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The   Record   and   Guide.





September 19, 1885





the iron iudustry has set in with a suddeiraess which is something remark¬
able. At tbe close of last month the outlook was regarded as simply
encouraging, but nothing more; and leadi ng authorities, while professing to be
hopeful, maintained that there were "no special indications of change
either for better or worse." Even so late as August 22 the Cleveland
rolling mills announced that there had never been a time since their
organization *'when business was so slack as at present." "We have no
orders upon our books, and the prospects for running grow steadily less
every day." Only in Chicago were there any positive expressions of con¬
fidence aud tangible indications of improvement. Within ten days
all this is changed. Frora tbe East tbere is reported "improve¬
ment of the very healthiest character, namely, a steady and in¬
creasing demand without any undue excitement in prices; orders
are numerous, the deraaud for steel rails unprecedented, mUls running
to their full capacity, and their entire output bespoke for a year in
advance." Frora the South corae similar reports witli tidings of boun¬
teous crops and over-taxed freight facilities, the projection of new fur¬
nace plants and the extension or completion of railroads suspended by
the depression. Hero in Chicago not only is there a far better showing
than there has been for .some years, but there is a marked advance in prices
and increasing activity in every line of tbe business. It is not claimed that
there are yet the elements necessary for a " boora," but the raost conserva¬
tive admit that there are strong indications of the beginning of another era
of general prosperity.—Chicago Ncios.

The Growing South.

The progress which the South is making is well worth careful attention.
Her people are displaying marvelous energy and enterprise The casual
observer does not notice the evidences of her material development, but
those who raake it their business to look after such thmgs see thera, and
are not slow to take advantage of them. When the facts are brought
together, showing the South's material development, they very naturally
excite surprise, it bas long been tbe custom to look to the West for indi¬
cation of extraordinary growth in wealth and population, and it is there¬
fore difficult to make th * country understand that the South is rapidly
buildiug up ber waste places, establishing new industries and increasing
her wealth. Since ISSO, when the census was taken, tbe assessment books
of twelve southern States, viz.: Alabama, Arkansas. Florida, Georgia, Ken¬
tucky, Louisanna, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennesee
Virg'iuia and Texas show an increase ia wealth amounting to $892,305,930.
These figures tell tbe story of tbe South's progress in a way tbat is as
eloquent as it is convincing. The South is not standing still. She is advan¬
cing with giant strides. Every year thousands of new farms are opened and
the land already under cultivation is raa/le raore productive by better culti¬
vation and the use of fertilizers. Every year additional capital is employed
in developing mines. Every year raanufacturing industries are established.
The figures are at hand to support these stateraeuts. It is within tbe bounds
of possibility that tbe present generation will see the South attracting
attention for her marvelous development, just as the West is attracting
attention now.—Savannah Neivs.

ftlanufacturinj? Prospects.

Scientific Araerican: A number of interviews, held recently with the pro¬
prietors and managers of representative manufacturing establishments in a
New England State, afford sorae interesting if not positive information
relative to the prospects of manufacturers. Out of the number visited,
fourteen estabUshinents ma}' be taken as representative. These comprise
the niakei-s of machine tools, .steam engines, band tools, cutlery, sewing
raachines, guns and pistols, raachine screws, bench hardware, builders'
hardware, drop forgings, patterns. A number of these branches are dupli¬
cated in the visitations. Taken as a whole the reports are favorable, not
only for present work, but for prospective business. In one establishment
the hours of wo^k have been doubled during tbe month of August; the
factory bad been running ou half tirae for several months. This inci ease of
time is not due to a " spurt" of a single order, but to a gradually-increasing
pressure of small orders. Two machine tool establishments have lately
increased their force of bands^ aud are busy filling recent orders; they both
say that they have few tiiiished tools in stock. The steam engine
builders complain of lack of orders; there does not appear to be
raany new manufactories starting, and few which are increasing their
power. The call for bench tools for iron and wood has lately
received an Impetus from fresh orders ; but possibly this may come
from dealers whose stock bas run low. Cutlery, gims, pistols and
sewing machines are more in demand than they were three raonths
ago—April and May—and the manufacturers are confident that " the
good times" are about to come again. Machine screws are affected
largely by the manufacture of raachine tools and raanufacturing machin¬
ery ; but this industry, which bas lagged slightly, is coming up to a healthy
if not a driving conditiou. Bench hardware has suffered considerably ;
the dealers bave a considerable supply on hand. In some localities builders'
hardware has been in brisk deraand all through the spring and summer,
and there is an increase in orders. Drop forgings are special as well as
regular, and tbe former seem to have increased in orders while the latter
have not materially fallen off. So these facts as to the actual state of work
may be properly supplemented by the combined opinion of tbe managers of
the raanufactoriei. On the whole tbe impression gamed is that our manufac¬
turing business is beginning to increase ; the deadlock is to be removed,
and the dullness of years is lo be gradually changed to an activity that
shall give corapetent labor reraunerative eraploynient and invested cajiital
profitable returns. As to tbe cause of the present relative inactivity,
opinions differ. Probably there are combined causes which do not resolve
theraselves into a comprehensive explanation. But aU those who have been
addressed ou the subject agree upon one cause, tbat of production beyond
the requireraents of the people. It is a reraarkab'e state of society where
raore of all comforts, necessaries and luxuries ai'e provided thau cau be sold
to those who are able to pay for them; it raay, nevertheless, be the fact.—
Age of Steel.

