New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-30
JOHN PAUL AS A BANKRUPT.
RESULTS OLE THE PANIC.

TAuoR-hR PAULs LIGHT AND ECONOMICAL
ovERCoAT-sOME REMARKS ON THE REPRESENTA-
TIvEs OF THE GREEN BOARD IN wALIrsT-A
WORD OR TWO ON COMMODORE VANDERBILT.
trRoM An OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF TRIBUNE
HoBOKES. Oct. 22-As have several times before
attempted to explain caught One, the other night.
SO many Interruptions have occurred that perhaps
it were better to over run the story, as 1t
were, and again begin at the beginning.
Well soon after connecting with the New
York Central and Hudson River Railroad and
taking q common passenger car, to which
our poverty but not our viii consented, Paulna
complained of being sleepy. So we made up bed
for her on a vacant seat, improvsing pillow from
the cushion. and the child presently slumberng
in blissful Inconsistencies that the bedstead had
not been cleaned once since the built, in the
early part of the present century and that all the
surroundings generally were suspicious sat mp III
a dIgnihed but uncomfortable position, and read
about the panic.
IL was very pleasant. that early autumnal day,
riding leisurely across the country and reading
about the panic. The foliage was just changing, and
called Mrs. Pauls attention to the lesson of the
leaves elicting from her quiet but sympathetic
pressure of the hand and the remark that she got
good many ideas about her Fall dresses from them.
Then turned TO the newspaper again, and rather
enjoyed the details Of the panic. For was miles
away from it. And had nothing TO lose anyway.
had il been next door, Ii did not seem possible that
the panic could lessen my enjoyments or interfere
with my comfort in the slightest degree save and ex
cepting my sympathy would naturally be enlisted
in behalf of suffering friends But sympathy ssome-
thing which never withhold from those IN trouble,
whether they happen to be friends or not; there's
nothing mean about me. find, too, that one can 60
around shedding sympathy all Sides for weeks at
a time. without spending cent or being at much
personal I'M Convenience. That | could be an actual
loser by the panic never occurred to me; it did Mt
seem to be in the cards so to speak. Well, on get
ting home found nigh upon bushel OF bills rushed
in on me. The butcher, the baker, and the candle
stick-maker all wanted their accounts liquidated at
once Worst of all, my tailor, on whom had conf
IDENTIFY counted for a new suit of clothes, sent IN
bill as long your In the ordinary course OF
events this wOud not have come in till the 1st of
January and in the meanwhile my credit would
have been as good as anybOdys. Looking at my
position now l don't see that it differed materially
from that Of good many men engaged in larger
businesses l could keep agoing as long as the
tailor aud my various other trade connections would
trust me. Il was only when they wanted their pay
that had TO fail. They precipitated the evil by
their senseless behavior. If the idiots had not sent
in their bills should still he trading with them
all would be going on smoothly. A panic is simply
aWaut Of confidence brought on by finding out that
people are insOlvent sooner than is convenient for
them-sooner than they themselves had calculated
On. So long as it is not known that they re
insolvent. everything lovely. If nobody
wanted pay. there "a be 10 panics, This Is
a clearer proposition by far then the tOgnate one
that a national debt is a national blessing. What
use then, in beating round the bush and devising
long-winded plans for preventing panicsf Just
IL. Il. - 81.
hit the nail square on the head at once fit were
so arranged that everybody would give credit to
everybody, that goods, instead of being sold on
time were sold on eternity, there'd be no panics,
and financial waters would flow rapidly and
noselessy as gravy over clean tabe-clOth instead
of with the gluck guck that comes when you try
to get buttermilk out of a half-empty jug.
Sometimes it occurs to me that perhaps too many
are irving to be middle men. If i raised potatoes
and another man raised corn, or made hats and an
other man made boots, could buy of him on credit,
and lie could buy Of me on the same terms and If
our needs Of the others goods about equal it
wouldn't make much matter how long settling day
was put OIL But if l and t'other man try to make
living 10y trading jackknives with each other, and
run in debt all the while for our board and clothes
some one must suffer when accounts come to be
handed In all round. Is it not about time that
going to work and doing something's For we can't
all be merchants and bankers and brokers and deal
ers in real estate. There's a good deal of square
work TO be done about d country, and some ones
got to do it!
But il is not my intention to wade very deep into
political economy just now. Some day. perhaps, III
strip myself for il, and then you'll see what great
mind you've been foolng with all this while; at
this writing my business is with facts, and not with
theories. AS was saying though had not been
worth cent for some years past, and had hattered
myself that l could by possibility lose by tins
crisis the Unsuitable rabbe failed" me the very day
that / arrived home. What man or what men, what
firm or what intrm what individual or what nation,
could stand "run if he OF it had nothing 10 pay
with ask this in trumpet tones As matter OF
course j had to fail And glory in 1T. That my
creditors will get nothing causes me very little
regret for it was simply their absurd action that
caused my suspension. And the losses which they
brought to my door, the sacrifices entailed upon me
by their stupidity, are direful. My credit would
have been good for several months wear and tear
had they refrained from the fatal run. have lost
by this panic a chinchila overcoat. velvet trimmed
on which / counted TO @ certainty. AS 1t Is, have
sent nv linen buster 10 an obscure tailor IN the
suburbs TO have fur collar put to it; and having
heard that there is warmth In newspapers that they
make an excellent substitute for bedclothes have
ordered it lined with TRIBUNE supplements, so that
when called TO join the innumerable caravans that
move in the hOrse-cars this Winter, may wrap
the drapery Of my Evangelical Alliance about Inc
and SIT me down to scientific dreams
You see that date from Hoboken THIS is be-
cause am living IN Hoboken. sought these clas-
sic shades where the lively clatter Of glasses is
only broken at midnight By a shrll shrek for the