The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1854-12-01


action The allies would have done well had they mbibed
in this respect, something more of bis spirit"
THE HARD TINES
In times of great pecuniary Distress as during the prev
aence Of epidemic various the contradictory theo
res boldly preached and arden as the real ana
sole cause the universally depored evil That the whole
country suffering from extreme monetary pressure
almost amounting to panic, must eevdenteven to those
who have withdrawn from the active pursuits OF trade
proof wanting have only to refer to the unexa
pied export of the precious metals since the
Of the yearthe arrangement in our domestic exchanges
the failures of bankers manufacturers and merchansthe
great scarcity of money and the consequent exorbtant
rates of nteresand the sudden depreciation OF millions
upon millions in the value of real estate stocks and the
most productive of securities The cause of this universal
pressure is attributed by some to the workings OF
a tariff not high enoush, Or not 10" enough IN us
duties by Others to extravaganza u wing ana "iae
spread spirit of insane speculation; and by Others ag,
to the sums Of money withdrawn from the ordi
nary channels of trade and for the construction
of those vast chains Of railroad which country like
the imaginary parallel lines latitude and longitude find
on our maps We believe that all these combined to-
geher with others not named have produced the state of
things under which we suffer and complain Our coem-
porary of the New York Tribune however, is not disposed to
share with us this belief The editor sue confident that
the hard times principally owing to overtrading
over-raroading overspeculang partially ruined crops
excessive issues of money unprecedented losses by
land and ocean, fraudulent transactions by bankers,
and stupendous swndles by the Schuyerzng portion OF
the community In his opinion, the adjustment of the
tariff of ls4s has done the business for and in support
Of this opinion the Tribune argues after this fashion
The necessity under which the tariff of sA8 has placed
u.s. going abroad for cloth and on has caused great
gold that money rapidly becoming unattanable
commodity from the fact that the best securities
bearing the rate of per cent? selling in
our market at twenty cent discount Under such
circumstance manufacturers cannot continue to lve
The above assertion made in face of the established
fact that prices Of pig metal have during the last four
years. ranged from twenty-five to one hundred per cent
higher than the prices obtained from 1912 to 1886 So
tempting have been the gains of our ron-masers during
the period named that merchants lawyers and farmers were
induced to their oil in business which yielded SO
much larger for their time and capital than they
could reasonably expect from their respective avocaons
They had done ndereny well under the tariff of 1912
Under the tariff of 1916 their profits had exceeded their
most sangune expectations and their orders even at the
present time far ahead of their ability to supply that
we have yet hear the first ironmaster-and we have
with who desires increase in the pres
| ent duty on the foreign article
We firmly believe that large increase in the rates of
duty on foreign would seriously diminish the i'm
portaton The for this belief are should be-
obvious With fey exceptions furnaces and rolling
mills are owned by parties q limited capital and credit
Nearly their whole capital is invested in e business and
if they are able 70 extend credit their customers even
on the restricted SCALE it only through the prec,-
rious favor of the banks Nearly all railroads have
been built not with cash. but with evidences Of db-with
preferred stock common and mortgage bonds Such rail-
road companes as the New York and Erie the Hudson River
and the Great Western could find no iron company
this side OF the Atlantic with capital and manufacturing
facilities sufficient furnish them with rails ON the terms
which they had to offer They necessarily compelled
to make their purchases in foreign market where their
bonds and obligations were readily taken These purchases
made siuou, reference to the comparative scale Of
prices between the domestic and foreign Market for the
not few where the domestic article was offer
for far less price than the foreign and refused because
cash demanded As evidence of the correctness OF
these assertions have only TO point to the present state
of iron business in this country such of our IRON
have attempted to deal the English plan with
the railroad companicswho have exchanged their rails
stocks and bondsnow find themselves from the heavy
depreciation Ia a kinds of securities in state of great
embarrassment ii not the of suspension ITSELF not
withstanding their large nominal profits IN the small
furnaces where the cash principle has necessarily been adj
hered TO- the business continues to be in emuneratiye
condition.
1t matters not whether mportations Of iron have
been great or small those mpostatons have had very lit
do with the drain OF specie Specie Ike every other
mercantable article will seek the best market The ne
cesses France and England owing to their war with
Russia require amount Of con and if we were
not their debtors they would still obtain gold and silver
from us by purchase. Gross msmanagemeat and stupen
dous frauds have done deprecate the value OF rail-
road securities and make foreign holders realize than all
other combined.
The times bard, and it may be that we have seen
only the beginning of the end but amid the dark clouds
which hover over the commercial world we many rays
of sunshine Already foreign exchange has fsien nearly
to that point when the expectation of specie must cease
while the shipments of cotton going forward must
leve our banks from all immediate apprehensons IL is
true that this years crop of wheat sad corn is below the
average and that our shipments Of breahstu pext year
must necessarily be very light but should be borne 10
mind that in the great grangrowing countries in South
Enropenow the seat of wsseed time has passed
by almost unnproved and whether have peace
next year the Old World the foreign demand for Amer
lean breadstuffs in 1856 be The
In