Indianapolis News, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 January 1879 — Page 2

THE IMDIANAPOLIS NEWS: THURSDAY! JANUARY 9, 1879

CARPETS, Wall Paper, Etc., LOWKE THAN ANT OTHER HOUSE IN THE STATE.

Goods, Full Stock, Ldtsrt StyUs, Chaies ysttsrsa tad Low pctoas. iu L. WRIGHT ft GO., (Duoowocs to Adi.ns, Hamids A Co.)

m Ksws is published orsry alter* soea, souMpt Sundsy, at the effloe, No. S3 Saat Market strwt. Prices—Two emta a copy. Serred by carriers la any part at the dty, too cents a week; by mail, poatafe prepaid, 1fty cents a month; St a year. The Weakly Naws to published erery Wednesday. Price, tl a year, postase paid. ▲drartlaements, firet page, Ire cents a 11ns lot each Insertion- Display adrartisotnonU vary In prlea according to Urns and position, r Ih fesirtod as tdUoriai m nmci aiaSsr. SpaeltaMi nnasben seat free on application. Tarnie Cash, invariably In advance. All oentmunlcatlona should be addressed t" Juki H. Holudat, proprietor.

THE DAILY NEWEL THPRSDA T~JANUARY 9. 1878. The IndltoHApoUs News has the largest eirculatioa of any daily paper In Indiana. The News to-day presents ite annual re. ▼iew of the business of Indianapolis for the year just past. It shows a gratifying improvement in all lines of business, and s positive growth in some that is very encourag'ng. Business has steadily gained over 1877, and seems now to be resting oa a solid basis. The manufacturing interests, as a rule, have done well. More men have been employed, mors work done, and a fair amount of profit made. The aggregate of sales in the wholesale trade is somewhat larger, although prices have declined, showing a greater consumption of goods. The live-stock trade has developed largely, more than one million of hogs having been handled here, and nearly one hundred and twenty-five thousand cattle. Little has been done in real estate, hut the market during the last two months has steadily improved, and there is a prospect of considerable activity during present year, should present circumstances continue. But little building has been done, and the prospect is that it will not be much increased this year. Bents are low and advances can not be expected for some time. There is a general spirit of economy. Trade is done on small margins but with much more safety than at any time for years, but the demand is growing steadily and there can be no doubt that times are sensibly improving. Deposits in the banks are increasing. The prospect for 1879 is a favorable one. Business men generally are in good spirits knd confident that the years of disaster and depression are over. County taxation most be limited by law. What has become of that polar wave? —polar wave No. 2 that was sweeping down apon us. That was a crushing rebuke which Grant received from theCorkonians. They wouldn’t have nothin’ to do wid him at all at all; bad luck to him and the divil fly away wid him. —[St. Louis Qlobe-Democrat. ' Thb Corkonians are only a little ahead of Americans; they simply speak the words of 1880 a year in advance. Grant had better get used to it. A Baptmt church in St. Louis, destroyed by fire, has been offered the use of a Jewish synagogue in that city by the president and trustees of the same, to wor■hip in until its own church can be built This notable offer has excited much comment, and doubtless the second advent people will ice wondrous things in it Gbvc&xoB Bishop, of-Ohio, in his messsge to the legislature, recommends some action oa the part of that body which will adbrd the medical colleges of the state a sufficient supply of subjects, and at the same time kill the odious traffic in human remains which ia now outraging public eeatiment, and of which Ohio has been the scene of some of the most barbarous examples. On* indication of the hard times in Europe is the increasing number of people ia Berlin who live in cellars. The number of persons' ia London, according to the London Times, who live in third stories increased between 1861 and 1871 8} per cent, of the population. There has also been a noticeable increase in the number of houses which have no rooma with a stove or fire.

In various places in the oonntry since vesumption day more coin has been taken in than has been pa ; d out. This U the experience of France over again. It is the stocking and stove-pipe Honey coming to the light; the hoarded coin of two decades started again to fulfill the purpose of its being. How decrepit it looks! like •ome superannuated Chinese or confirmed opium smoker emerging yellow and uncertain to take np the duties of life again. Its birth marks are back in the ’50’s, the the ’30's. It is dingy and suspicious VftftMng and is sometimes of two colon. People don’t want it.

