ment for the purpose; and the energies of consumption it developed stimulated in like degree the vast energies of production in which, with special reference to the commodities most needed in war, no nation on the globe is more powerful than the United States.

So long as the capital of each producer is promptly replaced, that is to say, his present capital, which includes of course his invested capital and profits, the more consumption of his products, and the quicker the better, because the greater will be the employment of industry and the opportunities of saving, and the greater the national wealth. People argue on this subject as if capital were not consumed in peace. How long is it profitable to the producer of a finished article, or to the commerce of the country, to keep it unsold or unconsumed? Clearly until a buyer is ready to replace the capital it contains, and not a moment longer. It is only at the seat of war, where the means of reproduction are destroyed, that war, in the material or financial point of view, is necessarily unprofitable. Napoleon was careful to remove this from France-to fight on other soil than his own; so far he was a good political economist, and France never prospered more in wealth and population than during his wars against all the rest of Europe. Mankind people up to the means of maintenance, especially to the supply of food, and where these are steadily increasing population increases in like proportion, whether in war or peace.

No doubt the revolted States lost capital by the rebellion, since they used up and suffered the loss to a great extent of their means of reproduction; but the vast productive powers of the West and North were so stimulated at the same time that they have been enriched more than the South has been impoverished, and the national wealth, reckoning the negroes, before and since, as they always were, labor and not capital, is to my apprehension no less to-day, in the aggregate, than it would have been without the war.

I have not space in this article to discuss more fully the point of the relation of war to public wealth, and I offer these remarks upon it merely to give the reader assurance that a tariff or unequal taxation was not necessary for the conduct of the war that is just closed. I have acted with the Republican party in support of the fundamental Democratic principle of human freedom, but with a continual protest against their financial policy; and I maintain that the present abnormal condition of the national finances is owing not necessarily to the war, but to an unequal and unjust distribution of its burdens, and to an unpardonable ignorance of the nature of money and of the fundamental principles of economical science.

Instead of taxing the rich and the bank stockholders for their share of the cost of the war, Government has borrowed capital of the former, and granted to the latter the privilege of kiting, against public and private debt, a currency consisting of bank notes and book credits, miscalled deposits," on which the people are obliged, from the necessity of the case, to lend their capital for nothing and pay interest on it besides, not for the benefit of the Government or of themselves, but for the benefit of the currency makers. These two classes, therefore, instead of being, like the rest of the people, payers of taxes, are made receivers of taxes, and the burden of supporting the war and a needless public debt has been thrown upon the poorer and the hard-working classes, who are the least able to

bear it. Of course this cripples their means of consumption, and, as they are the great consumers, their forced abstinence reacts upon production, crippling that and necessarily the general trade of the country. As a nation we are in the absurd and paradoxical position of having paid for the war to the last dime out of our own capital and at the same time we are owing for a great portion of it to certain of our own citizens, because we have neglected to collect from them their share of its cost. Such is the preposterous nature of the funding system.

RAILROAD EARNINGS FOR OCTOBER.

The gross earnings of the under-mentioned railroads for the month of October, 1866 and 1867, comparatively, and the difference (increase or decrease) between the two periods, are exhibited in the following state

By reason of the refusal of the St. Paul Company to furnish us the October earnings of their several lines separately, we have been compelled to give the earnings of the Wisconsin lines (usually reported by us in our monthly summary) and those of the line in Iowa and Minnesota (135 miles) as a whole. This somewhat deranges our tables, as the October mileage is so much larger than the mileage of the previous months of the year, and cannot be compared with those months in gross. The discrepancy, however, disappears in the subjoined table which shows the miles of railroad operated and the gross earnings per mile for the cor

responding month of the two years 1866 and 1867, as deduced from the figures of the preceding statement:

