The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-11-26

4 Are re We 'Hl5t' 5q'oll3E \ . Have . Finnnetal

Are We Going 10 Hnve q Ffnnnelnl
RevulsIon
From tie Philadelphia Ledger Monsv article,
The impression is very general
among business men that there is to be
financial crisis, but there is seeming
y much uncertainty as to how it is to
come about. There is also some diner
ence Of opinion as to whether the dis
trust of the future arises from appre-
hension Of, political differences threat
enlng the stability of the Government.
OF rom some underlined financial trou-
PIE. " the former we do not speak.
mere. touching money crisis the "a.
cord OF the past is uniform on one
point, and that is, that an expanded
currency ana an immense load Of debt.
have been invariably followed by 4 a..
nanclal crisis, more or less severe. and
IL ls known that the currency OF the
country is more expanded now than.
eyer before and the funded debt OF the
Natton1i States, Cities, Companies. Go.
incomparably greater. Taking the mast
as a criterion for the present and the
future, 1t seems to many oJIita
impossible for the country to step froun
the st1lts on which it Is totterinp, 10
terra hr1na without stunt mble-perhaps
prostsauon. But There is this differences
~" 4ASAAA NNAd1 mas cnaEaGL9FlZA0
previous expansion. The debt of the
country IS mainly due from the nation
-tnat Is everybody, according to what
he Is worth; is liable for it, Tho tax
payers, except the little owed ABROAD.
owe, owe lG mostly TO themselves, and it is
Palu and received In sums SO small ns
to be scarcely felt. A financial revnI-
sion can scarcely come from the ration-
al debt-certainly not with the nros-
tfatlng consequences to all, business
that were experienced in the wears 1857
and 1851. Then debts were largely he
tween 1ndtviduals-merchants and
merchants clerks gave up their leeiti-
mlte pursuits almost entirely to the
negotiation of bills receivable. which
were not based on goods sold and do.
IlNHeFeot Of other property, the product
OF lADof and enterprise, but on notes
made by supposed solvent parties al a.
liked percentage for Endorsement
which were hawked through the streets
ut discount of from to per cent a
month. Mercantile and manufactur-
ing interests were for the time
abandoned for that of bankino.
The business men of almost ali
the large cities were engaged
IN dlscouphng paper. Credit and kit
ing, In their worst term, ruled ram
pant. Each big house and firm was
resting on his neighbor, and little Of
Value could be found among them all.
OI course the banks were involved in
this same business. They caught the
lnfectton of the hour, and were loaded
over mead and ears with the insecure,
because baSeleSS evidence of az.
changeab ableyalues. There was little of.
value In them; and when the fact was
tested by forcing one house or one bank
70 payment, the whole fabric toppled
over, with ruin and disaster to afl in
any way involved in them. business
oIeVeEy character was prostrated, and
labor being unemployed, great distress
pefVnuedieVe walk of life. But these
pecnllarities ofthe previous revulsions
nameu DO not characterize the present
ume. The banks, it is known, have
enGEcomparativelY little toindiyfdu-
ais. When tho Government paws the
banks, the banks ean pay what they
owe, the more especially, ns thew
are exempted from the necessity of
meeting their paper liabilities, except
win paper. The apprehension, how
9 yer, daily strengthening, that there is
trouble in the future, is tending some.
What to produce the thing feared. Con-
sumers; In the hope of buying at lower
prices when the apprehended crisis
comes, halt in their purchases, This
leaves the shelves of the stores of the
retailers and jobbers loaded with
5Syol1IeI ~ carry MHlcn1 rabner than re-
duce prices, they are resorting to loans
At 6ank and elsewhere, thus increasing
individual Indebtedness, one Of the
causes of greatest sufferinR'in past nf,-
RODS Of distrust. If men in trade would
act nationally, and yield to a first loss
by such a decline in price as would en-
able them to avoid debt, and maintain
their former status of cash dealers, they
would much more certainly stave on
financial trouble, It is this attemnt -
hold up prices by manufacturers and
those holding heavy stocks, that has in
1t most of all the trouble that endnnl
gers the future. Business men, in car
rytng large stocks, too often overlook
the interest on their capital that, like a
moth, is silently eating out their sub