New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-09-08
THE REVIVAL OF BUSINESS.


fFRoM THE aHGrLAR CORRESPONDENT OF TIE TRIBuNEl
WAsHG>G ToN. Sept. 5.-The long hOped-fcr roviyal
of business of which the FIRST unnisakable signs ere
now apparent ia the chief commercial elites Ell the
/ corptry. makes a careful examination OF all the
doubtful or dangerous eXpedicnts proposed lor tho
cure Of past or present financial troubles more IMAM
ever important. II tAc tide has really turned, rs II
seems 70 have done; il the trade aud industries oil
tbe country are lust now receiving a new impetus,
while mt the same time rapid and substantial pro-
gress is being made toward the restoration OF specie
payments it certainly behooves the country to con
s,der well any step which is likely to disturb the
present condition of our national finances, and which
may check or perhaps postpone indefinitely the
recovery 50 earnestly desired
The popular disposition which has seemed 10 be
growing in parts OF the country to resort 70 IL
regular orarhca means for the cure ofpast or pros
Ell, financial difficulties has undoubtedly been greatly
strengthened by Exaggerated idea OF tleir eNtehS
and effect While il is true that the past four years
OF business disaser duIng which all kinds of prop
erty have RAPIDLY deprecated ~ value, and capital
has been comparatively unPFUdnctlyc ~ is not uue'
rs many people seem 10 suppose, that the monetary
condi on of the country to-day Is worse than II has
been during former periods Of our history The
credit of the United States never az good a. 1t s
now. For the first time since the adoption of the
have been sold az the money centres bothat homeand
abroad m par in gold while the securities of Euro
pcan nations, who have heretofore enjoyed higher
credit than We, have been drug IN the marker.
France, to the example of which the attention OF
the people of the United States has repeatedly been
DIR ctcd during the past two or three years because
OF The greater prosperity Of ITS people than OF those
oi other European nations, and which has given 10
the world oue OF the most striking Illustrations IA
history of tse recuperatye power OF a people VINO
IRE industrious and frugal, has virtually failed to
sell her ( per cent bonds ~ the same markets
where the United States consoIs were eagerly taken.
The scene witnessed by senator ConlllIng in Paris,
when the book, were first to be opened for 'u0scrip
iiuns 20 the new French loan, was undoubtedly ono
which he would never behold in the United States
~ r people WHO desire 20 invest their surplus
iu-s IN Government securities do not sit on the
curba.onc IN Wa-st. ali night long, waiting for an
opportunity to purchase the bonds. but their sub
scr.pt0ns during July and August were y-ioid
greater than those of the French people to their new
loan.
But the credit of the United States Government
has not always been maintained in times of great.
business depression. In 1919, six years after the
panic of 81 ami before the county had recovered
from effects. the United States Government sent
AN ag.n 10 Europe t, negotiate United state Gper
of REPRESENTATIVE by William Cost Johnson OF
Maryland in the early part that year, IL is learned
that, " lille nations with not a lthe of our re-
sources ana with re public debts have been able TO
effect loans at per cent per anuun. the agent of tins
Government had 30 return from the same money
market. where capital is seeking investment M and
pr cent without receiving 5, gle offer for any
portion OF loan 10 our Government at per cent
The financial rcyers's of 1o37-ii were SO mich
greater thal those through which this country mas
rec ypas.c that she destruction Of credit was not
confined 10 corporations and iyatc individual, hut
affected dilstrouSly the resources Of tI" states and
even those of the General Government Itself.
The credit Of the States also was, in 1913, at
very low ebb. Joseph x. ingorsoil, Of the Commit
tee of WAYS and Means in January OF that ycar,
sand, in a report 80 the House, that the state sccuri
ties car row be pare a,cd in tho market az large
discouutS:' and. referring 10 proposition That tAo
General Government Should assume tie lebis OF the
States he added that Bee United ate, u.d thus,
in effect he paying ~ least full prices for STATE
stock, althoull 9, lalht have been procured at from
forty 10 seventy per cent depreciation" compar.-
sou of the statements made in the two reports al
ready referred 20, with ihe latest quotations Df tbc
present prices OF state nd,, cannot iu To give en-
cnurage.ucnt 90 those who ar inclined 10 look
upon the dark sid" of the picture. some of
I the NOnOS oi southern states are iiut II now
greatly dcpreciatcd bat many of them securities
fIaudulcutiy .sslcj and tainted with suspicion at
tie time they wcrc first placed up,n the market.
The bonds OF 10 state ID the Union, whose cr.d has
not beol destroyed by the operations OF dishonest
officials arc row quoted ia the New-York market M
less t!an par, while many OF those even of the
Southern States. are sold at from 30 TO 100. For
instance. Connecticut Is are worth 10; Georgia
Gs from % ,o 90 and Georgia - from lOl 10 iOJ.
Even one class of the bonds of Louisiana, which
have been much discrclited axe selling at 81 and
those o. Sulih Carolina at from 81 TO 81. The state
oi Texas recently sold hall million of q per cent
bonds in Aew-York TO one firm for iO2l2 and rs
these were 90 be sold again. the actual market value
of them must have been somewhat higher. BH a.
1913 there was 20 question about the genuInrness
o. amy OF the bonds then outstanding; no fTaudu-
lent issues hal taken place. and the low ebb at
winch the credit OF ,ne states then stood WIS due
exclusively to the inability Of the people, on account
OF poverty, either to pay the interest their secur
Ties or 80 provide for the principal
The aggregate of private losses in the United
States since 1873 has undoubtedly been many times
greater than those which occurred during tie six
seven years following the panic of 1897 buy when
they are compared with the amount of accumulated
capital low In the country, they constitute very
small percentage Of The whole. Iad,ed there is
every reason believe that the destruction Of values
during the former period comparatively far
greater than it has been during the latter. The files
OF the public Journals forty years ago, are filled
with accounts of thc failure Of every kind of indus
rial enterprise and thc official documents of Con-
grcs. contain much Interesting Information on the
samc subitc.. The following extract from one If
tie reports already referred to this letter. might
almost be supposed 90 have been written in 1876 or