Tint argument that polygamy has advanced against any law prohibiting it, ia that it is a form of religion, and this government has no right to interfere in such a case. The recent decision of the supreme court has been in the face of this and has defined what common sense admits, that all forms of faith and fanaticism are not equal before the law. Oth. rwiae the Hindoo might swing on hooks and the thousand national religions be allowed the foil •cope of their superstitions. No man is to be disturbed for his opinions, but his practice must conform to the good of the state. The “solitary in families,” implanted by the Christian faith, ia the only form of marriage deemed compatible with the good of the state, hence polygamy ia disallowed. The incoming of specie payments will doubtless give an impetus to the desire of the business world to put its transactions on a better basis—a tendency that has of late been manifest. With high prices and cheap money in the last five years, the old time credits of thirty and sixty days have been extended to sixty and ninety days and four months, and thia further extended by the practice of post-dating notes two or three months. It was the direct outgrowth of the spirit of speculation, or part of it, ministering to that willingness to undertake obligations on chance, running the risk of payment from sales yet to be sought after and consummated. Doubtless many a merchant met failure, not from any desire to defraud, but from the complications brought about by listening to the seductions of long credits. The system was a feeder for the hot-house, high pressure style of doing business. It worked a double injustice by persuading merchants to ventures they would not otherwise have made, and by causing tl ose who adhered to cash or short payments to be mulcted in a sufficient sum tj cover the contingencies of the long credit system. In doing way with this state of things the greatest aid must come from the manufacturers and large dealers. A steady adherence to the cash and short credit plan, while it might lessen the total amount of sales for a time would, in the end, be most beneficial to all concerned in a more certain income and sounder conditions from which to make calculations. There is a tendency toward this which will sooner or later bring it about. It is not its advocacy of some one beside Logan, but the absolute and unqualified re-fut-al of the Tribune to subscribe to the usual pa.ty methods—a refusal to be governed by the vote of the majority of its own politica* associates—which drives the paper out of the republican rauka and makes it a political guerrilla.—[Chicago Inter-Ocean. The Chicago Tribune ought to be proud of being driven out for such a cause as this. If to be truly devoted to certain principles is to be truly loyal to some petty caucus packed by political machiuists and rounders, the sooner such odious subserviency ia broken the better. The peop’e are coming to see this, and those papers which are attaining the widest circulation and which wield the mightiest influence are those to which the people know they can turn and get an honest opinion. Mistaken though that opiuionmaybe at times, it is guaranteed that is not cut and dried and made up beforehand, written to order in as purely perfunctory fashion and with as little responsibility as the compositor handles the types, and the people seek it in increasing numbers. It will not be another generation before these caucus hand-bills, yclept party organs, will be laid by as belonging to an era of narrowness and bitterness that has passed, as old stage coaches stand empty in these days of modem travel. With the diffusion of education it has come to be recognized that newspapers may favor broad lines of policy without endorsing every scoundrel who is pat up for place, or winking at, apologizing for and covering up the conniptions of a caucus and misrepresenting and traducing the actions of the opposing faction. "We shall, in time, have as able and dispassidnate and independent political discussion as fills the English press. That bilious babbler, William Ll^yd Garrison, has written ’another letter to somebody defining what should be the position of the republican party in 1880, which may be inferred from the last sentences of his screed, to-wit: “The bloody shirt! In hoc signo vinces.” Mr. Garrison undoubtedly thinks “the party” is!n the condition ascribed to Noah by the forcible but not overly reverential college tong, which, after reciting that “Noah he” (emphasis on the “he,”) “did build an ark,” and found bs^Jiad no sail, and “when he fonnd he had no sail, he just run up his old shirt tail.” The republican party has no sail for 1880 in Mr. Garrison’s opinion, and he says: “Let ‘the bloody shirt’ continue to be waved until an end be put to the shedding of blood by the organized assassins who are boldly and successfully setting the federal government at defiance, and trampling the constitution and laws of the country under their feet.” By the use of the word “continue” Mr. Garrison seems to be laboring under the delusion, that the ensanguined garment is still vexing the wind. He is mistaken. It has been lying idle these two yean, except a while last summer, when it was used to bind the fevered brows of the plaguestricken people in the south. That work of mercy hallowed the old garment, and it will be difficult indeed for the Garrisons and Chandlers to make it again the badge of hate. Nor do the people of this country look upon the people of the south as Mr. Garrison does when he says: The south (using that designation as of old) is still full of the habitations ef cruelty* that her hands are stained and her garments saturated with blood; that her feet, run to evil, and there is no judgment in her goings; that she is as disloyal in spirit as she was when she fired her first shot at Fort Sumpter; that she only lacks the power to re-enslave the millions who have been emancipated on her soil, in order to save the Union and baffle her treasonable designs. • These be the distorted visions of a diseased fancy; the monthings of a mania. Garrison can’t help it.perhaps, and doubtless will go to his grave like Ben. Wade, with a heart full of hate and bitterness. Peace to his dust whenever it shall return to the earth as it was.

