Newspaper Page Text
THE NATIONAL TBEBUNE: WASHINGTON, D. C, AUGUST 12, 18S2.
V
s
The Iatiohal Tmbone
(Established 1077.)
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY,
" To carc ron him who has dor.se the battle, and fob
HIS Wi&vJ AND OflfHAN." ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Torma to Subscribers, Pay-ible in Advance:
(postage faepaid)
ONE COPY, ONE YEAR
FIVE COPIES
$1.50
6.25
- 50
ONE COPY THREE MONTHS -
CVJE COPY SX MONTHS - 7t
r
TEN COPIES, (with extra copy to getter-u? of
clus,) 12.5C
A SPECIMEN NUMBER of our paper sent free on re-
CUEST.
TERMS FOR ADVERTISING FonsiSHro upon application.
3-TO SUBSCRIBERS When changing
YOUR ADDRESS FLEASE GIVE FORMER AS WELL AS
FRESENT ADDRESS, WITH COUNTY AND STATE.
eaTAKE NOTICE In sending money for
subscriptions by mail, never inclose THE
currency except in a registered letter.
A postal money order or a draft on New
York is the best form of remittance.
Losses by mail will be most surely avoided
if these directions are followed.
43-no responsibility is assumed for sub
scriptions paid to agents, which must be
at the risk of the subscriber.
jcsr Communications, subscriptions, and
LETTERS UPON ALL BUSINESS MATTERS RELAT
ING TO THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE,
MUST BE ADDRESSED TO
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE,
615 Fifteenth Street, Washington, D. C.
H& tQuiiomil ribfflte
The validity cf the puclic oedt of the United
Stateg, authorized dy law, inclucino oedts incurred for
payment of pensions amd counties ror servicc3 in sup
presstng insurrection oft rebellion, shall not ce cues
TtoNED.' Sec. , Art. XIV, Constitution of the United
States.
El TERES AT THI WASHINGTON rOCT-OrnCE AS SCD3ND-CLAS3 MATTER.
WASHINGTON, D. C, AUGUST 12, 1SS2.
, ,T ..J .
OBJECTS OF THE GRAND ARMY.
The objects to he accomplished by (his organi
cation arc as folloics :
1. To prcscrir and strengthen those kind and j
fraternal feelings which hind together the sol- i
dicrs, sailors and marines iclio united to sup- j
press the laic rebellion, and to perpetuate the
memory and history of the dead.
2. To assht sucJi former comrades in arms as
need help and protection, and to cxinid nccdfvl
aid to the tcidotcs and orpthans of those who
hare fallen.
3. To maintain true allegiance to the United
Slates of America, based upon a paramount re
spect for and fidelity to the National Constitu
tion and laics, to discountenance whatever tends
to weaken loyalty, incites to insurrection, trea
son or rebellion, or in any manner impairs the
efficiency and j)crmane7icy of our free institu
tions; and to spread universal liberty, equal
rights and justice to all men.
In forwarding Ms subscription for The
National Tribune from Laicrcncc, Mass.,
Gen. Geo. S. Merrill, Past Commander-in-Chief
of the Grand Army of the Jicjmblic, says:
Tlic bold advocacy of THE NATIONAL
Tribune of the rights of the soldier elicits my
hearty approval. Keep on as you have begun,
and do not consider your work accomplished
until axry soldier tcho is entitled to a pension
receive it, and every soldiers icidow and every
soldier's child are provided for by the Govern
ment. (Signed) Geo. S. Merrill.
Immediately after his election as Commander-in-Chief
by the Grand Encampment General
Vandcrvoort forwarded to The National
Tribune the following strong endorsement:
Washington, D. C, June 24, 1832.
I cordially approve of the endorsement, given
by Past Commander-in-Chief Merrill to The
National Tribune. I consider it (he ablest
paper devoted to the interests of the soldier pub
lished in the country. I earnestly commend it
to all comrades of the Order.
