Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-05-16

The failure OF the firm of fiak
Hatch at p. NJ. yesterday shows the
gravity Of the crisis which is now upon
New York city and the country at large.
The Sun, in the earlier kilograms re-
ceived from the East. undertook to pooh
pooh the existing crisis as mere stock
gambling affair; or, rather, as the clean
ing out OF lot of stock gamblers.
This was a tlippant judgment and the
HERA Id thinks that it is wisest to face
The situation in all its gravity. There
has been for the past five years in the
United States n perfect Saturnalia of
speculation in railway shares and in rail
way building. Amongst the non paying
Investments in which American capital
has been largely embarked are such
schemes as the Mexican Central Railway
and the Pacific Coast extensions OF the
Atchison. Topeka Il Santa fe and
the Atlantic & Pacific Railways.
These schemes have really been
pushed rather from desire OF GER
tain interested parties to share in the
profits of construction than from any
promise of immediate dividends. The
Messrs. Fisk & Hatch have been leading
promoters of such enterprises. They
bear to the panic of the current day the
relation which Jay Cooke h CO. bore to
that of 1873 There is. of course, the
circumstance, between now and eleven
years ago, OF the marked dlssmilariy that
then, for thirteen years, the exchanges
with Europe had been heavily against
us, while now for at least seven years,
aud until lately, thoy have been largely
the other way. We shall profit, in the
present crisis, by tho fact that we have
accumulated tremendous store of gold
and silver in our exchanges with tho
outside world, and by the other fact that
we have now, and have had for years,
great crop of grain available for cx-
poriation to all quarters OF the world.
These circumstances give us guarantee
that the crueible through which we are
now going will do its work quickly, leav
the dross to one side. As n consequence,
the present panic, while it will be severe
in its action will not endure for any
thing like the period embraced in that
of 1873.
We again repeat that California is in
an exceptionally prosperous and solvent
condition. Throughout the length and
breadth of the Golden State there is
hardly, to our knowledge, a rotten line,
We have undergone a clarifying process
which could not have been improved
upon even by the ordeal which delivered
the Messrs. .Shadrach, Ncshach and Abed-
nogo into and from the fiery furnace,
in the good old llsbraic days, Our
banks are buttrcsscd by a plethora of
coin, while the opportunities for protia'
BILE investment in California We're never
greater than now.
The HERALD does not pretend to un-
dervalue the gravity OF the experience
through which our Eastern brethren
are now going and will be obliged to 70
for perhaps months to come. There has
been a congestion of speculation East OF
the Rocky Mountains. with the resultant
need of little. blood letting. 1t is OF
course to be regretted that a violent pro-
cess, which will eventuate in putting
the country again upon It's feet in i'm
proved shape, will necessarily involve
the ruin of thousands of innocent and
helpless people and the prostsation OF IN
dustries upon which hundreds of thou
sands ds-nay millions OF humble people
depend for their daily bread. India is
by no means the only country i'll which
the Car OF Juggernaut is permitted to
roll over the crunched bones of the sui
fering masses. 1t is with full knowl-
edge OF the ruth and ruin which will
desolate myriads of households in the
East that we bless God that CaliforRia is
out of the melancholy prism of tins no.
table financial niaelstrom. lti utmost
waves cannot reach us, nor can its
most far-reaching suction ergulf us.