, 1840-08-08
BOWLING-GREEN, MO. SATURDAY, AUGUST g., 184o

upland Cotton, and refused, though the holder. a
week before, would have been happy to obtain TWEEN
ty cents. Cotton yarn, No Is, rose from 35 to 45
cents. Mnscovado Sugars advanced a dollar a hun
dred. St. Domingo Coffee rose from LA to IL cents
a ID, &c.
EVERY body was in haste to grow rich; and the
Cotton dealers were regarded with special envy. 1t
was currently Tumored, that such a man had made,
in one day, s20,OO0; such another $4,000; such
such another $4,000; and such another S50,OOO.-
Some firms IL reports were to be believed had realized
500, 600; whie the computed or prospective agains
of Others were swelled to nearly half million.
alt wasi in this year, that the grosring crops Of
corn, in some parts of the Southern States, IRA, rooted
mp, to make rom for the nsW plantation Of Cotton.
"The Cotton mania continued to rage, with more
or less violence, through the months Of May aud
Jnne. But in July was recorded a decline of three
pence per pound in the price Of Cotton at Liverpool;
and a pressure for money was soon felt in New York.
In the next month the pressure increased, and be-
tween August and December there where 30 failures
in New York and 30 in the Southern cities. To-
wards the close of the year the pressure for money
in Boston was very alarming.
"Many of the Banks were in great difficulties
Several of them broke. And such were the straits
of the United States Bank, that one Of the Directors
talked puiieiy on The exchange at Philadelphia Of
The erpedicaey Of Impending specie payments"
Documents of the most authentic descrip-
ton might be indefinitely multiplied, showing
the hard times then experienced and their
true cauSe-crcessiUe speculation.
Mr.. Biddle, then the President Of the T..
States Bank, SAYS, in n communication pub
lished sometime afterwards:
s'The fall of 1928 wa. probably the most disas-
trous period in the financial history Of England. II
mas then that the wild specalations in American
mines and the still wilder speculations in American
Cotton, recoiled upon England, and spread over it
extensive ruin. To the midst of this suffering, it re-
quiIed little &c produce n panic, and accordingly
there ensued n state of dismay which, for II time,
threatened TO involve all interests in confu-
ion. There was probably, at no period Of Engiist
history so intense and general a ditsres, as there was
in December 1870,
Now, the very same storm which thus broke on
England passed over this country a few weeks before:
it was on the eve OF producing exactly the same
results: and certainly I never felt any uneasiuess
about the Banks OF this country excePtO on that osca
sion"
A few other items may complete the pic
ture. In the session of 1856, the Legis-
lature o. New York Incorporated twenty
two banks and loan offices and twen,y-six
insurance companies. The fate Of 4 few Of
these is worth recording:
an April, ls26, the Marble Manufacturing Com
pany, newly instituted, bond-insuTin- concern became
bankrupt. This W as foilpwel in July BY the bankruptcy
OF the Dundaf ard New Hope Banks of Penusylva-
MIA, the Jersey City Bank and Patterson Bank OF
New Jersey, the Green County Bank Of New York
the United States Lombard, the Frinklin Manu-
%facutring Company, and the New York Life Insur-
rnce Company; and those were again followed in
August and September, by the bankruptcies of the
New York Mount Hope Loan, the Sun Fire Insur-
nnce. the Greenwich In.urance and the Protection
Fire Insurance ."-Gouge, p. 1876.
These failures attracted attention to the
causes which produced them, and led to a
legal investigation, and to the punishment of
some OF the parties concerned. Judge Ed
wards, in passing sentence, made the follow
ing observation:
"Duriny the trials which have taken place at the
pre,rnt term Of this court, we have witnessed lis
plays of deprarity IN the part of the agents of mon
eyed Institutions, OF the most appalling nature. As
common n crimes are in all great cities, yet this
community was not prepared to expect from the
class OF society TO which the perpetrators Of these
crimes belong, n burst of such iniiuity." = .
"From combinations Of men Of so much talent, avail
ing the mselres Of their high standing. i, is not sur
bosom of destruction"
"to oiC " VI NV ituiu INV ih
1896, the swindling name in which some
moneyed institutions are managed. 1t is,
VIGOROUSLY, one of the causes of the hard
times now. 1t existed then, under a Wing
President, with 4 United States Bank that
had been ten years established and was as.
sured Of existence for ten years more. Yet
the election Of Harrison and the defeat OF
the Sub Treasury scheme, are to regulate
and keep honest all the mooeyed institutions
of the country, and TO flood the land with
prosperity!
But the great and chief cause Of the pre-
sent hard times, as it has been Of almost all
hard times, for half a century past, in this
country, is ouer-trading, oucr-borroming,
orer- specializing; causing a temporary rise
in prices and wages, and a consequent in
crease of imported goods; then producing a
reaction, throwing the balance of trade n
gainst us, causing the expectation of specie,
and making times hard, Just in proportion to
the unnatural and inflated prosperity which
preceded them.
1t will not do for the Wings to deny this.
If they do, | shall call up their f~avorite. Mich
olas Biddle, "a man. by the way, of much