Paul VanDervoort,
Commander-in-Chief, G. A. It.
We frequently receive letters from our
ex-soldiers complaining of the tardiness of
Congress in passing pension measures, and
asking -why it is that our Representatives do
not display greater concern for their in
terests. The answer is very simple. Our
ex-soldiers do not manifest sufficient concern
themselves. They do not act in concert, and
their influence is not exerted as it should
Imj. Instead, for instance, of giving their
united support to some one representative
soldiers' paper, they have hitherto divided it
among a number of journals of no special
merit, and as a consequence they have not
''. - erful advocate in the press.
' '- ich newspapers as the New
"i Herald to exercise such a
n public affairs is the fact
as such an immense cir
culation. Congressmen know that what
they say about public measures is sure to
be read by their constituents and they can
not afford to ignore their existence. Just
the reverse is' the truth in the case of the
majority of so-called soldiers' newspapers.
Because their circulation as a rule is small,
Congressmen are disposed to pay no atten
tion to their criticisms and flatter them
selves that it does not make any difference
what is said about them. That such is the
factis the fault, as we have said, of our ex
soldiers themselves. If they would exercise
their full influence in Congress they must
withdraw their support from mediocre news
papers and concentrate it on a single repre
sentative journal such as Tin: National
Tribune. Notwithstanding the time which
has elapsed since the rebellion our ex-soldiers
still constitute a very numerous class
in almost every community, and there is no
reason why such a journal should not have
at least one hundred thousand subscribers,
and exercise as great an influence in Con
gress as any cf the New York dailies, except
the indisposition which our veteraas mani
fest to take united action in regard to any
thing which concerns their interests. If
they would accomplish anything substantial
in the way of pension or bounty legislation
hereafter they cannot too quickly correct
this error. As the memories of the war be
come less and less distinct it is to be ex
pected that Congress will grow more and
more indifferent to the wclfaro of the soldier,
and it is therefore all tho more important
that there should be unity of action on tho
part of our comrades. Willi a great news
paper to advocate their cause they may
reasonably hope to secure justice at the
hands of the Government, but to insnre that
result they must rally to its support. A
scattering fire is of little effect; it is the
concentration of volleys that tells.
Tho "West.
Within the memory of those now living
the phrase "The West" was practically
sjmonymous with " wilderness." But a few
days ago the Chicago papers published an
account of the birthday festivities of a Mr.
Carpenter, who settled there when the pop
ulation was but two hundred souls all told,
whereas it is now not very far from fhvee
quarters of a million. Indeed the develop
ment of the West has been so rapid that
even yet it is difficult for the people of the
Atlantic States to comprehend it, and for
the most part they have buta vague idea of
its proportions. Hereafter their ignorance
will be without reasonable excuse, however,
for Mr. Robert P. Porter, one of tho present
Tariff Commissioners, and chief of the
Wealth, Debt, Taxation and Railroad div
ision of tho Census Bureau, has just given to
the public, under the title of "The West,
from the census of 1SS0," (published by
Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago,) a work
which supplies in the most compact and
perfect form all the information that could
possibly be desired concerning the progress
of that portion of our territory. In the
preparation of this work, which has evi
dently been attended with great labor, and
required for its accomplishment the most
untiring industry, Mr. Porter enjoyed the
assistan-c of Mr. Henry Gannett, Geographer
of the Tonth census, and Mr. Wm. P. Jones,
of the American Geographical Society, but
in the arrangement and grouping of the
statistical matter, the extraction of vital
facts from the confusion of figures, and the
introduction of striking comparisons, the
work of his own master-hand is apparent.
It is impossible, of course, to present within
the narrow compass of an editorial review
aught save the most meagre outline of the
contents of a volume of six hundred pages,
and we shall not attempt the feat, but it is
well worth the while to give some of the
more impressive facts which are adduced to
illustrate the marvelous growth of the
Wast and the present extent of its resources.
