The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-03-30


candidate for any office however humble.
We are in danger Of being SO good az that
we shall deviate into downright folly. We
appeal to all concerned to put little CONS
mon sense into their pipes and smoke it.
We must produce at lower cost, stimulate
consumption by lower prices aud narrower
margins, and help manfully to pull the coup-
try out OF the morass of debt into which 1t
has been plunged by infation and oVer'spec-
uiation.
In one sense there is revival Of business,
slow but steady. The quantity Of products
exchange d and consumed gradually increases
as prices slowly settle to the level required
for legitimate business ard healthful ex.
change. Trade reports show that receipts OF
nealy all important products at this market
have been larger thus far this year than du.
ring the same period in 1875. Yet prices, as
every market report reminds those who are
indulging false hopes, do not rise, nor is
there any sign of speculative activity. Bust
ness is building slowly on new and more
solid foundations. Those will prosper most
who catch the spirit of the time most
promptly, throw away false hopes, clear
away incumbering debts, cultivate economy
and thrift, and settle down patiently to earn
wealth before spending it.-NetD York TIT
bune.
This is very wise bit of a lecture read
b. the Tribune TO the nation. It's good and
proper at all times ard never inappropriate,
because there never is . time when people
are disinclined to extravaganza and to
spending before earning. But the Tri-
bune makes these remarks upon the
exhibit Of the New York banks for
the present and its comparison with the
exhibits for several years past, from which it
appears that there is decided show of cur.
tailment in circulation and an increase in
deposits, together with other signs showing
that there has been taking in Of sail, fnan
cially speaking, while prices of labor and Of
necessaries OF life have generally declined.
at the same time the receipts Of products, it
states, have tended to increase. All this the
Tribune considers healthful, as it certainly is
upon general principles. 49,"
That the rates of labor and the standard Of
living were excessively high after the war is
undeniable. Then it was that the banks and
fnsnciers OF the great cities pursued the
policy of stimulation and initiation. They
accelerated the rush towards ruin. Enter
priscs were hurried to madness. Money
was wildly loaned on ruinous shayes, snt
collaterals with wide margins were deposited
to secure it. Stocks were watered, the bull:
and bears fought necessarily, corners were
eoncocted by Villains in little back-ofics!
and mar euvred without scruple for the en-
barrassment of the public. Thus was the
disposition towards extravaganza engen
dered by the war driven to mad
ness by these money. changers, who
are now the "Gradgrinds who are
demanding immediate resumption, and
forcing that contraction which is not
:. only reducing values and lowering labor, but
is depriviug the great bulk Of those people
who are not tillers Of the soil of occupation.
Thus the revulsien is so sharp that such lee
lures as that of the Tribune comes upon the
lectured now as bitter reprosch for sins
that were not theirs.
d Economy and caution are good at all times
but it is not the best.wsy to reform glutton
to starye him altogether.
Nor is it the best way to help the country
out Of debt to cut short enterprise and para
Aye the energies Of the people. 1t is true
the products Of the soil-the necesiaries of
iife--are indispensable, and those who pro.
duce them can hardly fail to find market;
but, nevertheless, when consumers are short
of means not only do the tillsrs of the soil
suffer from a consequent reduction of the
value of their products, but from the failure
OF consumers to pay for good part of them.
We Of course mean the failure Through the
unavoidable failure Of those who speculate
In things that are on the decline and for
which sale is slow.
The mistake in the country il that the
great community Of spectators and shsvers
have turred too suddenly about, and We
think it looks very much Ike "hedging,1 as
they Say in gambling parlanco. These per.
sons are now skirmishing for revulsisn
through a famine of money. Hence their
zeal for resumption. It is working well.
i There is a tendency strong enough to shrink.
. lug, and the suspension Of enterprise and OF
energy is worse ten thousand times than the
suspension ofspecie-psyments.
We are for lower prices until they are
brought 10 The proper standard; but We
want to see the peopls employed, and We
want to see the country improving. II there
we're no appearance Of compulsory resnmp-
zion, and Il the goid.gamblersi occupation
were destroyed by tho Government receiy.
Its own moaey for dues 70 it, No should
promptly enough settle down toss healthy
basis. Men #snld trustsoae another, and
seHterprise you'd once mere get on It's feet.
There wesld be sesstabIsshed republic OF
Industry and thrift out Of Which would be
expelled the rsscaily money, gsnibiefs Whoss;
expert snd unsesup nleus practices hare been
thoroughly exposed, and which cannot be-
ssersssd saRye through eonnigsncs and CO..