Money is easier in all parts of the country except in New Orleans and the Northwest, and there is little fear of renewed stringency, though the demand is likely to remain more or less stiff during the month. For brokers' uses money fell to 1⁄2 per cent. in New York on Saturday, and it was freely offered in this city at 3 per cent. Foreign exchange has been steady at a fraction above the gold importing point most of the week. Only a small amount of gold was shipped from the other side, but the movement of gold this way is likely to continue far into October. The Treasury has redeemed more than a million of called bonds during the week, $600,000 of which were under the last call. There has been better inquiry for Government bonds on the part of banks whose bonds have been called. The trunk line situation remains the same, and it is said nothing is likely to be done until after October 1 by the belligerents.-Philadelphia Press, September 6.

ENGLISH DISTRESS-In a commercial sense, England to-day is at a standstill. Her splendid march to supremacy is momentarily arrested. Industry and enter prise have been her life. She has dug and gathered wealth from the bowels of the earth and the depths of the sea. The world has been her market, and all nations her customers. The outcome has been an era of unexampled prosperity. The spindles went merrily, the fires of forge and furnace were a steady glow night and day, and along the quays by river and sea the keels of ship and steamer came and went as sure as the swirl of the tides. Cotton, corn, or cattle, wherever raised, were tributary to the Briton, and the remotest form of prosperity-an Iowa hog, or an Australian sheep, had and has yet its reflex in Liverpool or Lombard street. At this proud elevation England halts. Idle men and idle money are to day its difficulty. The causes are probably many, and each school of social economics has its own diagnosis of the disease; but outside all traceable causes who dare to say there is not at work the divinity that "shapes the ends" of nations as of men. No national distress on record but has its mission and beneficence, broadly branded on the pages of history. All such events are focused in a general good, and English dis tress will be no exception. Hitherto much of the good and greatness of modern man, in charity, freedom, purity, and power of law, has been localized in England. She has been the home of the exile, the cradle of the free, the Dorcas of the world, and is still in the van of European progress; but truth is no longer localized at Jerusalem, nor the laws of God shut up in an ark, nor confided to a race; and as light and liberty disenthrall the nations, so much the more will they progress in enterprise and prosperity, and England must give up the keys as the old janitor of commerce and civilization. The looms of the world are not the exclu sive right of Lancashire, nor its blast furnaces controlled by the vulcans of Tredegar. The skill and pluck that has fairly won all England has is attainable by others, and at this crisis the one alternative of English distress is dispersion. Capi. tal must emigrate, change its base, and make its factories where the cotton grows, as it has its mills with the sugar cane. Surplus treasure and men can find room in the colonies of the race; and England, by extending her base, may multiply he self, and in her old age be grander than in youth. That there will be such an exodus is more than probable, and imagination is at a loss to over-rate the results to the world of such a dispersion of money and men. A populated Australia, with its antipodal Manchester, and suburbs in the isles of the Pacific, South Africa, with Saxon law and lore from the Cape to beyond the Orange river, and a natal Oxford, training men for missions of mercy to barbaric races, will outshine old Greece herself. The valley of the Euphrates, dotted with Saxon homes, will be a barrier forever to northern lust of power, and a rallying point for nations just waking into life. These and the possibilities of the Canadas, with capital and Pacific outlet, are the likely forecast of what will eventually be the extreme of English depression. Greater Britains will spring out of the Great, and the ultimate absorption of these dispersed branches of one family into a union or confederation is not outside the possible, and may be one of the ambitions of the future.-The Age of Steel.

SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMONDS.-Late advices from the Cape diamond mines show a continued revival against the corresponding month of previous years, though the output was less than in May. This latter fact is, however, fully explained by the circumstance that June is one of the shortest months in the year in regard to the length of working days. The following are the figures for June in the current and preceding years, representing the aggregate output from the four mines-Kimberley, De Beer's, Dutoitspan, and Bultfontein:

Carats. 156,605% 218,3364

June, 1883
June, 1884
The Kimberley mine, though showing an improvement against the last two years,
still falls considerably short of the figures of 1883, while the others all show marked
improvements against the three preceding years. The following table gives the
output from each mine for the first six months of the several years:

Dutoitspan. Bultfontein.
Carats.

Carats.

Carats.

