The Failures Continue

The stntistics of trade fallares in the Sfnited States havingbeen compiled for the first half of the current year, it is well to compare them witli corresponding periode m former years, which we do, since 1890, as follows: Year. Number. 1895 fi.597 ]y! 6.528 ;v.ri. _ _ ,389 1892 __ „5,351 18)1 6.087 IStW.- 5,466 From all that our free trade friends have been telling us we have come to the conclusión that business had recently been so prosperous that trade failures yere ahnostunknown in the community. After the paoic of 1893 we were assured that the business atmosphere had been cleared, that all the weak business ■lousos had gone to the wall and that, as business iniproved, it would be on a solid and substantial basis, with credits uniuipaired and securities excellent. What is the result? The number of trade failures throughout the country liave been steadily increasing. During ■he ürst half of 1893 there were 888 aiore failures than during the correspondins period in 1892. In 1894 there were 289 more than in 1893 ; in 1895 the record bas been brokeu with 69 more than in 1894, a total of (5.597 trade failures. This business barometer affords an interësting stiuly. If the weak had all gone to the wall long ago, the contiuuatiou of this free trade administra:ion must be draggiug down some of the stronger houses. - American Economist. The director of the Minnesota Agrieultural Station is engaged in what seems to be an important experiment in husbandry. In pasturing sheep in the ardinary way an acre is allovved to two sheep, bnt Prof Shaw is feeding sixteen sheep on one acre at the experiment station and bringing tliem forward in excellent condition. He divides the acre by portable fences into four equal parts. Two of the plots were sown to rye last (all, and in the spring, 'when ye was well out of the ground, six 'all grown sheep and ten lambs were iyrned -.m to one of the plots. As soon ag. they had grazed the rye down they .ve.e removed to the second quarter, and by the time this was eaten over thoroaghly the first quarter was ready for the second time. This alternation was repeated threc times, after which the first quarter was plowed and sown with a mixture of corn and' rape. From the second quarter the sheep wenjt to the third, which liad been planted with oats and peas, while the lourth was sown with rape alone. The sheep have not only done well, but the flock had to be largely increased to keep down the fourth quarter. When this was exbausted the first plot was ready again. A combination of oats and sorghum is :ilso highly recommended. The improvement in the condition of spring wheat brought by the recent rains may bring the aggregate erop up to 475,000,000 bushels. The yield will certainly be from 25,000,000 to 50,000,000 greater than anybody a motnh ago expected. Corn promises to go abovethe 2,000,000,000 mark- to very nearly or juite reach the highest figures ever hed. Ilowever, six or seven weeks nut pass before corn is entirely out of daBgér, and forecasts made now are subject to this risk. The country needs crops this year and it has a chance to get them in some of the leading producta. Drake, the republican candidato for governor of Iowa, is a stroug man, and will draw out the full vote of the party. From near the beginning of the canvass for the nomination he was the favorite. This cousideration, of course, will help hini at the polls. Tenis shed over spilt milk are of no ase to fill the empty paíl, but the time thatsome people waste that way could ahnost buy another cow. To watcli tlie growth of a good flourLshing ero]) or thrifty animal is the true farmer'amost solid pleasnre, wbile the man who growa ppör producís gets neither pleasure nor profit. Don'tbe afraid that the world willnot appreciate you if you stay ontbefarm. Your difficulty will be not to find a chance to use your ability, but rather tp find ability to use your chances. "Arighteous jiidgmeiit" is the general verdict of the people in the verdicts rendered by the juries in the Dr. Seaman morder case of Detroit, and the Parailee murder of Grand Traverse. It is now unlawful to employ any but American citizens on public work in Pennsylvania. The law imposing this condition was passed at the instance of the labor organizations, and its expected effect is au iucrease of wages on account of the diminished nuinber of men who can be hired. Professor Burrill of the University of Illinois, says that the water requireïnents of a tree in full leaf in warm weather are astonishingly great. A good sized apple tree, having 25,000 Eeet of evaporating aurface, which is by no means a large estímate, will give off 31,200 ounces per day, or substantially 205 gallons. The trouble with Russia's sphere of iufluence at present is that it stretches from the Black Sea to Corea, and, as Mr. Lincoln said, the animal must be pretty thin somewhere. China has been torced to inake the loan desired by Russia, but Bulgaria is restless because unrecognized, and Jayan, while silent, is not intiinidated. During the first lialf of the current year 201 new textile milis were built in this country, against 116 in the first half of 1894, mostly in the southern states. These new enterprises mean that the idea of manufacturing cotton goods in the section where the raw material is produced can not be prevented from making its way and greatly increasing the prosperity of the south. The supreme court of Louisiana bas decided that a 3-year-old child can not be guilty of contributory negligence in the sense of being in part reponsible tor injury by a street car. That is to say, it holds that such a child is legally iucapable, and its actions cannot furnish any excuse for lack of extraordinary care and watchfulness on the part of the employés of a railroad company. A woinan who has traveled largely in Japan mentioned in the course of a lecture the fact that the Japanese language does notcontain au impolite word, henee tbere is no swearing in that happy land. She also stated that osculation was an unknown pleasure. As the audience dispersed, commenting favorably upon different points, anold woman remarked loud enough to be heard: "Well, for my part, I prefer a country where they kiss and cuss." It appears from the official statistics that during the present erop year Europe lias imported 12,768,000 bushels less of wheat from the United States than in the corresponding period of the preceding year, while there bas been a decided increase of imports from Russia, India, Australasia and Argentina. This is not encouragiug to our wheat-growers, and ■ loes not warrant