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1224 The Record and Guide. December 6. 1884 The World of Business. Thurber on South American Trade. To the Commission on South American trade: It was ray intention to appear before you whila the Commission was sitting io New York, but a press of engagements prevented, and I now desi-e to briefly submit eome opinions founded upon tbe experience of my flrm in endeavoring to build up a trade with Soutb American countries. The primary requisite ia speedy and frequent steam communication. Steanaship lines develop business and buiid up their respecti ^ e termini just aa trunk lines of railroad do, and our experience in trying to build up a trade with Soutb America, which has now extended over a period of several yeara, has convinced us that this is the starting point. Our position as com¬ petitors of England and other countries having frequent steam commu¬ nication is perhaps well illustrated by an incident which occurred in our home trade. Two retail grocers, customers of ours, doing business at New Brighton, Staten Island, had been competitois for tbe trade of an out-lying suburb, the people of which had been in the habit of visiting New Brighton and buying at one store or the other as they found prices and goods to suit tbem. aod the trade was about equally divided between tbem, 1 sold both of these men their goods. One began to increase his orders, while tbe other one diminished hia. I knew nothing of the cause until the latter one said to me that he had got to buy a hor-s-- and wagon and engoge a driver to solicit orders and deliver goods through thia suburb, as his opponent bad been doing it some time and was getting the trade away from bim, and ha had to do the same thing or stop trying to do that business. Now the mer¬ chants of the United States are precisely in the same posiiion as regards those of England and other countries which have established steam lines, and this brings us to the consideration of bow can these steam lines be obtained. I answer, in the same manner that our cumpetitora have obtained them, by giving them a liberal compensation for mail service until a sufficient trade is developed to suitain them, wben this compensa¬ tion or subsidy, if you choose to so call it, can be withdrawn. The abuses connected with attempts heretofore made to suhsiiiize steamship lines and railroad companies have created a popular prejudice against the word "subsidy," but it iaonly another form of " protection to American industries," and all lhe political economists, even themost ardent advocates of free trade, I'ke John Sttart Mill, admit it is necessary to protect infant industries until thoy are sufficiently established to "run alone." The anti-suljsidy cry, if carried to a logical eouelusion, would stop the mails on every route in this country where the postage was not sufficient to pay the expense of carrying them. Steam and electricity have greatly abbre¬ viated time and space, and commerce bas outrun not only State boun¬ daries but national boundaries. At any rate, practical business common sense tells us that in order to get our share of the trade we have got to ofl'er eciual facilities with our competitors, and the flrst requisite as above stated is that of frequent steam communication. Monthly lines will not do now-a-days: we must have semi-monthly or weekl? lines. A monthly steamship line is as far behind the times now-a-days as a weekly paper U. Both are good things in their way. but do not come often enough for the times in which we live. We must not expect that the husine.fs developed by these I'nes will pay during the first year or two. The first problem is to get the bxisiness coming our way, and then it will gradu¬ ally prove remunerative. There ate many indirect advantages connected with tbe development of a commercial marine which are not at flrst apparent. There are, of course, other and minor requisites in establishing trade with South America, like the giving of credit, the estsblishment of branch houses or agencies, studying the wants of lhe various markets, and catering to them, knowl¬ edge of languages, Sec, all of which will come naturally if we establish and sustain aitquate means of communication. First give us this, then hold a grand exhibition or series of exhibitions under government auspices at the principal American port where these steam lines terminate, invite every nation or government on thia continent to participate so that the people of each of these countries may become familiar with tbe pro¬ duction of the other, and the merchants of each would soon become acquainted with those of the other, and trade would develop in a surpris¬ ing ratio. All of which is respectfully submitted by yours, very truly (Signedl F. B. TouRBSR, of Thurber. Wbyland & Co., New York. A National Trail. We have national banks and a great many other national institutions, some within the constitution and some without it; and agreat many other national projects have been proposed, but never until the cattlemen met at St. Louis last week had there been a deniand for a National Trail. The cattlemen in convention assembled unanimously demand the opening cf a safe and cheap route from the extensive breeding grounds of tbe South to the extensive maturing grounda of the great Northwest, and tbey express the belief that tbis can only be accomplished by the establishment of " a national stock trail over which stock can be driven." They aak Congress to op en .establish ond maintain such a trail, " beginning at some point on Red River and extending