The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-08-28 00:00:00

THE PILGRIMAGE TO LOURDES.

The Univers correspondent writes from Poitiers as
follows :—The pilgrims were so densely crowded round
the late Cardinal Bishop of Poitiers' tomb on Wednes-
day evening that it was found impossible to address
them all in the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Clefs and
it was accordingly decided after the "De Profundis "
had been chanted to organise at once a procession to
the Basilica of Ste. Radegonde, where Mgr. Gay
would be able to make himself heard by a larger
audienee. The cortege, composed of thousands of
pilgrims, amongst whom were led the sick persons
able to bear the fatigue, received numerous marks
of respect and sympathy from the inhabitants.
It was accompanied by the musicians attached to
Notre-Dame-des-Dimes, and Mgr. d'Anthedon fol-
lowed, bestowing his benediction. Scarcely, how-
ever, had the head of the procession entered the
Church of Ste. Radegone than the nave was filled to
overflowing, and it became necessary to quit this
sanctuary in turn to go to the cathedral. When the
latter had been reached Mgr. Gay paid a touching
tribute of regret and affection to the man who had
been his father, and as whose work he regarded the
concourse of pilgrims., His Eminence then greeted the
pilgrims, and enumerated their titles to ? good recep-
tion from the people of Poitiers; he described them as
witnesses to the Christian faith, and besought them to
go before the Virgin in the name of France, and to say
to her as the disciples of the Saviour said to Lazarus,
"Quern Amas,"--she whom thou lovest is sick. He
applied this request for theirfprayers to the Church of
Poitiers, deprived of a pastor, and seeing so many
good works brought forth in the midst of the tares
which are so choking us inspired confidence in the
harvest since the tares will be torn up and burnt.
In the evening fresh illuminations beautified Notre-
Dame-des-Dimes, and the sick who had confessed in
the houses in which they were residing, prepared for
the Communion on Friday.

LEcrniEs.—(Subjects suggested for the "British Goat
Society.") On the force of a " But " in argument.
On Fair Play and very little "Kid" about it On
Historical Nannygoats of Eminent Persons. This
Society, whose object is to induce every Cottager to
keep a Goat, which in return will keepliro, hopes to
adept for its peettal-" Chaeu4 sot goat."—Punch.

REPORT on AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.

The report of Mr. Clare Sewell Read and Mr. Pell,
M.P., officially appointed to inquire into the state
of agriculture in America, has been printed. It con-
sists of 16 pages, and a number of statistics and facts
which support or explain the conclusions of the com-
missioners are given in an appendix.

