Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-06-17
coMNUn1nAr7oE



Hard l5saess-1he cause and Remedy
Mr. EpEroR There IS at ibis an alarming cpl
demic prevailing in this city and in the surrounding
country almost every man, woman AID child. is
suffering more or less from &c. Ii s well and faml-
nariy known Hard Tines It is the anxious
inqairy with almost every 0ne--What must be done
to stay its ravages To determine upon any legitimate
course Of treatment must inquire into the cause
or causes which has produced this state of things
Then, first Nashville is strictly a commercial city,
depending almost entirely upon trade for success.
When the crops are good she is prosperous, but
when the crops fail Nashville ceases to advance-at
least is retarded The crop Of last year was almost
en entire failure and being compelled to send abroad
forever the neeessaries OF fec corn, hay &c. the
farmers not pay the retail merchants for goods
nor the country merchants. our wholesale MGR
chants and hence tits. "Hard times comes as mat
ter Of course. More goods are brought here than
the crops will pay for. Exchange then is againss
Here Is the cause Of the hard times plainly stated
Now what is the remedy! a good crop. and per-
haps two, viii be required to relieve the people
The present wheat crop viii scarcely be sufficient
to supply the country with seed, certainly not
enough for home consumption; there can be no re-
lief from that source. suppose we have a good
corn crop there is not enough stock in the country
to consume it, and no market abroad for it. Our
man reliance then is the cotton and tobacco crops.
These may partially relieve the people. There is
no use to disguise the fact that Nashville cannot de-
pend alone upon the crops Of the country for con-
slant and permanent growth. 1t IS necessary for
the permanent prosperity and uniform Advancement
OF either city country that ats exports exceed
its imports-we must sell more than we buy, or
cease to advance. - An ounce of preventive is
| worth more than a pound Of cure" What will
| prevent recurrence of such a state of things in
NASHVILLE Why, she must produce more and con-
sumo Tess. she must-she is compelled to encOUr-
| age and build up manufactures in the city. En-
! courage those that are here, and build up more.
We must discourage the practice Of sending TO other
cities for such things we can have manufactured
at home. Discourage this foolish practice of run
ming after things far fetched and dearbOught to the
! great prejudice Of our own manufacturers.
! We often hear it said that Nashville is UeTg
wealthy city True there is considerable wealth here
but there is too much of it consists in real estate
valued at our enormous prices-mere imaginary
| value. Suppose man owns house and lot valued
at $40 000 the tax and insurance will be, say 81 O00
/ or upwards unless he has large income it will
1 break him up to live in his own house. Is thai
house then intrinsically worth $4,000! 1t IS clear
that Nashville can not advance any farther on com
merce alone. The proper course then is to make
this manufacturing city, by encouraging every
manufacturing enterprise.
To attempt to make great city out of Nashville
without manufactures, is TO attempt to do what hal
| never yet been done; nothing but manufacture
| can make great city situated as Nashville IS. Ih
whole population of this city, including every man
| woman and child, would not make up One-slxth the
number that arc engaged In manufactures II
| the city of Philadelphia alone. Manufactures VII
make a city and nothing else will To give sOmC
idea of the municipal prosperity incident to manu-
/ features, viii conclude this article by quoting
from the Richmond Enquirer:
We need only aIude to statistics Of Of s
cities to show the advantage Of manufacturing upon muncpa
prospery-hOe Of Cincinnati and Philadelphia 1t seem
1870 total annual trade Of Cincinnati thirty nv
Millions OF which manufactures constituted about oGeiouTth
In 1850 the annual trade had increased 20 sixty mol
which manufactures constituted thirty five millions and addn
millions for carpeners' and bckayefs work. to forty mi
ons while the total commerce Amounted to twenty hye
On former the estimated average profit IS cent an
ceut-shoWng that whilst cOmmrce c0nf0e
ed two and ahalf millions manufactures contributed ten million
annual prosperity Of the city In 1859 the manufacture
OF the city amounted sixty millions, Of which at i9at or
fourth fifteen millions each year added to the wealth Of q
city, Cincinnati is rated commercial city, and not as
| manufacturing city.
The case Of Philadelphia furnishes much stronger illustration
The manufactures Of the city proper in 5s by actual return
S45 3 aud for the cltl
including the suburbs to Si'ls45SIe IN tns Guy prOP
persons employed directly in the different faeore
II that onehall Of the mard and average
wife children. persons who had mothers sisters &c
dependent upon them have $4,000, equal to 52Os
which 1900 bachelors and have total Of 4OOO
the inhabitants Of the city who supported directly by mai
this may safely add 100000 for the grocer
merchants professional men &C. who supported By ire rae
Of the 100000 jus. ned which would give Us total OF SOO
Of the 10000 population Of Philadelphia who are direct
Indirectly supported by the manufactures Of that city II
manufacturing industry, en-, that ntrbntes hye2ts OF 9
annual increase the Quaker City Whh gives veXths 70 =
value its property which fills IS 900 out Of its %
houses. Destroy this element Of the growth and prosperity
Philadelphia and 10 two years its houses would be mass
ruins.
Commerce does not suffer by the success of mar
factures but its interest Is promoted. But It ma
be said that now Is not the time to commence wa
till times get better. Not So must 60 to work I
make the times better-we must produce sOnsttin
Shall we wait for the troubling Of the waters, G
will we trouble them? W. r. H.