thence in a north or northwest direction to the north line of the United States." There was a good deal of discussion over the route of the propoaed trail. One delegate wished the convention to ask Congress to appropriate and set apart a belt six miles wide, beginning at the initial monument on Red River, in Texas, running thence north upon tbe lOuth meridian line to the northeast corner of Texas; thence west by north to the northwest corner of Kansas; thence north along the 103d meridian line to the northern boundary of the United States—to be used as a national highway and cattle trail for the beneflt of all citizens of these Uoited States. Ali the plans substantially favor aclose conformity to the lOOth meridian, and all think the trail should be SIX mi'es wide. Were it not for the unusual width asked for one might think from reading the accounts that the delegates were discussing a local proposition, instead of a highway over the heart of the continent. The intention is, however, to connect Texas with the fattening pastures of Montana and the adjacent territories, by means of a wide trail tbat will admit of the slow movement of cattle in order that tbey may becorae acclimated as they proceed. The cattlemen claim that the question addresses itself not only to tbe producing portion of the com¬ munity, but also to consumers in ev&ry part of the Union. Cheap and healthy meats is the great object in view; and it ia claimed that a great trail, with perhaps occasional quarantine stations, will do more to keep down the Texas fever than all otber remedial measures thjit can be devised. The trail does not run towards Georgia- but still we have a general interest in the subject, and we .trust that Congress will not pigeon-hole the memorial of the cattlemen without first giving It a careful consideration.—A«an(a Constitution. The Sonth as a Field for Investment. There is no better fleld for investment now than the South. In every Bouthernbtate there is great need of money to begin new enterprises ur to carry on those already established. Farmers want money business men want money, and those who are preparing to open up mines or to^ start manufactories want money. They are willing to pav a good interest for it, and they can afford to pay it. It is a mistake to sup¬ pose that they cannot furnish good security. Tue South is rich io resources. Her lands produce abundantly, ber forests are valuable now and are becotnmg more valuable every year, and her mines of iron and coal are equal to any in the world. It needs only a glance at the assess¬ ment rolls of the different Southern States to convince any oue that the South is making rapid strides toward wealth. In 1879 the assessed value of property iu Virgioin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Lnui^iana, Kentuckv, Tennessee and Arkansas waa $-i,184,Ouf,tiO0, The assessed value tbis year waa J3,8i.'i,(itiO,0OI), an increase in five years of SS41,()UO,iiOD. This increase is not attributable to inflated values, but to accumulated wealth. Propei ty is not assessed higher now, in proportion to its value, thau it was in 1879. As States have grown richer the rate of taxation has decreased. In this and some other of the Southern States the State rate of taxation is remarkably low. It is only within tbe last three or four years that tbe growth of the South in wealth has attracted tho atteutinn of the capitalists of tbe North to any great extent, and even now, outside of a small circle, tbe advantages the South offers to investors are not known. Iu any of the States named above money readily commands from 8 to ID per cent., with excellent security. Tbe great majority of Northern people who have money to loan are not realizing more than 4 per cent, for it. They would glaaly send their money South if they could be convinced that it could be safely invested. To satisfy themselves on tbis point they have only to investigate for them¬ selves. The monev of the North made the Western State; what they are. In 1878 the insurance companies of Connecticut alone bad t5O,O00,OCiO invested in the West. Almost all of this money ■was placed on farms and secured by first mortgages. What waa done for the West by the capitalist and moneyed instituti'US of Conuec'icut, Massachusetts and other North¬ ern States can now be done for tbe South. The security in the South is just as good as it ever was in the West, and Southern lands are capable of being made just as prnStable. During the coming winter the Northern people will get a better idea of the South ond her resources than they ever had before. At the New Orleans Exposition they will see evidences of wealth that will surprise them. Their keen business sense will see oppor¬ tunities for investing their money in tbe South that, it is hoped, they will not be slow to take advantage of. The election of Mr. Cleveland marks a new era in the material progress of the South. The Southern people now feel that the last barrier to themost perfect harmony of sentiment and feeling between the North and South has been removed, and they will work to promote the prosperity of the Bouth more hopefully and energet¬ ically. It will be surprising if within a year Northern capital is not seek¬ ing investment io tl:e South in great abundance.