The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-05-29
Thirty.seyen Years Ago.

ThiFty.SeVen Years ago.
Col. Henry Hubbard says that the
present generation Of people in Wheel
ipg know nothing at all Of the dullness In
business, depression in prices, and hard
times generally that follow a frst-clas'
panic. They should have lived in
Wheeling from ls4l up to 1874. Then
they would be prepared to appreciate
properly the comparatively mild results
that have thus far followed the panic OF
1878. He gave us yesterday some OF his
" experience in the years n'med. He
commenced LIE as a new married man in
1871, in his present occupation IS a man
uIscturer Of dressed lumber, and was I'M
fortunate enough to go security for q
friend for SIS. That obligation, small
as Il may now seem to great many per-
sons, even to those Of small means, was
really a mortgage on his earnings and
savings for three years, and rested like
an iron yoke upon his neck. He was
three years paying that note, and often
made payments Of only fifty cents, the
highest payment ever made being 49,
When 1t was fully paid, SO numerous
we're the credits upon 1t, there vas not
room for another scratch Of the pen.
Another instance given by the Colonel,
showing how the panic Of 1887 operated,
was the sale one day Of $500 worth oil
lumber to a man out at Fulton for cash
"spot cash"-avery unusual transaction
in those days. Several eager eyes followed
that payment, and when it was received it
was divided out among six men, repre-
septing six different families, who re-
ceiyed 90 cents apiece as their pro rata oil
cash.
Another memento cherished by the
Colonel Of those good old Democratic
days, was the arrival OF q letter for his
firm at the Wheeling Postofice, on
which twenty-five cents postage was
due. Postage wa paid in coin
In those days. "Gold and silver
for the office holders and rags for the
people" was the political howl Of the
Wings against the Democracy in the
great campaign Of "rippecanoe and
TYLER too" The Colonel had no silver
wherewith 10 take out his letter, but he
had a three dollar note on the Bank OF
Marietta, ohio-a solvent bank. He spent
half a day trying to get this note changed
in order to raise u silver quarter, and at
last was compelled TO spout II as collaI'
eral for the loan Of a quarter, and, In.
credible a. it may seem, six weeks passed
away before enough silver came into his
possession to pay of that loan and take
up the three dollar note.
The money OF the town in those days
was the .hinplmters issued by the Stage
companies and by such firms as Knox d
Mckee. OF course it would not pass out
side Of this community, and therefore
business was largely carried on on the
basis Of trade for trade and struck for
trash" The Colonel says that he used to
take most anything that was not perisha'
BILE in pay for lumber, and when fall
came he would load a aatboat and
cruise down the Ohio, going as far as New
Orleans. On one trip he bought a
quarter Of beef at Maysville, Ken
lucky, for one cent per pound, and at
Madison, Indiana, the bought hams at
cents per pound. And these were speci'
men prices Of the rates at which every
thing was sold in those days. he was
glad at the end Of his trip, by dtnt Of
trading all along the shore, to succeed
finally in converting his stock into as
much money as would square with his
invoice when he left Wheeling. He took
no account Of his time, as time was not
money in those days.
It is we'll for the present generation to
be reminded that the present panic is not
the only one that has occurred in the
history Of this country, and also that the
Radicals we're not in power and conse'
quently not responsible for the dark
days through which the country has
heretofore passed during seasons oil
depression. A gentleman still liv-
ing, who was an active business man
in 1926, tells US that he bought wheat for
% cents per bushel, IN 4 years credit,
and that he hired the best Of farm hands
for IS per month. Those were days when
people worked hard and lived very poor.
". Coffee was not seen in every poor
mans house as now. Instead OF
II, an imitation drink was made
out Of burned bread, and many
families, for lack Of sugar, sweet.
ened 1t with molasses. Genuine coffee
was worth S7i cents per pound and cal
leo 50 cents per yard in those days
This too, when wages were down TO zero
Mcompared with present prices for labor
Who would be willing to exchange pres.
ent hard times for such hard times as
those described
In reply 10 the question, "what lie
killing business" the indianapolis Jour
nal says edttorially that IT is the growth