To begin with, then, it should bo remarked
that under the head of "The West" Mr.
Porter includes the ten prairie States, viz :
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, and
Nebraska; the Territories, viz: Dakota,
Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, New Mex
ico, Arizona, and Washington; and the
mining States, viz: California, Colorado,
Oregon, and Nevada. It is with tho first
division that we shall concern ourselves.
At tho beginning of tho present century
only two of the prairie States Ohio and
Indiana had any white population at all ;
in 1S40 they still had a population of only
3,351,512; in 1850, of 5,403,595; in 1SG0, of
9,091,879; in 1670, of 12,906,930; while at
the date of the lastcensus they had 17,229,810,
or a little more than one-third the popula
tion of the entire country. At the same
date the valuation of real and personal
properly in these ten States reached the
astounding total of $5,532,159,099. The
chief foundation of their wealth and pros
perity is, of course, their agricultural pro
ducts. Within the last decade their cereal
crops have increased very nearly one hundred
(9-1.56) per cent., and in 1880 amounted to
1,907,000,000 bushels, or fully seventy
per cent, of the production of tho entire
country. Of this total 326,720,406 bushels
was wheat the yield of the United States
being 460,000.000 bushels, and 1,283,365,107
bushels of corn the product of the United
States being 1,754,801,535 bushels. It is
worthy of note also, in this connection, that
the centre of wheat production, which less
than half a century ago was east of the Ohio,
has now almost reached the Mississippi. Of
other products the prairie States were
credited in 1660 with 70,167,982 pounds of
tobacco, a little less than one-sixth the total
for the United States; 68,742,000 pounds of
fish, valued at $1,652,900, and live stock
valued at nearly $50,000,000.
Nothing perhaps more strikingly illus
trates the prodigious character of the devel
opment which the prairie States have un
dergone than the statistics of railway con
struction. Within the last forty years the
mileage has increased from 321 to 43,399
miles, (the total in 1880, when it was more
than half the total for the whole country,)
and it is still gowing. Many persons are
accustomed to think of the West as purely
an agricultural region, but the truth is that
its manufacturing interests are of great
magnitude. The four States of Illinois,
Wisconsin, Indiana and Kansas produced in
1879 more than thirty por cent, of all the
iron rails made in the United States. The
total iron and steel production of the
country in 1880 was 7,265,140 tons, and
the prairie States manufactured 1,912,639
tons, or more than one-fourth, tho capital
employed being $50,755,990 and the value
of the product $76,933,686. Almost as re
markable progress has been made in other
industries. Not a dollar's worth of furni
ture is now bought east of Grand Rapids,
Mich., and the factories of that bustling
town are now supplying the markets of
Great Britain. There is indeed scarcely
any branch of manufacture that is not
carried on with as great success :is in tho
East. Of tho $19,415,599 invested in glass
factories in this country, the prairie States
have supplied $4,492,750, or nearly one
quarter. According to the tables compiled
by Professor Porter the total number of
manufactories in operation in 18S0 was, in
round numbers, 130,000, employing 800,000
hands, a capital of $800,000,000, and turning
out annually products to the value of nearly
$2,000,000,000. Tho causes of this extraor
dinary industrial development are uudoubt- i
ediy tho nearness of the raw materials to the
centres of demand, and tho growth of
railway facilities. Within the last ten years
the coal product of the p-rairio States has
more than doubled, reaching in 1880 a total of
15,981,490 tons, or about one-fourth the out
put of the entire country a fact which of it
self goes far towards explaining the progress
which the West has made in manufactures.
As a natural consequence of this progress, the
tendency of population to concentrate in
the cities has manifested itself in quite as
remarkable a degree as in the East. The
prairie States now contain one hundred and
sixteen cities of more than 7,500 inhabitants
each, with a total population of 3,544,659, as
against but 1,208.561 in 1860. It might bo
supposed that the effect of this movement
would be to deplete the farms, but as a mat
ter of fact the loss of rural population is
made good by the volume of immigration
from foreign countries.
