New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-11-24
WHY WILL We Die u

the correspoDdipg period OF any previous year
since the world was made. There are more able,
slillful hands ready to work that property over
into such shapes as will render it most available
for human sustenance and comfort than there
wee in any previous year. Art, Silence, In
vention. even Agriculture, have made rapid
strides; and it 10 a moderate estimate that each
DAVIS work is worth on the average ten per cent
more-ihat is, it will produce ten per cent. more
than the labor Of twenty years ago would have
done. All manner Of Fabrics, Wares, and I'm
plements, are made cheaper than theywere until
recently; SO that any Que for specific sum Of
money can buy more Of every thing but Food
than he formerly could And, though our
summer crops were extensively short.
ened by the severe droutb, yet the fac
and mild autumn has done much to remedy that
disaster. There will be far less Feed required
this winter, because the grass has held out SO
long; large supply of Butter and Cheese has
been made since the fall rains commenced
everything on the ground has been harvested in
excellent conditions and we shall have far more
Pork and Beef than we should have had but for
the remarkable fneness Of the season no. clos
ing. Still, there is less of Indian Corn less Of
Wheat, and we think less of Oats, in the country,
than an average season would have insured; but
there are enough Of these for home and little
to send abroad. The country in general is healthy,
and the great body of the people were never
more willing to work. SO far as internal inha-
epcts alone are regarded, this ought to be a sea-
son Of general prosperity.
And yet we all do know that the times are en-
phatically hard. Mechanics and manufacturers
are contracting their operations. Many farmers
also are unable to keep so many hired labOrers at
work as they have hitherto done. Banks are
from necessity reducing their discounts. Many
buildings are stopped half way to completion,
their owners being bankrupt. Real Estate, e.
peciay if requiring further outlay to render it
fully productive, is unstable except at ruinous
prices. Bankers have stopped or all but wound
up. Unfinished Railroads are opt short,
awaiting times when perfectly good bonds can
be sold at twenty per cent. discount, or when
money can be procured on ample security at ten
or twelve per cent. At least two hundred thou
sand men, the discarded servitOrs of many gallant
but luckless enterprise, who have been driven
into cities and villages by the failure of their ac
customed employment, are now anxously seek
ing work for tie winter, and seeking 10 vain.
The Cities cannot hire and pay them; the COun-
try does not call for them, or they lack travel
money to enable them to respond to the call.
Staenation aud dismay are general, and thou
sands who have property enough if is could be
sold at anything like cost, to pay all they owe,
are bopeless|y, dumbly awaiting the shock of ac-
/ tual bankruptcy
These UowiiliDgly idle workmen would gladly
work, if work were to be had. The factories,
founderies mines, mills, furnaces, ia which they
should find work, are closed or not half working,
because money cannot be obtained wherewith to
run them, or the products to which they are
adapted cannot be sold. The money which should
have kept this Labor and other capital ia healthy
activity has been drained off to Europe to psy
for Foreign Fabrics and there is voracious de-
mand for more to follow it, Let any Bank ven
ture to extend its discounts, and its bills imme-
diately return upon it in quest of specie to send
abroad, AID is must curtal or become insovent.
So the laborer and the factory stand idle while
the lue-bloOd of business is swept away to
Europe to pay for the fabrics that they would
gladly produce.
Let us suppose now, that word were passed
around that the balance of trade should no longer
be against us-that benceforth we should import
no more Wares and Fabrics than we could easily
pay for, and that the residue required by our
needs should be produced at home-is there one
single human being within the boundaries Of our
Union who would not hear the tdinss with
joyi Might not the very usurers and and sherifs
who alone are making money out Of the public
distress be willing to stop where they stand
considering that the property they have acquired
so chesply would speedily rise to its fair value
How joyfuly would our beleaguered citizens and
labcrers hear that their various occupations were
about to Tesume their natural activity, and that
the whir Of wheels and the din of hamne
would soon make the air cheerful again Has
not the very Shipping Interest, which has be-
lievod that Free Trade would insure it immense
and enduring prosperity, received lesson not
soon TO be forgotten Would not even the Im-
porters, who have been taught 70 believe us their
enemy be glad to secure fall payment OF the bal
snces now due them, OF the cost Of more limited
markets hereafter Would not the Railroad.
builders, who last year went in for Iron duty
nee' prefer that the Country should make iron
a. nome and be able to pay for 1. rather than it
.nOuid obtain it nOminalIy cheaper abroad and
with " '1' "
Let'he word be once passed tina. the Tariff lin
'ubstancel Of lo42 would speedily supplant that
Of 40 and there is not square mile of the whole
country which would not feel the impulse Of 70.