Tranah Tlaamees amd naansiarlag. How France managed resumption has been a fruitful theme with the money maniacs of this country. How she did it in fact may be instructive to os, new that we are moving to maintain the same. In June, 1870, when the war with Germany began, the bank of France had $251,000,000 of paper afloat, against which it held $229,000,000 specie reserve. A month after the breaking out of the war, specie payments were suspended, and the bank’s notes made a legal tender. Then the volume swelled as ours did during the war. By June, 1871, $442,000,000 facevalue worth of notes had been issued. Two years Dter it touched $602,000,000 and by this time the coin in the banks vaults had dwindled to $146,000,000. Then, in 1873 the bank of France, having exclusive right to issue paper money, began a process of contraction against resumption day, which was set for January 1, 1878. By November, 1877, the paper had decreased to $491,000,000, while the specie reserve hfli increased to $442,010,000 about five-eighths of which was gold. At the final legal consummation of resumption only about $20,000,000 of coin was demanded and long before this day paper was at par and specie payments a fact. > During the six months that followed the opening of the war the extraordinary indebtedness incurred by the French amounted to $573,000,000, and on top of this came the thousand millions of indemnity. . To pay this in the course of the next two years France borrowed $1,640,000,000 at five per cent, and as the bonds were sold at 83, the net receipts were $1,145,000. It was thus France raised her famous milliards, and she owes for them to-day in this shape; it was thus she paid her public debt in paper in spite of the De La Matyrs and Voorheeses to the contrary. She owes to-day for every dollar of the German indemnity, and is paying interest on it; she simply shifted creditors, just as we are shifting them by the sale of our four per cent, bonds at home, and the payment of the old bonds with the proceeds. Besides this, France’s funded debt is steadily increasing instead of decreasing as ours is, because her yearly revenues fall short of her yearly expenses. In 1875 France’s interest account reached $150,000,000—larger than ours at the time of its greatest amount in 1865. Since then we have reduced our 8 to less than $100,000,000, while that of France has steadily increased. In the face of this showing France borrows in the markets of the world at 3 per cent, while we pay 4. That one per cent., perhaps a little more, is the extent to which the repudiationists have shaken the confidence of capital in our integrity. France has remembered too well the lesson of her assign a ta to allow French greenbackers to make themselves heard.

CURAHNl COKLMLKNT. The real matter of apprehension is that in 1880 Louisiana and Florida, together with the other southern states, will vote democratic beyond the possibility of any eight to seven jugglery; and when the situation is analyzed, the one thing for which the strong man is wanted is to force an election and take his seat in the white house at all hazards. Giant is the only man in the country v ho wi uld dare to venture upon such a program.—[Chicago Times. We are now for Blaine for president, if it is necesrary to beat Grant. Blaine would not be the representative of all the old rings, and he is capable of a splendid administration. We do not believe in the one-man power in this country, or in the divine appointment of the solid south to rule the*nation.—[Cincinnati Commercial. The German-American democrats will vote for Thomas F. Bayard against any other man, and many republicans will do the same. —[Washington Sentinel. Dan Voorhees is said to have made his calling and re-election to the United States senate sure. The nationals can not find a raggeder rsg-moneyite than he, and so have decided to support him. He is a “statesman” of the Nasby order, but he suits the Hoosier democracy.—[Chicago Journal.

Pork Packing in the West, The Cincinnati Price Current to-day contains their usnal January preliminary report of .pork packing in the west. The report shows the total packing at this date of the six large cities of Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and Louisville to be 3.545.000, or 1,055,000 more than at the same date last year. The total at all interior points is approximately 1.400.000, or 375,000 more than for the same time last year, making a total increase of 1,430,000 at all points. The returns indicate a large falling off in packing during the remainder of the seasen compared with last year, 'the estimates for interior points being approximate! r 2,000,000 head for the season, or 60,000 more than last reason. The estimates |f or the above six cities reach the total of 5,065,000, making an aggregate of 7,065,000 at all points, which figures, it is suggested, may be modified. Last winter's packing was 6,505,000 head. The above indicates an increase of • 560,000 head. Thia is expected‘to bemostly overcome by the increase is the average weights compared with last winter. The prospective supply of hogs for the spring and summer appears to be muck less than a year ago.

