The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-05-30
Our New York Letter.
A sudden Whirl in Trade.
and Co"s"mpiion'-Dearih of Employ
ment--The Political Outlook
New YORK, May q, 1876.

SSHSA'S O"HOL5, tlIeu OI QOIQlQQ large
stocks of cotton goods for which there was no
demand at any price, determined to offer them
at auction. The consequence was that there
was an eager throng of bidders, aud things
went off with great spirit and success upder
the stimulus of active competition. Dealers
appeared from every large city in the United
States, and bought with an alacrity which
demonstratedLthat they had only been waiting
Tor some satisfactory test to assure them that
prices had reached their minimum in order to
grid on their strength for fresh start in the
race for profits. Goods sold low Of course.
That was to be expected. But the number
and character of the purchasers, the confidence
with which they entered the lists, and the
spirit OF hopefulness which pervaded the assem-
bla0e were all auguries of better times.
One of the encouraging features of this occa-
sion was the evidence it gave that while so
many traders have been obliged to succumb to
the pressure goodly number of strong and
steadfast houses remained to contest for prizes
in the great lottery of business. They are
ready to profit by reaction whenever it comes.
There will be no instant appreciation of values
perhaps, certainly no returning wave of san
guine speculation, but something like an es-
tablished market, in which people can buy and
sell with the confidence inspired by the belief
that the laws of supply and demand and the
relations between producer and consumer are
not entirely suspended. The sale was on four
months credit, but the buyers were men of
such high standing that the risk of selling
them was very trifing Many of them could
cash their bills without the slightest incon-
venience at almost any time of year, and par
ticularly just now when the rate of interest
ranges from two and a half to five per cent. per
annum.
1t would be by no means safe to assume that
the surplus stocks of dry goods have been sufi-
GENTLY reduced yet to bring production and
consumption into healthful juxtaposition.
And until that point is reached the public may
feel an easy assurance that they will not have
to pay e1Nrbitant prices for the leading sta
Piles in that line. All the materials which con-
stitute the necessary clothing of men or women
are at about half the price they averaged dur
ing the decade preceding the panic. There
are lines of goods-print cloths for example
that rule forty per cent. lower than they did
before the rebellion broke out, and when we
were on specie basis. The people can live
cheaply now. What they need is employment
One of the most inevitable consequences of
commercial revulson is to compel large num-
Der OF changes of occupation. There are fewer
shop keepers and middle men than there were.
Producers and consumers are getting nearer
together, and are not obliged to submit to so
many exactions for Intermediary services in
exchanging their commodities. This all goes
IN haln tho hnf; .
severity upon tie individuals who have hitherto
derived their support from that source.
In New York there always is an excess of
applicants for situations over the requirements
of business, The fascination of pursuit in
which there are possibilities of fortune, attract
hither ambitious youths from all parts of the
country to increase the native supply which is
never scanty. Consequently in the noon tide
OF prosperity clerks can always be hired for
pittance, and there is never room for all that
are seeking places. But after such panic as
We had in 1S73-when so many mercantile
houses were engulfed in hopeless insolvency,
and those that survived the storm reduced their
expenses to the lowest possible figure, such a
multitude of men were thrown out of employ
ment that it is pitiful to witness the eager
strife with which they jostle each other In
quest of any kind of position. Even the
humber offices 10 the federal, state and muui-
cipal service, which are wretchedly i'll paid and
of most uncertain tenure, are sought for with
intense avidity. On the occurrence of the re-
cent change in the head of the Appraisers De-
partment in the New York Custom House, the
new incumbent was beseged with importuni-
ties for appointments, notwithstanding the
places were filled and the substitution was al
together personal and in no sense political In
less than sixty days he has received thirteen
hundred applications, and there are but two
hundred and ten posts at his disposal, so that
if he were to turn out every man in his force,
to make room for the besiegers, he
would still be obliged to dsappoiut consid-
erably more than four-fiftbs of them. And yet,
hopeless as this calculation of chances makes
the effort thislarmy of expectlnts follow up the
escalade with perseverance that ignores OBJ
stacles and pertnacity which is terribly de-
structive of the peace and comfort of the ges-
tlemen who happen to be the object of their
solicitations. y
Bearing in mind that here is ratio of eighty
four per cent of petitioners to sixteen per cent
OF places, and that too of places which are
neither vacant nor likely to be vacated, and
which it is for the most part an utter waste of
time to seek, you can form some idea of the
numbers that have been reduced to penury and
are suffering prvation and misery in the great
metropolis because they can get nothing to do
whereby they can earn bread Years must
elapse before business will revive to q sufficient
extent to give them all an opportunity to gain
livelihood by their old calling even if their
sad experience should deter others from enter.
ing into the list of competition with them.
The best thing they can do for their own ad-
vantage and that of the community is to mi
CRATE to regions where there are lands to be
titled and crops to be raised. The hardy inde-
pendence of the farmer is infinitely preferable
to the toilsome, precarious and subordinate life
of clerk An exodus of ten or twenty
thousand of this class of our citizens, would
diminish the burdens of New York and add
something to the store OF the country at large
The events of the week have lifted some of
the clouds that obscured the political horizon.
Leaving out of view the possibilities of the ap-
pearance while the tournamentis is at Its height
of that mysterious hooded knight, who is al
ready foreshadowed under the title of the ''Un-
known" and who is expected by some to bear
OF the prize-there are bit two competitors for
the Republican domination whose chances are
at this moment worth considering One of
them halls from your State. the other from
ours. No Republican, no citizen indeed, who is
loyal to his country aud sincere in his desire
for economy in administration, and fidelity in
public trusts, can reasonably take exception to
either of them. The attacks which have been
made upon your Representative have certainly
wrought him no harm in popular estimation. In
fact it is not at all unlikely they have benefited
him.
There are in all manly natures instincts
which repel with scorn, imputations and asper-
sions that manifestly have their origin in
meanness and spite. And what could be more
low and sneaking than the reviving Of old con-
versations, or the hunting up of obsolete cor
respondence, and the turning of either to po-
litcal account? 1t is not very credtable to the
press that such electio neering stuff finds pub
fishers. But it is a cheering sign Of an inn
proved public sense of decorum, that if it has
any apprecable effect at all, it is favorable in-