The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-12-10

worth noting in our stat sites Of emigra-
ton so small a proportion does il bear to the
influx OF immigrants; we could afford to lose
five per cent Of our supplies Of raw labor,
through faint heartedness, prejudice, or unsatis-
fed ambition. But as an ind cation of the de-
cline in the demand for labor, and the general
hardness Of the times, this sudden reversal Of
the tide of emigration is well worthy Of notice.
One cannot help comparing it with the impor-
tations of -four from Liverpool which preceded
the crash Of 1887. Both seem, like the " hea-
ven)y portents' of Roman history, precursors
of evil
Nor is confirmation Of the inauspicious omen
wanting. In South Carolina, the Governor de-
clares that no such times have been witnessed
since 1887. In Virginia, he press discusses
the prospect Of q general suspension Of specie
payments. In Indiana, the whole banking credit
OF the State is gone, and with it, three
fourths of the commercial community. In Ohio,
the banks are constantly obliged to publish
certificates Of their solvency to allay the gene
raj impression that they are about to fail. In
Philadelphia, Boston, and New York, failures
Of private individuals and mercantile firms have
been daily occurrences. Brokers, grocers, dry
goods men, shippers, jobbers, and hardware
dealers have been silently suspending payment
ever since October, and no one has heard Of it
but the immediate creditors. Though the strin-
gency has lasted for several weeks now, and
the consequences have been unusually severe,
there is no visible symptom o relief. People
- - - Co. e
tances, of enlarged accommodation on the
part of the banks: but this nonsense has been
uttered in the same tone and by the same peo-
pie ever since Erie old at fifty. The fatt is, as
Mr.. Adams said to Nicholas Biddle in 1886,
there is no possible reliefto be expected till
broom sweeps away the whole of cur indebted
ness'
This would be apparent at a glance, fmen
would only shake off preconceived preiudices
and unbending theories and form an independ-
ent judgment on the bare facts. Unfortunately
each man has a hobby of his own to ide and,
in trying to make the times fit it, wauders asray
from the truth. The professionalism soul
says that our troubles arise from the fact of
the protection tariff Of 1916 not being protec-
tive enough: Gf the duties were doubled, he
would complain in the same doleful voice of
the want of protection to-morrow); the old
wbigs charge it on the democrats: Mrs Grundy
says it is owing partly to the cholera
and partly to the price Of mutton. sbe
knows as much as the others. Their,
are very few who look at the facts closely
enough to see that the trouble is really the
simplest thing in the world to accoun for.
When A. B.. on q salary of $500, takes Il
house, keeps servants, asks his friends to din
ner, drinks champagne, drives trotting horse,
and has season tickets for the opera, no OF
wonders at his getting into trouble or think
Of dragging in the tariff or the democrats o..
the cholera to explain his embarrassmen,s
Every one gees that they were due to his extr.
vagance.
So with the Erie Railroad Company, which
we take to be plain case within the compre-
pension of every one. This company, al time
when it was making no money. was borrowing
right and left to pay dividends so that tue
great concern of the managers was not to work
the road cheaply or to attract traffic, but to
dispose OF bonds and negotiate acccptances.
Financiering in this wise succeeded for while:
but soon point was reached when the profits
Of the road, after deducting working expea ses,
left barely enough to pay the interest on the
bonds already issued 70 be precise, at the
present moment, the Erie Railroad has fund.
ed debt of twenty -four millions, and Hoa ting
debt Of about two: Of the former four mil ioas
xnfh ho Vrh IF {ha 1oft col -
Iuary next. Instead of increasing, the receipts
from the road are falling off in consequence Of
the hard times, diminished traffic, short crops,
&c. those for October fell forty thousand dol
lars short of the managers expectation. Tie
consequence is that the Ere Company has no
prospect Of meeting its engagements in Feb
ruary. No one impntes this misfortune to the
tariff or the cholera, or any similar cause on
all hands it is admitted to be due 10 the impro.
vident working of the road, to the errors made
in its construction, and to the frauds in its
financial management.
The history of A. b. and that of the Erie
Railroad G, mpany are precisely the history
OF the country The whole country has been
extravagant. improvident, and reckless. We
have made too much paper money incurred
too much debt, set up too many wild schemes,
built too many railways and lived in our homes
on too extravagant and expensive scale ; and
the consequence is that like A. B. and the Eric
concern, we now find ourselves in difficulties.
To seek any other cause beyond these for the
fact is preposterous.
In like manner every one can see that for A,
B. and the Erie Railroad Company there is no
salvation short Of absolute bankruptcy that
the longer the evil day is delayed, the worse
the crash will be ; and that the interests of all
parties would be best consulted by as speedy
an assignment of the effects of the insolvents
as possible. 1t is just so with the country ct
large. The longer we struggle the worse will
be our fall. The more shaves we submit to, the
less we shall have for our creditors The more