The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-02
ENGLAND.
Capital on "strike''-NO Confidence and
No New Investments.

From the London Tunes Of dug, 49,
With consols at "a, with money in abundance
amounting TO a glut, with wheat harvest aO we
the average, with peace abroad and tranquility
at home, we certainly ought to be dong well.
There IS no rea,on at first sight why trade
should not be brisk, labor in demand aud work
well remuuerated. info rtunately, things are
not exactly so. Trade does, indeed, as we shalt
presently observe, show pleasant symptoms of
revival but 1t Is still not active, aud the features
of the money market ate as yet del1sve.
Consols are, IN fact too high-that is, they are
higher than they would be If there was a
more wholesome competition Tor unemployed
capital When it was argued four or i've years
ago that the English funds would never again be
above 80, there was reason. though, as it APP
peaIed, not truth, in the doctrine maintained.
What was meant by the assertion was that in
the new field OF finance opened up under the ope-
ration OF limited liability investments ofPri'g
or per cent. would be so plentiful, and prac-
tically so safe as 10 draw away money from
securities yielding only halt that rate OF interest.
Even cautious investors would gradually be
attlac, ed TO speculations of such promise, and
the general decline of the demand for the public
stocks of the kingdom would lower their value
from the recorded average OF 923 to 80 at the
OUTSIDE. We repeat, there was reason 10 these
views, but the conclusion was upset by the
extravaganza to which the new system was
carried. The investments of 1866 did but con.
firm the old adage, and sho n that good interest
means bad securlty;n the experience Of 1866
alarmed people beyond all measure, and the
result is that in 1868 money, instead of beng
applied to the Legitimate development of our
industrial resources, is either grude,ngly poured
into consols or kept UNEMPLOYED in immense
amounts till confidence and opportunities may
at length return. OF this happy cCnsummation
we think a glimpse may be caught in the
trade reports which appeared in our last i'm
preston. The prospect as it appears
to us, is none the less saus stactory tor being at
present only mOoera ely bright. In weaIner
proguostcs 1t is always held that the more
gradual the rise the more permanent will be the
effects, and the same rule may hold good in the
viCissItudes and fluctuations of trade. The truth
is the effects OF the last panic have been beyond
all precedent or expectation, though not, 1t may
be assumed, beN ond the magnitude OF the cause.
1t must be remem 0eTed that the pressure was
felt long after the crisis. Tue collapse OF Que
concern after another was folio owed, not only by
The immediate loss of capital, but by
succession OF calls for further contribu-
tions., Limited liability, as actually en-
ployed, had proved snare, for though
the responsibility of shareholder was indeed
''limited' the bounds were still wide enough to
admit of ruin. Unconscious investors imagiued
that their liabilities were limued to the sums
they had paid down, without thinking that they
were still answerable to the full amount OF their
ehares. The actual embarrassments thus pro-
duced and protracted conspired with the puolic
alai to generate d'strust which has appeared
almost intermlnable, so that not only in this
country, but in France 1Tise, enormous sums
of money have been lowed TO lie idle III the
banks while trade and industry have languished
for want of aliment and supplies.
Nothing could show more forclbly the timidity
of capital The argument that caOtal after ALL
is as much in need of employment as labor, has
been found of no practical weight. True, the
owners of money who will not employ it get
nothing for ii; but to this for O time they are
content TO submit and tor longer time, indeed,
than could have been imagined. In TACT, the
state of things was fairly described by the asser-
ton that capital, in Its turn, ION strike" 1t
has been ION strike" for these two years, aud
though capitalists have suffered ike all other
strikers, it is but now that they have made any
sign OF coming in. The problem before us is of in
calculable importance ii 1t could but be thought
out aud solved. lole capital means upem ploy1
labor end stagnalt trace, and what these mean
in heir effects upon the public welfare we need
not say. 1t would be far better for the country
that money should be dear than that it should
be cheap in the sense In when 1t is cheap no W.
In reality, Notwithstanding its quoted value, it
is still so dear as not to be had by ordinary
dealers at any price whatever. That very limited
class OF dealers whose proposals satisfy the eX-
pectations OF the frightened capitalist may have
what they want at a nominal price; but to the
great body OF dealers the market Is altogether
closed. What is wanted now is such "demand
TOR money! as will draw out the supply. A
demand for money implies that there is promi-
sing employment for it-in other words, that
there will be employment for labor too. We
trust we may at length be reaching this condi-
toD. Three years ago we went too fast aud
too far. Money was lent purely on the promise
of interest and without sufficient care for
security. Such terms of course created an
affinity of speculation, and cave for time
lnCfeuiUlc Impetus 10 lrdue Inen came Lne
inevitable catastrophe, and after it such an
enduring terror as was never before known.
Let us hope that the quiet and gradual brighten
ing OF the commercial horizon now at length
dscernible may indeed be the Dawn of happier
time. there is no want OF mouey in the country,
only want OF conhdence-ln fact, the accumu-
lations OF the last two years are ready for
use when the opportunity returns. For that
opportunity we have anxously waited, and
it is truly to be hoped that it may be now at
hand.