Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-05-07
spring Trade Not What was
Hoped for.

| Hoped for
| AS the people of the country were pass
ing through long, cold, cherries and dul
winter, they hugged to their bosoms tn
hope that with the incoming of spring, a.
business, like all nature, would take on
lively and cheerful face. How this ex
pectation has been realized everybod,
knows, and the Ne,o 7 YorE Economist thu
very we'll states:
| "The Spring trade has not, thus far, beer
what was hoped for. There has been fai
business in the agricultural sections; bu
otherwise the result has been satisfactory
| 1t is true the trade in cotton manufacture
has been checked by an advance in the pric
OF the raw material but 1t is not here tha
the chief complaint arises. Even the for
eign trade, which from the fact of the i'm
portations being unusually light was ex
pected to prove unusually remunerative
has proved a disappointment to the import.
Eers. We have it upon good authority thai
| upon a large proportion OF the wOrsted fab.
rics consigned from the continent the ship.
pers have realized little beyond the two
thirds advance of their agents the trade
class of importers, large invoices having
been sold within this month at auction, al
from 40 to 80 per cent. on the dollar; the
same is true of many kinds of dry goods
and indeed, it may be said of the trade in
foreign dry goods, as whole, that it has
proved failure.
1t is not surprising that the West should
have bought freely and that ID should have
met its obligations with reasonable prompt
ness; for with two seasons of very high
prices for breadstuffs and one of abundant
crops, they are in a position to supply their
wants with liberality. But, with the East
ern trade it is widely different. The retail
doa1arr nloin hiftQrlu of tho
of business. Many of them are not making
their expenses, and the smaller class of
dealers, who are least able to resist the ad-
verse tendency of things, are preparing to
close up business, some finishing up in
bankruptcy, others finding they have but
a small balance left after the losses of late
seasons. The truth is that trade is now in
the midst OF a reaction from the ex-
cesses of late years. The distributing
branches OF business, from the job
Der down to the small retailers, have been
largely swelled during the apparent
prosperity of business during the late in
fatiOn, which of itself has been one cause
of the large advance in prices. This branch
OF expansion has been followed by con-
traction df consumption among the people at
large, the natural result of tdration and hiqh
price. The natural consequence Is an az
cumulation of goods in the hands of retail
ers, which under the fall in prices have be-
come steadily less and less valuable. This
condition OF things is forcing many of the
weaker dealers out of business, some of
whom are wisely going into the interior
with the hope of there finding a healthier
condition of things.
| 1t Is very evident from the present aspect
of things that we have reached point at
which a modification of the producing and
the distributing forces of the community
must be effected. A portion of those now
using their capital or their labor in the dis
tribution OF products. that is in trading
operations, must become workers in one
branch or the other of productive industry.
in agriculture or mining. This
is needed in order to increase our supply OF
products; which being effected we should
have lower prices; and with lower prices
and increased consumption, and an enlarg-
ed and healthier trade. 1t may be that we
shall not realize this distribution of employ
ments except through a commercial break
down compelling those engaged in the less
branches TO seek employment
in the more prosperous; but that such q
change must come is as certain as that
trade Is controlled by natural laws. The
prudent, however, will lose no time in
haping their affairs by this tendency
The longer they continue in their present
condition the more they will
lose; and the sooner they transplant them
the more they will save.
The tendencies of the times and the condition
Of the country are forcing us into seuerer
form of labor, q more dcttUe effort to earn a
ltuing, and a strtcter economy of expenditures.
We have been extravagant for the last sew
en years; we have lived beyond our means,
and have borrowed abroad several hundred
millions of dollars. This borrowing has
now reached the limit to which foreigners
are disposed to go; and henceforth we have
the choice between diminishing our con-
sumption to the limit OF our production, or
Increasing our production up to our con-
sumption. The former of these processes
Is now going forward; the latter must ul.
,imately come into play.
Greeley Goes Davis Bail Again.
Tho Cleueland Leader says that HORACE
GREELEY has again become bailsman for
JEFFERSON DAVIS, and this time for SO, 5000,
instead of tor 5000, as heretofore. The
Leader thinks that Mr.. GREELEY will not
}. as much criticised and annoyed as he
vas year ago, on occasion of going on
DAVIS Bail Bond" Certainly not. GREE
Ley is now bounding on the Impeachment
logs, and that with the Radicals covers a
multitude of sins, both OF omission and |
The Black and Tan Students of the West
I'm Reserve College have had resolution
ry fit, caused by the enactment of law
equiring them to 90 home to vote. Ihey
ak of the "obscurity" of the Democratic
members Of the General Assembly. We
resume they frequently have doubts
whether they made the Almighty or wheth-
r the Almighty made them.
a PHILADELPHIA special to the Cincinnati
'n'es' dated the h, says that Col. FoRNEY
lad been In that eitu fo 4,