Litchfield enquirer., 1837-09-14

investment of thirty -nine and half millions in unproductive public lands, in the years 1885 and 1886, whilst in the preceding year the sales amounted to only four and hall millions the creation of debts, to an almost countless amount, for real estate m eXlstlng or anticipated cities and villages, equany un- nroductive. and at prices now seen 10 nave l been greatly disproportionate to their real vaIne !: the expenditure of immense sums m ;ronrovements which, in many cases, have been found to be ruinously improvident; the diversion 10 other pursuits of much of the la- bor that should have been applied to agricul- ture. thereby contributing to the expenditure 1 ofIarpe sums in the importation of grain from Europe-an expenditure which, amounting in 1884 to about two hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars, was, in the first two quarters of the present year, increased to more than two millions of dollars; and, finally, without emu merating 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 detrimental alike to the industry, the resources, and the morals of our people. It was so impossible that such state of things could long continue, that the pros- pect of revulson was present to the mlMds of considerate men before 1t actually came None. however, had correctly anticipated its severity. A concurrence of circumstances inadeouate of themselves to produce such widespread and calamitous embarrassmeDts, tended so greatly to aggravate them, that they cannot be overlooked in considering their history. Among these may be men, tioned, as most prominent, the great loss oI capital sustained by our commercial empo- rum in the fire of December, le3S-a loss' the effects of which were underrated at the time, because postponed for a season by the great facilities of credit then existing; the disturbing effects, in our great commercial cities, of the transfers of the public moneys required by the deposite law of June, 1850 :; and the measures adopted by the foreign cred itors of our merchants to reduce their debts, and to withdraw from the United States large portion of our specie.
 l However unwilling any of our citizens may heretofore have been to assign to these caus- es the chief instrumentality in producing the present state of things, the developments sub- sequently made, and the actual condition ot other commercial countries, must, as it seems to me, dispel all remaining doubts upon the subject. It has since appeared that evils, sim liar to those suffered by ourselves, have been experienced in Great Britian, on the conti- nent, and indeed, throughout the commercial world; and that in other countries, as we'll as in our own, they have been uniformly prece- ded by an undue enlargement of the boun- daries of trade, prompted, as with us, by un- precedented expansions of the system, of credit. A reference to the amount of bank ing capital, and the issues of paper credits put in circulation in Great Britain, by banks, and in other ways, during the years 1884, 1885, and 1856, will show an augmentation of the paper currency there, as much dispro- portioned to the real wants of trade as in the United States. With this redundancy of the paper currency, there arose in that country also spirit of adventurous speculation, em- bracing the whole range of human enter prise. Aid was profusely given to project ed improvements large investments were made in foreign stocks and loans credits for | goods were granted with unbounded liberal | ity to merchants in foreign countries; and all the means of acquiring and employing credit were put in active operation, and eX- tended in their effects to every department of business, and to every quarter of the globe. The reaction was proportioned in its vio- lence to the extraordinary character of the events which preceded it. The commercial community of Great Britain were subjected to the greatest difficulties, and their debtors in this country were not only suddenly de- prived of accustomed and expected credits, but called upon for payments, which, in the actual posture of things here, could only be made through general pressure, and at the most ruinous sacrifices.
 In view ofthese facts it would seem impos- sible for sincere inquirers after truth to re- sst the conviction, that the causes of the re- vulsion in both countries have been substan- tially the same. Two nations the most com- mercial in the world, enjoying but recently the highest degree of apparent prosperity, and maintaining with each other the closest relations, are suddenly, in time of profound
 peace, and without any great national disas-
 ter, arrested in their career, and plunged in-
 to a state ot embarrassment and distress. In
 both countries we have witnessed the same
 redundancy ofpaper money, and other facil-
 ities of credit; the same spirit of speculation;
 the same partial successes; the same difficult
 ties and reverses; and, at length, nearly the same overwhelming catastrophe. The most material difference between the results in the two countries has only been, that with us there has also occurred an extensive derange- ment in the fiscal affairs of the Federal and State Governments, occasioned by the sus- pension of specie payments by the banks.
 The history of the causes and effects, in Great Britain and the United States, is sub- stantially the history of the revulsion in all
 other commercial countries.
 The present and visible effects of these cir
 cumstances on the operations of the Govern
 ment. and on the industry of the people, point
 out the objects which call for your immedi- ate attention. r,
 I They are to regulate by law the safe keep ing, transfer, and disbursement, ofthe public moneys; to designate the funds to be receiv-
 ed and paid by the Government; to enable
 the Treasury to meet promptly every demand upon it; to prescribe the terms of indulgence and the mode of settlement to be adopted, as II well as cnllecfinr frnna individnals fhe rnue