Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1878 — Failures and Bankruptcies Caused by Contraction. [ARTICLE]

Failures and Bankruptcies Caused by Contraction.

We make the following extracts from a speech of Hon. Henry R. Howes, of Georgia, made on the tariff question in the House of Representatives, May 9, 1878: “ The extent and character of the ruin which lias been entailed upon the country within the last twelve years, and which can be shown to be almost exclusively attributable to the systems of revenue and finance which have prevailed, are simply appalling. A review of the large numbe* of failures and bankruptcies which have occurred within this period in our commercial and mercantile circles alone give us only a partial conception of the extent of this wide-spread disaster and ruiD. Carefully compiled statistics, which I here submit, show the following astounding results : Year. Failures. Liabilities 1868 2,608 $ 63,744,000 1869 2,799 75,054,000 1870 3.551 88,242,000 1871 2,915 85,255,000 1872 .-... 4,069 121 056,000 1873 5,183 228,499,000 1874 6,830 1a5.239,000 1875 7,490 197,210 922 1876 9,092 191,117 886 1877 8,872 190,669,936 Totals 62,409 $1,396,114,641 Tliiß exhibit aggregates 52,409 failures in business since the year 1868, with liabilities amounting to $1,396,144,644. Nor is this all. To this cftalogue cf disaster must be added the enormous bankruptcies and failures in business which have occurred among private individuals, and also the depreciation in real estate, estimated at not less than 30 per cent, of the census valuation of 1870; the shrinkage in the value of stocks and bonds of our railroads and other corporations; the loss accruing to the wealth of the country oil account of its labor being idle, estimated at not less than $5,000,000,000; the aggregate value of the property so lost to the country amounting to the stupendous sum of $10,000,000,000, And to this we must

still add the 3,355 failures with liabilities amounting to $82,078,826 for the first quarter of the year 1878 ; the whole aggregating an amount equal to onethird of the estimated value of all the wealth, of every kind and description, of the entire country. This immense destruction of values has been the result of the vicious, misguided and mistaken legislation devised and perpetuated by the Republican party, in their systems of revenue and finance, which are altogether unsuiled to the exigencies of tho time?, the development of our industries, and the necessities of the people. And still, with this alarming state of things existing, there are to be found sqme who, in their lust for power and in their greed for gain, oppose every attempt to remove or even reform the causes which have precipitated these disasters. THE EFFECT OF CONTRACTION ON OUR RAILROADS. Let us for a moment notice tho effect of the contraction policy of the administration upon these railroads of the country. There are over 70,000 miles of railroad in the United States, completed mainly by private enterprise, representing over $10,000,000,000 of capital. Most of this vast sum is the accumulated savings of poor and moderately rich men who invested their surplus means in works of internal improvement for the benefit of themselves, while at the samo time they developed the commerce of the country. Now, after three years of contraction, let us see its effects upon the railroads. In 1877, as detailed in the Chicago Railway Age , there were sold, under foreclosure of mortgages, for the benefit of the bondholders fifty-five railroads, aggregating 3,875 miles of completed railroad, with a capital of $79,045,700. Suits that will result in sales were commenced against forty-four other railroads, with a length of 5,409 miles, and a capital of $156,108,040. Besides these, sixteen other roads, 2,338 miles long, with a capital stock of $126,921,900, were ordered to be sold at some future day. Thus we see that in the year 1877 alone there were sold and ordered to be sold 11,672 miles of railroad, aggregating a capital stock of $362,000,000. That is to say, thatmhre than oneseventh of the entire railroads in the United States have been or will be sold for the benefit of the bondholders, and the people who built and owned these roads have lost every dollar invested in them. WHAT IT COSTS THE PEOPLE TO SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT. While labor and industry are thus robbed of their legitimate profits, let us see how the Government has oppressed them by its systems of revenue and taxation. Tho following table, compiled from official records, shows what the people, and mainly the laboring people, have paid to support the Government during fifteen years : Juno 30, 1802 * 570,841,700.25 June 30, 1863 714,700,995.58 June 30, 1864 865,234,087.00 Tuna !tO IRUR <JI2 982.00 June 30, 1866 1,141,072,666 09 June 30, 1807 346,729 124 38 June 30, 1868 339,340,281.00 June 30, 1869 321,490,597.75 June 30, 1870 309,653.660 75 June 30, 1871 292,177,188 26 June 30, 1872. 270.569,636,99 June 30, 1873 262,564.216 97 June 30, 1874 302,633,873 76 June 30, 1875 268,447,543 76 June 30, 1876 258,469,797.10 To maintain the Government 15 years *7.591,617.314.76 WHAT THE BONDS HAVE COST IN INTEREST. In addition to. this vast sum the people have been taxed to pay the interest on untaxed capital invested in bonds, as the following well-authenticated statistics will show, to tho amount of $1,596,854,901.13: Jnne 30, 1861 * 6,112 296.18 June 30. 1862 13,190,324.45 June 30, 1807 24.729,84G.6l June 30, 1861 53,681,421.69 June 30, 1865 132 987,350.55 June 30, 1866 133 067,741.69 June 30, 1167 135,034,011.90 June 10,1868 140,428,045.00 June 30, 1869 139,693,541.80 June 30, 1870 129,235,498.00 June 30, 1871 125.576,565.93 June 30, 18*2 117,357 839.72 June 30, 1873 140,947,683 27 June 30, 1874 107,119,815.21 June 30, 1875 103,093,544 57 June 30, 1876 100.243,271.00 June 30, 1877 97,000,000.00 Total *1,593,854 901.13 Making a grand total of $9,187,771,215.80, or nearly one-third o. the entire value of property of the country, paid by the few, in support of the Government, within the short space of fifteen years. Is it surprising that, with such a system of oppression and wrong, want and disaster should overspread the land, and that the people should cry for deliverance ?