The Illinois free trader. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1840-1841, 1840-05-23

interest, apart from politics, to discov,
what it was that Mr.. Buchanan really di
say and mean. say apart from pol
test for do not perceive that the de
cision or the question, one way or tn
other, will have adirect practical bearin
upon the Sub-Treasury subject, or on tn,
more general one of the Presidential con
test. AS an object of the government
policv the effect in custom is dicisivel,
repudlated BY Mr. Buchanan IN his re
I paa ~ air Davis; and me saine motive.
wslich raused tle dlsuvowal, viii cause i
q be abided By As . consequence u
Die government pohcy, no such results
m contemplated BY Mr.. Buchanan, as
,tq9glqs FROM the sul-Treasury system
for in the speech itself, he declares the
chief purpose of the bill to be the security
Of the public money, and that the inAu-
ence which it win have upon banks will
be but Incidental, and inadequate to
restrain their license. 1t is not until he
leaves the direct discussion of the bill,
and wards the close his speech, enters
upon the general question of the currehcy
as connected with. trade, that the remarks
under consideration occur. i trust that
your candor will not refuse to enquire
what are the views upon an abstract topic
OF political economy, actually entertained
by the most distinguished mcinber of the
administration party.
In this inquiry, | shall go only on the
speech itself. The subsequent statements
of Mr.. Buchanan may be considered LA
BILE to some objections as being declara-
tong pcnde,ae lite.
| shall first show what Mr.. Buchanan
did no. say and could not have meant,
and afterwards attempt to ascertain what
he did say and mean.
That he did not say that he wished to
see the wages of labor at all reduced, will
appear, | think, from these extracts from
the speech.
"The senatorfom Kentucky {Mr. CLlr) says
that the friends of the Independent Treasury de-
sire to establish an exclusive metallic currency,
as the medium of all the dealings throughout the
Union; and also 70 reduce the wages of the poor
mans labor 80 that the rich employer may be able
sr eny he S q both tslsss PROPOSE
tions. Again: 1--WE are also charged by the
Senator from Kentucky with desire to reduce the
wages Of the poor mans labor.
4. is something new under the sun, to hear the
Senator and his friends attribute to us desire to
elevate the wealthy manufacturer at the expense of
the laboring man and the mechanic"
Undoubtedly the reduction contempla-
ted in the paragraph of the advertisement
which l have cited at the beginning of this
article, could not take place until the
whole bank system was abolished. Such
a policy is disclaimed in the speech very
vehemently.
81, for one am not in favor of establishing an
exclusive metallic currency for the people of this
country. To reform, and not tosdestroy, is my
motto. To confne the banks to thcirappropriate
business and prevent them from ministering to the
spirit of wild and reckless speculation by extrava-
CANT loans and issues, is all which ought to be
desired"
A ftor sio.-.~.---- s---rr:>ii siiese, II
IS difiicult 40 conceive how other parts 'ofl
The speech Gould be interpreted as indi-
eating an opinion thus expressly denied,
unless the. error arose from an inability on
the part Of the readers to understand what
distinct doctrine it was that Mr.. Buchanan
was maintaining,
What Mr.. Buchanan did say and mean
was shortly this.
Recommended that survey Of the can:
merciaLhistory Of the countEaS ~ a.
period of twenty-five yeafa owed that
at certain intervals of tirA9Htiere had oc-.
Cured sudden and excessive expansions
of the currency, attended by general rise
ofprices that consequent upon this rise
of prices, was an excess of the national
imports over the exports, because the for
mer were rendered profitable and the latter
Improbable. thh this disturbance of the
balance Of. trade was followed by that gen.
eral ruin which, under the present banking
system, always results from serious
hostility of exchanges. From this exam
inatfon of facts he deduced the conclusion
that the true method Of preventing these
periodical ruinous disturbances of the
balances of trade was, to prevent those
periodical and transs Wy rises in the pri-
ces, which were occkioned by excessive
bank issues.
THE "doctrine of Mr.. Buchanan,
therefore, was not that we ought to reduce
the prices of labor or of any thing else,
below that average rate which they natIIr-
ally bear in the sound state of trade and
currency much less to the standard OF