New-York daily tribune., 1858-12-29
FROM PHILADELPHIA.

THE HOLIDAY wEEK-GErrrSo "'rr DEBT
EXECUTORS IN TROUBLE-yHE CHESS FEVER,
Prom Oar Own Correspondent.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec, q, 1853.
What stagnsnt holiday week we have had
1t s true that turkeys hsvo been up, up 20 50,
ard soue of us up to turkeys; but thea Stocks
down, and upgracvusy persist in staying there.
The men who make mlnce pies by machinery (their
contents DOT to be elaborately aqay yzed with their
co.sborers, the sausage makers (as unu,tly the
victims Of equally sinister suspicicns), have done
most Of the business durng rhe whole week. You
see the wagon of the peTambulatDg PIE man at the
door even Of the brown-siOne front, for hail the
people now buy the article ready made. How
cony. nent it is to be oblvious Of the ingredients
Christmas would not be Christmas without some
thing to represent this melting symbol OF IN
ancient civilization. The shop windows have been
crammed with soft seductoDs to the crowds who
turrtd out in spite of an incorrigible "spell of
weather." doubt not they have had their reward.
Yet the hllarity does not come up to old times.
There is evidently a cloud hanging over us.
We are not doing the business We want to- or
ought to- Money If drug, yet stocks keep down,
while rents keep up. AT one time We were hopeful
that quarter has died out. All the messages to
Congress and all the speeches in 1t, are vain. lhe
first is deliberate cheat; the latter are ike spit
ting against the wind. Yet, dull as the hold ~
week has been, a memory not old can lnd remin'
iscences Of some that have been infinitely more sad.
In the midst of IT ALL l am sangulne that We nave
touched bottom.
1t is becoming quite evident that Pennsylvania is
getting out of debt. The fiscal year ending Novem-
Der 80, shows II balance IN the Treasury ol
SS92, ,O27 76. year ago, the balance was only
$52o, LOG AZ, or S363,Y2l - less than now Yet,
curing the year just closed, there has been more OF
the Public Debt paid of than IN any previous one.
Auction duties yielded a revenue of $4,000; bank
dividends $500 coo; tavern licenses, Sl"O,OOO;
retailers licenses Sl9OO00; premiums on char
teIs S91 coo; tunnagc tax on railroads, S224 OUO;
md the tax on iuherltances to collateral heIrs-a
most unjust leyy-yielded S52,V0O The "holt
income for the year was 81, lS,11c -. OF this
large sum, 81 ,9s9, 600 were paid as interest on
loans contracted 10 build the State canals and ral
roads All these ruinOus works being now dis
posed Of the cloud of debt which hung over us i
beginning to pass away. Formerly, We were
annually taxed TO make bp the losses which these
works annually caused. The taxes now 60 to pay
the debt and already begin to influence the balance
sheet. The Main Liue was sold only eighteen
months ago, and the remainder Of the canals only
Lst Spring Yet the effect is already very ap-
psrent No better evidence could be given OF the
wisdom that caused the sales 10 be made But
another incident of the act Will be found extreme,
beuefcal. The sale of these works has broken ut
Thousand rich places OF refuge and enolument iot
the pet election-rOwdes of the Democracy. The
future offering no moIe rewards of this Kind, thai
yirtuous party will be shorn Of one great element
Of streugtL. Ii they be yictors hereafter, they
Mill look in vain for spols. This barren hen1ag'
will largely influence the majorltics which The
Democracy may hope hereafter to seenre II
Pennsylvania
Some weeks ego there died in this city Quaker
gentleman, JOSIAH DAWSON by name. HIS ag'
Mas nearly eighty, and bachelor at that Durins
half q century he had lived with great fTugality
but not meanly: neither had ne been deaf 10 tht
numerous demands upon his bcney olence. On tn,
contrary the good of others more eestitute was ~
uppermost consideration in his mind. His ineom,
being greater than his wants or charities required
h. regularly invested the surplus IN lots of gIounC
in the suburbs. Hsf century ago these
locations could be- bought at prices that nov
sound ridicuousy low Only ten years ago ther'
were bargains among them for those who ha'
BsOuey, that have turned up most productive piS
GERS. How enormously remuneratiye, tbeu mus
have been the early Investments OF the seliden!ini
Dawson. Keeping no mlsery record of his gains h
was quite UNCONSCIOUS OF the value ot bis estate a'