The New York herald., 1876-09-06
TIA. Hard T,mes-cause. and Remedies.

American Social Science Association, deliv-
cred last evening at Saratoga notable
address on the causes of the great prostra-
ton of industry and commerce all over the
world and the remedies which considera-
ton of these causes suggests. Mr.. Wells
/ studies as q statistican and economist ena-
! bic him to present some extremely interest
ing facts; and as the subject is one which
interests everybody, from the wealthiest
capitalist to the humbest day laborer or
sewing woman. we print elsewhere some
parts Of his address, and propose here to
! give summary Of his conclusions and our
| own.
| Briefly. Mr.. Wells tells us industry Ian
/ guishes and commerce Is checked because
the world is poor. 1t is poor because it has,
since 1860, wasted enormously il many
ways; mainly in the extraordinary destruo-
| tion Of materials which are wealth by our
war. the Austro:Prussian and the Franco
German wars; by the constantly increasing
| costliness of the armaments maintained in
Europe; by the large and growing percent
| age Of able-bodied men diverted, even in
| years Of peace, IN European countries from
productive pursuits to soldiery. which only
| consumes and wastes. He demonstrates
! that, do what we will mankind do not, as
whole, get much beyond hand TO mouth
| living according to the researches Of the
| ablesf statisticians even England, the rich
est country in modern times. has not accu-
mulated surplus greater than the equiva-
lent of about FIVE years subsistence. Our
own workmen are the most ingenious in the
! world we stand far ahead Of other nations
in the use Of labor-saving tools and ma
! chinery our soil is more productive than
; that Of any of our sister nations yet we do
! not, there is reason to believe, get more than
| FIVE years "ahead Of the world MS q people,
, with all our industry and production. It
has taken US two hundred and fifty years.
Mr.. Wells remarks, to accumulate for our
selves as q nation Subsistence, or the
mears of it, in advance, to the amount Of
| about six hundred dollars per head of our
| people. That is to say, even the richest na-
! ton in the world would starve If it
| should absolutely cease to labor for five or
at most six years, and live upon the surplus
|
| and the great armies, the costly ornaments
! and the destructive wars of the period since
| 1850, it is easy to see have made the world
actually poorer have narrowed the resources
of the principal Christian nations and
brought the wolf nearer the national doors.
Now, in modern times what seriously
affects one nation affects all in various de-
| Sc
tises q more rigid economy, if England is
embarrassed or Austria crippled, we, far off
ns we are, must feel the effect of their re-
trenchments. They buy less of what we
produce or they pay less for what they buy.
| Now, it has been ascertained that in Massa-
! chusetts, one of the richest States of the
Union, the possible annual average saving
of the factory population in common times
is only trife over twenty dollars per head.
There is no great margin here for loss of
any kind. But, besides wars and standing
armies and costly navies, there are losses by
, fire, as those at Boston and Chicago there
are losses of income and realized surplus by
worthless investments, as in railroads which
pay no interest on their bonds and which
thus deprive multitude of bondholders of
their receipts and lessen their expenditures
All these causes contribute to make us and
the world in general poorer and cause hard
| times.
1t seems to US, however, that Mr.. Wells
has given somewhat undue importance to
these causes of mpoverishment-at least as
regards this country-and that he might have
given greater importance to another cause of
the hard times-namely, the wasteful and
unskilful manner in which the business of
| government has been conducted among us
since 1860, by which our city and State
debts and taxes have been enormously in
creased and many important industries
have been crippled. Our own waste in
the war was very great but serious as was
the withdrawal of productive laborers to
the field and to the employments connected
with the war, those who remained at home
contrived by the help of new labor-saving
machines to maintain production near its
old level, and when the armies were dis
banded the soldiers Of both sides began work
with the improved machinery, and the pro-
ductive power Of the country was immensely
increased. Thus We could have very rapidly
made good the losses OF the war but for
causes which arose mainly if not entirely
out Of the lack of skill which we haze toll
Grated in the different branches of the gov
ernment This has caused in the first place
great wastefulness. Mr.. Wells reports that
in 1875 the aggregate State debts had run up
to three hundred and twenty eight millions
on half of which no interest was paid; that
the aggregate Indebtedness of cities had run
up to eight hundred millions. and yet our
cities are as rule uncomfortable, unsafe and
dear places of residence. He remarks that