The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-09-26

wholly free and independent exists there ~"
be no need Of popular revolutions, except
at tho ba'lo, box; and this fac' may In
press ite~'f very fcrcibly upon the minds
of the Duke OF Newcastle aud the other
British statesmen during their observation OF
cur people and institutions. II Is quite pro-
bable, too, that they will many times repeat the
sentiment Of the a!tachf above referred
to" What pity that we should have lost such
e splendid countryw
The Present Crtsis--WsAi street and the
Commercial World.
The part which the Stock Exchange OF New
York plays in the great commercial and polit-
cal crises Of our country is q curious uiustra-
ton of Chancellor Oxenstierae's sarcastic advice
Europe, that he might see for himself "with
how little wisdom the world is governed"
The metropolitan journals publish daily re-
ports Of the transactions Of this Exchange, and
accompany these reports with comments which
imply the serious Importance to all the interests
represented at the Brokers Board and 70 the
country at large, Of these transactions. 1t fol-
lows, naturally enough, that the great mass of
the public, in turning to these financial chroni-
cles fully believe themselves to be inspecting
the natural tides-the legitimate GIBBS and
flows of the great corporate values which, in
The course of the last quarter Of a century,
have grown up to such vast proportions, and
have become the grand abscrbents of the sur
plus earnings Of the community, the centre re-
servoirs of the gains and economies Of millions
of industrious human beings.
When pdter .familias takes up his money
article in the morning at breakfast, and reads
in that Delphic utterance how one thousand
shares of Red Cat Railway we're sold yes
terday at rs, he himself having bought as
many more just q month before at 20, he
goes down town jubiant and elated, be-
iieving that the West Is, after all a very mag
ni6cent country, that the management Of Aue-
rican railways has been exuavagantly IN Align
ed. that an increased freight and passenger
traffic Of the Red Cat line no more can assign q
limit and of which the president ssges Of the
Stock Exohar &c have caught far reaching, pre-
monitory glimpses, can alone account for this
brilliant Improvement in the prospects of his
property. What, then. is the amazement Of
pa,er Jfamilias when, on glancing over the trans
actions Of the second board at dinner, he Is
suddenly, as it were, struck in the pit of his
stomach by the information that the Red Cat
'.sold down" after the board to IS. What has
become of the West and its wealth Of the Red
Cat directors and their fine business capacity
of the European demand for American cereals;
of the general expansion and buoyant promises
osthe national commerce, In this brief interval:
Ia it not surprising that, with all their profound
sagacity and all their mysterious access to So
cret and anticipative sources Of accurate infor.
nation, the wise men of Wall street should have
discovered, in the compass Of a single morning,
impending mischief, 90 great and SO inevitable,
that they cannot be too quick in throwing
back on the hands of pater .famiIids and his
friends to-day at Cs the very same property
which they were yesterday SO eager to WOO
from him at 76? Can the faith of pater ia
milias in the honestly representative character
Of the Stock Exchange and Its business bear
up against 80 rude shock: The philosopher
in his study, reasoning from cause to effect,
stierae In his cabinet watching the actual
world of men, would undoubtedly say yes.
The siDged cat, we are told, breads the fire, in
stinct, speaking with irresistible voice In the
dumb creatures nerves. Mankind, gifted with
reason, employ that divine faculty far more
commonly in angrily sitting the accents Of ex-
perience than in obeying Its behests and
giving weight TO Its warnings. Paler IA
milias is COMPOUNDED by the Stock Exchange,
but be believes In It, Its ways are past his
finding out, but he has all the more faith in
them for that Will be thank US for trying to
enlighten him, or pay the slightest attention TO
our wsrningsf OF course be will do neither
the one thing nor the other.
Popu'us rqih decipi Is as true now as Ia old
Rome, and above all things true Of financial mat
tiers. What gambler will thank you for proving
to him that roulette Is only synonym for ruin,
and that his calculations on faro are all moon
chine, Nevertheless, 1t Is the duty of the indie.
pendent press to nail up facts before the pub
lie, and leave them to work their own work.
Especially In great national emergencies like
the present, when oil Is unsettled above MS,
when Europe Is throwing back our harvest into
our faces, and our whole political horizon Is
dark and uncertain, does the press owe this
duty to the investing public Whether they
viii hear, or whether they will forbear, Is
their own affair. Observe, too, that our ma
tional character in the world Of commerce, as
well az the fortunes Of individuals, must be
held to be largely implicated Ia the estimate
which We suffer men to pu. on Wall stree, and
its transactions. II the fluctuations Of the Wall
street stock market really represent the solid
shiftings to aud fro Of all the great material
interests in which Wall street deals, then are
we, of all people in the world, the most reck-
less, incompetent and indispensable In our
commercial transactions.
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