Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-04-12
The Financial Condition.

pable. The commerce and the manuiac-
lures Of the country are in reduced crcum.
stances" The agricultural industries are
but little affected, since demand and supply
are nearly equal. The country was for the
previous ten years in state Of unexampled
prosperity. At least, so il was supposed.
The people had immense sums of money to
spend The competition between the gov
eminent aud the people for limited supply
Of products advanced all prices TO fabu
Ions point. So long as government could
borrow it could buy, and by It's sharp com
petition with ordinary buyers there came
such an increase Of prices and Of individual
prosperity rs was never before known in
the history of any nation. An insane fever
Of extravaganza spread through the land.
Gold disappeared from the circulation and
yet the ostentation and extravaganza of the
country ran mp its importation bills from
three hundred millions in 1860 to -four hun
dred and fifty millions in 1870 The iuAa-
ton Of business, Of the railroad interests Of
commerce, Of government Indebtedness, re-
suited, at leuglh, Ia such an accumulation
Of taxes as never before fell upon any ma
ton. And now that the competition for
products has diminished, now that the gov.
eminent is no longer borrower, going round
with its bonds for sale, but tax collector,
going round among the people to gather the
taxes to meet the interest of the enormous
Indebtedness that demand is somewhat
in advance of supply, there is reaction and
a depression And as the cause is deep aud
strong, an immense debt and an immense
interest, the effect is likely to be painful and
protracted.
We are just beginning to find out that we
as a people are Impoverished 10y just the
amount of the debt incurred 10y the govern
mcnt for the purposes Of the war The
taking OF property from the people in the
shape of loans, has deluded them into the
belief that their wealth was increased, when
in fact it was proportionally diminished. If
in 1861, the government had needed one
hundred dollars from every citizen, and had
taken it, every one would have been one hun
bred dollars poorer. But il government had
borrowed one hundred dollars Of every cit-
zen, and given him bond of that amount,
he would still have been so much poorer,
only he would not have known and believed
it, And yet before the government could
pay him six per cent interest, it would have
to raise that interest by the taxation of the
bondholder. But as it costs government by its
machinery something TO raise taxes, it would
have been necessary for each citizen to pay
seven dollars in taxes, in order that the govern
ment might pay him six dollars in interest.
In the end it will be necessary for the gov.
eminent to tax him one hundred dollars, in
order TO pay him the capital. To the indi-
yidual this bond is good enough property,
but TO the nation it is no property at all.
Yet Of this kind of property we own over
two thousand millions of dollars, and are
paying interest on it At the rate of eight or
nine per cent The total property of the
country is less, the total taxation of the
country is more, and of the diminished
property more is held by the wealthy and
less by the poor. The country is staggering
under its interest. 1t is paying the interest
to the few aud not to the many. This is
the reason why more money is in the hands
of capitalists than they know what to do
with, and less money in the hands of the
laboring classes than they actually need.
That the poor are poorer, especially all la
borers that are not agricultural, is quite
obvious. One need only to ask the mechan-
/ les, the carpenters and the workmen who
are connected with commercial or manufac-
turing enterprises, to ascertain this fact. The
recent strikes over the land attest the same
thing. The rapid development of pauper-
ism and crimes against person and property
assert the fact with irresistible force. When
men are full they rarely steal. They turn to
thieves when they are pressed for bread.
The connection between want and crime is
very obvious. 1t is from the army of pow
erty that the ranks of vice and crime are re-
cruited And it would seem that never in
the history of the country hasi been so del
uged with paupers, vagabonds, tramps, Grim
inals, and the representatives of all vice and
crime, as now
1t is said also that in the commercial and
manufacturing states the poor are Withdraw
ing largely from the savings banks the de
posits Of happier days, while the rich UNI
certain OF other securities, are largely depos-
iting their surplus wealth in them. If there
were any proof more painful than another of
the i'll financial condition of the country,
this most certainly furnishes it, 1t would
seem TO he a sign, too, that better days are
not to return Immediately that we may
have TO go through troubled times such as
we have not yet seen, before we reach the
end of the present financial depression.
The diminishing receipts of all the lead
/ ing benevolent societies of the country show
that the financial stringency is reaching that
large class OF business men, merchants,
manufacturers, employers, professional men,
from whom mainly their receipts have come.
The times are pinching them, The deprecia-
ton also of real estate, in city and in coun.
tilf h'ia tHu adiHN ntoil' INC puluth vi TAX
alton is falling upon real estate last, and
making il less salable, and giving it no sale
at all, except at reduced rates.
And yet, while the state of affairs is not
very hopeful, it is not irremediable. The
/ agricultural interests of the country as yet
hardly feel the burden. The prices of prod
ucts remain essentially unchanged Com
munities that depend upon agriculture,
rather than on commerce aud manufactures I;
states, like our own, that are strictly agri-
cultural, will hardly feel the embarrassment
which prevails in the country at large. Yer.
mont can eat aud drink and wear its prod
ucts So long as the agricultural produc-
tons 81 the country are amply remunerative,
there need be no special anxiety of finan-
cial collapse The country has holding
ground in the soil and its products. Pru-
dence, economy and the speedy wearing
back TO sound, convertible currency, of
fixed value, will help us out of our difficult
ties. The country needs to get out of this
drunken paper debauch, this dream of re-
coyery b. continued imitation, in order TO
reach good basis for restored prosperity.
So long as we have to pay gold to foreign