The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-01-18
BALTIMORE.
FRIDAY, JANUARY IS, 1851

In the midst OF the distractions of politics, an
appeal on behalf of the suffering poor in cur mids
stands seriously In danger of passing UNDECIDED
unless it is pressed upon the attention of the be-
nevolent with more than usual earnestness and
force. On ordinary occasions it is sufficient tc
state the simple fact that there are those AMONGST
us who stand in great need Of relief. and to The
honor of our community it may be truly said that
such a call has never yet failed of meeting with
prompt and generous response. At this time
owing to the unsettled state of the country and the
malign elements that are at work to exasperate
to still greater degree the fierce and unfraternaI
controversy that has sprung up between the Nortl
and the South, all classes of people find them
selves seriously affected, pecuniary by the peril
GUS condition of things and the apprehensions tina
beset them of still greater peril in the near future
These ominous fears PROFESSIONALLY overshadow
with gloom, more or less intense, every house
hold in the land; but it is in populous cities like
Baltimore, whose material interests are bound up in
the restoration of peace and harmony between
the opposing sections of the Republic, that they
work the greatest injury. They check the free
current of trade by destroying confidence between
man and man; they impair the value of all kinds
Of securities nip every species of enterprise in the
bud, and withdraw capital from those channels in
which it ordinarily seeks investment. If this de-
rangement of the industrial interests of the country
were the result Of such causes as usually bring
about commercial crises if it arose from def
cient crops, from transportation, or from finan-
cial revulsons in Europe, it might be gradually
overcome, it has frequently heen before, by re-
newed industry actualed by hopeful spirit, and
by the observance Of q rigid economy in money
matters. But our present situation is anomalous.
There is abundance Of money; but it is locked ND
in the vaults Of the Banks. The staple crops.
10th North and South, are better than they have
been for years, and would find q ready market, at
profitable prices, were it not that the dis
organized state of affairs precludes purchasers Of
cereals from entering into large contracts, and
manufacturers from buying more cotton than will
serve for their immediate use. What wonder is
it. them under such circumstances that collections
from the interior come in slowly, or not at all:
that the city merchant finds himself pressed
to meet his liabilities, and that nearly
every mechanical branch of business should be
either in languishing condition entirely stag
nantf In the presence Of such dangers as now
menace us, the hope of revival of business in the
Spring, is but faint one at the best and every
man must, therefore, set his house in order to meet
the possible emergency as best he may We say,
then, that an appeal behalf of the poor at this
time has peculiar obstacles TO overcome. But
whilst sadly confessing to this fact we are not the
sod wit In
tremely necessitous condition, and of the duty
which devolves upon those who have the where
Withal to spare, 10 do something promptly fol
their relief. The restitution which so largely pre-
walls among the laboring classes this winter is o
no common kind. 1t came upon them withou
forewarning, and consequently without affordine
them an opportunity to gather up their little gain
as meagre provision for those wants which nov
assall them. The number of persons too, who ar
out Of employment at this season of tn
year, is beyond precedent. How coul
1t be otherwise 1t is not merel
the operatives who are accustomed to work a
certain trades which slacken off during the winter
that are in a halfflmishng condition. Many @
those who are connected with other branches c
industry, which are not usually subject to periodl
cal fluctuations of activity and languor, are ais
equally in need of a helping hand We have, i
is true, benevolent institutions, among us
which are doing all that lies within tn
compass Of the means at their command, t
make provision for the worst cases that appea
to the sympathy of the charitable. But wher
the applicants are so numerous that every Ian
aud alley has its own throng of pinched and cage
faces, the measures Of relief must correspond wit
the extent of the restitution. It is, moreover,
matter that will not admit of delay. Hunger is
terrible deInoralizer. Men do not reason on thei
social and religious obligations when their fami
lies are on the point of starvation; and therefore
whilst it is an act of charity, it is not the less
duty, on the part of those who are more favore
with this worlds goods, and who desire that III
laws shall be respected, to administer, accordin
TO their ability TO the necessities of their poore
neighbors?