VOL. Xv. 1«(). 39. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



307 



Hard Times. — Who does not ooinplaiii of the 

 hard times ? Wo should like to see such a man. 

 He would, indeed, be a rare siglit. An uncom- 

 plaininiT man ! Why, it seems to be a solecism, 

 we have jiisl written. And after all, what is the 

 peculiar knnlness of the times ? " Why, it is dif- 

 ficult to raise money." This is a very vague an- 

 swer. For what inir[.osB may not money be rais- 

 ed .' Does the laboring man work for nought? 

 Does he find any difficulty in getting his daily 

 wages? No. Does the faithful mechanic go un- 

 paid. No. Does any class of service-men — 

 cartmen, clerks, meclianics, artists, casbii:rs, phy- 

 sicians, lawyers, ministers, do not all these get their 

 dues in money ? They do. 



" Ay, but nnney wont procure but half as much 

 as formerly." True, but labor produces doubly 

 the amount of money, 1o almost all the classes of 

 laborers for their bread. 



Who, then, finds difficulty in procuring money ? 

 Those who have, by their mad scheming, made it 

 scarce and /wn/ ? The SpECULiTORS. These are 

 the men who find money hard. They have in- 

 vested largely beyond their means, amassed the 

 circulating paper immensely beyond its real need, 

 and now they suffer. And, doubtless, they in- 

 volve some that are innocent, in their own suffer- 

 mg. But there is no real suffering. Who docs 

 not get enough to eat and drink and wear ? and a 

 comfortable home to live in ? Not the industrious 

 and honest can say, " I." Who does not have 

 even the luxuries of life, at least, occasionally ? 

 None but the idle, lazy, and wickedly extravagant, 

 can answer, " I." 



This is a fair and beautiful world we live in. 

 Enough and to sfiare is provided for every want 

 and wish, and we are all ungrateful and wicked 

 when we complain of hard times. Hard times, 

 inileecl, and not one reasonable wish ungralified ! 

 Shame be to him who receives the countless bless- 

 ings of the present slate with niurmUrSj and abu- 

 ses the Benevolence which crowns his whole life 

 with mercies. — Christian Monitor. 



Dr IVayland's opinion of Usury. — The follow- 

 ing is an extract of a work on political economy, 

 written by the President of Brown University, re- 

 cently f)ul)lishcd in New York. The able author 

 takes strong ground against any legal restrictions 

 on trade with money. After mentioning various 

 causes which affect the rate of interest, Dr. Way- 

 land says: — 



" It is almost unnecessary after what has been 

 already a<lvanced, to state that, in the view of the 

 political economist, laws, regulating the rate of 

 interest are injurious to the ()rosperily of a coun- 

 try. Some of the reasons for this opinion are 

 the following. 



1. Such aws violate the right of properly. 

 A man has the same right to the market price of 

 his capital in money, as he has to the market 

 price of his house, bis horse, his ship, or any 

 other of his pt ssessions. 



2. The real price of capital cannot be fixed by 

 law, any more than the price of flour, or iron, or 

 any other commodity. There is, therefore, no 

 more reason for assigning to it a fixed value, than 

 there is of assigning a fi.x'ed value to any other 

 commodity. 



3. The price of ca|)ital or money, is really 

 inore variable than that of any other commodity. 

 Most other commodities have but one source of 



variation, namely, use or profit. But capital in 

 the form of money, is liable to tw > sources of 

 variation, risk and use. These vary at different 

 times, in different investments, and with different 

 individuals. There is, therefore less reason why 

 the price of money should be fixed by law than 

 why the price of everything else should be so 

 fixed. 



4. These laws instead of preventing, give rls(' 

 to great and disastrous fluctuations in the price 

 of money. 



Suppose that to day money is worth, in tlie or- 

 dinary operations of business, ten per cent, and 

 that it is worth six per cent in loan. A tnan will 

 as soon lend as employ it in business, if he have 

 more than he wishes to use. There will then be 

 a fair supply in the market. But let the profits 

 of capital rise, so that in the ordinary' operations 

 of business, capital is worth trt'cnty per cent. 



If, now, the rate of interest rose with his in- 

 creased rate of profit, the same individuals would 

 he as willing to lend as before, and thus the sup- 

 ply following the demand, there arises no peculiar 

 scarcity. The high rate of interest would also 

 attract equal capital from abroad ; and thus in a 

 viM-y short time it would in this particular place 

 be brought to the general level. 



But supiiose that six per cent, were the highest 

 legal rate of interest, ami tliat he who lent it at a 

 higher rate, was liable to lose both his principal 

 and interest, and also his mercantile character. 

 In this case as soon as the profit of capital in bu- 

 siness rose to fifteen or twenty per cent, no one 

 who could thus employ it, would lend it at six 

 per cent. 



