The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-05-24
What Causes The Hard Times.

Professor BoNAMY IRlCE HIS uhueitahcn
IN examine into the causes Of the hard times
which for period Of several years have
prevailed the world over. He IS we'll
known writer; andwhateyer he says carries
much weight with it. he goes into the
matter formally md earnestly. Commenc-
ing with England, lie AYERS that money mas
for twelve months been so abundant IN that
country that one per cent. per annum mas
been the ruling rate for money borrower.
Scarcity Of capital, he concludes, mas no
thing to do with the hard times IN Eng
land. He next refers to the panic OF 1870
since when, he says, commercial depres-
sion has been growing in intensity ana en-
tent. Imports and exports have both de-
creased in England, even since last year,
according to the trade returns for feoru-
ary, 1876, and February, 1877. This decline
argues badly for England; for If she ."were
cut off from all foreign trade, large por-
ton of her people must surely perish-as
surely as did more than million Of Irish
when the potato-diseasc left them foodless
on the land" s,a... .s&a
Professor PRICE next turns his eyes to
America. She has not recovered from the
panic OF 1878. Her people have in large
numbers been out of work. Bankruptcies
have been numerous. Her railroads sTher
from diminished traffic. Her imports have
fallen of. -. ':+' '-
Professor PRICE then looks at Germany.
t.What do we find in that country? Worse
commercial weather at this hour than IN
anv other" at is the gold which Ger
many received in such profusion from
France which has ruined her trade and
made her poor. France paid those mil
lions, and moves with lighter steps than
any other nation in Europe" He quotes a
German writer who humorously demands
another war that Germany may have to pay
an enormous indemnity and so become
prosperous.
Austria and Hungary next receive our
professors attention. They repeat the cry
OF England, America, and Germany.
But upon France, whose losses and SUI
ferincs have surpassed those endured by
any other nation, the panic has weighed less
heavily than upon any other country. War
has desoIated her territories and over
thrown her industries, and her taxation
has been increased by the sum OF one hum
dred and fifty millions Of dollars per an
mum. Yet at this moment "she exhibits
the active movements Of quickened recov-
ery." She has taught all nations 'the
priceless lesson how to contend against and
to overcome the calamities which reckless
folly or moral visitations infiict on popu-
lations." "In one OF its most important
departments, France may Justly be called
the heroine OF political economy"
What is the cause, then, OF so much COM
mercial depression everywhere? cit is,with
the exception of the Franco-German war, an
purely economical phenomenon which'it
is the Office OF political economy to explain.
.sItis easy to conceive in imagination commo-
tions as agitatlng as those OF Black Fri
day, and vet which would have little effect
on the prosperity Of the country. A multi
tude of landowners might gamble with
their estates"; and on the day OF settle
ment the agony might be intense. Yet the
national wealth would be undisturbed. The
land would have changed owners, and that
would be all. But "quite other would be
the result il the gambling had led to SELL
ing the seed-corn abroad, to buying costly
wines, or to the exporting of the t-horses
in exchange for luXuries, or to the neglect to
repair tools necessary to securing the next
harvest, or to similar acts" In these cases,
he saws, the wealth of the country and the
well-being of its inhabitants would be at
tackled at the core.
Professor PRICE concludes that OF the lat
ter character is the commercial depression
following the panic of 1873 and still upon
us. What, then, is the cause? Why is it
that for so long SO many countries are thus
suffering? "The explanation will certainly
not be found" in gold or its movements,
nor in prices Of paper, nor in any form OF
currency. Nationsare not made poor, nor
their business destroyed, nor their mines
and factories closed, because the tools Of
trade money, or currency are in one place
rather than another. "The cause is one,
and one only: over-spending,t over-con-
Stunning, destroying more wealth than IS re-
produced" 8, "..s.:r.. .4-..<sss.;
Professor PRICE then proceeds to show
that he has found the true cause OF the COM
mercial depression: He tells how we threw
away money in America building railroads,
tunnels, &C., &C., that would nave been
valuable If there had been any use forthem,
and the country had spent only its surplus
in constructing them, but which under the
circumstances were comparatively worth
less. II the work and money expended
upon them had produced something having
a marketable value, ;tps country would have
been growing richer. - ~, = ;.
The article ista very long and searching
one. The illustration last above given is
only one Of number. But the lesson
which Professor PRICE would have all ma
lions learn is that they cannot afford to
spend more than their surplus income or