The Portland daily press., 1865-12-15

word will not secure him high prices or MI
his beds. So it is in railroad travel, in eights,
andil all other similar operations. So lone
G3 the means of accommodation are made
Q.a,e 10 meet the demands made upon then,
prices aoiu rule high; When The demand fails
beloy Haemeaas Of accommodation prices ,ci,l
rule losv, and this rule, as memorable as the
laws of the Medes and Persians, will stand
good whether currency be scanty or plethoric.
The same law holds in trade; in everything.
When the demand for beef is greater than the
supply, beefeaters will indulge their taste only
at a high price for their favorite sirloin ol
steak. To-day beef is high-very high, and il
is equally true that the country is almost des
titute of surplus cattle. The stalls are empty;
the farmers barn is short of stock. The de-
mands of the Government to feed its armies
and to meet the great waste of a time OF war.
have produced this state of things in the stock
market, and beef would be high if there were
no currency, if trade was reduced to barter:
viii e spectators with a very scant amount OF
money in the country, would be able to con
trol the beef market. Not so with -four
Amidst the generalupward tendency in price
-four has been for some time gradually declir
ing. Spectators cannot control it. The SUP
ply IL too abundant. The country is too fui
of it. 1t is high, it is true, as compared wit.
prices before the war, but not as compare
with prices of other things. The big rates 0
transportation which gorged lines are enable
to keep up, and the high prices OF storage
so efficient in capacity-neceSsarily swe
the price of barrel of -four to large figurt
but the inexhau,tible supply in the grain
growing regions of the West, checks specul
ton in this article as efectually as the famin
sword guarded the way of the tree of life.
Now is it not true that for more than fou
years our people have been engaged in wor.
of destruction instead of prodacaons Ant
did not the close of the war,-so sudden as te
astonish the world,-fnd the country almos
bare of all manufactured articles needed in &
time of peace; articles for wear and tools 70
husbandryp The South was as clean as thougl
swept with broom, and the North was file
with silent manufactures and almost empt.
warehouses. Factories that had been run
ming had been doing so in the production o
articles needed for war purposes mainly, no.
for those demanded in time OF peace. ThS
great mass of our population was dressed il
clothing long worn, and the working men ant
working women were both wearing thei
patched cotton garments, determined to dele.
purchasing as long as possible, in hope of
lower price. But peace, as we have sale
came suddenly, and with it sprang up de-
mand to meet the wants of the people such a.
had never been known before Spindles were
started, anvils began to ring, hammers to click
mach merry to hum, and the whole loyal Nortl
has become one hive of industry, all laboring
day and night, to fill up the Vacuum created BY
an exha1sting war, and yet the supply is fan
below the emand. How could it be other
vie han that high prices should rule-tha,
they should advance And how can we rea
sonab4y look for relief until the demand il
somewhat satisfied? The enhanced, prices
will stimulate new methods Of supply; new
factories, new forges, and other new means O.
production will spring up, and by-and-by,-fcr
this is the universal Yankee law-the thing will
be ovez-ione, the markets will be glutted, there
will be more supply than demand, and thei
prices must come down, and no amount of infa-
ton OF the currency can PREVENT it. When there
is more merchandise than necessary to NEE.
the demands for consumption we shall find le-
lief, and no permanent relief till then. l.i
But this article is already long, and yet we
have more to say, so we will stop here, and
perhaps recur to the subject again. s,l4