Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-10-02
1HE RUTLAND HERALD
THE PANIC DOING GOOD.

The telegraph and letter writers assure
90 that all is quiet along the lines in
Wall street, and that while great uncer-
,oirtv exists there are no special causes
far q renewal of the panic. There can
ho no denying that the reaction of the
last few DAYS with its failures, suspen-
sions and arrangements will carry much
distress throughout the country, and
,hot the disasters will reach in diminish
oJ force the distant portions of the
country. But while we deplore the
ayiIs that must necessarily result from
mi. panic, we must not forget that the
hnbblrs that were attracting so much at
tantion and diyerting the attention of
mon from sources of honest industry
and enterprise, are pricled by it, and
that many an attractive scheme that
threatened to swallow up the means of
small capitalists and deluded merchants,
now laws rs hopeless and as helpless as
Nh. yprck of elemental suds, that a mo-
mout ago was floating before our vision,
a gorgeous and many colored bubble.
We have been too greedy for wealth,
anil have learned things by wrong
names. This panic has crroected many
of our mistakes, and has raised the tone
Of society, so that steady honest indus
t-y is more possible than before, and
worthless bonds are not universally
SPOKEN of as securities"
There is probably no enterprise of the
country that has been forced to such
unreasonable lengths as that of building
new railroads, and forcing transporta-
ton lines beyond where there was any
reason or necessity for them. There
cIu D.. no doubt that for all purposes
connected with the healthy production
of wealth or the development of the
highest happiness and industry of the
pop'e, the population of the United
States {, too widely distributed, and the
necessary outlay of capital in this ex-
trA-ye distribution of our people, and in
keeping up the necessary communica-
ton between distant communities of
.olrsc'y settled regions, Is a vast waste
of means and labor. The outstanding of
resources, and the economical distribu-
ton Of a people over the smallest terri
tory that will contain them and allow OF
The employment of the whole labor and
enterprise Of the people, is productive OF
the best results, and develops the most
wealth, both public and private.
The State of Missouri, for instance,
compares, in salubrity of climate, rich
ness of soil, mineral capacity and east.
ness of access, most favorably with any
country in the world. All the grains es-
culauj~ and fruits, produced by the most
favored climes, grow there in profusion.
Her mines are nowhere excelled in rich
ness, and large ships can be floated along
her eastern boundary, and across the
State from east to west. Yet, with all
her advantages her resources and capa-
cities are left undeveloped while millions
of money and the labor of thousands OF
men are annually expended to build rail
roads into the heart of the rocky noun
nins. and across the wild plains and
deserts Of the country. If the entire
population Of England and Wales, was
packed square mile for square mile into
into this one State Of Missouri, there
would be left land enough of the most
excellent in the world to organize a State
larger than Massachusetts, aud yet Mis-
souri, is only one of a score of States I'M
der this Government possessing the same
ofucany the same capacity for an in.
creased population and improved indus
try.
The wealth of ration consists in its
people, aud their industries and enter
prise, and the largest amount Of wealth
is produced by the greatest coaccntra-
ton of capital and labor, until the con-
cntraton reaches that point where it
rndangers the means of subsistence. Yer
mont with a fourfold population Of in
dustrious people, would be vastly more
wealthy and better off every way than
by expanding her borders to inclose four
times her area without increasing her
people, more than in the same ratio she
increases her superficial measure. Then
it must be apparent that every effort to
spread a limited population over a larger
area than they can fully develop, is a
waste of energy and capital, and the
building of railroads into a wilderness or
across the plains in advance of settle
ment of the country is a destruction Of
capital and of energy. Railroads, tele-
graphs and highways should be built
where they will accommodate the wants
and needs of the people, and not as an
iuducement for people to scatter into
wider settlements when they would be
better off nearer together. There is not
a state in this nation that would not be
vastly better off to double its popula-
ton, and we hope that we shall have
financial revulsions often enough to
teach the lessons of economy of money
and energy necessary to success, and
tLat these bubbles of unnecessary rail-
road schemes, will be pricked by the
same stiletto that stabs to the death the
high pressure speculations in stocks that
has kept the finances and business of the
country in such an unnatural excite
ment during the last few years. We
shall not mourn over a financial panic
that promises to be instrumental in cor
recting so many abuses as this one of
1878.