The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-09-01

| cai 'ne uisasietS Which are occurring IN wal
street. These disasters are the failures of sum
people as De'aunay d Company, the Ohio Trust
! Company, and half dozen stock brokers' and
| specuators in railroad securities, No doubt,
there failures are very disastrous to the creditors
of tcese concerns; disastrous in the extreme TO
| the unfortunate persons who knew no better than
TO place thei money in their hands; aud equally
disastrous to hose blind, infatuated persons who
| in defiance of all warning, persisted in investing
their savings ip the securities which these fixtures
have deprecated To such as these the events
OF the past week may well be classed as dlsas-
trous
But, when we turn away from Wall street and
from the limited clss which has de aiugs with the
brokers bankers, and spectators of tnst region,
il is quite doubtful whether the disasters of the
past few weeks have net be- n in their way bro
| ductive of good rs well as evil to the country.
| Within the past few years, az ali house
keepers know to their cost, the cost of living has
enormously increased in this city and thfougpout
| the country at large. There IL q marked iu-
crease in the cost of land, clothing, house
| rent, &c; but the most remarkable 10
| crease, ard the one that ia most directly
felt by the largest class of persons is taat in
| articles Of food. Beef, mutton bread. corn
vegetables, groceries and provisions OF all kinds
have increased full fifty per cent in value, on tue
gross average, within the past i've years. That is
TO cay, we pay to the West and to the producing
portions of tue country twice as mach for what
We eat as we used to d. in the years 1850 and
| 1851. This movement of prices has caused
misery among the poorer classes and an amoua.
| of privaton even among those who have CON
potency which we can hardly undertake to de-
scribe.
Now though 1t is quite true that some part of
this increase of prices is due to the discoveries OF
gold in California and Australia--~ which by
multiplying the common standard of value have
necesstated corresponding change in the cur
rent value Of all articles habitual'y exchanged TOR
that Standardized still it is obvious tn st thus
multiplication will not alone account. for the H.
crease; for-to 90 no farther-the quantity OF
gold added to the worlds circulation has certain
iy no. amounted during the whole Of tne las. six
seven years 10 twenty-five per cent Of tue total
amount in circulation, yet the 10 rease of prices
as We have said, rather exceeds than falls short
of fifty per cent We must look for some other
cause to explain the balance.
That Cause we shall fad in the irGstion of our
paper currency in the shape of bank notes,
railway bonds and stocks aud other tic
ti,ious representatives of value. Two thou
sand millions have been set down as
los estimate of the paper imitation Of this cou1-
| try at the present time-a much larger sum than
all the gold currency that has been derived tom
Australia and California together. This i'm
mense capital-this gigantic accumulation of
seeming wealth-which has been mostly added to
our currency since 1850, has operated ON prices
in q twofold manner. La the first place, it has,
by the ordinary Law of exchange, increased the
value of every commodity usually exchanged for
paper money. And secondly, the vast amount
Of wealth thus placed in the hands of large cor
porations and banks has materially aided the
organization oil combinations among producers
| to maintain prices above their natural level 1t
is notorious, for instance that the loans of such
institutions as the Ohio Life and Trust Company
were used to sustain such combinations. TO ena-
BILE them to "carry" large quantities of produce
of various kinds, and generally to help out their
extortiops Our beef market here has for mouths
and years been placed on an unnatural basis by
the power of the middlemen (standng between
toe dover and the consumer) to withhold their
stock from market till they could command their
own prices. Aud we doubt not but in many In.
stances these institutions have suffered as much
by these shaving operations as they have by their
connection with the railways.
Such being their seeming function In the
economy Of the world, the failure Of the Ohio
Life and Trust Company and other kindred ins.i
tptions has q pleasing as we'll "a sorrowiul a.
pect. II they are TO be deprived OF the power oi
being useful in Wall street, they will likewise be
declared from mischief in the West. Combina
tons TO sustain prices above their natural level
will now seek in vain the capital by tue aid of
which the puolic was wont TO be hseced for the
banks which stood in the background and fur
| nished the sinews Of war are being swept away.
We SEE no prospect OF immediate relief either
| for the railways or the banks. We expect that
many institutions Tow seemingly sound will fol-
low in the wake Of the Ohio Trust and the At
woods. 1t will be some consolation when they
break, to know that such disasters may be an
earnest, to the poor, of cheap provisions, cheap
beef, cheap corn, and cheap bread
RrroRrs CT THE NAVAL COURTS or EourRr--
NECESSITY OF IMMEDIATE AcnoS THEREON
Some six months have elapsed since the Naval
Courts commenced the revision of the acts of tue
Efficiency Board OF 1855, and the cases Of about
6ftx sfc. "a have bapn carefu in yatad and
decisions rendered. Whether the decisions of
these courts be favorable or adverse to the appli-
capts, it appears reasonable and just that they
be ptomu gated ct the earliest possible moment,
ard un donhf not that The President will niue