The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1869-01-07
Financial Condition OF the Country.

The Washington correspondent Of
the New York Express writes:
Letters from the West state that the
stringency IN commercial circles there
is greater than il has been since 1857
that the country is overstoeked with
goods, aud that the farmers refuse to
send their grain to market in eonse-
quence Of the decline in prices since
1867.
At the South the aspect is rather
more cheerful. The high price of cot
ton will put $3.50, 900, 900, Tor that pro-
duct alone, Into the pockets Of the
reconstructed" of that section, to say
nothing Of large amounts for tobacco 10
Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland,
Missouri aud Kentucky, aud for wheat
and corn 10 the same States aud in
Georgia and Tennessee. The whole
value Of the surplus crops Of the South
this year cannot be less than $500, 600.
900, Of which probably 500, 900, 900
are paid to the negroes in the shape of
wages, and $50, 900, 900 more 10 the
shape Of food.
Another year of equal prosperity
would put the South in comparatively
sound condition, although, of course,
there are aud must be for many years
Numerous cases of individual suffering.
as of persons in advanced life, totally
ruined by the war, their houses aud
furniture destroyed, and and all their
investments Of money completely worth.
less. When We consider that the nc
cumulated savings of two hundred
years have been destroyed at the South,
we cannot cease to wonder that her re.
cuperation should be as rapid as j: is
OF the immense importation of for
eign goods, silks, velyets, laces, jcwelry,
wines and other costly merchandise, the
South now takes comparatively little
Her consumption is mainly confined to
the necessaries Of life, and will be for
some years. Hence her recovery from
losses will be more rapid. The South.
ern people, with few exceptions, never
were a luxurious people, in IL sense
that the New Workers and the Par.
isians are. They cherished for the
most part the homeIy virtues of their
ancestors, and lived npon the produce
Of their fields, their forests aud their
rivers-content with roomy houses,
wood. fires aud old-lashioned furniture.
Hence, in their present depressed con.
dition, they are more coptented than
ranger would suppose it possible for
them to be- We hear of few suicides
there, and the number of insane per-
sons in Virginia is only half the num-
Der in Maine, regard being had to pop.
ula,ion.
In its best days there was very little
money in circulation in the South
Now there is still less Ia the CONNER.
eial panic which seems to be approach.
ing, the South will therefore suffer less
than the North from any contraction Of
the currency that may precede the res
toration TO prosperity. In the South
there are no real estate speeulations,
even in the enyirons Of the cities no
artificial values given to towu.lots or
embryo Palmyras or Babylons. Fssiiaa
ieafe is eminently the rule there, SO far
as real estate is concerned. They are
not gregarious people, but love elbow.
room above everything. Cities they
regard as necessary evils, and as such
not to be encouraged unduly beyond
moderate dimensions. For the greater
the city the greater the evil.
IL Is very evident that business at
the North is overdone; that there are
too many producers there-too
many merchants, too many traders, TO
many agents, too many doctors, too many
persons, in short, who stand merely as
Intermediates between the producer
and the consumer. One Of the New
York journals estimates that there are
200, 600 people out Of work within sight
of the spre OF Trinity Church. With.
in an equal distance of the State House
at Boston there are doubtless 10000
more, aud another so, 900 in II int.
rior Of New England. Most OF these
unfortunate persons are anxious for
employment, but cannot obtain it
Even the high tariff, which SO enrich -
the great manufacturers, does not put
norsel of bread or an ounce of meat
into their mouths.
What visible outlet to all this surplus
labor ID afforded, unless at the South 7
The West for the present, is pretty well
filed up with laborers Of all descrip
tious, and thousands are out Of work.
The South, then, is the only vacant
field easily accessible on this continent
for the unemployed masses Of the North.