The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1870-01-25
FIXTURE Business Prospects.

PA~SeSSeS "a business the coming
season is not promising. The decline
Of gold and prices within a few weeks
has carried down public confidence also
Not that the majority Of the people Oh
ject to see the fall in gold and merchan
disc. but because they reason that bust
ness will move slowly and prudently
while the scale Of prices is tending down
ward. This season Of the year is a
period when business is gloomy as we'll
AS the weather. The accounts of last wear
are not entirely settled, and the plans
for the new are scarcely formed. 1t is
q time when business stands still almost
as Nature does, waiting for the sunshine
of Spring to create thaw. In spite
however, of this general belief that times
will be dull this year, there are saoa-
cious observers who thinks quite the
opposite. The London Times having
predicted that the current year will be q
prosperous one to the finacnes and com.
merce OF the country, the Philadelphia
Gazette endorses the prediction and
gives its reasons in the following arti-
Gle, which VIC commend to the notice OF
our readers
''But with reference to the main aver
ment-that the year upon which we
have entered ia to be markedly pros
porous one in the Countrywide there
are some possibilities of contradiction,
there are SO many just expectations OF
proof that we may well accept the gen.
eraiization as snbsta initiating prevalent
hope. Whatever Of political agitation
remains is but the subsistence of the
gale, and may be computation, at least
as an essential factor. So far as it en-
tiers at all, there are reasons to believe
that it will aid. And heretofore it has
been made hindrance by apostacy, and
agitation sprung from that.
Then the popular feeling is directed
toward material enterprises. In every
section the breaking up of new lands,
the construction of new railways, the in
crease Of commercial facilities, the err
largement of manufacturing or mining
interests, and the creation of minor sub
sidiary enterprises, arc talked of and
IN many instances already begun. The
apprehension that existed in some vague
forms in maby minds, that a great and
indefinaDle financial trouble must SUPER
yene before prosperity could be reached,
has faded away with all as facts have
steady demonstrated the solvencv of
the nation and its debt has diminished
The prevalent belief is that prosperity
will continue and grow until the reality
as well as the shadow of danger is pass
ed. 3a
1t is seen that much of enduring
worth and rich recompense has been at
tanned and this victory, won so soon
after the most serious danger, and in
the teeth OF. almost universal prosu alton,
has done SO much already that none can
wonder if illimitable further achieve
nents are assigned to the same power.
We have produced gigantic crops again
as Of old and even cotton, tLat was
most sensibly affected by the war, has its
rebound. The expansion OF railways is
little less than q miracle. The arrival
of immigrants is Increasing and there
with the settlement of new lands and
greater industrial force at somew hat
lover rates, wherever crude labor can
be utilized. The instances serve for q
broad field, since it is manifest on every
side that work is the rule Of tue day.
This work, too, is being performed
under more advantageous conditions to
all concerned. The reduction in costs in
the last five years is greater than is gen
orally recognized. Take some Of the
staples in the most general need, for ex-
ample. Since 1865 -four has fallen 40
per cent. potatoes have declined 48,
coffee 80, butter 80, tea %, beans %,
calico so, blankets and nc usliE the same,
boots and shoes 80 to 40, bacon Is. &c,
averaging prices. Taking list Of the
most imperative neccessaries, it is safe
a. Al. GIL
thirty per cent. Labor has not fallen III
proportion. Bricklayers are paid as
much as ever, and cataloguing the trades
of plasterers, masons, blacksmi.hs, car
penters, painters and IN achinists, the
reduction of wages has never exceed.
ed twenty per cent. That is, they can
live better now on their reduced wages
than they could five years ago on higher.
The matter of rents varies according
to locality. But there is no reason to
presume that, as q whole, they have not
softened in some proportion to the
other costs Of living.
These facts show that there is solid
basis on which expectation rests. There
has been the improvement in both direc.
tons that is necessary to secure gen.
eral activity and bring again the former
bounding pulse of the country in every
department of living. II we concede
that this result has been attained at
some individual lose, it is yet to be rec
ognized that in such cases theindividual
is nothing. The great majority have
been benefited, and thousands are pass
ing through the change with those un-
impaired resources that will enable
them to lay out and initiate movements
whereby all will gain. The character of
the coming movements seems to be sing
ularly exempt from danger. Sound en-
terprises replace speculation, and are SO
numerous and profitable as to monop-
lie the field. OF course tares grow in
wheat, and there is and will be an infu-
sion Of what is unsound and what is
good, gold rings in small things as well
90 nroaf Ruf with the aituafion "a 1t is