The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1895-11-15
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
THE MARCH OF PROGRESS BE-
wILDERS HIM.
He Talks of Many Interesting Things,
Among Them silver and Gold.

Somehow have Lost my appetite for circuses
and other spectacular amusemcnts. The time
was whom L never missed one if could help it;
but M " prefer to see things that provoke
thought instea of smiles The wonders of the
exhibits in tie exposition, the progress of man.
kind in the arts and sciences fill the mind with
pleasant contemplation. When the ,eleGrap ph
wires first reached our town felt sure that
there was nothing else to invent or discover;
that ting more was needed. But many
wonderful and useful things have piled up on
us since thas now we live i'll state OF expect
ancy What will come next?
When WAS boy We studied philosophy
which said that tho loa! must b" ar the
power and there was picture of a horse try
ing to pull bag of sand by a rope that
100 yards lonG-anl lac couldn't move it. Now
we read that the power from the electric plant
at Niagara is soon 10 pull all the bnets on the
great Eric canal. and the thousands of horses
and mules are 20 be DISCHARGED from their mo-
notonous service. More than ths-wc read
that this same power is soon TO uHcrce! L. all
other powers in leading and unloading the
sells in New York haibor. lr this power can
reach New Iorh from NngaTa why not reach
across tho continent? How long before all our
railway trains will be moved by il? There is
sufficient water power right h,r near arters-
vile to operate plant hat would move all the
wheels in Georgia. Tho children now at school
will live to laugh at the simplicity and stupidi-
ty OF their fathers and grandfathers Just as L
now smile at the recollection of the time when
my father KEEP, flint and steel and piece of
punk i'll little TIN box and would strike a
spark aud light candle when he wanted
light in the night II is funny to think of the
time when there were no matches. What
would these cigarette boys do without matche.2
Every decade brings cheaper methods and
more comforts. The old rule that Adam Smith
taugh, us i'll his wealth of Nations" was that
providence had wisely ordained that the labor
Of one man wonld easily support eight pcrs pns,
nearing himself and wife AMI ak children.
Bu, he wascut counting on ST shoes for the
boys and SO hats and balloon sleeves for the
girls and college education for both. The
labor OF the average man Will not support eight
pei sons now, for Notwithstanding the cheap
ness OF things onr wants are increasing ten
fold. Stephen Girard said that the way TO get
rich was to Iuy nothing that you are not OBJ
liGed to have, but we reverse the maxim ari
buy too many things we are not obliged to
have.
While i'll the exposition did want tc buy
lot OF those beautiful aluminium wares for my
wife, for she do : love pretty things and fine
things, but didcnt have the money I let her
look at th' IN and only bought her a pepper
box Now that reminds me q, on: trouble in
the south. That aluminium clay is all about in
our hills and Is '"inS mined and shipped every
day to Pt,slurI aud there it is reduced and
manufactured and the products come back to
us with two freights and big profits added.
lust so with our manganese and ochre and lum-
Der and hides and most of our cotton aud wool
We have got to manufacture our own materials
or we will never catch up. But we n re making
good progress in iron and cotton and maybe
the other plants will come along in time.
learn that 80 per cent Of that aluminium cay
is wasted and thrown away in the process of re-
duction. just think what a saving of freight
there would bc if We could reduce the metal at
the mines. We would soon be the richest peo-
pie on the earth if could manufacture our
own materials. The labor is hero, but it is
idle. Our boys are willing, but they can't find
employment.
1t is astonishing how rapidly wealth increases
when labor is rewarded. Look at a ruined
lax in n,1
what thirty years have done. Look at the cx-
position that has been planted with the money
from one city and Is now the wonder of the
nation. Where does all this money come fron,2
Verify II locks like Aad tins lamp has come
down to uS-and Yet almost everybody is COM
planning of harl times. I've been reading Jo.
srphus again and don't understand how Solo
mon got all his money. for David was at war
with somebody most all lis life Joscphus
says that silver was as plcnlitul in Jerusalem
a. TIL" stones in the street. The temple was
"vcrlald with gold and cost millions Of dollars
her3d snt little pres ut OF ten millions of
drachmae TO Caesar. HyrcanUS sent ten thou
sand talents OF gold. The pharuohS huilt the
pyramids for their own tomrs, aud one of these
took 100000 men thrtv.SC ven wears TO COM
plctc 1t aud it cost five hundred millions of
dollars and s not worth cent to ANYBODY.
The AzecS OF Mexico built some Just as large
The RUNS OF them are still there and historians
say they had idols on their tops that were thirty
feet high and made of solid gold. There is a
sixty millions "f dollars.
What Il vast amount o. money has been
made from the beginning down to the pres
cnt time. Mankind began carly to hunt
acd chapter of Genesis that the gold of
that land around Eden was good, aud re- .kon
old Adnm ding for it aud nodded it and iugled
II in his pocket. HI never wore fig leaves long
John Knox. III his Geneva ed tIUn of the Bible
an edl ION that lasted fifty years and was vcrv
popu ar, says that Adam aud Eve, when they
knew that they were naked made fnr them
selves ''hrocchc,. and go. of coursc. they had
pockets to carry their money IN O'd Mother
Eve wore brccches then, and her offspring, the
new woman. got her fashion ri lat straight from
the garden OF Eden. What will Dr. Hawthorne
saw abOnt that?
But silver came along in due time Abraham
bought the cave OF Macpelah and paid 100 she
kels oil SILVER rHircnt money with thc merchant.
1t was not coined for he weighed il. reckon
cmty M ago. H,hrr ",y Wa. 10 "T mSrrhs"t SSrI nai'
and bought E"rH' d.a! of line gold from the
miners, and most Of il was in COOS" uu,lIs. Ttc
quill waN tral!sp aren't and had a little wooden
stopper, and u good large one held about so
worth. JoSrri!H~ says that In hI- 3uy gold and
SILVER were coin q a' 4 Stamped. T. was rpuuh.
~ done, reckon. f.r ! yC Il coin rlu; is ,.G"0
years oil, and 1, uT- >tantiu. on ON, sid.
aud Two Roman ic'or~ on tG, u'Iur. and III isa
rough job. NiUm.uIIm would mai,,. l.ru,j.
full cr!n, and with Nh, government s'arnu w,ull
De ihhdier com than silver, tor II j. not half
so heavy. II is IA" stamp that fixes tn. vain.
Iron and copper were used 10y rnC Greeks and
RomaiS Ist n, "" IL" nickel now
what rUmpus tins question at currency has
raIScl. and It came upon us this time 20 sud. !
den and unexpected. Whcr" all the gold il T
uon know. or never any of il. Nnhnlv !
bu' the bankers and tn United States ir .aslty !
have any Use for 1t. or anything 20 do with l.. ,
1t travels bacl and forth across the wa.crlu |
bags AMI boxes aud settles the balances of |,
tily Ian. tl,.,.,, H..