Hard Money.

The Treasury Department is withdrawing the one-dollar and two-dollar
greenbacks in order to make a place for the sUver dollar. This is a raost
desirable reform. The small bills aro inconvenient, easily destroyed, and.
being in greater use than bUls of other denominations, they soon become
very disagreeable, and are often supposed to carry the gerras of disease.
We exclude rags frora countries where contagious or infectious diseases are
raging; why not do away with our native rags i It is very difficult to get silver
money here. Only tbe other day a depositor asked, at one of the principal
banks of tbe city, tbat ten iloUars iu sUver should be given iu part pay¬
ment for a check, and he was told that there was not that amount of silver
in the bank. It is a comfortable thing to have a handful of silver raoney.
The araount of money now usually carried by people in tbeir pockets is not
large, and specie would be far more convenient than paper. In England
there are no bUls for less than twenty-five dollars. In France there are
none for less than twenty dollars. In consequence of this there is a large
quantity of gold and silver in circulation. There is no minor incident
of European travel which prcKluces so pleasant au impression upon au
Araerican as the abundance of gold and sUver coin. Here we keep the coin
in vaults and in place of it use paper, much of which is lost by use, thus
imposing upon the people a very unjust tax, almost all of which falls upon
the poor. It is assumed tbat tbe people prefer paper money; but there is
no gromid for such an assumption. We bave never had anything else,
and do not know the advantages of a specie currency. Is there any com¬
munity which has ever had gold and silver and is wiUing to exchange them





for paper ? California is an example to the contrary. There the people
have always refused to use the paper raoney. Does auy one suppose they
could bo induced to give up the gold and sUver ( There are other consid¬
erations besides those of convenience which make it desirable that there
should always be a large s ock of specie in the hands of tbe people. It is a
valuable sa eguard against a panic, and a source of strength in times of
financial trouble.—New York Star.

The Administration and the Currency.

Secretary Manning is a machine politician who cares much less about the
silver coinage than he does about the preservation of peace in the Demo¬
cratic ranks. He must understand that it is irapossible for the President to
bulldoze the Democrats in Congress into submission to a Wall street attack
upon the double standard. In this situation he seeks for a compromise, and
his political morals do not forbid him to favor one thing in public and
another in private. Manning can discharge himself of any political responsi¬
bility as easily as an eel sheds its skin. What he may do in the secret
caucuses of the Democratic party is a matter of no consequence. Even
Detnocrat<» must judge hira by his acts as Secretary of the Treasury in
enforcing the Cleveland policj', which indicates so far an unswerving deter¬
mination to suspend the double standard and raake silver unpopular by
forcing it on the people in place not only of tbe small notes but of the fives
and tens. Whatever Manning and Jordan may do as individuals they are,
as merabers of the Cleveland adrainistration, committed to tbe doctrine
of no compromise on the silver question. The adrainistration has used
every means to discredit silver, and shows a strong disposition to bulldoze
both Congress aud tbe people into its practical demonetization. As indivi
duals, Manning and Jordan may be growing anxious for a compromise,
but as officials they will not be permitted to hint at anything of the kind.
The Cleveland administration is committed not siraply to a suspension of
the coinage—which all sensible men desire—but to a practical demonetiza¬
tion of silver, and it will have nothing "officially" to do with the Warner
compromises. Like the Admiral ra "Pinafore" it does not "officially"
know that anything of the kind is conteraplated.—Chicago Tribune.

The Business Rebound.

