The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-04-30
Our New York Letter.
lists and their Arguments-The Sale
OF the Erie Raiiway-Pessimism.
New YORK, April 20. 1873.


New YORK, April %. 1873.
Cheerful views in regard to the prospects of
tf future are growing more and more preva
lent and there is very general feeling In the
community that times will soon be better
There Is positive activity 10 some branches Of
business, and not absolute lethargy In any.
Commodities of every kind are gradually be-
coming cheaper and trading has to be done on
very narrow margins of profit. Even in New
York, where hitherto wastefulness and extrav-
gance have permeated all phases Of society, the
people are beginning to exhibit enough glim-
merngs of common sense to be DESTROYS of get
ting their moneys worth for what they buy.
The swells who frequent the cafes-fellows
who never earned q dollar In their lives-Are
not quite as rash as they used to be in scatter
ing about the money derived from the H.
judged bountifulness of their parents whose
industry led to the accumulation of it, and the
cost of living, albeit still exceedingly dear 10
not so much so by great deal as 1t was
while ago. Adversity has been exercising a
Christening influence and its SOLDERING effects are
seen in the more rational way in which all
classes conduct themselves, 10 small things
and in large.
Now il this reformation has taken place
here where prodigaity so much abounded,
there is good reason for believing that the
spirit of economy has grown practically uni
versal throughout the land. That Is the one
condition which must be generally attained be-
fore there can be refux of the tide of fortune
and IL 1t has been reached we are undoubtedly
very near the turning point. There has been no
recent indication of popular faith 10 the early
coming of brighter day so convincing as that
which was given by the prompt negotiation OF
the fifty millions of four and half per cents.
The subsequent sales Of four per cent. bonds
have been unexpectedly large, and it Ia stated
on good authority that the Rothschilds have
subscribed on their own account for ten mill
lions additional of the syndicate loan. The num-
ber of doubters Of the practcability Of resump-
tion diminishes every day; thers are so few Of
them left now that there is very little notics
taken of their Vaccinations. The rate of the
gold premium is test of public confidence in
the ability of the government to fulfil its obli
cations, and that oscillatsd sluggishly be-
tween three-eighths and half per cent. all last
week. Probably if Congress were not in ses-
sion even that trifliug difference would dissp-
pear. There is always feeling Of apprehen-
sion as long as our national legislators are to-
gether, that they may enact some measure or
other that will operate preiudicially to the
general welfare. There is abundant cause for
this nervous sensitiyeness, considering what
views are held in respect of financial matters
by prominent public men. Its only day or
two ago that a Philadelphia, who Is held in
considerable repute among the Disciples Of that
school of eccentric illusionists who persist In
declaring that q national debt Is national
blessing, was represented as having held the
attention of three or four members ofthe House
Committee on Banking and Currency while he
was giving utterance to a tissue of the most
absurd notions that ever gained audience
among men credited with sanity. dare say
the account was exaggerated. Itsounded like an
extravaganzs. 1t is not easy 10 imagine THAI
any human being would seriously maintain
that it would have been better for the country
if the war had lasted till the debt had grown to
be double what 1t was-or that il would be q
good thing to issue thousand millions OF ire
deemable paper forthwith and keep augment
ing the amount till it got to bs four Thousand
millions-to abolish all revenue acts and pay
the expenses Of government exclusively
with these valueless notes. Such farrago Of
nonsense as that would hardly have been toler-
ated in burlesque. Nevertheless there was
something said which served as foundation
for the report, and it was unquestionably 10
advocacy of the chimera of imitation, which has
proved itself to be remarkably pertinacious
illusion. 1t is incomprehensibly strange that
Notwithstanding paper money has been so
abundant for two or three years that the holders
of it have not been able to get on the average
above half or two-thirds Of merely simple in
terest for the use of it, there has been all the
while continual clamor for AZ increase Of the
supply II it could be supposed that the per-
sons who make this importunate demand wers
laboring uoder some sort Of hallucination that
the issue of more bills would be followed by
distribution of them among the necessitous in
habitants of the Union, we might N that case
account for their delusion. Bat it is incredible
that any such phantasy could find lodgment In
the brain of any American of ordinary intelli-
gence. Everybody now can get all the money
he wants if he has an equivalent to render
for it; if there were four-fold as much 10 circu-
lation nobody could procure any Of 1t without
giving value for it in something else. These
are such self-evdent propositions that 1t Is diff
cult to fathom the motives Of those who, with
apparent sincerity, look upon an increase OF cur
rency as means of relief to the sufferings Of
the people. That they are entirely mistaken
time will sooner or later conclusively show, and
1t will be well for them, and for the whole peo-
pie If the natural processes by which the sola-
tion of the financial problem is destined to be
wrought out are not subjected to interference
from any quarter. As soon as specie payments
are firmly established there will be Just as much
expansion as the business of the country will
bear. If there should be withdrawal Of the
SO called legal-tender notes to any extent, ma
tional bank bills will be substituted as fast as
they can be kept afoa.. Being based upon
government bonds they are absolutely safe, and
the fact that they are redeemable in coin will
serve as salutary check to redundant supply
of them.
Tho sale under foreclosure of the Eris Rail-
way, with the prospect of an immediate recon-
struction Of the corporation is an event which
gives great satisfaction to the business commu-
nifty. This vast establishment has been the
prey of sharpers and swndlers from its very in
ception. Many honest men have from time to
time participated in its management, but there
have generally been more or less rogues assocl.
ated with them and they have contrived to
fleece the shareholders and line their own pock-
cts in thoroughly wholesale way. Daniel
Drew served as Treasurer of the concern for =
long time and realized by gaming in its shares
the millions which he after wards either lost by
stock speculations or concealed so effectually
that no Ingenuity Of search could discover what
had become of them. Fisk and Gould next
obtained control, and their spoliations
were enormous in amount and des-
perate in criminality. The road was so
hopelessly bankrupted by these depredations,
that the efforts that were made by the succeed
ing administration to resuscitate 1t proved uh-
ayailing. Mr.. Jewett has demonstrated his fit
ness to conduct its affairs and enjoys the public
confidence in a high degree, but he found the
wreck too complete to admit of reconstruction.
Relief from some portion of its gigantic burden