New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-12-03
Of tie extent Of our Bank disc ouns sgd 'oo'
when in fact these sdded together amount bat 8,

| uCtstop, &c, amount TO fearful aggregale. VIC
believe there are considerable cities, if not whole
counties, in this country, which would not sell on
the Ist Of January at auction for cash enough 70
| pay the debts of their inhabitants.
| II Our Produce must generally be sold ct low
| figures. There is no use in seeking to disguise
this fact Nearly every product Of the soil is sell
ing, or must be sold, ct from twenty to sixty per
cent below the prices of the last year-beiow those
which the farmers expected to realize when they
planted They have paid high prices for labor
and COW must cell its product ct low prices. We
hold il sb.urd therefore, to maintain that the Ag-
rSulturists of the United States are exempt from
the general depression. As class they are 10
sebt-pot so deeply, perhaps, as other classes but
still in dsbt-nnd while their creditors are pressing,
their means Of payment are diminished BY the cur
rency contraction. individuals are out Of debt
and in easy circumstances but the farming class
| shares deeply in the common suferings.
III. AZ to Manufacturers, Merchants and Ship
owners, they never saw harder times than the
present. Not merely the great Cotton and Wooden
mills to which the term Manufactures is popularity
applied, but the production of Hats, Boots snd
Shoes, Clothing, &c, &c is in the lowest stage OF
depression. There are more factories and work.
shops idle or making abort time at this moment in
the Union thsn ever before. Trade is nearly dead
in the great seaports, and mercantile houses which
lately scld their millions worth per annum and
esteemed themselves wealthy and improbable are
ether suspended and vanly endeavoring to collect
their debts and pay their creditors, or trembling on
the brink of insolvency. Our Shipping interest is
also depressed to serious extent All the factories
in tie country could not be sold on the lst Of Janu
sry next for bali their cost willis the depreciation
in the value Of vessels within the last six months
can hardly be less than twenty FIVE per cent.
". We are threatened with political crusade
amt the Banks which hardly fail to intensity
the present pressure of the commercial revulsiOD,
whatever may be its ultimate result. The signal
Of this crusade may be expected in Mr.. Buchanans
forthcoming Message.
SO much for the darker side of the immediate
prospect: Now LET US look at the brighter:
V. Our late Harvest, though popularity sxsg-
se,attd, is undoubtedly full average. Wheat in
our S ate, ard Potatoes quite extensively, were
fallurer: but there 10 a. least an average Wheat
crop in the whole country, with more Grass. Hay,
Batter, Cheese, Indian Corn, Rye, Oat', Roots,
AID Pork than were produced in any former sea-
son. Gotten ard Tobacco are a full average; Cane
Sugar probably fair yield, with more from the
Maple this year than ever before, and good begin
tipg made this year in producing Strip from the
Strstum. On the whole, though the diversion Of
Lsbor into other channels till near the close Of the
..ascn was excessive, our Agriculture has produced
moro in 1857 than ever before. And the fact that
We are now one of the largest Gold producing na-
tiers in the world, adding some Fifty Millions per
srrum TO tie general stock Of the Precious Metals,
mua. lot be disregarded. 1t 10 . small item CON-
pared with our Grass or Corn crops, but it counts.
VI. Our fore 90 debt, though heavy, has not been
contracted to support ornaments or crafty viciou'
sppesies-pot devoted to objects which ".perish in
tie gens" We have to balance that debt the most
,ompreheI sive and useful sys.em of Railroads on
tia globe. Many Of those Railroads are bad invest
reIt, for the stockholders, yet worth their whole
cost 10 the community. Asa whole, they aye GER
tsply voiis. as facilities TO Agriculture and Trade,
as portions Of our country's machinery of Produc-
I0n at least Five Hundred Millions Of Doars,
which 10 the highest estimate We have seon Of our
For,isu Debt.
VII. OGr FsctOres Workshops, St,res, Houses,
&c, though temporarily unproductive, and in some
cases IL advance Of our actual needs, are mainly
durable, and vii! sll scon be needed. They are
real ard lasting additions to the National wealth,
though of.en involving individual embarrassment
and los. We shall need to build little compare
lively fer some years to come, and may devote moro
labor TO productive ayocations.
VIII We have most Efficient laboring pcpula-
ticp, viii few hereditary iders, moderate pubic
debt, ard but the shadow Of standing army. Our
twenty-five millions Of people can produce more in
ISIS tfsn tie thirty Ave milliom Of France. We
produce very much that Europe must have, and car
produce nearly every thing requisite for our own
subsistence. We have bOunteous soil, genial
though trying climate, great mineral wealth, and
more timber than any other country, Crest Britain
lin her Colones), and Russia excepted. We can
EARLY. il we will, work out Of all our difficulties
ard pay Of cur debt within few years.
TX Ard we are cow on the right tack. Our
Inporta are moderate, our exports more eonsld-
srsble. We have suddenly become frugal in our
habits, and oircumspect in oCr business operations
We are settling of debts at home, ard beginning to
induce our Obligation abroad On every side, re-
treaetmeKf, economy, saving, is the order of the
day The frt stages Of improvement are slow
AID the gain imperceptible, but the scale is turned
n our favor, ard viii not soon be reversed. We
are NO, likely to forget tie lesson Of 1857 in
hun7.
X. Our Bsrks and Currency hsye On the whole
stood Il strain Of this tremendous revulnon al