The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1874-05-16
Adiustment,

Aho lolloWlnS arIicle from t1e Rhlla-
delphia Public Ledger, Of May 2nd,
may be read with much profit by every
class of our community. ..
One of the consequences of the con-
dition of business for the last year or
more has been the enforcement of eco
nomy; and another has been the reali-
zation OF the fact that the large profits
which have been hitherto drawn from
trade are no longer to be relied upon
with certainty. The two consequences
taken together will balance each others
and though the scales vibrates with jer-
ky and uncomfortable bitches, things
will eventually find their level. Less
profits In business allow less margin for
expenditure. Less demand for money
for luxury and for the mere expense Of
living should result eventually IN con-
tent with smaller profits. The public
estimate of dollars and cents has been
entirely on too princely a scale for
some time. And slowly, painfully, but
surely, contraction" in unnecessary
or useless expenses has been taking
place in all quarters.
The immense sums of money disburs-
ed during the civil war-the unprece-
dented calls for the products of agIicul-
ture and manufactures-th false life
given to nearly every description of
business by the lavish outlays of gov
ernment-the fortunes made, and the
raised scale of wages created fever, in
the relapse of whic all industrial pur-
suits are suffering. Over production
and over-importation, and free scatter
Ing of money by almost every one,
while they had it, elevated the popular
estimate of the proper rate of living ex-
penses far above any safe calculation.
Much OF the embarrassment of which
complaint has been made, and of which
complaint is still made though the mur-
murs are lessening, has existed quite as
much in Imagination rs in reality. This
is not TO say that there has been no
embarrassment. But the truth is, that
with the fever over, people complain of
the abated pulse. And it seems to have
been forgotten that the conditions of
war are 80 unnatural that peace Is al
ways to he desired, cannot come with
out disturbance, second only to the
CalaiultleS OF war ITSELF.
The old men, who had seen other
wars, and the historical students, who
were familiar with the natural sequence
of events, prOphesied commercial dis
tress and financial difficulties when the
closed war should leave US with O heavy
national debt, and when the Govern
ment, instead of spending huge sums,
should be raising money, not to give
llte to business by expending it, but for
the purpose of applying it to the remov-
al OF debt already existing. The ma
tlon has been in the condition of an in
dividual who is called upon. instead of
increasing running account and living
1reeiy upon credit, to Cease lavish liv-
lug and find means to pay for what he
has consumed. This is never q yery
cheerful process. And the attitude OF
the Government has forced the same
course upon individuals. There are many
men who lived at war rates, unconsi-
Ously following the universal fashion,
who have found it very difficult to put
their expenses upon the peace establish
ment. The conviction that it must be
SO. that money is no longer to be made
by millions" but is, il won at all, to
be gathered at the od.fashioned rate.
dollar by dollar, is at last accepted.
After lever relapse. During the re-
lapse return to strength and a normal
condition. Aud this is the state of the
nation now-c0nvalescen rot sudden,
but gradual, and all the more hopeful
for that.
One of the worst remains OF the war
was the speculative mania, especially in
the gold market. Transactions more
subversive of all sound rules in trade
and finance than the gold gambling,
which once seemed to absorb the capital
and craze the minds of the country,
could not be invited. This, happily,
has diminished. Fluctuations Of less
than one per cent. have now to satisfy
those who once had swing of form i've
to twenty. The furious days of gold
gambling now seem like dream. Tho
mania for 'fancy" railway stocks aud
bonds has also subsidized. Until the
grows up to the profitable use
of sucn facilities as we have, the put.
ting OF money, or the pledging of credit
for future possibilities, must cease. 1t
is fairly to be hoped, that the true stu
alton being accepted, business viii
shape itself accordingly, and that,
though we talk less gliOy of theoretical
we may realize substantial
hundreds, and not despise even tens, or
hyeS, or ones.