New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-02-11
CORN AND GOLD.

Com Is once more returning to US frHn Europe.
and it must for time continue to come. Gold
follows food, as raw material follows gold. So long
as there Is corn in Egypt money will be taken
there from hungry nations to obtain it. They do
so not of choice, but by cOmpulsisn. Hence il is
that gold is flowing in from England, not because
England loves us, but because her people wsuld
starve without our wheat and -four, and com.
and pork. Every guinea she sends ia parted with
grudglngly, and the bank rates rise to check the
export. But it must come notwithstanding. Tho
Winter In Europe has been one Of unprecedented
severity. This has aggravated the sufferings OF
whole communities of operatives who have been
made idlers by the palsy which has overtaken some
branches of manufactures. Dear food and conse-
qucnt hunger, come in to intensity the suffering.
The press points to it as the miniature counter
part of what would follow short supply Of cot.
ton. The English green crops were nearly
total failure. The straw crop was greatly dam
aged, while the hay crop was entirely spoiled.
Substitutes for these must be provided, or they
must be made palatable by combination with
more expensive food, such as would otherwise be
saved. In addition to these failures, the grain
crops have been short and inferior in qualay.
The English Summer was so cold and wet, that
vast numbers of cattle and sheep failed to make
themselves fat by grazing, and extra Quantities
of grain will be required to make good the def
cheney. These huge yacuums must be filed by
sending gold to the United States. 1t can be
filled from no other region until another harvest
is gathered. Hence the present enormous e1-
port of food from this country must continue.
and coin will flow into the banks.
For FIVE years past the balance of trade has
been setting in our favor. 1t is now manifesxy
so, and ought to continue so for years, if Con-
gress performs its duty to the hitherto neglected
industry of the nation. Short crops abroad and
full ones here have turned the scale in our favor.
Under Democratic rule gold never flowed into
the country, except under the pressure of o
famine abroad. Their policy invariably drove it
out. 1t is even so now. Nothing has saved us
from a terrific commercial CONFUSION but the
enormous crop of the past year. This is now
seen to be the great anchor which holds the ma
tOnal ship steady at her moorings in the rebel.
lion tornado which RACES around us. We were
deep in debt to Europe, and, as usual, our always
scanty stock of gold was rapidly diminishing in
liquidatng it, The banks felt it and began cur
tailment, to be followed by mercantile pressure
and panic, when the glut Of grain came to the
rescue, and thus far has saved us. Cotton had
kept US up when grain was short, as it had been
for several years, but would have been powerless
to do so this time as it had shortcomings Of its
L L IL koIa Nftn
region nsOlyent. Abundant grain crops here and
short ones abroad have saved us from financial
crash more disastrous than any We have ever
known. Providence alone has warded of tho
ruin which the Free-T Trade Democracy had ready
to precipitate upon us.
The gold now flowing into the country has
done better service to the cOmmgdal interests
than any similar influx on record. 1t held up
the banks of this city from suspension, and
enabled them fearlessly and most successfully to
expand so largely at the critical moment as to
check panic and sustain the whole commercial
and manufacturing interest This combination of
corn and coinage has also enabled us to Demon
strate to the world that this City is the real me-
tropolis of the nation, whose supremacy must
hereafter be undisputed. But as the famine
abroad brings the gold here, so when the famine
is over the gold will go back. 1t will fly from
this country, where money is worth ten per
cent, and seek others where the rate is only
three. This law is nhexible in its action, but
that action can be checked by making laws to
do so. Congress must pass the Tariff The labor
of the country must BE- thoroughly diversified
We cannot all be farmers, and if we were, We
could not flourish unless crops were always good
with us, and always scanty in Europe. If the
gold we now have is useful, keep it where it is;
but to do SO permanently, the new Tariff must
be enacted.