much speculation based on the erop conditions of this country alone. Those who are engaged in flsh culture coHiplain that many streams are rendered uninhabitable for food and game fish by the waste and chemicals discharged by manufacturing establishments. Fortunately, the waste products in nearly all forins of manufacture are found to be too valuable to tbrow away, and chemists will discover a better use for the "matter in the wrong place" which now poisons waters that were once clear and beautiful. Birmingham, England, which is testing many advanced municipal ideas, has established a city public house in the suburbs, where the liquors are iJbugbt by the Corporation and retailed by a manager who has no interest in tlie amount sold. The morning beer limit for a man is one quart and the evening limit two quarts. This allowance is liberal enough to escape the standing malediciion placed on the h'eyes of any English official who would rob a poor man of his beer. The bollow alliance of Russia, France and Germany on Asiatic affairs went to pieces as soon as Germany discovered that her partners were playing false, and it seems that China, after all, will not go sorrowing by borrowing money from Russia. The authorities at Peking prefer to borrow the ihdemnity through English influence, and Germany apapproves of the movement. Russia and Franee now stand alone on the Eastern questiou, and the array of the powers on the other side is an assurance that neither China nor Japan lias anything serious to fear at present from Russian aggression. Progresa that is slow and sure s greatly undervalued in the rush and bustle of afl'airs in this country. Thatis one reason why the young man leaves the farm. There are only flfteen ph}'sicians practicing in Muskegon now, while three years ago there were 43. The change in water supply has reduced the rate of sickness 70 per cent. "Chambers' Journal" states that the United States lias seventy citizens with an average wealth of $37,500,000 each, and adds that the brain reels before sueh figures. It is evident that England will be distanced uuless it can largely iucrease its supply of rnarriageable Dukes. In giving the criminal news in the dailies it is noticed that persons are soinetim.es arrested under section 9314 of Howell's Annotated Statutes. As this sectiou has nine distinct headings under which charges can be brought, it leaves the leader at a loss, if he cares anything about it, to know whether it is 9314 a, b, c, d, e, f, q, h or i. June 27, 1895. I do advocate a collegiate education because it is absolutely necessary to qualify young men to follow such vocations as those of clergymen, pliysicians, surgeons, statesmen and editors, and engase in other literary pursuits ; and the training of the mind which the classics give is also beneficial for architects, civil engineers and the higher grade of politicians, as well as for armv and navy officers. This is a broad field which I advocate to be compassed by college educated men. For the counting house the best education to fit a yoimg man in my judgment is a good common English education, comprising a thorough knowledge of grammar, spelling, arithmetic, history, geography, bookkeeping and penmanship. Besides the training mentioned above a boy while at school should be taught to rigidly teil the truth, as that is a live issue and will stand him in better than the dead languages for a business life. Truth is the foundation of honesty in a boy's career. It must be remembered that when a boy enters a merchant's or banker's office at 16, it requires at least four years for him to get through the various departments and obtaiu a full knowledge of the business. The time is occupied by the young clerk in getting this knowledge through experience in a practical way, precisely as a boy does who obtains a knowledge of the higher branches of education during his four years at college to fit hirn for one of the professions. The counting-room, therefore, is sim pi y a business school training. A clerk in au office is better able to gain a business education if he commences as a boy, as at that time he is sub3ervient and anxous for promotion. He learns to be persevering, industriousand self-reliant. He is not likely to have a full development of these qualities for business work uuless he starts at the lowest step of the ladder as a junior clerk in an office. Each promotion serves to fire his ambition and stimulate him to increased efforts. A college gradúate at 22 or 24 years of age, who has reached the growth of manhood and manhood's development generally, is not unlikely to be so hemmed in by pride and self-importance as to uufit him for taking a position in a business office and commence by doing boy's work. If he is given a positiou over the heads of others in a large office it at once creates discontent among the other clerks and ends in demoralization. The clerks of my office are of my own training. They start at l(i years of age. After they have been doing boy's work for a year or so I am enabled to see by close observation wliat their qualifications are. I then assign them to the work of different departments, and they are promoted from timo to time and salaries increased according to inerit. If I should take, for instance, a college-educated young man and put him in a position in my office such as would be aggreeable to him and due to his education, it would upset my entire machinery and result in the resignation of 20 or 30 younger clerks in the estabment, as it would be regarded by them as unjust treatment, not in accordance with "civil service reform." InEngland it is customary for people of means to pay a business establishment a stipnlated snm annually for educating their sons for business. I should like to see the young man in this country who would go hito a room and be willhigto work on such terms, hut it is quite usual in Europe. It is plain to be seen that that such a system only tends x widen the gulf between classes, and put into execution here would speedily result in great demoralization ainongst junior clerks: in fact they would not tolérate it. Under such a system, however, a eollegiate educated young man would be able to go into a merchant's or banker's office and would be given, on account of the money consideration, a position more in accord with the elevated feelings with which his higher education has naturally imbued him. He would really occupy a position, in comparison with the other clerks, of a parlor boarder. Such distinctioñs are against the whole American spirit and therefore could not prevail here. HENRY CLEWS.