The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-11-19

ga.oe IN Private Life.
Next to the fool ali and fraudulent schemes of
the fnanciers Of Wall street, nothing has SO
largely cont ibuted to bring about the present
distress in the comm srcial world as the prevar
lent extravaganza in living. 1t is notorious
that for several years past, the rates of living
among what are called fashionable people"
in New York have been higher than those Of
similar classes in any part Of the world. For
q parallel 70 our lavish expenditure in dress,
equipages, mansions, servants, horses and other
means Of display, we must look to one Of those
abnormal periods which have preceded great
convulsion such as the age of the earlier en-
perors at Rome, that Of Charles ii. in Eagland,
or the memorable reigns Of Louis XIV. aud
the Regent in France Nothing Of the kind
can be found in periods Of staid abiding pros
perity. Indeed, extravaganza like ours has so
invariably been the precursor of great public
Disaster, national calamity, or revolution, that
it has come to be mistaken for if not identified
as one of the sure causes Of such accidents; and
of Thugs which surrounds Us here as most
ominous token OF impending danger. Our fore
fathers did not live as We do. Enslishmen aud
FreDchmen, when they come here, view our
reckless expenditure with amazement. Ger
mans never saw the like. Even the prodiga
mobiles of st. Petersburg confess that few fami-
lies in Russia can afford to live on the scale
which is only thought suitable for merchants,
brokers, and spectators in New York.
In comparing the cost Of living here with the
same expense elsewhere, allowance must Of
course be made for the high prices which ar
ticles of necessity command 10 New York.
When an ordinary dwelling house is worth
$1,000 year, meat eighteen pence pound,
coal 81 80 ton, -four Sll barrel and potatoes
81 so bushsl. while the same articles range
from rs to so per cent cheaper in London, Paris
and other foreign cities, it is clear that the
most economical man cannot live as cheaply
here as there. At the same time, it must be
borne in mind that the high prices ruling here
are not produced by the mere ordinary laws of
supply and demand. The period Of unusual in
fation and reckless speculation through which
we have just passed has had far more to do with
high prices than any other cause. Speculation
enhanced the price Of real estate: hence rents
rose : this compelled rise in the value of r1er
chandise generally. Speculation in building
lots inflated the price Of agricultural land, and
hence potatoes, butcher meat and farm produce
increased in value. Speculation on the pros
pect of short crops abroad gave a fictitious
value to -four. These approximations in the
rates at which articles of prime necessity were
sold compelled strikes among laborers and
mechanics, and ultimately permanent rise in
the value Of labor which in its turn was re-
produced in the enhanced cost of articles the
produce of industry. Hence, it will be seen,
our whole fabric Of values, from a house ia
Fifth avenue to peck of meal, rests on the
fictitious basis of speculation; and is liable at
any time, when reverse comes. to fail to The
ground with crash. No prices can be regarded
as safe bnt those based exclusively on the pro-
portion Of supply to demand and demand to
supply.
But The extravaganza OF large class Of the
people of New York is quite Independent of the
unusual expenses which every individual is TO.
the time compelled to incur. Carriages, live.
ries, services of plate, splendid mansions in
Fifth avenue, are obviously mere luxuries, re-
quired Of no one in this country, and INDUCED
in by none but those who love display. It is in
these follies that the money has been spent
which ought now to be supplying the drain
from our banks. The story is remarkably sim
pie. In 1850, Isl and '52 most Of our merchants
made money: some of them large fortunes.
The receipts of gold from California and the
condition of trade throughout the
world simulated enterprise and tempted to
extravaganza. Hence A. B. who had never
been master Of five thousand dollars in his life
before, but now found himself at the head of
thirty or forty thousand, instantly bought
house in Fifth avenue, gave thousand piece
to his daughters, and commenced high life in
style which it would have required constant
succession Of Californian discoveries to sustain.
Neither he nor those who followed his example
ever seemed to think that the wind would
change or the tide of fortune ebb The con-
sequence is that, now that the evil day has
come A. B., has no savings to Withstand
It: the money made in the day Of pros
perity has gone in house aud gorgeous
furniture, splendid silks and rich laces, fat
Tootmen and sleek horses; and A. B., instead Of
being able to help the banks, is forced to go to
them for assistance Nay more he has himself
by his speculations aided in enh sncing the value
Of the very commodities for which he now finds
It 80 hard to pay: and thus suffers doubly for
his folly. For him there is no alternative.
When the climax comes, he must break: an in-
dulgent society must either enable him, when
the speculative mania returns, to play his old
game over again, or his family must be beggars
for the rest of their lives.
In this matter American women are as much