Wire In Haltlmore. The large five-etory warehouse at 347 and 349 Baltimore street, burned last night. The chief losers are Louis Ash A Son, clothiers; Leonard Passano, clothier; D. F. Haynes A Co., queens ware; Strybling A Todd, book printers; and Chauncey Brocks, owner of the building. The loss aggregates $60,000.

Fatal FaU bf an Aeronaut. Professor Henry Dibk, attempting a balloon ascension at JonCeboro, Craighead county, Arkansas, a few- Bays since, fell from his trapeze, a distance oi 1,000 feet, and was instantly killed. "'Vi,

The Mary Ian <1 Repnblleaas. . The Maryland republicans had a meeting in Baltimore last night ami made arrangement for calling a state convention not later than February 22, and getting ready for the coming campaign.

Beateaee Commuted. The board of pardons of Pennsylvania has recommended the commutation of the death sentence imposed upon Blasius Pistorius, the ex-Catholic priest, to imprisonment for life.

Bhere All mad Yakoob. It is now admitted that the ameer of Afghanistan ia in Russian territory, and Yakoob Khnn finding himself powerlsss ia Cabul, meditates following him.

Flaying at Courting, "let’s play at Martini, gsntls wile, Forgst fusee boys sod girls. Ifnors tbs Wrinkles on oar brows, Tbs gray hair mid oar surls. , “He coming through the fields yoa see. With Hundsy suit bsdlgbt, , You snatch a side look through tbs glass, And smooth your apron white. “Then hum shore your work, while load And quick your heart bests on, And yet unconscious seem, ss U Thera never was s John. “Well, I am here—I dare not kies The little hand 1 loach; It seems just sittleg by your side Almost one joy too much. '‘And as your shining needle moves, ’Tie bliss enough to see The down-curled lashes sometimes hit To steal a glance at me. "The children, shy, look in sometimes, ' I da not cell them hers; I’d rather not, to tell the truth, Hare any body near. “The old folks bid s pleased ’Good night,* And leave os two together. To think and l^isb, but nothing say, Except shear the weather. “But somehow, by-and-by, how la’tf— I never could define— llv arm gets snuggling round your waist; Your hand gets clasped In mins; “And somehow, stranger still, your cheek Cornea vsrv near my own, For thus to bend my head to hear That bashful, whispering tone. “And then—” wife nudged me; close behind, Eyes opened wide to see, Our eldest stood—she’s just the age Her mother married me.

SCRAPS.

A Chinaman was recently refused naturalization papers at Boston. “Is the grave of the o%l year watched?” inquires a Philadelphia^aper. To ask a man to pay a bill is as easily said as dun.—[New Orleans Picayune. Fourteen hundred deer have been killed in Morrison county, Minnesota, the present year. In Scotland if yon ring a door-bell and stand there it is all right. If you run away it is an offense against the law. There are said at the present time to be about 125,000 Quakers in all the world, of whom 100,000 are in the United States. An organ-grinder who stopped before a savings bank to play “Pull down the blind,” was ordered to move on by a hasty message from the board of directors. The father of Mr. Corcoran, the Washington millionaire, was & shoemaker in Georgetown, and the younger Corcoran himself was formerly a dry goods clerk. The affections of the year-old baby for its maternal ancestor, is second only to its ecstatic admiration for the fathomless depths of the kitchen coal-hod.—[New Haven Register. In a ccurt at Bennington, Vt, the defendant asked the judge for leave to pray ere beginning his case, and the judge, though be declared that it was a somewhat singular request, granted it. The reassembling of congress was marked by no startling features, unless the appearance of Sharon, of Nevada, in his seat in the senate may be so designated. It is his first appearance in over two years. ' Some men are of the opinion that the world owes them a living. This is an error. You owe the world {^certain service which, faithfully performed, will bring you the living and more too.—[Chicago Journal. The Terrible: “Ma, is ladies ducks?” “Why, no, Willy; what in the world put that idea into your head?” Pa (at the window): “Whoopee! Willy, come ’ere quick and see these yere dogs a-fightin’. Jus’ look at ’em, though!” A gentleman of Paducah, Kentucky, who last October borrowed an overcoat of a minister, is asked in the columns of the Paducah News to return the borrowed garment, as the preacher is “thinly clad and his other coat his full of holes.” James Parton’s wife has a baby boy who, under the peculiarity of Mr. Pxrton’s relationship with his wife, is to Mr. Parton step-grandson, the step-son of his grandmother, ths step-brother of his mamma, and is otherwise itiextricably entangled.—[Ex. Bishop Simpson discusses in his third Yale lecture the personal habits of the minister. He says that in some places congregations are unwilling to receive a minister who uses tobacco, and that many families almost dread the visits of such ministenv lest their growing sons should be led to fo: m the habit from the example of the minister. The Chicago Times has introduced a somewhat novel feature in journalism. It has dispatched to Washington, one of its editorial corps, as an observer of and commentator upon passing events, with instructions to use the telegraph very freely i* the transmission of editorial matter, correspondence, etc. Thus, commentary upon such events will Appear simultaneously with the news of the events themselves.