—Savannah News, American Shipping. The Democratic party haa bad a great deal to say for years past about the weakness of our navy and the decline of our merchant shipping. It has also echoed a good deal of the talk which a class of our political econ¬ omists who aspire to be considered very English have indulged iu against subsidies. As a matter of fact, our navy, compared with itself, is much stronger in every way than when the Democratic party went out of power, though relating to navies of foreign powera it has lost rank. For various reasons our merchant marine has decreased in the last quarter of a cen¬ tury. The Democratic party is committed to stretigthening the navy, though that is not a traditional Democratic policy, and to building up our mercbant marine, though that is as little so. So far as we can judge, the means they propose to pursue for tbese ends are simply to allow foreign nations tosell us their old sbipa and put an end altogether to American ship building. Tbe idea of encouraging American ship-building and tbe i creaseil ownership of sea-going vessels by Americans in the way that foreign nations encourage ship-building among thena selves and the increase of their merchant marine is apparently not thought of. As unpopular a word as " subsidy " has been among them, it is by subsidies that others do what we want to do. France bas for a number of years granted liberal sudsidies to French ship-builders and French ship-owners, and the foreign dispatches show that England does not hal; in the policy by which she haa extended ber trade to ali quartera of the earth. We ought to have an ad.- vantage in the Pacific trade, nut our vessels cannot contend with the sub¬ sidized lines of England. Those dispatches state tbat England bas man¬ aged tu subsidize two mail routes to New Zealand, alternating weekly between an all sea route from Loodon and one bysea to New York, thence overland to San Francisco, and thence by steamer to New Zealand. Brit¬ ish doctrinaires encourage ours to denounce subsidies, but British states¬ men quietly go ahead and grant them wherever they can secure a new line of steamers and new trade by doing so.—St. Louis Corrvmercial, Over-production or Vuder-cousumptiou. There are those who assert that over-production is an imposaibility; there may be under-con sumption, but to say that an excess of good things in this world exists is a self-evident absurdity. Perhaps this is abtractly true, and it all heads were well sheltered, all bodies well clothed, all mouths well fllled. all feet well shod and all physical and mental wants rea¬ sonably gratifisQ there would he no excess, but just enough and no more; the markets would be healthy and steady, prices reasonable all around acd thegeneral condition of human affairs satisfactory. Nevertheless, it caimot be denied that in the present inharmonious and ill-adjusted arrange¬ ment of human relations, we do have what is practically over-production —congested markets, redundant supplies of all the staple commodities of commerce, an excess of agencies of commerce, sluggish trade, pricea belovF the coa6 of production, low wages, very small protics when there are any profits at all, and lifeleseness in all fields of enterprise and all departments of industry. There seems to be an excess of everything, and, what is puz¬ zling, the excesses meet in the strangest contradictions. One might sup¬ pose that with an excess of farm products in the West and an excess of manufactures in the East, the railroads would have more than they could do. But there is an excess of railroada too, the crops do not move actively to the East nor the manufactures to the West—and the roads are not tasked to over two thirds their capacity. Even from the ocean we hear the same complaint, there are too many ships, and hundreds and even thousands of steamers and sailing vessels are lying idle in the great ports oftbe world for want of cargoes, and the ship-yards ou the Clyde are dull and lifeless. Too much is the universal malady—too much grain, too much^woollen and cotton goods, too much sugar, too much coal, too much iron, too much lumber, too many boots and shoes, too much machinery, too many railroads, boals aud ships, and, as a distressing result of all this excess, too much idle labor in the great industrial districts, not only of tbis country but of Europe. This condition of excess has prevailed for more than a year, and although a sudden revival of trade may cause ib to vanish and times grow better, tbere are causes at work whicU must bring about a repeated recurrence of it in the future ; for human ingenuity ia incessantly engaged in devising new forces and new methods of produc¬ tion whereby ono man can raise two bushels of grain where he now raises one, and make two yards of cloth where be now makea one. With tbis capacity to produce constantly increased, there would appear to be but ons way out of the difflculty—increased t onsumption. In the midst of all the abundance, there are millions of human beings in the ■world who have not unough to eat and wear—who are suffering from want of shelter, food and clothing. If the existing surpluses were distributed to theae they would be consumed, and the glut would disappear—and the great .pp-blem of the day, therefore, is to increase tbe capacity of the needy millions on tha earth to buy what they require, and thus make a demand for the necessaries, cimforts and luxuries which are now produced in excessive amounts.—S(. Louis Republican. The War against Middlemen. In this age of fioc'alistic ideas i; is wel! to watch the drift of the move¬ ment against middlemen iu tho different countries. In France ttie move¬ ment is in the direction of paternal control by the government; in Eng¬ land and Wales it takes the shape uf insurance against sickness, loss of employment and death. In the United States trades unionisoi is in a