CORRECTIONS.

The table given on page 231 exhibiting the amount and character of the public debt, bearing interest, on the 30th day of November, 1875, is incomplete. By an oversight the currency bonds issued to the Pacific Railroads were omitted. The amount of the currency bonds outstanding at that date was $64,623,512, which, added to the amount given on page 231, would make the total public debt, bearing interest, November 30, 1875, $1,758,874,812.

On page 88 for "out," the last word on the page, read "about."

On page 17, in the seventh line from the bottom of the page, substitute "April" for "March."

THE MONEY QUESTION.

CHAPTER I.

THE WEALTH AND RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES.WHY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DO NOT ENJOY

GENERAL PROSPERITY.

THE prosperity of a people depends chiefly on the use which they are enabled to make of their natural resources. It frequently happens that nations possessing great natural advantages fail, through want of properly directed industry or defective laws, to attain even a reasonable degree of prosperity; and, on the other hand, that nations possessing but limited resources succeed, under wise laws and by means of well directed energy, in achieving great wealth. History abounds in instances illustrating the truth of this statement. At the present time Ireland and Holland may be cited as cases in point. Ireland possesses a fertile soil, salubrious climate, fine harbors, noble rivers, and a population naturally brave, quick and capable of great labor; but her people, by reason of unequal laws and bad government, are chained to poverty and ignorance. Holland, a land reclaimed from the ocean and held only by sleepless vigilance, was originally destitute of even ordinary advantages; but under enlightened laws, industry and art have accomplished the most marvelous results. "Below the level of the sea, and the surface of adjacent rivers and canals, have been created

by human art, fat pastures teeming with flocks and herds, rich artificial garden land, nourishing the industrious and thriving population of innumerable cities, towns and villages. The very coast is an artificial fortification against the ocean, the ancient and natural monarch of the country. Here he is defied by leagues of artificial sea banks-there by miles of granite masonry. Rivers and canals are made to run many feet above the level of the country. Armies of indefatigable wind mills are perpetually pumping and draining. Amsterdam and Rotterdam, populous, opulent and splendid cities, rest on piles driven into the mud." Thus, by well directed industry, under wise laws, have the people of Holland been enabled to achieve a wonderful victory over the forces of nature, and to clothe themselves with general prosperity.

The people of the United States are peculiarly rich in all the bounties of nature. They possess a land whose area exceeds 4,000,000 of square miles. Within its boundaries are embraced every variety of soil and climate; inexhaustible mines of iron, coal, copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver; immense forests; grand lakes and mighty rivers. A better idea of its great extent may be formed by comparing some of the States of the Union with the kingdoms of Europe. California, for example, is equal in size to England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Belgium, Holland and Portugal; and Texas is equal to France, Holland, Belgium and Denmark. The mineral resources of the country are almost beyond computation. For example, it is estimated that coal enough has already been discovered to supply a population of 1,000,000,000 for 60,000 years. Other minerals, comparatively speaking, are equally abundant. The gold producing region of the country covers an area of over 1,000,000 of square miles. Prior to the discovery of gold in California in 1849, the gold yield of the world did not exceed $20,000,000 a year.

Now the United States alone produce annually over $75,000,000 worth of bullion.

The agricultural resources of the country are equally boundless. In almost every section the soil yields bountifully, while in some regions, as in the great States of the West, its fertility is unsurpassed. The agricultural productions of that region alone have reached an almost fabulous amount.

The great natural advantages possessed by the country have enabled its manufacturing interests to make great progress, in spite of the ever changing and illy devised tariff laws, which, for the greater part of the time, have disfigured the statute books of the nation. While agriculture and manufactures flourish side by side, in all parts of the country, greatly to the advantage of both, it happens that the peculiar facilities and advantages enjoyed by different sections of the country have caused their industries to vary greatly in character. Thus, the people of the Eastern States are devoted chiefly to manufactures and commerce; the people of the Middle States, although engaged largely in commerce, manufactures and agriculture, are also occupied extensively in dealing in iron, coal, lumber, salt, petroleum, etc.; the people of the Western and South Western States, while possessed of large mineral and other interests, as yet find their chief profits in the vast agricultural resources which they enjoy; the people of the Southern States are engaged principally in the production of the valuable staples common to that section, such as cotton, rice, sugar, tobacco, etc.; and the people of the Pacific States, besides their immense agricultural and commercial interests, find a wide field for employment in developing the rich mines of gold, silver, etc., which have rendered that region famous throughout the world.