consuming districts in irrigation is that increasing supplies of food for an increasing population may be found. The interest of the great present-day agricultural region is that its ability to provide that food may be made more certain.

public attention, in a letter to Representative Newlands, to a generally overlooked interest of the Mississippi valley in the irrigation bill now pending in Congress. This interest relates to the atmospheric conditions which the arid region helps to produce and aggravates. "The districts which compose the arid lands," Mr. Chadwick correctly observes, "by reason of the intense dry heat there produced, and through the eastward movement of all atmospheric conditions across the continent, are and always have been a menace to that great agricultural country lying east and northeast, notably Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Indiana and Ohio."

Mr. Chadwick then directs attention to the tremendous losses suffered during the last year by farmers, stockmen, merchants and common carriers, from the hot winds which originated in the arid region and which partially blasted the corn and forage crops as far east as Ohio. Nor was this loss confined to the Mississippi valley. The increased cost of living which it has caused is felt even more severely in the eastern manufacturing states.

If such calamities as this can be appreciably lessened by irrigation of the arid lands it would evidently be well worth while for the nation to spend all the money necessary to utilize every drop of water in that region. That such utilization of water would materially affect the climate of the arid lands and thus check their generation of winds destructive to agriculture in the regions east of them there can be no doubt. Enough has been learned on a small scale of the effects of irrigation to assure what would be its effects on a national scale.

The arid lands are not only useless in themselves, but a constant menace to the adjacent districts of normal rainfall. By the work of redeeming them not only would homes for millions be provided, but agriculture in fully twothirds of the Mississippi valley would be given greater certainty and stability. The interest of the manufacturing and

Secretary Wilson has well described irrigation as the greatest problem of domestic policy now before the American people. Mr. Chadwick's letter is timely as showing that the problem is not one of local but of truly national interest. Hence its solution is a matter of national concern, and should not be delayed by concessions to outworn theories of state rights. As a national problem the greater and fundamental machinery of its solution should and must be under national control.

PROSPERITY MADE AT HOME.

[Gunton's Magazine.]

A country's prosperity is not measured nor correctly indicated by its foreign trade, whatever the nature of its balance is, but by its whole trade, domestic and foreign, the domestic always being of greater importance than the foreign. But, in any given state of trade, a favorable balance is preferable to an adverse balance. A nation may have a comparatively large favorable balance of trade with a small total volume and be worse off than with a smaller balance or even no balance, but with a large volume of domestic trade. The prosperity of a nation is measured by the aggregate trade, which indicates the consumption and productive employment of its people. A nation would be better off to pay for its balance in cash, with high domestic prosperity, than it would to receive a balance in cash with depleted domestic industry and small consumption, low wages and enforced idleness. But the fact remains that there is an advantage in a favorable as compared with an unfavorable balance, with the same condition of domestic industry and employment of home labor.

LONDON, May 15, 1902.

THE question is

now being raised among East Indian economists whether it is not desirable for India to adopt protection in order to foster its own industries-particularly its "infant industries." The regularly recurring famines in that country are too stern facts to be ignored. It is recognized by practical men that it is not desirable that the people should be so entirely dependent on agriculture as they are to-day. But if the people are taken from the land work must be found for them in other directions. But with the excessive competition from British and other manufacturers it would be a difficult task to set up any infant industries without adequately protecting them in some shape or another. Whether that protection will be given rests with the Indian government, which in its turn is largely dominated by the English government. It has been well said that the people of India are constantly on the verge of starvation, and it takes but very little to make them overstep the line, and then follow the famines

which shake the land to its uttermost limits.

The poverty of the agricultural classes of India is not only chronic and increasing, but is becoming a source of danger. The people have forgotten the ancient methods of agriculture, without substituting the modern methods. They are using the implements to-day which their forefathers used probably a thousand years or more ago. It is a curious fact that in an agricultural country like India neither farm implements nor manure is imported. I do not say that occasionaly a stray English or American plough does not find its way thither, but there is practically no trade done in modern up-to-date implements there.

If you travel through the country you may see evidence of iron manufacture crushed out by foreign competition; throughout the land may be found old slag heaps, testifying to the former prosperity of native iron industries, the splendid native iron being now superseded by cheap worthless iron of foreign manufacture. Many attempts have been made to revive and start afresh iron industries, but they have one and all been crushed out for want of a little protection. Throughout Bengal one may see the ruins of the English indigo factories. Coffee and tea are struggling hard for existence, while planters are well-nigh ruined. Cotton manufacture had sprung up under a protective tariff and appeared be prospering, but Manchester manufacturers became alarmed, the tariff was removed to appease them, and the industry left to perish or struggle on as best it could. The difficulty in this matter is that to be effective any protective tariff must operate against England as well as against the foreigner generally.

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The natives have lost most of their old industries without acquiring new For instance, the production of the finest Dacca muslins, Cashmere shawls, Bengal silks, Agra marbles, etc., is all gone and the arts concerned will disappear. The wants of the well-to-do Indians and European residents are supplied by the comparatively worthless and cheap imi

tations from Europe and the West. Consequently there is a disappearance of the famous old industries, and a rush for agriculture, while the pressure on land is every year frightfully increasing.

Indian statesmen are confronted with the same old difficulty, that if India is to be started on a prosperous industrial career her infant industries must be protected against

England as well as against other competitors. Under present conditions the land will not steadily support the people. Periods of drought and famine find them quite unprepared to meet those foes. Capitalists will not embark their money in India unless they have some guarantee for the success of their ventures, and under present economic conditions none such exist. India has now no capital. Just in the same way that the land thirsts for water, so are the industries famishing for lack of capital. As India's manual work and human power must disappear by the advance of modern machinery, so must her isolated skill before combined work, and this makes large capital a national want in India. But the economic conditions frighten capital

away.

