Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-11-03
DAILY GAZETTE.
THE MONEY TROUBLES.
A. & w. sPRAGUEs NOTES GONE 10
PROTEST

of panics and bad runlors. The day was gloomy n
but gloomier still were the shTinkaRes Of values =
in the best securities and the rumOrs prevailing
on the street and in fact throughout the town. I
The II Ith is this is no longer panic, but sim
ply a crisis which, let us hope, will shortly 9
lead to nnaulder and glleT basis for the future.
Financial and commercial men pretty unani-
mously admit that the country at large is pros !
porous; that is, the West will be enriched this
year beyond expectation for her large surplus OF
cereals. The South will, at the lowest Calcula- /
ton. have something like $500, ,0OO, 600 for the
cotton raised, and this only on an average price
Of IL to l24 cents per pound; yet blight or
deadlock has suddenly come tOthe surface which
depreciates all these SPLENDID advantages and
the prospects. The reason for this deadlock
which leads to the crisis gins to be understood
slowly but surely.
On the lst Of September, when the prospects
for trade we're perfectly rose colOred We had the
following estimated legitimate and available caPi-
tai to trade on:
Currency S1OOOOOO0
McrchS1ts' notes. which were bought
and sold and represented the same -. 49,.
rs currency, at the lowest estimation DO.WOOO
money could be got ct moments q 81 "a la p
notice, estimated at par value, say
IN -.''.'..'' eO IVVAVV
ro,., .sy L .!mi : -. ..nn ........ ! sl7O6oooUoO
Leaving out all GOVUsnmsuA hands let us nee
what we have now. Ofthe sollrFeDcy half Is
locked up in saving banks and boarded
This wonld leave avai1Able -. s550 100000
Merchants notes now current would 49,.
Stocks isis in their deprsaidssd value rep
resent less than .,...... 55O.eOO.COO
Total ............. 81 900 900 900
Thus then pTima facie, it can be estimated
that 81, 600 600 has suddenly been locked up ar
deprecialed For is this all Ths $780, 900 600
estimated stocks are no longer even In the
present condition to afford that assistance and
relief to commerce that tile $500 100000 did
on the lat of SEPTEMBER, while the $2O0, 900, 900
of merchants notes that were cnrrenk East, North
aud West on the lst Of September, now 70 hah,
become a clOp a bugbear 70 commerce iusiead
oan 0uxiIliary to trade.
ltis also beginning to bo understood thai
while concentration Of business into single
large channels is undoubtedly beneficial to
consumers, inasmueh as the business can be
done on q reduced scale Of expenditure, yot
Il requires one indispensable foundation
auats capital. Now inadequate capital Is mol
felt rs long as notes can be shaved even 1t
or ~ per cent, q month. But houses who
choose to concentrate the business Of tWeDty,
tAirty or forty millions will suddenly feel the
Oinch, not when the price OF the shave Is rails
ed but when no market is found for the hOat
ing notes that are made 10 keep . eOncentfa
ted business in working order. Tue great
mOdus Operandi is best described thus:
A. is q commission house. He Is no dOub
wealthy enough to do a large sound trade, bu
he Is not wealthy enough tO advance tO Ont
hundred or two hundred manufacturers aI
aggregate of 800, 900, 600 ON bOna-hde manu
factufed goods. A. therefore makes advance
in sixty OF ninety days paper. This pape
becomes current because As name Is ON II
and is bought and sold in the market Il
meet these enormous obligations A. sells Oh
goods 70 the West, North and South and take
the notes Of q thousand customers, WhIc
notes, with AS endorsement, again become
current in the market. They are bought an
sold, and by these means A. Is able to pay tn
advances he made his clients, the cOnsignOr.
But suddenly the note market csaSes to bur
and the whole machine becomes elOgged.-
Factories become only brick and mortar, Va
liable machinery becomes old iron. The Ml
glc paper, current yesterday TO purchS
houses, land and gold, suddenly, as In u
story OF the Arabian Nights, become leaves
trees. There is something of the kind no
going on, and this is the crisis
Tho effect. OF course, Is the throwing
many thousand people ont OF employ ne
comes the reduction Of wages reduction
cost Of production, reduction Of cost OF iVin
reduction OF rent, and when the process b
been gone through, severe as the crisis ml
be while It lasts. it Is only the sure toreruhn
Of the most wAOlesOps state " affairs that
To follow.
Toihesa faetstle senslble married men Al
nien Of hHainess gully subscribe efsl &
much the shrlnkage and depreciatiOh mi
lead to suileFings BY an Immense number
people thaerlsls now sak Il can neither he a
tOFed With rose water nor staVed on With0n
severe lesson In order that future benefits m
be reaped. No alarm Is felt fOr the homer
financial safety Of the county, while y
alarm for isolated houses Is belng daily 8
cOuntsd until the transformation from IN
fated financial state to a sound basis shall
complete. ,st.. -
MsantIme Wall street the great pulse Of n
commercial as well as the purely hnAne
system OF the country, thrObs with each
cess OF fever. Each important failure or 81
pension finds expression In further shrinka
Of stock values. Each fresh FunOt, hOWAN
unfOnnded, serves to further depress the llt
remaining feeling Of confidence, and th
helps 70 reproduce the very state OF ana
vhIGh RaVe rise 10 it, J khisiness men VII
affairs have been conducted on the most cC
aervatlve business principles suddenly real
that abundant assets and almost unllml
credit are b0wefless 20 avert disaster WI
property Of every sort has q best but . no
nal Valne. Maturing notes have 10 be .
before three O'Clock, aud neither broad eel
nor vast manufactures, nor priceless pIOdn
nor endless stocks and bonds avail tor
purpose. Money, actual money, is demand
and for want OF It houses fail Or snsp
with lnilllOns Of assets over and abOVo 4
liabilities, aud, like Robinson OrusOe o.
desert island, learn ''lhe utter emptinesi
mere kieh8Btf N s.AA"N"e NEtb ~