DISMAL FOREBODINGS

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 2, 1878

DISMAL FOREBODINGS.

How many myriads of eyes are now peering anxiously into the dark future. On the cars, the other day, we could but notice the general themes of conversation. They were the present unsettled state of society, the financial depression, the scarcity of work, and the consequent prospect of want and suffering; and the chief speaker, with a lugubrious oath, declared that he did not know what these things were coming to. To him whose treasures are in this world, whose affections and hopes are here, no ray appears to alleviate the gloomy prospect. One class of people only are prepared to consider the embarrassing present and the more cheerless future, undisturbed. They are those who understand why this condition of things has occurred, and what it means; who perceive that they have reached the time of which the New Testament speaks when it says that in the last days perilous times shall come, and that men's hearts will fail them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. So the deeper the darkness, the more light for the child of God; the more troublous the times, the greater the peace and joy that may reign in his heart; not on account of the troubles in themselves considered, but because they mark the coming of the long reign of life and peace for which we wait. In the language of Wesley's hymn we can say:—

“Whatever ills the world befall, A pledge of endless good we call, A sign of Jesus near.”

As an exhibition of the financial condition of the country, and to show how it is regarded in the commercial world, we give the following from the Boston Herald of Apr. 23, headed “A Dismal Report”:—

“We have never seen a more dismal bit of reading than the return of commercial failures in the United States for the first quarter of the present year. Nothing so bad is to be found on the blackest pages of the panics of the past. Messrs. Dun, Barlow & Co. report the number of failures since Jan. 1 at 3355, and the amount of liabilities at $82,078,826. The disastrous magnitude of these figures may be measured by one fact. Since the first three-months’ statement made its appearance in 1875, Messrs. Dun, Barlow and Co. have compiled thirteen quarterly returns, and the latest is by far the worst in every aspect. Until now the highest number of failures had been 2869, during the first three months of 1877, and the heaviest liabilities had been $69,887,850, in the last quarter of 1875. The statement just issued exceeds the darkest previous record by 486 failures and by $12,190,976 liabilities. To show the swift and fearful growth of commercial decay in every section of the country, except perhaps in California, we give below tables of the number of failures and the sums failed for during the first quarter of 1878 and 1877. We append in a third column the figures for the same period in 1875, the earliest date among the quarterly reports.”

Number of failures in first quarter.

	1878.	1877.	1875.
Eastern States	539	418	356
Middle States	950	918	590
Southern States	483	384	369
Western States	1218	969	538
Pacific States	165	180	99
Total	3355	2869	1952

Amount of liabilities.

	1878.	1877.	1875.
Eastern States	$11,016,974	$6,798,408	$8,814,955
Middle States	32,274,606	23,308,354	18,623,146
Southern States	11,699,029	6,666,391	6,689,784
Western States	25,014,081	15,545,398	8,234,702
Pacific States	2,074,136	2,219,519	1,314,416
Total	$82,078,826	$54,538,070	$43,176,953

“It will be seen that since last year the failures have increased by 385 and the liabilities by $27,540,756, while within three years the present four figures show the really terrific augmentation of 1373 in the number of failures, and of $38,901,873 in the amount of the liabilities. If the totals for the whole year should bear their usual proportion to those of the first quarter, the number of failures during 1878 would rise to 11,266, and the liabilities would show a total of $295,000,000. These respective aggregates would be far greater than any on record in the commercial annals of the United States.”