The herald., 1897-09-29
OFFICE OF THE HERALD,

=
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 49, 1897.
1.-THE most intractable trouble with this
country today Is due to the weak and dan
yerous habit Of going and staying in debt.
Df course, every man who is behind with
he world is not to be condemned. In some
)ases 1t Is proper and sensible to use one s
lredit. In other instances good men have
allen hopelessly behind, because Of the
aults or failures of others, or because OF
embarrassing conditions for which they
themselves are not responsible. 1t is the per-
ntcious habit Of going in debt today and pay
ing tomorrow, or of not paying at all, that
ioes the mischief. AS a matter Of self-de-
lense and safety, at least four men IN five
Dhould pay as they go. 1t is doubtful If more
Than five in twenty have been observing
This rule. Wherever you find man who
has done so you will find one who is not
learing his hair out over foreign wars or
The money question. What this country
heeds in both private and public affairs is
! pay-as-you-go policy instead Of the wild
habits Of speculation and extravaganza in
which millions Of people have been SO law
hhly educated.
The London Pail Mall Gazette thinks the
prices Of American securities in many cases
Are now perilously inflated. and says:
swhile conditions in the United States have
improved and are improving. the future is
more than adequately discounted and
Drices are bound to descend"
=
A number Of eastern tea merchants re-
pently complained to the treasury depart
ment at Washington, their grievance be-
Ing. as stated. that the tests applied by the
experts under the new tea regulations, to
ascertain the quality of teas, are not well
considered, and that they operate to clas-
Dify as containing more than 10 per cent
Of dust the best teas of India and Ceylon
In answer to an inquiry which was sent to
Thomas ]. Phelan of the board of tea ex-
perts. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
Howell received the following reply: ITO
the meking and carrying out of a new law
there are always some objections. The
committee have held the attitude Of not
doing anything in the interest Of any set
Of importers, but are only anxious to carry
out the main principle-that is, to exclude
dust that some Of the importers were anx-
ious to get in is only the sweepings of ia
pan and China Twenty years ago there
was an agreement among importers and
the Japanese and Chinese merchants al
lowing only 10 per cent of dust. The pres
snt crop is the finest crop of tea that ever
came to America. The regulations work
like a charm, and after the old crop has
been used 1t will be impossible for the
consumer to purchase pound of impure
tea. The work Of excluding bad teas is
much simplified by the fact that there are
pnly four ports .of entry-Tacoma, San
Of forty. as hitherto.
y + +
w. Alvord, in the proceedings of the
American Forestry association. reports
Mat from 187O-1S91 there were used in the
mines and mills Of the Comstock lode 674,-
200 feet Of timber and 391, ,07O 500 cubic
feet Of cordwood, representing total cost
Of about $4,000. 900. About 100000 acres of
forest have been destroyed to work these
mines, and at present the most part of the
supply has to be brought forty-five miles.
gold mining in New South Wales in 1896
Jays the Financial Times, than in the previ-
bus year, the output showed decrease of
nearly a quarter of a million pounds in
value. yielding about 951 13s Sd per man
employed, which is much below what is
considered living wage.
The total value Of the breadstuffs ex-
ported from the United States during the
month of August was $26. .S91 1886 and for the
eight months ending August $129 675, ,9O2. OF
this, the value Of the exports from San
Francisco for the month was 81, 24S, 331 and
for the eight months $9.3Ss,226. The value
Of the breadstuff exports from Puget sound
for the month were $72.671 and for the
Iight months 81, 1,52s,547.
The Sierra company's mill, Chico, Cal,
cuts $4,000 feet day, and this season will
pupply about 8, 900, 900 feet of lumber Tho
logs are brought six miles by chute. There
IRE three engines employed and five donkey
engines are used in the woods. In the
chute $4,000 feet of cable is used and eigh-
teen logs at a drive are brought. This lum-
Der is sent to Chico by fiume the total
cost Of putting the lumber In, sending 1t
down and taking 1t out and piling it in the
yard at Chico being IS cents a thousand.
There are 1856 men employed In the woods.
the mill and on the fume. The flume is
twenty-five miles long.
+ =
The movement in gold to and from the
United States for the first eight months
of the calendar year compares as follows:
1896. 1897.
Exports ................$56S95 S95. .492 $32, ,542 $50
Imports .................. S1.902.137 1885. 1856
Trounoso M. orr am cr, n,
The movement both ways this year is
light. Though the net los in gold this year
is $20.657,274, this net loss is over a. 600, 900
less than 1t was last year. 1t was expected
that there would be return movement in
gold from Europe in August but that was