The free citizen. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-10-16
taxes derived from all lines of railroad
in Tennessee will aggregate 100000.

taxes derived from all lines of railroad
in Tennessee will aggregate 100000.
THE arguments in favor Of Southern
Pacific railroad, Of proper gauge, may be
briefly stated, as follows: Such road
can only be built with government aid /;
he government need not risk any thing
in granting the aid required to build it;
it can be built at less than third OF the
expense of the existing line, and can be
operated proportionately more chcaply !;
it will furnish much the shortest transit
across the continent; it will not be linble
to the snow and ice barriers of the north
ern route; it will open the best part of
our western territories and states to set
tlement; it will increase foreign imni-
grafton and attract foreign capital; and,
finally, it will be of incalculable advan-
tage to the trade interests of the whole
country by breaking up formidable
monopoly, and greatly reducing the cost
transportation between the eastern
and western divisions of the continent MS
well as between the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans.
Our sources of wealth, says the New
York E1press, are remarkable. The
gold and silver products of the United
States in 1874 was S72, 100000. OF this,
California furnishes $50, 100000, Nevada
$S5, $4,000, Utah $5,9OO,O0O, Colorado
$4,191 900, Montana $3,4S9,O0O, and
idaho $1,sS0,OOO. 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 products,
the mistake is found. The United
States corn crop is worth four times us
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 it's gold
would be poor state, but for its wheat
crop. Carlysle is right. Let us plant
potatoes and corn, by all means, and do
not busy ourselves too much digging for
gold. .s..s -. .s-,,,,=,elL.-4s--- !
< THE report of the Massachusetts bu.
reau of. Statistics shows that. the annual
surplus earnings of the families Of me-
chanics, as indicated by the earnings of
397 families, is S24.72; of these 497 fam:
lilies, 5S ran in debt, 90 earned surplus
of 1886. 10 surplus of S2O25, II a
surplus of S32.4s, 3S surplus of S57.77,
16 surplus of $49.5l, 4 a surplus OF
s105.s0, 4 a surplus of sl29.35, . a sur,
plus of Sl72, and ! a surplus OF So2S.7J
| and of S275.80. The wages of two fam
lilies were over 81 900, 81 between 5000
and 81 600, and 331 from $500 to $1,000.
The average earnings of the whole were
1862, and the average expenses 1878. OF
$50 families, however, the scale of wages
ranged from $500. to $500, with proper
tionate scale Of expenses, leaving an
annual average surplus of S5.13 to $20.25'
Only one workman III hundred owns
the house in which his family resides.
THE failure of the Bank of California
is now known TO have been precipitated,
in large part, by the unprecedented ship
.mcnts of gold from San Francisco from
January to July. The shipment of gold
for the first six monthsof 1874 footed up
$2,311 400; for the same period in 1875,
it reached the startling sum of 1s,257,-
400! 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-
venience. But the coin movement be-
gan; to, fall off in July, and has been still
less this month to date.
PERIODS offinancial depression, amount
ing sometimes to panics, have pervaded
all nations. OF the cause no satisfactory !
solution can be made. For more than
two years past England has been subject
to this depression. 1t seems to be
greater now than at any previous time.
Heavy and disastrous failures have ad-
ded to the trouble, and hence capital is
unnecessarily cautious, and thereby a
great existing evil, without apparent
cause, has been greatly aggravated. The
same state Of things, toa considerable ex.
tent, exists on the continent
- A LATE London letter gives this report
of the condition of monetary affairs