Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-08-17

entire circulating medium tor the whole count
in 1862 10 round nambeIs, S340,OOO 900.
The circulating IN .dium, consisting Of legal
tend r. fractional currency, aud National bank
notes, was az follow
Legal Fractional National
tende's. currency. bank
1870, sil6Ooo.oOl si9.7d2 o6t s!9t2Ol i4a
I-7i. ai5.oou oOD 80 Rl,oeg Sls,4G54ls
ie72, - 5000 4o,767ss7 1eg -
Is75, S5s,5j .y01 Is ~ 06l 3ll - 2''i
ls1l, SIS 40l.lU1 A. 5ll sS9 40 ,uH, l5a
$50, So Oo0,N0 - a0l.5s Sli,a 9 a.
1895, 37Is2641O 1l,l47,U7. 49',Oll SO
So the total circulating medium, without the
silver coin issued IN place OF fractional currency
the gold com in the county, wa,ln-
IsH, 54l-6l,n7 is,5. $3.50 oia
~, - 557,ls! lst. 7O7.si,gi1
1873, 7iGl0I.23l
The entire circulation in 1870 was in round
numbers s6S2, O00.0 o; ~ 1873 $40 900, 900, aud
in 1874 Il wa. SOS 900 600. how, then, Is 1t pos
,be that the crash OF 1873 could have been pro-
duced by lack If sufficient circulating medium.
wqen there was s64 900, 600 more N 1873 than in
1870, and 1000 900 iaote IN 1874 than IN 1873,
and in either year more than twice much iu
1862
If neither the fixing of a definite time to resume,
nor lack Of circulating medium caused the crab
and consequent stagDation IN business, then To
what was that result really due
1t came by reason of the suspension in the build
ing OF rail- Dads, and because production in every
branch OF industry, except agriculture, had leach
ed point beyond the capacity of the people to
consume-or, IN the language of some causlst, be-
cause of under consumption. But even If that
were So what caused the under-consumptjou 2
The ability to buy, and the ability or capacity to
consume, are two distinct things. The ahiilty 10
buy depends upon the general prosper ty-rpon
an active, constant demand and ready pay tor
labor in all bra, Che- of buslness-snd Is limited
and controlled by that. But the ability or capacity
to consume has it, limits, beyond which 1t Is I'M
possible to co. no matter what may he the ability
to buy. An individual cannot consume, even III
wasteful extravagauce, beyond a certain limit. Ia
1873. as people, we had reached that polnt. For
the ability to buy at that time was as great a. at
any former PERIOD yet there was q larger unsold
surplus OF ali commodities than ever before.
RAILROAD BUILDING.
The ability to buy after 1873 wa. it j, true
greatly lessened. And why ? During the three
years preceding 1873, l939S miles of railroad were
built in the United States, and for the three years
succeeding, 6,120 miles being difference of r.,
61S miles fOr these three wears. The greatest
number of miles built ia any one year from the
commencement of railroad building Sos
miles 10 1871, which reduced to ,7jS miles IN
1879. What was the effect of this great reduction
upon labor and all business interests;
On railroads passiug over a country of reasonably
Uniform and level surface, there are, on an aver
age, about 80 600 cubic yards OF earth work T. the
mile. Over broken and greatly uneven surfaces
it would exceed that. But call 1t 80 600 yards to
a.
each mile Of railroad would require 5000 days
work for excayatng the cuts and making the
banks for the fills that i for the earth work as
it Is called, not counting fockwork, masonry, pill
ing, trestle- work and bridge building. These
with the engineering and ties, would require a.
many more days work 10 the mile, so that uot less
than 5000 days work would he ieqnned, on AN
average, TO each mile of railroad to prepare 1t for
laying the track, and this would not include the
labor necessary for furnishing the rolling stock
a. Al NO n
Al 5000 days wo X to the mule, the building of
railroads IN the United States for the three wears
succeeding 1873, required 76,0t1 900 days work
less than for the three preceding years which
would he an annual decrease OF % 500 900 days
work. In the labor required for the production OF
iron and anthracite coal, there was like decrease
In 1873 the product of rolled iron alone by the
returns of the Steel and Iron Associstion) was
1866 445 tons, aud in 1874 il was ,o39 $50 tons
being l26 $50 tons less IN 1874 than in 1873
1t is estimated that on al average it takes five
DAYS work to produce ton of iron, including the
mining and smelling of the ore. Calling it five
days to the ton, required 634 42j days work less
in 1874 than 1873 ior the production of rolled
iron.
In the production of anthracite coal it is esti-
mated that from three to five dayss work are
necessary to produce ton of coal and distribute
to the consumer; call the average four days work
to the ton. Inc production of anthl acte coal in
1873 was q ,6S9,9 tons, and in 1874 it was 49,
500, $50 tons; being ,Ss4 SS5 tons less 10 1874
than IN 1873, which would require 7 539 $40 days
work less than in 1873.
In railroad building, to prepare the roads for
laying the track, in the produc ion of rolled iron
and anthracite coal IL required in these three
branches OF Industry alone 80 ,529,9J5 days work
less IN 1874 than IN 1873. And this does not 10.
cude the labor necessary for furn Ishing lumber,
food aud clothing and all necessary supplies for
the laborers who might perform this specified
work. The stol page in railroad building-or the
comparative stoPpage-in lS74-75, in addition to
leaving unemployed the labor that had been en-
gagged III the preceding years, put a stop for the
time being TO the great demand for IRON and with
II the great demand for coal. Hence came the
necessity Tor the reduction in the force, as well
as price of labor, in all three of these great
branches of industry, extending their influence
over every other.
CAUSE OF THE DECLINE IN RAILROAD BUILD
ING.
But why should railroad blu iding have stopped
at that time Certainly not because of any
scarcity of money, for at that very time and ever
since there was and has been more idle money to
be loaned, at less rate Of interest than be-
fore.
II stopped from sheer exhaustion 10 that line of
investment; FASTENED somewhat perhaps, by
spirit of untrendly legislation which spread over
the country, tending IN the estimation of capital
TO cripple and greatly embauass if not TO make
worthless, that kind OF investment
For four years-lS6j (close of the war; to 1868
road, which included nearly ali of the Pacific
roads aud their branches. The next four year
1869 to 1872 iuclusive-240l3 miles were built.
10 1873 there were 70 80 miles of railroad in the
Uptted states, which had Gust almost S. 900 ,000-
900, mole than ha of which returns nothing to
the investors. Our railroad system had then been
EXTENDED TIL there was, on an average, one mile
OF railroad to every 30 persons Of the population.
All eNperl, nee IN raIfoading, wherever the expert
ment has been tried. proves that for railroad 10
pay anything there must be, on a average to the
mile, not fewer than 800 persons tributary to the
business of the road. Ia England the average
per mile Is l9l6; in France, 29i0; and vet few
OF their railroads pay any hing.
10 every b anch of mechanical and manufacture
ing industry, production up to 1873 had been
stimulated beyond The capacty of the people to
consume. War consumption and war destruc-
ton gave the first impulse to enlarged produc.
ton, increasing the demand and enhancing the
pilce. An expanded currency of rredeemable
paper (made necessary by the war; stimulated
stIiit OF wild adventure aud unparalleled eN-
usvagance IN the mode of living la addition
an unprecedented creation OF Indebtedness Grip
pied all public and private enterprises
The municipal Indebtedness OF the country in
1879 was over thousand millions of dollars.