The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-01-24

#fchdngcSH one Woulu SuPposC tlles1 cfSl oou
talks, dreams and thinks about the hard times
and that almost every body feels them, and
knows, By bitter experience, what they mean
But very few stop toruminate over what IS the
chief cause Of all the anxiety, embarrassment
and suffering they share or witness, q wha
sovereign remedy there may be for either
Some attribute our troubles to the .low prices
received for cotton; some to the difficulties o
navigation, and the low stage of water in Rec
Y River; some to the exorbtant rates demanded
for flour and other indispensable provisions
. some from the unaccountabe scarcity Of mon
ley; and some to the great frauds OF northern
lfnaneiers and bankers who have mismanaged
the affairs of great corporations, and thus ere
ated a wide distrust-as if a few unpfincipled
men could, by mere populations, blight whole
4 land worth billions times more than they have
i cheated it out Of. And others give similar rea-
sons equally as plausible. Each Of these may
j have some slight bearing; but no one Of them
lis much significance, nor could all put toggeth
CT produce such effects as We witness, or &C
count for them. It's the people-the mass OF
1.-THE people--that make the trouble. No less
4 power can bring about such results. The uni
verAl and hourly increasing eatravoganceof our
people has caused the universal depression, and
brought about the 1hard times" t an indi-
Ividual spends more than his income, every bo-
EdY knows that he must retrench, or become
bankrupt and ruined. II a whole nation runs
into similar extravaganza nation being only
mass of individuals-the whole nation must
retreneh or become bankrupt and ruined. In
/ the United States, for years back, we have been
spending extravaganty, living beyond our IN
come, and the consequence is, that there is now
general embarrassment, a scarcity Ut money,
and trouble ahead; and we begin to hear a cry
Ito know the cause, and demand for remedy.
The cause is as plain as the way to the river
the remedy is equally plain, but by no means
so agreeable. We have bought more than we
can pay for with our present incomes. We
must therefore retrench, live more within the
bounds Of our means, or 60 on suffering more
and more. That this Is the true state Of the
case may be made clear by two examples, taken
from opposite extremes Of American folly
Secretary Guthrie, in his annual report to con-
gress, tells US that in the financial year ending
on tie 3Oth June, 1854, we imported from Eu
rope thirty three millions Of dollars worth ofsk
goods Silk we produces at home only in small
quantities, and it is the merest possible luxury.
We should be as good looking, as respectable,
as warm and as well off, physically, in Aires
poets, without spending a dollar omit. Now,if
you want to know what is done with this silk,
look at the dresses generally, we are sorry to
SLY, i'll fitting and badly made, Of our wives
and daughters, whose husbands and fathers
cannot afford to pay for them; OF at the sump
tnous drapery Of their parlors, which are daily
becoming mere monuments Of vanity and bad
taste, BY cumbersome, inelegant extravaganza.
Alady friend, when we were last in n. Orleans,
snlilingly informed US that the drapery Of her
parlor and drawing room, ''cost me only $4,000
francs in Paris, last summer, they were quitea
bargain Then look at our large hotels, and
the people who frequent them One Of them,
in New York, was opened few months since,
the curtains in the ladies' parlor Of which cost
fifteen thousand dollars 1t is needless to say
that a large majority Of the lady travellers who
may put up at the hotel have never been accus-
toned to any other than muslin, cambria or
worsted curtains. Il puts one in mind Of Fanny
Kemble's description Of the steamer on the
Chesapeake bay, "superb Frenchmirrors hung
around the cabin, satin damask curtains, with
gold firing, adorned the berths, while there was
but solitary wash basin and a single towel for
the use Of thirty OF forty ladies' At last ac-
counts the sheriff had possession of the hotel.
Private parlors Of the same fashion are coming
fast to the same end but let us go to the other
point Of our folly. We are compelled to import
SILKS if We must have them, but, if there is any
thing in the Union Of which we have enough,
and to spare, it is stones marble, granite, lime
and sandstone, and all kinds of stones. The
eastern, northern, middle and western States
are full Of them; but quantities, the papers, in
form us are now imported from France! Church
es and houses, in no small number are built
of foreign stone in New York, Brooklyn, Bos
ton and Philadelphia. The New Y ork Courier
contains thirty Or forty different advertisements
offering imported building stones for sale
Next, We ought to hear Of importing dirt to /
cover up our own native rocks, lest the sight Of
them should reproach us withour senseless ex-
tras agance. Sancho. in Don Quixote, charac-
terises mans folly, by saying, he wants bet
ten than can be made of wheat Do we want
better churches, warehouses, or dwellings than
can be built Of American granite, American
marble, Or American sandstone? The sugges-
tor Is ridiculous; but there is no need Of such
separate illustrations. Ourimportations for the
lastitwo years show our extravaganza and folly
in the gross, just as plainly as our French silks
and European building stones show it in detail.
Take the years 1914 and 1915 and compare