Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-04-26
The Debt If the Country.

In the last number Of the Mount Vernon
Papcrs. Mr.. Everett discusses the cause Of
great rcvulsion of 1857. lie finds this in the
mountain load of debt. personal, business
and corporate. weighing upon individuals
and associations in all parts Of the country,
and in every relation, with almost equal Sc
verify. Ordinarily in considering this sub
iect, almost exclusive attention is paid to the
bank debt, and the expansion or contraction
of this is looked upon rs measuring the de-
gree to which credit has been extended
Mr.. Everett, however, includes III the debt
which causes commercial crises and panIcs.
the debts owed by individuals, upon mort
cages and personal securities, and that which
the merchant carries along who trades To
four or five times the extent of his capital, as
well as bank circulation and deposits; simply
regarding rhe latter aS holding Il position
which enables them 10 exercise Il controlling.
and ut times Il disastrous influence, and by
the sudden destruction of confidence 10 pre-
~cipitate these calamities which reciprocal
credit avertS.
Ii would be interesting to inquire as to
the actual amount of the debt OF all kinds
which now underlies all our financial move
ments, and eXerts so wide an influence upon
them, but the investigation could scarcely
lead 10 any results which could be regarded
~ even all approximation To the exact truth;
and, We fear, the public would be slow to
credit and far from actually realizing the
vast aggregate, to which any reasonable con-
lecture must lead us. Mr.. Everett makes no
attempt To estimate any except what he terms
the personal debt of the country, and this,
E.I-.. l.-l-.l l-1l,-. 6.
each head of II family. amounts To fifteen
hundred millions. or To half the national debt
ef England. Adding To this the enormous
business debt Of the country. domestic and
foreign, and the corporate debts of every de-
scription, it is readily seen that the burden,
the Inconvenience and the danger, must be
felt universally.
while things are prosperous" says MIR.
Everett. this untold mass of debt can be- ear
ried. If all the speculative purchases and
sales succeed. the debts Oh one side will be
balanced by the credits OH the other, but if
any great arrangement takes place. distress,
perhaps ruin. cnsueS:--to 4 few individuals,
II the disturbing cause is confined 10 a local.
u or Il single article of commerce.: TO large
bodies the whole community, If it is ola
comprehensive nature. As soon rs the bust
ness debt becomes oppressive, the personal
debt above alluded to begins to pinch: and it
may be observed what We omitted to state. in
reference to the ratio of capital and business
that the capital of the country is at all
times charged with the maintenance of those
to whom it belongs circumstance which
materially impares its efficiency rs the means
ofdoing business"
The extent to which the reyulsiOn of 1851
reduced this burden of debt is an inquiry
which is intimately connected with our flu
ture prosperity. Bankruptcy is as odious a
method Of liquidation for the community at
large as for an individual, but in both cases
it sometimes serves equally convenient pur-
poses. More than once i'll our foreign
dealings, has a heavy balance of trade
disappeared by this means, and more than
once has domestic debt been generally re-
duced or wiped out, in the same manner
Besides this effect Of annihilating debt, how
ever, o commercial crisis, like the failure of
an individual, often effects a liquidation by
compelling the immediate settlement of debts
which would otherwise be suffered to rcmain
and accumulate. The indications seem 10
be, however, that the panic of 1857 was rath-
er a temporary suspension than a destruction
Of credit. and that it to Il great extent result
ed in extension rather than liquidation. 1t
is difficult upon any other hypothesis to ac-
count for the sudden initiation Of trade which
seems to be going OH. The immense increase
Of foreign imports follows no regular law of
Il reviving commerce, proceeds from no in
creased demand for domestic products, and
is based upon 10 adequate expectation of
those products. 1t is based mainly upon ere
dit. and while it is increasing with fearful
rapidity, that foreign debt, the influence of
which is so quickly felt in financial matters,
it is also stimulating the increase of our vast
domestic debt. the effects of which are less
visible but more extensive. and which as we
have said seems to have undergone no mate
rial reduction B0SioH .idr.