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Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 16, 1861

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 17, No. 22.

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PROSPECTS OF BUSINESS.—The following from the N. Y. Tribune of March 23, expresses very forcibly the prevalent feeling among business men:
"Never before, perhaps, in the history of this country, has such a feeling of uncertainty, of alternate hope and fear, prevailed in the business community. The elements of great commercial prosperity exist in such palpable form, that the mere novice in business matters may place his fingers on the points; and yet, with all this mine of wealth, to the man of trade plainly in sight, not one—not even the most sagacious and enterprising—dares to take a step toward securing a share of it. The importer—looking simply to the wants of the country, to the ordinary laws of supply and demand—sees a harvest of profits in the future, if those laws are allowed to rule, but hesitates when the cry of disunion and civil war threatens him with rude interference. The manufacturer, with the assurance of a good home trade, and a remunerative business, even under the old tariff, if the country can be pacified, and a still better prospect under the new, feels inclined to put every loom in motion, and to tax his every ingenuity in pattern and fabric, but halts and hesitates as the din of revolution meets his ears. Thus in every branch of business the story is the same—the disposition is to move onward with the natural flow of the tide, but it is checked and chilled by vague apprehensions, which find no relief as yet. This state of suspense is perhaps the severest trial to which a business man can be subjected. He knows not whether to contract or expand; to take credit, or to give it; to buy or to sell; to continue manufactures, or to stop; to build ships, to cut lumber, or to mine. Enterprise, everywhere ready to leap into activity, halts at the verge of a chasm which seems to open before it. It would be a relief to know what is in store for us, that business men may shape their operations accordingly."