Burchards, and ill-advised millionaire dinners aside, Mr. Blaine generally has the populace with him. THE majority in Maine, notwithstanding much Republican rejoicing over the result of the election in that State, is 27 per cent. off from the figures of two years ago. At this rate, in. 1888 Blaine stock will be about as worthless as his Little Rock bonds.-Chicago Times (Ind.). SENTIMENT may shift considerably before delegations are made up for the convention of 1888; but if a Presidential convention were to be held now Mr. Blaine would be nominated by an overwhelming majority, if not by acclamation.—Minneapolis Tribune (Rep.). THE Buffalo Express compares Blaine to Clay and Douglas, and he has already been compared to Gladstone. There is indeed one strong point of resemblance between all four. None of them will ever be President of the United States.Utica Observer (Dem.). MR. BLAINE'S chances for the Republican nomination two years hence are no better and no worse than before. The Republican party is as strong as it was, and no stronger, for all Mr. Blaine's efforts and Gen. Dow's opposition.-Chicago Mail (Ind.). THE result of the Maine election, whether viewed in a general sense as an important preliminary to the Presidential election, or in a more personal sense as a starter for Mr. Blaine as a candidate, is eminently satisfactory.-Pittsburgh Times (Rep.). MR. BLAINE representing the National Republican party, and putting the principles of that party and especially the principle of protection, directly in issue, has again triumphed.—Concord, N. H., Monitor (Rep.). WERE the national Republican nominating convention to be held to morrow James G. Blaine would be nominated the second time for President and elected in November.-St. Albans, Vt., Messenger (Rep.). CONSIDERING how desperately Mr. Blaine's enemies publican ticket in Maine, the victory was a great one. than ever.-Denver Tribune-Republican (Rep.). fought to defeat the ReBlaine is a stronger man WITH every new speech Mr. Blaine strengthens his claims on the Republican party. In many respects, he is the greatest leader the great party ever had.— Warren, Ohio, Tribune (Rep.). BROTHER BLAINE seems to be a bigger man than the Democratic Administration, the Democratic party, or the Prohibitionists all rolled into one.-Denver Tribune-Republican (Rep.). HAS the election in Maine made Mr. Blaine mere prominent as a candidate for 1888 than he was two months ago, or less? We should certainly not say less.New York Sun (Dem.). BLAINE, of Maine, has the call for the next Presidential nomination in the preferences of representative party men all over the country.—Pittsburgh Commercial-Gazette (Rep.). WHETHER the Republicans will be induced by the Maine result to renominate Mr. Blaine is a question for their own party councils.—Washington Sunday Herald (Dem.). THE result is the more gratifying because Mr. Blaine made the canvass on the record of the protective policy.-Philadelphia North American (Rep.). THE election in Maine means nothing but that the Pine Tree people are proud of Mr. Blaine and will stand by him.-St. Paul Press (Rep.). MR. BLAINE is certainly no weaker as a Presidential candidate than he was before Monday's election.-Providence Star (Rep.). THE Blaine boom for 1888 does not seem to have made a very brilliant start.— Florida Times-Union (Dem.). THEelection in Maine is a Republican victory, but much more a Blaine victory.— St. Louis Chronicle (Ind.). MR. CLEVELAND AND THE PROTECTION DEMOCRATS. THE Wisconsin Democracy have recently assembled in State convention. Nominations were made for State officers, and a platform was adopted. As the language of this last is quite fulsome in praise of Mr. Cleveland and Postmaster-General Vilas, and as the latter has been roaming about Wisconsin recently, he may have had a share in the preparation of the document. It is quite florid enough even for Colonel Vilas. The last plank nailed on is as follows: That the reduction of the tariff to a revenue basis is the principle of the Democratic party, and that those members of the present House of Representatives selected as Democrats, who voted against considering the bill for a reduction of the tariff, deserve no recognition in Democratic councils. Considering the fact that Wisconsin is a Republican State, and so voted in the last Presidential election, it is just possible that our brethren out there may be a trifle brash. It will be conceded that Mr. Cleveland has done quite as well as he could, even that he has done better than might have been expected of one so unprepared by education, experience, and training for the high position in which he has been placed. But Mr. Cleveland is hardly in the center of his term. He has not yet consolidated the confidence of the Democratic party, and he has not yet concentred public admiration and affection to himself. He has time and time again gone through four States without eliciting a single hurrah. The necessities of the Democratic party even now suggest him as a candidate in 1888. When that time shall have arrived his own record may turn a necessity into the wisdom of the situation. But until then we had all best proceed cautiously; and our Wisconsin brethren need not go ahead of the band. The Democratic party is pledged to a reform of the revenue. The revenue of the Government comes from the tariff and excise systems. Any reform which does not touch both will be unjust and unsatisfactory. Mr. Morrison has introduced two bills that were crude and undigested. Even if they could have been licked into proper shape neither stood the faintest chance of becoming a law. Yet our Wisconsin brethren would This turn out of the party every Democrat who did not support these measures. will not do. Mr. Cleveland could not have been elected President, even by the skin of his teeth, except for the strong support of Mr. Randall and those who agree with him. He can not be elected again, even by the skin of his teeth, if Mr. Morrison and the faction which trains with him are permitted to read the best part of the Democratic party out of the ranks at the suggestion of the Wisconsin convention. Mr. Morrison and his friends hold the House of Representatives, with its rich and powerful patronage, which is free from civil-service reform. Even Mr. Cleveland can not divide this with his Mugwump friends. But if there is ground to suspect Mr. Cleveland of a decided leaning to free trade, in 1888 he will be defeated despite Wisconsin Democrats. The Democratic party is not a free-trade party, and the fixed policy of this country is for protection. THE INDEPENDENTS IN 1888. Pittsburgh Times (Rep.). THE incurable fondness of the Independent Republican for metaphysical politics is exemplified in the latest utterance of one of the chiefs of the Independents. A correspondent of the New York Post advised the Connecticut Independents to accept the invitation of the Democratic Committee of that State and cast their lot in with the Democracy for good and all. If it be right for the Independents of Connecticut to do that it would be equally right for those in every other State to do a like thing. That is the logic of the advice, as will appear to any one who looks into the premises. It was clear enough to the