, 1840-04-04

and he will be able to purchase more OF them
for one dollar in a sound state of the cur
rency, than he could have done in the days
of ex;ravagant expansion for a dollar and a
quarter. So far from %injuring, it will greatly
benefit the laboring man. 1t will insure -
him constant employment and regular prices,
paid in a sound currency, which, of all
things, he ought most TO desire; and it will
save him from being involved in ruin by a
recurrence of those periodical EXPANSIONS
and contractions of the currency which have
hitherto convulsed the country.
This sound state Of the currency will have
another most happy effect upon the laboring
man. He will receive his wages in gold
and silver; and this will induce him to lay
up, for future use, such Il portion Of them as
as he can spare, after satisfying his inme IL
ate wants. THIS he will not do at present,
because he knows not whether the trash
which he is now compelled to receive as mo-
ney will continue to be of any value a week
or a month hereafter. A knowledge o. this
feet tends 10 Danish economy from his dwell
ing, and induces him to exrend all his ages
as rapidly as possible, lest they may become
worthless on his hands.
Sir, the laboring classes understand this
subject perfectly. Il is the hard-handed and
frm-6sted men of the country on whom We
must rely in the day Of danger, who are the
most friendly TO the passage Of this bill. 1t
is they who are the most ardently in favor
OF infusing into the currency Of the country
a very large amount Of the precious metals.
The Senator has advanced another position
in which am sorry | can not agree with
him. 1t is this: that permanent high rate
Of interest is Indicative Of the prosperity
of any country. Now, sir, a permanent
high rate OF interest is conclusive evidence
of 4 scarcity of capital, and is indicative OF
any thing but prosperity. think, therefore
1t will puzzle him with all his ingenuity, TO
establish his proposition. To render a coun-
try truly prosperous, capital and labor must
be so combined rs each to receive a fair
reward. In England, when the rate OF in
terest was very high, the country was not
at all in a flourishing condition; but as capital
gradually accumulated, and the rate Of!
interest consequently sunk, she became
more and more prosperous, though she did
not reach her highest elevation until money
yielded considerably less than five per cent.
But this subject is SO little relevant to the
question under discussion, that it is scarcely
HCCCSS1lD W Jul U he "C'Cs u "Ougul
be easy to show that a high rate OF interest.
generally, if not universally, enters in to
direct conflict with the wages Of labor, which
the Senator is 50 anxious to maintain
Suppose, for example. that it required a capt.
tai Of $4,000 to put and preserve al iron
mandatory in successful operation. In
one country the interest on this sum ut ten
per cent, would amount to $4,000; whilst in
another it could be procured at four per cent
or $500. The difference would be $1,000;
and, unless this amount can be saved either
by a reduction in the wages Of labor, or in
some other manner, the manufacturer who
pays the higher rate Of interest cannot endure
the competition. A high rate Of interest
almost always presses upon the wages Of
labor. If the gentleman's theorybe correct,
Wal street must lie a perfect paradise Of
prosperity. There. the rate Of interest for
a long time has been permanently high,
varying between tNo and four per cent. a
month, or between twenty-four and forty
eight per cent. per annum Post notes Of
the Bank ofihe United State. hare been
discounted freely at Two percent. per month.
With these facts before him, Mr.. Jeffrey
would not now declare, as the Senator
iuioihiS uS ~ io'iioIiy uius "uldt tliS Coui-
try was the heaven Of the poor man, and
the he'll of the rich" He might probably
reverse the position, though it would be
equally extravagant one way as the other.
A country in which 4 rich man can realize
from t~wenty-four to forty eight per Get. for
his money, would certainly be any thing but
a place OF tormcnt for him. But what is the
condition ola poor man in such a country +?
When capital commands suchan extravagant
Interest to liquidate commercial debts, it
will no longer be used in the employment Of
labor; and hence poor men must necessarily
be thrown out of employment. Such a con-
dition is any thing but a heaven Tor them.
The Senator exclaims with holy horror 'the
Stuarts are still upon the throne, and Charles
the Second has succeeded Charles the First
He has, l think, been very unfortunate in this
historical ~allusion, if he intended to compare
our Andrew with the first Charles. The
enemies Of Charles cut off his head whilst our
Andrew, politically speaking, cut the heads
of all his enemies; and many Of them were in
~,ob farror of HIM that fhey draadad he