Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-02-16

says:
"The spirit of specnlation increases un-
der the stimulus of an abundant supply of
cheap money, of which the greater part
seeks employment in carrying large
amounts Of speculative shares. Parties
buying them, and those loaning upon
them, alike agree that current prices rep
resent speculative, and not real values,
and also agree that under the pressure of
easy money, and the danger of further cur
rency expansion by Congress, much higher
points will be reached. Under these con-
Victions the number of buyers steadily in
creases, and the willingness Of lenders
shows no abatement, rs prices rise. Moth
ing could be more stimulating TO specula-
tons in stock than the financial policy Of
the present Congress- and the longer it de
lays in adopting policy looking to early
resumption of specie payment, the higher
prices will go, varied by ruinous and
damaging fluctuations. During the rebel
lion the financial action Of Congress made
all local property seem more desirable than
the national debt, which underlaid and held
as security for its payment all the proper
ty of the country"
In regard to business prospects, the Tri-
buHe says:
"The earnings of railways in 1868 thus
far exceed the expectations of their mana
gers and the public. The opinion has
widely prevailed that the large traffic of
1857 was exceptional, and that after the
pressure was over, proceeding from the
movement of the crops, their earnings
would recede TO points where dividends
would be made insecure, if they were not
reduced ia numerous cases. 1t now begins
to appear that the natural increase
of the business of the country ira
Yersed by the railways has been underesti-
mated, and that, while people have been
looking for the reaction following the re-
bellion, the increased development of the
country has neutralized the Losses expected
from that cause, and given the roads per
manent traffic from which regular income
Is made secure.
The following facts and speculations
from the New York World on the food
question possess interest for every one, and
especially business mem
The question of an adequate supply Of
| food at moderate prices fortunately ap-
/ proaches favorable solution. There is
no probability that during the coming
| spring We shall experience repetition OF
the scarcity and famine prices of the last,
| We are IN every respect in a more favor
able position than that in which we found
ourselves one year ago. Then, after reso-
lutely resisting the short crop and high
| price theories, We found that our supplies
in store we're being rapidly reduced, and
were compelled to order wheat from Eng
land we in tnrn shipping back 10 tho
" esteTn markets. The consequence was q
large advance abroad at a time when
foreign dealers were looking to an accumu-
lation Of stocks TO give them lower prices
| The commencement of the present crop
year found Europe in no mood TO repeat
this experience. She bid prices for wheat
that have been rarely eQualled in the face
of the most palpable famine. The result
was a precipitation towards her markets
of any surplus that could anywhere be
found. The effect has lust begun to be de
monstrated in Great Britain. The nearer
markets from which she has usually drawn
a large proportion Of her imported bread
stufis were themselves buyers abroad, and
she vas obliged to depend upon markets
more OF less distant. The early closing o.
the Erie Canal prevented her receiving
any considerable supply from "a, and Sc
we're weather in the Black Sea has retarded
the shipments from thai quarter. Cab
fornia Immediately shipped almost her en-
tire surplus, but il is nearly all yet at sea
In spite Of these drawbacks, Great Britain
has been 80 successful in obtaining sup
plies, that on the lat Of January she had
a stock equal to two million bushels o
wheat in excess Of the preceding year hei
imports on scale vastly larger, and he
farmers deliveries nearly as large, whli'
her prices we're about fifty cents bHshe
higher, and her consumption from the de
pressed condition Of the state Of trade
undoubtedly twenty per cent. smaller no'
than then. These are pregnant facts, an
promise that the long period Of fanln