New-York tribune., 1885-07-05
lMEPJClV ENERG Y.

Discussing the present condition OF DusineSo
in this country, many men are i'll the haolt OIL
remarkng that an Improvement is sure to come
before long. because the American people are
as full of energy as ever" Energy is goou
thing. but it is not everything The American
people had quite as much energy as they have
now when they prepared for themselves the dis-
asters of 1897, of 1857, and ot 1873. IL the
people employ their energy In wasteful OF hurV-
full directions, their suffering is likely to Dc
proportoned to the amount of energy so EN-
ployed. Thus, if man puts all the strength ne
has into an effort to batter down stone wall
with his head, the amount Of harm he Will DO I'd
himself will be measurably proportloneu 10 Tue
strength and energy that he possesses. Inc
more lazy he is the better in that case. Inc
man who &C ccnspicuOusly lacks energy VIII come
out better in the end, in such an undertaking as
that, than the man of enormous force ana great
physical strength and any quantity OF snap ana
vigOr.
1t is farquestiOn whether the people OF this
country may not attribute most or their
financial and industrial disorders to their own
misdirected energy Fifty years ago the Erie
canal had been opened and had cheapened
Transportation from the great lakes to the sea,
and thus had rendered valuable immense tracts
of rich land along the lakes from which,
prior to that time, it had hardly been possible
to transport products to the seaDohrd WIN
profit. Accordingly, the energy of the Amerl-
can people was suddenly turned to speculation
in Western lands, and to the building oil
Western towns. An immense sum oil money,
as the records of that time prove, was invested
in these most energetic undertakings, and most
of il was wholly lost. Great disasters fol-
lowed. and the industries and the business of
the country suffered for more than five years, in
consequence of this misdirected energy.
Again, about thirty years ago, the completion
of one line of railroad from New York to Buffalo
under one management gave aTemarkabe impe-
tus to the building OF railroads throughout the
country. In few years vast amount Oh
money was expended In building roads Tor
which there was then no public need, and when
for many years after. langnished for want Oh
adeduate traffic. In the effort tn bulld these
roads immense debts we're created, and hrns
of high reputation and great tinancal strength.
carried away by the over-coniident feeling OF
the time. involved them selves beyond their re-
sources. crash came, with severe losses to
MANY. and great disturbance of honest industry
and legitimate trade. In like manner, mis-
directed energy in trading brought abodt the
Dauic of 1878. Railroads had something to do
with It, and the currency had something to do
with it, and the over-hasiy expansion of busi-
ness after the Civil War had ceased. But the
root of the matter was the excessive imitation
of commercial, credits due to the bOnndess
energy of the people, which unhappiy in that
case was not restrained within proper limits by
sound judgment.
The energy of the people within the past few
years has been directed IN an extraordinary
degree to the business of speculation. Instead
of producing things, people have speculated
beyond all reason in the values of things which
Others have produced. The wild fluctuations
which such speculation has caused have dis
turbed all legitimate business. The mismanage-
ment, the frauds the abuses of trust, to which
men have been tempted by speculative excite
ment, have shaken the very foundations OF COM
merca confidence. 1t does not appear DrOb
able that continued manifestation of Ameri-
can energy in the same direction will bring Ie-
lief. On the contrary, the energetic people OF
this country have been buiting their heads
against stone wall for some time, and the
greater their energy the more it hurts. Relief
will come when they contrive to turn their
energies into different channel.