The Madisonian., 1840-02-18
WHOLE NO. sl5

regular increase oil the circulating medium
and gradual but not too rapid increase in
the value of property and the price OF COM
} modities. In such a state of things, business
} ol all kinds is active and animated, every de-
partment OF IT fourishcs, and labor is literally
rewarded. No sacrifices are made of property.
and debtors find, without difficulty, the means
of discharging promptly their debts. Men
hold on TO what they have, without the appre-
hension Of loss, and we behold no glutted
markets. OF all conditions of society, that is
most adverse in which there is constant
and rapid diminqtion of the amount Of the cir
culating medium. Debtors become unable to
pay their debts properly falls, the market is
gutted, business declines, and labor is thrown
out OF employment In such state of things
the imagination goes ahead of the reality
Sellers become numerous, from the apprehen-
sion that their property, now falling, will fall
still lower and purchasers scarce, from an
unwllingness TO make investments with the
hazard of almost certain loss
4 Have gentlemen reflected upon the conse-
quences Of their system Of depletion ! have
already stated that the country is borne down
by weight of debt. If the currency be
greatly diminished, as beyond all example it
has been, ,how is this debt TO be extinguished1
Property, the resource on which the debtor
relied for his payment, will decline in value;
and it may happen that man, who honestly
contracted debt, on the faith Of property which
had value, at the time, fully adequate to
warrant the debt, will find himself strpt of
all his property, and his debt remain unex-
tinguished The gentleman from Pennsyl-
vania (Mr Buchanan) has put the case Of
two nations, in one of which the amount of
its currency shall be double what it is in the
other, and, as he contends, the prices of all
property will be double in the former nation
of what they are in the latter. If this be true
of two nations, il must be equally true of one,
whose circulating medium is at one period
double what it is at another Now, as the
| friends Of the bill argue, we have been and
yet are in this inflated state, our currency has
been double or in something like that proper
ton, OF what was necessary, and we must
come down to the lowest standard Do they
not perceive that inevitable ruin to thousands
must be the necessary consequence A man,
for example, owning property TO the value of
\ $4,000, contracts debt for So 900. By the
reduction of one-half of the currency Of the
country, his properly, in effect, becomes re-
duced TO the value Of ~ 500. But his debt
undergoes no corresponding reduction. He
gives up all his property, and remains still in
| debt So, 800. Thus this measure will ope-
rate on the debtor class of the nation, always
the weaker class, and that which, for that
reason, most needs the protection of Govern
mcnt.
But il the effect of this hard money policy
upon the debtor class be injurious, it is still
more disastrous, if possible, on the laboring
classes. Enterprise will be checked or
stopped, employment will become difficult,
| and the poorer classes will be subject TO the
greatest privations and disiresses. Hereto
fore II has been one of the prctensions and
boasts Of the dominant party, that they sought
to elevate the poor by depriving the rich of
undue advantages. Now their policy is to
reduce the wages Of labor, and this is openly
avowed and it is argued by them that it is
necessary to reduce the wages of American
labor to the low standard of European labor,
in order to enable the American manufacturer
to enter into successful competition with
the European manufacturer in the sale of
their respective fabrics Thus is this domi-
nant party perpetually changing; one day ca
joling the poor, and Illuminating against the
rich and the next cajoling the rich, and full
minating against the poor. II was but yes
i
on borrowed capital ought to break 1t was
but yesterday we heard denounced the long
established policy Of the country, by which,
it was alleged, the poor were made poorer,
and the rich were made richer.
Mr.. President, of all the subjects of ma
tional policy, not one ought to be touched with
so much dehcacy as that Of the wages !; in
other words, the bread of the poor man. In
dwelling, as have often done, with inexpres-
sibe satisfaction upon the many advantages Of
our country, there is not one that has given me
more delight than the high price Of manual la
Dor. There is not one which indicates more
clearly the prosperity of the mass of the com
'munity. In all the features Of human society,
there are none, think, which more decisively
display the general welfare than permanent
high rate OF wages, and permanent high rate
of interest. Of course, do not mean those
excessive high rates, of temporary existence,
which result from sudden and unexpected de-
mands for labor or capital, and which may,
and generally do, evnce some unnatural and
extraordinary state of things; but mean
settled, steady, and durable high rate ofwages,
of labor, and interest upon money. Such
state demonstrates activity and profits in all
the departments of business. 1t proves that
the employer can afford to give high wages to
the laborcr, in consequence Of the profits Of
his business, and the borrower high interest TO
the lender. in consequence Of the gains which
he makes by the use Of capital. On the con.
| trary, in countries where business is dull and
lanbuishing, and all the walks of society are
full, the small profits that are made will not
justify high interest or high wages.
Wages of labor will be low where there is
no business, and Of course but little or no de-
mand for labor or where, from the density
OF population, the competition for employment