As another indication of the rapidity
with which wealtjh has accumulated in the
West, it may be worth while to give the
banking statistics of that section. Accord
ing to the tables prepared by Comptroller
Knox, tho number of national banks in 1880
was 655, with a capital of $83,039,250 and
individual deposits of $103,435,826.85. In
the samo year the number of State banks,
trust companies, private banks, and savings
institutions was 3,833, tho capital $45,
743,007 and deposits $169,633,732. In this
connection it should be mentioned that
tho West is also a very largo holder of
United States securities, 10,415 persons
owning about $40,000,000 of our registered
bonds. Wo might go on in this way to give
the amount of capital invested in insurance
companies, the internal revenue taxes paid
(nearly one-half tho entire receipts of the
Government from this source), the statis
tics of education (there are upwards of
90,000 schools, costing $40,000,000 annually),
tho number of newspapers aud libraries,
etc., but space is lacking, and wo advise
our readers to procure the work from which
we have quoted aud study it for themselves.
Wo cannot dismiss tho subject, however,
without calling attention to the fact that
while the prairie States have been steadily
growing in wealth and prosperity during
the past forty years their public debts have
actually declined. In 1842 the State debts
amounted to $59,931,553, whereas in 1880
they had decreased to $36,565,360, the total
for the New England States at the same
date being $49,979,514, for the Middle r,'.'cs
$45,672,575, and for the Southern mtffe
$113,967,243. Indeed, Illinois is a . I1y
free from debt, and Indiana and M:-1 jran
practically so, since their sinking fu: N'ar
sufficient to pay all outstanding liabilities.
It is a glorious vision, this revelation of
the greatness of tho west, and it rtvmofc
fail to give the world a truer appro "ataonr,
of the value of our free institutioi
Professor Porter says: "Tho grc
these States should bo studied, in a.
lights and shades, in tho character
old pioneers
" "Who crossed tho prainss, as of old
Their fathers crossed the sea,
To make the West, as they the East,
The homestead of tho free."
- AJ
-h oM
tbefr
f ihe
Tho Military Kitlo Match.
The international rifle match which
bo shot at the Creedmoor ranges next 3
promises to attract even greater attention
than the famous contests of previous years,
although it will take place under very dif
ferent conditions than heretofore. It may,
perhaps, interest such of our veterans as
have not lost their fondness for the rifle, to
know what these conditions are. In the
first place, then, it should bo said that tho
contestants, instead of bsing selected from
the whole body of skilled marksmen in
England and the United States, will bo
chosen respectively from the volunteer ser
vice of Great Britain and our own National
Guard, the basis of selection, of course, being
the averages made at the preliminary trials.
