The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-12-07
Hard Times.

This is now the universal complaint
and not without cause. The times ar,
undoubtedly out Of joint. The condition
of cur monetary affairs is not what we, fol
four or five years past, have been accuS
toned to have it. One business firm at
ter another is compelled to suspend pay
ment, and thus, it is to be feared, We are
rapidly Fastening OF 20 i crisis.
TO many this state of things has no
come unexpectedly, while there are 9th
ers who, forgctful OF the experience Of th'
past, seem to be taken by surprise, anc
altogether unable TO comprehend th,
cause of it. That cause We have 10 dif
6culty in tracing. 1t is to be found il
the operation of the Sub Treasury and til,
present Free Trade policy Of our Govern
mcnt. the legitimate fruits Of which we're
predicted and are now being fully res
lized
As is forcibly stated by ono Of cur co
IcmporarieS. less than ten years ago, un-
der the tariff of 1876, We were supplying
ourselves with homemade iron. cloth ana
sugar. Twenty-Five millions of gold from
abroad were Unused into the circulation
Furnaces and mills were building ail O.
YER the country, and new coal mines were
being opened with unexamPlcd activity
builders, carpenters, masoDs, ma
chiui,t>, mechanics Of all kinds, were ac-
lively employed at high wages. Rail
roads were begun and finished in every
State. We were doing then As Belgium
and Germany are doing now, abolishina
free trade and establishing protection al
home. Those countries are now reta5"E"e
all tae gold which protection of necessity
causes to flow into them, just as it flowed
into this country, and was retained here,
in the brief period of protection from
-42 to ls47. That policy revolution
ized the pecuniary condition Of our whole
county in two years, raising it from a
condition Of universal ban Gruptcy IN lo4O,
to one of universal prosperity in 1876.
Mes>rs. Polk & Dallas came into pow
er under this foarisLing state Of circum-
stances; then followed Walkers British
Free Trade Tariff; and hat has been the
result We have, as is tral y remarked
by the Trenton Gazette, been staggering
under the blasting influence of that enor-
NOUS folly from that day until now. Cal
lfornia alone has saved US from general
rain years ago; but the full consequences
of the tariff of 1876 We are only begin
ming to realize. Every dollar that comes
from California is appropriated before it
reaches our shores, where it is landed
merel ly to be re-sbipped to Europe. The
whole country Is overwhelmed with in
debtedness This export Of gold must be
stoTpcd. If not, the exhaustion will re-
suit in a paralysis greater than we suf-
fcred under in 1870. Already the Bank
have interposed to stop the drain. But,
though they have succeeded in very
alis BIT degree in checking its cause, the
foreign imports, yet the drain goes Oh,
aud the attempt to check it has convul-ed
thr monetary system Of the country. Ev-
erybody is suffering but the money-lend-
er. The poor are becoming poorer, aud
the rich richer The factory, the furnace,
the coal mine, the ship, even the day-la-
borer, all suffer In common. Real estates
sinks in value, rents depreciate, stocks
are almost aunihilatcd. Ships have fal.
len one-third in price, houses and stores
are shut up, carpenters and all other me-
;hanics are thrown out of employment,
merchants are failing, and the Banks in
many places are bursting I'D.
Such are the fruits of Loco Foco rule,
lud such the results of the British Free
Trade policy. Was it not high time for
4 meGicans to arouse to full sense of the
niquities of Loco Focoism, and to set a
9out to place men in power, as the Wings
.ver sought to do, who vii! establish ali
4 American policy, one that will encourage,
oster and protect American interests, IN
tead OF British capitalists. Let US hope
he American organization will be true to
Is Uame and its mission.