The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-06-09

COURSE OF 5AlAluily ulrecteu lnuNeug INV PA1
dent investment acquired an estate as great as
that Of Mr.. A. L. Stewart or MI. William b.
Aston. Then suppose that one day, In ut OF
\ indigestion, he should set fire TO one-third OF
his houses, lay waste quarter OF his farms
\ and leave another quarter unculuVated'
/ Suppose him paying workmen large pnce
for this work of destruction, and at the same
time beginning 10 live at an extravagant rate
himself Then suppose, when the work OF
destruction aud dilapidaton was complete,
when he had seriously impaired his fortune
and his income, 10 should suddenly take it
into his head to execute a great number Of
magnificent but needless and Improbable
improvements, mostly in the outlying aud un-
occupied parts Of his estates; building new
and expensive roads which lead nowhere, and
erecting costly houses for nobody's occupa-
ton ard that he should in the meantime
nor only keep up the extravagant and waste
full style Of living, but neglect his business,
let his clerks abandon their duties, his stew
ards and managers cheat and Cypress his ten
ants, lose his customers and suffer other mer-
chants to take his place III the market. All
i
on doing it for several years, with great ap-
parent glory, prosperity and comfort. do
would be employing larger number OF men
even than while he was in his most really
prosperous days. His income would be
lessened, but he could borrow money on his
estates, and when lenders became alarmed he
could pay his worlimcn with due bills for
run. no of ~, p4i
having exhausted itself, he began TO plan
and execute costly roads and other so-caled
Improvements on his outlying estates, his
credit would doubtless rise again, Tor capital
lists would be dazzled by the real and solid
value OF his property and the grandeur 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 imagination, and no doubt Mr.
Stewart, having sunk half his fortune in acts
OF destruction and waste, would, in the opinion
Of most men, center on new career OF pros
perity'' when he began to build unneeded
roads and tenantless houses. They would
hasten to lend him money, especially If he
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 money enough to pay
all his debts. In fact however, he would
also have been borrowing money to pay much
Of the interest on his debts, and when his
creditors discovered this they would suddenly
~ afc RI of
the streets, they would shut down on him"
And thereupon not Mr.. Stewart only, but all
the laborers he had been employing on useless
works, would begin to grcan under the bur-
den Of ''hard times
We beg Mr.. Stewards pardon for using his
name to illustrate q course of folly Of which
he is incapable. What he would never do,
that it is which we American people have
been doing since 1861. We have destroyed,
we have laid waste we have neglected, we
have lived extravagantly, we have projected
magnificent but often improbable improve
meDts on our great property; and we have
borrowed money, paid our workmen in prom
ises, tolerated uniaithful and oppressive
stewards. suffered our clerks to cheat us and
into other hands and turned up our noses at
the rest Of the world, because It continued, in
an old-fashioned way, to revolve but once in
twenty-four hours. We have certainly mad q
long and magnificent career as borrowers and
spenders OF other peoples savings, aud if nc
had all died three or four years ago we might
have gene to glory firmly persuaded that in
- II - -
"a national debt is 0 national bless
ing" and the moro you owe the
richer you are. Unfortunately good many
OF us have survived 70 suffer sad disillusion-
ment For twelve years we danced, and now
for three years we have been paying the
fddlers; and We are not done yet with that
disaCreeable afterclap. Naturally a good
many Of rs find il a monotonous business,
this of paying old scores. Some respondent
souls are ready to give i up as bad job.
Many dolorous persons imagine that "the
bottom X out OF the kettle" and ;hat We shall
never, e rcxt 10 never, recover our former
prosperity They see only prolonged, inter-
minab.c stagnation, just as there were per-
sons Gurirc The var who could never sec any
probable * victorious end to that struggle.
Happily such persons do not make up any
considerable part OF tho American people The
FACT l., We have been very silly, Very
wastoful, very extra7agant, very imprudent;
but We have still left an immensely
Great and rich estate, which yields Us even
now an iacome SO large that we need not
despair Of quickly mastering our troubles.
let us SEQ what Mr. Stewart would do had
lie really run through tho mad career which
Y We have vcntuTed to suppose for him. lie
would begin by rigidly economizing in his
\ personal expenses; would dismiss useless
servants and top all needless outays be
would next drop ont al uufaithful and idlo
4 clerks il lis stores and warehouses and 70