S74 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Sept. 



quirer that whatever the supposed gains of these parties in 1845, their 

 present possessions, taken generally, are very small ; and the solution of 

 this is, that their wealth in 1845 resolved itself into that proverbial bubble 

 — scrip, the certificates of which, for that matter, they may slill possess, 

 but the imaginary value and premium of which they have lost for ever. 

 Making allowances for scrip operations, the actual waste of capital in the 

 gambling of 1845 was very small, and certainly very far below that of 1825, 

 when so much capital was sunk abroad in worthless and unprofitable 

 operations. 



That some few engineers, lawyers, brokers, and capitalists have realised 

 money is indisputable, but the number of these, and the gross amount of 

 their acquisitions is very small, and the mass of speculators and operators 

 tjave not realised anything. 



What is the real amount of capital wasted or lost to the country in 1845, 

 it is hard to calculate, but we do nut believe it can anyhow be more than 

 two millions, while perhaps it may be only one million — perhaps it may be 

 that, comparatively speaking, it is nothing. In this country a great number 

 of persons are always maintained in idleness, so that it does not make much 

 dillercnce if some of the funds of these classes are distributed for a time in 

 making some of its members railway committeemen and surveyors, instead 

 of keepiug them, as they otherwise would be, cigar smoking, billiard play- 

 ing, or fox-hunting. 



If, moreover, we consider that a larger amount of real and effective 

 labour was performed by the populalion of England in 1845 than in any 

 previous year, and a larger amount added to the fixed capital and resources 

 of the country, it becomes still more questionable whether on the balance 

 of transactions the country was in anywise a loser by the gambling share 

 transactions of 1845. We know that we are great gainers by the extension 

 of the railway system. 



For whatever purpose the leading organ of the world, the Thnes news- 

 paper, is pleased to devoie itself to a crusade against English railways, 

 which it seems determined to injure per fas aut nefas, by any means, by 

 any represeulations, by their merits and by their demerits, by truths and 

 by falsehood. With an ignorant populalion, and with railway managers 

 not overskilled in political lore, a subtle and unscrupulous adversary is 

 able to represent everything according to its own ends; and little more 

 than good fortune, and some want of faith in the objects of the Times, has 

 secured this country from being victimised into surrendering a most 

 valuable institution to the clamour of a most audacious system of misre- 

 presentation. 



Without going back to the earlier efforts of the Times, it may be enough 

 to signalise some of the later assertions of the Times. The charges against 

 the railway system for its operations in 1847, include the following: — 

 1st. A large importation of foreign corn. 



2nd. An increased consumption of foreign luxuries during a time of 

 severe privation, when greater saving was the more needful. 



Srd. A diminution in the stock of cotton and other raw materials of 

 manufacture. 



4th. An increased use and higher price of iron at home and lessened 

 consumption abroad. 



5th. Causing the stock of gold to be sent abroad. 

 tith. Depriving government and the commercial interest of capital. 

 7th. Depressing and ruining the manufacturing industry of the country. 

 We believe this sample is such a one as the Times will accept, as not 

 going beyond the bounds of its accusations. 



There was in this year a very large importation of foreign corn, in con- 

 sequence of the failure of last year's harvests. This failure could only be 

 supplied by import from abroad, and has no connection with railways. 



It is quite true that in 1S47 there was an increased import of foreign 

 sugar, meat, butter, cheese, and other provisions, but which has no con- 

 nection with railways. Had there been no such increase it would have 

 been duly noticed by the Times, and charged against Sir Ifobert Peel and 

 Lord John Russell, as a failure of their tariff measures, which were pur- 

 posely framed to increase the consumption of sugar and foreign provisions. 

 The diminution of the stock of cotton was owing to the failure of the 

 cotton crop in the Uniteil States, and with a short crop there must be short 

 stocks and high prices. .All this has no connexion with railways. 



There has been a greater demand for iron at home in consequence of a 

 greater number of railways ; but as these are very useful, we do not think 

 this is any harm. A higher price of English iron in foreign markets is 

 a necessary consequence. This charge has a connection with railways. 



