The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1876-02-15


is allowed all the water he wants and
from half pound to pound Of bread
per day.
The Beginning Of Better Times.
The prosperity of trade depends on the
condition of the classes who are engaged
in production. In the United States the
agricultural class Of producers far sur
passes in importance any of the others.
If we can show that the condition of the
farmers and planters is an improving one
it will follow that corresponding i'm
provement will before long be manifest
in the general trade Of the country.
When we speak of men in masses of
millions, as we must in discussing the
affairs of such nation as the United
States, we necessarily have to disregard
a multitude of exceptions to the general
rule. Taking the farmers and planters
as class we do say that there is ample
statistical proof Of the fact that they are
better off than they have been at any
time for three years past. We point in
the first place to the condition Of wheat,
corn, cotton, beef, pork, cheese, hams and
bacon exported; in the second place to
the prices obtained for those articles, not
at the port of New York, but at the
places where they were produced, for the
farmer has had the advantage for over a
year of internal freights low beyond pre-
cedent; in the third place to the lower
rate of wages at which farmers and
planters have this year procured their
labor; and in the fourth place to the
fact which naturally follows from the
three already mentioned, that the i'm
ports of tea, coffee and sugar have been
larger in the fiscal year ended with June
last than in any previous year in the
history of the country. In her dealings
with the United States Great Britain has
proved good customer. While our inn
ports from the British Isles have been
enormously curtailed, our exports to
those regions have greatly increased since
the close of the year 1872. In either
one of the three calendar years 1873,
1874 and 1875, we have found q market
for more grain in Great Britain than we
ever did before. Much of that grain
has gone to reduce indebtedness, but
nevertheless the farmers who produce it
have been paid for it, and well paid for
it, too.
Another favorablelcircumstance in the
condition of trade throughout the United
States is the absence of speculation.
Probably there is no important article
whose price is now upheld beyond fair
level by the competition of spectators.
The demand that at present exists for
merchandise and manufactures can be
depended on to continue and to grow,
because it comes almost direct from the
consumer. The population of the Union
is now in round numbers forty-five mil
lions, and it is increasing at the rate Of
about two and q half per cent. pe1
annum, and much faster than that in the
great agricultural states of the west
Under such circumstances of prosperity
and increase of the agricultural popula
tion, how long can the market for cotton
goods remain glutted at the present Low
prices? 1t must, within no very distant
period, feel the increased consumption
At the same time we are bound to say
that there are no grounds for expecting
rival Of speculation. Since the telegraph
has united the business world, specuia
tion does not play the part it iorme-i,
did in trade and commerce. Hence, tha
slow and almost imperceptible step b,
which business revives where it is no
too heavily weighted by debts and taxes
i We cannot think it out of place t,
urge economy on those who are in debt
from the mayor, aldermen and common
atty of the city of New York down i
that man who merely owes his grocer an
tailor. Prompt payment is quite as cor
ducive to the welfare of business as larg
i purchases. We believe at this very tim
that nothing would tend more strongl
to bring about good times than a redu,
tion Of taxes, and the only honest wa
to reduce taxes is to cut down expend
tures.-New York Times.
Not long since, the mother Of Kat
Curran, Jessee Pomeroy's victim, apple
to DR.. Cullis for admission to his col
: RIm ptIvQs, hnuno co~v:r~ &JnA