February 20, 1886





The   Record and Guide.





215





of the Belgium lines. The sharp confcrasfcs againsfc the English producers
leads the Iron and Coal Trades Review of England fco argue "more than
ever in favor of State-owned lines."

Regarding fche eifect of the revelations fche Pall Mall Gazette says : " The
feeling extensively prevails fchafc if Brifcish manufactures and trades are to
hold fcheir own with fcheir continental rivals fchere will have fco be consider¬
able reductions in British rates as well as a complete revision of the basis
of preferential charges. It will undoubtedly be a bad outlook for railway
shareholders if the agitation foreshadowed is successful." England, then,
is fully confronted by the railway quesfcion in the international form ifc has
now everywhere assumed. High railway rates are much the same fco fche
English manufacfcurer as to the wheafc-grower of Dokota.

If the English railway system proves to be too great a tax on the
business of that country, we should see to ifc thafc all greafc corpora¬
tions are not allowed unchecked power in the way of putting bur¬
dens on the internal commerce of this country.





Sm O.—If our present exports and imports should continue, this
spring will see considerable sums of gold leave our shores. Since
the firsfc of January our exports have decreased and our imports
have increased. Our people are feeling better off and consume
more foreign luxuries. Still there is a balance of money on the
other side yet in our favor. Then Europe is buying our stocks and
bonds. Better than all, the time cannot be far distant when we
will be forced to sell our surplus grain and cofcto!i, and that wUl
help to keep down exchange.





Our Prophetic Department.

Observer—What action will Congress take on the silver
question ?

Sir Oracle—There will be a great deal of talk and not much
acfcion. Free coinage of silver may be voted by the House, and it
is possible that the Senate may indorse ifc. The Republican Sena¬
tors may allow it to pass fco embarrass President Cleveland, for, of
course, he would be forced to veto unlimited coinage and thus
place himself in antagonism to the vant majorifcy of the represen¬
tatives of the party which elected him.

Observer—In that case would nofc some compromise be finally
reached ?

Sib; O.—It will be the anti-coinage men in that case who will
make concessions, not fche advocates of the silver dollar. The fact
that fche United States has had a general revival of business at a
time when the gold unifc countries, especially Greafc Britain, are
suffering from an extreme trade depression, consequent upon the
enhanced value of gold, is so obvious that it cannofc be explained
away. Our laboring people are asking and obfcaining high wages
all over the country afc a time when the manufacturing centres of
England and Scotland are the scene of labor riots due to the dis¬
tress of the working people.

Observer—But will not this argument be equally potent against
any change in the tariff such as is proposed in Congress?

Sir O.—I do not believe the Morrison bill will get through Con¬
gress. .For one I approve of mosfc of its provisions. I think the
free list should be increased largely, and that ad valorem imposts
should be replaced as far as possible by specific duties. Then I
think the iron and sugar duties should be reduced. Bufc the pro¬
posed enacfcmenfc attacks so many interesfcs thafc ifc will raise a
storm of opposition from all parts of the country. As The Record
and Guide has frequently pointed out, the only way to liberalize
our tariff is to reform ifc by piecemeal. Since the close of the civil
war there have been many and important changes in our impost
duties; bufc every general bill affecting comprehensive reforms has
failed with but one exception, that one being the tariff now in
existence. Ifc is a matter of history that the most carefully drawn
enactments have failed because they incurred the opposition of great
material interesfcs.

Orserver—To change the subject, have you any forecast
respecting the crops of the coming year ?

Sir O.—Ifc is too soon as yet to have or express any opinion as to
the crops of nexfc summer. In a general way, I shouli judge there
would be a falling off in our w^heafc crop, compared with the aver¬
age yield for the past seven years. The low price for wheat for the
lasfc two years and the certainty of competition from India and
ofcher distant regions, the assurance that the railway companies
will maintain rafces, all will help to prevenfc farmers from pufcting
as many of their acres in wheat as formerly. Then there is apt to
be a fatality about grain growing. England had eight annual
failures of the wheat crop successively. Our winter wheat was
short last year affcer a series of good years. I should expect, under
the docfcrine of chances, that our spring wheat crop will be a parfcial
failure this year.
Observer—What is there to be said aboufc corn and cotton ?
Sir O.—These are products of which we have a monopoly. I
look for a steady increase in the planting of corn every year. Its
value in money is twice that of wheat, sirnply, if sold as corn, but
in the form of hogs and cattle it becomes still more valuable. A
corn country is more profitable to the railways than a wheat coun¬
try, for corn is a bulky article, is generally carried but shorfc
distances, and hence is subject to local rates, and then its transmu¬
tation into hogs and lard supplies a variety of business to the rail¬
roads as compared wifch wheat, which assumes no other form than
grain and flour. I have always held that those who are agricul¬
turally inclined should buy corn rather fchan wheat lands. There
is more money in them as farms, and the corn crop is the founda¬
tion of many indusfcries thiat enrich the country in which it is
grown.

Observer—How about our foreign trade ?   Will we export much
gold?





Concerning Men and Things.

