The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1857-06-13

impossiblc that such a state of things should
long exist. Lands cannot continue to go up
and up, nd infnitum. There must be stop
ping place somewhere. and when that is reach
ed, they will drop to their real value for prac-
teal purposes"
From the Albany Evening Journal
1--WE are told that certain bank in GER
tain dairy County in the center of this State
had on deposit in the Spring of 1856, the sum
of $455,OOO, money of the farmers. Week
before last its deposit account footed up only
some S25OOO, and the farmers of that Coun-
tv were anxiously borrowing money for their
Springs operations The deposits in the
bank had been drawn down for investment in
the far West. \ portion went directly into
lands for a rise. The residue and the larger
part was transmitted to be loaned at three,
four, five and six per cent. month on real
estate security. and the legal assurance of I'M
limited usurv laws. We have also been in
formed that the surplus moneys of very many
other Counties of this State have gone the
same way as the deposited earnings of the
dairy district we have mentioned.
That the loans thus made will be pcrma-
ncnt. and awfully permanent. all who know
the West can well say. They will turn out
by the operation of the bankruptcy of the
borrowers, to be simple investments in land
at enormous prices. The money will never
come back here The pit of unlimited inter.
est beyond the Mississippi is bottomless.
We thus can place our touch upon one OF
the connections which New York has with i
very scarlet fever of land speculation, now
burning through the West. Dry goods. job
bcrS. groccr>. hardware dealers and clothicrs
i'll New York city can place their fingers on
other cords which tie us all to the patient OF
this fcbrilc disease. Its pul>aton> are Their,
felt through lcdScrs and note books. in over
due accounts and protested drafts and notes
Their customers far West have bought land
freely. and have grccdily clutchcd at four pei
cent. month for money really belonging tc
New York. hut which. if withheld from them
will bear only seven per cent. per annum in
tcrc>t.
In the meanwhile so far east as is now
the Bureau valley. in the grazing State of IL
linoi>. butter bears the price of fifty cents
pound. and is certified. and truly too. TO be o
Vermont manufacture \ bu>hel of whit,
beans is there also eagerly taken at the askct
price of two dollarS-not for consumption
but for speculation at Rock Island. whcr,
they are brisk at three dollars. The farm
cr> Of the Prairie State. and the owners o
garden lands in its villages. are raising cite
..".l l.. dug This diseased :~-l
ture will blast and millcw them and theirs.
Happy day will it be for the people o
America when the last acre of government
land is sold or given away. The magnets
power 10 draw off population and capital from
the Ea>t.and the irresistible stimulus to spec
ulati>c enterprise and risky adventures. lie
all through this ten shilling domain. Ricl
in quality. cheap in pricc-thc steady mari
of the very best emigration from Europe ant
the natural refuge of the unfortunate in Amer
ica-population and industry will never be
come fixed and thoroughly organized with us
till qutclaim and full covenant deeds are plaS
tered above the land warrants in the West
and the public domain is substantially thing
of history and not of property.
1t is SAID hv StatisticianS of reputation tina,
the actual need of public land at present i,
Out zen nllilonS OF acres per annum. Inc
amount yearly patented and warranted and
granted to railroads is more than double that
The quantity constantly pressing on the mar
kct is one hundred per cent. beyond the de.
mand.
\ crash impcnds over the West. When i,
comes it will be less destructive than that of
1887. which was the result ofwid speculation
i'll real estate. only because We have the mon
cy to lose which is going to he lost. and will
not be left in debt for it. But from the East
crn line of Illinois to the Western bounla-
rics of Nebraska and Kansas. Autographed
cities at every tenth mile will soon he the
grave-stoncs to mark the burial. without res
surrcction, of millions of Eastern capital. and
of many. too many. impatient hearts broken
with disappointment.