electric light, and in about eight towns out of ten Germans did the work.

But the Germans wanted to become rich too quickly. You know what booms are in the States. They do not indicate an essentially healthy growth; and during this period the Germans enlarged their factories and generally went ahead too quickly. Practically, Germany had not sufficient capital to sustain her trade. She has no great store of wealth to fall back upon in times of emergency; also, the credit system is, if not high

developed, at any rate more extensively applied in German trade. The German system makes it easier for young men to start in trade.

Thousands of young men there start in business with no other means than a clear head and plenty of industry. For instance, suppose that a commercial traveller starts for himself as a wholesale merchant. He will without carrying much stock buy of the manufacturer what he sells to the retailer. He will draw upon the retailer at three or six months and pay his manufacturer with the bills so drawn. The manufacturer will pass on the bills to his bank and draw against them to pay for his raw materials. While everything goes well this system is excellent, but when a link in the chain is weak then comes the crash.

The number of new companies created in Germany during the last five years has been enormous. The number rose from 161 in 1895 to 304 in 1899; the capital from £4,

415,000 to £27,220,000; and the total new issues from £59,000,000 to £107,700,000. Most of these new concerns were industrial. Some were floated at boom prices; in others there was a lack of adequate capital or the prospects of the company were mostly imaginary. Many works were paid for in paper, and this was sold to the banks and syndicates. At first the syndicates planted it on to the public, but at last the latter got tired of it; then the underwriting syndicates got tired of it, and finally the banks had to do the financing themselves. Credit was shaken, and consequently German industry, which rested largely on a foundation of credit, became paralyzed. It has to cease or restrict work, simply because it could not longer finance it. To-day many cities in Germany are full of hungry unemployed men; many of the great merchants are ruined; numbers of works are closed; while the stocks of German iron works are being sold in Belgium and in England for what they will fetch. F. C. CHAPPELL.

Concessions which the fishermen of New England, the lumbermen of the Northeast and the Northwest and farmers along the entire boundary between Canada and the United States would oppose are insisted upon by the Canadians, or were during the last meeting of the joint high commission; and while it is pleasant for commercial bodies whose interests are not adversely affected to contemplate increased trade with Canada the opposition of the varied and manifold industries that would suffer disastrously must be taken into account.-Burlington (Vt.) Free Press.

THE

'HE tide of immigration into the United States for the last fiscal year rose higher than for any year since 1892. The total number of steerage arrivals was 487,918, an increase over the preceding year of 39,346, or about 9 per cent. Of this increase 2,020 came through Canadian ports. There were also 74,950 other alien passengers who came in the cabins, making a total immigration for the year of 562,868.

The total steerage immigration was distributed as to sex between 331,055 males and 156,863 females; as to age, between 62,562 under fourteen years, 396,516 from fourteen to forty-five, and 28,840 of forty-five and over. It is shown that 117,587 were unable to read or write, 3,058 could read but not write, 294,860 brought each less than $30, and 56,312 had more than $30 each. In the year 363 were returned to their respective countries, having become public charges within one year after landing. The number not allowed to land was 3,516, against 4,246 for the previous year.

That there has been a remarkable change in the character of the immigration in the last ten years, is evident not only in the nationality of the people coming in, but in their ultimate destination. Almost without exception, immigration from the Northwestern countries of Europe

over-population or of illiberal government, and that it has followed a curious geographical sequence. The races that peopled this continent at the beginning were from the West of Europe. The first half of the nineteenth century brought an exodus from Ireland. This was followed from 1850 to 1890 by a large immigration from Germany and the Scandinavian states. The movement out of Southern and Eastern Europe was small as late as 1870, but it has reached large proportions in the last decade. The exodus from the small States of Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Switzerland was greatest between 1870 and 1890, when 300,000 of their citizens came to this country. From 1820 (the first year when immigration statistics were regularly kept), to 1900, the number of immigrants arriving in this country was 19,115,521, and it is estimated that only 250,000 had come between 1783 and 1820. Carroll D. Wright estimates that at least one-half of the present population of this country cannot claim the English language as the mother tongue. From an industrial point of view, the chief employments of immigrants are in connection with manufactures, mining, domestic, and personal service; from a religious point of view, that the immigrants are about equally divided between Protestant and Catholic; and politically, that the preponderance favors the Republican party.

