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June 37, 1885 The Record and Guide. 733 although they may through the laxity of our laws escape personal liabihty on account of the wrongdoings of those with whom they ore associated, yet they cannot absolve themselves from the moral responsibiUty attaching to the acceptance of a position ot such trust. They wUI be made to lealize the important tact that the effect of a wrong act upon the real sufferers is not essentially different, whether it proceeds from a positive or a negative com-se of action, and that the responsibility is equally great iu each ca.se. Outsiders in making investments are guided principally by two things: first, tho reputation of the gentlemen composing the board of directors (for they assume that no honorable man would lend his name toadoubtflU enterprise), and, secondly, by the representations made by such men in their official capacity through published reports. These two things are, in fact, all that one not directly in the secrets of a company can have to rely upon. Of course there are eiTors common to the lot of aU meu which cannot be avoided; these wUl be readUy understood and frankly overlooked. In managing large properties difficulties wiU often arise that cannot be foreseen, but if a trnstee wUl use his best judgment and work with an honesty ot purpose, whatever may be the result, the world wiU not judge harshly, but will always discriminate between good and bad inten¬ tions. Good men may in unguarded moments be deceived by dishonest men, but if no paiticipation in doubtful transactions cau be shown there wUl be no disposition manifested to unjustly condemn.—Chicago Inter- Ocean. The New Steel Making Process. The recent introduction ot the new steel making process, known as the ClappGrifflth patent, by one of the leading firms of Pittsburg is attracting much atteution throughout the country, and the results ai-e awaited with eagerness. So confident are iron manufacturers of the success of the inven¬ tion that already a dozeu plants have been licensed, and a speedy revolu¬ tion iu steel manufacture is predicted. It is alleged that by this process a steel is produced which is very low in the percentage of cartxm, and which can be worked and welded as easUy as the softest iron. But few puddlers wUI be needed in the new process, their work being done by machinery. Persons who have investigated the workings of the Clapp^Griffith plants say that if the process stands the practical test ot time, it wiU probably check the importation ot iron ores by utilizing ores high in phosphorus, which have hitherto been of no use in tho manufacture of steeL One of the great advantages claimed tor the new process over the Bessemer process is that the former wiU eliminate the phosphorus from the iron ores, whUe the Bessemer process wUl not It is also claimed that by the Lipsey process, anothar new invention, the manufacturer can take scraps of the most worthless u-on, such as old bolts, bits of wrought and cast irou, and i-usty scraps, commanding only half a cent a pound, and make steel of a finer grain than the Bessemer steel and more thau fifty times the sti-ength of wrought irou.—Exchange. Grass Farming. It is stated that grass farming in Missouri is steadily extending; it has, within a few years, increased from 11 per cent of the farming lands to 20 per cent This is a sign of more intelligent agriculture. There was a tuue m Missouri when grass was considered hardly worth raising, aud many farmers were without hay from one year to another. But the value of green grass in the summer and hav in the winter as feed for animals is being recoguized, and meadows and pastures are now carefuUy cultivated. The time is not far off when grass farming wiU be, if it is not already, the most profltable, as it is the easiest and cheapest kind of husbandry in Missouri- more profltable than the raising ot grain, tobacco or any other crop which is removed in a raw state trom the soil and sent awoy to be consumed. The great advantage of it consists In the fact that it is fed on the soil and the greater part of it, therefore, is restored to the soU. There is no better sign of thrifty farming than mauy haystacks. Grass and hay are flt only for feeding to animals, and grass farming, therefore, means dahying and the raising of cattle, horses, mules and sheep. A crop of wheat has to be sold to the miller to be manufactured into flour—and the mUler makes a larger profit than the farmer; but a crop of grass is converted on the farm into flesh, milk and butter, which are not only the most valuable form it can assume, but cost Uttle for transportation. A State that limits itself through a long series of years to raising and seUing a raw staple ot any kind—grain, cotton or tobacco—and sending it away for consumption, wiU grow poor; but a husbandry that makes the farm a manufactory for converting raw materials into high priced articles of food invai'iably bruig wealth aud com¬ fort. ~/S>'(. Louis Itejniblican, The Investment Market. A prominent firm of Loudon stockbrokers discuss at length in a recent circular the relative position and merits of various classes of securities and property, as receptacles tor capital, and conclude with a strong expression of preference for American railrotid bonds. Stocks are regarded with apprehension; but if the capitalists desires to combine the two elements of security aud a high rate of fixed income, he can not well do better, accord¬ ing to this firm, than to buy with discrimination Americau raUroad bouds occupying positions of medium altitude on the Stock Exchange register. They recm- to the situation ot affairs in 1873, when a long category of bonds then designated as " weak," paying 5(^7 per cent face interest and selling at 75 to 100, which in flve yeai-s were advanced to the first rank, being rated so high uideed as to yield ouly 4 to 4).