America’s first foreign minister, Benjamin Franklin, was a printer, and literary men have not been forgotten in the matter of foreign appointments since. Frv, of the Tribune was once minister at Turin; Bigelow, of the Post, was sent to Paris, Irving to Spain, and Francis, of the Troy Times, to Greece. Bancroft was sent to Germany, Motley to England a*d Everett to England. Hawthorne was consul at Liverpool, Payne at Tunis, and Ross Browne at Canton. More recently Wirt Sykes, Bret Harte and Gatlin, the latter of'the New York Commercial, have all been sent abroad os consuls, and Lowell, Taylor and Boker as ministers. The world is called to mourn the death of another historical body-servant. This was “Captain” Tom Lewis, the faithful alave of Colonel Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark exploring expedition which was the first party of white men ever to cross the North American continent and make surveys of the at that time unknown great west It was only as far back as 1806 that this daring body of men set their eyes on the mouth of the Columbia river in Oregon, after a weary tramp of two years among the Indian tribes, locating the boundary of the Louisiana purchase, the future empire of the northwest. In 1607 Colonel Lewis returned home bringing Captain Tom with him, and the latter remained at his old slave home near Charlottesville, Virginia, until last week, a here be was frozen to death while going out to chop wood. After enduring the privations and dangers he did in his youth, and the snow and ice and flood of the trackless wilderness, meeting the hostile savages and the wild beasts of the forest, it seems sadly strange that the old man should perish from cold almost in sight of his own home. But he did, and in his death there dropped ont the last survivor of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and one of the lingering vestiges of that once populous class of historical body-servants.— [Cincinnati Enquirer.

INDIANAPOLIS IN 1878.

Annual Review of the Tear’s Business.

Safer Credits and Better Collections in the Wbolesale Trade,

Hhile ihe Aggregate of Sales is Somewhat Increased.

The General Condition of Manufactures Improved.

A Large Increase in the Live Stock Trade.

The Grain and Packing Interests . - Reviewed in Det&iL

The Condition of the Real Estate Market and Baildlng interest.

Efc^ Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc.

The year of 1878 was not by any means a remarkable one in Indianapolis mercantile circles, but was better than its immediate predecessor. The failures were the continuation of those of 1877 brought about by transactions made during the first years of the panic, and the depreciatien of values. Merchants found margins melting away, principals disappearing under a combination of financial 1 forces. The repeal of the bankrupt law first opened a way for ending the trials and tribulations they had been suffering. The repeal acted as a hearty assistant in the purification of credits, and the opening year finds accounts much improved. The resumption of specie payments which ’ came with the new year gives Ynercbants hope of at least a partial relief from unhealthy fluctuations. During the first half of the year the business was of a very variable character. But with the adjournment of congress and the repeal of the bankrupt act, business began at once to revive, the dead timber was taken out, and the practical resumption of specie payments which took place several weeks ago, was the only thing needed to make the ending of the Indianapolis wholesale trade for the year 1878 a little nearer the desideratum than that of any year since the memorable one of 1872. Few changes occurred last year. Over k Anderson, hardware merchants, have removed to south of Georgia street. Charles the' popular ex-drummer and ex"iJfoker, has entered into a partnership with M. O’Conner. These gentlemen will do a wholesale grocery' business under the firm name of M. O’Conner k Co. Crossland k Sawyer have given way to younger blood, and Messrs. Crossland k McKee conduct the old business. Wm. Cook has retired from the grocery house of Syfers, McBride & Cook. During the year, Adams, Mansur k Co., Thomas G. Cottrell and Samuel Beck have been obliged to make assignments. The first named was succeeded by Arthur L, Wright, the stock of the second was purchased by Tanner, Sullivan and Talbott, and the last, “Uncle Sammy,” was his own successor Camplin, Darrow k Co. retired from the > field, and the place made vacant by this move was soon filled by the iron house of Hanson, Van Camp A Co. A careful examination of the record of the different business enterprises on Meridian street for the last year will show in nearly every instance a healthy increase over that for 1877. This review covers the transactions . of the largest business honses on the street, and while not including every business, is still comprehensive enough to form a basis I upon which the year’s business of the city can be judged. The Meridian street wholesale merchants owe the banks less money and have larger bank balances than any year since they hare been in business. THS GROCERY TRADS. In point of volume the grocery trade is the moet prominent on the street. Nine firms are represented and their aggregate sales for the year were $3,750,000. When compared with the sales for 1877, the lower values being borne in mind, these figures will show a slight increase on the sales of that year. The losses were somewhat smaller than daring 1877, and the values much lower. The shrinkage in prices applies principally to coffees and sugars and was of such a naturs as to make margins very small. Contrary to the usnal course, sugars declined, when by the ordinary commerciffi rules governing sweets they should have advanced. Coffees were high and their decline was but the result of previous inflation. Upon the whole, however, the year’s trade was a satisfactory

