interested in the purchase of twenty-three thousand acres of iron-ore lands, organizing a company with one and a half million dollars capital, about three hundred thousand dollars of which stock is held in Scranton. Two furnaces have been erected which are in successful operation, and fifteen miles of narrow-guage railroad has been built connecting the mines with the lakes, and the New York and Canada road; the company has in addition, demonstrated that the ore is suited for Bessemer. Steel purposes, being equal to the best English pig, indeed it is conceded by English experts and iron-masters that the Crown Point ores are fully equal to any of the Bessemer ores to be found on the Island of Great Britan; and that they have none better and very little equal to it.

The mines are now open to an extent that gives a productive capacity of 300,000 tons per annum, and it is expected that the new steel works now being established by the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company will use these ores largely, if not exclusively.

To form a proper appreciation of the duties which devolve upon Mr. Dickson as President of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, let it be understood that the Lackawanna Valley produces about twelve millions of tons of coal per annum, and the company referred to can produce about one-fourth of it. In the Wyoming Valley twenty-eight breakers are owned or controlled by the company, and in the working of all these, in addition to his railroad studies, Mr. Dickson is thoroughly familiar. His early life and its practical experience qualifies him to meet these burdensome duties, in an eminent degree. It is a common saying by the multitudes of people in the Lackawanna Valley, "I'd give more for Tom Dickson's opinion on coal matters than any other railroad man in Northern Pennsylvania.”

It cannot be denied that he is certainly master of his grand tasks, and as sound in theory as he has been tested by practice. Under his present administration, the company is doing its utmost to stretch its arms out into regions where the whistles of the locomotive has never been heard, thus making an outlet for the coal, which it is in the power of the Delaware & Hudson Canal

Company to produce. As a rule, Mr. Dickson informed the writer, in opening up a new country by pushing a railroad into it, it is calculated that the company will be able to sell in each town one ton to an inhabitant per year; thus, in the United States there is consumed each year forty millions of tons, both hard and soft coal. A corporation, like an individual, must keep pace, or fall behind, and as will be gathered from the facts already given, no efforts have been spared since the commencement of his presidential career, to reach New England and Canada. His chances of observation in Great Britan and on the continent gives him broad and expanding ideas in railroad building, which are of material benefit to the company. In relation to the so-called combination, his opinion, in summary is as follows: During the war the production of coal was stimulated by the heavy demands made by the manufacturing and other interests which were incident to the times, and at the conclusion of the struggle the companies found themselves with a productive capacity of more than sufficient for the demand. The effect, of course, was apparentsupply in excess of demand-ruinous prices, followed by strikes and coal-famines. One instance is related by him when coal in the spring sold at three dollars per ton, in the fall of the same year for thirteen dollars. In 1872, money was lost by all companies, in consequence of an over production, and with a view of regulating the supply to the demand, an arrangement was entered into in order to meet the exigencies, and the price of coal has been maintainaned at an average of five dollars per ton at tide-water, during the past two years, thus proving in reality a benefit to both consumer and producer.

In the difficulties which occasionly occur in mining regions, wherein labor pits itself against capital, the Delaware & Hudson Company have ever been fortunate in possessing such a spirit as Thomas Dickson to adjust the matters at variance. He has a hold upon the affections of the miners which is marvelous, and in no instance do they ever disregard his counsel. There have occured. occasions in which his timely suggestions have relieved the minds of the people along the whole Valley, such for instance, as the matter in dis

interested in the purchase of twenty-three thousand acres of iron-ore lands, organizing a company with one and a half million dollars capital, about three hundred thousand dollars of which stock is held in Scranton. Two furnaces have been erected which are in successful operation, and fifteen miles of narrow-guage railroad has been built connecting the mines with the lakes, and the New York and Canada road; the company has in addition, demonstrated that the ore is suited for Bessemer. Steel purposes, being equal to the best English pig, indeed it is conceded by English experts and iron-masters that the Crown Point ores are fully equal to any of the Bessemer ores to be found on the Island of Great Britan; and that they have none better and very little equal to it.

The mines are now open to an extent that gives a productive capacity of 300,000 tons per annum, and it is expected that the new steel works now being established by the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company will use these ores largely, if not exclusively.

To form a proper appreciation of the duties which devolve upon Mr. Dickson as President of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, let it be understood that the Lackawanna Valley produces about twelve millions of tons of coal per annum, and the company referred to can produce about one-fourth of it. In the Wyoming Valley twenty-eight breakers are owned or controlled by the company, and in the working of all these, in addition to his railroad studies, Mr. Dickson is thoroughly familiar. His early life and its practical experience qualifies him to meet these burdensome duties, in an eminent degree. It is a common saying by the multitudes of people in the Lackawanna Valley, "I'd give more for Tom Dickson's opinion on coal matters than any other railroad man in Northern Pennsylvania."

