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


We print elsewhere an essay on "The Panic, "
of which we are debarred from indicating the orr
GIN Suffice it that the author ought to be well in.
formed ard clear sighted with regard to the troubles
and dangers of our present financial position.
Doubtless, he sees, reasons and judges very much
az do thousands infuentally connected with the
commercial exchanges of the country and We ask
attention to bis views with less regard to their in
trinsic worth than to their representative signf-
canoe. Let us ponder them:
l a." considers unreasonable alarm an i'm
mediate and principal cause of our financial dis
tress. This is putting the cart before the horse
with vengeance. A general who should see q
battery Of three hundred grimy threatening cannon
suddenly unmasked in front Of his carelessly sdvsnc
ing troops, and should tbereupon attribute their
natural recOil to unreasonable alarm "-supposng
the "panic the cause rather than the consequence
of the iron. tbroated artilery-wculd reason quite
as soundly as does our correspondent. No, Sir!
the "psnc which undeniably exists has real
and tangible foundation. The "alarm is not
essentially unreasonable" though some of its
manifestations may be- and it is not to be dispeled
by TRADES. We must probe its causes and they
sho don't understand them should defer to those
who do.
ii. Calm reflection is excellent at all times, not
excepting such as these. 1t is not so easy, how
ever, for man who is in desperate terror lest his
notes shall be protested this afternoon, and who
knows that his utmost exertOns will barely enable
him to staye of that catastrophe, to sit down to an
hours philosophic contemplation; nor do We feel
sure that meditation under such circumstances
would be either pleasant or profitable However,
LET every one reflect who cam and let the results Of
such reflection be valued at their full worth.
III. Our correspondent has genius for getting
hold of everything wrong end foremost. Stock
gambling and official corruption rshtfuly )me in
not at the beginning but near the end of the cate
CORY Of causes of our present troubles. His
statement of those causes is sl of this fashi, IN.
He first puts the panic ahead Of the pres.
sure of which it was not cause but a con.
sequence, Though it unquestonably reacted to
render the pressure more stringent than it would
otherwise have been, and then he puts the loss of
conf lence, defalcatOn, &c, &C., in advance Of
over-impOrtation and undue expansion of credits.
The true order of sequence, on the contrary, was
as follows;
l. Reduction of duties by the Tariff Of 1876,
stimulating importation of foreign Metals, Wares
and Fabrics at the expense Of Home Manufactures.
2. Constant and heavy increase of our indebted
ness, foreign and domestic. The Iron which our
artisans should have made being purchased abroad
State stocks, Railroad bonds and private credits
were sent abroad in payment for it, This increase
Of our foreign debt strongly stimulated cores
| pondiDg expansion of credits at home. Railroads
being constructed with the proceeds Of bonds sold
in Europe, the merchants living near their several
ines bought goods in the great seapOrts on credit
| Il c products Of their vicinity were consumed by
| the Railrosd aborers, and there was nothing but
Railroad bonds with which to pay for the goods.
| These were sold somehow, and part payment
made; but the indebtedness Of the interior to the
saboard, Of the sesbOard to Europe, Vas constantly
increasing. At last, the market for bonds wss
glutted; no more could be sold even by the cord,
ald-you see what inevitably followed.
D. We entirely agree with "J.' that Hard
Money is not the remedy for our present lie though
not quite that it is not the approach
| ing blae stage Of the dises,e.
| L. There is no danger that enterprise viii die
and our people lie down in despair because of our
| present troubles. On the contrary, We are likely
10 rise fiom our misfortunes nore elastic and sd-
| venturous than ever The storm viii sweep over
all the sooner because Of its present violence. The
real danger most to be deprecated is that Of present
paralysis, involving loss Of employment and ccnse-
| ouept famine to thousands on thousands Of the
Lsborpg Clastes. If their distress coud Only be
obyiated and employ ment provided for them at any
rate that would enable them 10 live, the misfOr
tune. of Others might be bolas With tcrsitude an(
hope. 1t is bad to be unsbis to pay Jtur nete' IL
bsnk; but 70 be surrounded by hrLstSstd salveI
ing children is 9 fsl nore ser:cu, catSn!ry' Ih'
failuts of ten thou,sal C-e.csaly 0ssd uos Stws