Show 1 IS A FINANCIAL CRISIS i I 1 IMMINENT I 1 wo we donot liko like tho the chrome chronic alarm I 1 or the person who is continually I 1 prophesying evils which appear to be loin born only of his morbid ini imaginations agina neither do we consider it is 9 good policy tobe to be lulled into a false security and keep the eyes closed to impending or imminent danger the financial condition of the united states docs does not appear to be in as sound and satisfactory a con as could be desired there appears to be in the east a prevalent I 1 opinion that a financial crisis is at hand equal to any illy vio we have experienced perien ced in past times I 1 A contributor to the N Y sun I 1 b 0 who is a merchant of 7 r I 1 I 1 J I 1 thirty years experience whose firm lias has had extensive business connections with all till parts odthe of the world is led to the firmest conviction that the financial and com commercial al community is surely approaching a I 1 crisis which if the causes he thinks are leading to it are not speedily arrested will result in a panic such I 1 as wo we have never witnessed in the united states I 1 the writer reviews the causes and effects of the panics of 1837 1854 1857 and 1873 the last of which no doubt is fresh in the A r 1 me memories in borics of the business men den city it will also be remembered by many that the cause of the failures in 1837 was the great ireat fire annew in mcw york which occurred two years previous in the business I 1 part of the city nearly COO GOO build ings were destroyed and about one I 1 f thousand mercantile firms lost their I 1 places of business the fi fire re spread C 1 over an area of fifty two acres and I 1 destroyed fl tn alio mount of about very many merchants bankers insurance companies P allies and other f firms arms were ir retrievably ruined the causes which lead to one of the worst financial crises witnessed in america were heavy trading in a loose manner and giving credits I 1 for vast sums on long times almost I 1 any person with the slightest I 1 refe reference rence could buy goods bovast to vast amounts on c credit for six or twelve 1 months aby y giving nothing but his note as security for payment I 1 A A great deal more merchandise I 1 I 1 1 I ivas was imported on credit from europe than was needed or that could bo be paid for among the causes which I 1 lead to the crisis in 1873 were the tremendous speculations in railroads I 1 I 1 and railroad building B 0 gives the following as some of his reasons for believing a 11 financial crisis is is imminent first an enormous expansion of tho the railroad system in southwest and mexico 31 exico which is locking up millions of money that for years to come will not pay interest on I 1 the investments I f second mining companies hundreds huni buni I 1 of which have no actual reality and exist only on paper the 11 desire to become sudden suddenly caper L y rich a and inde indo 1 pendent without working has 1 as led thousands of young men to embark in them while mechanics and servants have in numberless instances been persuaded by unprincipled persons to draw t heir hard bard earned savings from tho the bank and invest in thesa these stocks which will never realize them one cent third reckless speculations on the stock board and a forced advance of prices which not even the tile combined plans of jay gould william 11 II vanderbilt russell sage cyrus W field and other money magnates could sustain F fourth the short cotton and cereal crops fifth imports largely exceeding a exports orts lexth unnecessarily heavy taxes which are as a millstone around the necks of the people seventh the extravagance extra magence and corruption of the overgrown bloated and unwieldy republican party eighth A dull business caused by light prices which have greatly re res op stricter strict cd ed the demand for anu and consumption of all articles ninth competition which is I 1 causing firms to go largely into business and to incur enormous expenses to do the volume of business which these expenses necessitate aliey are obliged to sell goods at prices which do not really pay extravagant expenditure for the inordinate indulgence in luxuries a are re among the chief causes which have hastened the decay of other nations in past times and like causes may precipitate the fall of this bation N aaion an idea of how f far ar the american republic has indulged in I 1 these matters may be gathered from i I 1 I 1 w A ir treasury statistics for the close of the year 1881 in 1879 the articles of luxury imported amounted to the following 0 year the sum for forthe the samo same kind of articles was increased to which was an all advance of in one year for the indulgence of taste in III 1879 wo imported a great number of precious stones consisting of diamonds and other gems amounting to in 1880 to and in 1881 to the importation of foreign fancy goods lias has been more than doubled since 1876 in 1880 the amount was and last year it was in silk bilk goods we are buying a third more than in 1879 the figures of last year being a 1 I decline of from the imports of 1880 but this decline is no indication of bf purchasing power among the people it may be ascribed to overstocking over stocking the year bea before ore and to clia in fashions of silk hosiery certainly a luxury pure and simple we arc ire importing worth of gloves mostly kid wo we continue to buy nearly worth yearly but in hard times people curtail their purchases of gloves very quickly the wine and spirit trade is importing nearly worth more of these luxuries than during the last panic year the figures for 1881 aro are the development of the brewing business in the united states rendered it necessary to buy more than worth of bass bitters and of german lager last year of foreign tobacco and and cigars mostly cuban we bought in 1881 to the value of 7 an in increase crease of about since 1879 for foreign watches wa telles glassware furs dressed skins leather goods we pay scores of millions of dollars annually in 1881 we nye paid for fo r imported buttons the demand for which it seems to us should be supplied by our home industrial institutions for some imported import eI articles the figures arc are not so high as they were formerly the copet industry for instance in this country has reached a high grade of perfection and to this reason anav I 1 iw A hi ib lia fact that covered the purchase of foreign carpets last list year french stationery as sold in the shops is pretty sure to have been made in western our imports of foreign writing paper in 1881 only amounted to in woolen dress goods our foreign purchase fell from to in 1881 in foreign fruits thare was an increased importation the values being 15 as against in 1880 of course we have not enumerated anything like all the articles wo we import from europe and for which we pay such enormous amounts of money we are now purchasing abroad at least fifty per cent more of the luxuries of foreign nations than we did in 1880 the N Y sun suit says editorially A diseased imagination dwelling exclusively upon the topic may III indeed discover grounds for prophesying 0 such disaster but they bear the examination of unprejudiced reason the san francisco examiner thinks the very antipodes to what the sti sw does on this subject lord macaulay is said to have predicted three eras for the united states the first that of patriotism in which the glory of national independence should enthusiastically assert itself the next an era of great development III ent and this to be succeeded b by y an era of wealth vice and d decay ecay the examiner thinks the unparalleled corruption introduced by the party in power has nearly brought us thus early to tho the period of vice that presages decay that journal asks can any reflecting man look on at a t what is taking place in this government governa n without fearing that icare als al reads ready approaching tho the rapids that will sure surely y carry us to destruction it may be that there ia is yet time to escape the tile danger but it ia is necessary to make an early effort to that end tho th 0 ruling ru party is steeped in extravagance ung an and could not be economical I 1 if it would |