"I. D." — Somebody sends us a very much marked copy of "The Representative," a Minn eapolis comic newspaper in its tender second year, which apparently represents nobody but " I. D.," who signs nearly all the articles. These initials mean Ignatius Donnelly. At the same moment that we took it in, we bought a penny newspaper in which the most prominent head-line was " Corbett is Mad!" Well, so is 1. D., and one is just about as important as the other, although as reported it seems to us that the bruiser is the more gentlemanly and writes the better English. Much of the present number of this " Representative " is given up to abusing the lawyers. I. D. starts out thus : "The lawyers are to politics what the Jews are to finance — they are too devilish smart for anything." This does not consist very well with the motto of the newspaper, which is: "Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward." To substanti ate his attacks on the lawyers I. D. quotes Christ's denunciation of "lawyers," either not knowing or not being honest enough to admit that Christ meant the expounders of the church law — the minis ters. He does admit that there have been a few "honest" lawyers who "tower above the darkness and baseness of their age," and among them he puts Lord Bacon! ( By the way, why has I. D. omitted thus far to claim for Bacon the authorship of the Bible?) He argues that lawyers are not fit for statesmanship because they have been trained *' to defend wickedness as vigorously as virtue." He seems to forget that lawyers laid the foundations of this government, and have mainly administered it and made its laws up to this time. The radical trouble with I. D. is that he takes himself too seriously. His newspaper is comic, even funnier than his cypher — not serious. He is what Artemus Ward would have called an " amoosin cuss," and he is both adjective and noun. He is a Populist, and he is particularly down on somebody of the name of Macdonald who is running for office, and probably is a lawyer, and "has been bought up by the Re publicans." He writes his " editorials on the cars," and they are " red-hot." He styles the people who don't believe in issuing a billion more of currency, "senseless old idiots." Hecalls Gov. Waitea "grand old man," and he backs up the bloody bridles utter ance. The old parties " are really one double-jointed back-action sham." The lawyers are mainly "ver min," the editors are too frequently "donkeys" and "lunatics." "Lincoln and Tom Jefferson were "patriotic and honest lawyers," and he names eight of the same sort in Minnesota, and says there are "a number of others." I. D. would much better have stayed in the profession and salted it. Just now he is peppering it. He observes: " It was the
proud boast of the People's Party during the first year of its existence that it had no lawyers in it. But now the aurora of victory brightens the Populistic sky, and the lawyers are rushing into our ranks by the wholesale. You couldn't keep them out with a club," and so I. D. is trying Samson's favorite weapon on them.
A Novel Club. — In Buffalo there is a club which has been in successful operation for several years, and so far as this Chair knows, is peculiar to that city. It has and needs no club-house. It flourishes only in the winter. It causes no grief to wives by late hours of husbands and doubtful fum bling at keyholes, and ill-concealed, awkward mount ing of stairs. All it essays to do is to give four or five dinners every winter at a hotel. But these occa sions are distinguished by giving great prominence to the " feast of reason." At each dinner some distinguished public man is invited to address the diners on his hobby, which is always one of radical public interest and current general discussion, em bracing politics, religion, law, science, culture, finance, education. The widest liberality is shown in the choice of speakers and topics, and to indicate this purpose the association is named " The Liberal Club." The membership has been limited to one hundred and twenty-five, but it is to be increased to one hundred and seventy-five. The list of waiting candidates for membership is always very large. The members consist of the most prominent and representative men of the city — lawyers, physicians, clergymen, editors, teachers, merchants, manufac turers and others. After the dinner is eaten and cigars are lighted, the invited speaker gives his ad dress, about an hour in length. Then two or more members of the club, previously appointed, give their views on the subject, and then the matter is thrown open for general questioning and discussion. Last winter one of the most interesting subjects was Classical Education, on which President Eliot, of Harvard, was the principal speaker. Another even ing was given toTheosophy, another to Bi-metallism, This winter the Single Tax and Government of Cities are to be discussed. A new feature, intro duced this season, is a memorial evening, devoted to the consideration of some prominent man recently deceased. This winter that evening will be set apart to George William Curtis. While the princi pal speaker is always treated with the respect dvie to a guest and an expert, it must not be supposed that his views escape criticism and dissent. Frequently his utterances are " handled without gloves." The following subjects have been expounded by the fol lowing speakers : —