These trials are still progressing on this side
of tho water, but the Euglish team has al
ready been picked out, and tho Metford rifle
an Engfish arm adopted as tho weapon
to be used by tho British riflemen in the
contest. This rifle is a purely military arm,
as distinguished from the fine sporting arm
which our gunmakers have brought to such
perfection, and therein is another point of
difference between the conditious of tho ap
proaching match and those of former meet
ings, for both teams arc required to use mili
tary rifles. The object of this is, of course,
to bring the te3t of marksmanship down to
the level of actual army practice. Our sport
ing guns, as everybody knows, are far too
costly and cumbersome to bo available for
use in the army. Provided as they aro with
tho most delicate and ingenious contri
vances for promoting accuracy of aim such
as levels, scales, sights, pads, and screws they
could not stand the hard usage to which they
would be subjected in tho field, and, indeed,
it is not every soldier that could master
their mysteries. What is known as the
military rifle, on the contrary, is a weapon
adapted to army service, and such as we
should be likely to equip our sharpshooters
with in the event of another war. The gun
which the British team has adopted is, as
wo have said, tho Metford, and is represented
to be a very effective arm. For the uso of
our own marksmen, two new arms have been
designed by our manufacturers, the compara
tive merits of which still remain to be de
termined, as well as whether they are equal
to the guns of English make. Former
matches have demonstrated that American
sporting rifles aro far superior to those of
English make, but as yet no opportunity has
been afforded for testing the relative virtues
of our military rifles. Tho coming contest
will, therefore, not only be a trial of skill
between British and American marksmen,
but between British and American me
chanics. The distances to be shot aro respectively,
200, 500, and 600 yards on the first day, and
800, 900, and 1,000 yards on the second. Each
team will consist of twelve men, and each
man will bo allowed seven rounds at each of
the six ranges. It will be observed that the
length of the last three ranges exceeds what
has hitherto been considered a strictly mili
tary distance in this country, although on
the other side rifle practice among the vol
unteers has for some time included the maxi
mum ranges, and it is possible that the
American team will be at some disadvantage
on that account. However, hard work at
the ranges during the time that still remains
for practice may yet put our men op equal
footing with the British team in that respect.
Although shooting at long range has not
been cultivated to any considerable extent
by our 'local militia, tho National Guard,
nevertheless, boasts some crack shots, and if
our visitors win the match, it will only bo by
a display of extraordinary skill and nerve.
Some of our readers may be disposed, per
haps, to ask what useful purpose these trials
of marksmanship between representatives of
the volunteer services of the two countries
is likely to serve. We answer that they
tend, in the first place, to create a practieal
interest on the part of our militia in the
skillful use of the rifle, which is a matter of
very considerable importance, and in the sec
ond place, they excite a rivalry among
manufacturers that cannot but result in the
improvement of their guns. We are aware
that personal courage is a much more im
portant element in a soldier's make-up than
dexterity in the handling of his gun, but
good marksmanship is sometimes a very
essential qualification also, and it is undoubt
edly true that nothing gives a soldier greater
confidence than familiarity with the use of
his weapon. For this reason wo are glad to
see that the members of the National Guard
are making such a feature of rifle practice,
and although we trust that there will never
be occasion to call them into active service,
wo cannot help feeling that they will be the
better fitted thereby to take the field should
the country ever have need of them.
Industrial Education.
The American Institute of instruction,
which numbers aniong its members some of
onr leading educators, held its annual ses
sion last week at Saratoga, N. Y., and among
the subjects discussed was that of industrial
training. The committee charged with tho
consideration of the question made a report,
in the course of which they say that "there
Si.o .
be incorporated in the present
f- he- 3 for education broader provisions
for parting to youth tho elements of
know dge aud skill required in the indus
trial r. ts, not alone for the development of
these rts, but also as a part of a general
aystc: of public education, having for its
ohjec training for citizenship," and recom-
M (2
caching from models, instruction in
il and physical science, drawing, the
-ehf'TV
Jf ne oi x)6ls, etc. We heartily endorse these
ream tendations, and wish there were
rv to hope for their speedy adoption.
T'.t nth is that the present system of
, school education in this country is
r t one-sided: it is based on the theory
; : to head alone needs education, and
tho fact that the fingers need train
veil. It shuts its eyes also to the fact
echanical talent is just as deserving
of culture as literary talent, and that the
two are very seldom found in conjunction;
so that it does not by any means follow that
because a lad shows no aptitude for book
learning he possesses no genius whatever.
There is good reason to believe, indeed,
that the failure of our school system where
it has failed has been duo to its one-sided
character. It is well-calculated to train up
young men to be clerks, or accountants, or
teachers, or lawyers, and for admission to the
professions generally, but it does not afford
the training necessary to an industrial career.
