y the merchant's effrontery, Mr. Smith
hurries us to the den which the cruel coal-dealer calls his office, and
demands to know how it is that, when the nation no longer requires coal
for the uses of war, and coal ought, in the very nature of things, to
come down, he has actually raised the price of it to fifteen dollars a
ton?

"Gentlemen," answers the coal-dealer, with a hardness not equalled by
the hardest clinker in his own anthracite,--"gentlemen, it's true the
war is over, but there are taxes on cars, engines, repairs, and gross
receipts, that add fifty per cent to transportation, while for five
years past the nation has required so much coal and iron to carry on the
war and to repair Southern tracks that few coal railways have been built
and few mines opened. There must be rivalry and increased production to
put down prices. New mines and railways cannot be opened with gold at
the present rates, or while the internal taxes, direct and indirect, add
fifteen dollars to the cost of each ton of bar-iron. Nor can there be a
great fall while there is a prospect that the coal from Nova Scotia is
to be excluded or raised in price by the repeal of the Reciprocity
Treaty. Freights have risen to the unprecedented rate of four or five
dollars per ton between Philadelphia and Massachusetts and Maine; and if
we wish for former freights of two dollars per ton and lower prices, we
must build steam colliers like those which run between Newcastle and
London, and bring back the coasters that left the trade and took shelter
under the flag of England. But the first thing is to bring down the
price of gold, which will bring down both freight and profits, and
enable the poor to enjoy the sparkle of the black diamonds. And now, Mr.
Smith, let me say that what with the city, the State, and the national
taxes, I am obliged to raise my rents, and I take the liberty to notify
you that houses are scarce; and although I regret to disturb an old
tenant and customer, I must add another hundred to the rent of the
house you occupy. Houses are in demand; few dare to build while
materials are so dear. And there are the Shoddies, who would take mine
to-morrow at any rent."

Not in the least consoled, but rather exasperated by this suggestion,
Mr. Smith fails to recover his spirits, even on the assurance of the
city official whom we meet, that the city, impoverished by payment of
soldiers' bounties and allowances to soldiers' families, as well as the