tection as compared with the labor differences will prove that we have in the manufacture of cotton knitted goods an industry that is dependent entirely upon the maintenance intact of the present protective tariff measure.

"Under this protection the knit goods. industry has made wonderful progress. "When Wm. McKinley and the Fiftyfirst Congress gave us our first real protective measure, in 1888, there were only 731 institutions of this kind in the United States. From 1888 to 1893 there was an increase of 272. Under the Wilson bill, which followed, there was general stagnation, but the return of power to the Republican party gave us the Dingley bill and with it came an opportunity for which we had pleaded for years, and opportunity to make the higher class of goods in this country upon full fashioned machines, and since the enactment of this present tariff bill, we have invested one million dollars in these particular machines, and orders are about being placed for another million dollars worth of this class of machines, but these orders must be cancelled and the million already invested will be lost together with many more more millions if there is any reduction in the present rate of duty upon this class of goods. Even with the present duties to protect us against the labor differences, it requires our best efforts and the most economical management, with small profits, to hold our trade against the foreigner.

"This comptetitive condition of 1,221 separate institutions competing with all the foreign concerns, striving for the market of the United States, results in the American people receiving the very best goods in the world at the lowest prices. The present tariff upon cotton knitted goods is, therefore, beneficial alike to the manufacturer, the laborer, the consumer and the country."

"The tariff issue can't be downed!" shouts a fervent contemporary. Therein the tariff issue differs from the party which insists on raising it. It can and will be.-Kansas City Journal.

THE ISTHMIAN CANAL.

The report of the Isthmian Canal Commission favors the Nicaragua route, and makes an estimate of $189,864,062 as the total cost of construction of the canal through Nicaragua. The estimated cost of the Panama route is $144,233,358, but, the report says, it would cost $109,141,000 to obtain the Panama concession. The commission values the work done at $40,000,000. The report says the Panama route is feasible. as a sea level canal, while the Nicaragua Canal must be by locks; but Lake Nicaragua will furnish an inexhaustible supply of water for the canal. The Nicaragua route has no natural harbors at either end, but satisfactory harbors may be constructed. Harbors already exist at each end of the Panama route, but considerable work must be done at the entrance of the harbor on the Atlantic side. With adequate force and plant, the commission estimates that the Nicaragua Canal can be completed in six years, exclusive of two years for preparation. Ten years is estimated to complete the Panama Canal.

The total length of the Nicaragua route is 183.66 miles, and of the Panama route, 49.09 miles. The estimated cost of operating and maintaining the Nicaragua Canal annually is $1,350,000 greater than that of the Panama Canal. The estimated time for a deep draught vessel to pass through the Panama Canal is twelve hours and through the Nicaragua Canal thirty-three hours. The

THE NEW CANAL TREATY.

It is agreed that the canal may be constructed under the auspices of the United States, either directly at its own cost or by individuals or corporations; but the government shall have and enjoy all the rights incident to such construction. The canal shall be free and open to the commercial and war vessels of all nations on equal terms, and all traffic charges shall be just and equitable. The canal shall never be blockaded, and no act of war shall be committed within it. War vessels are debarred from taking any stores in the canal, and the transit of such vessels through the canal must be effected with the least possible delay. No belligerent shall embark or disembark troops, munitions of war, etc., in the canal except in case of accidental hindrance. These provisions apply to waters adjacent to the canal, within three marine miles of either end. The plant, buildings, etc., necessary to the construc

tion and maintenance of the canal shall enjoy complete immunity from attack by belligerents. No change of territorial sovereignty or of international relations of the country or countries traversed by the before-mentioned canal shall affect the general principle of neutralization or the obligation of the high contracting parties under the present treaty.

On December 16, this treaty was ratified by the Senate, by a vote of 74 to 6.

POSTMASTER GENERAL SMITH ON RECIPROCITY.

IN

N his speech before the Boston Merchants' Association, December 10, Postmaster General Charles Emory Smith said in part:

Reciprocity does not mean the sacrifice of one industry in order to help another: It does not mean the loss of the greater domestic market in the hope of gaining the less foreign market. President McKinley safeguarded it when at Buffalo he advocated "sensible trade arrangements which will not interfere with our home production." This is the touchstone. With this qualification reciprocity is wise; nay, more, it is practicable; nay more, it is essential, looking both to progressive public sentiment and to trade requirements for the future.

It does not involve entrance upon a general tariff revision which would be disturbing and unfortunate. It only requires an intelligent acceptance of the policy, and the adaptation of existing legislation by some general provisions. This is not the time nor the place to discuss details. I can only suggest a few general thoughts. We can wisely make one set of terms with the tropics, and another within our own parallels of latitude. We have made coffee free. We do not need the revenue. But in giving it free admission, why should we not have required concessions in return? This is only an example of other things. We might well draw a circle around this American hemisphere, and put it on a special and peculiarly favorable. basis.

ings are arranged so as to facilitate quite extensive additions owing to the fact that the manufacture of additional lines of textile machinery is contemplated in the near future.

The heating apparatus is located in an outside building, and in this same building will be found the blacksmith shop and the grinding room, thereby removing from the main plant those things which are most liable to cause fire. A full sprinkler equipment is to be installed and in fact no stone has been left unturned to make this one of the finest manufacturing plants in the vicinity and a credit to the city. The offices are located on the upper floor and are ingeniously arranged so that the main office, private offices and drafting room are all connected.

The A. T. Atherton Machine Company are successors to the Potter & Atherton Machine Company which was established in 1887 by Messrs. A. T. Atherton, Charles T. Atherton, James C. Potter, Allen Whitehead, John Marshall, John Draper and Daniel T. Brown, all of whom were formerly associated with the Atherton Machine Company of Lowell, Mass.

When the Potter & Atherton Machine Company was first organized they hired the basement of the large brick building now on Broad Street belonging to the Broad Street Power Company, but their growth was so rapid that they soon had additional buildings constructed until their floor area was 23,000 square feet and they occupied six floors instead of one. In 1893 Messrs. James C. Potter and Daniel T. Brown sold their interests to the Company and the name was changed to The A. T. Atherton Machine Company.

In 1896 the Company was re-organized, retaining the same name however,

and none of the original founders are now connected with the concern. The present officers are E. L. Freeman, president; George W. Stafford, vicepresident; Fred Anthony, secretary and treasurer; Fred A. Wilde, general manager.

The Board of Directors is composed of the president and vice-president, exofficio, Edward Smith, Darius L. Goff, and George M. Thornton. The active officers are secretary and treasurer, and general manager.

Mr. Fred Anthony is a native of Coventry, R. I., and has held a number of responsibe positions in various concerns, the most notable of these being his association with the Congdon & Carpenter Company of Providence, R. I., with whom he was connected for about seventeen years. His business training makes him admirably adapted for the office he now holds, and his naturally even disposition and genial ways win for him a host of friends.

Mr. Fred A. Wilde began his career in the textile industry with the George W. Stafford Mfg. Company of Providence, makers of looms, jacquards and dobbies, and for six years was connected with this plant which later became known as the Providence Branch of the Knowles Loom Works and still later the Providence Branch of the Crompton & Knowles Loom Works.

He severed his connections with this concern in 1896 to assume the position of assistant manager with The A. T. Atherton Machine Company until he was honored with the title he now bears.

Since re-organized in 1896 the Company has enjoyed a large and constantly increasing patronage and has experienced some of the most successful periods in the history of the concern.