November 14, 1885





The   Record   and  Guide.





125S





they can execute thera. Where does all the mouey corae frora to buy
stocks and put up imrgius i is the query. Those that ask the question
seera to forget thafc the people have been practising the closest econoray for
tho last thiee or four years. We have a i)opulation of 55,000,000. Suppose
that for a single year every person saved by economy two cents per day
or $7 for the entire year—not a large estimate—at that rate the savings
would amouut to $oS5,000,000. The accumulated saviugs of three years,
from 1882 to 1S^^5 inclusive, would in that cose amount to $1,155,000,000,
What shall be done nvith this vast sum i Shall it go into dry-goods, real
estate or speculation ^ The people having gained something ahead feel more
independent and aro risking thtir money to a certain extent in outside spec¬
ulation. Not only has the couutry grown richer through savings, but the
earning capacity has increased. The estimated value of the corn and cotton
crop is over §11,000.000,000, the corn crop alone being estimated as worth
over §;800,000,000. Where will this raoney go i Some of ifc to pay debts, to
buy dry-goods, clothing, provisions, some into speculation; but, all the
fame, ifc is in the couutry, aud has come to stay. While we deprecate
speculation, we are glad there are so many visible signs of returning pros¬
perity for the country at large.—-4?»erjca/i Grocer.

The Outlook iu the Leather aud Shoe Business.

The first indications of a recovery from a long terra of stagnation always
appear in the stock market There havo been several little spurts in that
quarter, bufc they were promptly succeeded by a relapse into duUness, until
tiuaily everybody seemed to have got the idea thafc there was no such thing
as a turn of the long laue of declivity. That is generally tho time when a
change takes place. Some three months ago a few capitalists, tired of
keeping raonej^ where it would bring them uo interest, ventured, in a dilfi-
deut, half-hearted way, to invest some of their spare funds in shares of
corporations that were still paying dividends. The traffic grew mitil price?
advanced, and then it grew faster stUl, for people are always ready
to buy when values are increasing; which, to be sure, is the reason
why they do increase. A good many ]>ersons insisted upon it the
movement was unreal, and would soon be followed by a collapse; but the
number of unbeUevers is much smaller than ifc was. The greafc majority
are evidently of opinion that the reaction was natural, and will prove
lasting. If they are right aboufc ifc, fche awakening will extend to merchan¬
dise, aud subsequently to real estate. Most kiuds of merchandise are as cheap
uow, proportionately, as stocks were in the early suramer, aud are quite as
Ukely to rise in a similar degree. Buyers did not move any sooner or any
faster thau the exigencies of the trade rendered imperative. They
delayed making contracts so long that they have found it necessary all
through the season to have their goods hurried forward as rapidly as
they could be got ready. The stock has been so thinned out on
the shelves of the retailers, and the fioors of the wholesale stores,
thafc the capacities of the factories were all taxed to the utmost to
replenish thera. A quickened demand sprung up simultaneousiy in all
quarters of the Union; transition from languor to briskness was somewhat
sudden, though not at all extraordinary, when it is remembered that the
practice of buying in a hand-to-mouth sort of way had been Uterally univer¬
sal for a couple of years; there were a great raany erapty places
to be filled up, and a vast quantity of shoes are required to
accoiuraodate the wants of a country so populous as oui-s. The thing does
not appear to have been overdone. There has been no flagging in the
vigor of the traffic. The purchasers of goods havo been numerous, but
none of thera have purchased large quantities. They seem to have been
prudent alike in respect of the extent of tho UabiUties incurred and the
prices paid. The business is healthful and legitimate. The raanufacturers
are content to work for small pay, but they feel sure of their pay. Fail¬
ures aro infre<iuent ; the risks are comparatively trifling. The relations
between buyers and sellers are hai-monious ; they fultill their mutual obliga¬
tions without stint, and that relieves tho traffic of the vexatious to which
ifc is too often subject iu less thrifty periods. There have been great im¬
provements raade in the art of shoemaking latterly. There are a great
many large factories in which shoes, as elegant in workmanship and com¬
fortable for wear are to be found as can be produced by the daintiest cus¬
tom-makers in the couutry. Shoes of tho finer qualities were never before
as cheap as they are now. People get the full worth of their mouey for
everything they have occasion to buy that is raade oufc of leafcher. They
will probably have to pay rather more by and by, because raaterial is now
sold without any profit; aud that is an anomaly which cannofc be expected
to last much louger, and ought not to have endured so long.—*S'Aoe and
Leather Reporter.

What a Chicai^o Taper Thinks.

