New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-01-06
FINANCIAL CRISES. THEIR CAUSES
AND EPFECPS.
A LETTER TO Mr.. BRYANT.

CARDS the progress Of man toward an ultimate ct ae u
perfect Freedom or absolute Slavery, feel disposed
| TO invite your attention. 1; is as follows:
am psined bear such bad from the Tinted ssss
city falling on he opuent and thog,ands e denuse q en-
'l.siiOn' against which, fear, human prudence
vie least prevent their recsrrsnes longer e
or the cholera money mas.: svsys perfect I.sh 80
.oundness would imply iSlbe wi.io1 IN bose who sasss
| before write sssin."
Is this really soi Can It be- that the frequent recus'
renee Of such caam les Is beyond the reach of mans
prevention To admit that 20 IL certainly wss, would
Be- as seems 10 mo- admit thar Providence had 20
adjusted the laws under which we exist as 70 produce
those epidemic visitations of which you speak, and
Of which the direct effect, all must wee, shat Of
placing those who need sell thet labor ,hs mercy
Of those who have food and clothing with which 10
purchase i,increasiDg steadily the wealth. strength,
and power Of there latter while making tbs forner
oorer and more enslaved. Look around you, in Nsws
York, at the present moment and study the effects in
this respect of tie .il enduring crisis Of 1857. Turn
back to tbose of 1902 and 1872 and how strong has
been their tendency to compel the transfer Of property
from the hspds Of persons of moderate means 70 thoe
OF men v no were already rch-redoeing the former,
with their wives and cbildIen, in thousands, II not
eyen hundreds Of thousands Of cases, 70 the condition.
of mere laborers, while largely augmen'ng tie number
and the fortunes Of +" merchant princes who have no
need 10 live by labor Look around and study
the growth in the number of your mionsres, side ~
side with pauperism now exceeding 10 It's propor-
tons that of Britain even that OF Ireland. LoSk
next to the condition of The who labor through
out The country, deprived as they bavs bsen and yet
are of anything approaching to s'eadiness Of demand
for their services In default Of which they have been,
for two years past unable suitably 70 provide for their
wives their children or themselves Study then the
condition of the rich money-enders throughout the
country, enabled 40 they have been, TO demand one,
two three and even aud five per cent per month,
from The miners manufacturers, and little farmers Of
the Union until these latter have been entirely eaten oct
of hou,e and home. Having done all this, you can
scarcely fell to arrive at the conclusion, thai uneeaai-
ness in the socetary movement tends toward slavery
that seadiness therein the contrary tends toward
the emancipation of those who have labor 70 sell rom
tho domination of those who require to buy it-snd
that therefore, the question referred to In the pasageI
have quoted is one Of the highest ntere ell Of those
who, like yourself, placed in position to guide
their felow-men in their search for prosperity, pp
ness AID freedom.
The larger the diversity in the demand for human
pow ers the more perfect becomes the division Of
ployme nts the larger is the production the greater the
power of accumulation the rapid the increase OF
competition for the purchase of the borers services,
and the greater the tendency toward the establishments
OF human freedom. The greater that tendency, tho
more rapid becomes the socetay aetion-its regular
y increasing with every stage of progress In proof
of this look to that world in miniature, your OWE
printing-oface, studying i,s movements rs compared
with those Of little country Offices, in which single
person not unfieeuently combines in himself ali the
smployments that with you are divided among hun
dred from edtor-n-chief to newsbey. The lees tho
division OF employ the slower and more unsteady
becomes the motion, the less is the power Of produce
ton and accumulation, the greater lie the eompeson
for the sale of labor and the greater the tendency
toward the enkayenent Of the aborer, be he black o.
white. .s
The nearer the consumer to the producer the moro
in,tant and The regular become the exchanges %
ieryice whether in the shape Of labor for money, on
food for CLOTH The distant producer and con-
sumer the slower and more irregular do exchanges
become and the greater is the tendency 10 have the
laborer suffer in the Absence of power to obtain
wages and the producer of wool perish Of cold In the
absence CT power to obtain cloh That this 70 %,
s proved by an examination of the of the
various nations of the world q. the present moment.
Being 3d. il is clear, that we would avoid thoes ere
ses Of which you have spoken-if would have reg
ularity Of the societary movement-and IL we wonl&
promote the growth Of freedom-we must adopt tho
measures needed for bringing together the producers
and consumers of food and WOOL and thus augmentDg
their power TO have commerce among themselves.
The essentia ebaracteristie Of barbarian IL found In
instability and irregularity of the societsry action
evidence of growing civilization being, the con-
trary, found in Q constantly augmendng growth o.
that regularity which teIds to produce equality, and
TO promote the growth Of freedom. Turn, IL you
please to the Wealth Of Nations, and mark the extra
ordinary variations in the prices OF wheat in the days
of the PlantageDets from sir shlings, IN money %
the present tme in l2i3 TO ortysigk in 1916 sepes-
tytro in 1857 thee hundred and tirty-sir in 100,
and trenty sight in 1856 That done, see how trivial
have been The changes of France and England, from
the close Of tie in 1885, 10 the present tine. Next
turn TO Russia, end mark the fact given 70 US by re-
cent Britsh traveller that in hose parts of the coun-
try that have manufactures the farmer where
the victim Of circumstances over which he has no
control wha,seeverthe prices of his products being
dependent entirely upon the greater or smaller sze Of
the crops Of other lands and he being rured az tho
very moment when the 10 his labor has been
the mott abundant Look then 70 the changes through
out our own great West in the present year-wheas
having fallen from Ell 80 in May to so cts. in July
aud you will how nearly the state Of things with
saPrroximates 10 that Of Russia Compare ell this
with tie movements Of England, France, ADD Gerna-
ny, and you will mos sssuredly, DO led 10 arrive as
the conclusion that the stability whose absence yos
dsplore is 70 be sought by Of measures looking
to the close approximation of the producer aud tho
consumer ard to the extension Of domestic eommere-