New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-12-09
The Age of Gold.

enormous treasures OF the scAo" ui'Ss " A'''H'"f
and now, in addition to the overlooked but BY no
means triaing developments in Virginia, the world
10 threatened with perfect avalanche from Cal.
fornia. We are on the brink Of the Age Of Gold.
OF course We do not assume to measure the ex-
ten, or richness Of the new Gold Region, but there
can be no reasonable doubt that the former Is am
pie and the latter beyond all precedent. Suppose.
If you will that this Region is but fifty miles by
twenty, and that one tenth OF it, TO the depth Of
only four feet. is as rich as the rude diggngs ac-
toslly examined by Col Mason, and the product
must be virtually measureless One Million Dol
lars is great sum, unless It be for Congress to
squsnder-a Government 10 throw away,-but
One Hundred Millions might be taken from TINS
gold bed and hardly be missed. And alter the
earth shall all be washed land we don't believe
one half the gold is secured by the rude methods
OF washing in vogue In California; we have stu
the MINES untouched OF which the gold thus Oh
tanned is maniiestly bot the waste-the overPlus
tho saperabundancc scattered about, as some
lucky gambler might throw away handful Of
change in stepping out Of the room where
he had won a vast fortune. The mines are
In the solid earth-amid the rocks and crass
Of the Sierra Nevada-they are clasped by Jeal.
cas- walls Of granite and run radiant and price
less down 10 the esrth's center. Probably they
will be found scattered iuegularly over region
hundreds Of miles long, and perhaps as many as
hundred wide. We look for an addition, within
the next four years, equal 10 at least One Thou
sand Million Of Dollars TO the general aggregate OF
gold in circulation and use throughout the world
and, after making due allowance for the wide and
rapid diffusion of the use Of gold for purposes OF
sumptuous convenience or ornament. we cannot
dosbt that the general circulating medium is about
to be vastly and rapidly augmented. This IL al
most inevitable.
VIII this prove a curse or blessing, TO our own
country especially Ne man can yet determine
Usually, the sudden development of great Nine |
raj or other wealth has proved the bane If not the
ruin Of the people to whom it occurred-renderng |
them averss to and disdainiuoi industry, plungng ,
them into luxury, sensuaity and sloth, and pre-
pairing for them centuries of degradation and bond
age. Ii may be thus with US, though we ierventy |
hope it will not But need to summon all our |
virtue, our wisdom, our true patriotism, to make |
head against the new perils which so immediately |
encompass us We need wise craftsmanship, |
trus genius, the development and application OF
original and majestic thought, TO determine how
the legirlation and policy OF the country shall be
seasonably adapted TO its new circumstances and
made to surmount its new dangers. We need an
Executive who can produce something better aud
more fruitful by way Of suggestion TO Congress
than a general libel on all his venerated predeces-
sors aud their ilustrious counsolors we need q
Congress which can effect something in the course
OF week beyond four adjournments
Just consider the new light IN which these de-
velopments present the question OF Protection.
Hitherto the Free Traders have insisted that all
our danger OF or tendency to excessive lmporta-
tons grows out of an inflated Paper Currency
that, If our Banks could only be restrained within
due limits, all would go well and that the Sub
Treasury was the proper engine for eilecung the
desired regulation But here bursts IN new eie-
ment, new agency, which dehes all tins calcula
ton. We arc ON the eve OF a sudden and great ex
psnsion Of prices-one which will ultimately affect
the whole world, but which will naturally affect MS
earliest aud most extensively. The Sub-Treasuy,
how ever potent as a check on the banks of New
England or Wall.street, is utterly powerloss 10
restrain the discounts OF the Banks OF the Sacra-
mento and the Rio de la Plumos. II Is not even a
straw against Niagara In preventing an initiation
OF the Gold OF the Nation; and surely no man OF
sense needs demonstration that this is at least
equally potent and perllous in its effect on lmpor
tations and Home Industry with an initiation OF
Paper
Suppose the amount OF Gold in this Country
were suddenly sweled by two hundred millions
OF dollars who can doubt that there would result
general 10y no means untorml appreciation OF
prices, equal to fully twenty -nye per cent Now
the necessary rise IN Europe need not average
hve per oen,--certainly not ten and who can
compute the consequent in-pouring OF goods wares,
metals, and every kind OF foreign products How
the hammers OF our Aactioneers woald rattle how
our wharyes would groau beneath bales and boxes
OF cloths and gewgaws aud bundles OF iron, and
consg nments OF everything eatable, drinksbs OF
wesrsbe Merry is the time would have OF
IT for year or two--our lads OF eighteen making
fortunes at a jump filling the streets with their
blood horses and turning up their delicate noses at
any wine short OF fifty years old. But by snd'by
would come chilling trost--the river OF gold Still
poarsug in lrom California, though siil immense,
would not exactly saihoe TO bay all We wanted to
eat aac drink and woar--whole classes would
End their livelihood cut of by the transfer 0, our
workshops to E0rope-the gold itself finding eve
ryshins cheaper there. would soon how thither
directly across the lsthmas no longer irrigatiug
the slopes Of the AIeghsnies, nor gliding the
rough granite OF NewEng land-and teen We
should come to dead stand-s saspension-a
Revulsion-thst woald make 1876 and 1887 hide |
their diminished heads Its first phase would &c |
General Bsnkuptcy-iss last General Suffering,
and perhaps Starvation.
-Butthe Golden Age has other lessons for States
men. Tarn again to Col Msson's long dispatch,
and mark the emphatic testimony he bears To the
general quiet order and respect for right in the
Gold Res,oa There are collected many hundreds
OF rude and violent men many OF them sSvases
all bat recently strangers 70 each other; some OF
them doubtless familiar with robbery and outrage
in other days There they are clustered without
law, without government, without the mlnlstgs /
tons of Religion, without the restraining iafluen-
ces OF Society aud reativesor even the genileness
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