editor of Harper's Weekly, and he attacks it. He shows that the Democracy has no sympathy with the spirit or purposes of the Independent Republicans and that they are fully aware of that. They never regarded their connection with the Republican party as finally severed, and did not mean to sever it by voting for Cleveland. The vote was for him and not for the Democracy. They fully understood that while their accession might give the party momentum it could not change the direction of the party. It would go straight ahead on the line on which it had encountered one defeat after another for a quarter of a century. The Independents, therefore, did not vote for it, but its candidate. The Democracy has shown that it is not in sympathy with the President, the editor continues, and there is no probability that it will renominate him. It would be folly in the Independents to become partisans now by becoming Democrats full-fledged. Under circumstances such as existed in 1884 they should and would vote as they did then. In no event would they vote for Mr. Blaine. In case of Mr. Blaine's "nomination they would vote as before, for Mr. Cleveland and not for his party." And what the editor admits of the failure of the President to control his party and change its direction, it is only an adept in metaphysical politics who can discover any difference between voting for Mr. Cleveland and voting for his party. The fact is that the Independents in supporting Mr. Cleveland helped to put the unchanged and unchangeable Democratic party into power, and another fact is that a chief of the Independents says that they will do the same thing again if Mr. Blaine is nominated, although insisting in the same breath that the Independents have not "accepted the Democratic party as a more promising agent than the Republican of their own purposes and principles." OTHER PRESIDENTIAL SPECULATIONS. Macon Telegraph (Dem.). SENATOR VOORHEES having formally declined the Vice-Presidency in advance, an Illinois syndicate of politicians have taken hold of it. Several conferences, it is said, have been held, according to accounts from Chicago. Mr. Morrison, of course, has no part in these negotiations, because Mr. Morrison stands apart from the Democratic leaders of Illinois. Then, too, he is a candidate for the Presidency, and pending that a candidate for the United States Senate. Representative Springer, Assistant Postmaster-General Stevenson, and Commissioner of Pensions Black are, next to Mr. Morrison, the foremost men among the Democratic politicians of Illinois. They have held several conferences to settle the question whether Stevenson or Black shall be put forward by the Illinois delegation in the next national convention for the Vice-Presidential nomination. Springer, who is content with his present position, and who is friendly to both Stevenson and Black, has acted as the adviser of both in these conferences. The proposition first considered in these conferences was that the one selected for the Vice-Presidential nomination should support the other for the United States Senatorship, when Cullom's successor-who will take his seat March 4, 1889-shall be elected. To this they both agreed. They have not as yet, it is understood, definitely determined which shall have the Vice-Presidential nomination, but have come to an understanding which indicates that Stevenson will be pressed for that, while Black will be pressed for United States Senator. Stevenson's greater popularity in Illinois leads to this choice. It will be remembered as an evidence of his popularity that he was thrice elected to Congress in a Republican district. Of course the action of Springer, Stevenson, and Black is equivalent to the information of a formal alliance on their part against Morrison, because in all their calculations they leave out of count both his Presidential and Senatorial aspirations. They say that he forfeited the further support of the Democratic party for the Senatorship, when he failed to beat Logan. They, of course, expect to see the next Illinois legislature Democratic. Mr. Morrison can dismiss any aspirations for the Presidency. Just now he will have his hands full to beat Jehu Baker for Congress. Jehu has been to Congress and deserves to go again. Mr. Morrison has a good thing. He and the faction that follow him have the offices and the patronage of the House. They can hold and enjoy this for some time to come, perhaps, and in the mean time they can juggle with horizontal bills and sass the real statesmen of the party. New York Sun (Dem.). THE Boston Herald publishes a story to the effect that the Democratic leaders in Illinois have made up their minds that Mr. Cleveland will be renominated in 1888, and have already begun to consider what Illinois man shall take second place. Mr. Morrison's name does not enter into these considerations, "because Mr. Morrison stands apart from the other Democratic leaders of Illinois," and because he is a candidate for the Presidency and intermediately for the Senate. The Hon. William M. Springer, the Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson, First Assistant Postmaster-General, and the Hon. John Charles Black, Commissioner of Pensions, so runs the tale, have formed a close combination against Mr. Morrison who is to be locked out. Mean while the triple combination is debating whether Mr. Stevenson or General Black shall be the candidate of Illinois for Vice-President in the next national convention. If Mr. Stevenson takes the Vice-Presidency, General Black will succeed Mr. Cullom in the Senate, and vice versa. Mr. Springer, it appears, is without ambition. This is a beautiful yarn, and any body who wants to believe that these distinguished Illinois politicians are dividing up offices beforehand, electing Cullom's successor, crushing Mr. Morrison, and counting their chickens before they are hatched, can believe it without charge. We don't mention the story to contradict it, but to observe that if the Hon. Adlai E, Stevenson chooses to run for the Vice-Presidency or any other office, there are few Democrats who could run better, Mr. Stevenson's bold, speedy, and scientific methods for the elimination of Republican postmasters have justly made him popular with Democrats. He belongs to the old school. He is a Jacksonian! Cincinnati Enquirer (Dem.). How delightful it is to see our Cincinnati editorial brethren dwell together in peace and unity. This pleasing and glorious spectacular reform has been achieved by the Enquirer. With feelings of pleasure we reproduce the following appreciative editorial from the Post, nominating our dear brother Halstead for the Presidency: "Nothing makes Mr. Halstead madder, since his apostasy from independent journalism, than to see how popular President Cleveland is with the people of the United States. To have a man in the President's chair too brave and true to be the tool of machine politicians, excites Halstead's ungovernable ire. But in spite of all his ravings and foolish imaginations of vain things, the fact remains that President Cleveland has the respect and the affectionate admiration the people always accord to an incorruptible, competent, successful man, elevated by their suffrages to a high and responsible