On the importation of live stock the report states
that whenever America can show a clean bill of health
and live imports are again introduced a considerable
trade in store stock will probably be developed. The
cost of transit of great numbers of store cattle need
not be so heavy as it is now. More of such stock could
go in the railroad trucks and in the ships' holds than
is now allotted to fat animals; and the animals
themselves would not be so cumbrous and helpless,
and would be more likely to withstand the evil effects
of the long sea voyage than the great, unwieldy, fat
bullocks which suffer so much on the sea. The greatly
improved "graded" cattle of the West and the purer
shorthorns of the middle States would make most
valuable store stock for winter or summer grazing,
and if the cost of transit could be reduced to the same
percentage on their value which is now charged for
fat animals the trade in store stock might prove pro-
fitable to the American breeder and beneficial to the
English grazier. In the meantime it may be worth
while to consider if some reasonable quarantine
should not be allowed for the purpose of bringing over
some of the high-class shorthorns which are now to be
bought so reasonably in America. The constitution,
flesh, and hardiness of these Anglo-American short-
horns are so wonderfully developed and strengthened
by the unpampered and natural conditions under
which they are reared that a few cargoes of their best
pedigree stock would certainly greatly improve the
common run of shorthorns in these islands.
With regard to dairy farming, the commissioners
point out that cheese factories are more common in
the States than butter factories; and their success,
until the remarkable fall in the price of cheese
eighteen months ago, has been very general. While
the great bulk of American butter is, no doubt,
poor, the chief part of the cheese is now decidedly
good. None of it is really first-class cheese,
and it is all exported or consumed when it is
very fresh. Some efforts are now beint, made
to introduce the manufacture of different kinds
of European cheeses in the States, but they can
hardly be said to have been adopted to any extent.
The bulk of American cheese is of one uniform make,
of a like quality, colour, and shape. Very little
cheese is eaten in America. The amount made each
year is 300,000,0001 b., and of that quantity fully 40
per cent. is exported • while the amount of butter
made is estimated at 1,b00,000,0001b., and only a little
over 2 per cent. is sent abroad. The home consump-
tion of butter is, therefore, considerable and the absence
of any great export demand may result from its general
inferior quality. It is startling to .find the prices
paid for good butter by rich people in the great
cities. While the common run of butter in the
market may be bought for 10d. per lb. 2s. per lb. is
sometimes charged for a supply all the
.year round,
and as much as a dollar per lb. is paid m a few in-
stances. The low prices which prevailed in 1878
caused a number of dairy farms to go in for a more
mixed system of husbandry, but this state of things
is not expected to last, and larger importations of
dairy produce into this country may be expected.
The largest and main portion of the report is devoted
to the question of the wheat cultivation of the States.
The report first of all points out that the annual yield
of wheat over the average of a long series of years
appears to have lust exceeded 12 bushels per acre. i
For the year 1879 the return of the yield sat 13.1
bushels per acre. With a yield of 12 bushels per acre
the Western farmer could deliver from his wagon at the
depot, without loss, at 3s. 6d. a bushel of 601 b., or 28s.
a quarter of 4801 b., which is 201 b. short of the English
weight of five eentals. The normal price of wheat in
America on the east coast will range, not with the
cost of production on the farms immediately surround-
ing the great centres of population and industry, but
with the value of land, labour, and money in the new
land of the West, plus, the varying cost of inland
freight. As it is true that the ..centre of population
and industrial employment in the United States is
with certainty and rapidity moving westward, it is
equally true that the cultivation of wheat is nomadic,
and advances not in front, but in the same direction,
and is regarded by the farmers as more profitable-in
other words, cheaper-when conducted on virgin soil
at a distance from the points of consumption than in
the exhausted district from which they migrate and
give place to a population for whom they have to buy
bread-stuff. Any estimate, therefore, of the prime
cost of American wheat in England will depend mate-
rially on the cost of supply from the West.
Coming next to the consideration of freights
account has to be taken of the terms on which grain
can be moved inland by " lake " and canal, or by
"all rail," as well as on the ocean by sailing or by
steam ships. The difference between the cost of trans-
portation from Chicago to New York by water or by
rail inland is considerable, being on an average of
five years (1875 to 1879 inclusive) 3s. sd. by water,
lake or canal, and Gs. 10d. by rail, per quarter of
wheat weighing 4801 b. About ss. 2d. is the average
of the two rates. In crossing the ocean the differ-
ence between the cost of transportation by sails
or steam has been on the average of the past five
years so inconsiderable as to require no special atten-
tion. The former, however, appear to be the cheaper
by about sd. per quarter-ss. in the one case against
48. 7d. in the other, giving an average of 4s. 9id.
Summing up these and a few minor particulars, the
Commissioners give the following as the total cost in
this country of a quarter of American wheat of 4801 b. :-
Cost of growing in the West and delivery at local
depot, El. Bs.; freight to Chicago, 6s. Bd.; thence to
New York, ss. 2d. ; New York to Liverpool, 4s. ;
handling in America is. ; Liverpool charges,
3s. id.; total, £2 7s. Ad. To bring the estimate up to
the English weight of five centals the quarter, 1-12th, or
nearly 2,, would have to be added. Besides the charges
connected with the movement of grain, there are, it is
pointed out, commercial causes which will perpetuate
the great grain markets on Lake Michigan and the
Mississippi. Each of the grain crops comes to ma-
turity within a few weeks, but a year passes (not with-
out cost) before the entire product of a season goes
into consumption. The estimate of cost may before
long be affected by a reduction of the freights from
the farms to Chicago, to the extent of one-half, and.
special " through " contracts are said to defy any pre-
cise calculations. Allowing a deduction on this head
of 3s. 9d. or about 6d. a bushel, the estimate would
be brought down to 445., or, without Liverpool
charges, 425. per quarter.
The aptitude and readiness with which the best
machinery is obtained by the farmers in all parts of
the United States are specially noticed by the Com-
missioners, who observe that "It may be true that 'a
good workman never finds fault with his tools,' but it
is truer still that a Yankee labourer is too sensible
ever to work with a bad one." The farm labourer, as
a class, is said to hardly exist in the United States,
unless it is among the coloured people of the Middle
and Northern States." These appear to be settled, do-
mesticated, and contented to stick to one industry. In
many respects agriculture suits them ; they are fond of
animals, and the animals seem fond of them. On this
head the Commissioners tell a curious story. At a.
large sale of shorthorns in Kansas city a negro ex-
pressed to them a hope that he might not be sepa-
rated from the bull he was tending, and that the pur-
chaser of the bull would allow him to go with it. With
the whites employed on arable land the case is very dif-
ferent. In the large farms of the West the bothy system
is carried out, and buildings are put up in which the
summer men mess and sleep. In winter they are off
to the towns and cities, and it is seldom the same
faces are seen two years running on the farm. Mounted
overseers or foremen are also engaged for the season at
better pay, and these men, long-witted and keen-
eyed, leave very little on trust to the ordinary hand.
Although wages appear high, the hours of labour in
spring and autumn are long, and winter is a period of
almost complete cessation from work for man and
beast on an American farm.
A report on the dairy farming of Canada by Mr.
John Clay, jun., Assistant-Commissioner, is given in
the appendix.

