The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-05-28

currency initiation, could no longer be
maintained. The short cotton crops and
harVests Of 1879 and '73 FASTENED the
catastrophe. These actual sources Of
wealth being cut of, the south and west
had little to buy with; the New York
merchants could not sell their imported
gOOd-worse, could not make collection
Of overdue bills. Railway companies,
having no surplus crops, and little mer-
chaudi1e to transport, made huge shrink.
age in earnings, and having expended
former profits in extra dividends, could
declare no more on their grossly watered
stock. They were unable even TO pay the
interest on their debts; and now for sec.
Ond time, the monster railway system OF
America tottered TO destruction, spread
ing the havoc OF the crisis In 1851.
The enormous decrease IN market
value Of inflated shares, and, especially,
the exposure of the rottenness Of half the
railway bonds which had flooded the
country, beggared spectators and invest
Ors alike. Terror and disaster held the
Stock Exchange, and ran over the coun-
try along those mOneyed channels whose
currents respond TO every Wall street
pulsation. House after house went down
mot in single day, but with an Umin-
Gus "rising average" Of failures reported.
How few the eminent merchants, the
banking nabObs, the railway kings that
withstood tho storm! The largest re.
sources failed In 70. Truly, the present
Administration came in with evil aus.
plces, and under omens not 10 be avertcd.
Tho tardy attempt 10 renew specie pay
ments, which seemed feasible enough
with currency then near It's par, proved
80 futile at the beginning Of the crisis 1t
was this effort, coupled with the return
OF our securities from Europe, and the
run on tho banks Tor gold, that brought |
on the COnvulsiOn, so disastrous to the |
at large, Of the national banking |
system When the crash cSme, there |
actually were held in Europe, in addition |
to over $3.50, 100000 of our public funds,
more than $1,O0OO0OO0O OF American
State and city bonds-a gigantic indebt-
edness, an aggregate exceeding two bill
lions Of dollars, on which an annualInter.
est Of $l25, 900, 600 was shipped in gold
This item, omitted from the usual Stats
tics OF exports and imports, gradually had
depleted us 10y doubling our annual adj
verse trade BALANCED oil all the gold We
could produce or had accumulated in bet.
Ter and less extravagant times. The TEN.
per Of our British and German creditors
proved to be such, that, while American
securities were rising in fictitious market
7aHe upon the United States Exch Inge,
or.even maintaining their ground, they
we're firmly held abroad and rarely re-
urned for sale. But when our troubles
Iegan, O general foreign alarm set In, and
hey came back by millions and millions
and were sold under cable orders at any
price, even the lowest - save Umething
rom the terrible wreck. Those New
York houses which had established
branches abroad, and, by Exiting" be-
ween that city and London at high rates
u discount, had kept up abrave front and
their bonds, could stand II no
Onger. Their day had passed, and they
vent down in the storm, except the few
aved by most heroic sacrifices of the pri.
ate estate-GVen the lordly hOmes-oI
heir several founders.
Nowhere, nowhere were these cAlami-
les felt as in the PROSTATE metropolis.
The coup do grace was that sharp and
downfall in the value Of real
state-a kind Of property hitherto con-
idered proof against the widest disaster.
But even this had been rated far above its
.ctual worth, and the period of initiation
by the schemeful processes Of
he Ring. BY 1918, the grievous taxa.
ions required TO meet the City interest :
md pay the municipal expenses, had I'm.
'overishGd both landlords and tenants,
nd real estate tell, under these and com.
nercial troubles, 10 one.half its actual,
md fourth its capital, value. Only
me business thrived-that OF the auction
er, who knocked down under his ham.
ner the choicest and costiliest properties.
The final humiliation came, when the
axes could not be collected, and the
proud Empire City was bankrupt. The
operation Of a stay.law, which was virtual
rendered impossible for her
creditors 10 obtain their overdue interest
~ civil process; and when the situation
vas realized, New York City skies Tell. as
yc have said, from SO to 40 In a single
lay. Then followed the run on the Saw.
ngs Banks, and more than one Of these
hitherto impregnable custodians oil the
arnings Of the poor found itself compel.
ID to ask an extension from the outraged
nd menacing crowd Of depositors which
at its doors,
1t may DO that the nation has escaped \:
lirer calamities by the ruin which has
,efallen its metropolis. Who can tell
what might have been the effect else.
our city, Tor example-had the
,rgaRized rebellion longer been maintain.
ID, even though the saCking Of New York
we're spared US? We do not care 10 dwell
lpon this theme to-day. What Is done Is
lone; but never again shall a lswless pop
llaCe obtain such domination over an
American city. The lesson Of this catas-
.rophe is henceforth deeply craven in the
rational heart: That social integrity Is at
he base oil all lasting political greatness;
md that when the public moral sense is
,nCe blunteds 80 that 1t basely rellres
rom the contest with what is dishonest
md unfair, career has begun which can
md only in the decline, fall, and extinc.
ion Of the moot civilized CanitAl or StAtA |