From these deductions it is very apparent that the increase shown in August and September has been continued on an enlarged scale in October. As compared with the earnings of the corresponding months of 1866, those of 1867 were in excess-in August $38 per mile, or 4.09 per cent.; in September $63 per mile, or 6.25 per cent., and in October $123 per mile, or 10.72 per cent. The highest (October) of the year, and the lowest (February) compare together, and with the monthly average as follows:

These figures certainly show that October, 1867, has been an extraor dinarily prosperous month; indeed, the most prosperous as yet in the ans of American railroading. As indicating the commercial movement it assures us that the country generally is in a high state of activity, although in some branches of industry there may be a lack of vitality. The movement of the grain crops has, no doubt, contributed most largely to the sum total earned; but there is also a westward movement which will probably grow heavier as the season advances, and the grain excitement subsides, the Western consumers of merchandise having mace sufficient money from the sale of their produce to warrant a liberal exiture in the seaboard cities and manufacturing districts.

THE GOLD MOVEMENT SINCE 1860.

To a country, with a depreciated paper currency, and desirous of an early return to a specie basis, it is a matter of no small consequence to ascertain what is its supply of the precious metals. A priori, it might be considered highly probable that during the last six years we should have parted with a considerable portion of our accumulation of gold. Our production of commodities was materially curtailed by the war; and the consequent advance in prices (beyond what was due to currency derangements) naturally opened our market to the products of foreign countries. We were deprived of the principal staple by which we have been wont to pay for our imports, and had not the usual supply of breadstuffs for exportation. With such a radical derangement in our foreign commerce, it would seem very natural to conclude that we should have to draw largely upon our accumulation of specie for liquidating the excess of imports over exports. A very general impression exists among our people that such has been the actual course of affairs, that we have thus lost a large amount of specie since 1860, and that conse quently we have not at present an adequate basis for the resumption of specie payments, and cannot have until, by some legislative expedient, the efflux of specie from the country is checked.

The principal movements of the precious metals in the country are indicated in recorded returns, with sufficient precision to enable us to form a reliable estimate of the correctness of this opinion. The imports and exports of coin and bullion are officially recorded. The product in California, Arizona, Idaho and Oregon is represented by the registered receipts at San Francisco by Weils, Fargo & Co.; but to the recorded arrivals by that medium it is customary to add 10 per cent. to the receipts from the interior and 30 per cent. to the coastwise receipts for amounts brought personally by miners; and in giving below the product received at San Francisco we make that addition. Of the product in the new mining regions of Colorado and Montana there is no actual record. The yield in those districts is sent direct to the Atlantic; and during the last two years a considerable portion of the yield of Idaho also has taken this route. It is difficult to estimate the amount of treasure coming overland from these regions. During the last three years the product of Colorado and Montana has been quite important. The amount of gold from those territories, deposited at the mint and its branches, last year was $6,523,000; and yet it is known that of the whole product less than one half finds its way to the mint. It is estimated by those most familiar with the treasure movement of these regions that the annual product is about $15,000,000. Deeming this estimate. somewhat sangue, it may yet be very sately estimated that the receipts from Colorado, Montana and other mining districts at other points than San Francisco, since 1860, aggregate fully $50,000,000, and this we adopt as an estimate safe beyond all dispute.

With these explanations we subjoin a statement of the domestic production, the imports and the exports for each of the last seven years;

the home yield being for the calendar year, ending December 31st, and the imports and ex-ports for the fiscal year ending June 30th:

our supply of gold We must acknowlconceive of noway in There are considera

It thus appears that, within the last seven years, has exceeded our importations by $184,000,000. edge considerable surprise at this result, but can which its substantial accuracy can be impugned. tions which justify the expectation that the precious metals would have accumulated during the period under review. Our gross exportation of coin and bullion, during the last seven years, has been almost exactly the same as for the preceding seven years; the shipments being for the respective periods $393,700,000 and $395,500,000; but we have received from foreign countries, during the seven years since 1860, $125,000,000, while during the preceding seven years we imported only $62,500,000. It thus appears that, since 1860, our net exports have been $64,300,000 below the amount for the like number of years next