The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-08-01


standayd Of prices throughout the s0orld, and you
copsr our country ,oih blessings and benefits. |
| wish to Heaven / could speak in voice loud
| enough to be heard throughout New England
because, il the attention of the manufacturers
could be directed to the subject, their own intel
ligence and native sagacity would teach them
how injuriousy they are affected by our bloated
banking and credit system, and would enable
them to apply the proper corrective"
No one can read the above without remarkng
the significant appeals made by Mr. Buchanan to
the manufacturers. What does he mean! What
can he mean, if it is not an intmaton that they
pay too much for labor; and that they might just
as easily, if they would join in the establishment
of the Subtreasury obtain labor at half the price
His whole argument leads to that result, and he
is doubtless correct in his reasoning-the manu-
facturers would be benefited by the adoption Of
the Sub-ireasury, at the expense Of the laborer.
All manufactured goods that are exported, if not
those consumed at home, would continue to sell
at their present prices; but the additional profit
would all enure to the manufacturer, or master
workman, and not one cent to the laborer or jour
neyman-so far from it, the very object of the
for paper credit, is to reduce the wages Of
labor. Boys, do you hear that To reduce your
wages, in order to increase the profits of your
employers. And to what point are your wages
to be reduced Mr.. Buchanan frankly answers
he leaves you in no doubt He tells you that by
adopting the Sub-treasury and the specie basis,
| that prices and wages will be brought do,on to
the standard of France and Germany, where
wages are less than half what they are here.
Read the extract from his speech over again, and
satisfy yourselves that we have in no degree mis-
/ represented Mr.. Buchanan. 1t is no garbled ac-
count of his speech, but was written out by his
own hand.
But it may be said, that with the reduction of
wages all that the laborer has to buy will fall
1 with them, and consequently no injury result
from the change Let us examine the matter.
A diminuton of the currency in this country to
half or one third its present quantity-or, say to
the specie standard, would doubtless reduce the
price of articles of our own produce or manufac-
ture, but not in degree corresponding to the re-
ducton of the currency; for this reason ten
dency to fall in the prices of our own products
in our own markets would induce greater ex-
portaton, for the reason, that if our merchants
and manufacturers can afford to export now, I'M
der existing prices, they could better afford it, or
rather they would more readily afford it, when
those prices have fallen one half This export
alton would react upon the domestic market price
for home products, and cause rise to point
which would place the home and foreign markets
upon par. Consequently, while the wages of
the aborer would fall to half the present stand
ard the price Of home products would not fall to
one half; but would be kept above that point by
the greater amount Of expectation.
Now, let us inquire what effect the proposed
reduction of currency and wages to the specie
standard would have upon the prices of foreign
goods imported aud sold here in our markets.
If foreign nations had no other market for their
products and manufactures than our country, then
| a reduction in the nominal amount of wages and
profits would cause, of necessity, a corresponding
fall in the prices of foreign goods imported That
is to say, if we had but half as much money, we
could only afford to pay half the price But it SO
happens, that though the United States form a
large commercial community, with population
of twenty millions of inhabitants, we are not all
the world. There are, besides our own twenty
millions, some eight or nine hundred millions of
mouths to be filed and backs to be clothed in
other countries; so that reduction in the amount
of our currency to one half it's present value,
would not cause corresponding reduction in the
prices of foreign goods to one half their amount
The only effect of such change would be to
check importations, and even to cause the re.ex.
portation of many foreign articles now in the
hands of our importers Hence, with half the mo-
ney they now get for their daily labor, our work
ing classes would have to 60 to the same market
and pay nearly the same price for their sugar, cof-
fee. team word, for everything foreign which
they now consume. What would be the conse-