The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1857-09-12
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The Financial Crisis ---- No Cause for
Alarm.

Alarm.
We notice as well in the country as in the
city papers pretty general impression that
in this last tumble down of railway stocks,
unsound banks and insolvent merchants, the
country at large is going to pieces. These
writers seem to think that because the job
bcrs in railway stock break the whole nation
must 60 into mourning and none of us must
ever again hope to have "cakes and ale."
This is terrible blunder, and 1t is very
surprising that our cotemporaries should so
generally fall into it. A paper that is owned
by Wall street stock gambler will of course
cry out that the end of the world is at hand
when Wall street stock gambling ceases to
pay; but that journals which are entirely dis
connected with the gambling enterprises of
Wall street, and whose owners have no part
or share in the specializing monoplies of that
region, should share the delusion is odd
enough, and reflects but little credit On their
discernment.
What are the facts ? The stocks of several
railway companies-to wit: the Illinois Cen
trail, which has just practiced perfect snap
game with its stockholders the Erie and
Michigan Southern, were long since known
TO be insolvent, and so pronounced in these
columns; the Cleveland and Toledo, which is
no better; the New York Central, which is in
a better position only inasmuch as it has a
lighter debt and more stock in proportion ;
the Reading, which has been paying heavy
dividends and borrowing money every year.
and several other stocks Of like character
and value, have declined from ten to twenty
per cent. within the past month or so.
One specializing bank-the Ohio Life and
Trust COmpany-about whose affairs there
hangs singular degree of mystery, and an
other bank, the Merchants Banking Asso-
citation, which has been blundering by misman-
aged, for years. together with a few rotten
concerns throughout the country, have sus-
pended payment. When the Ohio concern
may pay we know not but the others will
probably cause their creditors no loss. FL
nally, few merchants-One in the Califor-
MIA trade, whose liabilities are probably of
ancient date, one or two in other trades, one
manufacturer Of railway supplies, whose
pockets are full of railway paper andsperhaps
here and there anothcr--have failed. We
do not speak of the stockholders who have
failed, becaus their solvency and insolvency
are really matters of so much uncertainty
and so little interest both to the public and
to themselves that it is not worth while
dwelling on them.
This, then, is the full catalogue of our ca
lamities. 1t appears to be all told in a sim
gle sentence-the breakage of few of the
leading railway monopolies, and of persons
connected with them. But this is neither
an unexpected event nor one to be deeply
lamented. Months and years ago, the Her.
aid pointed to the inevitable consequences of
the policy which the railways were pursuing,
and indicated, among others, the Erie road
as one of the first that was likely to suffer-
Events have taken no reader of this journal
by surprise. And furthermore, it is very
doubtful whether, all things considered, the
bankruptcy of the leading railways will not
prove to be a blessing rather than an injury.
i will hurt no one but the few persons who
are stockholders, and who, we trust, have in
most instances secured themselves from loss
by earlpuy releases of land which the con-
struction of the road has Occupied in value.
And it will be an unmixed benefit to the
roads, to the borrowing public, to travellers,
and to consumers of western produce. 1t
will cheaper provisions and bread. 1t will,
by reducing the cost of the roads and the
sum on which interest has to be paid, enable
them to be run more cheaply and more safely.
IL VIII iOlONC lAC uiOhCy HUH tuC
pressure of constant demand for money
for the railroads.
On the other hand, when we come to look
at the real interests of the country, our agri-
culture corn and cottOn-our great manufac-
lures of the East and Middle States-our
shipping interests, our foreign trade-we find
nothing save a temporary cause of embar-
rassment. We have overbought ourselves
this year, and the balance must be paid in
specie, at whatever cost, even though our
banks have to suspend. But even if it came
to this, and the banks did have to suspend
and half the merchants too, it would still be
a very trifng matter to the country at large.
By January all would be right again; and
even ifit wasn't, the stoppage Of all the banks
and merchants in New York wouldn't pre-
vent the country from growing rich with the
corn of the West, the cotton and sugar of the
South, the coal and iron of the centre, the
manufactures and shipping Of the East -
| There is nothing to warrant alarm among
our prudent men who have not speculated
nor dabblcd in railway stocks or railway pa
per. The heart of the country is sound
We must suffer from our over imporations;
we must be punished for our over sanguine
speculations of various kinds; the railways
must 60 to pieces, and so must the banks
which have become entangled with them;
but honest, prudent men need not break
their hearts after all beceuse few score Of
spectators are going to the wall.