The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-08-14

dead capt. when cash l. o, bai'y want
cd The prospect, therefor is hat tie drain
OF fpecie to Europe II con inue, nd hat our
importers, n many cases, With oil their Efforts
80 meet their European abb lite =, will fail to
DO 80, from the 70 ure Of the iste.ior to come
to their relief Extraordinary loans upon
usury by the banks will only transfer the
hazard from the merchants to the banks them
selves; and when they fail, the revulson viii
be complete and universal.
A mere palpable falling off In the monstrous
estimates of 1853, of our spectators and foam
ciers, fer more decisive and remark ,ble tnan
the tightness among the merchants, is the de-
cline in this city In rents and real estate. In
every principal street there are untenapted
houses AID stores, and significant and unsea-
sonable placards are lioerally posted up, notify
ing che passenger of "tbis house to let" "the
upper part Of this house TO let" for sale or
rent" l&c. Here and there an unfinished block
has been stopped in the course Of its erection;
and she interest," at least, of the capital expend-
ed is lost, from the want Of capital tc finish it,
or the whole capital expended may have been
savFiIced, from the uSufi0us tefHs upou WHICH,
10 was borrowed.
While there was q hope of restoring the equi-
librium of things without material detriment to
the community at large,we were disposed to pass
by these evidences Of an over straiaed specula'
ton sinking into collapse; but now that the
day of settlement is ut hand, and the disease ap-
pears to be an unmistakeab!e epidemic, we may
be absolved from admonishing the public Of the
great change which is impending, in reference
to the holders of real estate, the buyers and the
renters Of costly stores and town and country
houses
Already the work Of reduction in rents since
May last, is rather surprising. We are inform
ed that some stores, VIII CHI were offered as an
accommodation last spring, at ten thousand
dollars rent, may now be had for five or six
thousand; and that some dwellinghouses, which
could not be made to pay from boarders and
dodgers their May rents of five and six thousand
dollars q year, may be had for two or three
thousand, or even less upon piRch. Where
rents cannot be paid they must be reduced, or
the landlord must inevitably be the loser; for
where the occupant has no means there ia no
redress. Plain as pike staff. Rents are, there
fore, coming down. property is changing hands,
and SPECTATORS in city lots are already, in many
instances we Gear, on the verge OF runous
losses in the decline from the value of their in
vestna-nts when The bubble was full blown.
The continuous supplies Of gold from Califor-
mia have.thus far sverted the catastrophe of a
sudden and violent Revision. But, consulting
the evidences around MS, we are by no means
confident that either the supplies from Califor-
MIA, or the sagacity. Of our merchants, or the
temporary srelief afforded by the backs, will
arrest the downward tendency of things
short Of general sensation. The war ia |
Europe is . dead drag upon us, notwith-
standing our waunted monopoly of the carry
ing trade; the Intentions and prospects of the |
in reference to Cuba are neither |
advantageous for the prese1 nor promising for
tho fata1o, ~~d from as,y 10 day tho ratts
chickering's and tiuctuationso Wall street are
only significant of some general impending
mischief. In word If our commercial and
speculative operations Of 1888 were based upon
false estimates and upon debts largely due in
1861, and if the profits OF the interval have
been squandered away in vulgar extravaganoes,
the day of settlement can only resut in failures,
explosions, general panic, and a general CON-
fscation. The fears Of Wall street, the sus-
pcions Of the public, the pressure of the unpaid
bills Of 1853, are all looking in this direction.
Reaction from excessive expansion is no less
law Of trade than a law Of nature; and the rtS
action has commenced.