The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-08-22

How like you the picture Iaborng men
Upon these wages you and your families are ex-
pected to subsst-you are to board yourselves
and your families, educate your children, and, in
fine, live as miseraby as you possibly can In
the meanwhile, your rulers, the officehoders, will
live as rulers do in enlightened despotisIns, on
the very fat of the land!
In Buchanan's speech on the Sub Treasury bill,
on 22d jan, 1910, containing the specie clause,
we find the following passages. After stating that
the foreign manufacturer would not take our
bank notes in payment. and would take nothing
but gold and silver, or bills of exchange, which
are equivalent, Mr.. B. said;
"Sir, solemny believe that if we could but
reduce this inflated paper bubble to anything like
reasonable dimensions, New England would be-
come the most prosperous manufacturing country
that the sun ever shown on, Why can not we
manufacture goods, and especially cotton goods,
which will 60 into successful competition with
British manufactures in foreign markets! Have
we not the necessary capital! Have we not the
industry! Have we not the machinery! And,
above all, are not our skill, energy and enter
terprise, proverbial throughout the world2 Land
is also cheaper here than in any other country on
the face Of the earth We possess every advan-
tage which Providence can bestow on us for tho
manufacture OF cotton; but they are all counter
acted by the folly of man. The raw material
costs us less than it does the English, because
this is an article, the price of which depends upon
foreign markets, and is not regulated by our own
inflated currency. We, therefore, save the freight
of the cotton across the Atlantic, and that of the
manufactured article on its return here What
is the reason, that with all these advantages, and
with The protective duties which our laws afford to
the domestic manufacturer of cotton, we can not
obtain exclusive possession of the home market
and successfully contend for the markets of the
world 1t is simply because we manufacture at
the nominal prices of our own inflated currency,
and are compelled to sell at the prices of other
nations. Reduce Our nominal 10 the real standard
Of prices throughout the aoorld, and yOu couer our
country Nth blessings and benefits. wish to
Heaven could speak in voice loud enough to
be heard throughout New England because if
the attention of the manufacturers could once be
directed to the subject, their own intelligence
and native sagacity would teach them how niu-
riously they are affected by our bloated banking
and credit system, and would enable them to
apply the proper corrective"
Mr.. Polk it will be recollected, sustained this
Sub treasury system, both by his votes and his
speeches and by the Punishment of paper money,
would have aided in bringing down the wages of
Iaborers to the standard of the countries quoted
above. Do our working men want hard noney
on such terms! Do they want currency which
will give the Office holders so decided an advan.
tage over all other classes of people! If they
do, let them vote for the Sub-treasury candidates
Their wages once reduced, they may toll and
sweat for years, before they can get back to
living standard of wages And, understanding
this, they will scarcely be found pursuing such a
suicidal course-V Virginia Free Press.