The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-17
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
Editorial Opinions Of the Leading Jonr"''s
UpOn Current TOpics-Compilcd EN'r'
Dny for the Evening Telegraph
THE WEALTH OF THE COUNTRY.

THE WEALTH OF THE COONIhh'
From the NJ Y Times.
The problem most difficult OF solution by
foreioners at the close of our great war was
fbe disposition that was to be made oi ,2oo'-
ono men then under arms. Reasoning from
tbeir own precedents, the instruments by
,rIicb s1ccess was achieved, in being turned
leo ,non society. threatened to neutrallze
all the advantages gained. In the dsDandeu
armies they saw a most dangerous element
Io peace and order. and speculated long and
earnestly. and with conclusions by no means
Aattering to ourselves, as to the result.
The war ended 10y a grand conD ae man.
Hardly day interposed between the most
formidable show of resistance and none at
nr The insurgent forces disappeared as 10y
,,ogic Our own, disbanded with almost
aonal promptness, returned to the places,
tbo ministries from which they had been
drawn The normal condition of things was
almost instantly restored; and the only evil
dences remaining Of the mighty struggle
we're the memories Of great achievements,
and the vast political and social revolutions 1t
wrought. ,.,
We have long ago converted the distrust OF
tbo foreioner TO confidence and admiration.
The only thing that nations respect in each
otber is three History has no example COM
norable with that put forth by ourselves. Yet
This displav which has advanced us to the
front Tani, of great States does us small
credit. and is a feeble illustration of our true
character. compared with our achievements
since the war The work of destruction IS
ALWAYS easy: that of restoration IS the dill
cult one. 1t is here the real genius OF our
people lies At no former period have they
made such strides as within the past four
wears. At no period have they spread them
selves SO rapidly over the continent, re-
CLAIMING its vast wastes and planting them
with communities possessing everymethodand
appliance which science and skill have con-
trived for the abrdgment and utilization
of labor. No sooner was the war ended than
the whole force and capital of the nation were
turned to repair the destruction that had been
made. All wars, domestic ones particularly,
at once overshadow all the ordinary operations
of society. They draw the able-bodled from
labor. and put the burden of sustaining them,
as well as of supplying them with the instru-
ments of destruction, upon the feeble and
weak Everything is sacrificed to what IS
esteemed the supreme necessity. Production
in a great measure ceasing, society IS forced
to subsst upon the accumulatlOnS OF the past
and if the war be of long continuance, tabu-
lous prices, either from real or apprehended
necessity, come to be demanded for all the
necessities of life.
Such was our condition at the close of the
Rebellion. Consumption had far Outrun pro-
duction; and as the surplus produced for any
one year exceeds by an insignificant fraction
only, the annual expenditure or consumption,
years of the most unremitting toll were re-
Quired to restore the waste that had been sUf-
fered 1t was not till the harvest of 1865 that
production fairly overlook consumption, and
the great reservoirs from which the nation
draws its supplies of food filled to overhowing.
Prices for the first time since the war began
to show marked and permanent decline,
which bids fair to continue till they reach
quotations which prevailed for long and pros
porous periods previous to it.
The rapid distribution of our surplus popu-
lation over agricultural districts for the past
five years. and the consequent cheapening of
all articles of food, is one of the most inte-
resting subjects that can attract attention. In
such districts labor is always well employed.
In crowded communities very considerable
proportion of the whole population is always
unemployed. To give the opportunity t.
labor, therefore, is to create labor. England
is all the richer for the countless millions she
has sent forth to other lands. Useless til
they emigrated, they are the great consumers
Of the products of those they left behind. II
social economy the great problems are distri
button and consumption (of manufactured
articles), not production, which far outrun
the capacity to consume.
Within the past four years the population
of the nine Northwestern States, from whicl
we draw our supplies Of food, has Increase
at the rate of 100000 annually To show tn
rate of the increase from 1864 to 1865. w
have prepared a tabular statement of tn
number of votes cast in each State at tn
Presidential elections in three years, an
have estimated the population to be tivefol
greater than such vote. One to five may b
regarded as the average ratio of votes t.
population in the agricultural States in gene
raj and excited elections:-