Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1860-12-06
The Crisis--fss Effects ON Conn
merce and Industry.

FOR SIX months previous 10 the elcc-
ton Of LlscoN the country was prosperous
almost beyond precedent. Tie bountiful
hsrvests of the present year, the liberal
prices paid for the products of industry,
the renumerating wages given for all kinds
of'labor, the soundness of banks and the
prosperous commerce OF the country all .
combined TO mark the present and the
coming year as years of unprecedented
prosperity and plenty. But few weeks
have served to check the wheels of com
mere, blast every bright hope for the fu-
ture, paraize industry, spread panic and .
over the North and the South, the East
and the West, and run the Ship of State
upon dangerous breakers. we may prof. |
it by reviewing the causes and effects Of the
present crisis.
When the devastating crisis Of 1857
swept over this land the country was not
in the prosperous state it now is. The har-
vest was but an infe ior one, and our i'm |
ports were in excess of our exports, and
bank expansion and speculation were I'M
guarded and almost reckless. In such q
state of things the the panic seized us and
swept onward with relentless force, and
with apowor beyond control. This year,
thanks to kind Providence, the harvest
has been very bundant--unusually So.
and we have food not only for our own
inhabitants, at a cheap rate, but an enor-
nous excess to export, which commands
fair prices in the European markets. The
prudence Of our banking institutions and
tho opratons Of our merchants induced by
the severe losses of lS57-and which have
not yet had time to be uprooted by success
sive years of great prosperity and specula
tion-have since then been tempered with
caution. Our imports since the first Of
January have been less than during the
corresponding term of last year by about
twelve millions, while our exports during
the same period are about twenty eight
millions in excess Of 1859. The presnt,
therefore, is not a commercial crisis--t that
is, it is not induced by commercial causes
1t is arrangement, panic, consterna'
ton whose source is strictly political
one, inducing want Of confidence and its
attendant evils. Its low murmurngs, like
those heard from the bowels of the earth
on the eve of a mighty earthquake wero
first heard soon after the October elections
and it burst forth in its fury SO soon as
the Electoral College was chosen, and
when. no longer any doubt could exist as
TO the triumph Of the Republican party
Nor was it merely because Mr.. Lincoln
was chosen to tho highest Office in the
nation. or that Republicans instead OF
Democrats would hencelorth eli offices ol
power, and trust, and emolument; not fol
these reasons alone, but from deep and
we'll founded dread felt by that part ol
the Union known as tho slaveholding
States--warranted and forced upon them
by the antecedents of the past-that they,
these Southern States, found themselves
now moro powerless than ever to achieve
that honest recognition of their just rights
--menaced and trampled down by tn,
rabld Republicans and Abolitionsts o
tho North-which they had ever been will
ling to concede to thom. The Soutl
recognize the obedience due to the su
premo authority of the federal laws, anC
reasonably ask that the North yield tc
the enactments Of Congress the same obc
dienoc: but now they despair Of accom-
plishing it. aud in their despair they hav,
with suddenness, a compactness ant
unanimity ost striking, rallied under tn,
secession banner, and have since beer
daily marching onward in the ma iesty o
their strength. Can order and justc,
loving citizens Of the North look on anl
not feel that this state Of things is til,
natural consequence Of past events? No
less than eight Of the -Saveholdin,
States have virtually placed on record oi
their statute books local laws which vr
tually annul the Fugitive Slave law pass
ed by the federal government. The,
have made the act Of official obedience I,
this law restoring fugitive slave to hi
lawful owner penal act, and subecte,
even federal officers in tho execution o
that law to both fine and imprisonment
the former varying from one to five thos
and dollars. and the latter from thro
months to fifteen years.
Who, then, first set on foot disloyalt
TO the Union but those States which by en-
actments, rendered nugatory the laws c
the Union? The same high authorit
requires citizens OF tho Southern States {
pay duties on certain imports for the gen
erl treasury Of the Union. What woul
these Northern brethren think Of them
what would be the duty of the genera