The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1858-12-09
Ohio-Her Resources-Her Pros
pects-vnIue OF Real Estate.


II Is well known to all our people that
for the last four or five years, our favored
State has suffered from what is usually cali
ed nhsrd times" A few only, however,
have been able to see the cause Of disaster,
and q very small number have been aware
of the strength Of our resources. In all 9TH
er periods Of revulsion, our eastern liabilities
have been the only sources Of annoyance
and extravsgant living and running In debt
the sole causes Of our financial difficulties.
To the same cause have the majority OF our
citizens attributed the scarcity Of money and
the depression OF real estate, during the late
period of "hsrd times" II is true, that at
the commensemsnt-about FIVE years since
the loss Of our wheat crop was serious
calamity. and turned the balance Of trade
against US, but that balance was restored the
next year. The truth 10, that previous to the
last revulsion, Ohio in great measure, had
become Independent Of the east. The great
fertility of her soil, her fine climate and
great enterprise Of her citizens had placed
her in the highest position of financial pros
perity. It was the Western fever that swept
over Ohio and carried away from her border
her citizens and her money, that crippled
her resources. "A large portion of the peo.
pie OF Ohio became monomaniacs-many
mortgaged their possessions to borrow mon,
| ey at ruinous rates of interest to invest in
the land of promise in the West. "
Many having money loaned at interest to
vGluabte and enterprising citizens called in
their means to make investments in the wild
land, thereby crippling and almost running
the best business men Of Ohio.
Trade languished, real estate either fell
greatly in value, or becume unsaleable. No
one would purchase at any price ; all forced
sales were made at great sacrifices.
The monomaniacs supposed that all they
had to do, to become suddenly rich, was to
purchase all the wild land that they could
pay for, from means devised from sales Of
property, mortgaging property, or calling in
their loans.
In vain did the wise and sane men of Ohio
reno Istrate and warn the people of their
delusion. The epidemic could not be arrest.
ed till il had spent its strength. So long as
the wild and uncultivated West was fed and
sustained by the money and resources of the
old States (of which Ohio had become one,)
SO long did the epidemic prevail it was re-
cure the disease. That panic was q great
blessing to Ohio, and saved both East and
West from greater calamties which would
have ravaged the whole Union, fit had been
longer delayed. .....
How did it find Ohio She had con,nu-
ed, for FIVE years, to pay her usual tribute to
the East for foreign goods, for both necessa-
rles and luxuries. She had suffered unpre.
cedented drain on her resources TO be invest.
ed in wild lands yielding no return. Her
manufacturers, her mechanics, and all her
business men had been crippled in all their
efforts.
But during all this period OF both real and
seeming disaster, an element was at work
adding strength to her resources. Her ci,i.
zens had been paying their debts and max
ing but few new ones. The panic caused
wide. spread ruin and disaster in the East,
but passed lightly over Ohio, but settled 10
gloom and ruin in the West, not to be re-
moved till they 60 through long years Of pu.
riication and economy, such as had enabled
Ohio TO stand the shock with the strength of
giant. What would have been the finan.
cial condition of Ohio, if this Western drain
had not occurred! If all money withdrawn
from Ohio TO be invested in wild lands, to be
loaned in the West at enormous rates oil
interest, none of which can be realized for
years, had remained with lis and been invest.
ed in business and real estate, what would
have been our condition The fact that
Ohio so nobly stood the shock of the panic
of 1858, and during the long yeors of the
perpetual drain OF her resources, both to the
East and the West, demonstrates not only
her great strength, her pow erlul resources,
but with the removal of the great cause OF
her disasters, she must soon become exceed
ingly prosperous and rich, and business must
receive increased stimulus aud be active in
every department. Columbus Gazette.