FINANCES, UNITED STATES. 



FINNEY, CHARLES G. 



293 



very few loans placed abroad, except for cities, 

 of which the aggregate amount was not large. 

 The range of prices of a few leading State 

 and railroad bonds for 1875 has been as fol- 

 lows: 



The range in prices of the most active rail- 

 road stocks, during the year, has been as fol- 

 lows: 



From the reports of the Department of Agri- 

 culture it appears that the decrease in the 

 monthly rates of wages (without board) of 

 farm-laborers engaged by the year, from 1869 

 to 1875, in various sections of the country, is 

 as follows: Eastern States, from $32.03 to 

 $29; Middle States, $29.15 to $26.98; West- 

 ern States, $27.01 to $23.25 ; and California, 

 $46.38 to $44.50. In Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indi- 

 ana, and Illinois, the average falling off was 

 much less than that above indicated. Monthly 

 wages, with board, are from $8 to $10 below 

 the quoted rates, and show about the same 

 decrease compared with 1869. Wages per day 

 for transient service differ greatly in different 

 States. In the South they touch the low point 

 of 72 cents to $1.15, while in Michigan they 



are $2.00, in Minnesota $2.30, and Wyoming 

 $3.62 with board in every case. The average 

 in the Middle and New England States is not 

 far from $1.50. The slackness of immigration 

 for the past two years has had some effect in 

 staying the decline of farm wages, and this 

 cause will probably continue to operate a year 

 or two longer. 



FINLAY, GEORGE, a British historian, and 

 the last of the Philhellenes that followed Byron 

 to Greece, was born in 1800 ; died January 26, 

 1875. His hopes, like those of Byron, for the 

 regeneration of the Greeks, were not fulfilled. 

 But, true to the cause which he had once taken 

 up, he bought some land and a house near 

 Athens, where he settled. Finding his attempts 

 to promote agriculture in Attica futile, he 

 turned his attention to history, not only to that 

 of the Greek Revolution, but to that of modern 

 Greece in general. His "History of the War 

 of Independence " is a valuable political study, 

 in which he fearlessly criticises the mistakes 

 and shortcomings of the Greeks, the Turks, and 

 the allies. His " History of Greece under the 

 Romans" (second edition, 1857), "History of 

 Mediaaval Greece and Trebizond " (1851), and 

 " History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires, 

 from 716 to 1057 " (2 vols., 1853-'54), were 

 also useful for an estimate of the Greeks, and 

 particularly for the Oriental question. It was 

 his opinion that the regeneration of Greece was 

 not to be brought about by a revival of classic 

 forms, but by a rational development of the 

 people. These views he expressed in a series 

 of letters to the London Times, which have 

 done a great deal to check the spread of Rus- 

 sian influence. His last work is an edition of 

 the diary of Brue, a French interpreter in Con- 

 stantinople, who accompanied the Grand-Vizier 

 Ali in 1715 in the campaign in the Morea. 



FINNEY, Rev. CHARLES G., evangelist, re- 

 former, and long President of Oberlin College, 

 born in Warren, Litchfield County, Conn., Au- 

 gust 29, 1792; died at Oberlin, August 16, 

 1875. In early life he studied law in Jefferson 

 County, N. Y., but, having been converted in a 

 revival in 1821, he entered the Congregational 

 ministry in 1822, and began to labor as an 

 evangelist 'in 1824. His first successes were 

 in Central and Western New York. From the 

 country Mr. Finney transferred his labors to 

 the city of New York, where he preached to 

 large audiences. The Chatham Theatre was 

 bought for his use, and transformed into a 

 church, and the New York Evangelist (now an 

 able organ of the Presbyterians) was estab- 

 lished as the advocate of the revival. In 1835 

 he accepted a professorship in Oberlin Col- 

 lege, which had been founded by his friends, 

 and the same year became pastor of the Con- 

 gregational church in that town. In 1848 he 

 visited England, where he preached as a re- 

 vivalist for three years, effecting many con- 

 versions. While there he had the hearty and 

 influential cooperation of Rev. Dr. Campbell, 

 then the leader of Congregationalism in Great 



