being charged with cartridges of nitro-glycerin, connected by wires with a battery, were simultaneously fired. Gen. Newton's little daughter, a child of four or five years old, laid her small hand on the key completing the circuit, and fired the largest blasting charge ever exploded. There had been great fear of the possible effects upon the neighborhood of so large a blast, but nothing was injured except the dangerous reef. That, it appears, was so effectually shattered, that the experiment can be called a perfect success.

1875, DECEMBER. — The annual report of the production of the precious metals for 1875 in the states and territories west of the Missouri River, showed an aggregate of $80,889,037.

1875, DECEMBER. This year it was reported that there were sixteen clearing-houses, established in as many various cities, and that three hundred and thirty-four banks are associated in their support for the purpose of effecting their exchanges.

These clearing-houses are situated in the following cities:

New York, New York, established in 1855, and supported by 59 banks.
Boston, Massachusetts,

1856,

66

49

66

San Francisco and Louisville had also taken steps to form their clearing-houses.

1875, DECEMBER. The report of the commercial failures for the year amounted to seven thousand seven hundred and forty, with gross liabilities of $201,060,353.

The following classification for the years 1875 and 1874 was given:

1876, JANUARY 1.- A general celebration of the opening of the centennial year of our national existence was held all over the country.

The various cities of the country, from Maine to Louisiana, took part in the celebration. Philadelphia, as the city in which independence was declared, cel

ebrated that event at midnight, at Independence Hall, by appropriate ceremonies, in which an immense throng took part.

1876, MARCH 2.-The Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, sent his resignation to the President, which was accepted.

He was charged by the Committee of the House on Expenditures in the War Department with embezzlement, and confessed the truth of the charge. The House Committee on the Judiciary prepared articles of impeachment against him; and on April 5, the Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment, organized and notified the House. On the 17th the trial began, and on August 1st, the vote being taken on the charges, on the first charge thirty-five senators voted guilty, and twenty-five not guilty; on the second, third, and fourth charges, thirty-six senators voted guilty, and twenty-five not guilty; on the fifth charge, thirty-seven senators voted guilty, and twenty-five not guilty: which, being not two-thirds of the Senate, a judgment of acquittal was entered, in accordance with the twentysecond rule for the government of impeachment trials. In explaining their votes, twenty of the senators stated that they had voted not guilty because they believed that the Senate had no jurisdiction in the case, as the defendant's resignation as Secretary had been accepted before the charges were brought.

1876, MARCH 27.-The Supreme Court gave a decision which affected the construction of the Enforcement Act of 1871.

Chief Justice Waite gave the decision. The case was No. 339. The United States, plaintiff's in error, vs. William J. Cruikshank and Others. The defendants were indicted under the act of 1871, for “banding and conspiring” to intimidate certain colored men, with the intent to hinder them in the free exercise of their rights under the Constitution and laws of the United States. The Chief Justice stated that it was the duty of the State to protect its citizens in the enjoyment of their rights. It is not the duty of the United States to do this, their obligation being to see that the States do not deny their rights. The United States have no voters of their own; they are the creations of the States. The fifteenth amendment gave a constitutional right against discrimination.

1876, MARCH 29.-The governor of Mississippi, Adelbert Ames, resigned his office.

Colonel J. M. Stone, president pro tempore of the State senate, was installed as governor, and the same day the house of representatives instructed the managers of the impeachment case against him to discontinue proceedings and withdraw the articles.

1876, MARCH 30.-The dam of the Lynde Brook reservoir, which supplied the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, with water, commenced to break away.

The reservoir contained seven hundred and sixty million gallons of water, the pressure of which finally carried away the dam bodily, and the water poured out in a mass twenty feet high, sweeping everything before it, and destroying property estimated at five hundred thousand dollars. As the alarm was given in time, the loss of life was small, only three persons, it was said, being destroyed.

1876, APRIL 17.- An act passed by Congress for the payment of the fractional currency was approved.

It directs the Secretary of the Treasury to give silver coins of the United

States, of ten, twenty, twenty-five, and fifty cents standard value, in redemption of an equal amount of fractional currency, whether the same be now in the treasury awaiting redemption, or whenever it may be presented for payment; and the Secretary may provide for such redemption and issue by substitution at the regular sub-treasuries and public depositories until the whole amount of fractional currency outstanding shall be redeemed. And the fractional currency redeemed under this act shall be held as part of the sinking fund provided for by existing law, the interest to be computed thereon as in the case of the bonds redeemed under the act relating to the sinking fund.

1876, APRIL 18.-The President vetoed the bill, passed by Congress, entitled "An Act fixing the salary of the President of the United States."

He said he was "constrained to this course from a sense of duty to my successors in office, to myself, and to what is due to the dignity of the position of chief magistrate of a nation of more than forty millions of people." The veto ended: "Having no personal interest in this matter, I have felt myself free to return this bill to the House in which it originated, with my objections, believing that in so doing I meet the wishes and judgment of the great majority of those who indirectly pay all the salaries and other expenses of the government."

1876, MAY 10.-The Centennial Exhibition in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, opened.

1876, JUNE 25.- An expedition against the Sioux, under the command of General George A. Custer, was slaughtered by the Indians on the Big Horn River, in the Black Hills country.

1876, JULY 22.-A joint resolution of Congress for the issue of silver coin was approved.

It authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to issue at any time the silver coin in the treasury, to an amount not exceeding ten million dollars, in exchange for an equal amount of legal-tender notes, such notes to be kept in reserve, and reissued only when an equal amount of fractional currency had been retired and destroyed. The Secretary was also authorized to limit the coinage of the trade dollar, which was thenceforth not to be counted as a legal tender. The coinage of silver coin was also authorized, to an amount not exceeding fifty millions of dollars. The resolution provided also for the purchase of silver bullion from time to time, at market rates.

1876, AUGUST 5.-The House passed a bill to repeal as much of the specie resumption act of 1875 as makes it go into operation on the 1st of January, 1879.

1876, AUGUST 24. - The Secretary of the Treasury contracted with another "syndicate " for the sale of forty million dollars of four and one-half per cent. bonds authorized by the acts of July 14, 1870, and January 20, 1871.

The syndicate was composed of August Belmont & Co., on behalf of MM. Rothschild & Sons, and J. & W. Seligman & Co.; and Drexel, Morgan & Co., on behalf of J. S. Morgan & Co.; and Morton, Bliss & Co. The contract gave them the exclusive right of subscribing for the remainder of the bonds author

ized, or any part of them, on or before June 30, 1877, the secretary reserving the right to terminate the contract any time before March 4, 1877, by giving due notice. The terms of the contract were that the syndicate were to have one half of one per cent.. and pay the expenses.

1876, OCTOBER 1.-A form for keeping their accounts, with a set of rules for their guidance, which had been prepared for the railroads of Massachusetts by the Board of Railroad Commissioners, went into operation.

The legislature of Massachusetts had passed an act entitled "An Act to secure greater publicity and uniformity in the accounts of railroad corporations," by which the necessary power was conferred upon the Board to enable them to gradually reduce the railroad returns of the State to an intelligible system. In accordance with the provisions of the act, an examiner of railroad accounts was appointed, and the representatives of all the roads in the State were invited to meet the Board and co-operate in the work of preparing the best method of railroad accounts, and agreeing upon a code of rules under which they should in future be kept as nearly as possible in a uniform manner. The meeting was very generally attended, and the result was the preparation of the form and the rules spoken of above. The rules being prepared, a conference was arranged by the Board, of the Railroad Commissioners, or those having control of the railroad returns in the New England States and New York, which was held in Boston September 6th. At this conference, the whole subject of inter-state railroad accounts and returns was discussed, and it was finally agreed to unite in recommending for general adoption in the States represented, except Rhode Island, a similar form and rules. A memorial to this effect was prepared for the legisla tures of the various States, asking for legislation by which the system should be introduced, and sent with a copy of the form and rules, and signed by the commissioners for Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the State engineers of New York.

1876, OCTOBER 4.- The librarians of the country met in Philadelphia to consult upon bibliographical science, and formed an association to be known as the American Library Association.

Justin Winsor, of Boston, was elected president, and Melvil Dewey, of Amherst, Massachusetts, secretary.

1876, OCTOBER 17.- The President issued a proclamation warning the "rifle clubs" in South Carolina to disperse within three days.

On the same day, the Secretary of War issued an order to General Sherman to order "all the available force in the military division of the Atlantic to report to General Ruger, commanding at Columbia, South Carolina, and instruct that officer to station his troops in such localities that they may be most speedily and effectually used in case of resistance to the authority of the United States."

1876, OCTOBER 25.- The Continental Life Insurance Company of New York suspended.

In the investigation of its condition, the facts were brought to light that it had instituted a new system by which its policy-holders were swindled, agents being sent through the country by its president to spread the report of its insolvency,

and by appeals to the fears of the policy-holders, induce them to part with their policies.

1876, OCTOBER.

A convention of American bankers was held in Philadelphia, and an association organized for their mutual benefit.

Mr. Charles B. Hall, of Boston, was elected president, and J. D. Hays secretary, with a list of vice-presidents from the various States, and an executive council.

1876, OCTOBER.-The American Fish Culturists' Association held a convention in Philadelphia.

1876, NOVEMBER 1.-The report of the comptroller of the currency for 1876 gave the following figures of the currency:

$367,535,716 $65,692 $28,555,478 $396,156,886 $322,841,308 $718,990,194

The same source gives the following statement of the national banks:

The national banks seeking to influence Congress to lessen their taxation, it was testified before the Committee of Ways and Means by Mr. J. D. Hays, of Detroit, that forty-nine national banks, with a capital of over ten millions, had failed during the year; that two hundred and one, with a capital of nearly twentyeight millions, had gone into voluntary liquidation; and that the propositions at that time being considered in New York alone for the reduction of their capital by other national banks, amounted to twelve and one half millions, or about twelve per cent. of their capital. Before the same committee, Mr. Coe, the president of a New York bank, testified: "As for the dividends of the banks in the city of New York, one half of them have not for the last two years earned their dividends, and for the last year not one third of them." And again: "I say that our institutions did not earn the dividends which they have declared, but they have paid them out of their reserves, because they could not help responding to the agonies of their stockholders and the necessities of the case. I tell you that on every hand the fabric is falling into decay. The whole thing is going to destruction." The contraction of the currency having ruined the customers of the banks, the banks themselves, despite their valuable monopoly, and aids from national legislation, must suffer in common with them.