Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1878-10-17
CARL SCHl7RZ ON FINANCE.
The Eminent Statesman Views on the
Monetary Situation.
The "Ohio idea" and its Inevitable Conse-
quences--..Nuts for The Deiuded Green
hackers to Crack.

esting talk with the people OF Cincinnati
Oh the night of Sept. 2Sth He addressed
his remarks more particularly to those
persons afflicted with the Greenbackf
money theory, showing most clearly by
all the laws of philosophy, experience and
trade, the ruinous effects, especially upon
the laborer, of any system by which the
power of IL dollar is rendered
and uncertain. As no small
portion of the present distress is charged
by blatant orators of the Democratic
school upon the Republican party, Sec
rotary Schurz naturally addresses him.
self to a clear and undeniable explana-
ton of the causes OF the breakdown in
1873, and the subsequent bust
ness depression Of all sections
of the country. He briefly
sketches the financial distress which oc-
Cured i'll Austria and Germany in the
same year, certainly where the Republi-
can party does not rule, and then pro-
ceeds to exhibit in the following clear
manner the underlying causes which
necessitated the crash Of 1878, while
suggesting the only mode by which our
people and our industries can gradually
recupcrate and renew their old-time
prosperity:
The real causes were, as have more than
once had occasion to describe them, great
wars resulting in all immense destruction
and waste OF wealth; large industries min
istering to the work Of destruction instead
of producing additional wealth; but after
that, excessive enterprise, stimulated by
apparent success; the sinking of large
amounts Of capital in great undertakings
which could Weld no immediate return,-
such as the building of railroads when they
we're not needed; for anticipating the
future, The invention and introduction of
new labor-saving machinery, creating new
facilities Of production, and including ex-
cessiye manufactures beyond the present
demand; while speculation. dealing, and
gambling in all sorts of imaginary values;
an immense number OF people fraAtical]y
striving to make money quickly by any
means except solid work; an Infatuated
faith in the certain success OF WINDY
schemes; and an unnatural straining OF the
credit system by pushing speculation and
enterprise far beyond the means OF those
engaged in it, and finally almost everybody
believing himself richer than he was and
therefore spending more than he could
afford, hence widespread extravaganza
and improvident habits. And if we
INQUIRE what the currency had to do with
il, we shall find that i'll this country our ir.
redeemable paper money, by its deprecia.
ton, running up prices to a fictitious point,
) stimulated the spirit OF recklessness aud
gambling in almost all branches of enter
prise and business, melted extravaganza,
aud thus strengthened all the bad and de-
moraliziug influences, which are usually
active at such a period. Such things are
apt to go on swimmingly for some time.
But illusions and lies will not last always,
especially in business matters. After q
while it will turn out that million Of men
engaged in active warfare have consumed
and destroyed wealth, but not produced
any; that a railroad running from point
nowhere to point nowhere cannot pay Giyi
dends until it has passengers and freight to
carry; that the value OF real estate does moi
! depend upon the imagination its owner
! but upon the use that can be made of it
i that corner lots in paper towns
where nobody lives and nobody in
tends to live will not bear heavy mortgages
that articles of industry produced beyont
actual demand will become drug in the
market; that shares in joint stock com
panies, however skillfully followed by op
orators, will at last become worthless ii the
enterprise yields no profits; that men wht
borrow more than they can pay must at las
break, and that those who spend more thar
they caro- will finally become paupers. Thi
LIGHT, the light Of sober truth, usual,
| breaks all of sudden upon the people
The Illusion all at once vanishes, the bubble
i bursts, and we are set now heavily upon tht
hard rock of real fact. That thing happened
to us in 1878. Theu we rub our eyes an<
look around, and wonder how it all cam,
about. And yet it was the most natura
thing in the world. People who invest il
air.castles have no right to expect anytnin;
else than that these Investments at last van
ish into the air they were made of. The hes
thing we can do after such a collapse il
to quickly gather up our FIVE senses and g
to wolk like men to repair our shattered
! fortunes.
And how can those shattered fortunes b.
repaired? First, by recognizing the error
OF our ways and discarding all seli-decep
; tons and decisions; by remembering tina
our wealth must consist in what we pro
duce, and have, and not what we dream of
by abstaining, consequently, from all wind.
schemes to make ourselves rich by printing
the word dollar upon piece OF paper; b.
acting upon the principle that the onl.
ing them, and that we can become prosper
Gus only by producing things that are usefu
and by spending less than we earn. Thes'
NAV look like very old-fashioned home
spun doctrines, but whatever our modern
! financial jugglers may Try to have you be
lieve, these doctrines are now just as goot
as they were thousand years ago, and the.
point the only way, out OF on
difficulties. There is no other
TO the honor of the American
people be it said, very large majority o
ciples for the past five or six years, and the.
are all the better for it: It is true q GOO
| deal OF wild talk has been INDUCED in abou
all sorts Of methods to manufacture none,
out of nothing, and to distribute it so as t
keep everybody's pockets full of cash
thereby putting I'll the people at ease. Blu
although the wild talk has befogged SOM
and impeded needful legislation, yet tn
people, on the whole, have been steadily a
work producing useful ingsand practicin'
wise economy, and while the results Of tn
activity have not yet been felt in all tn
walks of human industry, and all classes o
society, yet | venture to say that during
the last FIVE years the America,
people have created more real sub
tantial wealth than during the five years 0
wild scheming, gambling and speculation
which preceded the crash of 1878. Iventur'
further to sav-and think it is felt all owe
the country-that business activity is slowl,
but surely quickening again, and that thu
american peOple now stduO upon III
threshold OF new period Of prosperity, AM
that we shall reap an abundant harvest 0
| it, unless we throw away our opportunitie
| by mischievous intermeddliny with tn
natural development Of things.
! That revival of business and prosperity
will indeed not consist in putting upon thei
! legs again old exploded speculatiors, or j,
; restoring to their wealth again business mer
who broke down by venturing into opera
tons largely beyond their means, an(
spreading their capital all over creation
! To be sure, many OF that class who are still
| struggling may still have to 60 down, ant
! no fat money can help them. But new mel
will step into their places. ,:,
Secretary Scburz's exposition of thu
transcendant value of national credi,
and Of faith the. most honorable with
the bondholdcr is mastery. = It is one o.
the clearest explanations as to how ou1
bonds have become interlaced with every
! industry of the country and how dread
full would be the shock and how inju
, rious would be the effects of attempting
to pay these bonds by an additional issue
Of greenbacks WHICH would be Indirect
reputation, and which doctrine we arc
m l, olI lS~t L. rr.o ri