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

: tecoHoily caused by aWell-Ordefeu system
e OF trade and transportation. That no
: reduction of wages is required below the
ordinary rates they have hitherto borne
in the times of healthy trade, is apparent
from the fact that during such times we
have always been able to. maintain the
na nee 81 l.. lie at least ia eqUiH5io..
! The master evil, Of hostile foreign ex4
changes does not menace us, until the
cuFrency.s expanded end prizes are risen;
the mischief e7isting o,,ey at thst time
and poitn, il Is ll.en oni@ that sbis pre-
veutiye sction requisite 40 one Mill
suppose that Mr.. Buchanan wishes to
make the application of the remedy more
extensive than the evil. ~
The policy of Mr.. Buchanan, therefore,
is not to render prices less, but to render
them uniform. And this appears very
fully upon the face. of the, argument.
These extracts will show his views:
s"What is 1.-THE laboring man ought most to de-
sire Constant employment, regular wages and
uniform reasonable prices for the comforts and
neceSsarlcS Oh lie Wnlcn ne requires.
$50 Ear from inJuring it viii greatly benefit the
laboring man. 1t will ensure to him constant en-
ployment and regular prices, paid in sound cur
rcAcy which of all things he Ought most to desire,
and ilsyi save him from being involved In ruin
| by recurrence of those periodical expansions and
fcontractiops of the currency which have hitherto
convulsed the country
The progress of Mr.. Buchanan''s argu-
ment developes one peculiar advantage to
the laboring man in that system of uni
formity which he proposes. If the wa
ges. of the laborer stood with other prices,
the general enhancement of value would
not affect him otherwise than as the
whole nation is affected by the overtra-
ding which it produces. But it is the
opinion of Mr.. Buchanan, that when
prices fise from enlargement of the cur
rency, the Wages of labor do not rise in
corresponding. degree, or with equal
quickness. "The rate of the laborer's
wages" he says, sis fixed and known
and they are the last to rise with the
increasinr ovraps;~-, and To c-s. .s.c Ii
when the corresponding fevulsion oc-
ours"
The scope of Mr.. Buchanpns argu-
ment in its relation to the laboner appears
to be this. The general advance of pri-
ces which attends the occaeio3al expan-
sions of the banks is a q tvil to the
nation at large Including ID fars) as it
leads to general overtradiIl 1t cannot
possibly bring any advantage fo3he labo-
rer, for any increase his wages may re-
ceive will be nulli6ed by the contemporary
rise in the cost of ell the neeessaries
which he buys. In matter of fad it will
be direct injury to him, since his wages
do not rise so much or so soon as other
prices, and they fall sooner.
Those passages in which MI. Bu-
chanan denies that any advantage accrues
to the laborer from a high rate OF prices, +
do not contain arguments in'1avor of re- ;
ducing wagesabelow their ordinary and ,
sound rate, but against raising them by |
temporary and Excessive expansions. I
One passage from the paragraph in reply
to, AR. Clay on this point viii suffice to
show that he is not contending ior dim
mutton of rates below the average stand
lard, but is arguing that the occasional
elevation above that standard, which
,excessiveS banking produces, is wholly
without benefit to the laborer.
'If, therefore, you should, in some degree, re-
duco the nominal price paid for labor, by reducing
the amount of your bank issues within safe and
reasonable limits, and establishing metallic basis
for your paper circulation, would this inJure the
lab0rerl Certainly not, because the price of all
the necessares and comforts of life are reduced in
the same proportion, and he Will be able to pur-
chase more of them for one dollar in a sound state
of the currency, then he could have done IA be
days Of ertrarogant expansion, for a dollar and
quarter.
The mistake on the subject of "Euro-
pean despotisms" which has caused the
attribution of the sentiment Which Is quo
ted at the beginning of thu paper, has, IN
Hike manner, arisen from not observing a
what period of tine in the history OF ouI
s.vast but eysfchanging expansion of the
currency that comparison with foreign
counnies is made with any disadvantag'
10 America. 1t will appear that he de
clared those countries to have an advan'
age over us only at those times wheT
there is an eXtravagant initiation OF tn
currency here. His language is PLAIN
but has not been attended to. He limit
the epoch of contrast, both at the begin +.
ming and the end of tho 'r~rmcnt, IN ser,
precise terms.
At the commencentni u t6al part
the dispersion, he says