, 1877-07-08
ONE GREAT CAUSE OF HARD TIMES.

ONE GREAT CAUSE OF HARD TIMES
One of the factors IN any account of the
country's prosperity or distress, its wealth or
its poverty, is the great rnilroad Interest,"
its debts, its earnings, and its means Of doing
business The railroads of the United States
now measure 73,5OS miles of track In the
three years ending with 1876, there were laid
G,6SG miles of track, despite the general
crushing out Of credit. OF these, $500 miles
were constructed in 1876; the others were,
however, not SO much new roads as links
and connections to make previously con-
shucted systems complete and available for
business connections.
The immensity of this great property must
ut present be measured by the amount Of the
money invested in it, including under the
general term debt the stocks, and bonds. and
other liabilities, which foot up 81, 4Cs, ,591,-
935. It is not easy for the ordinary mind TO-
measure such a su1n Of money rs this We
can only understand it by comparisons. It
is twice the amount Of the national debt.
including in the latter the greenbacks. It
greatly exceeds twice the sum OF the intor-
est-bearing debt Of the United States This
railroad debt underlies tho entire business
and domestic economy of the country
The interestof the whole people, of all occu-
pations and all classes and especially of the
wages class. is involved in this vast invest
ment The fact that this aggregation of
debt, representing an equal aggregation of
invested capital, is disturbed, threatened,
and already largely annihilated, is Of itself q
literal explanation of the slowness, amount
ing in some cases to torpidity, which
marks every effort to recover from the gen.
ernl prostration.
In 1878 this $1,000, ,00O, 600 of railroad
bonds and stocks formed the basis Of n
credit which was not confined to railroads,
but extended to al branches Of production
and commercial activity. In the first place,
it WIS the credit on which the railroads did
buslness,-on which they extended their
lines, repaired their roadways, supplied their
stock, purchased their materials, and paid
their vast army Of laborers aud mechanics.
The gross receipts Of the business done BY
the roads on the capital represented by these
debts were S52G, G,319.935 in the year 1875,
These stocks and bonds were in like manner
the basis Of credit for the operations of the
coal and iron mines, for tie iron furnaces
and rolling mills, for the car factories, for
the furniture and other establishments sup
plying the railroads. Receiving these
bonds and stocks, they deposited them
kE
companies, and private capitalists, and
trustees and executors Of estates, and,
obtaining money thereon, carried on their
various manufactures and trades. The i'm
1nense capital invested in all these mines and
manufactures drew its profit, as well as the
means By Which the business was done, from
the credit of the railroads, which was availa-
ble as cash. In turn, the capital invested in
bnnks, savings banks, trust companies, and
dducinry estates was made profitable by the
actiye employment given to it by the de-
mands Of the manufacturers aud miners.
The owners Of this capital, as well repre-
sented By railroad stocks and bonds as BY
manufacturing stocks aud bonds and by
banking stocks, rs we'll as those Of capital ir-
vested in other forms, received their profits
and incomes, which in turn were invested in
other productive pursuits, tho circle of in
vestment and income spreading wider and
wider at every turn The income and earn
lngs obtained from the production put in
motion by the capital invested in railroad anu
all the other close1y-connectcd industries
furnished labor and wages aud the means
of living to the multitudes of all classes en-
gagged in industrial occupations. The wages
OF the miners, of the iron-workers, and of
the car-builders furnished the means of buy
ing shoes, clothing, and household furni-
ture i; the demand and the money paid for
these enabled tic manufacturers of clothing
and OF leather goods, carpets, aud domestic |
necessarles to employ other men and en-
ploy other capital in the production OF these. |
The large incomes and profits from all this |
active industry enabled men to build stores
and dwellings, to purchase largely and lib
orally of everything produced: The demand |
for products was so great that increased |
means Of transportation became necessity. |
Thus the 81, 600, ,000, 900 invested in railroad |
securities became duplicated and Implicated |
in the shape Of credit giving employment
and stimulating production. We repeat these
familiar things to show how closely inter-
woven were the railroad interests Of the coun- |
nv with the finances.. and how iutimstely |