Press enter after choosing selection

The State Of Trade

The State Of Trade image
Parent Issue
Day
12
Month
March
Year
1875
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

It is two years and four months since the collapse of 1873 precipitated ite gathered effect on the country, and there lias been no marked progresa made in revival from those eflects yet. The event was called a panic, and it was bolievod by many that the country would recover its old position as soon as the pang liad paased away ; that credit would be restored ; that a new oonfidence would be diflused through the avenues of trade ; that prices would rise again ; that demand would be strengthened ; that the colossal fabric of debt which had been accumulating for twolve years would be tided over, in ono way or another, and that the country would enter anew on that career of prosperity which had been niarked by dividends of 10, 15 and 30 per cent. on all sorts of woll-managed investinents. That these things have not taken place - that thero has been no general restoration of confidence and credit ; no general rise in prices ; no speculatiye demand for producís ; no embarkation o) money in new enterprises, and no return of what we took to be an era of prosperity - is a fact known to all. The shock of 1873 has passed, but the prostration which followed it continúes. What was supposed to be a passing panic proves to have boen a general collapso and, though wo have done something in tho way of recovering from it, the process appears slow to our impatien people, and they wonder when the old condition of things will bo restored. It cortainly would be a pleasant thing to see Western farmers getting $1.25 fo wheat, 50 cents for corn, and $10, al ' aroiuid, for tobáceo ; to eee new rail '■ roads being built : to see the iron ñu caces of Pemisylvania, Oliio and otlier States reopened in full blost ; to soo tlie coal niiners' strikes ended, and the Btrikers industriously and cheerfully at work at good wages ; to see the thousands of siiffering male and fernale oprrin Kaw EnglaJid busv once move, amid humming spindlea - and idlera in ! all parts of the country brouglit into active oinployment ; and in due time we shall soo all this. But there is a prelhniuary procesa to be gone through before the picture is possible-and that prooess wa are now experiencing. The collapse of 1872 -was as inevitable a result of the turgid prosperity that precoded it as debt-paying is cf going m dobt. If a universal going in debt makes prosperity, the era that ended m the fall of TO72 was cei-tainly a prosperous one- the most strikiugly prosperous era, perhaps, that has ever been seen in tliis country. On the other hond if, as unromantic economists declare, a time of paying debts and squaring up genei-aöy is an era of health, oiu: condition just now is one of surpassing salubrity. One is the result of the othcr, and the two together make up that cycle of business which yoiuig men ongsged in trade rarely think of, and our experienced business men aro apt to lose sight of. -

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus