The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1858-01-14

ment is at least an approximation to the
truth!
Debts of the State, Foreign
and Domestic, -$l6, ,402,005
Corporate debts of Towns,
Counties, and Municipali.
ties, are about, $4,000, 600
Debts of Railroad Compa-
uies, 5O,O00,0OO
Debts il Judgment, 100000
Debts secured by Recorded
Mortgages, 10000, 600
Debts to Banks & Bankers, 25,OO0,OO0
Debts of Merchants due out
side the State, 100000
Other individual debts, 40 900, 900
Aggregate debts of all de-
scriptions, 221, ,402 ,095
Debt is not always an evil. Loans
wisely invested by the borrower in agen.
cies of production, such as lands, mines
and implements, or Of movement, such as
canals, railroads or steamboats,, often af.
ford essential aid in the development of
resources, and even create the means of
their own liquidation. A few of these
debts are of that character. And in ma
ny cases the same Subt appears more than
once in different iorms. For the greater
part, for instance, of the individual debts,
are due to retail merchants. who, in turn,
owe the same money to banks and whole
sale dealers. But with every allowance
for these considerations, this mass of in.
debedness remains subject of by no
means agreeable contemplation. For its
reduction or extinction we must rely on
augmented production and increased e.
economy. That these may be safely reli,
ed upon no one can doubt who under
stands the character of our people, and
reflects upon the fact that this indebted
ness, large as it is, hardly amounts to
one fifth of the aggregate property in the
State, and exceeds, only by a third, the
aggregate products of a single year.
| have already advertcd to the fnan-
cial reyulsion, which has, during the last
six months, so seriously affected the vari-
ed interests of our community,
Twice before during the present centu-
ry, have similar revulsions occurred; and
both were accompanied by the same train
of calamities and disasters. The interval
from one Of these revIkious to another,
has twice been marked by space of
twenty years. The causes of each, tho
very different in form, may be reduced
to the same general expression, namely:
the reckless contracting of debts beyond
means of payment. The spirit of specu-
lation; eager desires for great and sud
den gains; the spirit of ostentation and
luxury, seek qualification through debt
AS there is no limit to these passions of
the heart, so there is no limit to debts
contracted for their qualification, except
notorious insolvency which makes credit
Always most active when
prices are rising, circulation increasing,
and credit expanding, these desires, un-
never fail, under such crcum-
stances, to reach their crisis in enormous
and universal indebtedness, to be speedily
and certainly followed by widespread
collapse and disaster.
For nearly ten years past the circum.
stances Of the country have tended to
-hese results. The influx of gold from
California, has rapidly augmented from
gear to year the volume of the circulating
Medium; which has been still farther ex-
oanded by vast, though not equal, in
crease of credit currency. In 1913, be-
ore the importation of gold from Califor-
lia had commenced, the respective a.
mounts of coin and bank notes in the
country were as follows: coin $l26, 753,-
)27; bank notes 1923, ,506,04l. In 49,
II, the respective amounts were, coin,
276, 100, ,442; bank notes, 2I4,778,222.
rhe aggregate currency in
1913, was, $255259, Fl8 /
Che aggregate currency in -
1857, was, 400, 0,878,664 |
The increase of currency was, 1886, ,6l9, $40
Che increase of coin was, 149, ,367s4l8
The increase ofbank notes was86, ,272. 1871
The rapid augmentation effected by
he increass COIN alone, could not fail
o prodlc yked effects in the rise of
,rices,. il, Multiplication of transac
ions, in cement of credits, and
n the in! )ass u debts. The additional
timqlsLion Of this tendency by the. fur
her introduction of $86 232,17l of cred II
t currency, sufficiently accounts fol. i'll
he effects wEch-have been Witnessed.
No system'pf currency can iusute com
pleIsktoteCtion against speculation, debt
: rom but that system, which,
any other, directly tends to
I'd inhame these evils, is, with.
the system of credit curren-
Smr therefore, chiefly de.