Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1837-09-14

ing capital was increased TO more tina
two hundred and fifty some millions GU
paper circulation to more than one hun
dred and forty millions, and the loans an,
discounts to more than four hundred au,
fifty-seven millions. To this vast increas
are TO be added the many millions o
credit, acquired by means of foreign
loans, contracted by the States and Stat,
institutions, and. above all, by lavish &C
Communications extended by foreign deal
! ers 10 our merchants.
The consequences of this redundancy
Of credit, aud of the spirit of rockies,
speculation engendered by it, were for
eiga debt contracted by our citizens, es.
timated in March last at more than thir.
~ millions OF dollars to traders in the
interior Of our country OF credits for sup
plies, greatly beyond the wants Of the
people; the investment of thirty-uine
and u half millions Of dollars in unpro-
ductive public lands, in the years 1885
and 1886, whilst in the preceding year
the sales amounted TO only four and a
half millions; the creation of debts, TO
an almost countless amount, for real es.
tate in existing or anticipated cities and
villages, equally unproductive. and at
prices now seen to have been greatly
disproportionate to their real value the
expenditure Of immense sums in i'm.
Provements which, in many cases, have
been found TO be ruinously ,improvident
the diversion te other pursuits of much
ofthe labor tina. should have been applied
TO agriculture, thereby contributing 10
the expenditure Of large sums in the inns
portation OF grain from European ex-
penditure which, amounting in 1884 to
about two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, was, in the first two quarters of
the Present year, increased to more than
two millions of dollars, and. finally with
out enumeratng other injurious results,
the rapid growth among all classes, and
especially in our great commercial towns,
OF luxurious habits, founded too often
on merely fancied wealth, and detrimen-
tai alike to the industry, the resources,
and the morals Of our people.
II was 50 impossible that such state Of
things could long continue, that the pros
pect oil reyulsion was present TO the minds of
considerele men before il actually came.
None, however, had correctly anticipated its
severity. a concurrence OF circumstances
inadequate Of themselves 10 produce such
widespread and cdiamiious embarrassment,
tended 50 greatly TO aggravate them, that
they cannot be overlook ed ia considering
their history. Among these may be men
toned, rs most prominent, the great loss OF
capital sustained by our commercial empor-
UNI in the fire OF December, 1850 loss,
The effects of which were moderated at the
Time, because postponed for season by The
great facilities Of credit thea existing; the
disturbing effects, in our commercial cities,
oil the transfers of the public moneys required
measures adopted by the foreign creditors of
our merchants to reduce their debts, and TO
withdraw from the United States large por-
ton oil our specie.
However unwilling any Of our citizens
may heretofore have been 10 assign 10 these
causes The chief nsirumentaiiy in producing
the present stale of things, the developments
subsequently, made, and the actual condition
Of ether commercial countries, must, as il
seems 10 me, dispel all remaining doubts up
on The subject. Ii has since appeared that
evils, similar te those suffered by ourselves,
have been experienced in Great Britain, en-
the continent, and, indeed, throughout the
commercial world ; and that, in other coun
tries, as well as in our own, they have been
uniformly preceded by an undue enlarge>
ment OF the boundaries Of trade, prompted,
as with US, by unprecedented expansions OF
the ystems of credit A reference TO the a
mount of banking capital, and the issues Of
paper credits put in circulation in Great Bril-
tain, by banks, and in other ways, during
the years 1884, 1885, and 1886, will show an
augmentation Of the paper currency there, as
much disproportioned 10 the real wants of
trade as 10 the United States. With this
redundancy oil the paper currency, there a.
rose in that country also spirit OF adventure
ous speculation, embracing the " hole range
oil human enterprise. A I'd was profusely gil
ven 10 protected Improvements; large invest
ments were made in fore ign stock sand loans;
credits for goods were granted with unboua
ded liberaity 10 merchants in foreign coun-
tries; and all The means OF acquiring and en-
ployjng credit were put in active operation,
and extended in their effects 10 every de-
partmeni Of business, and to every quarter Of
The globe. The reaction was proporiIoned
in its violence 10 The extraordinary charac-
ter of the events which preceded it, The
commercial community oil Great Britain
were subjected TO the greatest difficulties, &
their debtors in this country we're not only
suddenly deprived Of accustomed and expect
ed credits, but called upon for payments,
which, in the actual posture of things here,
could only be made through a general pres.
sure, and OF The mosVruinoUs sacrifices.
IN view Of these facts, il would seem inn
possible for sincere inquirers after ruth to
resist the conviction, that The causes Of the
rsvulsion in both countries have been sub
staBtially the same. Two nations, the most
commercial in the world, enjoying but re-
Gently The highest degree Of apparent pros
perily, and maintaining with each other The
closest relations, are suddenly, in time o
profound peace, and without any great ma
tionaI disaster, arrested in their career, ant