New-York tribune., 1882-08-15
NATIONAL STRENG III.

We are near the end OF the lnnuence OF
deficient crops in 1881. 1t may be that other
fluctuations in the markets, Tor month or
more. may be due in some measure to that
cause But the general effect OF the disasters
of last year has already been realized Inc
cost of living will hardly go higher than 1t has,
unless there should be new mlsfOrtunes this
season. The cost of cotton during the lew
weeks that have yet to pass before the new
crops come forward may be advanced by tenn
porary scarcity to those who have an instant
need for an unexpected purpose, and this may
also happen as to corn, but on the whole the
worst has been realized. Any new and general
advance in prices or dccline~in business or in
dustrv, if 1t should come, must be attributed to
new conditions, and not to the partial 1allure
of the crops in the year 1881.
1t is in order to inquire, therefore, what an
extraordinary disaster means to American in
dustry. We have felt the effects, and endured
them. Having paid the cost the country is in
position to determine how far its industries and
its commerce are shielded against class of
misfortunes which sometimes fall upon other
countries with crushing force. There is no
room to deny thai the disaster, of its kind, was
extraordinary. More prolonged drouth has
not been known since meteorological records
were commenced nor has the decrease in yield
ever been greater in single year than in the
wear 1881. Estimates commonly made, that
the country lost from $500,000,00O upward
bv reason of the ill-fortune of agriculture last
wear. are not unreasonable. But have the jails
and poor-houses been filled Have the people
been starved Have the life and confidence
been crushed out of industry Has the public
credit been impaired OF the general growth of
the country been arrested
To ask these questions, with men of inteli-
gence is to answer them. Such men differ as
to the causes of the extraordinary prosperity
which the country enjoys, but they do not differ
as to the fact For it is extraordinary pros
peritv, and that of the rarest kind, that great
disaster passes with slight eifect.i There has
been no suffering. Not single department of
industry has been so affected that there is even
an apprehension or a rumor of its decreasing
production hereafter. Except for voluntary
strikes, the labor of the country has been re-
markably well employed, and those strikes
have only served to prove that employers and
employed were both conscious of an unusual
independence and solid footing. Riots and
resorts to violence have been surprisingly rare.
pauperism or Of crime. The farmers, who
suffered most last year, have been plOughing
and sowing larger fields. The volume of busl
ness in almost every branch, has been wonder
fully maintained and in most branches in
creased. The public credit is higher than ever,
and applications for three per cent bonds at
par are now on file at the Treasury There is
no room to doubt that in population and i'll
productive power the country has grown as
fast, within the past twelve months, as in any
other year Iii its history. In spite of many
losses, failures were comparatively few, and
confidence remains strong that, at the first
CLEAN of hope, the principal danger is that the
country will rush off at once into another wild
dance of extravagant speculation.
There will be time enough to interpret these
striking facts for the present it is sufficient to
notice them. They cast no shadow upon free
institutions, nor upon the industrial and inan-
cial policies 'cbosen by the Republican party.
They reflect credit upon the people, but they
especially illustrate the extraordinary strength
which the varied climate, the diversified in
dustry and the abounding confidence and
shrewdness of the people give to business OF all
kinds. The country may have many trials to
meet but it is safe to say that its ruin is not
near al hand.