Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1858-12-17
nANn rLMEs M NM WEsr.

The late commercial rcyul,ion laid its hand
heavily upon many of the cities and towns of
the West, where the credit system was cX-
paudcd to- an enormous extent. and now MOTH
ing is heard from them but a terrible earnest
cry of " hard times The city OF Chicago,
which has been the great headquarters of
speculation az the West, and where storc-lots
two years ago were worth almus; untold gold,
feels the reaction with great severity Busi-
ness is cmphatically down to the "hard pan.
What trade there exists is limited to the ac-
tual necessities Of commerce, and the i'm
proyomonts' which depended ON flush times
are greatly retarded. The price of labor,
building materials and produce of all kinds
has fallen one hundred per cent within year
and a half Real estate is kept up by making
no sales except forced ones. Mortgages arc
not torecloscd by land agents, for the reason
that 1t would prove loss to the owner as
not enough has been paid by the purchaser to
make mp the difference OF depreciation in
value since the purchase was made. to the
present time. Hence it is for the interest of
the creditor to obtain another payment ON the
land. The number of unoccuWcd stores and
houses, already counted by hundreds, is i'm
croasing daily Says q letter in the New
York Jou0ai OF CoDmcrcc:
We have but few strangers here; all the
avenues to travel and our hotels are deserted,
except by the very few absolutely obliged to
patronizo them. All our principal railroad
thoroughiaros, that rcckoncd their passengers
10y the hundred so few months past, now num-
Der them by the dozen. Our railroad com
panies, although they have greatly reduced
their expenses by economy and retrcnchment
"a fyf NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
now, at the sacrifice of dividends, taskcd to
the utmost to meet their unavoidable OK
penscs.
Other corporate enterprises have Jared the
same. Manufactures and machine shops, the
smokes Of whose tall chimneys hung over our
city like a cloud, now are tcuantoss their
fires have gone out; the ring Of the hammer
and the busy hum of the machinery is hushed.
Society. too, has suffered Some of its stars
and brightest ornaments, floating but short
time ago ON the top wave OF prosperity court
ed and praised, now help to make up class
of seedy looking individuals hanging around
our hotels, railroad offices, and other public
places Such must be the case when the ba-
sis Of our first society is wealth When a
man needs only galyanizing to make him eli
glble TO our aristocratic circles, he is liable to
have his mock auction gliding detected at
any moment and be branded as Peter
Funk of society
AT st. Pauls, Minnesota, rents have declin-
ed from twenty-five to fifty per cent, while
real estate has, on an average, lost ono-third
Of last years valuation. Outside the city the
decrease has been greater. Wages have par
taken of the downward tendency. and labor
crs who last year obtained S so per day, are
this year forced to be content with 80 cents.
From Iowa, too, there is general cry ofhard
times. We hear Of young men who have zone
from this section to the West during the last
SIX months, to seek employment, who came
back with very different notions of the rosour-
ces OF the West from what they had when
they started, and purses sadly depleted.
These evidences of pecuniary suffering at
the West are by no means pleasant to record.
Not only are many of the sufferers our old
friends and noighbors, but their misortunes
react upon US We trust, however that the
rampant spirit of speculation, which has boon
so rife IN that section of the country of late
years, has received a check, which will lead
the people to adopt more cautious policy and
conhne themselves more closely to legitimate
operations.-Llos JouraaL
In confirmation the above gloomy picture.
the No0ey Comfy Mirror of Nov. oath. pub.
lished at Austin, Mower County, MINI, con.
tains no less than twenty-threo notices of
mortgage and Sheriff sales An indication of
hard times surely.