^' per cent, on the investment. This category has passed above the class of tempting purchases, and are suited only for the custody of retired or trust capital; but there is a more and ample assortment ot practically the same attractions as those high-priced bonds represented in 1873, which offer strong assurances of having a simUar career before them. Sinular conditions, but on a contracted scale, exist in Canada. There is probably a great degree of probabiUty in favor of the pos¬ itions assimied. It may be premised as a certainty of the early future, that commercial and industrial activities in the United States wiU experi¬ ence a wholesome and steady revival, and that the measureless forces which should be steadUy undeveloping from the country's reservoirs of wealth can be onlv temporarily confined among a people so inteUigent and enterpris¬ ing. Raih-oad interests wUl necessarily respond to the recuperatmg forces, and whUe men are stUl repeating by rote the trite saying that railroad con¬ struction is on a scale adapted to years of future expansion rather than the preseut, it wiU be demonstrated that the country has already buUt up to the capacity of the raUroads, and that the procession has passed on. The next stage wiU be a new era of construction, but this wiU be preceded by a period ot good profits to stockholders, provided always, of course, that the license and dishonesty of railroad managers do not convert the common earnings into ring or stock exchange steals. Before the advent »t either, as is always the experience of communities in times of commercial and finan¬ cial convalescence, there wiU be the inevitable prelude of large and increas¬ ing purchases of securities of guaranteed income. As a corporation must pay ita debts before it can distribute proflts, bonds outrank stocks in point of securitv, and the era of bend investments and specidations necessarUy antedates that ot stock speculation. Of late the New York bond market has displayed more action in this direction than in several yeoi-s, though the peculiar position ot the New York banks, enforcing as it does the keenest attention to easy temporary aid in the earning of iuterest on their immense deposits, detracts substantiaUy from the value of this movement as a thing of general sigiifficance. The circular to which we have referred advances plausible reasons why English capital should begin to pick and choose among the $3,100,000,000 American raih-oad bonds in market in preference to EngUsh raUway investments. The latter are not only overbalanced rela¬ tively, but are to be subjected to the ordeal of radical reforms in the methods of English railroading. Inlaud freights in England are absurdly high, and by strong discriminations in favor of foreign produce, weakened so seriously the alreadv embarrassed produce interests of England that a modification wiU be compelled in self-defense. It costs more to carry hops from Kent to London than from Belgium through Kent to London, and the transportation of a barrel of fiour from Chester to Brighton is about as costly as from Chicago to London.—Courier-Journal. Yankee and English Shoes. In Robert P. Porter's letter on the shoe trade in England he quotes the statement of an English shoe manufacturer to the effect that it given free trade in shoes with the United States the English could beat the American shoe manufacturers notwithstanding the far larger use made of machinery by the Americans and the "work-at-home" system of the EngUsh. Mr. Porter quoted the Englishman's boast for what it was worth, and without approval. Doubtless with free trade inroads ot some extent could be made on the American market. The abiUty to undersell on one article would be made the means to undermine the dimensions of our manufacture, and so to lessen our abihty to sell cheap on both that and other lines of goods. Who¬ ever supposes, however, that the English shoe manufacture, as it stands, compares in either cheapness or quantity with the American is in error. The shipment of boots and shoes from all England to all parts of the world is onlv one-eighth as much of the shipments of shoes trom Boston alone to points outside ot New England. As long ago as 1873 England shipped to aU parts of the world only 6,332,328 pau-, valued at 48,197,8.52.50, or 81.28 a pair. The same year Boston alone shipped to points outside of New Eng¬ land 55,000,000 pair, for which an average of $45 per case was realized, being $1.12 per pah-. This shows that Boston ships nine times as many shoes as all England, and that their price is 16 cents less per pair than that received by the English exporter. The fact that the shipments from Boston ai-e chiefly to other parts ot the United States, and hence do not figure technically as "exjxirts" or "foreign trade," cuts no flgure economicaUy, since all that would be necessary woidd be for New England to go out ot the Union and these would forthwith become foreign trade. The entire export of England iu 1875 was only 4,'226,376 pair, while Maine alone produces 4,675,854 jiair, and Massachusetts produced 78,000,000 pair in 1875, aud her product was worth $95,9(X),510 iu 1880, or about thirteen times the whole English export. Ot the English shipments two-thirds go to Australia and other EngUsh colonies, which buy ot England partly for reasons disconnected with cheapness. The total shipment of Enghsh shoes to new English countries is therefore ouly abont $2,000,000 a year, which is about four times the American export. All these and far more would be consumed in England, leaving no export whatever, it the British people as a whole wore as good shoes as the American people. It sm-ely is not matter of pride that a people are able to export shoes if they attain that result only by going barefoot. Comparing the total quantity of leather consume