Daily Iowa State Democrat., 1859-08-27
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Whss NsEs!
The suddenly patched up peace
made between Louis Napoleon and
Francis Joseph is yet to the people Of
this country surprise - great as was
the breaking out Of the war. People
are beginning to consider the French
usurper TO be magician, who may do
wonderful things with impunity, and
the only privilege left to the rest
Of mankind is to rub their eyes as the
sailor did after experiencing the effects
of the conjuror's exhibitin, and wonder
what he will do next. A war made
with no more necessity for it now than
there has been at any time within the
the last ten years may be closed as soon
a. the respective players are tired Of
the sport. The amusement was in the
late contest carried just far enonph to
satisfy the combatants. France won
three great battles and Austria lost
three. One hundred and twenty-five
thousand men have either been killed;
or SO badly wounded and manned as
to be of little service to themselves or
others. Immense amounts of treasure
have been expended, and the industry
oftwo nations seriously injured whilst
the means of labor in the persons of
soldiers killed, wounded, or taken
into the armies, have been seri-
ously restricted. The sweeping ont Of
existence, or out of the sphere Of USE
fulness, as many hands as have been
rendered valueless by this war, must
exercise very important influences upon
the prosperity Of the world. In the
United States our usual calculating
spirit is exercised in guessing" the re-
suits as far as they twill operate upon
us. What the consequences would have
been had the war continued might
very easily have been forseen. When
men withdraw themselves from useful
pursuits and play at war, they have to
be supported in their idleness and
destructiveness by the people Of other
countries; or rather, they must depend
on other nations for supplies Of food,
clothing and necessaries. Every soldier
is person subtracted from agriculture
or manufactures. Others must find for
him those articles which his physical
condition requires, The United States
were fully alive to this idea, and some
very long heads anticipated the time
when the who le carrying trade and the
furnishing business would have been
monopollzed by us when in a general
war France, Austria, Germany, Prussia
Russia and England, were contending
for what results it might be difficult to
specify. All our dreams of extended
commerce, and of prosperity to our
trade and manufactures, must 10 a
very great degree, be dissipated. We
come down once more from the re-
gion Of conjecture to the territories Of
reality, and the inquiry is, What nerts
We had intended to sell to Europe
our grain, our cotton and our sugar,
and. to receive manufactured dry
goods. silks, and other articles of which
our extravaganza demands large guam
titles. According to every indication,
nature will not be niggardly to us in
those products upon which we rely
doein is represente to be in fine con-
dition, and the harvest is above even
the bounteous average Of last year.
We have from the excess of our abun>
dance enough to feed the world. Cot
ton, reports from the South say, ex-
ceeds in promise heavier crop than
was ever known. Sugar is the least
tlourishing, but it is believed that there
will be a crop up to or nearl y up to
the average of last year. The abstrac-
tion of hundred thousand men from
the population of the world ought to
have some effect upon these products.
What will it be? Grain cannot rise
in price. but must be ruled by low
rates. There are many less mouths to
feed than there were q year ago, and
war has not ravaged a wide region of
country, so as to render the fields ster-
lie. In Europe the grain crop, too, is
large, so that there will be an abun-
dance and excess Of food, causing low
prices and but little demand. Cotton
will hardly maintain itself. There will
be less necessity for manufactured
goods, for there are fewer bodies to
clothe, and the stock of fabrics in
which cotton is a basis is already very
large. Sugar may be rather scarccr
than twelvcmonth ago, but this crop,
although important, is not the princi-
pie one upon which the prosperity Of
our county depends.
These facts portend q season of low
prices as far as our own consumption
goes, and Of difficulties in relation to
our European debt. The lessons Of
1857 seem to be already forgotten,
and importations have reached an ex-
tent exceeding all previous experience.
We are getting largely in debt to
Europe, and we are without the means
to pay it any other way than by yield
ing our own gold. We cannot hope
to exchange our crops for our debts,
and thereby wipe out our obligations.
We know not how near we stand on
the brink Of difficulty and Of insolven-
cy. The greatest care is necessary to
navigate us through these dangers, and
the most skillful pilot will perceive the
peril and endeavor to guard against it.
But what are We doing to meet the
emergency I! Nothing! absolutely
nothing! lmportations still continue
to an extravagant extent. Luxury and
ostentation against peril, as if every.
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