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 s1OO,oOO
THE arguments in favor OF Il Southern
Pacific railroad, of proper gauge, may be
briefly stated, as follows: Such Il 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 ut less than q third OF the
expense of the existing line, and can be
operated proportionatcly more chcaplv
it will furnish much the shortest transit
to the SHOW and ice barriers of the north
crn route; il will open the best part of
our western territories and states to set
tlenlcnt; it will increase foreign imnli-
grafton and attract foreign capital; and,
finally, it will be of incalculable advan-
tagc to the trade interests of the whole
country by breaking up a formidable
monopoly, and greatly reducing the cost
, transportation between the eastern
and western divisions of the continent as
well as between the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans.
Our sources of wealth, says the New
| York Erpress, are remarkable. The
gold and silver products of the United
States in 1874 was S72, 100000 OF this,
California furnishes S20, 100000, Nevada
$50, $4,000, Utah $5,900,000, Colorado
$4,19l 900, Montana $3,4S9,00U, aud
Idaho Sl,SS0,000. 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 compar-
ing their yield with some other products,
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 a poor state but for its wheat
crop. Carlyslc is right. Let us plant
potatoes and corn, by all means, and dc
not busy ourselves too much digging fo1
gold. s
THE report of the Massachusetts, hu.
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, SIS ran in debt, 90 earned surplus
of 1896. 40 surplus Of $20.25, II &
surplus of $32.4S, 3S a surplus of Sj7.77
16 a surplus Of $49.51, 4 surplus O
Sl05.S0, 4 Il surplus of Sl2935, = a sur
plus of SIP, and a surplus of S22S.7j
and of S275.S0. The wages Of two fam.
lilies were over 81 500, 81 between 5000
and 81 900, and 331 from $500 to $1,000.
The average earnings of the whole were
1862, and the average expenses S73S. 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 $5.13 to S2O.25'
| Only one workman in hundred OWLS
the house in which his family resides.
THE failure of the Bank of California
is now known TO have been precipitatcd,
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 months of 1874 footed up
$2,3ll 400; for the same period in 1873,
it reached the startling sum of $lS,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.
PERIoDsoftinancial depression, amount.
ing sometimes to panics, have pervadcd
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 s
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 repor