CAUSES OF BUSINESS DEPRESSION.

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in New York than when its price was much higher, butthe cause of the decline is attributable only to the con-dition and circumstances of personal property. Whenthe merchant finds his stock of goods declining in valueon his hands, he must reduce expenses, pay less storeand house rent, and curtail the pay of his assistants, com-pelling them in turn to seek lower rents. When a bankreduces its business, the pay of its officers and clerks alsosuffers a reduction, and they, too, seek cheaper rents.When the mechanic and laborer find that their personalproperty—skill and physical strength—is in less demand,and their wages are reduced, or idleness forced uponthem, they also seek cheaper rents, or cease to pay rent.All these classes are consumers, and with diminishedmeans their purchases of personal property are dimin-ished. They buy less of the grocer, the butcher, thetailor, the milliner, and the retailer of dry goods; so thatthe grocer, the butcher, the tailor, the milliner, and theretailer of dry goods, each finds his business, profits, andpower to pay rent diminished. And as the rent receivedis the general basis of real estate values, real estate,under such influences, must of course decline.

“ While taxes represented but one-fifth or one-sixth ofthe rent received by the real estate owner, they could beendured ; but when out of a greatly reduced rent, un-reduced taxes take one-third, or perhaps one-half, thenthe burden is felt to be unendurable, and the real estateowner finds that he has been struck by the calamity