Tho question has been often asked, " Why is
it that so many college-bred men can find
no more remunerative employment than
that of book-keeper, for instance, at five
hundred dollars a year?" And it has been
suggested that they would have done much
better to have learned some trade. By way
of answer, it may be said that while the
effect of college training, as a rule, is to
develop tho mental powers and in that
respect can never be regarded as wholly
futile it is only of practical value where it
is supplemented by business or professional
experience, and that so far as tho learning
of a trade is concerned, the opportunities for
doing so are much less abundant than most
people suppose. Nearly all the labor unions
enforce stringent regulations as to tho num
ber of apprentices that shall be taken in
each shop, and it sometimes requires as
much influence to secure an apprenticeship
for a lad as to obtain a place under tho
Government.
Practically, therefore, while tho education
of the minds of our youth is made a govern
mental duty tho education of their hands is
left to chance. Certainly this ought not to
bo the case, and although tho time may
never como when tho teaching of distinct
trades will be recognized as within the
province of common-school education, the
opinion is undoubtedly growing that some
sort of industrial training ought to be af
forded in connection with our system of
public instruction. It is a fact worth con
sidering that almost all children display a
taste, if not a talent, for mechanics in their
simplest form. Tho first thing that a boy
wants and the most precious in his eyes
is a jack-knife, and the next a box of tools.
Why, instead of letting him make a mere
plaything of them, should he not be taught
how to use them properly, and any natural
skill that he may possess bo thus turned to
account?
Everybody knows that children are quick
to learn from personal observation and ex
perience, no matter how slow they may be in
acquiring knowledge from, bgoks, an,d yet at
tho very age when they are most susccptible
to impression through the senses, we persist
in cramming them with abstract knowledge
the applicability of which to things about
them they do not in tho least understand.
Go into any class-room where the pupils
are reciting the tables of weights and meas
ures and you will find that they havo but
the vaguest idea of actual quantities aud
dimensions, except where the arbitrary sym
bol happens to be something which they
have seen or felt. But it is not simply
object-teaching that we are pleading for
although that is the foundation of all suc
cussful instruction in the case of the young
but actual, industrial training, such as will
fit our boys for any at least of the simpler
trades, and ground them in the rudimentary
mechanical knowledge necessary to the
mastery of those requiring special skill and
talent. Why not supplement our school
rooms with small workshops, in which such
of our youth as display any taste for me
chanical pursuits may receive instruction in
the practical arts? Why compel them to
plod through studies which have no interest
for them, and which in all probability will
be of no benefit to them ? Time is never so
precious as in youth, and mistakes in educa
tion are the hardest of all to rectify. In
these days, when the dignity of labor is so
firmly established, it seems to us almost
sinful to make abstract mental culture the
sole object of our educational system and
neglect manual training altogether, and our
tax-payers, upon whom the burden of sup
porting the public schools of the country
rests, ought to enter a vigorous protest
against this system.
A State In Embryo.
It is among the probabilities that before
the next Presidential election two more
States will be admitted to the Union, namely,
Dakota and Washington. Bills for their ad
mission are even now pending in Congress,
but the present body is not likely to take
any action on them. The objection to the
reception of the former is that the Territory
is not wholly free from the taint of repudia
tion, and to the latter that it does not as yet
possess sufficient population, but these ob
stacles will doubtless be removed before the
assembling of the Forty-eighth Congress.
With the physical characteristics of Dakota
the public are pretty familier, but we sus
pect that, except in a general way, very little
is known of Washington Territory. It is so
remote from eastern civilization and so in
accessible except by way of the Pacific, that
even tho newspapers furnish very little in
formation concerning its growth and devel
opment, and until the Northern Pacific Rail
road enters its confines and reaches a ter
minus on Pnget Sound it will doubtless con
tinue to bo an unknown land to the majority
of our readers. Thanks, however, to dele
gate Brents,' whose recent speech in favor of
its admission as a State has attracted much
more attention than is usually accorded to
such appeals, we are able to convey a much
better idea of the resources of the Territory
than has ever hitherto been possible, and
even if some details are still lacking it must
be admitted that the statistics already at
hand abundantly justify the prediction that
it is destined to become one of the greatest
States in the Union.