213,9604

216,6792

233,3064

240,8194

234,571

265,705

307,0564

278,18634

311,688

427,695% 350,4422 346,041%2 "The amount of work being done at the four mines now as compared with previous periods," observes the Diamond Fields Advertiser, "should be encourag ing to shareholders, merchants, and shopkeepers alike, especially as the average export prices hold good, not having receded during the last two months more than a halfpenny per carat per month, and still figuring 42d. per carat more than the exports for January last.-Bradstreet's, September 4.

the Rev. A. E. Dunning, of the Normal Department, and Rev. T. B. Vincent,
D. D., of the Children's Department. The Rev. A. E. Dunning, of Boston,
Mass., is quoted as saying that over a million persons have been connected this
season with the summer schools conducted on the Chautauqua plan.-Gen. S. C.
Armstrong, of the Hampton Institute, is seriously ill.At an educational confer-
ence, recently held in Buda-Pesth, under the presidency of M. Trefort, the minis-
ter of public education, the following regulations were established: Every middle
class school is to have a medical officer, who will receive an annual salary of 200
florins in schools where a complete course of instruction is given, and 100 florins
in other schools. He must examine all pupils at the commencement of each scho-
lastic year, and keep a constant watch over their health, and must give special at-
tention to the prevention or eradication of infectious diseases. He will also give
advice during gymnastic exercises. He will also keep a watch over the instruc-
tion in general; and, if he observes any deleterious influence in operation, with
regard either to the whole school or to individual pupils, he will bring the same
under the notice of the director of the school. In the complete schools he will
give instruction in hygiene, for two hours each week, to those pupils of the higher
classes who may desire to receive it, the subject being treated in an easy and pop-
ular manner.- -Fowler Wells, of New York, announces a new series of the
American kindergarten and primary teacher, which is directed to the interests of
parents and young children.

RELIGIOUS.

THE SOCIETY OF JESUS.-The Gaulois gives some interesting particulars in regard to the number, organization, and present condition of the members of the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits were forty thousand strong in the whole world in 1750; there were scarcely a thousand in 1800, all secularized; to-day they are from seven to eight thousand in number. They were expelled from France, from Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Russia, Holland, the whole of Central America, and a portion of South America. They are tolerated in Spain, in England, Austria, and Belgium. They enjoy full liberty as simple citizens in the United States and in the English colonies. No where, we believe, are they recognized by a State as the Society of Jesus, if not in some republics of South America. The Jesuit society is divided into two classes of individuals: those who belong to the order, but who can be expelled by a decision of the General from one day to another, and those in respect to whom the order is bound by a solemn engagement. All the professed fathers are not in this latter category, and a Jesuit does not become a professed father until after the priesthood, which he does not receive until thirty-four years of age, and after the pledge of strong vows. He then undergoes a final examination, the result of which decides his future in the order. He afterward learns, individually and secretly, if he is to be admitted to pass, some day or other, what is called "the third year," and it is only after this last year of study that the order is bound in this particular. The Pope alone can expel him from the Society, and for considerations of exceptional gravity. A Jesuit of Louvain, a partizan of the doctrines of M. Charcot, wrote, recently, a book to prove that the miracles of St. Theresa were all in the domain of the natural, and that the temperament of the saint sufficed to explain them. The book was condemned at Rome, but the writer was not evicted from the order. The fact is that each Jesuit enjoys full liberty in his philosophical judgments, and one would never finish the attempt to enumerate all the bizarre works written by members of the Society at different epochs. It is this independence of mind and freedom in the choice of their studies, which_have_constituted the whole force in all times past of the disciples of Loyola.-Translated from the French for Public Opinion.

-A meet

DRAMA.

FREE PASSES.-The free-pass system is being vigorously discussed by the press. In consequence, the New York Mirror sent interviews to both critics and managers. The outcome is somewhat kaleidoscopic. Mr. Franklin File, dramatic critic of the New York Sun, said:

"I do not believe that a journalist ought to solicit a free ticket of any kind or from anybody, and Mr. Dana would as soon think of cutting off one of his hands as to accept a free seat."

Col. Cockerill, managing editor of the World, was seen and said: "It is a fact, that courtesies are extended to newspapers by managers, a basis of pure business with the expectation that they are to be paid for in notices. I think it is a great detriment to newspapers, and one which had best be abolished as soon as possible. As for newspaper criticism being influenced by free seats, that is a subject not worth talking about."

Mr. G. H. Sanderson, managing editor of the Star, in an interview gave it as his opinion

"That no dramatic critic of a newspaper or any gentleman delegated by him has any thought that the seat which he occupies is given to influence criticism." Mr. Robert Griffith Morris, editor of the Evening Telegram, remarked: "The system of deadheadism is the greatest curse of theatrical management and it is carried to such an extent that it opens the door to many frauds." Joe Howard, of the Herald, said:

"A man is no more a ticket beggar, because he accepts seats from a manager than he is a drink beggar to allow himself to be treated. I have for the past twenty-five years accepted courtesies from the managers of this city and I can see nothing wrong in it."

