September 26, 1885





The  Record  and  Guide.





1019





of the rough material into lumber. They have so far succeeded that each
mill will turn out from 80,000 to 110,000 feet of lumber every day. Every
conti'ivance that can aid the men in handling and turning the logs or in
turning out lumber has been pushed to wonderful perfection. It is Uttle
wonder that with so raany of the^e great mills tearing away every day
there should be a tremendous suppl}' of lumber. It is Uttle wonder that
wheu lunibermgu come to.^ether they should consider meaus by which the
supply cau be regulated to suit the demand. The manufacturing capacity
is, through enterprise and ingenuity and energy, going beyoud the demand.
The capacity will remain the same for a good many years. It wUl not be
iucreased as rapidly as iu the past, because there is less enthusiasm now in
the matter of investment in lumbering ventures. "With a fair-nnnded
policy on the part of lumbermen the question of supply and demand will
regulate itself, but the whole matter of turning pine forests into lumber will
always remain one of the most interesting features in the business develoi>-
meut of the Northwest.—Chicago Inter-Ocean,

Canal and Railroad Transportation.

The bu'^iness of tbe canals has dimiiushed, notwithstanding the abolition
of the tolls; and let us look at this matter a little more in detail. Here is a
statement of the comparati\*e tonnage brought to tidewater by the Erie
and Champlain canals in 1874 and 1884, which we derive fj'om the annual
report of the Superintendent of PubUc Works upou the trade and tonnage
of the canals for 1884:

1874.                              IP&l.

Products of the forest.......................          ],lftiJ,681                          1,097,450

Agriculture .................................          1,470,872                         l,0.'i4,041

Manufactures..............................               49,4-:;6                              56,399

Merchandise..................................                13.005                              45,598

Other articles    .............................              497,228                            877,309

Total.............  ......................          8,v'23,118                         3,631,190

Thus we see that the trafUc of the canals is steadily diminishing, although
the people of the State have taxed themselves ^700,000 a year in order to
cheapen transportation over them, and although the geueral trafUc of the
counti'y has iucreased enormously. Where has the business gone that
the canals have lost ? and where has our proper share of the general increase
gone ? To answer these questions, let us coutrast the whole movement of
the canals in tonnage with that of two great railways of the State during
the same year. We take the figui'es from the s^ime report of the Superin¬
tendent of Public Works:

1874.                              18S4.

New York canals..............................          5,804,588                         5,009,488

New York Central Railroad...................          6,114,078                        10,313,418

Erie Railway.................................          0,364,276                        16,310,598

»      Total...................................         18,383,513                        31,411,504

Here we see that the railroads have competed successfully with the Erie
Canal, and have carried off all the increase in the tonnage. Notwith-
stauding tho State has ceased tti charge tolls, and has Imposed an annual
tax of i?700,000 upon the taxpayers to maintain the canals, the Erie Caual
has failed to keep up its business. It holds on to a portion of the lumber
and the grain, l:)ut the rest has gone; and there seems to be no probability
that the canal will regain any part of it. A certam portion of the business
naturally belongs to the railroads, and that portion is likely to be increased
as the network of the railroads is perfected and more and more points aro
touched. Besides, the raUroads will compete for additional business at less
than cost, charging the loss upou the paying portion of theu* traffic. Within
the last ten years tho cost of transportation bj'-rail has been reduced one-
half. AU the improvements tending to cheapen transportation have been
made by the railroads.—-S'toi.

The Commercial Centre of Ciyilization.

In an interesting paper from the pen of Herr vou Neumann-Spallart to
the Deutsche Rundschau it is claimed that the commercial centre of civiliza¬
tion is moving steadily from England to the United States by way of Ger¬
many. In support of this theory the following figures are given: The share
of the world's commerce controUed by Great Britain in 1868, amounting to
24 per cent., by 1883 had fallen to 19.5 per cent., and that of the total for¬
eign commerce of the world in 1868 Great Britain is credited with 34.5 per
cent., and in 1882 only 29. In 1808 Greafc Britain produced 6;J.O per cenfc. of
the coal mined iuthe world; in 1883 only 40.7 per cent. In 1868 British
production of pig iron amounted to 44.1 per cent, of the total; iu 1883 ifc had
fallen to 39.1 per cent, 'ihe futm-e, he asserts, of 4,000,000 persons directly
and indirectly engaged in the cotton trade is by no means bright. From
1856 to 1860 England consumed 6.).3per cent, of all the raw cotton manu¬
factured abroad and the continent of Europe 39.7; iu 1883 the continental
consumption had risen to 47.7 per cent, and that of Greafc Britain had fallen
to 5'3.3. Arguing from such statistics Herr Neumann concludes that the
general commerce of Great Britain has beeu decreasing afc fche rafce of 1 per
cent, per annum for the past seven j'ears.—Bradstreets.

Silver Hoards.

