Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-08-15
AN EASTERN VIEW OF TIE BUSINESS
SITUATION.

The Boston Advertiser, which makes
analyses of the business situation of the
country speciality, and which ia recog-
nized authoritative critic on financial mat
tiers and commercial conditions, pronounces
the present peculiar state of business which
amounts to crisis, to be commercial rather
than economical, and to concern the traders
and producers. rather than tie consumers.
And this is the process by which this
Judgment on the part of the Eastern critic,
whose conclusion is forcible and clear, is
arrived az. From 1873 to 1879 wealth sd-
vanced at a very rapid rate, while the
country felt and thought itself poor. In
that period we paid off vast foreign debt,
and resumed gold payments with ease.
But since 1879 prices have fallen while
values have steadily increased, thus pre-
serving balance. Prices have been
adapted to gold standard, and the supply
of goods has increased at an abnormal
rate. So, too. prices adapted themselves
to cash basis. Abundant crops corduced
to decline in prices, and a consequent adj
vantage to the buyer. The buyers gain
was aided also by the lessened profits
of invested capital in banks, railroads and
the like, for it is true that since we re-
sumed gold payments profit has not re-
suited to capital proportionately to the
profit to labor and consumption-in other
words, the market has all along favored
the buyer, No matter what the cause, this
is the fact. The railroads and the national
banks have not made large earnings for
their stockholders, nor have manufacturers
prospered as they expected. Merchants
too are agreed, that while the volume of
goods has been greater, the margin of prof
its lhas been the narrowest. To sum up,
the production of values, and the carriage
of goods, and the handling by sellers, have
been greater than ever, whilo the profits
have been minimized to a miserably low
figure. As an example of the state of af-
fairs, it is alleged that banks treat uncol-
lected checks as cash, and merchants date
bills ahead-that is TO say, goods sold Au-
gust lst on three months credit are made
payable January LIST, by dating the bill
October lst. Manufacturers and sellers
have cut into one another ruin.
ously, at Q time when money is
cheap and abundant. All the
while goods have increased and
also savings, while wealth has augmented
greatly, notwithstanding the fact that quo
tstions and prices have been, and are lower.
No tangible property has been destroyed
by failure or distrust-the titles have only
shifted, and the jobbers have had to put up
with a hard lot; indeed, their condition has
been often pitiful one. In this state of
affairs living is cheaper than at sny time
for twenty years, at the East at least, and
the prospects are that it will continue to
remain SO for good time to come. The
wealth that else would be afoat in Boston
and New York, has largely gone into rail.
roads in the West, and ia thus developing
the country, and consequently benefting
the investor Of the East. So the reviewer
concludes that while there is phenomenal
condition of affairs, the country is growing
richer despite the showing of stock lists
and market reports. The country that
produces annually 5000. 600 bales of cot.
ton, 500, OOO 600 bushels of wheat, and
$500, 900. 900 worth of minerals, is certainly
rich and steadily getting richer. But it is
to be remembered that it is not the larges!
dealer in commodities that makes the
largest profit, For the largest producer that
gathers in the largest fortune. The con-
clusion reached lie, that il is not true that
the growth os wealth is incompatible with
the business transactions Of the country
It is true that in The business of the coun-