The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1875-06-18

HARD TIMES.
A New York "HeraId'' Parable.

Nations are like females and lndivld-
/ uals in this among other respects, that
when they have danced they must pay
| the fiddler. Suppose the case OF man
who had by a long course of skilltully di
rected industry and prudent investment
ACQUIRED an estate Us great as that OF Hr.
A. r. Stewart or William b. Aston
Then suppose that one day, in fit OF
indigestion he should set fire to one
third of his houses, lay waste n quarter of
his farms and leave another quarter UNI
cultivated, Suppose him paying work
men Il large price for his work OF des-
truction, and at the same time beginning
Ia live at an eXtravagant rate himself.
Then suppose, when the work OF des-
truCtion and dilapidation was complete,
when he had seriously impaired his for
tune and his income, he should SUDDEN Y
take il into his head TO execute great
number of magnificent, but needless and
improbable improvements, mostly in
the outlying and unoccupied parts of his
estates; building new and expensive
roads which lead nowhere, aud erecting
costly houses for nobody's occupation;
and that he should in the meanwhile not
only keep up the cNtravagant and waste
full STYLE of living, but neglect his busin-
ess, let his clerks abandon their duties
his stewards and managers cheat and OPP
press his tenants, lose his customers, and
suffer other merchants 10 take his place
in the market. All this Mr. Stewart
might do. and he could 90 on doing it
for several years, with great apparent
glory, prosperity and comfort. He
would be employing Il larger number OF
men even than while ne was in his most
really prosperous days. His income
would be- lcsScucd, but he would borrow
money on his estates, and when lender.
became alarmed he would pay his worI,
men with due bills for Il while. When,
the fit Of dcstructivencss having eXhuu>-
Cd itself, he began to plan and execute
costly roads and other So-caCCd improve
mcnts on lis oltuvIng estates, his credit
would doubtless rise again, for capital
ists would bc daZZled by the real and
solid valued his property and the grand
IRE OF his enterprises, and would be slow
to distinguish between useful and useless
improvements. Great changes, giving
employment to numbers of men, take
captive their imaglnations and no doubt
Mr.. Stewart, having sunk half his for
tune in acts OF destruction and waste
would, in the opinion ofmost men, center
on q new career of prosperity when he
began to build unneedcd roads and ten.
antleSs houses. They would hasten to
lend him money, especially offered to
pay heavy discounts, and in the state OF
madness we are supposing, no doubt he
would, on balancing his books at the
close of the year, regularly thank Heaven
that he had been able TO borrow enough
money to pay all his debts. In fact,
however. he would also have been Dor
rowing money to pay much of the inter-
est on his debts. and when his creditors
| discovered this they would button on
| their pockets; to use the cant OF the streets,
they would shut down on him. And
thcrcupon not Mr.. Stewart only, but all
the laborcrs he had been employing on
useless works, would begin to groan I'M
der the burden of "hard times
We beg Mr.. Stewards pardon for us
ing his name to Illustrate Il course of
folly of which he is incapable. What
be would never do, that it is which we
American people have been doing since
1861.