office. The trouble with 'M. H.' is that he always thinks he could manage things so much better than anybody else. He thought he could conduct the war better than Grant, run the Government better than Lincoln, manage the United States Treasury better than Sherman, and now he thinks he would be an infinitely better President than Cleveland. The Post suggests that the next Republican National Convention nominate Halstead M. for President, and let him run against this man Cleveland, whose abilities and actions he so despises. It is the only way to teach Mr. Halstead how widely the people's judgment of him differs from his judgment of himself." Washington Sunday Herald (Dem.). THE article in the Constitution forbidding the establishment of any governmental religion evidently needs to be supplemented by another for locking up every pestilent fool who brings sectarian controversies into a national election. What does this device ever amount to? It is a two-edged sword, a blunderbuss that shoots both ways. By a singular chance, some Catholic priests secretly and a lot of Protestant ministers openly were all working for Blaine simultaneously in New York. The result was that they exactly neutralized each other, and the final Burchard bombshell wrecked Mr. Blaine's machinery altogether. It is said that some bitter Orangemen in Philadelphia voted against Blaine from religious prejudice; but he got 80,000 majority in their State all the same. It was actually attempted to rouse Roman Catholic feeling against Mr. Cleveland in 1884. The fact was that he had a crushing rejoinder ready in the number of Catholics he had appointed to office and numbered among his supporters, but with great good sense he and his friends kept back this very information, knowing that it would do more harm than good. If a man is a true American citizen he can be trusted to treat all denominations with fairness, for that virtue at least is thoroughly ingrained in the fiber of the American character. Boston Journal (Rep.). As in 1884 so in 1888 the Presidential contest will turn upon the State of New York. We shall hear a great deal about a divided South, but there is not a probability that the ballots will be any more honestly counted now than then. Who can carry New York? will be the great question, and the nominations of both parties will depend upon this question. It is by no means certain that Mr. Cleveland will be able to furnish sufficient evidence that he is sure to even scrape through. If he attempts to make the State solid for Cleveland he will offend forty or fifty thousand voters who rallied to his support, and should he prove true to his own promises and make manifest to the people that he is sincere in proclaiming that office is a public trust he will meet with complications in his own party which will be almost insurmountable. The defeat of Cleveland as a basis for a boom for Hill in 1892 would not be regarded by many Democrats in the Empire State as an unmitigated evil. Washington Special to the Baltimore American (Rep.). It seems as if the officials in the Treasury under the new Administration are never happy unless one or the other are at loggerheads or there are strained relations between them. The latest rumor to this effect is that Chief Clerk Youmans is in bad favor with the Administration because of his pronounced tendency to get up a Hill boom in that department. The chief clerk started the boom by having Gov. Hill's portrait on the mantel in his office, and this is considered by Cleveland ites as a deadly sin. Chief Clerk Youmans has gone home to New York, and many claim he will never come back; but those who know say this is ridiculous, because it would be next to suicidal, in the face of an election in New York, for Cleveland or his crowd to thus throw down the gauntlet to Hill. Mr. Youmans will return, but he will keep his Hill booms to himself, for awhile at least. But there is considerable talk about his action. Buffalo Courier (Dem.). THE New York Sun and the Buffalo Commercial quote a paper which has the assurance to say that " Mr. Cleveland wrote in 1884: No man ought to hold the office of President more than one term,'" without any intimation that the words attributed to the President are a falsification. It is almost needless to remark that President Cleveland never said or wrote the words quoted, or anything like them, that would have involved a reflection upon the memories of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Lincoln, and Grant, and looked like an attempt to bind not only himself but also those who would be his successors in office. Mobile Register (Dem.). EVEN those of them who have been criticising the policy of the administration are now trimming their sails to catch the popular breeze, and are acknowledging that the President's renomination and re-election are assured. It is very gratifying to the man who loves his country and glories in her greatness, and who hopes that the future will bring additional greatness and glory, to note that the great heart of the American people is in the right place, that purity, honesty, fidelity to duty and to pledges, and firmness in the discharge of duty are qualities that command the public respect and draw forth the public admiration. Washington Hatchet. (Ind.). THE general belief among politicians is that Hill will be able to get a larger vote in New York than Cleveland and this impression is being industriously cir culated in the interior. Since his victory over Davenport the estimate of his political sagacity has been considerably enlarged and his course as Governor has certainly strengthened him. Cleveland will go into the convention with the solid South, however, and this is an influence which it will be hard to overcome. As matters stand Cleveland has the pole. The Republicans prefer him as an oppo nent. Chicago Inter-Ocean (Rep.). THE Memphis Avalanche nominates Governor Foraker for the Republican Presidential candidate in 1888 because he has shown his ability to take defeat gracefully. The Governor has also displayed other qualities which make him popular in Ohio. He's a good fighter, knows how to lead to victory, and is as magnanimous to the defeated as he is philosophical in his own defeat. Ex-Governor Thomas H. Osborne, Kansas (Rep.). I THINK the Republican party will absorb the Prohibition vote in the next national campaign. I do not believe it would be necessary, for that reason, to enter into any alliance with them. They have no strength to speak of. The effort of the Republican party will be to elect the strongest man of requisite ability. Allison and Sherman are both good men if strong enough. Louisville Courier-Journal (Dem.). WE will make just two predictions which the World might cut out and paste up for future reference: I. If New York furnishes the next Democratic nominee for the Presidency-and the indications now are that it will-he will be Grover Cleveland. II. If Grover Cleveland be not the next Democratic nominee for the Presidency, he will be a Western man. Rockford, Illinois, Register (Dem.). THE two great parties are each endowed with surprising vitality, and neither can, at this distance of time, count with certainty on the result of the next national election. It is the right occasion, however, to suggest that the winner of 1888 must have a united party, and must avoid any candidate whose record would necessitate a defensive campaign. Atlanta Constitution (Dem.). IN October, 1888, it will be Cleveland and Blaine. In November, 1888, it will be Cleveland, by an increased majority. Those who feel that they can not become reconciled to either of the above events with satisfaction have just two years and one month in which to move out of the country. National Republican (Rep.). THE New York Democrats feel that they have a sure thing on the Presidential nomination of their party "for years and years "" to come. "Cleveland again in '88, Hill in '92" is the programme now in process of incubation by some of Mr. Cleveland's supporters. SENATOR LOGAN evidently lost his boom while on the Pacific Slope for the reason nothing has been heard of it lately. If Blaine finds it John will never see it again and Blaine is hunting still and awful close.