The free citizen. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-10-16
taxes derived from all lines of ralroa,l
in Tennessee will aggregate $l0O,ooo.

in Tennessee will aggregate SlOO,0OO.
TIE arguments in favor oi 4 Southern
Pacific railroad, of proper gauge may he
briefly stated. aS follows: Such a road
can only he built with government aii ::
he government need not risk any thing
in granting the aid required to build il;
it can he built 1T les than Il third Of the
expense Of the existing line, and can i"
operated rroportionatclv more chcarlv
it will furnish much the shortest transit
across the continent; it will not he liable
TO the SNOW and ice barriers of the north
rrn route; il will open the best part of
our western territories and states to sol
| Element: it will increase foreign imni-
grafton and attract foreign capital and.
| finally, it will be of incalrnlablc advan-
| tagc To the trade interests Of the whole
country hy breaking mp Il formidable
monopoly, and greatly reducing the cost
| , transportation between the EASTERN
! and western divisions Of the continent us
well as between the Atlantic and Pacific
| oceans.
| OrR sources of wealth, says The New
York Erprc$S, are remarkable. The
gold and silver products of the United
States in 1874 was S72 100000 QfthiS,
California furnishes $40 100000 Nevada
SD, 900, Utah S5,900,0O0, Colorado
SI,l9l 600, Montana $3,4S9, 900, aud
ldah" Sl,SSO,000. Nearly all of this
went abroad to pay for imports. Gold
and silver. adds the editor, are an I'M
portant source to wealth; but compnr-
ing their yield with some other praduc,s,
the mistake is found. The United
States corn crop is worth four times as
much as the gold and silver crop, and
the wheat crop five times as much; the
cotton crop more than three times as
much, and the hay crop four times as
much. California, with all its gold
would be Il poor state but for its wheat
crop. Carlyslc is right Let us plant
potatoes and corn, by all means, and do
not busy ourselves too much digging for
gold.
THE report of the Massachusetts hu-
rcau Of statistics shows that the annual
surplus earnings Of the families Of me-
chanics, as indicated by the earnings of
397 families, is S2472; Of these i97 fam
lilies, 5S ran II! debt, % earned surplus
of 1856. 10 a surplus Of $2O.2j, II :,
surplus of $32.4S, IS 4 surplus OF $57.17,
l6 a surplus of S49.5l, 4 surplus CT
$i"5.o", i !, surplus OF <si3a.5i:5,, s. Il STIR
plus of Sl72, and Il surplus OF S22S.7jj
and Of S273.SO. The wages OF two fam
lilies were over 81 500. 81 between $500
and 81 500, and 33l from $500 to 81 900.
The average earnings of the whole were
1862, and the average expenses S13S. OF
go families, however, the scale Of wages
ranged from $500 to $500, with a proper
tionate scale of expenses, leaving ar
annual average surplus of 50. l3 to$2O.25.
| Only one workman in Il hundred owns
the house in which his family resides.
TIE failure of the Bank Of California
is now known to have been prccipitatcI,
in large part, hy the unprecedented ship
mcntS of gold from San Francisco from
January to July. The shipment of gold
for the first six months of 1874 footed up
&2,3l 400; for the same period in 1879,
il reached the startling sum Of SIS, ,2j7,
| 100, No such amount of gold had ever
been shipped from that city in The same
period In fact it was more than the
market could bear. Even during the
London panic in 1866, no such volume
Of coin disappeared. Hence the incon-
vcniencc. But the coin movement be-
gan to fall off in July, and has been still
less this month to date.
| PERIODS oifinancial depression, amount
ing sometimes To panics, have wrvadcd
all nations. OF the cause no satisfactory
solution can be made. For more than
two years past England has been subject
to this depression. Ii seems to be
greater now than at any previous time.
| Heavy and disastrous failures have ad-
dcd to the trouble, and hence capital is
unnecessarily cautious, and thereby Il
great existing evil, without apparent
cause, has been greatly aggravated. The
same state of things, toa considerable ex-
| vistu f1,f,