***

A proposition to build'an aqueducfc in'fche valley of fche Hudson from the
Adirondack region to New York cifcy when firsfc considered seems an
extravaganfc one; bufc we have no doubt bufc thafc in fche fullness of fcime ifc
will be constructed. The easfc bank of the Hudson is fchickly studded with
cities and large towns. In poinfc of facfc, ifc is an almost continuous city
from Troy to New York. An aqueducfc would meefc fche wants of an immense
population. Of course, all fcha water would nofc come from the Adiron¬
dacks. The bulk of ifc would be pumped up at various poinfcs of the Hudson
River above Poughkeepsie. We hardly think, however, that.this work will
be commenced in our time, bufc such of our readers as live in 1925 will prob¬
ably see this great aqueducfc in full operation exfcending from New York
Bay to within a short distance]of the Sfc. Lawrence Pdver.

***

The professional men of to-day are beginning to make use of modern
inventions for conducting and extending their business. Lawj^ers use tbe
telephone fco save fcheir own fcime, if nofc fchafc of their clients. Physicians
are, in a limited way, using fcelephones to give directions fco fcheir pafcients
and save long journeys from their homes. Perhaps no man in tbe medical
profession makes such use of time-saving modern inventions as Dr. S.
Fleet Spier, of Brooklyn. He uses fche fcelephone very largely in his prac¬
tice, and when his patient has a chronic illness requiring bis consfcanfc
afcfcenfcion fchis elecfcrical speaking tube is by him regarded as indispensable.
Some time ago Br. Spier discovered fchat he could nofc depend upon the
purifcy of fche drugs in fche prescriptions pufc up by very many of the phar¬
macists, so he opened a pharmacy;|in a house adjoining his own, where drugs
absolutely pure were sold only, however, to his own pafcients. Then he found,
as all physicians do, that some of bis pafcienfcs were surrounded by condi¬
fcions whieh made a cure well nigh impossible. Boarding-houses rarely have
fche requisite convenience for afctending to the sick; fchen certain rooms are
damp and unwholesome; so fche doctor opened sfcill another bouse near his
residence, where such pafcienfcs could be lodged and properly cared for
during fcheir sickness. As his practice grew he was forced to keep a corps of
assistanfcs, whose care of his sick be would supervise. This he fchougbfc better
than increasing his charges to diminish the calls on his time. There really
oughfc fco be more private hospitals under fche direct charge of physicians,
for, as is well known, thousands of people die because they cannofc have fche
nursing, the air and the food necessary for fcheir restoration to health. All
physicians will admit that medicine is often fche leasfc influenfcial factor in
ridding fche system of dangerous tendencies,

* * *

Ifc is nofcorious thafc alfchough fchere is a larger profit in dmgs fchaa on
any other article sold inja retail way, yefc adulteration is more pracfciced
with them than wifch any ofcher commodity sold over fche counter. A thou¬
sand per cenfc. is a nofc uncommon proflfc in drugs. Very often these lasfc
are worse than useless, because of their combinafcion with cheap and inerfc
substances. These matters are managed far better under paternal govern¬
ments—such, for instance, as Germany. In thafc counfcry fche sale of medi¬
cines is under fche rigid supervision of fche govemmenfc. There is pracfcically
no such thing as an adulterated drug ina well-managed European State;
nor is an exfcorfcioriate price ever demanded. Among the liberties enjoyed
by our druggists is thafc of plundering and poisoning fche sick wifchoufc any
supervision.

***

Brooklyn, ifc is said, wfll soon have the foundafcions laid for a fcechnical
school affcer the general plan of tbe Cooper .TJnion, bufc superior fco fchat
insfcitufcion in every possible way. Plans are being prepared, and a com¬
mission senfc to Europe to inquire into fche technical schools fchere, with fche
view of adopting the more recent improvemenfcs in jindusfcrial educafcion.
The prime mover of fchis splendid benefaction is a leading member of tbe
Sfcandard OU combinafcion.





The New York Sun advocates fche silver side of the precious mefcal stand¬
ard controversy in[a veiy zealous, bufc singularly unintelligent, manner. The
Sun's articles are as wide of the mark as fchose of fche Times and Herald on
the ofcher side of fche quesfcion. Take as a specimen the foUowing exfcracfc
from the 5'ti?i:

As to the delusion, too, that tbe value of sUver can be raised to ifcs former
level by internafcional agreemenfc, fche sooner ifc is dispeUed fche better. The
exchangeable value of the metal, Uke fchafc of any ofcher commodity the sup¬
ply of which is unlimited, is finaUy determined by the cosfc of producing
ifc. No law or fcreafcy can make men treat the fruit of twenty days'
labor, for instance, as the equivalent of fchat of sixteen days' labor. Wo
tried the experiment here years ago, and foimd it to faO, and it
wUl always faU, no matter how often it is repeated. We must have either
tbe silver standard or the gold standard. To have both at the same fcime is
a natural impossibilifcy. There is left, then, only the fair and square
choice befcween fche ^free coinage of sUver and an unconditional surrender
to gold.

Jusfc think of a writer penning a statement'Uke above, in view of the fact
fchafc for nearly one hundred years previous to 1872 fche price of sUver and gold
in the coinage was kept afc a fixed rafcio by infcernafcional agreement. At
various times during that hundred years silver was mined in excessive quan¬
tities, as conipared with gold, wbUe, from 1850 to 1856. CaUfomia, Australia
and other regions poured an unprecedented flood of gold into aU the chan-