-New Orleans States (Dem.). THE hopelessness of the Evening Post with regard to the Republican party in '88 would be even more pathetic, perhaps, if it didn't have so much to say about it-New York Graphic (Dem.). GENERAL LOGAN, good Republican as he is, heard the news from Maine with a great deal of satisfaction.-Indianapolis Sentinel (Dem.). ST. JOHN is said to be dyeing his moustache for the campaign of 1888. Cleveland ought to pay for the dye.-Providence Star (Rep.). It looks as if Grover Cleveland would be renominated and re-elected President in 1888 Washington Post (Dem.). MISCELLANEOUS. THE SPANIARDS OF TO-DAY.-It is appropriate to speak here of the character of the Spaniards. Their national pride is such that even to-day, after such calamities and unprecedented misfortunes, and so deep a fall, the foreigner who lives in their midst is led to doubt whether they are the Spaniards of the nineteenth century or the Spaniards of three hundred years ago. But it is a pride that offends none, a pride innocently rhetorical. They assuredly do not seek to disparage other nations in order to vaunt themselves as their superior. Far from it—they respect, appreciate, and admire them, but they reveal at the same time tokens of a superiority in their own estimation which retracts from this admiration a luminous evidence. They are in respect to other nations benevolent, but with that benevolence which Leopardi justly observes is peculiar to men who are full of conceit of themselves; who, believing themselves admired of all, are kindly-disposed toward their own supposed admirers; and for the very reason that they regard this sentiment as appropriate to that pre-excellence with which they esteem themselves to have been especially favored by destiny. There could never have been in the world a people more vain-glorious of its history than the Spanish people. It is a thing almost incredible-the boy who blacks your boots, the porter who carries your valise, the beggar who solicits your alms, raises his head as proudly erect, as with flashing eyes he hears the name of Charles V, of Philip II, of Fernando Cortes, of Don John of Austria, as if they were heroes of his own times, and he had seen them on the day previous enter the city in triumph. The name of Spain is uttered with the accent in which the Romans must have pronounced that of Rome in the most glorious days of the republic. When Spain is spoken of modesty is banished from men naturally the most modest without the appearance of any trace upon their countenance of that exaltation of mind which condones their intemperance of language. Pæans are habitually sung in sang froid without even their perceiving it. In their speeches before their parliament, in the articles of their journals, in the writings of their academies, they call the Spanish people, without periphrase, un pueblo de heroes-a people of heroes, "the great nation! the marvel of the world! the glory of the age! "" It is rare to hear them utter, or to read a hundred words of any orator or writer, and before it matters not what auditory, without first or last hearing sounded the refrain of Lepanto, the discovery of America, the War of Independence, followed by an outburst of applause. In point of fact, the tradition of the War of Independence constitutes among the Spanish people a force intrinsically immense. He who has never lived for a greater or. less time in Spain would scarcely believe that a war, however fortunate or glorious, could leave among a people so profound a faith in their national valor. Baylen, Victoria, San Marcial, are to Spain traditions even more potent than are Marengo, Zena, Austerlitz to Frenchmen. The idea of a foreign invasion excites among Spaniards a smile of contempt and derision, they do not believe in the possibility of being vanquished in their own country. One should have heard the tone in which they spoke of Germany, when a rumor prevailed that the Emperor William had resolved to maintain by force of arms the Duke of Aosta on the throne. The year 1808 is the year 93 of Spain-it is a date which every Spaniard has written before his eyes in characters of fire; the women boast of it, and boys, children even just commencing to lisp their native tongue; it is the slogan of the nation. And their writers and artists exhibit the same arrogance. Beggars instead of saying Spain, speak of it often as the "country of Cervantes." No writer in the world ever possessed among his people a popularity so great as the author of Don Quixotte in Spain. I do not believe that there is a peasant, a shepherd from the Pyrenees to the Sierra Nevada, from the coast of Valenza to the hills of Estremadura, who, if interrogated as to who Cervantes was, would not reply with a smile "The immortal author of Quixotte!" The national defect of character among the Spaniards and which strikes the foreigner from the first is this: That in their estimate of things, the men and events of their time and country, so to speak, kick the balance—they magnify everything, they see everything as if through a lens which dilates preposterously the outlines. For a long period, having had no direct participation in the common life of Europe, they are deprived of the opportunity to compare themselves with other States, and to judge themselves by the comparison. For this reason their civil war, the wars of South America, of Africa, and of Cuba, are of them, what was to us, not the insignificant war of 1860-'61 against the papal army, or even the revolution of 1860, but the great war of the Crimea, that of 1859, and that of 1866. Of the battles, bloody unquestionably, but not great, which illustrated the Spanish armies in those wars, they speak as the French do of Solferino, as the Prussians of Sadowa, the Austrians of Custoza, Prim, Serrano; the O'Donnells are generals whom they put alongside of the most illustrious of other countries. I remember the uproar caused at Madrid by the victory won by General Morriones over four or five thousand Carlists, the deputies in the conversation hall of the Cortes exclaiming enthusiastically, Ah, it is the Spanish blood!" For the rest, how much they are like ourselves, Italians! To hear this people speak of politics, one might imagine himself in Italy. They do not discuss, they pass judgment; they never criticise, but condemn. For every judgment, an opinion suffices, and to form an opinion a sign is all that is needed. In the men who have had a hand in all the political revolutions from thirty years ago to the present time, they have lost their trust; even through the lower classes there is permeating a feeling of discomfort and discontent, of which one hears the expression at every step and on every occasion : Pobre Espana! Desgraciado pais! Desdichados espanoles! Poor Spain! Unhappy country! Unfortunate people!