The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-06-05
Business stagnation and Revival.


The North american Reriew contains an
article from Prof. Bonamy Price, of Ok
ford, on the subject of 1.-THE Stagnation of
Trade and its Causes.'' 1t contains a good
deal Of sense and good deal of nonsense,
like all philosophical treatises on questions
OF this kind. Stagnation and depression in
trade have periodically marked the. history of
every nation and have never been ex-
planned satisfactorily. They come like the
measles or smallpox, and defy all preven-
tatiyes and remedies. And there is but one
way out of them-patience, endurance and
perseverance. There is no business rule to
get out of them, no more than there is to
prevent them. Prof. Price gives as among
the causes, luxurious expenditures, sinking
OF capital and wealth in excessive railroad
building, &c. Wealth was never sunk in
railroad enterprises. If money was paid
for their construction, it went into general
circulation among the people, and benefited
the masses more than the loss Of capital to
the wealthy did injury. Money like matter
is not destroyed. 1t only changes hands,
and its relations to objects, and when it is
paid out for labor it goes through all the
iamifcations Of trade to serve its uses. 1t
is when corporations have cheated labor. by
getting its services and not paying for it,
that wrong is done. That is sinking labor,
not money, and so sinking it that it will
never revive. Periodical stagnation can no
more be prevented than periodical specula-
ton and revival in business can be. They
have attended society ever since it was Or
ganized, and will continue to do so, until
the crack of doom. Those who have must
lose. 1t is wise provision in the economy
of nature that the wheel of fortune is ever
turning. The extravaganza of the wealthy
is the living of the impoverished and those
who boast of their accumulations to-day,
are not unfrequently the poverty-stricken of
tomorrow.
We have passed through an extraordina-
ry period of stagnation and depression in
business and trade of all kinds, and are now
about to enter upon an era of unexampled
activity and speculation. All the indica-
tions point in that direction, and there is
nothing that can stop it. 1t will come just
as certain as stagnation came. 1t is history
repeating itself, and all the reasoning that
learning and study may produce cannot as
sign the causes, either for the stagnation
which has been, or the speculation and re-
vival which are to be, that will prove en-
tirely satisfactory. We have only to look
back to what has been. to approximate
what is to be, so far as the channels Of
trade are concerned, without philosophical
refining to trace the cause. We believe
this country is about entering upon period
of extraordinary activity and prosperity,
and that values of all descriptions will be
enhanced, and enterprise of every charac-
ter stimulated. 1t is our turn to ferment
and stir, just as it is England's to despond and
lament. She has just passed through her
season of Speculative prosperity and is
about realizing the reaction. If it is only
a disturbance in business affairs it will be
fortunate. We apprehend, however, it
will be deeper and more fearful than the
mere troubling of business currents. The
vibrations of political eruption are
shaking the whole governmental structure.
The few have absorbed the substance that
OF right should be scattered among the
many. The many have not the conserva-
tive influence of property to control them.
The landlords are few-and now that labor
is unremunerative, and those who live by
it suffering, the critical period has arrived
in the history of the English Government.
America, however, is on the upward
bound, and we advise all to adinst their af-
fairs and business for a period of eNtraor-
binary activity in values and adventure in
enterprise.