New-York tribune., 1868-03-05
OUR INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL DIS
Orders.
r.on an oe.sassal Correspondent


aggregate being over $75OOOO,OOO. There is money
enough to be had good security in all the great
renters and whatever may be alleged to the con-
trary it is true that when money is plenty at the
oenttrs il is plenty at the etremes on all adequate
securities. Six per cent Government obligations are
everywhere 10 per cent above par. And where money
cannot be had it is because the security Is uhSa's
factory
The present depressed state of trade and industry
requires something very different from anlncrease OF
paper money or indeed, any acts OF legislation to
relieve il.
OF course. so far as legislation has imposed bur
deus on and industry by taxation, legislation is
able 70 relieve them by taking it Off So too in
tain national conditions legislation revive and
stimulate industry, and give a great FLIP TO trade
and enterprise. But these conditions exceptional
and cannot be created at will They are evolved
slowly, only 10y time and circumstance. This is a
consideration quite too generally overlooked. The
idea that because legislation sometimes take the
initiative in promoting industrial prosperity, it can
always do 50, is grave error Legislation is not
constant force which can always be used III this dl-
Iecton Il has its times and seasons when it can act
efficiently But this power is limited to peculiar and
exceptional emergencies and conditions. 1t may be
sud to Dc a regulator and stimulant rather than
constant motive power 1t exhausts itself, too, by its
own action. This law of limitation should never be
overlooked when legislative action is suggested as
relief to depressed or exhausted condition. nation
may enact a high protective tariff at an OppOrtune
period This act may dittuse sudden and great pros
perity. Such an experience has occurred more than
once in our own history. But this very stimulus may
temporarily lead to over action Dizziness of trade,
stagnation of business. depression of prices,
low wages. and deficient employment may
cusue All these may be the contingent,
incidental, temporary evils of mainly
hcncfccut act of legislation. But they are not to
he cured by more legislation of the same sort Their
cure must he left to other agencies-tO time to rest
from undue exertion, to the gradual ABSORPTION by
consumption of surplus goods which too ardent
competition has produced. In a word, the trade and
industry OF nations must in the main rectify their
unnatural oscillations through the influence of
natural causes. They are for the most part beyond
the reach of legislative panaceas. Especially is this
the case when legislation itself has caused aggra-
waited those excesses. When production, from the
announcement of the State has become pethOric in
my department, the only possible relief must come
from consumption. Government may wisely adjust
SIS measures so as to create and maintain just and
useful equilibrium between the two classes of pro-
ducers and consumers but the inevitable disorders
which arise from the varied complications which be-
long TO the production and consumption of dvers-
fed industry, and which inhere in these relations
are not just subjects of legislative interference for
such action would be fruitess
Trade and business in all active communities have
their cbbs and flows like the tide. After rising un-
usually high, they Tecede unusually low. There Is
form Of legislation that is competent to deal with
these excuses. They are quite outside of its do
main beyond the reach of its influence The great
aud common mistake of people is the belief that they
are capable of rectifcaton by legislative action.
People VIII believe that when nations affairs
out of Joint its legislators should be competent to
sct them right. But the industrial body, like the
natural body is afflicted by disorders which
known to the doctors as " selflimited" and which
are best cured by letting them alone They afllict
while they last but they defy the skill Of the physi
clan. who merely watches while they exhaust them
selves.
Now let it be borne in mind. that never in the
whole past history of this nation has its trade its in
dustry its finances been in such artificial condi-
ton as now. They have become so in consequence of
great and destructive war, and the legislation re-
sultng thcrefrom We WILL assume that that legis
laton was necessary But if good came of it in tho
first instance, evil has followed. The circumstances
which demanded OF, at least, excused this legsla-
tiOn. no longer exist
Now we are confronted with the question whether
or no we are in that peculiar and exceptional condi-
ton brought about by time and circumstance, which
can be improved by legislative action Or whether
we not. on the contrary in state where legisa-
ton has exhausted itself; and where our remedy is
Il he found only in the operation of natural
through the lapse of time. of patient industry of
economy and the sef-adjusment of the relations of
production and consumption long disturbed by
the violent agitations of war.
We entertain no doubt on the subject. We hold
That it is plain to be seen of all men that our present
unnatural condition is result Of pxcpDtional
events aggravated by legislative action Legislation
oyerthrew our ong-established standard of value by
creating paper legal tender Legislation filed the
country with irTedeemable paper money. These two
stmulants have done their work. They have done
all Of good that could be done in this direction. We
must now escape from the existing evils which have
followed by undoing rather than by doing. War
demanded agencies which peace does not re-
qurc. The Government needed helps then which
il does not need now. It's efforts should thus
consist in dispensing with the machinery
then set in motion. They are, first the legal tender
act and second the irredeemable paper money. Just
10 that extent it can dispense with these agencies:
lust TO that extent it Is in duty bound to dispense
with then And in this matter it should consult its
own power and its own convenience 1t created them
for its own benefit it is its clear right TO abolish
them when il requires them no longer. And we may
add the trading and producing classes have right
IN demand the prolonged of these means for their
profit and convenience; especially when the demand
j. made as we have heretofore shown at the expense
f the consumer and of the labor of the country
if their use could be continued without danger.
II is thus we come to the conclusion that the con-
diton Of the country cannot be improved by further
artifccs Of legislation. We hold them to be ex-
hausted for good in that particular respect wherein
we need relief We must now fall back on the re-