It cannot be denied that he is certainly master of his grand tasks, and as sound in theory as he has been tested by practice. Under his present administration, the company is doing its utmost to stretch its arms out into regions where the whistles of the locomotive has never been heard, thus making an outlet for the coal, which it is in the power of the Delaware & Hudson Canal

Company to produce. As a rule, Mr. Dickson informed the writer, in opening up a new country by pushing a railroad into it, it is calculated that the company will be able to sell in each town one ton to an inhabitant per year; thus, in the United States there is consumed each year forty millions of tons, both hard and soft coal. A corporation, like an individual, must keep pace, or fall behind, and as will be gathered from the facts already given, no efforts have been spared since. the commencement of his presidential career, to reach New England and Canada. His chances of observation in Great Britan and on the continent gives him broad and expanding ideas in railroad building, which are of material benefit to the company. In relation to the so-called combination, his opinion, in summary is as follows: During the war the production of coal was stimulated by the heavy demands made by the manufacturing and other interests which were incident to the times, and at the conclusion of the struggle the companies found themselves with a productive capacity of more than sufficient for the demand. The effect, of course, was apparentsupply in excess of demand-ruinous prices, followed by strikes and coal-famines. One instance is related by him when coal in the spring sold at three dollars per ton, in the fall of the same year for thirteen dollars. In 1872, money was lost by all companies, in consequence of an over production, and with a view of regulating the supply to the demand, an arrangement was entered into in order to meet the exigencies, and the price of coal has been maintainaned at an average of five dollars per ton at tide water, during the past two years, thus proving in reality a benefit to both consumer and producer.

In the difficulties which occasionly occur in mining regions, wherein labor pits itself against capital, the Delaware & Hudson Company have ever been fortunate in possessing such a spirit as Thomas Dickson to adjust the matters at variance. He has a hold upon the affections of the miners which is marvelous, and in no instance do they ever disregard his counsel. There have occured occasions in which his timely suggestions have relieved the minds of the people along the whole Valley, such for instance, as the matter in dis

pute concerning the titles to the miner's lands in Carbondale a short time ago.

As a citizen, Mr. Dickson stands prominent in the hearts of the people for all that ennobles and elevates manhood. Always liberal, he is never known to disregard an appeal which embodies the least degree of merit. As an exemplary christian, and a supporter of his church--the Presbyterian, he stands in the front rank, commanding the respect of all who are associated with him. He is still in the vigor of manhood, and with the great resources which yet remain to be developed, the country could illy afford to loose his services for years to come.

A mule driver in the Anthracite coal mines in the year 1837, and President of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, one of the largest railroad and transportation companies on the American continent in 1869, affords a striking contrast indeed; but in importance as a subject for

thought, it is powerful in its application to republican institutions. From the Westminster Review, to the editorials of the provincial papers, students of political economy traverse the vexed question of capital and labor, and expend their fulsome theories in vain to solve the neverending controversy, but as a practical solution of the entire subject, we present herewith a man who concludes the argument by affording an example strictly in point. The elaborate articles of magazine literature will drift to this point in spite of syllogisms scattered over acres of white paper. Thomas Dickson made himself, and every citizen, though the higher plane occupied by him may not be reached, can do the same. He started from nothing and is where he stands today. The same chance is open to all, and when seized upon in the proper spirit, the struggle between capital and labor will end.

a

James Archbald was born in Ayrshire, in the West of Scotland, and on the shores of the Atlantic. This part of Scotland approaches near the North of Ireland, and communication between being frequent, the character of the Northern Irish somewhat resembles that of their Scottish neighbors. Here by the sounding sea, swept by the rude gales of the Western Ocean, and remote from the busy haunts of trade, the boyhood of young Archbald was passed. His father was one of the staunch yeomanry of a past era, class of men peculiar to Scotland and rare now even there, a man of few words and much thought, who passed his life in the quiet pursuits of agriculture. His mother, however, was of a different character. Descended from that Wodrow, whose voice as a minister of Christ was heard raised in the stormiest period of Scottish church history, a grandchild of Wodrow the historian, and daughter of the minister at Eastwood, her mind was stored with rare knowledge, while she possessed grace and refinement of culture, and from the grand scenery of the coast drew that poetic inspiration shown in the artistic pursuits of her whole life. The subject of our sketch passed his early childhood, as most Scotch lads do, varying the care of the parental flock with driving his boat amid the restless currents of the Frith, or daringly swimming through the surfs and around the crags which line the coast, very much after the manner of Hugh Miller, at Cremarty. When about twelve years of age his father emigrated to America, and purchased a farm in the charming Mohawk Valley, in the

State of New York, where amid new-made friends and some valued Scottish acquaintances he passed the short remainder of his life.

No railroads nor canals then afforded means of transportation, and the great Mohawk Valley turnpike was the main artery of travel. At the age of fourteen years, young James to whom thus early was committed the transactions of such business, might be seen driving his wagon load of wheat down the turnpike to Albany, some forty miles distant, where he sold his grain with the good judgment of maturer years. As he advanced toward manhood he became engaged in the varied pursuits of farming, lumbering, and finally trading to the then far distant Canadian line. While there he received an offer from the Northwest Fur Company, which he came near accepting, which would have entirely changed. the course of his life.

It must not be supposed that while thus actively engaged the cultivation of his mind was entirely neglected. He eagerly seized every opportunity for reading and study, became an ardent admirer of poetry, and could recite, even latterly, lengthy quotations from Burns and Byron, as well as most of the British poets. He was also a musician, and his inherited taste for fine arts made him a competent critic on artistic

matters.

At this time the Erie Canal was commenced. This great work, which has linked to imperishable fame the name of Dewitt Clinton, its projector, opened a new field to Mr Archbald's energies. He became a contractor, and built