Connecticut western news., 1873-10-03
The Financial Outlook.


 Too many American business men,
 says the New York Herald, are in great
 haste to be rich. They canro ot confine
 themselves to the quiet and ploddine
 ways which are the only secure road tc
 wealth. If they were able to pay as
 they go they would feel that they were
 not doing the business of which the1
 are capable, and they consequently
 undertake much more than they car
 accomplish. Un Ter such circumstances
 it is not long before their paper is tossed
 about the street at ruinous rates of in
 terest, and failure inevitably follows
 In the language of Commodore Wander
 bilt during recent interview, there are
 too many men who "want to be ricl
 too quick" It is the story in nut
 shell-the keynote of failure, not merely
 of one, but of hundreds. But for this
 feeling among business men, this haste
 in amassing wealth, we should not be
 compelled to record the long list of dis
 asters. It was this desire and the am
 bition of young speculators to be
 princes of the money market and kings
 of the railroad monopolies that brought
 the crash of the hour. The houses
 whose failure is in the mouths of every.
 body are all comparatively new in busi.
 ness circles. Jay Cooke & Go. were
 built up in the early days of the war,
 and people had come to regard them as
 in every way as sound as the Govern ment bonds, tRe negotiation of which gave them their financial standing be- fore the country. Fisk & Hatch were also new as compared with other we'll known bankers, but their established credit would have enabled them to with stand any shock if they dealt only in legitimate ventures. The same remarks apply, also, to some of the other houses which followed in the wake of these, both in their methods of doing busi- ness and in their downfall. These young men in their desire to be rich forgot the oldfashioned maxims of business, but, fortunately, while by their failure they made a stir on the surface and created widespread fear and alarm among the young brokers who, like them, are indulging in the reckless spirit of speculation, they failed to affect the solid and substantial interests of the country. Many depositors will seffer losses through them, but aside from this individual suffering business will go on without material disturbance.
 The good results of these failures for even disaster often brings good will be to straighten out the doubtful enterprises which have been the ruin of the unfortunate brokers. Ever since the war it has been the custom with many leading houses, and especially with those which acquired reputation during the war, to glut the market with hOnnC successful construction of the Union and Central Pacific gave great impetus to these projects, and high rates of gold interest were promised on roads where scarcely a rail or tie was laid. Thewhole thing was bubble, and it was certain that all of the worthless companies would collapse in the end. Now the collapse has come, and with it it in- wolves the destruction of banking houses, and possibly of railway corpo- ratlons, which were sound before they became extended by their efforts to mo- nopolize the entire trade of the coun- ny. These things not only bring failure % those who undertake them, but the public are victimized and American 'redlt is scandalized and weakened, both at home and abroad, and especially n foreign markets. When the crash | 'omes the only thing that is consoling the fact that the mythical enterprises | re swept away and that legitimate business receives more attention than 7hile the bubbles were preparing to urst.
 It is plain that not only the specula- DTS, but the country, must come back } the true method of doing business. IS unsafe for any man or any firm to uy more than he or they can pay for. 'uylng on credit. and dealing upon azardous margins are the source of all UT commercial evils. When one is in ebt he is at the mercy of every wave of 'rtune. Money becomes necessity at le very moment it cannot be obtained. nd ruinous interest is paid for accom- lodatlon; ruin IS averted by the assu- lnce of its certainty in the end, Mat ITS in themselves of little importance. i'll destroy 0 fair credit. One of the rcumstances which helped to over lrow Jay Cooke & Go. was the legal ar the government Is making against le Union Pacific Railroad on account the Credit Mobilier frauds. Public | Tn wild railway securities as thereby weakened, and this was one ( the reasons why Jay Cooke failed to egotlate the bonds of the Northern aclt1c. Things that in themselves are ( 1f1es help to destroy the calico forts of ! People who are in debt i e always lost through the inability to ] 'allze, and their weakness often comes ( om the weakest and most trifling of t ltslde causes. It was so in this case. Z Had these houses been pursuing n gitimate business upon their Own 4pital they would not have failed. ven a worthless railroad cannot de- roy house which has paid for all the l ock and bonds it has in it's possession. t ne company may fail, but the house 1 ses only what 1t has paid for. The f en who are ln debt and the unfortu- V 'te people who have invested their g oney with men who are in debt are t e only ones who suffer in Q financial Ii isis like this one, which affects only Ii @ extraneous business of reckless 0 ecnlators. Outside of this current o body is hurt, and everything goes on o Ii there were no Jay Cookes in the n It is to be hoped that the lesson of s crash in Wall street will not be dis f, garded by our business men. Never u s the failure of reputable brokers il ne so little real harm or taught so F lolesome lesson. The great busi- b ss interests of the country are un- g ected, and trade moves on as tbonob it thing had happened. A healthier D 1e IS sure to pervade business circles fc len these wrecks are swept away, s] e reckless spirit of speculation will W restrained. It will be more apparent m before that the legitimate business
 the country is sound and safe. A
 elk earlier general prostration would C ve been predicted on the hypothesis ot It Jay, Cooke & Co.,, Fisk < Hatch m l n dozen other leading bankers y, 'uld fail. They have failed, and vet e, serious consequences have resulted hi are likely tn rasult fron, 4La a:aSL :; T,