F. C. CHAPPELL.

There are many obsolete laws on the statute books which nobody wants enforced, and others which everybody, or

nearly everybody, wants enforced in moderation. We do not refer to the excise laws, which are in no sense obsolete, though their wisdom is a subject of con

troversy, but to laws such as those which

Cotton Goods. There were 177 establishments engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods, including cotton small wares, in 1900, with 92,515 wage earners, and products valued at $111,125,175. In 1890 there were 187 establishments, 75,544 wage earners, who received $32,478,697 in wages, and products were valued at $100,202,882. The increase in the value of products during the decade was $10,922,293, or 10.9 per cent. The total number of spindles in the cotton industry of the state in 1900 was 7,784,687, as against 5,824,518 in 1890, an increase of 1,960,169, or 33.7 per cent. This was 40.6 per cent of the total increase in the United States. The looms in 1900 aggregated 179,582, as compared with 133,227 in 1890, an increase of 34.9 per cent. In 1900 Massachusetts had 41 per cent of all spindles and 39.8 per cent of all looms employed in the cotton factories of the United States. The state was first in rank among the United States in the manufacture of cotton goods, having held that position since the beginning of the industry in this country. In 1900 the value of the products of its cotton mills was 33.2 per cent of the value of all the cotton goods manufactured in the United States; the corresponding percentage for South Carolina, the state second in rank, was 8.9.

The production of the finer kinds of cotton goods shows a gratifying inFancy woven fabrics increased from 59,061,558 square yards in 1890 to 137,046,111 square yards in 1900, or 132.1 per cent, while in the United States exclusive of Massachusetts the increase was only 47.5 per cent. Of the 268,852,716 square yards of napped fabrics made in the United States in 1900 Massachusetts produced 137,199,384 square yards, or 51 per cent. Although the increase in the state in ticks, denims and stripes was slight-from 61,192,423 to 63,794,395 square yards, or 4.3 per cent the increase in the United States, exclusive of Massachusetts, yas only two per cent. The increase in the production of cotton duck in the state was from 6,174,332 to 17,903,597 square yards, or 190 per cent. Of twills and sateens made in the United States in 1900, Massachusetts produced 86,668,240 square yards, or 36.7 per cent. The manufacture of ginghams decreased in the state and only slightly increased in United States. The production of print cloths increased from 610,200,536 square yards in 1890 to 927,405,189 square yards in 1900, or 52 per cent, and this quantity was 58.6 per cent of all the print cloths made in the United States. In corduroy, cotton velvet and plushes, and mosquito and other nettings, not reported in 1890, the quantity produced in Massachusetts reached in 1900 an aggregate of nearly 4,000,000 square yards.

Worsted Goods. There were fortyfive establishments engaged in the manufacture of worsted goods in 1900, with 18,867 wage earners (who received $7,055,585 in wages), and products were valued at $40,557,363. In 1890 there were thirty-three establishments, 11,835 wage earners, and products valued at $21,933,775. The increase in the value of products during the decade was $18,623,588, or 84.9 per cent. In 1900 Massachusetts led all the other states in the manufacture of worsted goods, and for the first time the value of the products of the worsted mills exceeded that of the products of the woolen mills. The increase in the manufacture of worsted goods in the United States for the decade ending with 1900 was so great that the total value of products was $1,884,186 more than the total value of products of the woolen mills, although in 1890 the value of the products of the woolen mills exceeded that of the worsted mills by $54,383,325. The capital has more than doubled since 1890, increasing from $21,204,909 to $45,790,300, or 115.9 per cent. In 1900 70,078,969 square yards of cloth were made in

its worsted mills, which was an increase from 43,579,321 square yards in 1890, or 60.8 per cent. Of worsted coatings, etc., 21,189,544 square yards; of linings, etc., 6,309,534 square yards; and of worsted dress goods 13,026,286 square yards. The increase in number of spindles in worsted mills was from 204,510 in 1890 to 429,526 in 1900; and in number of looms from 6,488 to 9,584. In 1900 the state was first in the country in number of combing machines, and second in carding machines.

Woolen Goods. There were 131 establishments engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods in 1900, with 17,717 wage earners, and products valued at $30,888,104. In 1890 there were 165 establishments, 19,452 wage earners and products valued at $35,771,161. The decrease in the value of products during the decade was $4,883,057, or 13.7 per cent. The total wages paid was $6,823,051.

Dyeing and Finishing. There were thirty-seven establishments engaged in the dyeing and finishing of textiles in 1900, with 4,678 wage earners, and the work done was valued at $8,868,290. In 1890 there were thirty-three establishments and 4,270 wage earners, and the work done was valued at $6,496,215. During the decade the increase in value of work done was $2,372,075, or 36.5 per cent. Wages paid in 1900, $2,081,015.

Carpets and Rugs. There were eight establishments engaged in the manufacture of carpets and rugs, other than rag, in 1900, with 4,480 wage earners (who were paid $1,720,289), and products valued at $6,966,237. In 1890 there were seven establishments, 5,109 wage earners, and products valued at $7,275,009. The decrease in the value of products during the decade was $308,772, or 4.2 per cent.

Hosiery and Knit Goods. There were fifty-four establishments engaged in the manufacture of hosiery and knit goods in 1900, with 6,667 wage earners, and products valued at $6,620,257. In 1890 there were seventy-four establishments, 4,562 wage earners, and products valued at $5,082,087. The increase in