The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-04-05


in the anniversary which may be called the
new years day Of growth and sunshine. The
season, with its privations aud unusual
business cares, has been exacting The
panic came on the threshold of the winter and
darkened with its gloom what might have
been a cheerful time. The panic was not
without its blessings in many ways. 1t was
like an awakening from a fcverish dream. We
had been dazzled by visions Of false pros
perty. We had been living beyond our
means. We had conquered the South, and in
the impulse arising from victory we felt that
We could do in few years what calmer ma
tons would be content to achieve in a CEN
fury. We began to build railways, TO open
canals, to ciyilize the desert long before We
could inhabit it; to make, by the APP
plication Of capital or some sort OF ma
chinery, Colorado and Nevada as prosperous
and populous as Pennsylvania. We borrowed
money to do all this, and, under
the delusion that debt is blessing.
fancied that the more we borrowed
the richer we became. The panic was the
awakening from this delusion, from other de-
lusions, perhaps; but it fell with especial
severity upon the poor. So, while we could
be easily reconciled to any circumstances that
dispelled tie illusions under which we had
/ been resting since the war, the sudden with
drawal of capital from business, and the con-
I sequent paralysis OF indastry, brought disasters
upon many worthy and deserving classes.
| The winter which has now left Us came
with double duty. We had to ''recover from
1 the panic" and put our business affairs in
order on a sounder basis. We had also TO aid
our unfortunate fellow citizens. AS to our
business success we cannot say. We have re-
formed in many respects. The spirit OF specu-
lation seems to have been tanned The news
papers are no longer filed with columns of
\ eloquent appeals to invest in the Wildcat
Railway bonds and Caghostro Silver Mining
shares. Foreign financial capitals are no
longer overrun with glib and shifty Ameri-
cans trying to borrow money to build railways
from Alaska to Behring Straits, to domesti-
cate the buffalo and run canals over the
: Rocky Mountains. We are no longer beg
ging in every pawnbroker's shop Of the Old
World for capital to develop our country"
As all such money was generally obtained at
usurious rates of interest and had to be
4 paid we have ceased to repudiate and run in
| debt. This is a great deal, and ii we keep on
| in the path thus laid down we may be able
/ to thoroughly redeem and re-create our credit
At all events if business does not apparently
| prosper as before the war, our successes will
/ be less noisy and more substantial, and we
shall have surer prosperity, less fever and
uncertainty, fewer Black Fridays and ''cor-
ners," and our money kings will become real
monarchs and not gaudy phantoms like many
late lamented shadows of Erie and Tammany
Hall. The indignant protest now arising from
all parts Of the country against the spirit OF
imitation in Washington the resolution to
oppose these various plans for relieving the
country ut the expense OF its honor the
anger inspired by sectional legislation the
rigid criticism visited upon our public SER
wants and all who are in authority, show an
awakening and quickening of the public
conscience that is one of the most gratifying
phenomena of the time. We welcome it as an
Easter blessing in its way, charged we trust,
with many blessings in the future
! While we have partly set our business in order
and lifted ourselves into clearer financial
and commercial atmosphere, we have also
nobly responded to the sudden demand made
upon us by the poor. In our Easter medita-
tons let us not forget this as one among many
good works. New York has shown, and
never with more promptitude and humanity,
the magnifcence Of her charity. But while
we dwell upon this let US also not forget the
lesson which it brings. We are in the posi-
ton of Lord Salisbury on the Indian famine
question, as he explained it the other day in
the House of Lords. The immediate duty is
to raise money, buy food and feed the starv-
ing Hindoo. That will be performed with
out limit or stint, taking no Zine chances in
the way of economy. But the ultimate duty,
the way to make future famines impossible
is to build railways and open works Of irriga-
ton. This is what the English Minister pro-
poses We should initiate him. Our i'm
mediate duty has been performed. We have
averted any want or privation In our
various capacities, mere private citi-
zens, as churches and societies and
s'guilds'' and sshomes," we have worked with
a steady and beautiful zeal--all classes
in unison, poor and rich, and none more than
our pla yers, whose hands are ever open with
melting and fruitful charity. Let u.s. however,
learn and apply the lesson of the winter. We
must reorganize our whole system of charities,
or, in other words, we must have real system.
1t is not wise or moral, or calculated to afford
real relief to have haphazard distribu-
ton of charities. The thoughtless bestowal
of money, or even Of food, is generally On in
centive to idleness, and can only be justified
by an unexpected calamity springing from
unavoidable and unforeseen causes, like the
famine in India or the threatened privation