334 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



PEACE AND WAR. 



There are those who love to estimate the capacity of nations for war, 

 as if destruction were the highest work of man. Tbey show us how 

 Russia can bring into the field one million four hundred thousand men; 

 Prussia, one million two hundred and thirty thousand ; France, one 

 million three hundred and fifty thousand ; Austria, one million one hun- 

 dred and ten thousand ; Italy, four hundred and eighty thousand. Then 

 they calculate the problem of alliances, and show us that Russia and 

 Prussia, allied, can place upon the field of mortal combat two million six 

 hundred and thirty thousand warriors; while France and Austria can 

 array two million four hundred and sixty thousand, to lay waste fields 

 and kill those who never injured them. Is it not better to persuade man 

 that war is only ennobled in defence of home and country ? Is it not 

 better to develop the capacities of nations for those grand enterprises 

 which improve the material comfort of man — which increase the pro- 

 ductiveness of the earth — which improve their modes of culture, their 

 dwellings, their social habits and institutions — which expand thought, 

 quicken intellect, multiply the fruits of the earth, with the flocks and 

 herds and the grain of the fields — enterprises of which it may be said, 

 when accomplished, that "the wilderness and solitary place shall be glad 

 for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose?" 



CHEERING PROSPECTS. 



When we look abroad upon the whole of our country, now in the 

 season of harvest, there is abundant cause for congratulation. It is 

 estimated that the cotton crop of the South will be three millions of 

 bales, an increase of one-third over last year, and is worth three hun- 

 dred millions of dollars The corn will amount to two hundred and 

 eighty-five millions of bushels, and will be worth two hundred millions 

 of dollars; and that the sugar, wheat, tobacco and minor products, will 

 be worth one hundred and fifty millions more, making a total of six 

 hundred and fifty million dollars. To this must be added the vast and 

 varied products of the North, the Middle States, and of the West, of 

 which the wheat crop alone is two hundred and fifty millions of bushels, 

 and then the gold and silver of the Pacific States. 



That this is a broad basis for prosperity to rest upon, must be 

 acknowledged. If these calculations shall prove to be correct, the life 

 which will be imparted to business, when our indebtedness abroad shall 

 be liquidated by this immense export, and the balance of trade turns in 

 our favor, will be felt from Maine to California. If it shall come when 

 it shall be due, according to precedent and the opei*ation of causes sup- 

 posed to be uniform in their effect, it will happen early in the spring of 

 next year, and will be to the circles of business and finance like the 

 coming of spring is to the kingdom of nature. 



SAN FRANCISCO IN THE FUTURE. 



Very few of us have yet begun to comprehend the future greatness of 

 San Francisco. To hasten on the hour of its realization, railroads must 

 go out in all directions — to the northward, to the southward, and to the 

 southeast of us. The bay must be considered but a mere ferry in the 

 great plan. 



Looking into the future with the eye of hope, I see them diverging in 



