Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1840-03-12

When the circulating medium 10 reduced
to 50,00000O dollars, each lsborer works foI
the support Of government, snd the use ol
capital, about EIGHTY DAYS out Of each
year ~
Or just in that proportion, let the circulat.
ing medium Of the country expand or contract
more or less-of course this rule does not
apply TO sudden and violent fluctuations -
These may be prevented to any injurious ex'
tent by ioise legislation, which was fully pro-
we'd in the United States previous to Andrew
Jackson's elevation to The presidency.-An nd
that they may also be caused by bad legisla'
tion, there can be no doubt Of in the mind OF
any honest man who 10 thoroughly acquainted
with the nature of credit and banking-and
who has watched the progress Of events from
The time the depositcs were removed IN 1855
by General Jackson, to tho present day.
1t will be observed that the interest of mo
ney has been called the same, in the forego
ing calculations, in oil states Of the currency
Ii il, however, we'll known TO all, that in q
contracted state Of the currency, interest IN
creases in its rate, and diminishts in more
erpanded state of the currency; which if Ia
ken into consideration, would make the re-
suits shewn still more striking. There has
likewise been no allowance made for the
fact, that a contracted currency would ne
cessarily be entirely metallic. Whereas the
same amount of a sound paper currency. will
probably effect twice or thrice the amount OF
exchanges in the same time that the same
sum in specie villas may DO more fully
shewn hereafter.
To show how utterly impossible il has ever
been for poor man 10 rise by his own honest
exertions, in a county where the exchanges
have been made in a contracted currency,the
writer will state that he has seen Churches
or Cuthedrals in England that were built by
aborers al one penny or tico cents day. The
specie Of the country was then mostly in the
hands OF the King and nobility, with tho ex
ception Of what was possessed by usurers,
who obtained from 90 to so per cent per an
nun for its use. Hume the British historian
says, that the first law made fixing the legal
interes, Of money in England was in the
reign Of Henry the Eighth in the year 1876
The rate allowed by law was 10 per cent per
annum. Until the reign Of Queen Elizabeth
in 1858, English princes had TO resort to An.
twerp and other German cities, for loans
and their credit was so low, that besides pay
ing the high interest of 10 or IL per cent,
they were obliged to get the city of London
to join in the security. Notwithstanding the
great quantities of silver and gold imported
into Europe ofter the conquest OF Mexico
and Peru, by Cortcs and Pizarro, interest of
money in England continued at ten per cent
until after the reign of James the first. who
asccnded the throno in 1903. and in 1864 in
tercst Of money was fixed ut eight per cent
per annum.
Iialum, IA highly approved au,hor) speak.
ing Of the state Of Europe during the middle
ages, says" 1t is not easy to determine the
average rate Of profit, but we know that the
interest of money was exceedingly high dur
ing the middle ages. At Verona in 1928, it
was fixed by law at I2a per cent at Modena
in 1870, it seems to have been as high as
twenty per cent. The Republic Of Genoa
towards the end Of the fourteenth century.
when Italy had grown wealthy, paid only
from seven to ten per cent to her creditors );
but in France and England, the rate was far
more oppressive. An ordinance Of Philip
the Fair king Of France) in 1871, allows
twenty per cent, after The first year of the
loan. Under Henry the third (of England,)
according to Matthew Paris, the debtor paid
ten per cen, every i,co months, but this is alb.
solnteIy incredible as a general practice"
cents. day, interest was probably not less
than thirty per cent per annum-but we will
at present suppose it only ten per cent.--A
capitalist then having 500 dollars, (about leo
pounds sterling) would then receive fifty dol.
lars annually for its use. The yearly wages
Of laboring man allowing him to work 300
days in each year, at two cents per day would
amount to sir doiiarS-consequently it would
require tho constant work of more than eight
men 10 pay the annual interest of 500 dollars
in those days-and at the end of the year
they would have to commence the same rou.
tine again. Under the burdens imposed upon
the laboring man by the q" False SYSTEM" of
Mr.. Van Buren,, the wages of one day laborer
in this country, will pay the whole yearly in
crest of 500 dollars (cven at the rate of ten
Der cent? in less than ninety days-whereas
I would formerly have taken the labor Of 35
men the Same time TO have paid it..
But the real fact then was, as stated, that
he interest of money was al least 80 per cent
per annnm, and It would in those blessed
times have required the constant labor Of
about 25 stout men to keep pace with the |
interest of 500 dollars only.-The power Of
|evying taxes was vested in The King, Mobiles
and Barons, which being collected at the
point Of the bayonet, soon concentrated all !
The property and lands Of the people into their
hands-thus going to prove that a contracted
specie currency, has ever been tho most pow
eriul engine in the hands Of despots and ty
-unts to enslave m1nklnd.
England in these times, with the some soil |
md natural advantages as nt present. (but
when Banks, Credit. and manufactures were
inknownl sustained n population of only
'bont 4,0O0,O00,the great body Of whom were
clothed IN sheep skins and miseraby fed
The wretchcd people of tina: day, driven
desperate by oppression, occasionally rebel.
ed against their tyrants, but were unable to
'blan the most trining ameliora,ion of their
condition only, by the shedding of oceans of
blood, in contending with the mnions of
power, subsisiing on the products Of their own
the pcople's) labor-and answering in char
'cter to many Of the office holders Of the
present day in the u. States.- England with
Ter present "fnlse system" Of Credit. Banks,
md home labor protection-her people labor.
ng as they undoubtedly are under many
wrongs, and burdened with an enormous pub.
ic debt - mostly contracted in the defending
themselves and Europe against The ambition
IT Napoleon is now able to support in com
'arativo comfort population Of more than
hrec times its former amount, while the 90.
'crnment, Is almost entirely controlled BY
he moral power Of the people, e,-and the
'oice OF the meanest oppressed subject is
made to be heard and listened to in both
Iouses Of her parliament and in the palace