New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-10-12

be asked, u this deheaitenDs J" 4,
attributed, Foremost among its causes INC
widespread system Of creditins which pef'S'es Al
branches Of business, frsm the apparently opulens
owner of dozen ships down to the manu,ac'uio'
Of sussr plums and pastry, who credits my ady sih
months for the ice cream and cakes Tor ner parry
ard puts off the baker and the dressmaker unni IN
the end she cannot pay either, because the iaoys
husband, a. well as many other husbands, have run
more extravasant career Of overtrsdns. "lodins
I'D with selling their household goods and cleafr
the course entirely Another fruitful cause may
be found in the erroneous calculations OF traders
who in general are cautious enough, but VINO con-
ceive they are realizing greater profits than resus
iustify. and who commit the grand mistake OF Nv
ing up TO the full extent Of their fatal mssaicua
ton.
But, apart from the uueIampled extravaganza
practiced in the building Of palaces for prvase resi-
dencer, crowding them with gorgeous furniture
and maintaining help with a profusion tha' mas
sent up servants wages thirty per cent WITHIN zen
years, the grand cause has been the loose manner
in which goods are sold to persons without known
credit. The daily police reports afford numerous
illu,trations of the absurd readiness with whcn
total strangers are credited with large amour" OF
merchandise on nothing but their personal repre-
sentations Every man has been in fever ID sci
goods, and it would almost seem that big lie, told
BY man in a clean shirt would command them at
thousand stores. The remote West and South
have been fruitful source Of misery to New
York from this cause. It is so even
While we write. How instantly would dis
appear the pressure under which this city Is
now actually ground to powder if emily halt OF the
vast Western and Southern indebtedness could DO
realized, or if it had never been stimulated by the
preposterous system of excessive credits. In those
remote regions every man not farmer Is mer'
chant. He sets up business without capital, In
store the rent of which is absolutely fabulous. lie
visits our city with letters introducing him as en-
terprsiDg and Industrious. Responsibility Is not
referred to. Yet goods are crowded on him with
folly only matched by that with which they are
purchased. He buys double the amount he needs.
WHY not He has never kept store until now,
and can have no correct guide from experience BY
which to regulate bis purchases. He may be hon.
est and deserving, and intend to pay. But deho'
crate swindler who does not can obtain the same
recommendations, presents them and his clean shirt
together obtains costly stock of goods with the
same astounding facility, and forthwith vanishes
into fog which never lifts. The annual losses
from this class of men are enormous; yet the same
loose ,ystem Of credits receives no effective check
The honest buyer returns home with his stock,
and soon discovers that he is overloaded with goods
that he cannot sell. The goods that were foolshly
forced on him in New. York, he must force of on
bis neehbors at home, and to get rid of thsm sells
on credit to people who may design to pay, but
who, when pushed for the amount, set up every
form of prOcrastinatiOn. The farmers will not pay
their bills because they have not sold their wheat
and they refuse to part with it because wheat hap
pens to be down. The stOrekeeper, having no
capital of his own, has nothing with which to pay,
and thus it is that country notes possess no con-
vertible value Our merchants pOcket-books are
plethoric with paper Of this description. 1t is con-
yenient as an evidence of debt to be sued out with
lees delay than an open account upon the ledger,
but it ,eldom appreciates to the dignity OF becom-
ing even collateral. What position can it assume
at crisis such as this I Let US hope that among
the hard lessons which the business community
here is now learning, it may learn caution in It's
credit system, and abolish utterly the practice OF
these loose and iDdiscriminate ventures.
If merchandising be so hazardous, where, then,
are our young to look for profession BY which
they can be morally certain of a comfortable main
tenancei Judging from analogy and reason, it may
be answered that, in young country like ours,
where the increase of population outstrips all Eu'
ropesn example, those mechanic arts which are re-
quired for furnishing the common necessaries Of
life will ever be in active demand. Houses will be
wanted, and must be had. The mechanic, though
subject to some losses as well as the merchant, can
maintain himself in strait great deal more easily,
in spite of fluctuations in prices aud the value of
money. But all cannot be mechanics. Happily,
we have Agriculture to fly TO- and TO such ~ seek
it il will be found like the shadow of great rock
in weary land. The field for industry and profit
which it opens up is boundle,s. man who Ian
eushes in great city, supporting precarious ex-
istence by retailing ribbons, if he were to summon
resolution and take spade and sB Ak 10 almost
any location outside of the City Of New York,
might bring up wholesome family Of sturdy chill
dien, and bequeath them all they really need
to enable each 10 earn an honest living.
Could the average Of farmers in New. York and
Pennsylvania who have failed be ascertained we
doubt its being over ten per cent Of the whole. Of
working men in cities, the average would be greater,
but it would not be half as great as among the mer.
camille interest because labor 10 creative and trsf
ticking is not. Experience would thus seem TO
Indicate Agriculture as preferable among employ.
ments for those who desire ease and Independence