New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-07-25

81 200 zoo then sOld at g. while now II 10 q hV''
b,u If tire brokers in tao cities q. 20; Miehg"
Central. with capital nearly as large then seilns
at IO6 nov vibr.tss dollar or txs above or an
der 40. and even Camden and Amboy, traversine
the most frrquentod thorcushfare IN toe Union"
and un. Ihau,t-d by competition has ssnA from
I49 the n to l23 now, with . elk per cent DIVIDEND
TO be paid the present month.
Takipg these aeIl-known roads a. standard, IL
NAV b. assumed that the depreciation, WHEN sh
yesrsaeo amounted 70 only fourth OF their chpl-
tai is now swollen to two thirds, and 1t is manifest
that in some instances the process OF depreciation
is going on to the point Of entire extinction "n!
these stocks should thus sink IN price IN the lace OF
Annually increasing receipts. WAS an EXTRAORDINARY
problem which few took the trouble to solve
They sunk while crops Of unexampled magnitude
were eyerywbere harvested 1t would seem from
this that similar crops now promised from al quar-
t4rs would be poa crless to revive them Ii ought
now 10 be evident, that the general depreciation
was owing to an almost ubiSerssl want OF conn
dence in the stability of the whole railroad system
which neither heavy receipts nor 10 per cent dri-
dends could overcome. ltwis known that every
thing connected With them wss unduly Inflated
and that in spite of large dividends and increasing
traffic. a succession OF financial expedlents was
re.orted to 10 psy dividends, while the roads AS
they became older would require enormous OUTLAWS
for repsirs Meantime the country was running a
career of extravaganza such as no other nation
ever INDUCED in. Free trade glutted every VII
lsge-store with costly foreign fabrics. and even
Irish servant girls, fresh from their native Dogs,
fsunted in silk and velvet riyalIng the senseless
fnery of their equally thou htless mistresses. We
imported hundred millions worth of cloth and
iron. which should all have been manufactured
here. California was rolling in lts large re-
miuances. but the gold that should have
been kept at home to strengthen the banks aud
keep labor employed. was shipped of to Europe to
psy the amy Of laborers there who were dong the
very work we should have done for ourselves. The
people. from the highest to the lowest, were abso-
lutely drunk with extravaganza IN dress, drink and
every description of foreign luxury. The railroad
interest lept itself with blind folly to intensity the
coming crash They camored for cheap English
iron broke down al American competition, and
for the saving of few cents 10 the price oil rau'
slut I'D the furn,ces aud rolling mills Ga the line
Of their roads, whose traffic would have enabled
them TO pay many times the cost OF the whole r,li
They prevented new mills from being built new
fsrses from being established, new mines from be-
iop opened that they might Obtain at 10" prices
the rotten hot.blast iron which English makers
found fools now here but here to buy, and thus
drove away from their lines, or strsngled IN IFS
birth the growing way-trafic without which no
railroad can live, and which all American roads
have so strangely refused 10 cultivate. The feeling
became general that Use were fast losing ali control
over cur own movements Events proved how
prophetic the feeling was; yet when the crash oi
railroad values came the havoc II produced showed
how great multitude were Interested how NJ
terly rotten the whole fabric had been, and how
hopeless was the task Of repairing it.
Are not all these causes of declension in railroad
values as actively at work as ever, and haVe the
companies that thus co.lesced to destroy Them
combined to bring them back The Black
Power which originally blasted the industry OF
the people with Free-Trade, that Slavery might
flourish, still hangs like an oppressive nightmare
on tie lduu. ldlllOTnlh W gnu
in undminished quantity, and the hand OF enter
prise bias smtten new rocks 10 the Kansas desert,
from which copous streams of treasure seem dec
tined to gush forth But We never imported 50
many foreign luIuFies, nor exported so much gold
as We have done the present year. The lessons OF
the bitter close of l-57 are already forgotten while
its WI ldest folles are being reeDacted. lmmsfa-
tioD which once brought millions of revenue 10 a
single year to our railroads, has been shut out
Even general war in Europe will fail TO stimulate
it, 80 stal u the interests Of labor IA the Govern
Inc Ut We have There is no greater confidence IN
the future than there Fix years ago. Our gold
leaves US at the rate of MILL Ms per week aud We
are sDDuay running deeper ia debt. Money is
unnaturaIly abundant AID banks would be at d
oss 10 Use their means it not for the require
ments of the brokers While Free Trade con-
tluues in the ascendant, it is vain 10 look for
toration Of railroad values. The teemng West
may quadruple its products but their transportation
can only messuraby restore the old equilibrium.
There is deeper depth than the loss of corn
crop at the bottom Of this depression The whole
country must prosper before the whole railroad In
terest can do So and nothing short Of the protect
ion If its whole labor will cause return Of this
prosperity.