-Translated from the Italian of Edmondo de Amicis for Public Opinion. TOUCHY PEOPLE.-There was much kindly wisdom in Sir Walter Scott's advice to his daughters to beware of a proneness to take, as well as to give, offense. Touchy folk are trying companions. Over-sensitiveness (this is the charitable description of a disposition to be offended at trifles) is, perhaps, rather a modern than an ancient weakness; though history presents a fair list of people who were as fallible in this respect as any of their later descendants. Could any touchiness ex- mair liars in the parish than me." The worthy divine had intended no personal THE TRANS-ATLANTIC STEAMERS-SOME OF THEIR FAST TRIPS.-We take the following from an interesting article in the Boston Commercial-Bulletin on the great Atlantic steamship lines: In 1850 the average voyage between New York and Liverpool was 15 days. In 1855 it was cut down to 14 days. In 1860 the average was 13 days, and in 1865 111⁄2 days. The year 1867 witnessed the accomplishment of the passage by the Inman steamer City of Paris in 8 days, 3 hours and I minute. From that time up to 1875 the City of Brussels had made the best record-New York to Queenstown in 7 days, 20 hours and 33 minutes; but the average was 81⁄2 days. The City of Berlin, however, made the last trip in that year in 7 days, 14 hours and 12 minutes, the run being eastward. In 1873 the Baltic of the White Star line made a voyage in 7 days, 20 hours and 9 minutes. In 1876 the record was beaten by the Germanic and Britannic of the White Star line, the former making the eastward passage in 7 days, 15 hours and 17 minutes, and the latter in 7 days, 12 hours and 41 minutes. Those two vessels continued cutting down the time the next year (1877), the Germanic making a westward voyage in 7 days, II hours and 37 minutes, and her sister ship in 7 days, 10 hours and 53 minutes. This record was allowed to stand until 1880 or 1881 when the Arizona of the Guion line reduced the time between Queenstown and New York to 7 days, 8 hours and 32 minutes, and the return voyage in 7 days, 7 hours and 48 minutes. The Arizona made thirteen trips in 1881, all of them in less than eight days. She was regarded as the fastest vessel on the ocean until her sister ship, the Alaska, was put on the line. In 1882 the Alaska made the run from Queenstown to New York in 7 days, i hour and 50 minutes, and the return trip was made in 6 days, 18 hours and 37 minutes. The round trip was made, not àllowing for stoppages, in 13 days, 20 hours and 27 minutes, or in about the same time as were the average trips, one way, in 1860. Four months later the Alaska made a voyage to Queenstown in 6 days, 22 hours and 10 minutes, thus making the trip in less than a week. In the following September the Alaska did still better, reducing the time between New York and Queenstown to 6 days, 15 hours and 19 minutes. The fastest time of the Inman line was that made in 1882-7 days, 22 hours and 57 minutes. There were great expectations entertained as to what the City of Rome would do in cutting down time, but these expectations were not realized. That ship cost $1,500,000. She was rejected by the company as she failed in freight capacity and speed, and drew four feet more water than was agreed upon. She is now run by the Anchor line; and Williams & Guion, the pioneers in the fastsailing service, came to grief and were also compelled to let go of their pride, the Oregon, which was purchased by the Cunard company and now lies at the bottom of the deep. It is, however, the general averages attained in a succession of voyages, and in the increasing speed shown, that improvement is illustrated. The Britannic, in 1875, averaged 9 days, 5 hours and 35 minutes for each westward voyage, and the Germanic days, 5 hours and 35 minutes. In 1880 the former had got the time down to average 8 days, 8 hours and 27 minutes, and the Germanic hers to 8 days, 20 hours and 17 minutes. The Cunard vessels for several years were surpassed in speed by the White Star and Guion steamships, but that company finding that its reputation for safety and good management was not enough, concluded to make an effort for ships of greater speed, and built among other vessels the Aurania, Servia and Gallia, and with these they speedily came to the front, the Aurania having recently made one of the quickest voyages ever made between New York and Queenstown. And the time of the later ships is much better than it appears on the surface, because the computation of time is not made between Sandy Hook and mail delivery at Queenstown, but between the Battery and its anchorage at Queenstown; and because all the vessels of this line go in a line, vigorously adhered to, in all seasons, which is from 90 to 140 miles longer than the routes generally followed by the other passenger steamships. The fast ocean mail is now confined chiefly to the Cunard line and the North German Lloyd, and the advantageous competition between these lines is remarked by business men. The Elbe and the Arrar (new) are racers of this line. The former has made the voyage between Southampton and Sandy Hook in 8 days, 4 hours and 25 minutes, which would be the equivalent of 7 days, 9 hours and 49 minutes between Sandy Hook and Queenstown. The steaming time between New York and Queenstown is, say, 7 days, but this time is confined to three or four vessels. From Queenstown to London, by the mail train to Dublin, thence by steamer across the channel, and fast mail from Holyhead to London, is a run of some 18 hours. From New York to Southampton, at which port the North German Lloyd's steamers touch, is about 3,130 miles, and the run between these ports is made by its ships in about 8 days. From Southampton to London is two and one-half hours by rail. The result is that mails sent out by steamer on the same day from New York, and touching at these two points, reach London by way of Southampton, several hours advance of those which go via Queenstown. SANITARY SCIENCE AND LIFE-SAVING.