Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1878-03-28

Chicago Inter.oeean.

For more than year the cry has gone
up from every section of the country:
"Hard times-hard times, and worse-a-
coming" Take the faithful dog that has
been pelted out upon the highway, and
start after him with hue and cry of s.mad
dog" and his whole nature is transformed
and he becomes what the people declare.
It is hard to tell who started the cry of
hard times, bur we have all Joined in with
one voice, until the nation Is filled with
the deafening sound. The bondholder
groans, because his interest is to be paid
no longer in gold. The banker mourns
at his idle money laying in his vaults, mot
knowing who to trust. The merchant
murmurs at the economical spirit which
leaves his costly fabrics piled on his coun-
ters. The farmer grOwls and thinks of
starvation and poverty when his cribs and
granaries are bursting with fullness, and
his full cattle lowing in the barn-yard.-
He conjures up the ghosts of cholera that
are to devastate his wealth of fat hogs,
and makes up his mind to economist and
stop his newspaper and exchange coffee
for tea of spice-woOd and sassafras. And
thus the spirit of unrest has spread like
the measles in a camp, until the nation
has gone into the hospital, imaginatively
sick, to great degree, and bowling for
prescriptions to relieve their misery.
It would not be safe to say there is no
reason for the wide extended wall that is
going up. Undoubtedly there is some
foundation for it. The immense loss of
property and time during the long war
had to be sooner or later fully made up.
Then the spirit of extravagant expendi-
ture and fast living which entered every
walk aud class of society-whieh was not
satisfied with comforts, but demanded
luxuries as necessity-this must be-
come reconciled, and drop back into the
old ways, which, with a little philosophi-
cal contentment, will make the children
as happy as were the fathers and mothers
who lived and enjoyed good things be-
fore them. The nations of Europe are
torn up, gand every interest prostrated
with impending danger. In the domin-
ion of China, a great hive of 10000, 900
are reported starving for bread. Amer
lea of all the world, has the least reason
to complain. As a nation her credit is
unimpared, sand herI vaults filed with
money to meet overy obligation, while
her internal resources are so great that
she can look hopefully into prosperous
future. - .*E
If the cry which has gone up from the
masses Of the people should cease, and
confidence be restored land the lessons we
have learned not lost, the millions of
money now boarded would seek the chan
nels of trade, and prosperity upon firm
basis would dawn upon the land.
If an. edict could go forth and be en-
forced for the next six months to kill and
eremate every man who grow1ed s'hard
times" we would by that time enter a
new era, not characterized by broken
banks and bursted insurance companies
and collapsed pocket-books. If on Change,
in the workshop, and on the farm we
could have the strong and sturdy shoul-
ders of men put to the wheel, the car of
commerce would move. 1t is worth while
to stop growing and accept the situation
and go to work like men. The shining
silver dollars will soon begin to chink as
the wheat and corn and hogs move out to
feed the millions of Europe who are busy
in schemes of ambition. 1t is the golden
opportunity of America, and if ali her
broad prairies and fertile valleys do not
resound with song as the plOwshare is
bright in the furrow, and if her busy
spindles do not turn, and her mills grind,
and the wheels upon her network of rail-
roads turn day and night, it will be be-
cause her sons prefer to fold their arms
and sit in the corners and mourn with the
cry of ''hard times and worse a-coming."
Leave the growing to hypochondriacs
and dead-beats, and let the men and wo-
men of courage accept the situation, and
with a spirit worthy of and in keeping
with the blessings we have at our dispo-
sal. go on to success.