There is an argument in favor of th? coinage of silver and the use of it as
money which has boon Uttle considered in tho discussiou of the subject, and
yet is oue that wiU have no unimportant effect upon tho welfare of the
nation if the proper course is taVen. Few appear to have noticed the effect
produced upon the saving habits of a people by the kind of money in use
among them. In our opinion sUver is the favorite money with the thrifty
poor. It is well adapted to hoarding. Gold is too valuable; its coins are too
small wheu reduced to the Umits of the possible savings ofthe poor. The
most attractive coin for the hoard is the silver dollar or its equivalent.
Paper money is unfit for the hoard because of its destructability. Beside,
paper money never appeals to the acquisitive secretive sense as does the
bright, hard, enduring coin. Many men, and many more women, will han¬
dle a silver dollar with a caress, where the paper dollar would fail to excite
a feeling of regret at parting ■\^•ith it. The world's modem history is full of
the bad effects produced upon nations by an infiation of the paper mone3', but
no one ever heard of a people l>ewildered by an exjiansiou of its gold and
silver money. A story has recently been printed whi<'h p^tints this moral:
A merchant's wife asked him for a check for a thousand doUars, with which
to buy a lace shawl. He did not give her a check, but instead senfc her a
thousand silver dollars. She had never seen so much real money together
in her life. She was shocked at the idea of giving aU that silver for a filmy
shawl that she did not need, and asked permissit.n to invest it instead of
spending it. This is to the point. On a smaller scale a miUion of people
would be affected in the same way. It would bo worth fifty millions a year
to the wealth of the nation if tho bulk of the money that passes through the
hands of the w^orkers was in metal instead of paper. Two milUons a month
would easily be absorbed iu hoards after the people had begun the
process. It is also a mistake to suppose that because the people in the
cities prefer paper to coiu that anything like a majority of the people of
the country have a prejudice against coin. The weekly wages ot the mil¬
lions do nofc weigh them down. When bankers and brokei-s say that " the
people do not want silver," they mean the people with whom they deal.
They know nothing of the wishes of the real people—the producers, those
who create the wealth, which makes it possible for bankers and brokers to
exist. At the close of the war of the rebellion mUIions of dollars iu coin
were discovered to exist in the Confederate States which had resisted the
terrible strain of four j'ears of civU war before the hoards which had
absorbed them coiUd bo broken up. Only the absolute destruction of the
paper money known to the people brought out the coiu savings. Nine-
tenths of it was found in the possession of the freedmen. It was then cal¬
culated that twenty millions in silver had thus been in the possession of





slaves, representing their hoardings under most adverse circumstances. Ifc
is undoubtedly true that the trading classes and the idlers of the United
States prefer paper money. Those who live upon the earnings of others,
those who live by managing the affairs of others, those who live upon the
necessities of others, are annoyed by tbe weight of tho " cart-wheel dollar;"
bufc the mau who tills tho fields, who wields the hamraer, who beads his
back in the mine, does not feel the weight. Pay tho laborer in silver and
he w'll not object. He will spend the bulk of it because he must, but sorae
of it wUl stick to his hard hand or to that of his thrifty wife. It will be put
by for tho rainy day, when the mere representative of raoney, the paper
doUar, would slip through the fingers.—T/jc  Cajiital,

Range Cattle.

The State of Texas has some vast cattle ranches. There was the sale of
one, not very long ago, uear San Antonio, for ^4,000,000. But the Texas
cattle business, however large the scale, is not after all a part of the range
business of tho country, and that for two reasons : First, none of the land
belongs to the United Stales, nor did it ever belong to it; the State of
Texas has absolute control of the whole area. Second, the land is good
soil, adapted to genej-al agriculture. In time those immense tracts will be
cut up iuto farms and tilled. There may be sorae parts of the State not
suited to cultivation, but for the most pai*t Texas is as ti-uly an agricultural
State as Illinois, ouly less developed. But there is a tract stretching from
Mexico to British America, hundreds of miles in width, which can never be
Utilized for farms, except to a very limited extent, and which is really the
largest and best pasture in the world. These stock ranges now belong,
for the most part, to the United States government, and Congress
sits supinely by and sees them utilized by capitaUsts, many of them
foreigners, to undermine the live-stock prosperity of their agricultural con¬
stituents. This sort of stupor ought to give place next wintej- to an intelli¬
gent appreciation of the situation, and effective legislation should be
secured for the protection of farm values. We do insist thafc the "cattle
kiugs," as Ihey are well called, shall pay for their land the same as other
people, and not b3M»ujing a little wat«r frontage get miles upon miles of
pasturage for nothing. It is a low estimate to say thafc the United States
has in the Rocky Mountain region 1,01)0,000 scpiare miles of the^e pasture
lands. The variety of grasses grown is very great, some of it as nutritious
as the best grazing of Kentucky or Hungary can afford. Nature has been
lirovided a field for stock-raising where pasture and meadow, grass and
hay, may bo said to be one and the same. The green blades of
spring and early summer ripen and cure where they stand,
needing no mowing, raking, stacking and feeding. Hero is an
advantage over our more Eastern farmers which is legitimate
and constant. The dryness of the atmosphere cures the grass on tho stem,
insuring winter feed without the expense and trouble of foddering. Some
idea of the growth of this interest may he formed from the fact that Colo¬
rado, which had only 3*-)0,000 head of cattle fifteen years ago, now has afc
least 2,000,000, and of the profits of the business from the fact that a recent
gathering of cattlemen at Cheyenne represented a wealth of ^100,000.000. A
volume could be filled with the truthful stories of great fortunes realized by
raising range cattle, the veritable Monte Cristo of the Uiuted States. It is
estimated that starting with 100 cows, t iking care nofc to sell any of the
female progonj', the natural increase in ten years woulil be 2,856. The mere
expense of caring for the herd would be light. The actual value is mainly
in the land, and why, we insist, should the goverument furnish that for
nothing, or tho next thiug to it ? Let Congress formulate an answer fco this
question in the shape of such legislation as the prairie aud Eastern farmers
have a right to demand.—Chicago Inter-Ocean.

