New Orleans daily crescent., 1857-11-23

correct existing evils, and promote the welfare OF the
trade. 5f4 N, ss5 IA 9t1tt Es@ s
We think much Of the present distress may be
attributed to increasing spirit Of extravaganza,
in luxurious living reckless expenditures, and ex-
cessive credits
We attribute q great deal ofsour trouble to the
action Of the banks who have encouraged spirit Of
tover-trading by too readily acceding to demands
made upon them, in increasing their discounts, and
by suddenly contracting in the recent unparalleled
manner, have rendered many Of our most solvent
merchants unable to retire their large maturing obi
Cations until confidence is restored and capital again
fulhls its legitimate purposes. There has been appa
rently but lttle concert Of action between the differ
ent bank officers i; some Of them taking the ground
that they must take care Of themselves apparently
forgetting the fact that the interests Of the farmer
merchant and banker are identical and that disaster
Of the one is sure to affect the other more liberal
policy would have saved many OF our best merchants
from bankruptcy, and by checking the panic at The
az saved themselves the modification of general
suspension. X ssl 5 g9s i-g ~ w 3g iss
We also lay not little share Of, the blame upon
some OF our city journals who have pursued course
calculated to produce panic, by creating feeling Of
distrust toward many Of our solvent corporations It
is TO be regretted that the press welding the inu
ence it does, should not in commercial crisis like
the present take pains to calm rather than excite the
public mind. ss& 5sasi, i r. ..sgsses4.f Fs A
We believe our present system Of credit is also q
fruitful source Of our embarrassments and difficulties
We pay cash or its equivalent for all our imported
goods, which constitute large portion Of our stock
besides paying more than fifty per cent. in cash for
duties, freight and other attendant expenses and
obliged TO keep constantly on hand a large stock,
which we are unable to realize in Of necessity
except ct serious l0ss These requirements involve
the employment Of more capital in proportion to our
sales, than any other branch of the jobbing trade,
while at the same time we are expected to grant as
extended credit any other, to the serious embar
rassment of our business. b i5t1 5s; 3B5 4s!.5 + Al
1t has been the custom Of most houses to take notes
at six months credit. The prompt payment Of these
obligations is very frequently disregarded and their
liquidation postponed to meet the convenience Of the
debtor. We feel that we cannot too strongly dis
countenance custom SO largely calculated to render
the buyer negligent in pressing his own collections,
and careless Of his credit. We believe the time has
now fully come to naugurate radical change in so
defective system.
The necessity heretofore urged by country pur-
chasers for obtaining goods on long credit does not
now exist. We have Communication with all sections
by railroad and this is getting to be more and more
the tavorte mode Of transportation a very large
portion of even our heavy goods are thus forwarded
and although the cost of transportation may be q
little higher, yet the goods are al home few days
from shipment; the dealer thus saves interest and
insurance. and the fact that the routes open at all
seasons enables him to order oten thus saving inter
est the oversock, which would necessarily accu-
mulate under the old method. 1t is therefore
ResslUed, That in view of the advantages arising
from a judicous credit system, we recommend that
hereafter we sell onr goods on credit of six months,
taking notes for the same, payable at bank with the
current rate Of exchange.
Resotued, Ihatfor cash payment an allowance of
5per cent will be made, interest at the rate of 10
per cent per anum on amount paid before maturity.
Resolued, That we invite brethren Of the trade,
In neighboring and interior cities to unite with in
our efforts to establish uniform system credits.
Mr.. John W. Quincy spoke on the report substan-
tally as follows: Hs@
The only apparent remedy for the present evil Of
long Credits is to convince the community by facts
and argument that it Is contrary to their interest," and
that continued and disastrous fluctuations must
tinue to occur, and that their chance is hardly five
per centum, that in series OF years they will be in
solvent, If they continue these suicidal credits There
are firms in this city who six months since were Justly
| esteemed prudent, shrewd, acquainted with their
business from buoyhood, whose opinion was con-
suited as embodyng welEtried experience aud whose
position as merchants for wealth. probity and stand
ing, were the pride Of our city. Their benevolence
made glad the hearts of the poor, while their noble
heartedness cheered the whole sphere they enlight
ened by their presence. Circumstances had favored
them, and their business seemed all that the heart of
man could desire. But how changed. Suddenly,
as If touched by the hand of God fortunes have van
ished their best judgment and counsel overthrown,
their hand Of charity is parayzed and the cheerful
ness Of hope is displaced by the frown Of despair.
Why this change? =sl .'ss3R
They have been unconscieusy gay, and rejoicing
over their financial graves They were pursuing an
iSnis fatuus, and mistook it for Q reality They
were treading path Of credit that the experience Of
their lives, as well as the thousand living voices
around, were constantly telling them was the path
that leads to financial death-yet they needed it not
That voice cries to us this day in trumpet tones it
cries in the slaughtered fortunes around us it speaks
in the crippled fortunes OF those who still exist. Its
agonies resound from PROSTATE banks, broken in the
very efforts to sustain those for whom they were ere
ated to assist The voice comes from the industrious
and starving poor, willing to labor but no labor to be
be moved for want Of funds from the exchanges OF
our country being greater than the profits originally
made on the goods; from initiation of stocks that
have assumed q fraudulent and lying garb; from
irrational outlay in shops, dwellings, dress, equipage
and entertainments, exhibiting an extravaganza su
fcient to shame republican simplicity. Credit to q
reasonable extent is desirable but what was reason
able once is very unreasonable now. The only sure
basis of credit, vz integrity, has been too much
dermined by extravaganza and contempt of serious
obligations tobe reliable Wise men, who were called
oracles Of wisdom in finance all over our country have
failed, and their falibity of judgment proves that
as general rule, profound wisdom in systems Of fl
| nance over which man has no control is practically
sublime nonsense. John Randolph said he had found
the philosophers stone. "It was, pay as you go, ,
and no person since his day has expanded too much
or exploded on his system of credit. Franklin says
| ne VINO goes borrowing goes sorrowing."
We have practised the opposite course till every
boy in farm house is bewildered with the rich and
magnificent ideas he gets of city life and wealth
and thousands leave sure subsistence for butterfly
show of a few years. and dependent existence after
| wards We wish to turn back this tide of emgra
ton it should be from the city to the country for
the merchants too many and the producers are toe
few. The widespread disaster Of to-day warns them
to consider and keep back. The evils are spreading
everywhere from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast
from New York to California, traders aud the mer
camille community are being crushed while the echo
comes from Europe that England, France and Austria
with their teeming millions, are suffering from the
miserable effect of our desire of credit the reaction
of which is sendiug forth heartfelt groans from these
troubled nations. In the language Of another {" il
has produced combinations by means of which the
cost of food has been unreasonaby increased to the
great injury of those who were in moderate circum
Stances especially TO the poor and this has incurred
the guilt of extortion. 1t has filed society with {
luxurious sensualsm, which has gone far to curse thu
youth of the land who were growing up under its in
iuence; it has engendered a monstrous spirit o
speculation destroyed much of our faith in legisa
tive virtue produced q horrid progeny of fraut
among men holding public and private trusts and
by these means, mas eaten as canker into the very
heart of public confidence But the half has no
been told. The most lucid pen cannot depict th.
sleepless nights, the brain racked with the tradon
Of existing and ansatisied debt, the individual anG
family distress that false system of credit has now
nshered into existence. The end is not vet ana ne
human forethought can point to the day when WI
shall receive our last scourge for the raH essnns