I



THE WISCONSIN FARMER.



judgment, mistaking recklessness for " busi-
ness talent," and prudence for "fogyism."
The merchant should be as highly educated a
man as a member of any of the so called
"learned professions," and the interests of
his pursuits are certainly important enough
to demand it. The true farmer is not simply
the man who plods behind the plow, but it is
he who understands the chemistry of the soil
and its productions, the laws of nature and
their relations to his trade. So the merchant
should be the man of liberal education, versed
in the science of his profession.
  It has been truly remarked that , large
proportion of business failures may be attrib-
uted to ignorance of bookkeeping and the
science of accounts.  And the number of
merchants who are entirely dependent upon
employes in this respect, and who are incapa-
ble of pursuing any sort of system of them-
selves, is very great. The "Revelations of a
Stock Broker" show that some of the heaviest
bank failures in the country are attributable
to the gross ignorance and want of system of
bank officers.
  The fact is, business in this country is a
sort of scramble in which the first is the best.
Principles and rules are ignored. The wealthy
men of to-day are the beggars of to-morrow;
there is no stability in either men or fortunes.
  Extravagance rules in business as in liv-
ing. We cannot wait to increase our busi-
ness with our capital. If we have $20,000,
we stretch our credit to its utmost; we do as
much business as $50,000 or $100,000 would
warrant; our interest account cats us up.
A few losses from a few reckless borrowers
like ourselves, a fall in the market, and we
are insolvent. We stagger along under the
load of interest on borrowed capital, our risks
are enormous, but we must keep in the tread-
mill. This is the life of very many of our
merchants -Merchanws' Magazine.

         A Presnt for Kr. Ericton.
  The builders of iron vessels, after the plan
of Captain Ericsson, have prepared for pre-
sentation to him a beautiful and appropriate
present. It is a model of a monitor made of
pure goll, 25 inches long, 5H inches wide, and
Ii inches deep, and is modeled on a scale of
X of an inch to a foot. In every particular
the model resembles the monitor vessel, except
in size. It has a revolving turret, with guns
in it, a smoke pipe, binnacle, steam whistle,
etc. The machinery which turns the turret
also sets an organ in motion which plays four
tunes-Yankee Doodle, Star-Spangled Banner,
Life on the Ocean, and a national air of Swe-
den, the country of Captain Ericsson. The
cost of the model monitor was $7,000. It is
to be exhibited in several of the principal
cities before it is presented. John D. Ben-
ton, of Wilmington, Del., was the manufac-



SCIENCE, ART, STATISTICS.

              A Question of Sex.
  Since the commencement of the present
war, the immense loss of life in battle and by
reason of unaccustomed exposure, has occa-
sioned serious queries in many ininds as to
the consequent, preponderance of females in
the population of this country.  W:e have
thought it well. therefore. to attemupL to show
that, for at least three important reasons, this
fear is not well founded.
  1. This presumption of a deficiency of males
at the close of the warms based upon the es-
tablished fact that in the world at large the
total of males and of females, respectively,
varies so little for any given time, or for a
period of years, that there is never a serious
preponderance of either sex. This presump-
tion is correct; lbut it is not equally true that
there is a numerical equality of the sexes in
Lny and every given locality or country.
  Thus, in Great Britain, there is to-day a de-
cided excess of females, insomuch that poli-
tical economists and socialistic reformers are
devising ways and means fbr emigrating large
numbers of young womnen to Australia. and
other provinces of the British Empire. So,
too, in many nations of the Old World. In-
deed, it may he laid down as a general rule
that in most of the old countries of the civil-
ized world, whence emigration is considerable.
there is a numerical excess of females.
  If, therefore, the general proportion of
equality be true, there must somewhere, and
in the newer countries of necessity, be a defi-
ciency of females and a corresponding excess
of males.  And statistics show that such is
really the case.
  Thus, according to the census of 1860, there
were at that time, in round numbers, over
sevn hundred thousand more males than females
in the United States of America.
  The reason for this marked inequality is
found in the larger influx of males, by immi-
gratiou from other courtries-a theory not
only countenanced by the philosophy of emi-



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