CONDITION OF THE UNITED STATES.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 637, 17 February 1870, Page 4

CONDITION OF THE UNITED STATES.

[pall mall gazette.] The New York Nation takes a gloomy view of American prpspects for the coming year. In a recent article on " Fall Prospects," it says : f'ln spite of nominally high wages, the great mass of the working classes — the great bulk of the consumers throughou}; the country-— are less able to purchase commodities than tlipy were a few years ago. The great mass of. tl\e people are not prosperous. War, taxation, and a protective tariff have impoverished us beyoud belief. There is less wealth in the country ; and of what there 1 is, as Commissioner Wells has well shown, more is in the hands of the rich, and less in the hands of the poor." In support of this statement the writer quotes, a number of extracts, only about one-half, he tells, us, of the facts of a similar tenor gathered during three weeks from four New York daily papers. Some of these extracts are well worth reproducing here. They give us a very different view of the condition of the working man in the United States from that generally taken of it in; this country. Here are some of the most striking : — The Lowell cotton-mills are endeavoring ! to close their establishments for three weeks, in order that stocks may be diminished, and prices advanced to a remunerative rate. ! The cotton factory at Harrisburg suspended operations for a time on Saturday, last. Some of the New England, mjlls have suspended operations, and the large mills of Fall River contemplate running on short time until trade assumes a more encouraging aspect. Real estate in Philadelphia has experienced a considerable decline. Real estate in San Francisco is far less saleable than it was six month since, and outside lots are totally unsaleable. Western merchants complain that trade is in a very unsatisfactory state. Freights are so low that the canals of this State cannot now be navigated at rates that will pay. The number of beggars who bar one's progress or invade one's dwelling or office for alms is steadily on the increase. ■ 1 The total number of persons :re > ceiving out-door, relief during the last year iri Philadelphia was 15,322. , The Nation goes on to argue that it is due to the bad harvests which have-suc-ceeded one another since the war that the delusive idea that the country is prosperous, has been kept up ; but 1 that if the present liarvest turns out to be as abundant as it is expected to be the real state of the case will. be seen. "If prices continue to decline in the present ratio, as they* inevitably must if our crops are really good, wo shall see an early revival of the great labor struggle 1 that seems for the moment hushed. With declining prices, and diminished demand for products, manufacturers must seek to reduce wages. Workmen can scarcely,;liye , decently on present wages, and refuse to submit to further reduction. Tlie vmanufacturers must either work at a loss or stop work."