The Territory, as our readers are doubtless
aware, lies between British Columbia and
Oregon, on the north and south, and Idaho
and the Pacific Ocean, on the east and west.
It possesses an area of 69,994 square miles
of which 3,114 are water and in size is
therefore a little larger than Missouri and a
littlo smaller than Nebraska. Contained, as
it is, between the forty-fifth and forty-ninth
parallels of North latitude, one would natur
ally suppose its climate to be that of Canada
or northern Minnesota, but as a matterof fact
it more nearly resembles that of California,
the winters being moist and mild, and the
summers dry and cool. Snow rarely falls,
ice seldom forms, and the grass grows green
the whole year round. The mean tempera
ture of the winter months, as shown by mete
orlogical records, is 39 degrees. The annual
rainfall is remarkably heavy varying from
50 inches inland to 130 inches on the coast
and there is therefore no occasion to resort to
irrigation as in California, Arizona, Utah and
the Southern Territories generally. The bene
ficial results of this unusual humidity of the
atmosphere are seen in the fact that with
three exceptions the hay crop of the Terri
tory is the largest grown by any State or
Territory in the Union. Of the arable lands
amounting to 50,000 square miles four
sevouths are heavily timbered with the most
magnificent forests on the Continent, two
sevenths are bunch-grass prairie, and one
seventh alluvial-bottom lands. Of course
but a small percentage of tho whole aro as
yet under cultivation, but, if we can rely
upon the agricultural reports, tho fertility of
the soil is something amazing. According
to the returns for 1879, which was an unfa
vorable crop year in that section, the average
product per acre was of wheat 24 bushels
(average for the United States 13), oats 43
(average for tho United States 25), barley 39
(average for tho United States 22), rye 14
(average for tho United States 11), buck
wheat 24 (average for tho United States 14),
hops 1,317 (average for the United States
567), potatoes 152 (highest product in any
State 122), and in only one cereal (corn) was
there a deficit, the yield of that crop being
only 19 bushels to the acre as against an
average of 28 bushels for the whole United
States. In volume, too, the cereal crops
grown in the Territory are surprisingly large,
the 130,937 acres under cultivation yielding
4,10S,370 bushels in 1879, while it is thought
that the wheat crop alone will this year
amount to 5,000,000 bushels. We have said
that the forests are the most magnificent on
the Continent. It may be added that they
are almost inexhaustible, the total estimated
amount of timber being 160,000,000,000 feet,
or sufficient at the present rate of consumo-
tion 250,000,000 feet per year to last for
nearly seven centuries. The lumbering in
dustry, although still in its infancy, keeps
twenty mammoth saw mills busy, and it is
noteworthy that on account of its superior
quality the timber is in demand abroad a3
well as at home. The proximity of the for
ests to navigable waters affords the most
favorable conditions for ship-building, and
already some 85 vessels, of which 39 were
steamers, have been launchedat the yards on
the shores of Puget Sound. This magnifi
cent sheet of water, which stretches inland
for nearly two hundred miles, and is nowhere
over twenty miles wide, is destined at some
future day to be the highway of an immense
commerce, for it is navigable for the largest
ships and bisects a region of the most extra
ordinary productive powers. To Washing
ton Territory it must eventually become
what the Erie Canal would be to New York
and the commerce of the great Lakes if
instead of being a mere ditch, it were as deep
and wide as the Hudson River at its mouth.
Washington Territory, unlike almost all
her sistera, does not owe her development
to any "gold fever." Gold has been dis
covered, it is true, within her borders, and
some of the lately opened mines are reported
to be very promising, but mining enterprise
has chiefly concerned itself with the work
ing of the coal and iron-fields which lie in such
close proximity to each, other as to admit of
tho manufacture of iron at a minimum of
expense. The coal is of a superior quality,
specially adapted for coking, and deposits of
both bituminous and anthracite abound.