The general increase of traffic in all branches of the mercantile systera
is being raore and raore successfully used as a sort of bellows to fan the
long-smouldering fires of sjjeculation into Ufe and flame. The derangement
of the prices of all connnodities and the treraendous shrinkage in values
which fqlloweil the last natioual '* boom " in trade are assigned to a multi¬
tude of diverse causes aud combinations of causes, but they may all be
condensed into the word speculation. The period foUowmg this reckless
season of universal speculation and extravagance, was succeeded by tho
most conservative and econoraical administration of business affairs possible
in so rich a country as the United States. The danger of the situation is
that impulsive humanity, tired of long-waiting for better times, ^vill
anticipate the results of restored confidence and rush iuto speculatiou. An
unnatural and feverish expansion of confidence in future values is the
precui'sor of wild and always calamitous gambling in legitimate articles
of trade. There is little danger of a national *' boora" in commerce, but the
teuflencies of business are more toward speculative booming than strong
conservative merchants and financiers like to se© them." The stock
market has been more active duriug tho week than for the previous
week; 2,509,000 shares wei'e sold, being an increase of 90,000 shares.
Prices were nofc advanced in relative proportion throughout the list,
as the usual course has beeu; and some half dozen stocks were reported
lower fchan afc the close of the preceding week. (Jther leading stocks,
however, without auy real or apparent reason beyond manipulation,
have advanced to the highest points during 1885. The belief is that large
bull pools now control tho market, and the public have become
suspicious of every move made. In the face of favoiable and unfavorable
iufluences the market was guided in its own peculiar course by au unseen
but powerful hand at the helm. Wheat has also enjoyed a species of foofc-
call acfcivity, with an increased amounfc of fche cereal iu sighfc and the export
requireraents apparently diminishing. The bull element has exhibited
the most strength under the pardonable conviction of the intrinsic merit of
the grain, a growing sentiment in favor of light stocks abroad, and a good
British and a continental demand in the future. There hiis been, therefore,
a slight appreciation in values, though corn and oats are relatively higher
than wheat because of a better foreign demand and a moderate diminution
in the amounts of each in sight last Monday. The rise in corn helped hog
products upward, together with the naturally increasing needs of the season
ou both sides of the Atlautic. The general mercantile situation has
developed uothing e-sentially new during tho week, though the movement
of dry-goods did not quite realize expectations, and cotton dropped about
17 points for future deliveries and ^4 cent for spot on increase of the visible
supply and light requests from spinnei"s and foreign raanufacturers. Some
improvement was noted in industrial affaii's. Full 25 per cent, more wool
and worsted raachinery is running than a j'ear ago, and vahies hold very
steady. Heavy orders for skelp iron, merchaut stool, and steel rails were
placed in the East on satisfactory terms. Stock was taken beyond the
requirements frora day to day, and no large araounts of manufactured iron
or sttel were being pressed for sale.   Structural mills were very busy; and





coke and coal, as well as jiig iron, reflected the general moderate improve¬
ment. The failure record shows a healthier conditiou of general business,
the percentage being encouragingly smaller than for corresponding weeks
of other years since 1882. Labor troubles over tho world were insignificant
and local, except the exaggerated bufc chronic sectional difficulties with the
Chinese on th© Pacific coast and rejiorted general strikes among the country
manufacturies of France. Under the powerful stimulous of active stock
speculation the money market has hardened perceptibly, and the rates of
interest have given strong symptoms of going higher. The flurry 011 the
New York Stock Exchange, causing rates for call loans to advance frora
SU" to 9 and even 10 per cenfc. for a few hours, was purely the result of
manipulation, and a reaction to 3 and 4 per cent soon followed, while a
decline to the level of the three previous weeks was reijort^'d fche next day.
A close or an active markefc makes such advances possible. The reported
bank clearings show a very satisfactory increase over last year. There was
a further large decrease in the surplus reserve held by metropolitan banks,
which is now nioi'o than ft8,0(JO,000 less than afc the same time iu 1884.
Abroad, the banks of Ccrmany and France are carrying large reserves;
while the Bank of England res<M*vehas steadily diminished for some months,
and is lower than has been the rule for many j-ears past. — Chicago
Inter-Ocean.

East-West Coraraerce.

The march of events in this country is so rapid that we can appreciate it
only by retrospects covering considerable intervals of time. Only eighteen
years ago the freight rates on grain and flour from Chicago to New York
were respectively 85 cents and $1.90, aud the presenfc rates are 20 cents and
40 cents respectively. The first railroad to the Pacific was then being
pushed wesfcward throuirh Wyoming Territory, and there are now four
through railroads in the United States and one in Canada. These remark¬
able results are more interesting as syinptonis than as independent events.
They testify to the magnificent, but unappreciated, becaure quiet and
gradual, conquest of a new empire by the arts of peace and commerce, fche
people and fche capital requisite being levied upon all the nations of the
earth by the powers and arts of commerce. Twenty yeara ago there was
such great distrust of the resources of the people and productions of the
Trans-Mississippi to support a railroad that private capital would uot invest
to the extent of $50,000,000 without the government's guarantee ; but now
that trade is earning profits on ten times that amounfc invested in railroads
and late enterprises in that direction, except the Canadian, have beeu
executed with private capital. In ten years raore there will be also two
inter-oceanic canals in operation to divide with these five trans-continental
railroads the tratfic between the Atlantic and Pacific divisions of the
American Union, the tratfic of fche two divisions with Europe on the one
side, and with China, Japan and the East generally on the other side,and of the
two hemispheres with each other. The Panama canal will probably be
finished in five years afc a cost of $2?0,000,000, and an American canal
proper will soon parallel ifc afc a like expense. The total cosfc of rail aud
water channels between the two seas wdll amouut, in a few years, to a
thousand milUon dollars.—OouiHcr-Journal.

