The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1854-12-22
WHEN WILL TIE REACTION TAKE
PLACE

Times contains most important suggestions'
Tho extreme lowness to which the prices OF
orr ro,I,vav securities have been driven
tbrough concurring and adverse inhuene &c
hos not "a vet led great majority OF 'hs
amnars to balieye that the decline IS hhai anu
;.~aroad;obIe They very hopefully ana prop
rre",e1 ,.,t,at a more brilliant and sue
49, f',,re ia vet in store for railway prop
IT. nresent is not promising, put on
ii, Of the future hope draws its drafts
I'll no idea Of protest, or oil beng met win
,no Effects" Every one hut the most de-
.ar,,ined "bear" and alarmist coneurs IN the
hoiief of the good time eoming; but they
J;gnr az 10 ,ohen it will come; and there is no
umastion which we are more tired of trying
- answer satisfactorily than this simple anhen.
We were fortunate enough to warn our read
or, in some degree of the panic which was to
seize upon the public capitalists, with regard
70 railway securities; but we shall state
frankly that we did not contemplate any
thing SO apparently fatal and hopeless rs the
fncts have proved. We were prepared for
the inevitable plunge, but not to the depths
which many have sounded. The quotations
of the share list, though stating the facts OF
the market are vet susceptible OF some ex-
PLANTATION, which places some of our hereto
fore undoubted railway securities in better
position than they apparently occupy Inc
panic which has resulted from over-tradlng,
over-importng, over-sangune enterprise, and
general extravaganza, struck fatal blow at
confidence the sheet-anchor OF all legitimate
business enterprise and success The conse-
ouence has been that those who had invested
their money in our best and most undoubted
railway securities, and failing TO get their
usual and necessary accommodations at the
hanks were forced to sell their stocks to
meet their immediate necessities; and If they
did not do this for their own safety, they in
many cases have done it TO save their friends.
This accounts, in a very great degree, for the
extremely low prices at which many of our
frst-elass stocks have lately been forced into
the market and sold. As for those of more
doubtful stability, any unusual pressure is
sufficient excuse for their decline; but the ex-
IRENE low quotations show with unerring
fidelity the length and strength of the finan-
cial pressure which has carried down SO many
strong men in its vortex OF ruin and insolven-
cy.
time when the wished for re action will take
place; but we are justified in stating to our
readers, that any very decided movement for
the better must come slowly, and with those
invariable attendants of solid and substantial
success carefuness and economy. Conf
dence is noted as q plant of slow growth, and
not until carefuness and economy have lent
their strengthening qualities to the general
business affairs of the couRtry, and especially
in railway management, shall we begin to
feel its happy effects upon the price of large
class Of railway securities. Probably during
the next month or two, many OF those com
mercial establishments that have been kept
up by paying two and three per cent per
month for money, will fail; many spectators
in stocks, in flour, grain and other matters,
who have been kept along by the same means,
must retire from the market; the export of
specie must cease, the importations of foreign
goods must be less, and economy in private
expenditure must be the rule rather than en-
ception, before we shall make any substantial
progress in financial relief All these things
cannot be done in hurry, but just in such
proportion as they take place shall the gener-
al finances Of the country be relieved, and
the railway with other legitimate business
interests advance. At the risk of displeasing
that oyer-sanguine class Of our readers, who
believe that we cannot build too many rail
ways, we shall not hesitate TO state that in
our hurried march of internal Improvement
we have undoubtedly built more roads than
the business of the country will at present
support. The floating capital of the richer
portion Of the country has been distributed
throughout the South and West for the bond.
ed securities of the new railway enterprises
there, and in consequence, in the money
crisis, which all commercial communities are
liable to, there has 5een>no overplus of money
to fall back upon, SO that the trader and the
railway have both been in the money market.
bidding against each otherfor the sinews Of
war. The consequence is that the rates have
rapidly gone up higher than any legitimate
business can possibly allow for any length Of
time, and the present panic and stoppage is
the result. The cure for all this, so far as
the railways are concerned, is simple enough.
A stop must be put to the new enterprises for.
while. The financial energies of the coun-
try which have been taxed too strongly for
the past few years, must be allowed to recu-
perate. The country Is not impoverished at
all, on the contrary, so far as we can see,
great majority of business interests have been
very successful as their long continued bor-
rowing at high rates of interest has shown.
But it has evidently enough now reached
point at which stop must be made. The
money of our capitalists, which has been so
literally scattered over the whole country,
does not return so qucklyas it is demanded,
into its old channels, aud to enable it to do
80. we must rest while If we take in sail
for while, and rest. husband our resources,
economist our expenditures, and devote our
energies to conserve and save the enterprises
which we have carried forward so far instead
of branching into new and more gigantic
operations, we shall within the next year or
so recover from the present stringent crises,
and then we may hope for reaction in the
price of railway securities. Time careful
ness and economy is the parent of more
successful future. IL our readers and the
general business and railway public act upon
this belief, we shall very soon begin to see
our way clear out Of our present difficulties.
If they do not but on the contrary persevere
in the course which has driven our CONNER
cial, industrial and railway Interests into par
tial insolvency, then the results cannot but
be more fatal than any we have felt as yet
We have now TO choose between two courses
Of action, but we shall not conceal from our
readers our belief that il some change is not
made ere long, the choice will not be left to
us.
eg- The city advertising of the New York
Councils is now being contracted for Each
paper aspiring for it, under the new regula-
ton, has just returned, under oath, its daily
city circulation, and the rate per line at which
twill do the printing. From this statement
1T appears that the city circulation of the
principal journals is Ms follows: Herald 40,50O
Sun, $4,000; Times, 23,4oO: Tribune, I2,0O0
Commercial, $4,000; Express and Zeitung,
10000.
rTY- A project is on foot In Wosh;noton