The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1840-06-12
(COAclulel from Isl page.)

from what they were, ana ms, II Is s'lu, has peci'
caused by the course of the Government. And to
what measures of the Government are those effects
attributed Why, to the refusal to establish U.
s. Bank, and to the proposition to separate the al
fairs of the Government from the concerns of the
Banks. But let us see whether the same things
have not happened, when these causes could not
have operated upon them.
The last United States Bank was established in
1916, and probably went into operation the next
year. BY looking back at the publicpapers of 1873,
30 and '2i, we meet with the most melancholy
accounts in regard to the business Of the country
and the prices ofall kinds of property The Frank
fort (Kentucky) Argus of 1919, says:
"Ncvcr within the recollection of our oldest citizens has
the aspect of the times it respects property aud money
been soaarminc Already has property been sacrificed, in
considerable quantities, in this aud the ncighborng coi-
ties, for less than haf Of its raiue,"
The following statements are from Niles Reg
lister of 1921:
at has become serious affair to the iaboring man To
purchase himself anew sarncnt-s wages on an average
do not furnish him half much as they did, gentleman
in Virginia directs the REGISTER to he stopped be-
he used to for annually with one barrel Hour,
but that three will not do il now. Another miller in Ohio
on ra ing his in advance my agent observed thai ID
sold four barrels of flour to obtain the 81 note which was
RENTED. Corn in Cincinnati is lOcenS blshcl Wheat
In Harrison County, Ohio has fallen q cents, and in some
instances to IL IL cents. Flour nj hsbnrsh Is 81 bar
rel busle aud half of wheat will buy pound Of
coffee, AMI barrel of flour will buy pound of tea"
In the year 1924 Mr. Clay made speech in
Congress, in which we find the following remarks;
SIN casting eyes around MS, the most prominent cir
cnstancc which llSes our attention. and challenges our
deepest regret is the general distress whiS prcvades the
whole country. II forced upon by numerous facts
OF the most nconlestbc character II Is Indicated by the
diminished Crp0rfe Of n0ipe Proluce depressed anu re-
duccd of our foreign navigation by Our diminished com
erce by successive uhrcshed crops Of gran pcrishinS
in harms and barn yards for the want Of markets by
he rlrfHfNfIng
the numerous bankruptcies not limited, 10 the trading
classes but extending to al ORDERS Of s0cy by an un-
ersai complaint of the ,rant of rRpioymf AMI cons6-
quent reduction of Wages of dbor by ravenOus pursuit
ae snntons for the sake Of their honor, and the
performance of their public duties, hut ms means Of pr
tae subSstsncP nv the reluctant resort to the pcrons
use ofPApER MONEY, by thctcryenton of legislation
in the delicate relation odebt0r and erection and ADORE d
by the low and depressed state OF the value amos, every
description of the whor ofe property ofe nation
which has average sunk not less than about 80 per
cent, within few years.
Agan:-
"Thc truth is that class Of society suffers more in the
present stagnaon OF bushes hun The iabor'ng classes
That necessary effect OF the depression of agriculture,
the principle business of the community. The OF
able bodied men vary from So oS per month"; and such has
been the wqnt Grandparents in some parts of the Union,
that instances have not been ancqncnt of working
merely for the means of present subsistence the wages
of labor here and in England compared they will be
found not to he essentially different"
And Mr. Webster, in speech made by him up
on the same occasion, makes use Of this language:
"THE PAPER SYSTEM of ENGLAND had certainly commu.
nicatcd artificial value to property. had encouraged
speculation and excited Ouertrdig. When the shock,
therefore, came aud this violent pressure for money acted
at the same moment on the continent ANA in England
Inflated and unnatural prices could be kept up no longer
reduction took place. which has been estimated to have
been least equal to fall of thirty, no forty per cent,
The depression unircrsa' and the chang. was felt in
the United States severely though not cqmy so in every
part of them Mr. Speaker ta has alluded to the stroug
inclination which exists or has cNscd vnroS parts nj the
country to issue paper money ms proof great existing
difficulties regard it rather us roy Woducfire CAUSE
of those diHruHies and the committee will not ial To
observe thnt is at this moment much the oncst complaint
of distress precisely where there ns been the greatest at
tempt to relieve it by systems of PAPER crcdH.
Here we have evidence of a great sagnnion of
business and much distress among the people, for
several wears, and especially n picture drawn by
Mr. Clay in 1924 of the distress which then pre-
vaded the country, and of the great reduction of
the prices of property and wages OF labor And
we have the authority of Mr. Webster, that our
paper money system was "a very productive cause
ofthc dilfcnltics and distress, portrayed by Mr.
Clay. And you should bear in mind my friends,
that all this was while the United States Bank,
'ihe Great Regulator" was i'll full operation, and
in the height yf its glory. And when, too, there
were no specie circulars, nor Sub Treasures. In
short, it was when the precious paper system,
throughout the country had full and unmolcst-
ed sway.
Did any one at those periods think oflaying the
prevailing distress and difficulties to the Govern
ment' Certainly not. The true cause of them
appeured TO be- understood, and that cause, the
pqper system, was deprecated. But now, mere
" for proposing a measure which has become
necessary for the safe keeping of the public funds,
and which will, at the same time have n tendency
to place the people beyond the reach of the same
causes, by gradually bringing back the business of
the country to more regular channels, and secur-
ing the prices of property, and the wages of labor,
upon more stable and permanent grounds, the adj
is assaulted most iiercely by the whole
federal party, and accused of being the source of
every existing. evil, or imaginary, and might al
most say, of every evil which has existed from
the beginning of the world TO this day. One thing.
however, is certain which is that if Mr. Webs,er's
authority is worth any thing the declarations made
by him in 1924 prove, and exclusively prove, that
no action of the government can have produced
any depression of property or of prices which may
now be felt
Another Of the charges which have been sound
ed through the country is, that the government
has become extravngaut, and even proiligate, in
the public expenditures. Statements showing only
aggregate amounts, without any explanations,
have been extensively circu-ted with view of
proving that the expenses of the government have
Increased since the year 1924, from thirteen, cr'
fourteen millions of dollars, to 81 or 80 millions.
This was known by the actors to be an unfair
representation, but it was of character with the
other means made use of to impose upon the pco-
PIE, A statement from the Treasury Department
has lately been laid before the Senate ofthe United
States, in consequence of call from that body
exhibiting all the items of expenditure of every
year from 1924 and separating the extraordinary
and temporary expenses, from. the standing and
ordinary ones. The former class is made up, a
mong other things, of moneys expended for the
purchase of Indian lands the removal of Indians,
and prosecution of Indian wars, upon harbors, and
Notifications, and in payment of pensions. And
in one of the years was sum of upwards of4 mil
lions Of dollars paid from the treasury TO the own
ers Of claims against foreign governments, witch
had previously been received by the Government
for the claimants, and this too, with all the other
items OF an extraordinary or temporary character
was represented as part of the expenditures Of
the government, and as evidence Of exiravagance.
The opposition Senator's had previously declare
ed that 5 millions of dollars would be, at this time,
r II