The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-09-12

q. DO. 90 60 L freight. 500 g
do do. do mall. S57 "
,s.z .n,,., ,,,,, ,.,.,,,. siSE2 e e
Increase, August lsis. ...".......... 3,03 81
Very few railroads in this country show
greater per cent increase in their receipts the past
six months than this and from the probable arrange
ments likely to be entered upon to make another
road from Griffin, interesting the Macon and Western
road, to West Point on the Chattahoochee, steadily
increasing business may be depended on.
The fnan cial affairs of this road in very pros
porous condition. and differently controlled from
the generality of railroads, there being no debt, and
the directors seeing benefit of paying the earnings
to sharehoders instead Of to creditors resolved
to maintain the policy they have adopted and divide
among the stockholders the profits of the road
ing only sufficient to meet contingencies. We
notice. that, during the two years this road has been
in operation it las paid in dividends, S13 per share
In the management of railroads, very much depends
upon small matters The total cost of this road Zone
hundred and one miles including cars, turntables,
and depots, is s61O,O9S 20 and probably greater
number of shares in proportion to its capital is held
in Europe than any other railroad in the Union.
Spectators in corn and cotton anxously waiting
the receipt of farther advces from Europe particular
y from Great Britain, in relation to harvests of the
United Kingdom. Speculators in anticipating
surplus will spring up and improve the price Of
tho supply in markets. Spectators in cotton
anxiously looking for an abundant harvest, on
account Of the vast improvement such result would
make in the price of that staple So far the opera
tors ia the two stapes-cotton and corn-are
ccrned, what is ruin to is wealth to the other
But these not the only parties interested in the
harvests of Great Britain The whole commercial world
interested In Great Britain it is not the bare fact
A.
ton and suffering may arise from scarcity among the
poorer classes that suffering and poverty will bring
with them increase Of pauperism disease and crime
it is not the immediate consequences alone Of want
and famine, that excite dismay among many classes
and uneasiness among ALL 1t is the experience which
shows how intimately connected every other interest
in Great Britain and other commercial nations
with the price of bread in England, and how much
they Influenced by the results of harvests in the
United Kingdom. We have been taught by experience
that the whole monetary system of England hangs
upon the results of harvests more than anything
else that however perfect may be the system of
rency or however prudent the conduct Of the banks
sudden and extensive importation of corn is produo-
tive of an uncomfortable arrangement in,the curren-
cy, which skill arrest until the prime cause is
removed and that is the absence of supply bread
stuffs.
defective harvest succeeding two three good
Is seldom ever attended at the time with serious
sequences The harvest of 1886 very late and deec
tve large peculations in the months August
and September Thesge surplus left from the harvests
of1s34 and 1885, and the produce Of 1885 being its
defective state brought to Market great
fall in wheat in November and December Of that year
and rendered the speculaons of the previous August
and September, runous to the parties who embarked
in them The harvest Of 1887, though BETTER was not
good but 1t not until the fall of 1888, by which
time the old stocks had become quite exhausted when
the harvest again late and defective, that
rous advance in price, and foreign Importation took
place. The crops of 1886 and 1887 both INSULT
Gent of themselves and the surplus Of 1884 and 1885,
alone, prevented earlier corn crisis
The short harvets of 1s45 and 1916 laid the founda
ton for another commercial revulsion and complete
overthrow Of all credit systems but it was not until
the spring Of 1s47 that it became known that rovou-
ton was near at hand, and not until August of the
year, that it burst forth in all its force. The
rapidity with which the panic spread the whole
surface Of the commercial world, marked its intensity
and convinced every that It's consequences would
be Of the most disastrous character These antcipa-
ton5 have been realized In London, between thirty
and forty Of the largest houses failed, whose liabilities
anountt to then eight million pounds sterling
Seven OF thetehouses will, it is estimated pay in full
the others " i'll average aboutsix shilling the
pound sterling. In other parts of the world, failures
to an immense amount took place. and public and
private confidence became utterly destroyed. The
panic became great that commercial transactions
to an immense extent, were suspende no having
the harhood to involve themselves in operations OF
ANY kind SO that business reduced to the actual
necessities of the community.
Bullion to the amount of nine millions Of pounds
sterling were exported from Great Britain in payment
for food OF this amount ca 500 900 drawn from
the Golfers Of the Bank of England. This immense
duction in the bullion Of 1.-THE bank required CORES
ponding reduction in the circulation which operating
upon public confidence, reduced public and private
credits ten times the amount This illustrates pretty
clearly the influence movements in bullion have upon
commercial matters. The value Of property to one
hundred times the amount is deprecated by the
traction from the vaults Of large moneyed concern
like the Bank of England, Of moderate amount Of
specie audit is to do away with this influence that
Leagues have been formed in England for the
ment of banking institutions upon some other basis
than that of specie.
II cannot be denied but that the credit sys
TENS of Europe particularly that Of Great Britain,
had been very much expanded and were at the
time In very rotten condition that many large
houses in the enjoyment Of unlimited credit had
been for many not only insovent but bankrupt
to an immense extent beyond their means of pay
ment Such being the state of things In financial and
commercial circles, 1t could not have been otherwise
but that second short harvest should have FRUSTRATED
every not thoroughly sound in mercantile affairs
1t is surprising that the fret defective harvest did not
commence the suspensions The second deficiency
settled the question and all the insolvent houses of
Great Britain saw at that there chance
for them that whatever hopes might have been
tertained Of recovering from the effects Of tho
frat, the second made their suspension q certainty.
r. royl,, Gret "a
ally supposed that they would extend far; and
one supposed that houses which have since been
gazetted we're in such n rotten condition. From that
tme prices for brcadstuns rapidly deprecated; and