(iold was sent abroad to pay for foreign corn, and nothing else could be 

 feat. Whatever the League partisans and currency theorists may persuade 



themselves, gold must a ways be sent out to meet a sudden demand fo 

 gold. Mr. McCulloch showed this long ago. The failure of a harvest is 

 a sudden and irregular event, requiring a sudden and irregular supply, 

 which can only be settled immediately in gold, and not in goods, as the 

 'heorists expect. The farmer on the banks of the Mississippi or the 

 Vistula will not lay in a stock of cotton or ironwares enough for four 

 or five years' consumption, and take the hazard of fire, damp, and 

 waste, let the goods be offered to him at any price however low. He 

 will always prefer to take English goods as he wants them, and at the 

 price of the day. The merchant of New York or Dantzic, though he may 

 be tempted to a small extent by cheapness to increase his stocks, will not 

 do so to the full extent required, because the risks are not not worth the 

 advantage. The English manufacturer and merchant will always be lef' 

 to bear the risks of the stock, as he does now, while as a mercantile fact it 

 is well known that from the greater wealth of England the stocks are in 

 her hands. The gold therefore must go out, and it will come back, as the 

 goods are ultimately taken in the final liquidation of the account. The 

 gold always has come back and always will, while the goods instead of 

 being sold at a depression are sold at more favourable prices. 



It is a recognised expedient of the Bank of England, supported and in- 

 culcated by the highest authorities, to raise the rate of discount to a ruin 

 pitch in the event of gold going out of the country, with the view to force 

 goods abroad and prevent gold going. It is supposed that by causing sales 

 here at ruinous prices, foreign merchants are induced to take goods instead 

 of gold, and that thereby the gold is kept in the country. As, however, 

 the larger stocks of English goods are always in English hands and not in 

 foreign hands, no great increase of sales can take place, but only a depre- 

 ciation in price. The goods offered in the market, however small, deter- 

 mine the price of the slocks, however large. 



In the face of this admitted doctrine we assert that the effect of raising 

 the rate of discount, or putting on the screw as it is called — 

 Does not cause goods to be sent abroad instead of gold. 

 Does not prevent gold from going out of the country. 

 What it does do is — 

 To cause severe distress at home. 

 To depreciate all our stocks of goods abroad. 

 Our deduction is — 



That the screw does not effect the proposed end, that it does no good, 

 and does great harm. 



If no " screw" were applied, the country would suffer no possible barm ; 

 no more gold would go out without the "screw" than with the screw ; 

 but distress would not be produced at home, nor would our goods be dis- 

 posed of at depressed prices abroad. 



Although the " screw" principle has passed unquestioned, it has no 

 single statistical fact, and no solid mercantile experience, to recommend it. 

 It is quite groundless. 



Railways did not deprive government and the commercial interest of 

 capital. Government has got the capital it wants, and if it has to pay a 

 higher price it is not on account of the competition of railway companies, 

 but chiefly in consequence of the "screw" having been applied by the 

 Bank of England. The commercial interest, on account of the depression, 

 has required a smaller amount of capital, and there is no statistical founda- 

 tion for the assertion of any interference on the part of railways. What 

 has been wanting during this year has beeu confidence and not capital, 

 — the want of confidence being greatly aggravated by the exertions of the 

 Times newspaper. 



The railways have not depressed or injured the manufacturing interest 

 of the country in any way. They have not diminished the gioss amount 

 of capital ; they have not interfered with the manufacturers' share ; they 

 have not diverted labour. The manufacturing interest has suffered from 

 the famine, tlie want of raw material, depression of prices, and want of 

 confidence: the two latter circumstances made much more oppressive by 

 the " screw" and its votaries. 



While the railway system has been falsely accused, il has had no ac- 

 knowledgement of the vast good it has done. Putting aside the large 

 addition made to the fixed capital and permanent resources of the coun- 

 try, the railway system has, during a year of grievous famine and great 

 commercial distress, allowed an eflicieut scheme to be carried out for the 

 employment of a large boily of the population. If no railway works had 

 been provided, the population of England would still have been fed; but in 

 1817 they would have been unemployed and discontented, and while their 

 labour would have bei-n lost to the country, there is no saying what would 

 have been the political and social consequences ; whereas in no year even 



