The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1853-01-06
EBENSBJRG, THURSDAY, JANUARY s, 1853.

! shall not, by means of tariffs, endeavor
to bpil5z4. a sickly manufacturing system up
on the ruins OF healthy and vigorous com
] merce.
| But we must bear in mind that the whig par
1 ty, owned and controlled chiefly by capitalists
and cottbn lords, really wants a high tariff, not
| for the sl&e of low, but of high prices, whereby
| the profits of the manufacturer may be augmen-
! ted by his monopoly of the home market Yet
even here it is mistaken Under certain cir
! cumstances high tariff may temporarily raise
! prices ekorbitantiy. But there is great natu-
raj law the law of supply and demand-which
! proves al effectual limitation. So soon as the
supply ef an article much exceeds the demand.
the marset viii be glutted and its price will fall.
/ This viii discourage the production of that ar
! ticle, whereby in time the demand viii exceed
the supply, and its price viii rise. Such is the
( case with -four and wheat, whose price is on a
| perpetual see-saw. Such is the with the
| window glass makers along the Monongahela
river, of. whom we have been told that during
every ten years one-haif of them break up, while
the othe + half made their fortunes. And such
is the case with the iron interest, which having
been for a long time too much depressed, is Just
now unduly exalted It has been depressed
chiefly because two tons of metal were made
where one was needed and it is now exalted
because she demand has great outgrown the lin
/! tied supply.
! But even allowing the whg party that pro-
tectiye tariff, with its accompanying imaginary
advantages Of checking importations, keeping
specie in the couatry, and turning the balance
of trade in eur faver, is right and expedient we
claim that It's policy with regard to the curren-
cy conttldicts it's tariff policy that its financial
policy tends to increase importations, hurry
specie out of the country, and turn the balance
Of trade .nost effectually against
The financial policy of the democratic perty
is we'll known. Knowing the currency to be
! good serrant but dangerous master, it eTdea-
vors to keep it under strict control. It views
with ieabnsy the too great multiplication of
banks, tlose machines for artiiciaily. making
money cleap by issuing their bills, ana then
making IL dear by Withdrawing their notes from
circulation thus battling the acutest foresight,
and often causing the severest commercial DIS
tress. L has hence ever advocated the policy
OF bavina specie currency to circulate from
hand 20 hind in the community, so that labor
may be sure of receiving its just due-reserving
bauk bills Of high denominations only for large
commercial transactions, and to circulate among
those vhoare able to bear the loss which inevi-
tably atte,is the use of paper money. 1t holds
as truthattested by all fact and ali history,
/ that none, is as much of a commodity as soap
or tea der ring its chef value from its being
the chief Instrument OF exchange and transfer,
without Which no extended commerce were pos
sible andthat its value is determined, like that
of every oher commodity, by the law of supply
| and demani so that when its quantity is les
sened, mercy becomes dearer, less of it is given
| for any article, or in other words, price, fall
! To the rey,rse when the amount OF the curren-
/ cv is increased beyond the demands OF an in
1 creased commerce, money becomes cheaper, sIc
more of it Is given for any article; or, what iS
the same ting, prices rise. Thus, bushei oil
/ wheat is w,rth now four times as much specie
| as it was faar hundred years ago-not because
the intrinsic vaiue of wheat is greater now, but
because the vast influx of silver and gold from
Mexico and Peru has caused them TO fali to ene-
fourth of ther former value. Acting upon this
! truth it has ever been the democratic policy to
confine the currency to specie, with go much pa
per money as viii suffice to supply tic wants of
extending commerce.
The whig financial policy is just the reverse
Mistaking tie quantity of currency for its Vat-
ne, it strive, to multiply banks and paper money
as much as possible. 1t endeayors to make bank
notes of lew denominations almost the sole CIR
culating Medium. Discarding specie as the sole
basis of banking, it advocates the use of State
! stocks ard even of real estate, both of very TN
certain value, as banking capital. To make II
popular, it calls this system free banking. free
spindlinq, would be much more appropriate
name, as We shall presently see. Follow it out
to its full extent, and you have a paper curren-
cy doubling or trebling in value all the real es-
tate and State stocks in the Union.
Now what is the result of such a policy as
this Money will inevitably become plenty ana
cheap Prices of goods viii rise, not because
their intrinsic value is become greater, but be-
cause money is so much cheaper. Vast fortunes
| will spring up in night, like mushrooms
through the universal rise in prices. Specuia-
| ton will be aroused. The most absurd schemes
will be blindly rushed into by men who hope la
zily to win fortunes in day, instead OF buiiding
| them up by frugality and perseverance IN lI1e-
| time Under the influence of the general eA-
citement, prices rise until it becomes Immensely