Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1838-08-17
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.
NO. ",

One Of the leading objects of govern.
ment, is to encourage industry. Industry,
frugal'y, intelligence, and virtue, are the
four pillars on which our government is
established. Their union is the perfection
Of reputlicansm and when either fails, the
progress Of dissolution has commenced. -
Industry is promoted by the rapidly with
which the products of industry are circn-
lated; and credit as an instrument of this
circulation, has an important bearing on
our prosperity. This is an ubstruse sub
ject, difficult of explanation ; but crave
the readers patience while endeavor 10
discuss it in the simplest way possible.
Property may be divided into three kinds,
land, fixtures, and stock. Land needs no
definition. By fixtures | mean all cree
tons on land, such as houses, barns, shops,
manufactures, and whatever is attached
to them, as machinery &c. By stock,
mean all the products of industry, whether
in its gross state as it comes from the farm,
as cattle, wool, &c. or in its more finished
condition from the shops Of the manufacto
ry, as cabinet ware, cloth, iron, plate &c.
1t will be seen there is a difference in
the nature and character Of these three
kinds, and as think a marked difference
in the policy that should be pursued relative
to them. The two first are fixed in their
nature, aud so far as state policy is con,
cerned, they should be continued in the
same hands and not subject to change.
Government should throw no obstacles in
the way Of their transfer but no additional
inducements should be offered to make them
objects of general merchandise. It may
be laid down as pollical axiom hat credit
should never be employed in the purchas Sc
of land or in the erection of fixtures. am
aware that this will be denied by some, but
! think 1t can be made apparent, though ]
have not time to 90 into it, but it rests on
| he certainty that after he farm is purchas.
ed or the mauuac,ory erected there will
be still as great call for credit as prudence
can ever Justify.
Stock differs in character from the o,her
two. being Of transtory nature. TIE
products of industry, the ayai's of the farm,
the shop and the mandatory are legtimar g
objects Of purchase and sale, and each
branch is prospered in proportion TO the
rapdity of the circulation In this point of
view credit as an instrument of cOmmsr
a means Of circulation, is al The utmost i'm
portance ard should be encouraged The
mode and the manner of it deserves little
examination. Take a case, the farmers OF
Chiuenden county raise one hundred thou
buy all this wool, they sell it to Paine, Cat.
lin and other manufacturers, they manu-
facture it into cloth worth two hundred
thousand dollars, they sell the cloth to the
wholesale merchants, these sell it to the
retailers, these to the tailors, who again
double its value, and they in the shape OF
clothes sell the whole to the consumers
The same NAV be said Of the iron of Reese
vile, and it may be followed through varl-
Gus changes from the ore and coal to
poughs, axes, nails and penknlves. But
the Bradleys have not the hundred thousand
dollars TO pay for the wool, they borrow 1t
of the Bank and pay The farmers, and they
pay their Iaborers. Bradleys sell the wool
to Paine, Catlin and others, but they not
having such an amount lying idle give their
notes at three months,and with the product
of these notes BradIeys take up their own
notes, and so the process is continued until
it reaches the consumer On the principle
that have stated in previous article the
consumer should always pay down. In this
way constant circulation is kept up and
The money eventually paid by the consum'
ers pays all the intermediate notes aud a
fair profit to all concerned The amount
ofspecie required is the gross amount Of the