-At the annual dinner of the Public Sanitary Inspectors in London Mr. Edwin Chadwick presented some striking comparisons showing how much more the European governments expend for the destruction than the preservation of human life. Citing the fact that an appropriation intended to guard Naples against a visitation of cholera remained unpaid because the expenditures for war ships had created a deficit in the treasury. Mr. Chadwick proceeded to show what the amount expended for one vessel would effect if employed with a view to save rather than destroy human life. He said: The expenditure of a million at 5 per cent. the cost of the big ship would, at this rate, be equal to the sanitation of 66,666 houses, or, at five inhabitants per house (the subur. ban average with us), it would serve for 333,333 inhabitants. Suppose the expenditure effected a reduction of the death rate by only five per 1,000 (and on the average of the towns under the separate system is in its use nine per 1,000), the saving of life would be 1,667 per annum. But to each case of death there are, at the least, twenty cases of bed-lying sickness of adults, so that there would be a total annual saving of at least 33,330 cases of sickness for each big ship. For the decade the saving would be of 16,667 lives and 333,333 cases of sickness. Mr. Chadwick's estimates are well supported by the results attained by sanitary science both in Europe and in the United States. Previous to Dr. Farr's barrack reform in the British army the death rate was fifteen per 1,000. But it has since been reduced below six, while the use of sanitary precautions in the 'German army has cut the rate down to five per 1,000, which is about half the ratio in the civil population of the same ages. In the Indian army the old rate of sixty-nine has been changed to twelve in 1,000, and it is calculated that in the last decade this represents a gain of 40,000 in force and the saving of £6,000,000 in money. Russia is sadly behind in the observance of sanitary precautions, and her army death rate is three times that of Germany. Until quite recently the average loss at each visitation of cholera in St. Petersburgh was 20,000, but sanitation finally reduced it one-fourth, although in the Russian towns and villages which still remain cesspools of filth the old death rate is unchanged. Army reports are held to afford the best tests of sanitary precautions, since in the military service regulations can be rigidly enforced. Equally striking results are reached in asylums and in prisons, once the breeding-places of pestilence, but now, owing to sanitary regulations, seats of the highest health. In the half-time pauper schools of England, recruited from the lowest classes of the community, the death rate is claimed to be one-third that among children of the general population. Statistics gathered in this country tend in the same direction and go show that Mr. Chadwick's estimates of the results easily reached by sanitary science are within the mark. Commenting on an appropriation recently proposed in pestilence-smitten Spain for the building of war vessels, Mr. Chadwick contends that to if the sum were expended for sanitation it would in a decade save 183,335 lives and 3,666,667 cases of sickness; but such an expenditure would be hooted at, although in the last visitation of cholera Spain lost more of her population than in the great Peninsular war. Militarianism is a ruling principle with the European governments and they are willing to expend vastly greater sums to destroy their enemies than to preserve the lives of their own people. This disposition may changed when it is understood that sanitation not only prolongs the lives of inva lids and non-combatants, but increases the actual fighting force of a nation. Only in that event will the militant nations expend anything like as much for life-saving as for life-destroying.-Chicago Tribune. be THE BEGGAR NUISANCE IN PARIS.-It has struck every stranger visiting Paris, the beggars he continually meets with in the livliest and best quarters of the city, who exhibit some physical infirmity as an appeal to the compassion of the way. farer. Frequently he encounters women bearing in their arms a child enveloped in a rag in the neighborhood of the Exchange or of the Opera. The stranger then enters into a philosophical monologue on the contiguity of the highest luxury and the deepest misery in large cities, gives a few sous and continues his promenade, But if he sojourns longer in Paris he soon discovers that it is not with the unfor tunate and indigent that he has to deal, who, under the pressure of extreme want, stretch forth their hands, but with professional mendicants, who, with the spoils of the compassionate, carry on a lucrative and constantly-increasing business. It is always the same people whom one encounters in the same localities, and who, in a certain measure, have acquired a vested right to the place, which they zealously defend against every possible rival. To each and every mendicant it is known that after having worked for years at a particularly remunerative spot, an individual confrere has withdrawn from the business, and proposes to increase his income from the profits of his mendicancy by selling his stand to a successor. Those beggar stands are very much in request which are frequented by people of rank and of wealth, and the beggars complain that they are compelled to pay hire for a place of this description to the church administration or its representatives. Meanwhile the business flourishes despite of it all. A stand on the principal boulevards has made of it occupant a rich proprietress of real estate. Notwithstanding this she continues the business, giving herself no further trouble to conceal her opulence, for she orders for her breakfast and dinner an abundant and appetizing meal, which is brought to her with a bottle of wine, and these she consumes under the eyes of such of her patrons as may be passing at the moment. This woman has no legs, it goes without saying that they were shot off by the Prussians at the siege of Paris-as a matter of fact she suffered the loss as a child from falling out of a third-story window. Other beggars whose repulsive exterior, from esthetic or other considerations, banish them from the boulevards appear elsewhere with a real field officer's staff, often of three or four persons, who see to the collection of the alms, or, more justly expressed, blackmail. In the class of "big beggars" may appropriately be included a mendicant who, in his day-ten years ago-exercised his trade on horseback, and extended towards the poor pedestrian for his tribute a bag attached to a walking-stick. A peculiarly repulsive impression is made upon the mind by children, whose mendicancy is directed by agents, who naturally appropriate the lion's share of the booty. How unquestionably it may be assumed that the health of these poor children suffers severely under the trial, and that no child in this vocation can long survive. It never enters into the mind of the police authorities, however, or at least rarely, to interpose in arresting this revolting practice. In pitiful imbecility and impotency the Parisians affirm that nothing can be done to foil professional beggars, because thereby the non-professional would suffer. As if there were any of the latter on or near the boulevards! If a strange beggar should once venture to show himself there he would be so pounded and pummeled by the old settlers that it is very certain he would never put in a second appearance.-Translated from the German for Public Opinion. A CHAPTER ON CHARITY.