Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-12-12
From the New York Tribune.
WHAT ARE OUR PROSPECTS.

What arc the prospects of Industry and Bust
ness for the year about to open2 This is a ques'
ton which thousands are now anxiously ponder
ing, and which hundreds of thousands ought to
weigh carefully before entering upon engagements
for 1858. Let us first regard some OF the unfavor'
able aspects of our position.
/. We are heavily in debt-in debt to Europe
and among ourselves. People are accustomed to
talk of the extent of our Bank discounts and cir.
culatiou, when in fact these added together amount
to but a fraction of our indebtedness. Mercantile
credits, Mortgages-many of them overdue and
owing to men who want their money-more debts
OF accommodation, &C., amount to u fearful aggro-
gate. We believe there are considerable cities, il
not whole counties, in this country, which would
not sell on The LIST, Of January at aaction for cash
enough to pay the debts of their Inhabitants.
III. Our produce must generally be sold OF low
figures. There is no use in seeking to disguise
this fact. Nearly every product Of the soil is sell
ing, or must be sold, at from twenty to sixty per
cent below the price Of the last year-below
those which the farmers expected to realize VIXEN
they planted. They have paid high prices for
labor. and now must sell lis product at low prices.
We hold it absurd therefore, to maintain that the
Agriculturalists Of the United States are exempt
from the general depression. As a ciass, they are
in debt-not so deeply, perhaps, as other classes,
but still in de5t-and while their creditors are
pressing, their means of payment are diminished
by the currency contraction. individuals are out
of debt and in easy circumstances, but the farm.
ing class shares deeply in the common suferings.
III. AS to Manufacturers, Merchants and Ship
owners. they never saw harder times than the pres
ent. Not merely the great Cotton and Wooden
mills to which the term Manufactures is popu.
larly applied, but the production of Hats, Boots
3 and Shoes, Clothing, &C., &C., is in the lowest
stage of depression. There are more factories
and workshops idle or making short time at this
: moment in the Union than ever before. Trade is
nearly dead in the great ~seaports, and mercantile
houses which lately sold their millions per annum
and esteemed themselves wealthy and impregna-
BILE, are either suspended and vainly endeavoring
to collect their debts and pay their creditors. or
trembling on the brink of insolvency. Our Ship
ping interest is also depressed to q serious extent.
All the factories in the country could not be sold
on the LIST of January next for half their cost, while
the depreciation in the value of vessels within the
last six months can hardly be less than twenty
five per cent.
". We are thu eatened with a political crusade
against the Banks, which can hardly fail to intensi.
fly the present pressure of the commercial revul-
sion, whatever may be its ultimate result. The
signal of this crusade may be expected in Mr.. Bu-
chanan's forthcoming Message.
SO much for the darker side of the immediate
prospect: Now let us look at the brighter:
V. Our late Harvest, though popularity exagger-
ated, is undoubtedly a fnIi average. Wheat in our
State, and Potatoes quite extensively, were fail.
ures, but there is at least an average Wheat crop
in the whole country, with more Grass, Hay, But.
ter, Cheese, Indian Corn, Rye, Oats, Roots and
Pork, than were produced in any former season.
Cotton and Tobacco are q full AVERAGE. Cane Su.
rar probably a fair WELD. with more from the Ma.
pe this wear than ever before. and n pood borin.
ming made this year in producing Sirup from the
Sorghum. On the whole, though the diversion of
Labor into other channels till near the close Of the
season was excessive, our Agriculture has produc-
ed more in 1857 than ever Before. And the fact
that we are now one oc the larges. Gold prod ucing
nations in the worli, adding some Fifty Millions
per annum to the general stock of the Precious
Metals. must not be disregarded 1t ia n small
item compared with our Grass or Corn crops. but
t it counts.
e VI. Our foreign debt, though heavy, has rot
$ been contracted to support or crafty
a vicious appetites-not devoted to objects which
perish IN the using. we have to balance that
" debt the most comprehensive and useful system OF
Railroads on the globe. Many OF those Railroads
n are bad investments for the stockholders, yet worth
y their whole cost 70 the community. AS whole
u they are certainly worth, as facilities 20 Agricul
d ture and Trade. as portions OF our oountry's ma
chinery OF Production, at least Five Hundred Mil
Mons Oh pol.ars, Wnlcn IS The highest estimate w
nave seen u u foie'sn Deo''
VII. Our Factories, Workshops. Stores, Houses
~ &C., though temporarily unproductive, and in som
cases in advance of pure actual needs, are mainl,
durable, and will all soon be needed. They ar
real and lasting addition to the National wealth
. though often involving individual embarrassment
and loss. we snail need to Duild little compara
d lively for some years to come, and may devot
more labor to productive avooations.
VIII. We have a most efficient laboring popu
lation, with few hereditary idlers, a moderate pul
lie debt. and but the shadow of a standing army
Our twenty five millions Of people can produc
more in 1858 than the thirty'6ve millions of Franc
e We produce very much that Europe must have, an
can produce nearly everything requisite fol GU
own subsistence. we have a bounteous soil, a g
At nal though trying climate great mineral wealtl
r and more timber than any other country, Grea
~ Britain. IN her colonies' and Russia excepted W
can easily, II we WILL work out OF our diticuitie
-e and pay OFT our debt within a lew years.
IS TX. We are now on the right track. Our In
ports are moderate, our exports more considerable
We have become suddenly frugal in our habits, an
d circumspect in our business operations. Wearc Sc
Ting off debts at home, and beginning to reduc
h our obligations abroad. On every side, retrencl
~. Tho 6rst sta yes of imnrnvement ore slow and tb