The output up to the first of the year
amounted to 876,264 tons, and a regular line
of steam colliers is now maintained to
San Francisco. The deposits of iron
ore bog, hematite and magnetic are also
rich and extensive and very easily mined.
One deposit of bog-ore, now in process of
being opened, covers an . area of 1,000
acres, is two feet in thickness, and lies but a
few inches below the surface. The manu
facture of pig-iron has only just been begun,
but the product last year the first;
amounted to 15,000 tons. It is beyond
doubt that the furnaces of Puget Sound
will at no distant day supply the iron
market of tho entire Pacific coast and a
great portion of the territory lying northwest
of the Missouri.
Of the Territory's other industries tho
most important is of course her fisheries,
which rival those of Oregon. The Columbia
River and Puget Sound, with their tribu
taries, abound in salmon, and the catch in
1881 alone was valued at nearly three
millions of dollars. More than seven, thou
sand men are employed in this industry and
nearly two thousand boats. The cultiva
tion of oysters is also becoming a large in
terest, and the profits from a single bed
last year are said to have amounted to
$100,000. Stock-raising, as yet, is in its in
fancy, but the Territory is splendidly adapted
for herding, pasturage lasting the year round,
and the ranchmen are stocking their ranges
with the best imported breeds. The wool clip
last year was over 4,000,000 pounds
It may appear incredible to our read
ers, but it is nevertheless a fact, that the
manufacturing interests of the Territory
not only exceed those of any other in the
Union, but are greater than those of some of
the States. According to the last census,
the annual value of manufactured products
was $6,129,962. Indeed, with its vast re
sources Washington Territory could sup
port, supposing it to have the same density
of population as New York, fully 7,000,000
people. At present her population is esti
mated at between 125,000 and 150,000 the
last census gave her 75.116 and since the
1st of last January over 10,000 immigrants
have entered her borders by way of the
Pacific. The moment that the Northern
Pacific Railroad reaches her eastern boun
ary, she will feel tho impetus of immigration
from the East, and her growth is likely to
be greatly accelerated, for there is no por
tion of the national domain that can offer
such tempting inducements to the agricul
turist, the mechanic and the miner as this.
Settled as the Territory has been by an
industrious and frugal people, its develop
ment possesses all tho elements of stability,
and, when admitted to the Union, the State
of Washington is sure to reflect fresh glory
upon the Federation.
A Uo Nailed.
The President has signed the $100,000,000
Pension bill. A flagrant and unwarrantable
waste of the public money. JVeto York Star.
The corrupt organ of that gigantic fraud,
John Kelly, the Tammany Hall boss, cannot
notice the approval of the Pension bill with
out denouncing is as "a flagrant and unwar
rantable waste of the public money." It is
of course useless to attempt to demonstrate
to such scurrilous sheets that the appropria
tion by Congress for this purpose was in
payment simply of a portion of its honest
debts to the soldier. The shamefaced liars
who give utterance to such statements as the
above do so with a full knowledge of their
falsity; but that makes no difference to
them. It is a "point" scored against tho
soldier, and that is enough. Such publica
tions, however, demonstrate the necessity
existing for the widespread circulation of
such a defender of soldiers' rights as The
National Tribune in order to counteract
the effect of such utterances. In battling
with Congress to secure the passage of this
and other measures of relief we have had no
trifling duty to perform. TnE National
Tribune has labored single-handed against
the powerful though ignorant and corrupt
daily press, and that it has scored some
signal triumphs is just cause for congratula
tion. If comrades all over the country
would rally unitedly to our support and
give us a subscription list of 100,000 or
more, we promise that tho interests of tho
soldier in Congress shall be fully protected,
all the anti-soldier writers in the so-called
great dailies to the contrary notwithstanding,