Hence as soon as it thus rose, the supply would 

 be immediately diminished, and this would of 

 course, cause a greater rise of interest. Those 

 who from lienor or conscience, obeyed the 

 laws, would withdraw from the market and em- 

 ploy their capitaLin some other way: and no one 

 would lend but those who are willing to risk the 

 consequences of detection. These having the 

 money market in their own lands, will, of course 

 charge for the use and for the risk of detection ; 

 and hence the price may becotne in a few days 

 doubled or trebled. At the same time, although 

 the real value of money may be fifteen or twenty 

 per cent, yet because the legal price is six per 

 cent, tliere is no inducemement for capital to 

 come in from abroad to supply the demand. — 

 Hence, the change in the money market has by 

 reason of this law no tendency whatever to reg- 

 ulate itself. 



Hence, I believe all enactments, establishing a 

 legal rate of interest, are injurious and unwise. 

 The only enactment of any value would be one 

 which sh' uld define the usual rate wheil nothing 

 was said on the subject in the contract. The use 

 of thi* would be to prevent disputes. This is al- 

 ways an advantage to both parties." 



Scott's Asuestos Fire Proof Chest Facto- 

 Rr. — This establishment is situated on the S. W. 

 side of Eighth, between Liberty and Grant sts., 

 Pittsburg. 



We this morning visited this workshop with no 

 slight gratification. The SuperintemleHt, .Mr 

 Cross, politely took us over the various parts of 

 the woiks, and informed us that from forty to fif- 

 ty men were daily employed ; at kasi thirty of 

 of whom were heads of families, so that from 150 

 to 200 persons derive subsistence from this one 

 foun<lation ; and Mr Scott has another similar, 

 but on a larger scale, in Philadelphia. 



The boxes are elegant, as to mere appearance, 

 so far as a term can be applied to an object of 

 utility where it is of secondary cousi<leration, and 

 they are constructed in so substantial a manner, 

 as to give them high merit as .safeguards against 

 the night robber, which alone ought to secure pat- 

 ronage to the inventor. Their extraordinary pow- 

 er or quality of resisting the action of fire, has 

 been so well testeil, and also acknowledged by so 

 many whose judgments we are compelled to re- 

 spect, that we omit any observations of our owa 

 on that head. 



If we desired another evidence of the invalua- 

 ble benefits of genius to mankind, we have it in 

 this instance. We have before us the exam|)loof 

 a man directly giving means to [irocure bread, to 

 between 3 and 400 human beings, and indirectly 

 to many more, in his employment of wood, iron, 

 and procuring the main material Asbestos. To 

 this again may be added the increased safety se- 

 cured to money, papers, jewelry, or any othe f 

 highly valuable material of small dimensions - _ 

 The whole of this new source of industry, tl jig 

 addition to the usual utensils of human socif ty, 

 the fruit of one happy thought. 



The boxes are manufactured from 50 to $ 350, 

 generally, but to order can he coiistruftcf 1 for 

 any sujiposed higher price. — Piilshurg Adv. 



Cochran's rifle has been employed in battle, 

 and pronounced by C;ipt. Gordon, of the United 

 States Dragoons, who used it in an action with 

 the Si'ininoles, on Lake Monroe, as the best kil- 

 ling machine, extant. Its power to resist dam|)- 

 ness or injury of its charge when loaded gives it, 

 he says, a decided superiority over all others. 



Mur- 

 lOuld 

 k he 

 d oil. 

 e ori- 

 itions 

 mfac- 

 Fiom 

 own 

 ■ sub- 

 .f lin- 



Bagsing. — A pedagogue in Manlius N. Y. in- 

 stead of using the birch or ruler, punishes his 

 scholars by making them creep into a large bag. 



Spontaneous CombustioaV. [From John 

 ray Esq.] I think the cotton mamifacturer si 

 he ap[uised of the imminent danger and ris 

 incurs from the contact of cotton and linsce 

 To this cause alone I am inclined to refer th 

 gin of many of the destructive conflagn 

 which have occurred not only in cotton mar 

 torie.=, but the warehouses of l^iverpool. 

 facts I might refer to, conjoined with my 

 experiments, this conclusion may be clearly 

 stantiated and confirmed. A small portion i 

 seed oil sprinkled in a bale of cotton will ce rtain- 

 ly occasion S|)ontaneous combustion. — E nglish 

 paper. 



Embalming The Boston Medical Ji )urnal 



states that if the bodies of men or aninv als be 

 plunged for some time in a solution of cor rosive 

 sublimate, and afterwards dried, they assun je tbe 

 consistency of wood, and the air produces no ef- 

 fect upon them ; and if the bodies be injected be- 

 fore they are plunged into the liquid, they •^vil| 

 retain the color and appearance of life, and. con- 

 sequently form munnnies far more perfect than, 

 the Egyptian. 



.\n Ox, fattened by Wm. Pelt, Esq. of Mauisou 

 county, was sold for slaughter in N. Y.a few days 

 since, tor the round sum of §1000 I It'was estr-. 

 ntated that the quarters of meat would weigh 500 

 IJpi each. So says the Journal of (^o,ii,„e,-5e^ 