one.

DRV GOODS, The leading feature of this (branch of trade t has been a uniform and steady demand for staple fabrics oa the part of the country merchants. Purchasers have generally confined their selections to the immediate wants of their customers, and the plan of baying often and neager home has gained favor with the western retailers. The latter feature is a strong point in favor of Indianapolis, and the time is not far distant, if indications are worth anything, when she will assume a much better position among the dry goods distributing centers. . Notwithstanding the low [•rice of textile fabrics. the total pales for the year will not fall short of $3,000,000. which by a comparison with the sale* of 1877, will show a vast increase in the number of yards sold and an increase of $800,000 in money received. There has been a constant, yet almost imperceptible shrinkage in prices throughout the year which up to date will amount to no less than ten per cent. The demand for American textiles both from China and Japan, is on the increase, and large quantities of goods are now awaiting transportation, and should this prove a remunerative outlet its stimulating effect on prices roust be felt. Collections, as a result of careful purchases, have necessarily been all that could be desired.

The Berta Last Day. If the bey of Tunis has not accorded satisfaction by to-day, the French consul is instructed to withdraw^ and six ironclads, with transports, will immediately Toulon for Tunis All the powers approve the attitude of France, though Italy is more reserved than the others.

BOOT AKD SHOI TRADf. The sales of the wholesale boot and shoe bouses during the past year, will aggregate $850,006, a falling off $500,000 from the amount reported for 1877. The collections improved steadily with the repeal of the bankrupt act. At no time within the past six years hare the customers been in as good a financial condition ep at present* and the