Simultaneously with the awakening of tbe u'on industry in this country
comes the news from England that the furnaces there are again aglow and
that the works everywhere are resuming operations. As there is nothing
that succeeds like success, so there is nothing that establishes confidence
like confidence. Tha oddest aspect of the world's periodical panics is that
they never, or very rarely, can be traced to any actual diminution of the
world's wealth. On the contrary, instances are comraon where stupen¬
dous destruction of everything that men regard as valuable bas been
productive of tho utmost apparent prosperity. The years immediately fol¬
lowing the War of tbe Rebellion, frora 1865 to 1872, furnish an instance of
tbe kind. During this period the wheels of our natioual raanufacturing and
commercial industries revolved with unexampled speed. Every branch of
business appeared to be prospering beyond alraost the hopes of man.
Wages were high, expenditures of all sorts lavish in the extreme, profits
enormous, tbe demand for consumption insatiable. Vast railroad and other
engineering works were pushed forward with an energy and success
unknown before iu tho history of tbe world, and material wealth was
created with a rapidity which was simply inconceivable. In
short, every American felt that he was living on a modern
Tom Fiddler's ground where, while gold and silver were scarce,
•greenuacks, which answered every purpose just as well, could
be had in abundance for the mere trouble of picking thera
up. But after this seven years of productiveness, when the actual wealth
of the country had grown into proportions incomparably larger than those
which had existed at the commencement of the period, some mysterious and
hitherto inexplicable force was called into piny, which put a stop to every¬
thing. Busy workmen were converted into listless idlers, resounding forges
became as silent as the tomb. Increased riches, instead of creating confi¬
dence among men, appeared to have the contrary effect. 'Whispered words
of suspicion, cautiously uttered within the recesses of bank parlors and other
dens of capital, brought tbe prosperous march of the armies of labor to a
sudden and most disastrous halt. According to the theories of political
economists tbe wage fund had grown treraendously; but this did not help
the wage-earners a particle. Confidence was lost and a period of disti*ess
set in which covered nearly another seven years. A simUar process was
repeated later, embracing, however, shorter periods of time. Two or three
years of almost feverish activity, resulting in another enormous accretion to
the national wealth, was promptly followed by a period of depression, from
which, if outward signs be true, the world is just now emerging. It is very
easy to explain everything on, under or above the earth, if people are con¬
tent to use only certain set phrases, and the peculiar condition of affairs
of which we speak is said to be due to over-production. This
word "over-production" is the modern cant for the wrath of God,
to which in other ages all the unusual miseries of mankind were
attributed. But nobody has ever yet risen to explain why the
production of more fixed wealth than can be iramediately con¬
sumed should necessarily result in immediate and distressing pov¬
erty to the producers. It could be understood if these periodical times of
distress were coincident with or consequent upon destruction by war, crop
shortage or any siraUar event which raight reduce the world's capacity to
pay; but when it is remembered that pi-ecisely the contrary is tbe case, that
rigorous productiveness seems always to lead directly to a raoney panic, the
prolilemis beyond solution by any ordiuaiy process of reasoning. In spite
of what the ingenious professors of pohtical economy may say, no matter
what plausible if incomprehensible " laws" they may promulgate, the whole
matter is as much a mystery to-day as it was before Adam Smith wrote or
MUl philosophized. We only know that a sort of epidemic of suspicion sets
in periodically, and that capital, always prompt to take alarm, is suddenly
withdrawn from all classes of industrial and commercial enterprise. Then,
again, we know that after a period confidence becomes gradually re-estab¬
lished. A few thousand flrras, more or less, have been ruined, none but the
financiaUy strong permitted to remain, and then, here and tbere, tbe old
industries are resumed, and almost before the cry of confidence can be heard
tbe world is running its race as eagerly aud as prosperously as ever. All
signs poiut to tbe commencement of such a period now; as confidence begets
confidence, so the reopening of one iron forge leads to renewed activity in
others. The sense of security and ambition to produce is spreading rapidly,
and everything promises that business wUl take its new birth in the season
just commenced.—>S^ I^ouis Globe-Democrat.

The Better Outlook.

There is a real improvement in almost every leading branch of trade,
except that which is under the control of tbe coal barons. The combination
which went to pieces years ago had placed the market on such a false basis
that when each company carae to act iu practical independence of the other*
there was an over-production and the trade was demoralized. It is uot likely
to recover frora that condition soon. The advance in iron is wellniaiulained
and tbe deraand is good. There was an active and fairly profitable busi¬
ness in dry-goods last week. The South is one of tbe best customei s of the
New York houses, aud is buying a better class of fabrics tban ever before.
Flour, which has hitherto been a drug, is in better demand. The best
American grades will iuevitably be iu large deraand a little later in the
season. In spite of low rates the railroads make a pretty good showing.
Fifty roads, mostly in the West and South, earned >;l6,6i»5,.502 gross in
August, which was ouly $723,405 less tban for the sarae month in 18S4 on a
mileage but little greater; and forty-eight roads earned from January 1 to
August 31 $l24.o9J,l38, a decrease of $1,919,086.   The coastwise steamship