The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-20 00:00:00

THE NEW BOAT ELK HORN.

This is a splendid freight boat, provided with a neat
cabin, and eierything in order ; built in Pittsburg by
order of Mr. Durant, for the Union Pacific Company, at a
cost of $52,000. It has entirely new and powerful
engines, and was made to encounter all the hard hits of
Missouri navigation. The now boat is complete in every
part, and has the following dimensions :
Length
,Width
Main kelson 151 feet in depth, and 31 feet thick.
Floor timbers 6y by 31.
Plank 4,1,- inches thick forward, and 31 aft.
The Elk Horn had the honour of towing the first barges
that ever navigated the Missouri. Her power is demon-
strated. She made the trip from St. Louis to Omaha in
nine days and fourteen hours running time, and never
delayed a moment on account of the barges. These were
not unfastened once, nor was a pound of freight moved on
account of them.
Our old friend, Mr. H. M. Iroxie, had the direction of Mr.
Durant's experiment from St. Louis, and it could not have
been in abler hands. Hoxie has the force in him and the
capacity to execute which few possess, and is a man who
is never disconcerted by difficulties. The Elk Horn is
commanded by E. H. Barnes, master, and William Lingo,
pilot, veteran steamboat mon and obliging gentlemen,
who are astonished at the victory achieved in barging on
the Missouri.
We congratulate Mr. Durant upon his achievement. It
is exclusively his own. Ho won it by that iron will and
resolution which have made him eminent. He has marked
a new era in the navigation of the greatest of navigable
rivers, and has demonstrated anew his tremendous force
and grasp in whatever ends he seeks to accomplish.

475 feet.
... 35 2-3

The Paris correspondent of the Star gives the
following amusing account of the mode in which the
Census is now being taken in Franco :—" Two solemn
gentlemen in black, each armed with huge resistors, ink-
bottles, and pens, arrive and demand the age, profession,
&c., &c., of every individual inhabitant. The intelligence
with which the printed forms are filled up is remarkable,
especially in country parts. Tho census lately taken at
Envermeu, near Dieppe, contains the following insertion :
Louis Denis, aged three months; no profession;
bachelor.' A little further on : Marie Jouret, aged eight
days, idem, spinster.'
ADVERTISEMENT. j —Holloway's Pills.— Conscientious
Convictions.—No investment of money can be so profitable
as that which insures good health. It has been established
beyond dispute that Holloway's
.pills, which cost but a
trifle, will successfully wrestle with and overthrow disease.
In all the many forms in which dyspepsia or indigestion
presents itself, it may bo thoroughly removed by these
purifying and gently aperient pills, assisted by a diet which
must be simple in quality and moderate in quantity. Long
indisposition, resulting from defective appetite or imperfect
assimilation, yields to this efficient treatment, and nausea,
disagreeable tastes in the mouth, headache' and the annoy-
ing collection of phlegm which plagues the dyspeptic in
the morning, will be banished by these Dalsanue and
strengthening pills. -

American

Securities.

Englishmen carry their strong prejudices in
favour of their country, even into their investments.
Generally speaking, money banishes the romance of
imagination, and brings questions down to hard
facts and dry figures. But it is not always so ; or
it would be difficult to account for discrepancies in
values, which a glance at the Stock Exchange list
of prices will at once show. The revenue derived
from the United States is at the present moment
fully a third larger than that of Great Britain,
while its expenditure will in future be less. This
revenue is collected with facility, and borne by the
nation with ease. The national wealth increases
year by year prodigiously; outstripping beyond all
proportion the growth in wealth of any ether coun-
try. Yet on comparing the value of American
stocks with those of this country or any of the great
kingdoms of Europe, we find that the most solvent
debtor pays by far the highest interest. Few
people are prepared to dispute the question that a
" promise to pay" on the part of the United States
is as good as a "promise to pay" on the part of any
kingdom of Europe. Intrinsically we maintain
that such a " promise" is better, with the doubtful
exception in favour of the United Kingdom. It is
better because the nation is more wealthy now, and
growing more wealthy than any other nation ; be-
cause its Government, being firmly fixed on the
shoulders of the people, is more stable, and with
less risk of change; and because it stands alone on
the continent, without a foreign foe that could in
any way interfere with or change the destinies of
the people. The Union is free from all chance of
attack which could alter its boundaries, or work
any permanent evil, even were a combination of
Governments hostile to it possible. In this security
the Americans stand alone. We have an instance of
a great European military Government struck down
in the campaign of a few days. The map of
Europe will be altered, and vast changes result from
a single battle. With such an example before us,
we cannot consider any European Government ab-
solutely safe. The great monarchies of Europe are
liable not only to external attack, but to internal
revolution. With scarcely an exception these Go-
vernments guard against this danger by an expen-
diture in developing their military resources which
outstrips their revenues, and year by year dips
them deeper in hopeless debts. It is strange, then,
to see the stocks of nations so placed quoted at a
higher value than those of the United States, A
natural belief in one's own country, a Government
one sees, and a revenue one partly pays, in some
measure may account for this fact. Habit, the
strength given by time, and the confidence
inspired by long and honourable fulfilment of
engagements, are also among the reasons. But
ignorance and timidity have far more to do with
these quotations than any other cause. The timidity
which arises from ignorance is, indeed, the main
reason, which perhaps time only can fully dissipate.
English investors are but beginning to know what
five-twenties and seven-thirties mean. Gradually
these stocks rise in value, even during a. terrible
panic which has prostrated English credit. There
are no subjects more keenly and attentively con-
sidered by men with money than the investment of
capital. Every one who has put by savings eagerly
listens to the person who can satisfy him that there
is a secure and profitable means of laying them
out. Most grasp at the highest interest, and many
plunge into a sea of trouble, in pursuit of the great
object of making much out of little. Others
timidly hold back, believing in the security of no-
thing they cannot see and know by long experience
to be sound. There is, however, a class who work
out for themselves their scheme of investment, and
attentively study the subject, uninfluenced by the
prejudice and the ignorance around them. These
are the men who come in for the good things,
buying low where the public have little confidence,
and selling high when that confidence has become
unbounded, after the knowledge they had earlier ob-
tained has been widely spread abroad. It is now
difficult to believe that the English preferred Con-
federate Bonds to those of the United States when
the war was raging. The Germans more accurately
estimated the position and invested largely in
American Government securities. John Bull was
full of prejudice and ignorance, and paid the penalty
in giving his money for a considerable quantity of
worthless Confederate paper. The shrewd, stolid
Dutchman and German reaped the harvest. The
clouds of ignorance and prejudice are but slowly
rising, and United States Bonds still remain a sub-
ject well worth the earnest attention of those who
seek to derive a secure means of living and high
interest for their money.—Anglo-American Times.