NOTES. Mr. Moody received at his recent Northfield Conference contributions for his school ranging from between $45,000 and $50,000. One contribution was $25,000 for a new dormitory for girls, and another $20,000 for a library. -Newport, Rhode Island, is to have a memorial of its founder, John Clarke, the associate of Roger Williams, before long. The plan is to buy a site and put the historic Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House on it, with an addition. The whole structure will then be called the John Clarke Memorial Hall, and a statue of Clarke will be placed in front of it.At the meeting of the board of directors of the Southern California University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Hon. R. M. Widney was present, and made the institution a gift of $100,000.ing of German Methodist ministers and professors of theology was recently held in St. Louis, to discuss the best methods of revivifying the working of the German theological schools, as well as to improve and multiply the text books for the use A convention of colored journalists has lately of the young theological student.passed a vote expressing their disapproval of the course of Mr. Moody toward the Negro race in his campaign last winter in the South.- -Clergymen supplying churches in the summer sometimes have a hard time of it, if we can judge from stories told by a correspondent of The Church Press. In a large city, presumably New York, the rector receives a salary of ten thousand dollars, and the vacation supply gets twelve or fifteen. That is almost beyond belief. A letter from a church to the bookseller who distributed the supplies, read: "Send a supply for the ensuing Sunday, but don't send that poor reader and slim preacher. Fee, $5. Church Bells, London, England, contains the No charge for entertainment.". following odd advertisement: "A poor clergyman, who has been engaged' for years, is very anxious to marry almost immediately, chiefly for the sake of the lady, who is in unhappy surroundings at present, but lacks sufficient pecuniary means to enable him to do so. He urgently needs £5 at least, and, having no other resource, reluctantly makes this appeal to public sympathy. He feels sure there are many who would be glad, as a thank-offering for their own happy married life, to send him such small or large sums as they can afford. Highest references, if re

quired."

Mr. A. C. Wheeler, the distinguished critic and feuilletonist, said:

"I do not think there is a dramatic writer who would not hail the plan of buying seats with unconcealed joy."

great length, and among other matters said:
Harrison Gray Fiske, dramatic editor of the Daily Star, delivered himself at

"I have never heard of more than two authentic cases of venality among the
theatrical reviewers of the daily papers. The recognized critics of this city are
honest men. There is not one among them that would accept a bribe.".
Mr. John A. Harrington, of the Sunday Dispatch, is of the opinion-
"That none but the dramatic editor should have the courtesy of free admission
to a theater."

The Evening Post makes it a rule never to allow any of its employes to ask for seats.

Rudolph Aronson, of the "Casino," said:

"We are always happy to give seats to any reputable journalist or correspondent, but the evil is in the hangers-on. Managers should make a list of newspaper men entitled to seats, and to frauds who are not."

Theodore Moss affirms

"That a theater is the same as a man's private house, and that a manager has as much right to invite a man to one as to the other, and that, in consequence, it is nobody's business."

Harry Miner, manager of the People's Theater, replied:

"The case is simply this: When I send for a man to do me a favor, I don't ex pect him to pay for it. Newspapers are entitled to all the benefits they get from the theaters, and I know very often that if they were not obliged to go, a great many of the critics would not be seen at the theater, no matter how many passes they were given."

J. W. Collier said:

Managers have different ways of conducting their business. While a portion of them feel it to their interest to give passes, there are others who would like to abolish the practice entirely except where it is strictly legitimate. I think that for the passes given to the newspapers the theaters receive their quid pro quo. I will say, by way of parenthesis, that it has been my experience that the proper representatives of the press solicit the fewest favors, and, further, that the dramatic editor is generally too modest as far as regards asking for favors."

Charles H. Mathews, acting manager of the Grand Opera House, also said: "We are very glad to have the papers represented here every Monday evening, or at every new production, and we are happy to accommodate them whenever we are asked to do so. Our system is different from other theaters. We issue a card by which certain seats are always reserved to certain papers. It is more than a fair exchange-the bartering of seats for notices and criticisms and you will find that no manager objects to it."

From Frank Murtha, the manager of the Windsor Theater, it was learned"Not five newspapers have asked for tickets in five years, and reputable jour nalists are less bother to theaters and do them more good than any other class of people with whom managers come in contact. Do the theaters get the benefit of their seats from the newspapers? Ten times over. sent them for first performances, but we send them as a request to come. Whether They do not ask for the seats criticisms are favorable or otherwise, we get the benefit, as it calls attention to the performance."

Mart Hanley, of Harrigan's Park Theater, said:

"I certainly do not believe in abolishing free seats to the newspapers. They are