Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1851-08-14
Fer the e.nipoIi. journal.
THE TARIFF,

earth will rise again" is amply. proven
by innumerable every day occurrences
| and in none is II more fully exemplifec
than in the policy that shapes the affairs
of nations and governments. 17lnk
will and does ultimately prevail in eye-
~ thing relating to human affairs. and
error falls at last powerless at its feet
If the effects Of bad policy or error hu-
man transactions were as soon dissipa-
ted as il is exposed or becomes apparent,
there would be but little use in the ex,
perience of history, or of appealing to
the past for guidance in the future there
would be no need of Legislation for the
future. But such is not the case and
probably never oil be until human
wisdom can frame perfect laws, and hu-
man perception becomes Omniscient.
Experience Of to-day becomes history
Tomorrow, but the sorrows or ills or
wrongs OF that experience, if there be
any, do not so soon become extinct, and
truths evolved by that stern teacher, live
Through all time. But for all this, some
rSaek will not or cannot learn wisdom.
The laborer of to-day may become an
idler tomorrow, and busy industry that
is to-day feeding, clothing, elevaiing and
enriehing her millions, from mistaken
pelicy or bad law, become extinct and
reverse the scene tomorrow. Yethun-
dreds and thousands cannot see the
cause of this change or learn why it
should be- thus. Reverse the picture,
by making misery, depression, idIeness
and want flee away before another sys-
TEN or policy, and the same sapients
that denied the causes Of the former.
will as firmly condemn the latter. Rx
tend the remark to matters of National
concern, and you will find the same
sterile pated objeetors, denying any
analogy or connection between individ-
ual prosperity and happiness, and ma
tional prosperity and glory. Adopt a
policy to-day, that will deveIope the ma
tional- resources, open up to all the foun-
tain of prosperity and wealth. scatter
the clouds of gloom from the horizon.
send up the smoke of the furnace and
the forge from every mine, set in mo-
ton every spindle and wheel in the land
and cause the sound of busy labor to
be heard on evers hand, and there will
be found ten thousand brainless fools in
these United States who will see in all
this energy, enterprise and industry,
evidences ofruin and decay. And what
is more, these hypocritical popinjays
will set up cry of "Bank, bank.
bankl" "ruin,'' "desolation," "rich
growing richer" s'the poor becoming
poorer" until this senseless shout will
echo over the land and drown the hum
of quiet labor that may be going up from
every village and hamlet in the coun-
try r-a.l .1-s-sr4o,E s,v-T
Every man who has come to years of
discretion can remember the universal
depression that followed the celebrated
"specie circular" Of MIR. Van Buren in
1887, and the gradual decline in almost
every department of labor and enter
prise, extending down TO l849. A
mere statement Of the fact is enough 10
recall the scenes Of that period, extend
ing over five years OF our history
Every man who remembers that time
can also remember the change that took
place in every department Of industry
after the passage Of the tariff act Of '42.
Confidence seemed at once restored to
all classes, capital was invested, new
enterprises set on foot, labor wes in de-
mand, the farmer thriyed, the merchant
thrived, the mechanic thrived. and in
four Years the whole face Of the nation
had undergone change for the better.
Those two periods stand out together
as two great facts, or as two parallel
results or effects springing from certain,
but certainly not similar causes. The
best and true way to find original causes,
is to trace them from their effects, and
if we follow back, like causes from like
effects, we can as easily reach opposite
causes from their immediate results
What are she results we now see by
looking back over the two periods, viz:
from '37 to '49, and from AZ to '477-I
No one is so obtuse in intellect as nof
to see, if he reason at all on the subject,
that if these two periods Of time were
times Of very different character as re-
CARDS prosperity, &C., the difference
was not the result Of the same policy.
This reaches the very point from
whence we can examine without bias or
fear, the two policies, producing such
opposite results. iH-
We all know that Immediately after
the passage of the tariff of '42, there
was a general recuperation and reac-
tion of all the business affairs Of the
country. The appearance of this fact
would be in favor of that tariff and the
protective policy engrafted upon its fea
lures. For ourselves we are willing TO
rest upon the fact, and ascribe the gen.
eral prosperity thai followed the pas
sage of that act, to the beneficial oPe-
rations Of the act itself. The poodle
IKE whfms Of the friends of the free
trade tariff Of '46, about the banks. is
the silIiest nonsense thatcan be inyen
ted. Since the New York Safety fund
system was adopted, and found to be
safe, similar banking systems were
adopted in other Staies.in order TO pro-
tect the people from. the evils Of an un-
safe circulating medium. These laws
have been altered from time to time as