Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-07-31
HARD TIMES.

Everybody is complaining Of hard times
Money is scarce all over the country, ex.
cept in the great commercial centers. The
West and South call loudly for more green
backs. All over the country want and suf.
iering are resulting from the stagnation of
trade. What is the reason 2 Trade has
been overdone.
The war has passed the South, we are
told, is reconstructed" but the burdens Of
the war bear as heavily upon the people to-
day as they did eight years ago. Not, per.
haps, the direct but the indirect burdens
brought upon US by that terrible struggle Of
the nation. This nation has been living too
fast,--lving beyond its means,--for the
past ten years, and when one lives beyond
his means he must expect, sooner or
later, that hard times will come. During
the war money was wanted faster than it
could be raised by taxes, aud national inter-
est-bearing bonds were issued by the United
States which we're taken up by capitalists
in foreign countries, SO that a large part Of
the money we use is practically borrowed
money on which we have to pay interest.
This applies to the government, it is true,
but that government stands for the people,
and every ono who pays q dollar Of tax, or
buys dollars worth Of goods, is directly
and pecuniarilY interested,
But this debt Of the people and nation is
not the only nor the chief cause Of the pres
ent scarcity Of money. The greatest evil Of
the present day is extravaganza. We are
extravagant as 4 nation and as individuals.
The immense amount of money necessarily
handled by the government during the war
furnished to the parties through whose
hands it passed opportunities for pecula-
tions and fraud which many were only too
willing to take advantage Of; the same
spirit spread through all the land, and
thousands adopted styles Of living which
they now find themselves unable TO maintain.
People transferred themselves from the pro-
ducing to the nOn-prOducing ranks, until our
exports are falling behind as compared with
imports in other words, instead Of selling
more than we bought we have bought more
than we sold, thus actually growing poorer.
The natural reaction has come, and until
the people of the country are forced back
to a style Of living within their means we
shall continue to hear complaint of "hard
times" People are already cutting down
expenses. An exchange says:
One unpleasant result of the thin attend
ance Mt the watering places and the unusual
quiet in business has been to throw u large
number of women out Of employment
when, least Of all, they expect to be cast up.
on their own resources, and, therefore, are
moro helpless than over before. Fewer
people have left home than usual, and there
has been less business for tho dry goods
stores and loss work for the dressmakers
who on that account have been able to en-
plOy fewer persons than Is usual Mt this
season. -" Besides all this there has
been larger proportion of domestic helE
discharged than ever before.
Similar items are by no means uncom
mon, and we can but regard them as most
favorable indications. RetrenchmentI in
private circles will not fail to lead to thC
same in public affairs. The last session o.
Congress did some good work in this line
but there is plenty of room for more of th
same kind.
1t Is to be regretted that the nationa
: government has not taken more direct step
: towards resumption. The credit system o
: doing business Is the first cause OF all on
, financial trouble. Could the government
} release itself from debt, our taxes would fal
to the happy level Of before the wal
Could our people, as individuals, all be re
leased from debt, aud business be done up
on cash basis, financial prosperity woul'
smile over all tho land, and "hArd times
D would be unknown.
Sometime in the far future, such q natio
! may be found, where the injunction, Gov
q no man anything" shall be observed by n
{ the people, where credit, bankruptcy, ba
Q debts, and hard.hearted creditors, shall b
5 unknown, and the grange principle of cas-
sales and small profits shall prevail. Blu
7 while we do not look to sec the realzatio
$ of such blissful immunity from this train c
o evils which follows in the wake Of the cred
5 it system, VIC may each, individually, sccur
n a portion of the benefits Of such state
: affairs by conforming all our transactions
IS 4 cash basis. The business man who use
d his own capital in his trade, and trusts n
e one for goods. never turns bankrupt, and }
j. can afford to sell his goods for less prof
+ than his neighbOr who gives credit, becaus
e he is not obliged to add per cent. to secul
n | hiuaalf aga ;nok ha "A dahio