New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-09-12
RaNTRKING WITH BANKRUPTCY.

brandy may De put lhslde vi Hah sA'n' no"
dies und shoulder. biters have occasionally varied
their recreatve beligerencies BY wagers to settle
the quantum. 1t has been proved IN Court-at
least it has there been sworn t0-that man may
swallow sixty pints of lager beer in day, and yet
live. Those who have wogered dnthe brandy gem
orally died Of it. A suriet of anything, however
good, msy produce death incOntinently. In such
case it is not the thing that kills but the surfeit
Horne Tooke in the days of Junius, being suspect
cd of the authorship of those punsent mssive', WAS
asked hOw much treason man could write with
out being banged to which be replied that he was
iust then irving 1t would seem from this rectal
of human teuerities that there is 10 rasbness too
great to be INDUCED in. Christophe, the black
Emperor of Hayti, used to say that if he we're to
place bag of coffee 10 the jaws of bell, Yankee
would quickly be found to go after it. PeoPle
crowd TO witness Bondin cross Niagara on tight
rope because they have a sneuking expectation
that they may see him break his neck. Like those
who wsgcr on the brandy, the chances are hat 40
will keep on Till he does so.
1t strikes us that the people of this country are
al wagering with each other to see how great an
amount Of foreign iron, cloth, ard six and tioery
they can import and use up without bresking. Wa
sering Of this Kind is Lot by any means new thing
with them They did it largely just after the psace
Of lS5 and it burst their boilers 30 hopelessy that
one half of them never recovered from the eIplo-
sion The war built up our cotton manufacture to
home consumption of one bale for every four that
were grown, while the wooden manufacture At that
early day employed no less than Sl2OOO,OOO Of
capital and farmers bad domestic msrketfor food
better than they had ever bad. Shutting out for
eicn goods sent -four up TO an average of 50, and
pork TO one of Sl5 during the whole war. Peace
cane, and while it opened nomipsl markets abroad
for cur food it destroyed the real one at home Gre
ated by manufactures, by flooding US with foreign
fabrics. On the heel of this deluge came the Act
of ISIS, which repealed the llttls protection that
remained and Free Trade became rampant ns-
tional bankruptcy was the result Labor ceased to
be in demand because the manufacturers we're rui1.
ed wheat sunk to 81 cents, aud in mapy parts OF the
country tn 90 cents per busbel while flour wess
down to 81 % per brrel. The farmers Ia Their
turn we're ruined by thousands. They had foollshly
consented to give up home market for foreign
one the price of the exchange being the ruin OF tho
manufacturers as if the former could live after ths
latter had been destroyed The country Of course
lost ts ability to consume the goods which had
made il bankrupt, and the imports sunk from nine
ty millions to fifty millions. The country was
cleaned out If its specie. Bank rags were seen
everywhere, and specie Doxhere.
In most wsgers somebody secures an advantage;
bit in this rational one everybody made = loss.
We therefore quit wagering, after trying its viz
tues some six years, as it was found that Cotton at
: cents. Pork and Beef at 80 barrel. aud Hams
at cents, did n'tpay. Farmers could at pay their
debts at these prices just as many OF them are IN
able TO do it now They rose up and required that
the labor of the nation-not the mere employers
who owped foTges and factories, but the men who
did the work 10 them-shoud be protected frou
this dcluge Of foreign fabrics. This was in 1924
The country mme lately sPraug forward on Ca
reer of high prosperity TIE labor Of the nsticn,
being fully employed aud we'll paid, was again able
to consume whatever the farmer produced and be
found prices 10 be constantly going up. Land rose
even above It's former value and this rise added to
the abnusl profit Of the crops cleared oil thou sands
Of debts in every State But the Old leayen of
wagering 10 see how much foreign stuff. We could
use up without breaking returned on Us in fall
force at the end of ten years. We had had good
times long enough. Money flowed in upon US from
abr sd the nation was out Of debt every ody WAS
getting Iicb. ard the complaint was that
those who worked in FORCES and factories were
making more than their share. The farmers were
told that Europe would buy wheat and pork at bet
ter prices and they again fell into the trap by let
ting in foreign food, worked up into cloth aud silk
and iron, to al extent that ohce more laid the man.
ufacturers on their backs. Then followed al ers
Ct coed times for lawyers and sberitfs, diver
sfed with an explosion Of all the banks 10 1881,
and absolute extinction of hundred, of millions
of cspitsl as if it had been swallowed up by FIRE.
The coin Of tie country flowed out as fast a. it
could be gathered up, the Government lived by
shipplasters-just as it is doing now; public and
private credit were exticguished, and the farmers
found the prices of wheat and pork knocked dosn
to onebalt. Nobody gained BY the wager bat t,e
rich. and only few OF them. They became richer
while the poor became poorer
This infatustion lasted till ls42, when the farm.
ers thought they had kept the manufacturer. do .n
long enough, and 90 again set them on their legs
The country rose up from it's ssckcloth aud ashes
as if touched by the msgicsn's wand. Bankrupt
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