The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-06-06

5 NJ AZ.
a. THE WEAR OF WEALTH 0vERLooKED.-A
late numbero of the Scientific American contains
an excellent article on the amount OF realized
wealth destroyed by fire within a few years IN
the United States. 1t is very properly says
that property thus consumed is forever lost, Tor
that insurance only shifts the burden from the
shoulders of one man to- be borne by the stock
holders of the company. 1t adds that, IN estl-
mating the causes of the present financial de-
preston, the unusual amount of property de-
voured by conhagration ought to be considered
The Scientific American is right. But itisnot
only in the case OF fires that the destruction of
realized wealth is overlooked. Gtis a prevalent
mistake, especially to ignore the wear and tear
of property. From the housekeeper, who iii
annually estimating his financial condition.
overlooks the yearly depreciation in his furnl-
ture, to the railroad president who, in preparing
his report for the stockholders, undertakes on
totally omits the wear of rails and rolling stocks
nearly all alike fail into this serious error. 1t
is fault of the whole national character. We
! find it exhibited at the south as we'll as at the
north, among the farmers of the west as well
as the manufacturers of the east The me-
chanic and day-laborer share in it alike with
the shipper and speculator.
The civil war has displayed itself particularly
during the last few years. 1t is little more than
atwelvemonth since leading commercial paper
in New York asserted that there could be no
depression which was not temporary because
the nation had earned und Invested within the
three preceding years six hundred millions of
dollars. This assumption was plauslbly main
tanned by con]ectural estimate, though not an
extravagant one, of the amount of capital put
into railroads, plankroads, tulnpikes, ,>houses,
barns, and fences The error Of the calcula-
ton was that no allowance was made for the
wear and tear much less the destruction of
property. A railroad. for example, subjected
to ordinary travel, will require new rails every
sixteen or twenty years. At least sixteenth,
f therefore should have been deducted from the
railroad item. Barns, fences, and farm houses,
depreciate also, so likewise do town mansions
and city stores, and to an even greater degree.
Furniture and stores, depending for value on
, fashions, as every man knows who has had oc-
casion to sell such property, annually depreci-
ates, not only by actual wear and tear, but to
an even greater degree in marketable value
Yet how rarely such facts taken into con-
slderation, except by the very strictest business
: men. Again, few families but are compelled
to buy new carpets, sofas, and other articles of
household use every ten or fifteen years at least
Thus, once every thirty years and once every
fifteen the cost of a fashionable store or the ex
pense of household furniture is totally sunk.
Yet thousands of men regulate their expense
without thought of these facts.
SOUTHERN MANuFA cTuREs.-G Georgia was the
ctota tboto occouaI tba q art
of diverjng capital from agricultural pursuits
to the establishmentof manufactures. We re-
member the time well. Cotton had fallen to its
lowest mark, far below remunerating price.
The planters en- masse, as supposed remedy
for the existing evil, and being the most hopeful
.people in the world always beguiling themselves
| with the idea that "a better time is coming"
, began planting more cotton. The lower cotton
: went down the more they grew, and the larger
: their crops, by this means increasing the very
e mischief they were conending with, and thus
2 impoverishing themselves. They were few
+ exceptionable instances, men "to the manor
born" and who had not the benefit Of expert
| ence, travel and observation, but who governed
by good hard sense, and the deductior.3 of sim
pie reasoning, arrived at the conclusion that
/ money could be more proftably employed in
!, something else than planting cotton, with large
ly increasing crops, and selling it at FIVE and six
cents pound. Cotton fabrics do not fall in
price in corresponding ratio with the decline
in the raw material. This was the clue to the
future action, and upon this hint they commenced
building manufactures for themselves. TWAS
a small beginning, for it was "the day Of small
things" There were no railroads, or only one
at most in those times. Georgia had not
evolved from her chrysallis state-she had not
then by her enterprise and energy won wealth
and influence, and the proud distinction Of
being the empire state of the south.
The attempt at manufactures succeeded won
derfully the example was followed in different
parts of the state and there are now in Georgia
between fifty and sixty cotton factories in |the
full tide of successful experiment" The de
gree Of success they have attained may be in
ferred from the following statement of the con-
dition of the Macon manufacturing company,
During the last six months its clear profits have
been at the rate of seventeen per cent per annum
on the amount Of the stock 1t has declared
dividend of ten per cent, and has accumua-
ted during the last eighteen months, over the
dividends, a reserve fund of thirty seven thou
sand dollars N. O. Bui
| JAPANESE TEMPLEs.-TEe Utica IN. Y
Herald has published lately two OF more arti
cles from the pen of s. Williams, on Japanese
religious ediices and other indications Of the
religious notions Of the people. oThese articles
contain the result of personal observations in
in and around Simoda, one Of Pie ports open to
American vessels. Mr.. Williams tells US, that
besides the Buddhist temples, which he describes
there is large mia, aosort of private temple, at
Smoda, dedicated to q de6ed hero of the 9th
century, who is regarded as the patron saint of
the town, and many shrines and images in and
around the town, most Of them dedicated to
ancient heroes or demi- gods, who are sopposcd
to hold sway over the elements, or Diseases or
crops, and are suppIcated fe2 aid, or ther
wrath deprecated. Their number is unknown
but they can be reckoned by the score. Mr.,
Williams describes their temples, shrne@ etc,
as generally surrounded by trees, and remarks
that "the habit the JaDanese have Of placnr