The Portland daily press., 1873-09-30

tingencies they are morally certain to do. The
wonder is not that Clews & Co. closed their
doors but that they held out so long. For nine
Jays their cashier was redeeming sight drafts
with uninterrupted steadiness The flow of
money was all outward. None came back to
repenish the treasury. Reports that the house
had failed were put in circulation, gathered up
by peripatetic busy bodies and news mongers,
and banded about in such way as to precipi-
tate the event falsely chronicled.
With the exception of one or two disreputa-
BILE persons who degrade and disgrace Journal
ISM through their connection with the news
paper press there has been no dissent from the
universal feeling of sympathy and regret which
the embarrassment of Mr.. Clews has OCCASION
ed, and the hope and expectation is general
among his legion of friends that he will soon
be able to lqudate his liabilities and resume
the business in which he has made himself
respected and popular.
| In the midst of the CONSERVATION and despair
which prevailed week ago in monetary circles
the President of the United States and the
Secretary of the Treasury appeared upon the
scene. The former came quietly the eve
ming of the Goth, but his presence was instant
|
by eager visitors till late hour Of the night
The next day Secretary Richardson arrived,
and the President and himself gave audience to
a very considerable number of visitors charged
with variety of suggestions of plans of relief.
Both these high officials expressed great solicit
tude for the sufferings of the community and
entire willingness to do all in their power to as
suage them, consistent with rigid adherence
to lao. Beyond that point the President declar-
ed with emphatic decision, they wonld not go
one step under any consideration. He was
| courteous, consderate-listened with the most
respectful attention to all suggestions expressed
his own views with clearness and force that
must have surprised some of his visitors, but
| exhibited a firmness and nfexibility which
banshed all fear that he could be persuaded to
violate or evade the statutes of the land in any
emergency or under any possible plea of necessi-
| ty.
| have never seen Gen. Grant under fire, but
if he is as self possessed aud cool in battle, as
he proved 10 the face of this battery of impor-
| tunate financers who pleaded with him in the
agony which the fear of impending bankrupt :
| cy had inspired, as Bassano entreated Portiau
| 81 beseech you
WreSt once the law to your authority;
To do great right do a little wrong,"
| his achievements in arms are readily enough
accounted for Secretary Richardson also COM
ported himself with great dignity and proprety.
| He met every suggestion and proposition with
| readiness and intelligence which evinced a
perfect familiarity with all the details of his
department and showed his ability in clear
and conspicuous light.
| The country has reason to thank these emf
nent gentlemen for the courage and determine
ton with which they resisted all arguments and
expostulations, tending TO induce them to in
terpose government aid for the assistance of
private individuals.
And now that the panic has spent its force,
and is apparently subsidng, it is well to note
that its ravages have been confined mainly to
spectators in stocks-to bankers, who tempt
depositors by excessive rates of interest and to
promoters of railway projects of such magni-
| tude, that they were gradually absorbing an un-
due share of the circulating medium OF the
country Upon the first of these classes all
| sympathy is wasted. They are drones upon So
ciety who try to get rich quickly by gaming
rather than slowly by honest industry. The
| sooner they are all cleaned out and
scattered to places where they can do some
| thing useful, the better for everybody.
| OF the second class, it may be said that while
their objects are good and any proper exer-
tons to find employment for the capital of the
country ought to be encouraged, the system of
borrowing ON CALL and lending on time will
never work. where the call rates are as high as
five or even four per cent. There are times of
ba 1apt
ment bonds as high as four per cent. At such
times the private bankers receive enormous de-
posts. They are obliged either to lose interest
| or to take second rate collaterals for their
| funds. They are very apt to adopt the latter
alternative, and then, when they need their
| money in tight times, they cannot collect it.
Even the banks which pay int rest on indi-
vidual deposits are unable to respond to all the
claims of their dealers in times of stringency
| The business must be subjected to limitations
and regulations, and prosecuted with the incest
| skill, rate being always secondary to absolute
security or there can be 10 safety in it.
| In respect to the projectors and promoters of
| new railway routes, it must be said that they
| have displayed degree of imprudence, nay,
| of recklessness, of which their present strait
NOh7SfeShON.
to look at tbs statement of Jay Cooke & Co.,
to see to what an infaJuation that firm must
have been carried when they could invest
several millions in an enterprise so quxotic
and chimerical as the Northern Pacific. Other
projects of like character though of less magni-
tude have engulphed smaller fortunes, until it
! is safe to say that for some years railroad
building in the United States is practically at
| an end, except in cases where the stockholders
subscribe cash aud build on principles of sound
economy. This floating of bonds at 80 and 80
| cents on the dollar will now be thing of the
| past and railways will not cost so much
| through high rates of usury, and eXtravagant
commissions paid to procure loans, that they
will eat up a cargo of wheat in carrying it to
| market
| Since this disturbance of values was sure to
| come, its arrival may be pronounced in many
respects opportune. 1t finds the country en-
| riched by stupendous crop of all the great
| staples of the soil. The exports will be I'M
usually large and the wholesome lesson of ad-
versity we have just been learning will tend to
| check importatons especially of useless stuffs.
Then we shall have abundant and cheap food
the indispensable concomtant of genuine pros
| perty. If we are wise we shall return with
all possible celebrity to specie payments, and
thus place ourselves on a commercial plane
with the most favored nations of the world.
There is this solid source of consolation in
our reflections upon current events, that moth
ing has been lost. There is just as much wealth
in the country as there was before. The prop
erty is all here Only the distribution has I'M
dergone change. The tendency of initiation
has been to concentrate money in few hands;
| the tendency of contraction will be to broaden
the avenues of competition aud give industry a
chance to vie with the capital it utilities and
profits. There will be a momentary derange-
ment in the agencies whereby producers and
consumers are brought together, but in the re-
| adjustment, which will follow as certainly as
the law of gravitation, each will reap SUBJ
stantial advantage in the diminished numbers
of those who derive their gains fronsthe inter-
change of commodities. YARMOUTH.
The Upper Kennebec.
SKowHEGAN, Sept q, 1873