The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1877-09-12
IMPROVEMENT IN TRADE AND
BUSINESS.

Ftt iti uiltt fftt l'tillC WI Has SDtiit tb
force, and that the general trade Of the
country Is not cnly improving but is even
now as goo, AS ought reasonably TO be
expected. They hold that the statistics
Of the year will show fair average busi-
ness done and a healthy condition Of affairs,
and that those who expect the same
activity III all the departments Of industry
that prevailed prior toand during he war
and for some years subsequently will lie
disappointed. There is truth in this.
Apart from the sliattering of confidence
by the financial panic Of 1873 and the long
list Of mercantile failures that followed K,
had stimulated over r-productiontosucli All
extent that when the crash came and in
comes were reduced, and mills and facto-
ries stopped, and so much labor thrown
out Of employment thereby, the ability To
buy At ruling prices was greatly weakened,
inasmuch US not only workingmen nut
all classes Of people were compelled to re-
duce their expenses. Every branch Of
trade suffered in consequence until the
price of all kinds OF commodities fell
gradually 10 psint within the means Of
the generality of consumers. Of late, by
reason oftheeconomy thus praciiced, trade
has shown signs Of revival, anu quite
number of mills and factories that were
idle, or whose operatives were put on
shOr. time, have resumed work. But the
business done now i on smaller profits
and iis volume very sensihly diminished
from what 1t once was. Perhaps of NIL in-
dustries, that Of producing iron from the
ore and of its manufacture into nails and
bars and plates Is suffering more tlfan amy
other, for tile reason that extension Of oil
aud tile construction OF new railroad lines
has almost entirely erased, and with this
cessation the necessity for additional
equipment. How enormously the bull
ding Of railroads added 10 the Industrial
activity and indirectly 10 the general trade
of the country during The years That fol-
lowed The cluse of the war, can be under
stool when IL is rememberedthat there
was expended on tile Northern Pacific
alone thirty millions OF dollars. Tie
losses sustained by investors in that aud
other roads under construction at the
same time, aud the throwing out Of en-
ployinent OF 80 many thousands OF work
ingmcn with 10 other industrial field
open to them, checked the circulation oi
currency. loaded the banks with money
they could not use, and indisposed capi,
talists 10 embark III new enterprises. The
result was that, rs statistics show, tile
failures In the New England and Middle
States during the past four years amounts
cd in the aggregate 10 over five hundred
millions Of dollars. and IN the Western
States 10 one hundred aud twenty-six
millions Of dollars. At The same time tie
people have been taxed TO pay the annual
interest on an accumulated debt Of the
Federal, State, county and municipal
governments amounting In the aggregate
10 over seven hundred millions of dollars.
All these causes combined have lessened
the ability ofthe country TO buy. That
ability Is the measure Of the trade we now
have, aud Of what we are To have here.
after. The nest feature o. our commercial
aud financial condition Il that Il has he>
como healthy. What isdone y done eau
tiously. Aquietus has been putupon wild
reckless speculative enterprises; tile plan.
ters Ia the South are recovering fpm their
improyerishment, and there is large
foreign demand at good prices for the
grain aud other products of the West.
Tie future there, looks hopeful, but the
intensity Of the crisis through which we
have passed will make entire recovery cor
respondngly slow. - baltimore Sun.
..-,s.~,,,ss..~,.
Visitors to Scituate, about slx and half
miles from Boston, always make Il
point to seo Miss Rebecca w. Bates, who
lives atthc head Of tie larbor in an old.
fashioned house. This elderly lady, now
In her eIghty.fifth year, Is Us active as
~ ost people of sixty She, with her old
maiden sister Or cighty.two. distinguished
herself during tile wal of 1872 BY driving
away the British soldiers who had started
IN barges from man.Of.war 10 capture
the fluur with which two vessels were
laden at the head Of the harl,or. AL the
mcn were away, and the British com-
nlandcr, noticing BY the MD of bis glass
the seeming scarcity OF men, determined
tn capture the lnur. Miss Bates father
kept the lighthouse, and at the time she
was nineteen years ofage. She could
play tile fife and her sister was good az The
drum. Rcbecca evolved q BIT of Yankee
strategy. fastening TO the lighthouse,
she and her sister, conceallng themselves.
proceeded to play martial music at the
head ofan imaginary company Of recruits.
The British ceased rowing and pricked up
l. al az. .t..tts