The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1865-03-29
THE FINANCIAL POSITION
HARD. TIMES AHEAD!

The pressure caused by the fall OF
gold and the failure of mercantile houses
turns the attention of the Northern pub
lie to the actual condition of the coun'
try, its debt, resources, currency and
taxes, and the future prospect Of prices.
What the Journal Of Commerce thinks
on this subject is interesting. There
is danger, it thinks; because when the
reyulsion comes it will find the majority
unprepared, and the general suffering
thereby greatly increased. With a view
of preparing the thoughtful reader for
the crisis, and lessening the common
damage when it comes, it offers some
suggestions relating to the financial fu-
ture: ..
/. A financial crash itself is not the
worst possible termination to an infla-
ton. AS the danger of breaking limb
is to the probability of chronic disease,
so is a financial crash as compared to the
wasting inanition of gradual collapse.
2. The loss of real or fancied accumu
lations is not serious when it does not
impair the capacity Of labor. The great
secret of the marvellous elasticity which
the people of this country have shown
in recovering from certain depressions of
business is to be found in this fact: that
the great majority are qualified for some
class of labor. In this country, the dis
tinction of classes is less strongly
marked, and success dignifies any calling
It is time that the hours Of labor in the
future are to be heightened greatly by
the pressure of taxation. II the national
debt is assumed by this generati ton, at
least two hours per day will be added to
every mans toll. But while unoccupied
land is abundant, none need suffer for
life's necessaries who are disposed to eat
their bread in the sweat of their faces
Besides, the tax on labor must, ere long,
be lightened by achange in the style Of
living. This may be done without
abridging personal or social comfort.
A large part of the expenditure of fami-
lies, who are raised above the pressure
of immediate want, is for mere display.
The necessity which LIMITS the gratifca-
ton of this vanity will not prove an un~
mitigated evil. The avenues to tempta-
ton have been greatly multiplied by the
effort to maintain an appearance of
grandeur without the affluence with
which it is intended to represent. Much
of this will, of necessity, be swept away,
and the people be taught the comfort of
simplicity.
8. The great object for all to keep be-
fore them, in view Of the probable flu
ture, is freedom from entangled engage
ments. The crash or collapse must
Gomez but the consequent shrinking Of
every mans nominal capital is inevitable
One of the greatest mysteries to- those
who have congratulated themselves Oh
their accumulated fortunes will be, what
has become of their supposed wealth.
They have succeeded in the majority of
their speculations; they have met with
no direct losses; and yet they cannot
lay their hands upon the means they
thought were so indisputably their own.
The shrinking Of value after financial
initiation leaves no record of its expung-
ing process, and is certain to disappoint
the hopes even of the cautious and pru>
dent. Debts will not shrink with the
means Of discharging them, and many a
man who might save snug capital from
the wreck, if he were not thus fettered,
will come out of che trial with nothing
about him. but the burden of obligation.