The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-12-17
LYING ON CAPITAL.

Mr.. Bonamy Price has been engaged
lately in trying to drive some elementary
truths in relation TO finance into the
head Of the average Wall street banker.
Among other truths he recites the fol-
lowing:
But God has not willed that man
should be exempt from temptation He
has not willed that mans existence shall
go on soberly and without care, without
thinking, without sense of responsible
ity, and without rejecting upon the ma
ture of his acts. There often is in the
history of nations series of misfortunes
1t is quite clear that if you do not think
ofthe whole year round, but think only
of the jolly time you may have in eight
months of it, that you might have exceed
ing prosperity in those eight months
every store would be selling, every fac
tory would be going at spinning rate.
Why ? Because you are eating of your
capital, and when the capital is gone, for
the last four months you have, possibly
starvation.
Jollify and eat up all your capital, and
in six months the American people must
die-sternly, absolutely die. 1t is Just as
easy to make an approximation of death
in this temporary undue destruction of
capital. Let me mention one instance
war. War is a rapid consumer. Fine
orders for iron, fine orders for coal, fine
orders for clothing fine orders for all sorts
things; generals well paid; great move
ments, great destruction. All goes on
swimmingly, But the process that is
not seen is the destruction Therefore
war brings on great sense of prosperity.
You are eating yeuT capital; the bread of
twelve menths you are eating pin eight
months. II is the same with railways.
You may make too many railways. If
you make too many railways, what hap
pens2 The Old story, a diminution of
capital You have fed the laborers you
have clothed them; you have furnished
them with tools, aud when the railway
is opened you are sstonishel that the
nation is so poor Y Il have destroyed
the capital of the nation; you have de-
Stroyed the power Of making goods The
people are poorer; they must consume
less; go with worse clothes to redeem
what they have lost. But you will ask,
how am ] to know how many railways
America cun afford? Always the same
eternal answer You can afford to make
new uilwaysto the extent that you make
more than You consume. If you make
make more than you consume and turn
the surplus into railways instead of into
Italian pictures or statuary you have
done a great thing for the country; but
if You 90 on making more railways than
you have surplus you will end with pov-
erty.
At last there comes the panic; every
body thought the railway was good
everybody plunged into taking shares;
they consumed more than they ought to
have consumed; they made holes in the
ground, and dug channels and ended in
poverty. There seems to be in this con-
suming more than you ought, snch live
illness ofbuying, such pleasant, buoyant
feeling in every store and shop, such a
delightful sense, that everybody helps his
neighbor in the destruction. Then comes
the speculator and the contractor, and all
the different officials; the man ofsmall
means sells his property and puts it in
the railway. But are dollars put in the
railway? Is a railway made Of dollars
They mean that certain large proper
ton Of their capital-their stock-shall
be used in making the railway. EveIy-
thing moves pleasantly, and they buy OBJ
jects of ornamentatOn; handsome car
pets, more beautiful sets of China lam
told that there are heaps of rooms in
which there is $4,000 worth of ornamen-
tation. OruamentatiOn is not capital
Capital always reproduces, The other
day there was great fatnessin Chicago.
because the land speculation has dropped.
If mere bet that five years hence land
will be worth in so much more than il is
now, no harm has been done. But en-
courage these men to buy lands, and
what happens? There is a great furry in
the market for land; and the prices adj
yanced and what do they do? They live
in more expensive way-that is, more
is paid upon lands; and that leads you to
We in more expensive way, makes
YOU 90 to the Broadway stores and buy
fine things, and you feel jolly. Don't
you see that the land as land has remain
ed unproductive, and while men were
led to believe they were becoming rich
and comfortable, there was all the time
a large destruction Of national capital and
consequently they were on the road to
poverty, and that desolation follows
Now, you understand why it is that such
terrible disorders as | have described