The American. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1857, 1857-09-30
THE MONEY CRISIS.


The pressure in the money market, and the
stoppage of specie payments by the banks, re-
minds us forcbly and painfully Of the money crisis
in May, 1887, little more than twenty years ago.
The same causes, in part, which produced hat
crisis, have operated to produce this-namely,
immense importations Of foreign goods; purchas-
ing abroad what we ought to manufacture our
selves; extrayagance in dress, furniture and liv-
ing; wild spirit Of speculation; stock gambling,
| and attempting generally to get rich in haste,
| and without labor or steady application to bust.
ness-in short, to acquire wealth without creating
il. Ia
nation, or a large community, is but an
| aggregation Of individuals, and is therefore sub
ject to the same laws as individuals. The same
causes produce the same effects with both. Now,
what should we say of family TINT should pursue
the course we have, as a nation, been pursuing
for many years past-buying what ought to be
made at home; living beyond their means; specu-
lating in stocks and lands instead of devoting
themselves to steady, productive industry; placing
false estimates upon their lands and stocks, ard
thus deceivng themselves as to their real fnan.
cial condition; travelling about the country,
spending the summer at watering places and the
winter at expensive hotels in large cities, or In
their own palatial dwellings, furnished in a style
calculated to astonish even princef Would not
every sensible person predict that such a family
must ere long meet financial crisis, or in other
words soon wind upS Certainly. But IL every
family, whole community, live in this way, does
it not us surely augur that crisis must sooner or
later overtake themf No doubt.
Let any COOL dispassionate, practical man look
at the annual statements Of our exports and i'm
ports for ten years past at the kind and quantity
OF goods we nport; at the enormous amount Of
gold we have been compelled to send out of the
country every year, to pay for silks, sces, lawns
de laines, broadcoths, diamonds, jewelry, and fine
expensive goods generally, as well as for the iron
and steel we import, and then look at the cond-
ton Of our own manufactures, and he would come
irresistbly to the conclusion that this condition
u our trade and manufactures, our imports and
exports, must some time or other, sooner or
later, lead to "a crisis" That crisis Is upon US
and fortunate shall We be if il teaches us, as a
nation, the error Of our ways, and endows us with
wisdom to avoid IL in future, by adopting differ
ent policy, that Of buying less abroad, and manu-.
featuring more at homc of living less expensively
and changing our habits of foolish extravaganza
and ridiculous display for those Of frugality and
an unostentatous style oflving
A financial crisis, or period OF "hard times. y
ia severe schoolmaster, but the only one by
which many people can be taught. Upon them
reasoning and remonstrancc are thrown away
they must be made to feel before they can learn
| 70 think, or act like rational creatures.
We were not one of those who considered the
discovery Of the rich mines Of gold In Californis
as an unalloyed blessing; 30 far from t. we looked
upon this discovery as but the beginning Of those
evils that have followed We felt as Colonel Ben
ton did; we looked upon the gold az a ours.
rather than blessing TO us as a nation, and like
him We were willing TO SEQ u scratched up by wild
beasts, gathered qsickly into heaps and thrown
away 20 that Il would not draw away enterprisins
and industrious men from more important, snt
more profitable, as well ne useful branches of labor
nor create among us wild spirit of reckless CT
travagance and dcmoralizn proHigacy. Az tn,
discovery OF the gold and silver mines OF Soutl
America, BY Spain, was the greatest misfortun,
that ever befel that proud, and until then. brave
powerful and energetic nation, so we believed
would the discovery of the California gold mines
DC misfortune rather than blessing to the peo
PIE o. the United States. That opinion we hav,
never yet seen cause TO change. aqF e1.
naa 'ne enterprise, the energies, the industry
sno she capital which have beer devoted An tb
osgihg o. go'd in that part of the world. be-,
applied to agriculture, manuf.o,rro. go. -,
commercs In the States cas-, Of M 49, =.
tains, the result would have been 4. ,y -,o..'
tsseous 70 the country than all Ii. cola -. ~.
Or would have been II ten time. .. 70. - va =.
'gsthered from the mines. ~" ''' 'e'