New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-01-02
THE YE1R And ITS DUTY.


who can tell what events it may have III
store for usl Only year ago the county be-
Gan 1Ss1 with high hopes. Politically, indus
trially and commercially, the prospect was
one of rare brightness and beauty. What a
blessing it was that we could not then toresee
all the sore disappointments and terrible
calanit;tS which were near at hand. There
would have been scant courage for the duties
and labors of the year had it been known that
the President would he shot down III
cold blood, that the assassin would remain IN
hanged six months, that the hardest winter
and the drcst summer on record would brihg
short crops and high prices for food, and that
the new railroads. which seemed so promising
a wear ago. would he met 10y a railroad war
of UNSURPASSED magnitude and severity. Farm
ers bv the thousand would have failed to risk
seed and labor on 80 unpromising season.
Protected roads would have been hastily aban-
doned holders of old securities would
have gone ont in panic to sell at once.
The President himself, had ms early
death been forcScen, could net nave
gathered around him all the help th9t he
did, and perhaps much of tho valuable
work that was done during his short, sad term
would have been left undOne. McrcltuIy,
Providence leaves rs blind to the future, that
we Inay strive and hope to the end, doing as
best we may the work that lies before us, ana
snarpd the torture of anticipating di~Hp-
pointment and calamity.
Or shall the New Year be laden with bless
incs and bountics? The sky is not darker in
any direction, than it WAS at the beginning of
1850, and vet the year proved one OF unex1m-
i ,,t,h Pm ,vOulI
ncople have earned all their victories if they had
foreseen them2 In political life, for instance,
might not over-confdcnce as TO the election
of General Garfield have caused grave misior-
tunes Would not industry have been greatly
deprcsscd ii the forthcoming events had been
aaticipated3 The farmers who raised so much
wheat III 1850 that the price dropped very
fan had they been able to fOreSee the fl turc,
would neither have raised so much nor sold it
SO freely, and the remarkable triumph Of
American over foreign agriculture would not
have been achieved. Not many men can bear
to forcscc prosperity, until they have fairly
earned it by long, patient and venturcsomc ef-
fort
Whether 1852 has in store blessings or dis
asters, it is a mercy that we cannot anticipate
the future. The best that is attainable will
come only if we do our duty, each with the
stimulus of hope and fear The year will
probably bring TO tins country some sharp
political emergencies. Let them be met in the
spirit of that brave and noble President whose
death-bed the Nation so lately watched. In
business, the year is not unlikely to bring
some reverscs. The full effect of the disasters
of ISL may not yet have been felt. But the
prosperity of the country now rests upon so
broad and solid a foundation that, if the peO-
pie are not faithess to their own interests
they can meet even serious rcvcrses
without apprehension. Industry may perhaps
be disordered during the coming year. but it
has nothing to fear if capital and labor do not
forget their mutual dependence and neglect
their duties each to the other. The law
makers of the country have important and
difficult questions to meet. BlunderS by them
may bring misfortune to millions. But if
members will think more of public duty and
less of private ambition, more of the welfare
of a great Nation and less of the paltTy Offices
and contemplate gains for which politicians
serve, they viii do their part to make 1882 a
Happy New Year for themselves and the
country.