-Nearly three weeks have gone by since the earthquake laid more than half of Charleston in ruins, and thus far the total amount subscribed by the whole country falls short of three hundred thousand dollars. For some reason or another the men of large fortunes have closed their ears to the appeals of the unfortunate city, and they have been encouraged in their stinginess by some of the daily journals, which have magnified the little molehill of money that has been raised into a mountain of benevolence. New York has contributed about one hundred thousand dollars, and one of the gushing journals declares that it is marvelous. Why, the World raised as large a sum in dimes and quarters for the Bartholdi statue pedestal, and one of the Parnell city committees sent seventyfive thousand dollars to the Irish leader in a few weeks to help him to elect and pay seventy or eighty members of Parliament. Not only that, but the committee have still a balance of nearly sixty thousand dollars in bank. One of our wealthy citi zens contributed five hundred dollars. His fortune is set down at fifty millions. The five hundred dollars he sent to Charleston would not pay the expenses of his yacht for half a week. And so it is with a very few exceptions all around. The millionaires have not come up to the occasion. Two hundred thousand dollars from the eight and fifty millions of people outside Manhattan Island, from the chains of cities and towns up and down and across the Republic, is simply a dis Mr. Bayard did grace. By this time it ought to be at least five times that sum. wisely in directing Minister Phelps not to reject the offer of the Lord Mayor of London, and he would show still more wisdom if he directed all our foreign min isters to make an appeal for help, however humiliating it may be, to the people to whom they are accredited.-The Hour. TIPPING WAITERS. As regards the vexed question of fees to waiters to which I referred yesterday, I have a friend who braces himself up against the temptation to encourage what he believes to be an extortion, by occasionally frequenting second-class restaurants where such gratuities are not expected. Then he returns to the swell establishment fortified against the practice, but he soon yields to it again and has to go back to the cheaper restaurants to save his dignity and his quarters. Being in a restaurant of the second class where I had been waited on assidu ously by an evidently overworked young damsel I took occasion to leave a dime or two on the table as I started out. But my good intentions were frustrated by the modesty or ignorance of the fair waitress, who called out to me as I was about leaving the establishment: "Sir, you've left something." Not wishing to be the first to corrupt this refreshing innocence I went back and pocketed my dimes. One difficulty about this fee business is that the sum expected, and too often given, is out of all proportion to the service rendered. In Paris there is a certain understood ratio between the amount of the fee and that of the bill, but with us one has, so to speak, to show the waiter no quarter to avoid giving him a relatively large proportion of one's income. I always admire the way in which a very selfrespecting and self-asserting bon vivant showed his desire to cut down the fees of waiters to a minimum and at the same time to ridicule the whole system. As the waiter held out his itching palm for the gratuity the epicure dropped a cent into it. 66 'Oh, sir, you've made a mistake!" blurted out the waiter. "No," replied the donor, with an air of dignified benevolence, "I never give less."-Taverner in the Boston Post. "DESTINED TO LICK CREATION."—"America is a big fact," said an American, and no one will gainsay the proposition. The Americans delight in big things; they have the biggest rivers, the biggest trees, the biggest cities, the biggest fires, the biggest successes, and the biggest failures of any people in the world. As one of them humorously said, when making fun of the weaknesses which are always an index of strength: "Our country has more lakes, and they are bigger and deeper and clearer and wetter than those of any other country. Our rail-cars are bigger, and run faster and pitch off the track oftener than in any other country. Our steamboats carry bigger loads, are longer and broader, burst their boilers oftener, and send up their passengers higher than in any other country," and so on. But this, of course, is "high falutin'." We shall, however, enjoy, as we tarry in the cities of the New World, the healthy humor of the people, which crops up everywhere and in everything, and is relished as much as maple sugar or stewed clams. We shall try to see the American as he sees himself, and if we do not exactly take the same view of him as "half horse and half alligator, with a dash of earthquake," we may see him as "the child of nature and of freedom, destined to lick all creation."-Cities of the World. BREAD A CENTURY OLD.-The keeper of the archives for the Hungarian county of Marmaros found lately, stored away with some ancient registers, a packet bearing this inscription: Qualitas panis Marmatici in penuria, A. D. 1786 (quality of the Marmaros bread in the year of want, 1786). The bread is partly composed of oatmeal, but the greater proportion of it is the bark of trees. The country authorities have directed the specimen to be preserved in the local museum.-London Paper. FINANCE AND COMMERCE. BUSINESS OUTLOOK.-The latest reports from all business centers indicate a better and a much larger distribution of merchandise than has been noted for several years. This increase of distribution has already begun to cause widespread tendency toward higher prices for staple goods. Without exception, from all parts of the country the reports indicate a large trade with stronger prices. The clearing-house reports, which are not always a sure measure of the volume of business at any time, show that in thirty cities last week there was an increase of clearings of $95,579,422. This is an increase of 12.4 per cent. over the preceding week and against a year ago a gain of 20 per cent. This gain is, doubtless, due in part to a rival of speculative activity on the New York stock market, the transactions the past week being double those of the corresponding week of last year. The wheat crop, which turns out considerably better than was estimated a month ago, appears to be seeking a market earlier. than last year. The foreign demand, as shown by the volume of trade, is considerably larger, the export being 15,500,000 bushels during last August against 5,750,000 bushels in August, 1885. The same is true of other of our staplesthe export of breadstuffs, provisions, cotton, and petroleum during July and August, 1886, being $60,461,319 against $48,098,007 during the corresponding months of 1885. The reports from the dry goods trade in this city are remarkably Cotton goods are sold closely up to the mills, and the general distribution of goods is considerably ahead of last year. Money has been little easier of late, but the rates are firm at between 5 and 6 per cent. Government bonds have advanced because of the purchases of the national banks to take the place of the 3 per cents which have been called in. The present tendency of gold is toward this country because of the improved condition of the money market. The increase in the earnings of leading railroad lines continues compared with the earnings of last year. In short, all reports and indications show that business has already improved very generally, and that the present satisfactory conditions may be expected to continue.