The Standard of Tuesday comments upon the report
of the Commissioners in a leader, from which we make
the following extract :
"On the whole, we cannot say that the Report is very
encouraging to the English farmer. Temporarily, at all
events, the grazing of cattle seems to hold out the most
hopeful prospect; and we see nothing in it to show that the
fattening of beasts for the market in our English fields,
from whatever quarter of the globe they may be brought,
is likely ever to become unprofitable. The Report does
not say much on the subject of other grain crops
and we suppose that in the grcat cern-growing
districts of England inability to grow wheat at a
profit would mean the extinction of the present
race of purely corn farmers. According to our own tele-
grams, it is calculated that the Americans will this year
have about two hundred million bushels of wheat to sell;
but it is thought that they will not find a ready market
abroad unless they sell at lower rates than they have done
during recent years. The price of English wheat and Ameri-
can wheat at the present time seems to be very much the
same. And we ought to wait, perhaps, for the promised re-
duction in the cost of freightage from America before offering
any opinion on the ultimate results ot the rivalry between
the two countries

"A curious feature brought out in this Report is the absence
of the agricultural labourer in the rural economy of Ame-
rica. On American farms there seems to be very little
winter work; and labourers come out from the large towns
when they are wanted for agricultural operations, like the
hop-pickers of Kent and Sussex. Shanties or bothies
are built up for them, and having passed their summer
in the country, they go back to the warmth and the
gregariousness of cities to spend their winter. There
is something in this which is very characteristic of
the New World. Every man does the best he
can for himself. No sentiment interferes with the laws of
Nature; and to do the American justice he probably makes
the best of life. He is an agricultural labourer in the
summer when agriculture is pleasant work, and he is a
town labourer in winter when the thoughts of frost and
snow are unpleasant to all but sportsmen. Still it must be
very curious to pass over vast tracks of country in America,
teeming with the crops to which we are accustomed at
home, without seeing anything like an English village,
or anything which conveys to one's mind the English
idea of comfort. Reflections like these, however, carry
Us beyond urely economic considerations, and we
are brought back to the important fact that the
American farmer during a great part of the year has nothing
to spend in wages. Moreover, when he does pay wages he
appears to take good care that he gets his quid pro quo. A
smart overseer is employed, who rides over the land and sees
that proper work is done. There can be very little shirking
on an American farm. The traditions of the ' overseer '
seem to linger there. But it is a purely mercantile affair,
and the relations between employer and employed are not
characterised by that feeling of personal consideration for
one another which still distinguishes agricultural employ-
ment in England."