Building Associations.

The growing interest exhibited in buildiug and loan associations in
Missouri is one of the healthiest evidences of thrift aud prosperity our
State exhibits. Oue of these associations at Hannibal has just iucreased
its capital stock from $200,000 to §400,000. Tbere is one at Macon City,
one at St. Charles, one at Mexico, ono at Neosho, one afc Webster and
one at Kirkwood, and the reports from all show good management and
successful operation. It is said thafc those afc Webster and Kirkwood in
St. Louis County have supplied fche means for building aud enlarging
twenty comfortable houses this season, and when it is added that these
houses aro owned and occupied by persons of limited means, who, but
for the aid received from tho associations iu w^hich they are ^are-
holilers, would not have secured them, sorao idea of the advantages they
offer may be formed. One of these advantages is that ifc encourages and
enables renters of houses to become independent lirojjrietors by i)Iaciug
ifc in fcheir power fco pay fur their homes in raodei'ate raouthly instal¬
ments ; another is tha*". it builds up the towns and cities of the State ;
and a third is that ifc begets habits of thrift and method among those
classes who constitute the blood and boue of a community. There is nofc
a thriving town in Missouri where a building and loan association pru¬
dently managed would nofc do well, and which would nofc be benefited
by it. The principle at the bottom of them is tbat of co-operation,
which has worked such striking results in England and Philadelphia,
and which has never failed of happy results in any parfc of this country
when given a fair trial.—St. Louis Rejmblican.

Charleston Public Spirit.

There is an important aspect of the Charleston disaster which may be

f)rofltably considered as an offset to the lamentable story of distress and
OSS. There is such a true revival of energy, such true business acfcivity, in
the South that a calamity Uke this has not the power to crush one of its
representative cities. Not long ago such losses as Charleston suffered from
the tornado of last week would have been deemed irremediable. The cifcy
would have sunk back in despair under a load of misfortune which ifc was
quite unable to carry. We pointetl out ou the fir^t estimate of losses that
Clmrleston had sufi'ered as Philadelphia would have suffered on a population
ratio if $20,000,000 had in like mauner been here wiped oufc of existence.
But in fact tho Charleston losses have proved far heavier than were at first
supposed. A revision i>f estimates places them at nearly :^1,700,001), aud as
Charleston is about une-twentieth the size of PbiUdelphia, a loss of ?;34.000,-
000 to this city would I'O about eipiivalent to what the Southern cifcy has to
bear. Nothing could possibly belter demon-strate the prosperity, force, and
business resources of the New South than the bold front that is turned to
this calamity. "The work of reparation," wo are told, "is arlive; all
business offering is fully accommodated, and in a short timo facilities for
trade will be as good as ever." In short, the Charleston tornado was as
good a proof—perhaps a bettei- proof—of Southern vigor, of assurance of its
future, than th« Athiiita and New Orleans expositions. The jiresent state
of things has a significance that cannot bo overestimated. —P/n7arft'(p/iia
Telcgrajih.

Trade papers throughout fche country are discussing plans fora thorough
revival of the old system of apprenticeship. They argue that a large
amount nf the unskillful work that is iierformed, particularly in the trades
connected with building—such as carpentry, brick-laying, stone-cuttmg,
plastering aud plumbing—grows oufc of the loose way in which untrained
meu are permitted to commence work and, by the mere claim to knowledge
and the payment of fees to a trades uninn, to rank as high and demand as
much pay as the most skillful wild have spi^ut ye;u-s in the acquisition of
knowledge. The claim is n()w made that all the trade organizations, that is,
all those where practical skill and education "re essentials among their
members, should combine their forces and devise some geueral scheme of
apprenticeship uuder which no mau could very easily obtain recognition as,
say a carpenter, smith or brick-layer, without being able to show a certi-