Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1866-01-04
From Harper's Weekly.
ESRE AHEAD.

We must be very careful what we are about
The importations last week amounted to over S6,-
600, 900 gold valuation. In the FIVE and half
months which have expired of the current fiscal
year they amount to Sl27 GOO 900; for the whole
fscal year ending 30th Jure next they will not be
less than S25O, 900 900. This is at the port of New
York alone, and is over and above all importations
at Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, frontier ports,
etc.
Now, the country has just gone through ex-
haustlng four years war. That war has cost near
ly S3,000,000,0 900. just that sum has been spent,
lost, sunk. BY that sum the nation is poorer than
it was before the war began. Yet it seems that
afford to spend more money than ever on
foreign importations though the duty on such inn
portations is from IL to % per cent heavier than
it used to be, and the customs revenue is averag-
ing half million in gold each working day.
The seeming anomaly will OF bear examina-
tion. We can not afford TO spend the money We
are spending on foreign importations. We could
not afford il If goods were old prices; and in fact
We are SO ravenous for foreign goods that we are
paving two and three prices to the manufacturers
OF England, Germany, and France for the goods
they are sending US. Foreign manufactures are
all growing rich at cur expense, and are so buyy
that they decline new orders. Ifinstead of spend
Ing four years in q wasteful war-whch cost
us about $40 per head per annum for each of the
four years-we had been indussrously engaged in
productive labor, and had been practing due
my the while, we could barely afford the e1traya-
gancc in which we are now indulging.
Unless something occurs to check the presen;
spendthriit tendency of the people of the United
States the collapse predicted by Mr.. MCulloch
may be upon US before the two years of expansion
he expects shall have elapsed.
1t is of nations as of men, A man NAV wear a
bold front and keep up appearance long after his
substance has departed from him. So long as the
bank discounts his paper he continues to enjoy
credit, and to possess so much moLey that the
world suspects not his losses. But sooner or later
the truth leaks out and he is confessed bankrupt.
The people of the United States are not vet bank
rupt but they have lost so much money in the las
four years that nothing but severe economy and a
sedulous prosecution of productive industry fer
many years to come can prevent their becoming
bankrupt ere long.
| Great wars beget commercial revulsions. The
British wars against Napoleon were followed by
the commercial collapse of 1919; our war Of
lSl2-'14 by the collapse Of 1Sl6-'l7; the Crimean
war by the collapse Of 1851. Historians explain
each of these collapses different principles and
from their reasoning it would seem that the revul-
sions did not necessarily result from .he wars. but
were the fruit of other and distinct causes. This
may be- but it is curious coincidence that in this
commercial age great wars have invariably been
followed by severe commercial crises; and of all
transactions wars are the most wasteful of human
industry and the products of labor, it is not un-
reasonable to suspect that the coincidence is not
purely accidental.
In the year 1856 ard in the early part Of 1857
warnings we're not wanting of the inevitable conse-
quences Of the overtrading then in progress. The
crisis of 1857 was foretold many times before it
came. But no one listened to Cassandra. Every
thing was serene. Importers could not impor,
goods enough for the jobbegs. JobbeIs could not
keep stock enough for their dealers. Dealers
could not supply the public fast enough-that pub
lie which had its pockets full OF railway bonds and
stocks mercantile paper and other paper evidences
of debt-all Of which was for the time being mon
ey, 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 jobters
the jobbers failed the foreign manufacturers the
railways failed their bond holders the cities and
counties Of the West repudiated their debts, and
the whole went down in one general crash.
There is something striking and wholesome in
the reminiscence. Now as then importers can not
order goods fast enough from Europe, steamers
cannot convey them in quantities sufficient, obbers
cannot keep stock enough on hand, dealers are
worked to death to supply customers, and the pub
/ lie pockets are crammed with paper evidences oil
debt-legal tenders. national bank notes, Seven
Thirtes, debt certificates, quarter masters vouch-
ers, deposit certificates goldnotes ofthem pos-
sessiny purchasing power, and enabling the holder
to paw Sc cents yard for cotton cloth, 81 a pair
for stockings, and So yard for Lyons silk. How
long can this sort of thing lsstl
The Secretary of the Treasury-an old hank n,