The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-03-26

al Glasses OF the community; the aiIouut VI
M Iney invested in bricks and mortar alone
ruring the last six years being probably little
short Of SEGA, 100000. The sums sunk in rail-
roads during tie same period may be estimated
at about s2sT 100000. States, counties, cities,
towns and villages, are Issuing bonds to carry
out these projects, and are getting into debt in
every possible way. Not one of these States,
counties, or cities, ever expect to pay those
debts, and as in the competition induced by
over-speculation many Of these railroads must
prove failures, it is doubtful whether if called
upon they will pay even the interest, Even in
our own State, which has been hitherto the
trcest from this mania of speculation, we
have agreed to increase our State debt from
ten to fifteen millions. The same indications
are to be observed in our banking operations.
The number of banks generally exhibits an in
crease within the last six years of thirty and
in the city of New York of fifty per cent The
capital invested in them is estimated at up
wards of $65 100000. To obtain business, it is
evident that these new banks must run great
risks To compete with the older establish
ments they are obliged to advance money on
questionable bills and securities, and thus i'm
part an artificial stimulus to trade. Persons of
small means, tempted by the facilities Of OBJ
tanning money which these concerns present to
them, launch out into extensive and hazardous
enterprises, which the first commercial check
will bring down by the run, and carry with
them in their ruin the establishments on which
they have been depending for support.
! - oIao to &c 10
pendture Of our merchants and traders gene
rally. AS in all cases where men speculate and
| live upon the money of others, no bounds appear
to be set to the growing extravaganza and lux
urious tastes of the classes whose position,
owing to the causes we have just described is
so precarious. Fine houses carriages, dinners
and balls rivalling in splendor and costlness
| the entertainments of the landed arstocracy Of
the Old World form agreeable episodes in ca
reers but too frequently commenced in folly
and ending in ruin. To Judge by the amount
of " ealth displayed on the style of living and
on the personal appearance of the Potiphars Of
our mercantile community, the commercial
prosperity of New York would appear to
stranger to be based on some real foundation.
ture, built almost entirely upon credit aud
which the first adverse wind would lay pros
trate. Half these people are in fact
living beyond their means, and the mis-
fortune is that the tide Of folly and extra
vagance has set in with such force amongst
them that they cannot turn back if they would.
1t is to these causes that may be attributed the
OH por%b o Oboro nd ind, cfr;o
classes that are to be found in almost every
other community. We have, in fact but two
classes of population in our cty-the very rich
! and the very poor; for the man that has too
much honesty to speculate upon the money of
others, in order to keep up false appearances,
must be content to be classed in the latter cate
CORY. Our city architects and builders will, in
any case, drive him into one or other of these
classifcations, for the construction of our mo-
dern habitations presents no medium between
the palace and the hovel.
1t is evident, from the facts just stated, tina;
although we may be receiving from forty to
fifty millions Of gold annually from California.
the credit system is expanding far beyond the
| legitimate limits to which the material wealth
derived from this and other sources would JUS
| tify its extension. When States, cities and in
dividuals, are all borrowing and keeping up an
expenditure greater than their income, it is GER
tain that the first shock that commercial credit
receives will lead to the most disastrous results
The COMPTROLLER OF THE REFORMED Cry
A contract for paving Grand and Fulton streets,
amounting to nearly one hundred and ninety
thousand dollars, was advertised by the Com
mon Council of 1858, anG awarded to John
Cook d Co. by them which award, according
to the decision of Judge Hoffman, Of the Supe-
rior Court, delivered December T. 1853, was
illegal in every particular. Mr.. Flagg is of the
same opinion as Judge Hoffman, and is we'll
satisfied that Cook Co. are proceeding in the
construction of the work illegally, while other
parties, to whom the Court says the contract
properly belongs, have commenced suit against
the city in the Superior Court, for damages sus-
tanned, amounting to sixty thousand dollars
| This is reform with vengeance! The chief
financial officer admitting the illegality of the
contract, and yet paying the bills as fast as
they are presented-at the same time he is
aware that he or his successor will have to pay
again to the parties whom the Court says have
vested rights in the matter.
| Who are the outsiders interested in this work?
It surely cannot be any members of the pure
reform Common Council; and surely there is
strength of right and honesty enough amongst
them to inquire into and arrest the further pro-
gress of this barefaced operation.
GEORGE SANDERS AND Louis KossUTH.-The
rejection of George Sanders by the Senate has
induced the Consul at London and the Hun
garian exile, Kossuth, to write letters on the
subject. which were published yesterday
Though written in the same spirit and with the
same view the letters differ as much as the men.
That of Sanders-we have the less hesitation in