Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-08-23
THE SITUATION.

Thirteen years after the close Of our civil
war, and nearly five after the culminAtion Of
q general and severe financial crisis, we have
still to confess that many Of our industries
are PROSTATE, our factories and furnaces idle,
thousands of laborers oat Of employment,
while debt and distrust, doubt and discon-
tent, burden and distress multitudes of our
people, Hard as these things are to bear,
it may be some relief to know that they are
not peculiar, nor are they confined to the
United States nor to the present generation.
ai saa& THE CRISIS OF 81. "'tta 'e-"' e"'
Forty years ago Q financial crisis, follow
ing more than twenty years Of peace, was
succeeded by period Of distress and de
rangement Of industry almost equallng in
length, and surprising probably in sharp
ness and severity that which, we are called
upon to endure In 1887 John Quincy
Adams, in . letter to his constituents, de-
clared that without . dollar Of national debt
our country yves in the midst Of national
bankruptcy. II, "The nation" he ssidy.'i s
insolvent-the whole people is insolveut."
There were " melancholy reverses of fortune
and loss Of character among the wealthy, and
loss Of daily bread to the laboring poor and
their children" There we're failures by the
hundred in the chief cities of the union,
thousands of laboring men were thrown out
Of employment, and to add to other troubles
there was general failure of the wheat
crop, and breadstuffs were brought from .
distant foreign market. All accounts agree
that the suffering and distress we're wide-
spread and severe. 49,. saj asa e@9e'1f i' 'rt'n
PRESENT TROUBLES ABROAD 51ts'a'
At the present time there 10 not . nation
sv. kak Ia mt Nsva hav
times and business difficulties similar to our
own.y, England. whose imports exceeded
her exports in 1871 forty.seven and in 1872
forty millions of pounds, finds this balance
in 1876 increased to one hundred and seven
teen millions, and in 1877 to one hundred
and forty-two millions Of ounds-equal to
700 millions Of dollars sure INDIGESTION of
diminished manufactures and trade, idle
mills and mines, and suffering among the
laboring classes. Across the channel also
industry llags, national debts increase, en-
forced idlsness prevails, and in too many
cases the wolf h. already ct the door. Even
in France, which he's often been referred to
as exceptionally prosperous amid general
deosdenoe and want, parliamentary COM
mittee, after six months Investigation, re-
ports hard times, diminishing trade and in
creasing burdens. y The first cause Of this
crisis there 10 naturally traced to the war of
1870, which. in addition to national humili.
alton, entailed . steady burden in increased
annual taxes, amounting to one hundred and
fifty millions of dollars. One-third ofthe
lace looms, says this report, ct Amiens have
been taken down, two-thirds of the manu-.
lecturers Of carpets ct Aubusson have dis
appeared, French. watches have been SUPER
seeded by those made by machinery in the
United States, and many other manufactures
are depressed, while the export trade is
much diminished So il is evident that
France no longer furnishes IN exception to
the universal derangsd condition ofooom.
merce and industry. And from the entire
continent the reports multiply Of decreasing
trade, idle lsborers. want and discomfort
among the people. In the principal Euro
peau nations their troubles are mainly in
dustrial and commercial, while in the United
OUR MONETARY CONDITION 4, s,u, 81
10 unsettled and constitutes IN important
feature Of the situation. England, Germany,
France, and some Of the smaller states Of
Europe have sound monetary systems, with
On abundance Of coin, while We are still
struggling with : depreciated paper !, snd =
relatively small specie basis. Our industrial
and commercial arrangements are similar to
theirs, while our unsettled monetary condi-
tiop sdds to the difficulties which w have to