The Davenport daily gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1869, 1856-05-29
rHE DAILY GAZETTE.
From the Chicago frfbunssl
A Word sf Warning

! The merchants and business men Of Chi.
! oago and the Northwest, must be prepared
| FIT the new condition Of things which the
l5t7 price of grain viii inaugurste. Or they
Pend the people with them viii be Involved
! in 10 series. Of disssters from which hey viii
/ be extracted only after years Of labor and
the sacrifice OF millons For the past too
4 81 ,hrse years, owing % causes which are
r5w we'll understood, but whtch hays rssstd
i to operate, there was little danger of over
trading, or Of loss in speculation. But the
climax has been reached; the topmost
round of the ladder has been attared; in
fact, the descent has already begun:
The real surplus wealth OF the eountry 10
jus. what the country has to SELL. With
This fact before them, all the while
scted upon, With the other fact-ths worth
or hat surpius IL regulated BY the prices il
,cornmands- in view, the merchant Will
have dIatle fear Of going wrong. But tor
him who imaeines that the events Of iast
wear are 10 be repeated in the year now up.
On us-that al he has TO DO 10 TO ouy al
hi. credit Will command, 10 sell to whomso-
eyer has credit 10 purchases 10 collect essi
liz and to pay without trouble--is sowing
seed that will ripen into bankrnPtcy,
Al long az wheat was one dollar and
ejehty cents bushsi, and corn was rs 70
90 enss, and Ill other agricultural products
bore proportionate price, there was little
danger of over-trading-of buying more
thai the country had means to pay fof. And
row were we not in Q transition state
passing from period Of excessive. .ssimula-
.ion to a more normal and lower condition
this warning would not BE- necessary.-
8u, il ia hard for the merchant who sold,
,ssta year,s four hundred tiiousand dollars
worth Of rcods TO convent himself this year
with doing less. II 10 nard for the tsrlner.
who. only twelve months ago, ran 10 debt
far the eiphty-acre lot adjoining the home
.,ead. and paid for il cut Of his crop, to be-
liere thar the crop now in the ground VIII
no, enable him to do the same thingin the
twelve, months TO come. II i hard for all
who have indulged in Injuries and extrsv-
apances on the faith of good times, hign
prices, successful specufstions ana easily
accommodated riches, to reirench--buy cal.
icoes instead of silk, cotton rather than
nen, black walnut or maple instead OF
rosew ood and mahogany. But IL 10 evident
thar the choice fs betweengeneraif feueneh-
ment and ba nkruptcy as.~
be what the country demands. The signs
and omens at The present are not heeded.-
Thos. who make haste TO gather riches, are
as many 90 ever before, and they ure no iess
daring and adventurous Than when the keen
est eve could discern in the horison. The
i'm port atiuns are unusually Ia &c, even fof
he West thar ouys so enormo5siy; and OF
those i,nportatieps an undue prcpostion 10
gew-gaws and millinery. Speculation on
the faith of the future is the pursuit Of large
81 ses. Contracts are entered into, ana
incurred, sifthe general set
lsmept of balances and PAYDAY had been
postponed, Rents are uP to -
poin, where they should be if the city were
paved with gold, and personal extravaganza.
: extrasagance ce in dress, in eaaippage and
in the manner of living--has reached the
heigh, where it becomes criminal waste
A Il this is only putting up the orcks IN
longer rows, and at more convenient disten-
ces. When the first topples and falls, the
,fhers are sure 10 follow. A"@