Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1870-12-16

The BUSINESS PROBLEM OF THE Hour
How is it that, with the most beautiful crops,
with nothing on the political horizon to. dls
tufb our peace, and with a public debt dlmln-
ishing at the rate of upward Of a hundred mil
lions annually. there should be so general q
complaint of unremunerative business? This
i the question asked by the Philadelphia Re
cord, aud it is a very pertinent and serious one.
1t truly says everything appears to be at a
s,and-stiIl, waiting, MicaWber-llke, tor sumo
thing to turn up" Mechanics, manufacturers
and merchants all complain that it is difficult
to sell their wares and merchandise at suttlclent
profits to pay rents, expenses and taxes, and
support their families. Such a state or affairs
cannot continue long. The Record we'll says
Perhaps no two men will agree as to the causes
OF or the remedy for this state OF thiags, but
our opinion is that business is at a stand still
because the prices Of everything are 100 high
and, though what We call money-that IS cur
rency-is abundant, it costs too h.uch to con-
duct business and to produce merchandise 1t
costs too much to live; everything. in Il ne. IS
on TOO expensive 4 scale. The 'Shoddy' days
of high prices, extravaganza living and msretri-
cious show are past, and the great body OF the
people should return to the good Old fashioned
ways and means OF existence. That il a COM
munity makes less money it must spend less,
is as certain as any purely physical fact. The
process OF returning TO a currency redeemable
10 specie readers the diminution Of gains inc
vltable all will accumulate less than in a time
of expansion, and must distribute less, and this
sacrifice will have to be made sooner or latter,
while the sooner it comes The less will be the
pressure. 1t is but history repeating itself.
Every nation that has abandoned the specie
basis and resorted 10 paper money exhibits
precisely the same experience. Prices have
been kept up, while profits and earnings have
been diminished SO, to restore the balance, a
justcr relation must be established between
earnings and prices. Such a state Of things
we know is unpleasant to think OF, much less to
realize, yet it will have to be met.
The return from the inflated ueiirium Of the
past to q present sober reality, like most pro-
cesses Of transition, will be attended with many
discomforts; but the change will be for the bet
long enough, and it is about time that We
shonld descend. and stand once more upon ter
RI frma.-Bah. Sun.
SENATOR SCuURZ's speech in the Senate,
yesterday, will attract much attention.
The Washington Patriot says, Mr.: S. made
q scatbing exposure Of the enormous and
daring frauds committed by the ultras at the
late election in Missouri. The Baltimore Am
erican has this summary OF the speech:
The greater portion of it was occupied with
a recapitulation of the division in the Repub
lican party in Missouri and a justification of
bis own course in supporting the Liberal
wing of the party. He expressed disappoint.
ment and regret that President Grant should
have given bis influence to the 'ProscripliVes,
10 opposition to the Republican platforms Of
1868, in which it was declared that there
should be amnesty for p~olitica! offences, a re
solution to that effect having been adopted 10
the National Convention on his (Mr. Schurz's)
motion. The Liberals" triumphed in the
recent State election in Missouri, and be claim
ed that their policy was the true one for the
Republican party Of the country to adopt if it
wished to continue in power. With regard to
a new party. he believed that there would be
such q one, as both Republicans and Democrats
were becoming dissatisfied, and the cd poll
tical cries were losing their force. The Re
publican party might become this new oreanl-
zation by remedying abuses which have grown
up, BY reforming the civil service, and BY op-
posing the rapidly increasing power OF money
ed corporations, There was more intelligence
and integrity in the Republican than in the
Democratic party, and he believed that with
this new departure The former might draw
strength from the latter.