' Turrintsas ol money naid*at the time of nar?haaingff now grea&rthan before since 1877. There have been no reductions ip the force of employes, and excepting a lower rate of rents, the expenses are as great as during the year previous. pxoDCca aid comhissios. The produce baeineea has been a very healthy one during the past year. The sales have not been any larger than in 1877, but the collections have been much better, and although prices have fallen off 30 per eent the aggregate amount of aaloe is equal to that reported for the year previous. At least $855,000 were paid out by Indianapolis dealers in 1878, and these figures represent a much larger amount of produce than at any time since the war. THl I BOX BUBIXXSS. This branch of industry is ementiollv a steady one, and during the past year prices have varied but little from these ruling on the first of January, 1878. The entire sales for the year are closely estimated at $300,000, about the same as for the year before, although it now takes more iron to make that amount of money than ever before. The general features of the year's business resemble those of the other wholesale houses above reported. HATS AKD CAPS. The bulk of seles for the year is about $250,000, quite as large as that of 1877. There ai e no particularly new features in the year’s trade. Collections are improving, and the customers are in a better condition to pay their bills than at any time since the panic. HARDWA&X TRADE. The foar wholesale houses that deal strictly in hardware in the city report the aggregate sales for 1878 at $800,000, about os large os those of 1877. The business was better last year than since the panic,and the amount of sales represents more goods than ever before. Collections have been very satisfactory. TIRHERS’ SCPPLIRS. This branch of business met with some reverses last year, the only house of that description in the city was obliged to make an assignment early in the fall. The aggregate business of the year is estimated upon tne basis of $150,000 sales. The successors the bankrupt firm report a fine business at prices at least 30 ‘ per cent, lower than those which ruled earlier in the season. BIDES AND LEATHERS. It is closely estimated . that the C sales in bides and leathers during the year will not tall below $350,000. These figures are slightly under those reported for’ 1877, but the amount of goods sold is probably larger than for any previous year since 1872. The characteristic feature of the market has been ihe high price of hides and the low price of leathers, the difference being so slight as to make tanning a very unprofitable pursuit. WHOLESALE COKPICTIOKARY. . Tha dealers of candies, nuts, foreign fruits and fancy groceries, are not enthusiastic over the last year’* trade. The prices are lower than before in yeers and the margins much smaller The collections, while ■ batter than in 1877, are still poor and the trade does not seem to be in a thriving condition, THE MILLINBRY BUSINESS. The wholesale dealers in goods of this description report an increased trade, increased profits and increased collections. The sales are very satisfactory to the merchants, and are about 25 per cent, greater than they were in 1877. THE DRUG TRAD1. The wholesale drug business for the year of 1878 waa steady, aad gave general satisfaction to all concerned. The bulk of trade is estimated at $1,000,000, which is divided among the three wholesale houses. There have been comparatively few failures among the country customers, and collections will average better than in any other business in the city. The resumption of specie pavments will make a certain class of imported goods Steadier ia value and considerably cheaper. THE GRAIN BUSINESS. The figures used in this report of the grain business represent the bushels of grain shipped by the various railroads through ths city, whether handled by Indianapolis dealers or not. While they do not actually represent the Indianapolis trade they do that as accurately as those published last year and tha year before. The $11,000,000 paid ^out by the Indianapolis dealers is as close \an estimate as can be made, but this represents thousands of bushels of urain that never passed through Indianapolis—that were shipped from the places of purchase directly to the east In the year l877-’78 the aggregate receipts ot all kinds of grain reached 19,492,937 bushels, compared with 11,745.600 bushels in tbs previous year, and 15.889,940 bushels in 1876. The total number of bushels shipped through this city in 1878 amounted to 18.732.959, while during the previous year they only aggregated 11,288,600, and in 1876.13,871,545. In this showing wheat has made the most advancement, the receipts being nearly three times as great as in any previous year in the history of the state. Such figures as these can not but be encouraging to the public as evidencing a material growth in the largest department of our businesa. The secretary of the board of trade estimates that the Indianapolis dealers have paid out at least $11,000,000 for grain during ’b* year. There are four public elevators in thia city with a storage capacity of 750,000 bushels, and their combined business for the year has been better than daring the year previous. Besides these two elevators, Bennett, Moore k Co., and Wm. Scost k Co. each hare a private elevator, in which they store only such grain as they hare actually purchased.

CORN.

In point of volume the corn trade is the most important branch of the grain business. There were 12,424.441 bushels received here last year, and 12,148 522 shipped through here. The receipts and shipments for the two years previous were as follows: 1877, receipts 11,745000, shipments 11,288,600; 1876, receipts 15,889,840, shipments 13,871,545. While the receipts and shipments were larger in 1878 than in 1877 the crop raised in the state was not as large by 20 {>er cent, as it was in the latter yaar. The acreage f>r 1878 ie estimated to nave been about 3,500,000 acres, and the quality of the crop wae inferior to that of 1878. The prices were very much lower during the entiie year. The new crop of 1877 wae offered at 38 cents, and tha new crop of 1877 was only worth 28 cents. This same difference exists between the prices of the two years through all the months. The same features can been noticed in the corn trade as hare been noticed in the wheat trade. The corn suffered the same depressions and set-backs as did tbs wheat. From a comparison of the table of receipts and shipments given below, a correct idea can be obtained of the corn trade for the year. THS WH1AT TRADE. The wheat crop waa the heaviest ever rai.-ed in Indiana. The acreage was the largest ever planted, not varying far from 2,000,000 acres, and the yield was at least 20 per cent, greater to the acre than the largest crop ever harvested in the state. The prices are nearly . 25 per cent, lower than they were in 1877, but still the increase in the crop wae so great that the number of bushels represents about twice as much money as did the crop of the year previous. The December price of wheat in 1877 was $1.24, while 94c is the highest it reached during the same month in 1878. The' quality of the grain crop this year was much better than usnal, averaging at least an improvement of ten per cent, over the crops of the few previous years. During the past two months the transactions in wheat have been cot down nearly 75 per cent, by the discriminations against Indianapolis by thenewly organized eastern pool operating over the lines running east n-om this city. This difficulty has, in a measure, been obviated by the action of the pool managers.

OATS.