ACCIDENT AT A BULL FIGHT.—A serious accident
occurred to a well-known matador, Frascuelo, at a
Spanish bull-fight at St.-Jean-de-Luz, on Saturday
last. The victim, who, it will be remembered, suffered
a mishap at a similar event at Paropeluna some time
since, from which, in fact, he had scarcely recovered,
bad just entered the arena to give the bull the coup-
de-grace. Scarcely had he delivered the sword thrust,
however, when the animal turned, and, attacking
Frascuelo, threw him into the air. While he lay
senseless on the ground the bull commenced stamping
on his chest, and there seemed every prospect of the
man. being killed on the spot, when the banderillos
managed to draw the bull away, and Frascuelo was
picked up. Just as the bull was about to make a
fresh attack he dropped dead on the ground, Fras-
cuelo being so much Injured that fears are entertained
that he will not recover,

THE EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY RILL.

The Times of Tuesday published the following :

Sir,—l shall be obliged if you can find space for a notice in
your journal to the effect that the master builders of Great
Britain have petitioned the House of Lords, praying that
their lordships will make such alterations in the Bill as will
bring it into accord with the enclosed objections.—Your
obedient servant, E. S. HENSHAW, Secretary.
The Central Association of Master Builders of
London, 27, King-street, London,
August 23, 1880.

"Objecti/Ins of the Master Builders of the United Kindom to
the Employers' Liability Bill, 1880, as passed by the Hon.
House of Commons.

"We beg to submit—

"1. That the master builders of the United King-
dom employ a larger number of hands thnn are
employed in any other branch of industry proposed
to be affected by the present Bill.
"2. That, while many other clauses of the Bill are
open to objection, sub-clause 3 of clause 1 is the most
objectionable, as the one which entails the greatest
hardship upon employers, and especially those en-
gaged in the building trade.
"3. That it appeared from the observations of Her
Majesty's Government that the object and scope of
the Bill were only to render the employer liable for
the acts of a person to whom the employer distinctly
delegates his own authority,' and the definition intro-
duced into the Bill, of a 'person who has superintend-
ence intrusted to him,' is a person whose sole or
principal duty is that of superintendence, and who is
not ordinarily engaged in manual labour.'
"That sub-clause 3 is in direct contradiction to such
definition, and thereby (so far at least as builders are
concerned), almost abolishes the defence of common
employment, nearly every one employed being under
the direction of some other.
"For the above reasons it is humbly submitted that
it will be just and expedient that sub-clause 3 should
be omitted from the Bill, which would then leave
every employer liable for the acts of his authorised
superintendents.
"5. That in regard to sub-section 4 in clause 2, it is
submitted that it would be impossible in most cases
to prove that the workman knew of the defect or neg-
ligence which caused his injury, and it is therefore de-
sirable to alter the clause as follows, by inserting the
words hereinafter put in italics :
" In any case where the workman knew' or with
ordinary care would have known, of the defect or negli-
gence with caused his injury, or was aware of any im-
proper conduct on the part of others in the same employ
which tended to cause his injury, and failed within
reasonable time to give or cause to be given, informa-
tion thereof to the employer or some person superior
to himself in the service of the employer, unless he
was aware that the employer or such superior already
knew of the said defect or negligence."
" BENJAMIN HANNEN, President of the Builders'
Society.
"GEORGE F. TROLLOPE, President of the
Central Association of London Builders.
"STARLET G. BIRD, Vice-President of the
National Association of Master Builders of
Great Britain.
"London, August 20."