The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-11-30
BUSINESS 0MENS.

The following article, taken from the ST
Louis Republican, Of November g. goes di
rectly to the gist of the su beet it treats upon
and while we can assure our friends at dis
lance that the business failures here are moi
near so full OF peril to our business commu-
nifty as the Republican seems TO suggest still
as an exposition Of an excellent theory the
article is characterized by clear reasoning and
sound principle, and will be found well worthy
of a careful perusal:
The frequent failures in business circles
now taking place are generally regarded as
dismal indications of The unyleldlng stub
bornness OF commercial depression unusual
" caIamitous in its fleets and unusually pro-
tracted in its duration. The failures in New
York came thick and fast in October; there
were more in that single month than In the
month INN edIately following the panic two
years ago; and now New Orleans appears to
have become the special object OF visitation.
If these failures at the North and South
had occurred in the fall OF 1873, they
would have caused no surprise the
alarmed state OF the commercial
world prepared it for any disaster
and it would have been thought natural and
reasonable for houses to be wrecked by the
score in that bewildering storm. But that
houses that weathered the tempest then should
90 down now without any apparent cause;
that slow steady, inexorable process of in
solvency should be ravagiug the business
world two years after the panic Las passed, is
construed as cause for peculiar discourage
ment. When will the country begin to re-
cover from the shock it is asked When will
the failures cease and a turn III the tide COM
mence.
We reply that the recovery has already be-
gun. The very failures that appear SO omi-
nous of evil are signs and promises of an i'm
provement They ought to have taken place
two years ago; they are, generally, nothing
more than final Acknowledgements of insolven
cies that have been concealed for year, or
two years, or three years, but which can not
be concealed any longer. We always make |
the mistake Of Understanding these period- |
cal commercial collapses; we imagine they |
will soon pass over and allow matters to 60 |
on as usual. |
The truth is, they are not mere fiurries; |
they are radical and avenging operations and |
they do not pass away till they have swept the |
field of all feeble material, and prepared it for
a new order of things and new actors. II |
seems rather unsympatbetlc to say that a |
crippled business house that barely manages |
to stagger along, ought to fall at once; but this
is really the best advice that can be given it. |
A business community choked up with these |
crippled houses Is incapable OF re-establishing |
itself; their presence destroys confidence, |
creates distrust, and clogs the transaction OF
business.
There is no safety in dealing with them;
they are known to be weak, and are expected
to 90 under next week, or next month. They
are impediments; the currents of business are
forced to 60 round them If their legitimate
stock OF credit is exhausted, their means gone
and their condition one of disguised insol-
vency, it is far better, both for them and the
business community, that they should admit |
the fact by formal failure. The sooner they |
go down the sooner they will rise up again;
the sooner they withdraw from the field the |
sooner they will return to tiff they are ever |
to return at all
The failures in New York and New Orleans |
are clearing of the field for q new beginning |
they are the confession of inSolvencies that |
date back one, two or three years, probably. |
We may regret to see these houses fall many |
of them-all Of them, we hope-are upright |
firms that have been simply unfortunate, and
are entitled to sympathy in their calamity.
Still if they were bankrupt and had to tall,
it were not less the dictate of mercy than the
demand of business that they should fall at
once, rather than cumber the ground for six
months or year longer.
Every fallen old house must be replaced
by new one, and when this process is ended,
we shall see that the realm of business has
well nigh passed into new hands and been
transformed. The process is being rapidly
effected at this time. The bones of the
Metropolis are cracking under it, and it is
not improbable that the end of it will see
a large share of the vigor of the metropolis
impaired to a Western city. Business is
now re-establishing itself; it is reviving on
n firm basil; it is marking out the new
channels in which it is to flow during the
current period of twenty years; it is recogni-
zing its new masters it is reforming its rules
and methods in the light OF the late collapse;
it is instinctvely turning away from those
whose hands are too feeble to control it, aud
submitting it to those whose credit is ndis-
putable. In short time the readjustment
will be completed, the insolvent houses will
have all gone down and been removed their
will have taken their places, the
panic of 1873 will be remembered only for
its lessons, and the country will have entered
on new era of prosperity.
Warts and To Rent inserted in the Brill FTTS for