Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1838-05-25

Increased
collection of the duties In the cheaqened currency WIN
keep the real value Of the from the
at given standard Not 30 with public LANDS iney
have not been, and are not, in this sense, open 10
market Their value per acre, Is h1ed by law aho nov"
much the currency in which they were PuGn@oe
may have been cheapened by abundance they couo not
rise with other property, TO price which wouio restore
the equilibrium. They were bound down oy e'n'ue
value and when the currency 10 be received III
for them designated the same nonha' 'a'ue VI WA
currency however much it might be rheapened oy ex
cess would purchase the quantity OF the lands
If this suggestion required illustration the history OF
the wears 1885 and 1886 would afford the most ample
Soecuiatons were excessive in almost every branch oil
trade and every description Of property but most
of the longest continuance, in the public lands Why
was this so, Clearly BECAUSE paper currency be
came more abundant it became cheap, and while
every other description Of property advanced IN price
ratio nearly equal the depression in value of the cur
rency which paid for it, the market value OF the pnoc
lands remained the same, and the same amount OF the
cheapened currency would purchase the same quantity
Of the lands. Hence they became the cheapes'
commodity in the market, and therefore continued u
attract The attention Of purchasers 10 The longest time
and to the latest period of the business excuses
This consideration would to The committee 10 OIL
fer for the discriminating application Oh '"e cl
cuar at the time it was issued When Song'ess nAeu
the value of the public domain at one Dollar anu we"
ty-ve cents per acre the intention no DOUBT "d0' ina
the Treasury should receive that sum IN conn., or s
valeut IT, them the paper currency had become SO
cheapened in consequence OF Its excess Una. one aoas
and TWENTY-FIVE cents it worth less than The same
sum in coin that difference most Papaby metz gain
10 the purchasers of the lands and an entire loss 10 Inc
whole people of the country, 10 whom the pubic DOMAIN
bslonps That the committee not mistaken IN sup.
posing that the paper currency cheapened below
The value of coin proved from the almost instant oPe
ration of the order itself when hundred and len dol
lars of the paper paid for hundred dollars oil me
CON- be expended in the purchase OF the same iahus
at the same price.
In the second place, check upon the excessive 49,
sues of paper and the dangerous extensions OF credit
was of the great objects to be attained ne Two
great sources of the public lands and Inc
reign mpotations. For the former The paper whle IL
continued to be the currency Of the Treasury for their
purchase was the exclusive standard OF value. maue
the whole purchase was accepted medium tor the
entire payment and when the trade became excessive
a check upon the paper check upon the whole ca
pitsl embarked Not so with the foreign importa,ions
The paper the medium OF payment for the duties SIM
ply. The goods upon which the duties were assessed,
were and purchased abroad, where our bank pa
per could circulate, and did not constitute medium
Of payment and where coin, and tn" equivalent oil CON-
would alone pay the debts ofhe American merchant III,
then be considered that but about one-ha OF The amount
of our foreign chargeable with dulles al al
and that the duties upon the remaining n 90 not pro
baby at the present time, exceed an average OF thirty
per centum it will be how feeble in The compar
SON. would have been the check imposed by the ORDER
upon this branch Of the revenue. In the case OF The
nnds it reached the whole capital, and as has been SEEM
while in the case of the mportatlons, II could have
reached but the incident of the duties being only
some fifteen per centum upon the whole capital and, at
the same rate Of calculation aordng check only equal
to about one and onehalf per centum.
Again. excessive issues Of paper by our banks would
directly and to the whole extent, upon The trade In
public lands long the paper continued to De received
in payment for Them because it would meet the whole
cost and constitute acceptable medium for the whole
payment; while the excessive issues of the same
paper would act but indirectly and incidentally upon our
fsreign trade 1t might, 10 some extent and for limit.
ed PERIOD chenpen products TO be sent abroad ana
exchanged for foreign merchandise and In tins way si
ulate the foreign trade. Ii might while the paper re.
manned nomnally equivalent 10 gold and silver and con-
vertibe into them by chespenng the precious metals,
lead their profitable exportaon and thus tend 10 make
foreign trade excessive. And it would, while the coun
tries with which the business carried remained al
heahul standard add direct stimulus 10 that part Of
the capital required to pay the home duties. Still II viii
be seen that the impetus given 10 foreign trade BY ex
cessive banking at home is indirect incidental and par
tia while that given to domestic sPecuations, such as
that which recently taken place in public lands, is
direct positive and universal These considerations, in
the minds of the committee, should 60 far to justify the
discriminating application Of the order.
In the third place, large portion of the operations
Of foreign trade is brought to the direct test of real ca
pita 10 the touchsone of currency Of intrinsic value
that in that trade will check themselves
Not with domestic trade based upon excess Of pa
per currency while that paper continues 10 be accept
that stale Of things can be preserved the domestic
excuses may be continued aud extended at pleasure
Here, again. recent experience furnishes US proof oil
the correctness OF our positions The excuses may
be said 10 have commenced in both branches OF our
trade, at about the same time The domestic branch
received the earliest check in the order under consdera
tion and yet that portion Of it confined to the public
lands had increased six fold in two years. thus showing
the direct and powerful impetus communicated TO it, and
the unlimited power Of expansion it possessed until
rho cd hv ut nv ho
capital, not introduced by its ements but forced
upon it by an independent power. Notwithstanding
this application TO domestic trade, however sudden
and harsh is supposed to have BEEN months passed
away before the sefcorecng principle of the foreign
trade produced any sensible check in that branch YET
although its amount had not been doubled during The
whole period Of excess when this correcting principle
did manifest its power, business paralysis felt
throughout The whole country All business WINS sud
denly arrested, and the banks themselves compel
led TO suspend specie payments, without the ability 10
give hope Of resumption until heathful equilibrium
could be restored TO this trade Such, them is the check
which the foreign trade contains within ITSELF while the
domestic, it once driven 10 excess must look abroad
for the corrective; and hence the greater popriey OF
applying the order in question to the than TO the
other.
To such as entertain the opinion that the pecunary
affairs of the country heahinl and well, al the
time this order issued that nothing required be
DONE check to be imposed, arguments in justification
Of the order would be addressed in vain But such ad
init that something was required sme protection TO the
public treasure and the public domain demanded should
ask themselves what other better in the
power of the Executive, before they condemn this as
too sudden too harsh or too strong They should re-
member that, although the land sales materially
checked and the from that source benefciay
diminished by the operation of the ORDER business
convused, trade not prosrated and the banks
were not closed, until the commercial reYuson, follow
inr from the of foreign trade, inieposed IT.
self That the operation of the order tnay have hasten
ed, in some small degree, the commercial revus"n is
barely possbe that il the Of that Revision is
not possible. The superstition is contradIcted by the
facts of history applicable well 10 other countries
our own by the dates Of events. and by the necessary
connection between cause and effect.
To the complaint that The order was made invidons
by its partial application TO single branch Of the pub
lie revenue, it would seem the committee to be