ally felled to meet the requirements of Nebraska and

Kansas.

Hunting, especially in the North-west, is directed principally against the daily diminishing fur-bearing animals. The lake and river fisheries, though of considerable importance, cannot be compared with the cod, whale, and seal fishing, carried on chiefly by the Northern States in the neighbouring waters, but more especially in the South Pacific.

7. Manufactures.

Previous to the year 1870 manufactures of every sort had received such an enormous expansion that the people of the United States began to turn from the field to the factory. Apart from the mines, there were 252,148 manufactories, with an invested capital of upwards of £4,200,000,000, yielding yearly returns valued at £9,250,000, and paying wages to the amount of £15,887,000.

As regards the agricultural interests, it cannot be denied that, under the present wasteful system of cultivation, much of the old soil is well-nigh exhausted, so that fresh and virgin soil must constantly be opened, and this in part explains the great migration of farmers to the arid and semi-arid regions of the Great Plains and the valleys of the Cordilleras, where agriculture is impossible without irrigation. Another natural consequence is, that the people turn to more profitable pursuits, such as are offered to them in the workshops of the manufacturer. Nor can there be any doubt that the industries would have been still more developed but for the obstacles presented on the one hand by the high rate of wages occasioned by the scarcity of labour, and on the other by the cheapness of imported English goods. To meet this second difficulty the American political economists had

recourse to a high protection tariff, pressing heavily on the people themselves, and causing many branches of industry actually to decline. The well-established principles of free trade have been thus once more abundantly vindicated in the New as they have so often been in the Old World.

8. Mercantile Interests-Decline of the American

Carrying Trade.

The American carrying trade was ruined by Southern privateers during the civil war, and the American vessels, whose flag fluttered in every harbour in the world, have well-nigh disappeared from the high seas. While the mercantile marine of England numbers 22,870 ships of 9,136,916 tons burden, that of the United States is reduced to 7312 ships of 2,387,376 tons, besides 578 steamers of 692,576 tons. Yet fifteen years ago the American flag eclipsed that of Great Britain.

Of the many lines of steamers plying between Europe and America but one is owned in the States. The foreign trade reached the enormous figure of £260,494,525 in 1873, but the exports amounted only to £124,453,017, against £136,041,515 of imports. Since that year the balance of trade has turned in favour of the United States, and now the exports are largely in excess of the imports, and rapidly increasing.

9. Inland Trade-Railways and Canals.

The inland trade has been enormously developed, and is greatly facilitated by the grand natural water highways, numerous canals, and railways. A country where expedition is of the last importance could not dispense with a widely ramifying network of railway lines. There are

dian Lakes.

upwards of a hundred canals, amongst which are the Pennsylvania Canal, connecting the Susquehanna and Ohio, and the Erie connecting New York with the CanaThe latter is miles long, has eightyfive locks, is carried by aqueducts-some of them very imposing-over more than thirty rivers, is connected by means of branches with the Mississippi River system, and is navigable for steamers.

On all these natural and artificial water highways there ply upwards of 4000 steamers, the total tonnage of all vessels engaged in the lake, river, and coasting trade amounting to 3,101,000. And yet these vast means of transit are far below the actual requirements of the local traffic.

The railway system has also already grown to colossal proportions, notwithstanding its comparatively recent origin. The first company was formed in Baltimore in the year 1827, under the name of the "Baltimore and Ohio Railway Company." The first line was opened by this company on July 4, 1828, as far as the borders of Maryland; but it was at first worked by horse-power, the first locomotive not making its appearance in the States till the year 1830. This engine, which was of English manufacture, ran between Mohawk and the Hudson, but was only 6-ton weight, and soon proved insufficient for the traffic. was replaced by one weighing only 3 tons from the Cold Spring Works in New York. Lines now began to be laid down so rapidly that there was a total length of 1100 miles in 1835 and 6192 in 1848. They received a fresh impulse through the discovery of the Californian gold-fields, attaining a total length of 81,840 miles in the year 1879. The carriages are well fitted up, often in a sumptuous manner, as, for instance, the "Silver Palace Cars on the Central Pacific, and " Pullman's Palace Saloon and Sleeping Cars." Hence the comfort of railway travelling in the States far surpasses anything of the kind in

Europe. Unfortunately the indifferent construction of the lines themselves, combined with the reckless management, often leads to fearful catastrophes. In 1873 there were thus sacrificed as many as 576 lives, besides 1112 more or less seriously injured.

On the other hand, wonders of engineering skill have been achieved in their construction-such, for instance, as the Pacific line, with its steep grades over the Sierra Nevada, or the tunnel through Mount Hoosac in Massachusetts, giving Boston direct railway communication with the Hudson and the West. This work was completed on November 27, 1873, and can be compared in extent only with the Mont Cenis Tunnel, which, however, it surpasses in the amount of labour, cost, and time expended on its construction. It is a worthy rival of the Sutro Tunnel in Nevada.

10. National Wealth and Liabilities.

The prosperity of the people of the United States, as estimated by the value of the movable and immovable property of the country, was represented in the census of 1870 by the sum of £6,150,000,000. Since then the national patrimony has been on the one hand greatly augmented by the discovery of fresh natural resources, and on the other diminished by the commercial crisis of 1873, the consequences of which still continue to be felt. Nor can it be denied that a heavy burden is imposed on the people by the national debt of £390,000,000, the legacy of the great civil war, and by the liabilities of the various States, counties, and municipalities, amounting altogether to about £126,000,000. Still it is to be hoped that better management and more careful measures may enable the country, with its incalculable natural resources of every sort, to recover from these evils.

CHAPTER XVIII.

POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION.

1. The Federal Constitution.

THE fundamental law of the land is based on the constitution of September 17, 1787, with the amendments of the years 1791, 1798, and 1804. The Union hereby forms a league of democratic and sovereign free States, each of them absolutely independent, with the reservation of certain rights and of all matters affecting the general weal of all the Union. These imperial interests are referred to a central administration. The constitution recognises a legislative, an executive, and a judicial power, the legislature being exercised by a National Congress, assembling at least once a year, and consisting of two chambers-the Senate and the House of Representatives. All the laws must be submitted to the deliberation of Congress and passed by a majority of votes. To it also are referred all questions of peace and war, treaties with foreign powers, augmentation of the land and sea forces, all imports, excise and customs dues, the coinage, weights and measures, privileges and patents, admission of new States, and so on.

2. Congress.

The Senate is composed of two senators from each State, chosen for six years by the local legislatures, and in such a way that one-third of the body are elected afresh