The oats crop last year was folly np to the average. The acreage is estimated at 600,000 acres, end the yield is as large as it was in 1877. This is not a very large market for oats and the transactions on v change hare been very moderate. The receipts and shipments for the past three years are at follows:

st a. The rye crop was by no means aa important one ih Indiana in 1878. Tbare is vsry little of this grain rained in ths stats, but from all accounts this last crop was folly up to the average. The following are the receipts and shipments for the past three yean: 1878, receipts 419.700; shipments, 475,600; 1877, receipts, 472.000; shipments, 407,300; 1876, receipts, 556,580; shipments, 548,290. The range of prices doring the year has been about ten cents lower than during 1877.

BARLIV. This is ths least important of ths Indiana cereals, and transactions are so exceedingly meagre that the board of brads makes no attempt to note them. Ths following art ths rsreipts and shipments for ths past three years: 1878, receipts, 343,200, shipments, 245,800; 1877, receipts, 327,800, shipments, 291,400; 1876, receipts, 340,100, shipments 285,600.

' THl FLOUR TEADI. The flouring trade during the past year wa* a satisfactory one. The number of barrels ground was 192,000; in 1877 there were 303,583 barrels ground. There were fewer mills running than in previous yean,.and for six months of the time onh of David Gibson’s mills, the largest in the state, was being rebuilt, ana consequently was not grinding. The market for country brands of flour has not been as brisk as mill- ’ ers could beve desired, but they can find no complaint against the inquiry for the fancy brands of :iew process flour.” The yellow fever cut off a large demand during the summer, but with tne fall months trade revived and now is in a flourishing condition. There is a demand for a country flour worth about $3 25, dealers report as long-felt and at present unsatisfied. The method of grinding called “new process” has entirely revolutionized the trade. Iu these mills wheat is ground more slowly but at a lees expense, and with far better returns. More of the grain becomes flour and lees middlings thoq by the old style. RECEIPTS or GRAIN FOB 1*78.

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RIAL ESTATS AKD BUILDING. Indianapolis is beginning to recover from the depression that followed its real estate fever, and property is slowly but steadily assuming substantial values. A lower standerd of prices will now rule, to which legitimate deaden' speculators having disappeared, are beginning to accnstom themselves. A great number of loans, not so many nor of so largo amount as became due last year, secured by real estate, will fall due this year. The unexampled growth of the city during the past ten years and tl • erection 6f hundreds of handsome residences and business blacks have cawed large amounts of money to be placed hire by loaning associations of the east. It is estimated that these amounts aagregate fully two and a half million dollars. That inside property is enhancing in value and will bring larger prices this year than it has since 1875 is predicted by every one, and the upward swell is already noticeable. For extremely Suburban and corn field lots there is little hope. Recent transfers of these two classes of real estate show this. Of the first, lots that sold in 1874 for $1,250 now go begging at $350; the latter is rapidly going back Into cultivated fields. An instance of the punishment that followed reckless dealers in real estate is shown in the matter of the Woman farm, two miles west of the city on the National road. Thie farm of forty acrae wae in 1873 sold to Ohio speculators for $72,0C0, who made three of the five payments, amounting to $42,000, and then allowed foredofure on the two last payments. The outlook fpr real es ate for 1879 is coneidered good, as proiierty has come down to a bed-rock basis, and, havirg struck bottom, is advancing. Kents are low, both on residence ahd business property, notwithstanding the fact that for the former there has been during the year an increased demand, which probably will continue this year. The transfers of real estate ii> 1877 were larger than in 1878. a great many parsons having unloaded by giving back encumbered property to its original ownera. The county record of aaortgogee deeds, liens, satisfaction nepers, etc., executed ia 1878 ie shown to bare been 7,109 against 8,466 for the previous year. The recorder cotnplains that basineas has fallen off. though while admitting that the transfers fewer in number are for more lubetanttal consideration than characterized the wild days of 1873 and 1874. Leaa building was done in the past year than in 1877, though tha character of the edifices erected compare favorably with those of any previous year. The largest work of the year was the insane hospital for women, which gave emnloyment to 250 men and upon which the expenditure during the year mnonnted to $300,000. Liebrr’a new brewery, complete.! during the pest year, at a cost of $100,000, was also a large work and considered by judges the finest piece of brick-work ever put up in Indiana. -The Emery residence on North Delaware.was also finished during th« pest year. The new building for the Little Sisters of the Poor, now being erected, le a work of no small consequence and will cost, when completed, more than $30,000. Two hundred and eighty-five building permits were issued last year. The new state home is not of the number, the commissioners having forgotten to take out a permit THS rROVISIO* TRADE. In many respects, last year waa a very remarkable one in the pork trade. Beginning with last January, with hogs at $4. the price steadily declined until summer when it advanced to $4 25LFThis was of short duration, however, aniTthe decline began again