Future of Mining on the raciflc Coast.

By this we mean what the phrase ordinarily signifies—mining of the pre¬
cious raetals. With all the old and apparently worked-out mines this would
apjjear to be rather dark, with the wrecks on the Comstocks especially so._
But despite of all this, the future of mining would appear to bo bright."
Notwithstanding all tho failures of mines aud the closing of old ones there
does not appear as great a decline iu the production of precious metals as it
would appear that thei-e ought to be. For the fiscal year ending June oOth,
1885, there was $;]2,000,000 gold deposited at the mint of native production
despite the partial stoppage of hydraulic raining. California itself has j'et
immense deposits of gold—ifc is calculated, enough to yield twenty milUou
dollars a year for a hundred years to come. Bufc this will have to be
obtained by fche method of drift raining. As the hydraulic method will
soon be obliged to be stopped it is very probable that the mining companies
will be reorganized again on the plan so successfully adopted on the Coin-
stock. This will give eniployinenfc to a vast number more, especially as in
passing out of the hands of capifcalists they would drift into those of work¬
ingmen. New discoveries are being steadily made, especially in Grass Val-
Xey, and old mines that have been aba ndoned years ago are now being worked
with success. The Calico district is remarkable for the increase of yield,
and new discoveries will add to this day l>y day. The vast ancient river
beds of the Pliocene and ofcher tertiary formations are full of gold, as is
the great ancient river bed supposed to run pai'allel to the western slopes
of the Sierras. The future iu California ig not ouly hopeful, bufc ifc is also
in the ofcher states and territories of the Pacific Coast. The bonanzas
of Nevada have nofc all been discovered, while those of Utah, New
Mexico aud Arizona are hardly touched. The latter has still some of the
finest silver mines of tho world buried iu the recesses of its mountains.
Sorao have boon worked before, centuries ago, but only the cream of the
vast deposits has been unearthed. Next door to Arizona in Souora tho cor¬
respondent of the Post in this city speaks of big bonanzas. These and their
auriferous and argentiferous glories remain to b© revealed and will be in
tho nofc distant future. It has been suggested to us that the merchants of
San Francisco should devote half a raillion a year to prospecting. We
think the idea a good one and that there would be returned them reward a
hundredfold.; After all we were never half so prosperous as when the big
bonanzas of Nevada were pouring tho loads of gold and silver infco our
doors and when they were distributed by a raillion'life-giviug currents
amongst our people.—"S'ttJi Francisco Journal of Commei'ce.

The Fire and Police Boats.

The new police and fire boats will afford the protection of Ufe and
property long needed npon the water front. Brooklyn has never adequately
protected the vasfc interests which Ue upon her borders, and the ravages of
tire and the depredations of thieves have been leffc to private vigilance to
prevent and dereat. In the rows of bonded warehouses in our miles of
water front there are millions of valuable property, and fire has caused
great devastation among them. The services of the fire boats of New Vork
have beeu frequently secured to quench conflagrations. At one tirae it was
proposed to forman association of the owners of property on the water
front to equip and maintain a flre boat, bufc the city has finaUy talien the
matter in hand and the *'Seth Low" wiU soon be ready for use in case of
the outbreak of flames anywhere on the wharves. Another of the improve¬
ments brought aboufc under Mayor Low is the new police boat, the " Judge
Moore," which will be eraiiloyed to patrol the water fronfc at night and
prevent the depredations of river thieves.—Brooklyn Daily Times.

Chinese Interests In America.

The journals, politicians aud so-called professors of political ecouomy who
oppose all restrictive legislation upon Chinese immigration never fail to
find fresh texts for their hobby in anti-Chinese riots. The detestation of
such hoiTors as the Wyoming massacre can uot be held by the.se doctrina¬
rians as a monopoly, ns all civilized men of any aud all phases of opinion
must condemn such villaiiy quite as bitterly as they. But if their sagacity
were half way equal to their pretended charity they could uot avoid seeing
very distinctly that such occasional outbreaks of hate iu a murderous form
testify to the abiding presence of a settled—general and uitense, though sul¬
len and undemonstrative—antipathy to the Chinese araong the whole body
of Araerican workingraen. This antipathy expresses itself on the part of
law-abiding raen in the forra of restrictive legislation, but in another class
ifc takes tho forra of yioleuce and mui-der.    As a generic sentinieut it ia