The republic., 1851-01-29
The Prospect ,


The Prospect,
Agricultural, Manufacturing. Commercial and Fl.
nancial: At the opening Of the year 1851.
BY HENRY c. cAaEy.
CHAPTER \.
At a great bargain, pause awhile! The advice
s old; yet, Of those who have practised in
dance with it, there few who have not had
reason 10 be satisfied that, although old, it was
sound
We buying "great bargains" We
are obtaining iron, cloth, and Silks on the cheap
condition of giving obligations for the future pay
ment OF those by whom they supplied. The
nation 10. therefore, the newspapers inform VA.
uneommonly "Prosperous;" that is, it is eating
and drinking, and wearing, and using commodities
that have, as yet, cost no labor to provide.
Fourteen years snce-to wit. about the closeo of
the year lSS6-the nation was, the same authori-
ties then assured Us, equally "prosperous. Great
Britain was willing TO furnish us with cloth and
iron to any cx ent on the simple condition that she
should receive evidences Of debt bearing interest
The terms were easy, and VIC took all she choose
to send; and the more she sent the greater was the
" Market for American Securities" and the more
prosperous we became--on the Same principle
that the man "who spends half a crown out Of six
pence day" ismakng "a large market for his &c.
curties, and is highly prospcrous," until the day
for payment arrives, bringing with itthe dunning
CREDITOR to be followed by the constable sheriff
On that occasion "prosperity" lasted, increas-
ing with every hour, until about the tenth Of March,
1887, when commenced the downward movement.
First fell some extensive brokers. Next in order
should have been the mercantile community I; but
the banks kindly relieved their debtors from all
present necessity therefor, by stopping payment
themselves, and thus were enabled to supply paper
TO be used in payment Of debts contracted to be
paid with gold. By aid of this cxpedent, the
wheels OF the machine kept for n time in mo-
tion but in due season came the turn of the mer-
chants, followed by the States, and they, in turn
by the Union and thus ended the chapter Of
prosperity that commenced in 1885, We had
bought "great bargains" but found them hard to
pay for.
Four years since, England was. in like manner
uncommonly "prosperous." Nothing could ex-
ceed II. Ten pound shares became, in the twink
ling Of an eye, twenty pound shares, and wealth
increased 30 rapidly, that it was held to be difficult
TO imagine in what manner IL could ever be profit.
ably invested. Since the DAYS of the Rue O,,in
cdmp0ir,* nothing had been seen to equal it. The
nation was becoming rich by buying bargains"
1t was converting the cheap and perishable food of
northern Europe into enduring railroads, in the
construction Of which were employed a large por-
tion Of those who had been till then the food pro-
ducers OF England. Il was thus giving '.old lamps
for new ones" and with the usual result. The old
one of gold, and the new one proved to be only
OF copper gilt-resembling, in that respect, the
mass OF cottons, and woollens, and the iron. the
cutlery, and other goods, with which Britain her.
self is accustomed to supply the world chsapiy.
Again has prosperity" come round among
ourselves. We are closing the mines and furnaces
OF the country, and building steamers. to enable
to obtain, with greater facility the ceup cloth and
cheap iron of England. We are giving '.old lamps
for new ones;' and the "bargain' is too .sgreat''
to admit that we should "pause," even for an in
profit by it ls the prosperity that we are daily
assured exists to such a vast extent amongst ss,
real, or is it
"Like Dead-sca fruits,
That tempt the eye, but turn to ashes on the lips
that of 1862 The question is Of great import
ancc, and deserves a careful examination; and,
believing that there are some amongst US who will
be disposed to give to such one the time rcqui-
site for its perusal, it is now undertaken.
In 30 doing, it is deemed desirable to call the at
tention Of the reader to the fact that here in 1896.
and in Great Britain in 1876, the subject which
chiefly occupied the attention of the community
was the construction OF new modes of transporting
men and things. Among ourselves. the great strife
was to determine which State could make the most
road or the most canal, and individuals and States
entered upon the work with an ardor bordering
almost upon insanity. So is il now. Scarcely
day passes that does not bring with il notice of the
formation OF new company, the contraction of a
new loan, the issuing OF new bonds, or the result
OF some new survey for road; and the world is
next to be astounded by the prompt construction
Of u railroad across the Isthmus, another by the
Gull OF Tehuantepec, a ship canal to connect the
oceans, and last, but not least, railroad direct
from tho valley of the Mississippi to California.
We are all familiar with the railroad mania of Eng
land in 1916, which preceded the present state Of
almost entire exhaustion, from which she seems
unlikely soon to recover; but not the lees do we
seem disposed to try to 60 beyond her; and the
it is supposed, is likely to be our "prospcrity''
Another point Of resemblance between 1886 and
the present time ia most remarkable. The for
mer was characterized by an enormous emigration
from the older States to the lands of the West;
and the la ger the amount of emigration, the greater
was held to be the prosperity Of the nation. So
ia it in 1850. Almost every newspaper furnishes
US with notices of the emigration from New Eng
land, New York, Pennsylvania, and even from
Ohio, TO the newer States and Territories of the
West; while they, in turn, furnish almost countless
emig grants to California.
10 this the reader might, perhaps, be disposed to
reply, that the immigration into the eastern States
from Europe was go great as to produce great emf
grafton from those States to the cat, and that as
the former Increased, the latter must necessarily
do 30 likewise. An examination Of the real state
Of the case would however, bring to light the un-
pleasant fact, that, step by step, emigration in
creased, immigration diininishcd--thus proving
another remarkable resemblance between the for
mer and the present. periods of /" prosperity as
may here be seen in the comparative arrivals in the
Atlantic States:
1922 ee ooo