Year: 1873

to be done in this world the best way is to do
ton for relieving commerce and aiding busi-
ness are so many expedients. They are only
sound SO far as they lead to one result The
question before the American people now is,
how to place the business of the country upon
a firm business footing Some of our finan-
cial philosophers advise one method, others
have . different plan. 1t seems that every
professor Of finance has new theory


We have always believed in the practice Of
medicine, that when hundred different prac-
titioners offer each separate remedy for
the same disease they are mostly quacks
and know nothing of their calling
And when we are informed that
panacea has been discovered involving
the application of subtle political principles by
which the country may suddenly spring from
insolvency and trouble to condition Of fnan-
cial soundness we regard it as empirical. For
every disease there is cause. 1t is with the
State as with man. If in the sprightliness
and vivacity Of youth we tax the body, either
by dissipation or over effort, or in violation





premature old age and diminished power
Life runs into decay before its time. So, if
in our social ora business Life, we run into
excesses, do business upon false principles
tolerate insincerity and dishonesty among
those who manage large financial trusts If
we offer premium to crime by the readi-
ness with which we condone misdemeanors in
Office if, above all, we give money, its pursuit
and possession that predominance in our
society which is seen in no other country
what can we expect but, in time, such an un-
soundness of the business body that fever
must ensue, diminished power and respect,
an absence of that confidence and self-respect
and helpfulness to each other which bind
together all business interests and give
strength to society?


When we come upon q condition of affairs
like this nothing is more natural than panic.
1t is surprising and shows the healthy activity
of our people that we have not had this panic
before. We have been living false financial
life since 1861. First came suspension of
specie payments, with which we began the
war. This may have been necessary; at any
rate, it was unavoidable. But instead of
guarding ourselves from the evils consequent
upon such suspension-insteado of going into
history and learning lessons taught by our
revolutionary experience of paper currency,
the issue of assignats by the leaders of the
French revolution, the suspension of the gold
payments in England during the wars against
the First Napoleon, and other instances of
financial statesmanship-we welcomed the
issue of unusual quantities of currency
as an advantage During the war,
then, all business was transacted upon
the theory that what really was calamity to
the nation was, perhaps, after all, an advan-
tage 1t was about this time that the people
were actually expected to believe the grotesque
and monstrous legend that q national debt
was national blessing. Credit was sus-
pended; money was acquired rapidly; the
sudden and enormous supplies demanded for
the war gave fictitious stimulus to manufac-
lures, and as currency was plenty we all
believed that the more greenbacks we printed
the richer we became. The sources of our
national wealth were not in the gold mines of
California, or the coal deposits of Pennsyl-
vania or in the cotton fields of the South. but
in the ingenious printing presses, which ran
night and day in the Treasury Department.
And instead Of restraining the extravagances
consequent upon this increase of currency and
the unnatural growth of business, the war was
scarcely over before we rushed into what was
called ''the development of the country"


When Frederick the Great finished his seven
years war-the contest which drove him to
the verge Of bankruptcy and destruction-and
when everybody supposed that he had not
money enough to keep his armies from starva-
ton, he suddenly began to build palace in
Potsdam 81 mean to show my brothers, the
kings" he said, "that am not quite pau
per yet" So he built the palace, and it had
its moral effect upon European Powers. We
had probably something of this feeling when
we came out of our own war. We were rest
less nervous, strong with the unnatural
strength that comes from extreme tension and
effort-what the French would say, "e1alted."
Even SO prudent man as General Grant had
hardly finished his struggle with Lee before he
was anxious to cross the Rio Grande and enter
upon war with France by attacking Max
imilian. So we took to heavy taxes in the
hope of paying off our debt in six months or
year. Stock companies were created, repre-
senting extravagant and fictitious values, for
the purpose of finding gold and silver and
oil. Railroads were built running from one
forest to another through prairie and wilder
ness, in the expectation that it was only neces-
sary to build roads to make them profitable.
Extraordinary efforts were made to induce for
eigners who thought that the unusual growth
of America made any investment in our Sc
curities secure, and credulous people at home,
who believed that it was only necessary for o
banker to be in good standing in some Chris