Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1866-01-09
oonld barelv afford the extravaeance in

could barely afford the extravaganza in
which we are now INDUCING
Unless something occurs to check the
present spendthrift tendency Of the PEG.
Die of the United STATES, the collapse
predicted bY Mr.. McGulIoch may be
upon Us. before the. two years Of expan-
sion he expects shall have elapsed
tits of nations as of men A man
may wear bold front and keep up ap-
pearances long after bis substance has I
departed from him So long as the !
bank scounis his paper he continues
to epiov credit, and TO possess so much i
money in the last four years, that moth
ing but severe economy and sednlous
prosecutions of productive industry for
years to come can prevent their becom-
ing bankrupt ere long salaaa. OK
Great wara beget commercial revul- !
sions. The British wars against Napo- |
leon were followed by the com mercial
collapse OF 1919; our war of 1924 |
By the collapse of~16l6@17; tfs@ lri- |
mean war by the collapse of 1852 His
torians explain each of these collapses
on different principles, and from their
REASONING it would seem that the revul
siorfs did not necessarily result from the
wars, but were the result of other and
distinct causes. This may be; bnt it 10
! -cnrieus commercial coincidence, that
in this commercial age great wars have
Invariably been followed by severe coma
mereial crisis; and as of all transac-
tious, wars are the most wastefgl Of hu-
man industry and the products Of labor,
| it is not unreasonable to suspect that the
coincidence is not purely accidental
/ 10 the year 1856, and in the early part
| of 1857, warnings were not wanting of
the inevitable consequences of the over
trading then in progress. The crisis of
l847 was foretold many times before it
came. But no one listened to Cassan-
dra. Everything was serene. Import
ers could not keep stock enough for their
| iobbers. Jobbers could not keep stock
enough for their dealers. Dealers could
4 not supply the public fast enough-that
i public which had its pockets full Of rail
way bonds and stocks, mercantile paper,
and other paper evidences Of debt-all
of which was, for the tirae being, money,
and would buy anything, from brown
stone mansion to red flannel shirt.
When the evil hour came, and the paper
evidences. Of debt lost their purchasing
power, the public could not pay what
they owed, the dealers failed on the job
bers, the jobbers failed onthe importers,
the importers failed on the foreign man
ufactarers, the railways failed on their
bond holders, the cities and counties OF
the West repudiated their debts, and the
whole commercial community went down
in one general crash.
There is something striking and
wholesome in the "Reminiscences. Now,
as then, importers can not order goods
! fast enough from Europe, steamers can
not convey them in quantities sufficient,
!: jobbers can not keep stock enough on
I hand, dealers are worked to- death to
supply customers, and the public peck;
!. cts are crsmmed with paper evidences
I of debt-legsl tenders, national bank
= Fnotes, seven thirties, debt certificates,
!! Qpartermaster's vouchers, deposit GER
) ti6cates, gold-notes-all of them posses
ing purchasing power, and enabling the
e holder to pay fftysix cents. yard foI
E cotton cloth, ore dollar pair for stock
ings, and five dollars yard for Lyon q
: silk, How long can this sort Of thing
last2 ee,,le
The Secretary Of the Treasury--ar
8 old banker and scientific fnancier-
!, warns US that within two years we shall
i have general collapse We shrug oui
0 shoulders. 7and go on buying foreign
. goods. French importers say: "WoulC
D you have US stop importing when VI
81 can sell every case of goods at prof
IS Of ten per CENT? Jobhera laugh at con
= iractirg their business so long as deal
Ie ers strip their store bare as often 9
'e they fiji it. Dealers cauanotbe expee,
e ed TO let their stocks run down 60 lonj
D. as trade remains 80 brisk And tn
Il gay old public, with its pockets full 0
= money--in forty Eve different shapes
10 spends what it has in its old free handle
II way. If it could be persuaded to re
trench its expenditure; to see that whel
you subtract two from four, the remain
der, in spite of all the metaphysics an
at fancy financiering in the world, is, nc
IN six, but two; the catastrophe might
DR. averted But do people believe Caesar
IL dra any more now than in the old Trc
g. Jan days 2 eatas
e. Wise men--the rare few who will
OF found floating after the storm-will se
or their houses in order. The Secretar
or may or may not succeed in contractin
l. the currency. If he does, he will caus
be the collapse, as Mr.. Chase caused th
he Wall Street collapse of April, 1864.
at he does not, it will come without hin
re That it must come, no thoughtful pc
c. son can dog 1t, in view of what is pateE
to to all. But meanwhile old John Publ
IA will order new opera-cloaks for Mrs. P
lis and the Misses p; putting his fifty cer
re Havana, will berate hcentious presse
r. for unsettling public conGdence,s an
s. throwing obstacles in the way of q r,
ly storation of the good old times and I
w. all men in the world will be the mo-
IN astonished when hurricane arise
D. some fine morning, and sweeps hi
e. from the financial surface.
m wrr.wa N rr a - GO C.
g The Indiana Soldiers Home.
~ 70 rF4aF.