THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



329 



in the comparative business of the ports 

 unusally great. ' 



A comparison of the figures covering 

 the exports and imports of the various 

 ports during the fiscal year with those of 

 preceding years presents some interesting 

 and suggestive facts bearing on this sub- 

 ject. They show that the Atlantic ports 

 considered as entire group retained, when 

 compared with the preceding year, their 

 normal proportion of the exports of the 

 year, but lost slightly in imports. The 

 Gulf poi-ts did not as a whole maintain the 

 rate of increase which the country at large 

 made in exports. The Pacific ports made 

 the most satisfactory record of any group, 

 their gain in exports being 25.7 per cent, 

 while they actually gained in imports 

 16.3 per cent, while the total imports for 

 the country were being decreased 19.3 per 

 cent. The northern border ports made 

 the largest percentage of gain in exporta- 

 tions, their total for the year being 27.3 

 per cent greater than that of the preced- 

 ing year, while in importations they lost 

 21. 1 per cent. 



Taking up the leading articles of our ex- 

 ports, such as wheat, corn, flour, etc., it is 

 found that the North Atlantic ports have ' 

 lost materially in their proportion of the 

 export trade, while their loss becomes the 

 gain of ports farther south. 



Those A statement which might 



Dreadful 



Masons. cause anger if it were not so 



ridiculous as to be mirth-provoking, is the 

 one made by the Catholic Review, claiming 

 that Freemasonry was the cause of the 

 Spanish-American war. According to 

 this organ the war was due to the conspir- 

 acy of the Masons in Spain and the West 

 Indies with those of America to destroy 

 Spain because it was a Catholic country. ' 

 The Franco-Prussian war, of 1870, so the 

 Review claims, was due to the influence of 

 the Masonic Fraternity. A Mexican pa- 

 per the Tiernpo, also blames the Masons 

 for the war, and goes further, claiming 

 that the surrender of Santiago and the 

 general reverses that have befallen the 

 Spanish army, are due to this association. 

 The Literary JJiycst quotes from Tienipo 



regarding this as follows: "One explana- 

 tion, and only one. is admissable, and that 

 is that the surrender was the result of a 

 Masonic agreement. The Sagasta cabi- 

 net, from the premier to the lowest offici- 

 als, are all Masons. They are all, all Ma- 

 sons, and the government is completely 

 undermined by this accursed society, and 

 the interests of the country, as is univer- 

 sally the case where Freemasonry predom- 

 inates, are secondary to those of this 

 satanic organization." 



It is human nature to fear and dislike 

 that which we do not understand. And 

 those to whom the principles of Free- 

 masonry are a sealed book, think that the 

 fact of it being a "secret" organization is 

 proof that it is bad. Others equally igno- 

 rant of it, take a different view. A woman 

 once said, in speaking of this subject, "No, 

 it is true I do not know any of the inner 

 mysteries of the order, but the fact that a 

 good man like my father is a member of 

 it, convinces me there can be nothing bad 

 in Masonry." Those of us who are ac- 

 quainted with the honorable men compris- 

 ing the Masonic lodge, can heartily echo 

 this woman's sentiments. 



A Quota- 

 tion. 



"I look to irrigation to once 

 more place the life of the 

 farmer on its former basis of comparative 

 ease and comfort. It is now only too large- 

 ly a life of illy-recompensed drudgery. 

 The prices he now receives for his pro- 

 ducts are only one-half, and in some in- 

 stances only one-third what he once re- 

 ceived. If he must go on tilling the same 

 amount of soil to raise the same crop he is 

 only one-half or one-third as well off as he 

 once was. But if he can till one-third the 

 acreage and yet produce the same product 

 he is not only back to his old plane as a 

 wealth producer, but has made a gain. 

 This irrigation will do for him. But alas! 

 how slow the farmer is to see these things 

 and make practical use of them. In the 

 mechanical line a man who would offer a 

 machine which would increase the output 

 of a factory three-fold could not fill or- 

 ders." DR. CLARKE GAPEN. 



