The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1866-11-09
A GOOD HumOred story about
High Prices and the Remedy.

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genue-spirited Horton fell asleep in Jesus
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A GOOD HumOred story about
High Prices and the Remedy.
d spicy letter, published in Massachu-
setts paper--the Northampton .Gdzette-7re,
cites the causes Of the present high prices,
and contains some suggestions for reno.
dy. The writer thinks the purchasing com.
munily is too patient it,submits without
a grumble TO outrageous exactions ii con.
sents to be ileeeed on groundless and shal
low pretences. During the war, lie adds,
our people became habituated TO very in.
Hated kind OF arithmetic, and lost their sen.
sihveness to high prices. Rates are kept
mp after all good reasons have ceased ev-
erything goes up with gold aud nothing
comes down with 1t and Ithe nine ,igils
have, ceased to have Significance unless
raised to the third power, or followed by
half dozen ciphers' -
Speculation is one cause OF high prices.
The wires, says tue writer, are fairly cor.
roded with blisering lies about cotton, coal,
wheat, -four, butter, fruits, and nearly every
article essential TO human life or for its on.
durance, The price OF Hour has been en-
HANGED all summer 10y Munchausen reports
OF too much heat and too much oold-an
excess of rain here aud lack of rain there
"A storm in one place and tornado in. AN.
other. Every little fact of local application
has been nursed into gigantic fiction of
universal application. Each, in turn. has
fieeoed the community aud fatteued the
speculator."
As with those articles, so with cotton,
coal, meats and teas.
Now what can consumers do by way Of
s,t.rrotectiony Adopt tue following sug-
gestions a'i"i
81. Practice temporary sell.denial For
instance, il tea is nude tho subject matter
OF extortiop, let tea alone. Our grandmeth.
ers III I6 let it alone severely, to avoid
duty OF threo cents pound can't we be
as heroic to avoid an extottiOn of tifty.eight
cents poundl So oi anyarticle held for
u rise Let it be held till tho interest on
its cost or it's own nerishable nature, has
Htoned Tor the intended Outrage. Let grain
heat let fruit rot, let butter turn rancid, let
moth aad rust cctrupt,' till financial guor-
rillas have learned that an Indignant public
is not going to be led like lamb TO the
slaughter. (Of course no reference is here
made to the legitimate Investments for
rise, or legitimate trade, or reasonable pro-
fits. Traffic is honorable when honorably
cases where the rise in price ia expected to
come purely from combined holding, and
not from natural causes. Nor IL any impu.
tatio,l intended to be cast upon, country
merchants as cuss. The mischief gener.
ally originates back of them aud farther
off. But ii they shoull have 10 suffer
through the proposed remedy for the sins
of others, they woull only bcon par with
the rest of the community)
We are apt to think that this article or
that article is indispensable. Nothing is
but air and water, these,
tliank God, cannot be held for rise.
Some food is indispensable, but noone kind
Is so. For every seeming essential there is |
a substitute. Good bread can be made of
corn as well as of wheat or rye, and the |
amount of the former soon to be forthcom.
ing is inexhaustlble, and beyond the grasp
OF monopoly. If meats are high, turn veg |
etarian, or make every day in the week
Catholic Friday. If the price of substi-
tute is enhanced by the increased demand. |
no natter The community will be no
worse of than before, and persistence in the /
use OF tho substitute will soon make the
original article available at q reasonable
price, Then the price of the substitute
will come down of itself. To be sure the
great mass of consumers through the coun.
Try must concur In the proposed remedy, or
Z viii be Intellectual. But the people at
arge are intelligent enough and ready
enough to remedy a political evil, when }
once their attention to it is aroused. They
were swift enough to put down the rebel
ion at whatever sacrifice; viii they be any !
ess swift to cheapen their own bread ana
butter, when they have once learned howY
:" 2. II the subject matter of extortion is
ieemed indispensable, and no substitute is
IvailaDle, let the qnantum used be as small
IS possible A reduction OF one.third or
'ne'haifin the demand for any article would
'anse the collapse of many speculative
bubble. iru - sa.tH - .t.l4
B. SO far as ispossible, let the consum.
II and producer deal with each other. Both
vii be the gamers. In respect to most
as things now are. there are
90 many go-betweens, each of whom must
ave his profit not only on what the pro-
lucer received, but on all intervening prof
ts. Even supposing each profit 10 be rea-
ionabie, the aggregate at last becomes
norm ons TO the consumer. The. beef-pro-
lucer in Illinois receives seven cents per
'ound; the beef.eater in New York has TO
'ay four times seven. When producers
nd consumers cannot come together, the
liler can, IN many eases. combine together ,
nd employ an agent to make purchases at
rst cost" .I.r..rl.,i.. et,'l,,...s /,
There is some humor and good deal of !
nth in these passages. We commend
lem to careful perusal. 90 ''.f..'i
s.n b. ..L.ss