That there has been a marked deterioration in the quality of immi

grants within the past twenty years is undeniable, and it has been remarked that much of the recent immigration is of apparently little loss to Europe and correspondingly small gain to us. The commonly accepted view, at least among native Americans, is that people from North-western Europe are comparatively desirable additions to the population, while the people from South-eastern Europe and the Orient are almost without exception undesirable. The percentage of illiteracy of the latter is nearly 40 per cent lower than of the former, while the literate bring an average of almost $29 in money to an average of about $7 by the illiterate.

The Immigration Restriction League urge as particular reasons why immigration should be further restricted, that the majority of immigrants now arriving in this country lower the standard; work for too small wages; spend little of their earnings here but send large amounts to support relatives left behind; are willing to live in an unsanitary condition; maintain their foreign speech and customs; group themselves in isolated bodies; do not appreciate our institutions and are not interested in preserving them; and add largely to the expense of maintaining our prisons, work-houses and reformatories.

On the other side of the question, it is urged that pauper and criminal immigrants are mainly excluded; that immigrants who work for low wages and have a low standard of living do not compete with more in

former crops for just such an opportunity; that the sugar combine would be benefited, and that other countries would complain of favoritism for Cuba. The desire to give the island a fair start, as an independent nation, is believed to answer all these objections.

"The Committee on Ways and Means has decided to hear the Cuban delegates after the holidays."

[Washington Special to the Tribune.]

The plea of the beet sugar men is that the beet sugar industry of the United States is in its infancy and needs every cent of the protection it now enjoys. They point out that millions of dollars are invested in the industry in California, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Michigan, Nebraska, and other Western States, and declare that bankruptcy and ruin will follow any tariff legislation which permits sugar from these islands to enter the home market in competition with the product of the beet sugar mills. Another argument they are presenting is that 40 per cent of the sugar plantations of Cuba are now owned by the citizens of the United States against 5 per cent at the close of the Spanish-American War.

[From a Washington Letter.]

To the average representative of special interests, the proposal of concessions to Cuba before she has a government seems impracticable. It is entirely possible, however, according to opinion in Administration circles, to fully safeguard the interests of the United States by definite action by Congress. It is within the power of Congress to grant a preferential tariff upon Cuban products, subject to the compliance by the Cuban Government when organized with certain specified conditions, like those which have been

laid upon the President in several tariff bills authorizing reciprocity arrange

ments.

[New York Journal of Commerce.]

Sugar is the largest revenue producer in the custom's list. For six years before the McKinley tariff was enacted it had yielded over fifty million dollars a year. That tariff was passed to get rid of the surplus, and it accomplished that end with astonishing success. The surplus revenue in the last fiscal year before the McKinley tariff was $105,000,000; in 1891 it was only $37,000,000, in 1892 under $10,000,000, in 1893 it was only $2,341,674, and in the next year there would have been a deficit even if there had been no panic. In 1899 the sugar revenue was $61,428,331, in 1900 it was $57,417,772, and on account of the increasing production under our flag it is estimated that next year it will be about $48,000,000. This is too large an item of revenue to discard. To remove the duty from sugar would necessitate the discovery of new sources of revenue. But the interests of Cuba do not require so extreme a measure as free trade with the United States.

[Washington Cor. of Inter-Ocean.] The beet sugar interests fear the competition of Cuban sugar, the anti-annexationists fear that reciprocal relations will lead to annexation, and the extreme annexationists realize that the failure of the Cuban Government will compel annexation. The conservative Republicans agree with the President that the experiment of independent government in Cuba should have a fair trial, and that, having taken the Spanish market from Cuba, we should give the island some concessions that will enable the people to realize some fair measure of prosperity.

[From a Washington Despatch.]

Henry T. Oxnard sums up the home producers' side of the case with great clearness. He says:

"Beet sugar men and southern plant