Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1878 — HARD TIMES. [ARTICLE]

HARD TIMES.

A New and Novel Theory, A correspondent of the New York Daily Bulletin propounds a new theory of the causes of the last commercial crisis, whose devastating effects have been so widely felt. The universality of the collapse leads him to reject all the local American causes assigned for it, such as the cturency, the protective tariff, political disturbances, etc. He finds its prime mever in the revolution in communication and transportation consequent upon the rapid extension of telegraph lines all over the world and their connection by submarine cables—the vast increase of steamship traffic and the opening of the Suez canal, whereby the products of the world were thrown on the markets weeks, months, and even a year sooner than they otherwise would have been. This theory is illustrated by the change in the East India cotton trade. It is but ten years ago that cotton grown in India was taken, often in seed, in carts to Madras and Bombay. This required weeks, and the preparations for shipping consumed a good deal of time. The voyage to England was made around the Cape of Good Hope in slow vessels that took six or eight months to reach Liverpool. By the time the cotton had been manufactured into goods in Lancashire, and reconveyed to India, not less than two years generally elapsed. All this is amazingly changed. The cotton is carried to Bombay by railroad instead of bullock carts, shipped through the Suez canal instead of by the Cape of Good Hope, and, passing through theloomsof Manchester, returns to India in cloth in less than half the time consumed under the former system. The writer declares that this acceleration has been such that at least one full India cotton crop has been marketed, made into goods, and thrown on the market of the world ahead of time. Or, to state the case differently, the world has, during the last five or eight years, taken one crop of India cotton (and consumed it, for the stock is less by about 500,000 bales than it was four years ago) more than has been grown. The conclusion drawn is that the world has not been producing too much, but has marketed more than it has produced. The writer thinks the fall effect of the revolution has been felt, and that, as no further considerable improvement can be made in transportation, all that now remains is that something or anything should happen to restore general confidence. These view* have the merit of novelty, and are interesting, even if they cannot command general assent.