Evening star., 1923-10-28
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star !.

Speculation as to the cause of the
panic which swept this country fifty
years ago and as to-:
boutwell, on means to- prevent re-
currence ran rife after
tAc 1dAic. the first convulsicn
had subsided. The Star of October 22;:
1873, says. - =.
Just as every old woman has a..
certain remedy-or thinks she has
for toothache, rheumatism and other!
human ailments, SO every public man p,
has his pet financial theories which,
If adopted. will, In his opinion. bring
about the golden age. when every-,,
body will be able to buy cheap and e.,
sell dear, wages will be high and
produce low and Black Fridays and
financial panics and revulsions will
be unknown. Ex-Secretary of the
Treasury Boutwell, is the latest states
man to give the public his views on
this important subject. and as he hass
had experience in that direction his.
opinions are entitled to more weight.
than are those OF the would-be wise
men, whose remedies would be worsasc
tpdai tHS u1ScdSe. H. uel3NeT6U d leC-'t
ture in New York city last night on
finance and panics, their causes anGTar
cures. He said that one of the causes
which contr ibuted to our present
financial condition was the excess Of .
the. volume of paper over the actuai;
wants OF the country; another rea-
son was that the balance Of trade.
has been against this largely for
many years; that another fact to be-,
taken into account is the large spec
ir1 IN
on the actual demand OF five millions
week for payment of duties. He
maintained that it was not possible,
70 retain specie payments until the,
balance of trade is little or nothing
against US, and that he had no faith
In any scheme for redemption, but in,o
a generous comprehensive public
policy by which the industry of the
country shall be developed, its re-i.
sources multiplied and it's capacity to-
supply foreign countries without
articles of production increased. so:I
that the demand of gold to go abroad
snail be met by demand Of gold to-
= ge
X :. -
The following in The Star of October
"a. 1873. shows that in at least one re,9
spect prices are lower thans
Gable they were fifty years ago: ~
p.+,s THE official figures OF the?
Anglo American telegraph
Company, which owns all the cables be-
tween Europe, and America, generally .
show that whenever the rates for mes
sages were reduced there has been a.
marked increase not only in the num-
ber of messages but in the receipts.
For the first three months when tho
tariff was S120 for twenty words, the
nnmhpr nf daily
and the receipts s3.671. For thirteen:
months after this, when the rates ,wereet
reduced just one-half. the daily mes-1
sages averaged 81 and the receipts,
$.2o9-or a decrease in rate of so per
cent and an increase in the number of
messages 120 per cent and the income
IL per cent. For the next nine months
the rate was S25 for 10 words. the
messages went up TO 131 per day, 1Oi =
per cent and the income to sA,617, more
than 9 per cent. In June, 1871, the
tariff was reduced to $40 for 10 words
an increase Of 33 per cent In the mum :, >
Der OF messages, with a slight falling
on in receipts. On the first of May.
1879, the rates Were cut down to 81 az
word and for a year the results were
gratifying. an increase OF messages
from 49S to 646 per day and an in
crease in receipts from S9.1I4 to
ss,413. Owing to the breaking of the :
cables last spring the rates were in
creased to s1.50 per word, but OH the <
first of June last were again re-
duced to ST., the company finding it,
more profitable to take this action.
The inference naturally is that tele-
graphs. railroads, steamers and other.
facilities for the public of q similar :
character are much more remuner-;s
ative when moderate rates are;
charged fnr the accommodate tfnn Of The .
people. Corporations often wonder
why their enterprises fail to pay;d
when the simple secret is that their
rates for serving the public are tool
high" - &: O. .5s, a
The present cable rate to Englanas
is % cents word.