-Boston Journal. favorable. AMERICAN INVESTMENTS AND BRITISH INVESTORS.—In discussing Mr. Swann's readable little volume entitled "An Investor's notes on American railroads, Bradstreet's says: In view of the tendency of English investors toward "Americans," such a work as that of Mr. Swann is particularly opportune. Not the least interesting feature of it is the reason he advances for the prevalence of this tendency, which the author states as follows: Possibly, if the European outlook had not been somewhat stormy and large changes in the conditions affecting property in the British empire had not been distinctly foreshadowed, the interest of the investors as such might have rightly been considered a matter of small immediate moment and underserving special consideration. But it is conceived by the present writer that very large changes in European investment are likely to occur in the course of the next few years, and that a liberal transfer of capital will be made from European to American securities. * * However great and noble may be the advantages * which are likely to accrue to the British empire from the onward march of Democracy, it must be admitted that the financial outlook, if not in the last degree depressing, is at least stormy." Continuing, the author remarks: "The feasibility of judicious investment in America has of late been the subject of warm discussion in European circles, and grave issues have been raised by the partisans of incompatible theories. There are many who think that whenever Europe invests capital in America, it will of necessity follow that America will make the profit, and that Europe will have to be content with the experience. There are others who think that the existing Constitution of America affords a substantial security for vested interests, and they consider that invested money has, on the whole, a better prospect in America than elsewhere." This is certainly an interesting view of an important subject. Americans may, perhaps, be inclined to underrate the potency of Mr. Swann's arguments, so far as they refer to the effect of the progress of Democracy upon the British investor, but as a tribute to the stability and excellence of our own institutions his opinion is to be accepted as a compliment. TAXATION AND MANUFACTURE.-If the increase in taxes in the large cities in this country continues as it has been doing, manufacturing in such places will in the main have to be abandoned. In many instances there are advantages in such locations, but as taxes work along up they more than neutralize these advantages as compared with other places where taxes are lower. There is scarcely a city in the country where the rate of taxation is not felt in the way of a burden to manufacturers. Competition is close and the profits are small; it is not to be expected that they will ever be as large as they were a few years ago. Manufacturers are obliged to look closely to their expense account, and when they find this swelled by a city levy about equal to the current rate of interest, the prospect of competing with rivals located where the art of extreme taxation has not been learned is not encouraging. Prospective manufacturers will be more likely in the future to scan the tax levy of a city before investing money in manufacturing enterprises. As an instance of this, a few weeks since a company was desirous of establishing extensive works in a city near New York. There were special reasons why they would like to locate there. They found a satisfactory site without difficulty, and the prospects of large works, to employ several hundred hands, being built were excellent. At the last moment the matter of taxes came up. Looking into this they found them enormously high, and increasing from year to year. The company decided that notwithstanding the reasons in favor of that city the single item of taxes more than balanced them, and went elsewhere. It requires high taxes to meet the stealing and waste from lack of business methods in city affairs, and usually a manufacturing property is easily come at to tax. Unless they are afforded the relief of honest use of money raised by taxation, manufacturers will be found more and more in smaller towns where the lower burden of taxes will leave them something in the way of profit.-American Machinist. THE COTTON INDUSTRY.-The disposition of the cotton crop, as well as the amount produced, presents several important features. In the past five years there has been no material increase in the amount produced, while the amount exported in proportion to the crop has steadily increased, especially since 1882. Under these circumstances it is evident that the consumption by domestic mills is not growing, as many suppose. The falling off in amount consumed at home in the past three years may be attributed mainly to the depressed state of trade. The following shows the total crop in bales of 440 pounds, the bales exported, and the proportion of exports to total crop for six years past: The crop of 1885 was not above the average, still 84 per cent. of it went abroad, from which it is quite evident that home manufacture was lightest for six years past, and as a natural result the market is by no means overstocked with this kind of manufactured goods. The foreign demand does not slacken, for in August last the exports of raw cotton exceeded the export for the corresponding month of 1885 8,560 bales. Domestic manufacture is now more active than for four years, and promises to become more flourishing as trade improves. CATTLE IN SOUTH AMERICA.-Considerable progress is being made in cattlebreeding in the Argentine Republic and in Uruguay, and emigrants from Britain are occupying estancias for the breeding of cattle and sheep. The prepared meat exportation is extending, and is likely to surpass the traffic done in wool. Suitable steamers for the conveyance of live stock to Europe are much needed, and also better shipping facilities at Buenos Ayres and Monte Video. The Banda Orientale possesses excellent facilities for shipment, and the soil and climate are pre-eminently adapted for the cultivation of corn and the breeding of flocks and herds. The Uruguayans and their British confreres are equally industrious, and a Scotch settler writes that they are certain to become in the near future formidable competitors in the food supply of Europe. This exactly corroborates the official statement we recently published, and it is remarkable that within the past five years the potential capacity of production in stock and corn is practically beyond estimation, and is still rapidly increasing.-Live Stock Journal. THE BUSINESS BOOм.-The confidence which was felt in the activity of business this fall is being fully justified. From all over the country comes news of the increased distribution of merchandise, and from the manufacturing districts the reports are all of stiffening prices and pressure of orders. Imports of the raw materials of manufacture have been much heavier than last year, and the general increase of Western railroad earnings indicates the activity in the movement of produce for home and foreign consumption. But for a certain feeling of insecurity |