Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-08-13
zos Angeles a(smld.
The Financial Depression.

The bankers in session at Sara
toga, New York, have given to the
public some facts or statements in |
relation to the financial situation
which are of much interest to every |
class of citizens. Throughout the
country the bank statements for
July show an unprecedented depres-
sion In financial matters, and San
Francisco for the first time returns
losses instead of gains for the
month. The extraordinary fact
appears that the most favorable
returns are from the cities which
were most affected by the great
labor strikes Of last year. In the
six largest cities of the Union the
exchanges for July of this year
were much less than for the
corresponding month last year.
There Is an unaccountable decline
in business, and falling off in
prices. A banker of Detroit said at
the Saratoga meeting: TELL us
where to invest from one dollar to
nifty millions, that will pay ex-
penses and bring back five per cent,
and the money stands waiting,
ready and anxious to step into the
business. There are over twenty
I've hundred millions in railroad
bonds and stocks, which pay their
owners nothing. There are five
hundred millions in iron furnaces
and manufacturing establishments,
aud six hundred millions in ship.
ping, hopelessly tied up. More ir-
redeemsble money would not help
US out. We have no greater pro-
portion Of poor men than have
other countries. There are number.
less persons waiting for something
to turn up, too lazy to work, trying
to get something for nothing"
IT there Is an aggregate of fifty
millions Of dollars lying idle in the
country and seeking Investment,
the capitalists themselves are n ost-
ly responsible for the depression
which causes 80 much money to be
idle and Improbable. They have
been SO intent upon accommodating
and boarding that they have now
only the money, but nothing with
1t, nor any use to which to apply it.
To obtain it, they drove down the
wages of workingment to the lowest
rate ut which subsistence is posi-.
BILE, and extorted from the indus
tries of the country the utmost
They added the product of these
exactions to the enormous golden
store they already had acquired. II
was the rapacious clutch of ex'
hausting avarlce upon the sub.
stance of the land, and the emol
uments of labor were wrested from
the rightful channels to flow
only into the pactolean res
ervoir, from whence the pro
cess Of distribution had been
stopped. And now that they have
like Midas. turned everything they
touched into gold, they cannot ea
Of 1t nor drink of Ii, nor convert it tC
the whole some uses of the syst EN-
The surfeit is beginning to alarm
thsm. They have taken the breat
from the mouths of the toilers ant
forced the poor into rags, till now
like the cock with the jewel, tn,
precious treasure which they
possess gives them neither prof
nor comfort. They must learn tha
low wages cause the impoverish
ment and wretchedness If the toll
ing, millions and the aggregation
OF enormous wealth into the hand,
OF a few and that wherever these
conditions exist there can be nt
real or general prosperity, fail
distribution of the blessings which
money ffords, no equality in eithel
the government, the laws,o or the po
litical or social status Of the people
The "2,500, 100000 of RAILROAD
bonds and stocks, which pay tbsi
owners nothing" are thus uupro
ductive, partly because of the pre-
yailing depression, and partly fo
the reason that the pooling CT tn,
trunk lines and their branches b,
the Vanderbilts, the CARROTS, tn,
Tom SCOTS, and other colos
sal railway managers, hav,
absorbed to their own roads the en-
tire transportation of the country
and forced the business from til,
roads which can neither ompet,
with the overwhelming combina
tions, nor make headway agains
them. It is simply the old story o
the big fish devouring the little iisl
and it is the evil genius of monopo
Iy which affects and ruins th,
smaller railways. With an honest
and just administration of the Gov
ernment, State and Federal, these
pooling com binations could never
occur, and these colossal monopo.
lies would not be allowed to mas
ter the transportation of the coun.
try. The many other hundreds oil
millions which are "tied up'-nl.
though not "hopelessly" SO, as The
Detroit banker expressed it-in
iron furnaces, manufacturing es.
tablishments, and shipping, could
be turned to profit, were it not fol
the impolicy and selfishness OF
those who own and control them.
So long as the great iron men and
the manufacturers have the influ-
ence and use it TO persuade Con
gress to maintain the high tariff
which SO unjustly discrimi-
mates against our commerce, the
shipping interest must necessarily
decline, and, to weaken it, as sure
ly at last impairs the very interests
which sustain the unequal tariff,
just as that which paralyzes one
function of the physical system
tends finally to weaken or paralyze
every other. Restore the tariff to
revenue basis, as it was establish
ed In 1915, or establish free-trade,
nnd the evils complained of now,
by which the iron and manufactur-
ing interests antagonize the ship
ping interests, will be remedied,
and in due time all these idle and
unproductive millions will be con-
verted into active, profitable capt.
tai, to revive trade, give employ
ment to thousands, infuse new life
into commerce, and better equal
ize finance and labor. There will
then be no difficulty in providing
for the poor who will work, nor in
properly treating the vagabonds