Arkansas true Democrat., 1862-02-06

g The following article from the Richmond Examiner will be read with in- terest. Those who are interested in keep ing up the cry of $ hard times," will pre- fend to doubt the statements in the first part oi the article. The dangers pointed ont are the ones most to be dreaded, and the policy indicates the one to be firmly pursued. The current of trade, like that of . mighty river, Is not to be turned from its channel without great effort. and 1t will require strong dykes and dams to pre- vent ii from seeking the old course:
 "The banks have more money on their hands than they know what to do with. Some of their branches in the interior have hal no application for loans for three months Capitalists and men of business are alike plethoric of funds. They are be- seeching friends to borrow, against whom they were always wont to turn the cold shoulder The usurer's occupation IS gone. Ina is cia,s of southern people whom the Yankees have succeeded in starving out. Eyt.ywhelo in The south there prevails the opposite of hard times. Never was money so a1undant, or were the people Tn more comfortable circumstances. The war, de- spite of the high prices 1t has put upon many of the luxuries of life, has produced a season of uninterrupted pecuniary ease and prosperity. The stay laws of the States have really hurt nobody but the sheriffs and nd Ia S have not ha to Y, and therefore have not been inuret by failing to receive, their dues. Tao,e who owed nothing, and held claims or others, have had money thereby out on lotn, wnnh they roali not, in all probabili- ". have ntherwi-e found borrowers for.- Inns one oi the Z "satest pecnnlary evils oi tl.wu- h,e h d. a. nearly all evils do, Its compensation.
 nf,re.i..n tan e Of m oney is likely to last some tm'. We ofth- 5 ,uth are an extrava- gut people, and, in peuods of open trade, ha1itualy spend, individually ant as a whole, more than we make. If our reve- nuee are princely, our expenditures are im- pprial. If we are pinched with poverty, we borrow to the rtmo>t stretch of our cr-air, an are as proud as rnilllonalres - The war and its bio kade pnts an end to this ,v,tem of dea ing with the outside wa It, We are not running in lebt abroad ant shipping every valuable we possess to DIV off the score. The process of exbaus ton which has been going on since the nineteenth century lrgan has ceased; and if we are not growing rich we are at least not running rninouslv in debt. Many in fuences combine to pro luce the present pl-th,ra of money; but not the least among these is tha >ulen end that has been put to the chronic southern habit of over tra- ding.
 II communications with the oGtside world were opened tomorrow. how sudden ly would the funds of the banks be gather cd up, ant how heavy would be the pur- cha>es uf our merchants in all the old mar k4t,! How soon would money be again scarce; wonld capitalists have it all their orn way wi h ti.o public; would the usu- Ter re-appear with quick and cratt~ step along the curhstpne!
 The effect of this abundance of money IS mo.i visible in the rise of real estate. Our
 
 of this safest of all investments. Thty are voluntary offerings, and not compulsory; a sure indication of the advance of prizes and the facility of selling. The prices now ob- tained never 1issppnint the vendor. His maximum calculation Is always reached, an3 xpnaraly exceeded. But the tide has only inst begun to move; 1t will be some time before it will reach it's height. Real estate will probrbly continue to advance untl new condition of finance is brought on by the recurrence of peace. Ii the ad- vance goes too far, and passes into the con- fines of visionary speculation, there must, of course, be collapse and a correspond ing fall below legitimate rates. If these bubble prices are reached before the end ot the war, of course the peace will prick and explode them; but as yet the advance in real estate is the legitimate effect of ease in the money market and of superior safety in this form of investment
 There is very little safety in q prior; req oning on the subject of general finance; so liabi. is 1t to be effected by speculation, of which, like the winds, no one can tore see either the courses or the violence; but there ererational grounds for supposing that a money pre- sure at the South will net nere. sarilv follow the establishment of peace. If the ef'act of war shall be t. break up permanently onr trade with the Nolth this conclusion would be judicious and safe one: for thereie the maelstrom that enguphed all our wealth and all our pros perity The desire of our mercantile and banking classes will be at once to resume tie old courses of business with that sec tion and 1t will hA a problem which the event only can solve, whether there will be virrue enough in either onr legislation or oar people 10 resist the fatal policy.
 II thiS luinons system of trade should not be resumed, there can be little cause for ar preheniing a monetary collapse at the resumption of free intercourse with the world. The danger wond be from the large amount fpaper then ahoat in the community. The greater portion of this paper IS is>ued ny the government and by responsible bank. and no great deprecia ion can he anticipated ill either class of tie>e isAues from the necessity of resnming specie pa, mentS. Ou, g eat staples com inand specie in every market; and the qnes- ton will be between selling sufficient DOT tion> of these at once for the amount of specie requisite to form basis of our pa per circulation, or exchanging them all for FIba ,,or. ctotoroont of tha