The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-10-23
THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE.


The panic that has been growing for a
month or two past has at last exploded, and
almost universal suspension Of specie pay
ments is the order of the day. But amidst the
gloom that surrounds Us, there is still hope
and consolation both in the present and the
future. Says the New York Express:
"The present-the physical present, the
material PRESENT. is all we could desire. The
earth groans under the prOfusion Of crops
The God Of nature laughs at our pecuniary
and mental affiiclion-and makes the very
earth smile at our imaginary calamities. From
Maine TO Texas and Iowa,'or Minnesota, all
climes, all attitudes, all longitudes, teen with
The abundance Of our products, as various as
these climes. The golden harvest Of Cali
fornia pours itself freely into eur lap. Peace
prevails every where in our land; order, con-
tentment, general satisfaction with tie form
ofgovernment ana its various administrations
The National Debt is almost extinguished.-
Taxes, at least Federal taxes, are so slightly
laid, that they are scarcely felt or known
God never before thus made prosperons-we
were about to say such country--but GER
tain II is, people never were more blessed
by God, not even the Jews in their palmiest
days. The present, then, even imagine all the
ills we may, cannot be complained of-and il
can only be the future that affrights u.s."
"The Future, now, to Gay, has reason 10
nff1ict us, but not half the reason We Imagine.
Our currency is gone, it is true-that is, the
basis of our currency is annlhllvted for gener-
al use at blow. We do not wish, if we
could, to,underrate this calamity-for when
| the foundations of commerce are broken down,
il is certain the whole fabric must topple, il
not tumble. We have got to 60 through a
fearful revolution 10 values, and from high
and pa,ronizing credit system, come down TO
the mere barbarism Of a currency of precious
metals. 1t will take time-tOo long a time,
perhaps-to recover from this disaster-but il
must be remembered, that il is a disaster OF
our own creation-the merest work OF our
own Imagination. Whenever we can imagine
again, as we have been imagining since 1887
that We can do business on paper only, and
without gold and silver in hand-we are re-
covered at once from our calamity.
"But what now is really lost except this
Imagination! Let us see. There are our
houses, our homes, our lands, our fields, our
wives, our children-are there not Is there
anything really lost to society since yesterday!
Is not the same sky over our heads, and the
same earth under our feet, and is there not
the same grain in our granaTies, cotton in our
fields, rice on our plantations, wool upon our
sheep. &C., &c.l What ID lost. really lost,
then? Think hard, and consider. What is
gold per Sc, or silver of itself! Can they be
eaten or drunken, or lived in! And what are
they really worth in hunger, or peril, or pes
thence, or any other like public calamity p
We know, they are the touchstone to which
all property is brought, and the crucible in
which it is melted-but property exists und-
minished in spite of them. and only changes
in nominal values. Besides, the gold aud
silver in Bank yesterday, is only out of Bank
to-day. 1t is not annihilated; il has not ceas-
ed to exist; it is not swallowed up as it was
on board the Central America. There IL is,
in society, but awaiting to rush again TO the
bank vaults for conservative preservation, and
AZ the basis of paper circulation"