Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-09-29

| IIe UFalL WHICH, was ufaWH upon III
future then. We can make moneyil
circulation abundant now by repeat
ing that experience, but we shoul'
only postpone the evil day and ado
to it new calamity.
1t was. my fortune for misfortune
to be resident Of Sacramento whel
that city was destroyed by fire il
November, 1852. In the excitemen,
of the occasion, in the hopefulnes
and determination which rises above
calamity, we felt richer in town lot
Immediately after the fire than W.
did in lots and buildings before
The delusion did not last. If larg'
portion of your beautiful city should
be destroyed by fire tonight, mel
would mortgage their lots to rebuild
and while the building was going on
money would be plenty, business ac
tive, labor employed. When the
mortgages should become due, the
actual extent of the loss could be
realized. There used to be a proverf
that a war and fire made good
times. But do not know that any
one ever advoce ted the burning OF
towns and melting of wars for the
sake of the good times Occasion
ally there is fire of real benefit, when
some old rookery which has no ac-
tual value and stands in the way of
advancing improvement. The gain
of our Civil War was that it destroy
ed forever an institution as old as
history, which was disgrace to hui
man nature, which stood in the way
of improvement, and enabled us to
build upon foundation firm as the
rocks temple consecrated to equal
rights, dedicated to freedom.
l turn aside for q moment to re-
mark that it is a sad commentary up
on our civilization and social organi-
zation that living as we do in world
where there is so much to be done to
make it beautiful and fruitful as fit
habltation for man, the distinctions
of war and fire could ever seem to
be blessings by giving labor an op-
portunity to earn its daily bread
How vast the labor which has been
employed to restore what has been
devastated by war and destroyed by
fire. The property in the United
States, the whole wealth, including
lands, averages something less than
$1,000 to each inhabitant. That av-
erage would be a liberal estimate for
the civilized world. Now if the av-
erage value of years labor is worth
a 800 to each inhabitant, including
consumption, it follows the world,
with 5000 or 100000 years of his
tory behind it, has only put in its
savings bank, has only accumulated,
the earnings of 10 years. That is all
the capital it has to 60 on. What an
extravagant, ,wasteful and destructive
world it has been! And it has not
got through sowing its 'wlld oats
yet.
l am endeavoring to show that
well-dlrected labor is the only true
source of prosperity. That labor
may be wasted, and that when it is,
it IS as real loss as idleness; that
the amount of money in circulation
will depend on the real demand of
business; that its expansion and con-
traction are effects of what we call
good and hard times, not causes; that
speculative eXcitements are followed
by reactions; and that speculative
values are no real addition to the
wealth Of a country. There is no
royal road to substantial prosperity
any more than to learning. There is
no escape from the inevitable law for
everything that is good-the full
price must be paid sooner or later.
Some of you may remember the
'Moras Multicalis mania that ragged
in this country about thirty-seven
years ago. Fortunes sprang up like
Jonah's gourd, but they did not last
any longer. They were made in a
day, and vanished in a night. 1t was
a revival on small scale of the time
in Holland when the industrious
Hollandcrs wero smitten with the
idea that they could all get rich by
selling tulip bulbs to each other, and
plowcd up their cabbages to plant
tulips. No people have been entire
ly free from these moral epidemics.
We have had several seasons of them
in the Western States, when paper
towns were dotted over the maE,
each of which was another Chicago,
and when everybody was rich, in ex-
pectancy, in corner lots. Sometimes
they take very whimsical shape. A
few years ago there was a rage in
Japan for white rabbits. A white
rabbit with tail and ears Of the fash
ionable cut and eyes of the most
fashionable pink would bring fabu-
lous price, and was a more precious
pet than the dearest little lap-dog
that ever nestled in a lady's mutf.-
Any one who could get pair of rab-
bits could go into the most profitable
business in the Kingdom of the Sun.
The dividends were quick and rapid.
In fact, they were too rapid. For it
was discovered that with proper care
and attention rabbits would multiply
until they would take possession of
the islands, destroy the hcrbage of
the fields, and multiply the japanese
off the face of the earth. Now the
term dead rabbits has very differ
ent meaning in Japan from what it
has, or had, in Baltimore.
1 can remember when the State of
Indiana entered upon system of in
internal improvement by authorizing
a loan of $lO,OOo,OoO. Though it is
nearly forty years ago, perhaps some
of you can. No event in the history
of the State caused more general re-
joicing. We had no cities then, but
the tar barrels blazed at the cross
roads, towns and villages were illu-
minated, turpentine balls flashed like
meteors through the streets, and
everybody got ready for the millen-
ium. l remember one house that
was not illuminated. greatly to my
modification. 1t was almost soli-
tary exception. However had my
boylsh share of the general jubilee
1t was surprise next day to find
that the wood was just as hard to
split, that the cow,pasture was no