Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1857-07-24
State of Our Country.


1t is 4 common saying, that no man is
SO Independent as our farmer and, in
conversation the other day with distin,
guished broker Of this city upon the peeu.
mary embarrassmcnts of which such gen.
cral complaint has been so long familiar
sound to our ears, the saying was confr-
med to us by remark of his, that for
more than two years it has been only the
farmer or planter who has made money
1t seems on all hands to be admitted
that We are on the eve Of great CONNER.
cial revu!sion. On this subject, says the
New York Tribune, so much has been
wisely and well said, that it is useless to
enter upon any original investigation con.
corning it. Under the influence Of the
reduced Tariff of 1916, our manufacturing
interest has declined during the last few
years aud though population and con.
sumption have increased, few new factor.
les have been established, water pe~e-s
have not been improved, and good part
Of our wooden machinery has stood idle.
Importation has been inevitably increased,
and hence a large Indebtedness has been
Incurred. Our railroads have been built
with British iron on bonds, until that
mine is nearly worked out, and their stock
has been devoted to ruinous rates here and
abroad, and have become worthless. The
official valuation Of foreign imports at the
port of New York, for the last three years
amounts to s570, 900, 900, of which $780,
100000 were for the fiscal year just clos
ed. During the last year about $780,
100000 of imports Of merchandise have
been received by this country, being an
average of more than thirteen dollars per
head, for our entire population. We pay
balance to foreign countries Of ouer forty
millions, and twenty millions ofinterest on
our bonds and stocks held abroad. This
fact alone is sufficient to account for our
crippled and embarrassed condition.
On this dark picture there are but two
lights to be thrown, one of which is q
very feeble one. Thoug Ii We have impor.
ted excessively, we have not consumed the
excess, nor have the consumers purchased
it. In New York, 100000 of mer-
chandise lie in bond, more than there was
last year, and are yet in first hands, and
may belong il good part to foreign own
ers who have shipped them on speculation.
In the meantime, our harvest in wheat,
rye, hay, corn, and all our staples, gives
every evidence of being good.
But, as nation, We arc outrageously
cxtravagant, and deeply in debt. We buy
too much abroad, are producing too little
at home, and are becoming like F. F. VS.,
too lazy almost to work. We are build
ing railroads which are profitable only un-
til rival is established. We are laying
out cities in the West to make fortunes
for land spectators. We must retrench,
and learn to practice industry. We must
make labor more free and respectable, and
resolve to pay as We 60, even if we have
to wear calico and pepper-and salt instead
of silk and broadcloth, and drink milk
and water instead of wine and coffee, and
live on beans and bread and saw-dus. pud-
ding instead of lobster salad, French pates
and turtle soup.
Industry and frugalisy are sure cure
for "ranic and pressure" A young,
elastic, energetic people like ourselves,
possessed of rich, unbounded and fertile
domain should be ashamed to live at the
mercy of the Bulls and Bears of the Stock
Exchange -Ihilod Times