New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-12-02

SINCE taken place has only carried toe price OF
money up TO ve per cent or the legal rase-iof
Yet that mere bas been IA tlst couutry 81 uisee-
ssl ccmp4lot OF the great scarcity OF money.
Next let them remsrk, that the rhau' e here has
been from six per cent to { we've. htteen eighteen
sDd even twenty five per cent and thae. too
upon securities that il ordinary tunes would have
been readily negotiable tt the ordinary rate OF
ipterest-aDd that in regard real estate security
the change has been 30 great that while old mort
gsges can be sold oply az large discounts, monty
csnDotDow be borrowed upon land at any rate what
ever. The difference between the twomsrkessis
that in the one the changes are similar TO those
in the axle upon which the wheel revolves where
az in the other they resemble those which
take place in the periphery of the wheel
itself Going west We fnd the changes
increase in extent precisely as We recede from
the center and the reason why they do so is, that
under our present system Of policy the whole
value of property is made dependent upon the
movements Of few people in London, to whom
We are forced TO 90 when we wish to borrow
money with which to purchase cloth or iron, to
build houses, ships or railroads. British free
trade means the Capitalization in London of the
mont tsry power of the world; and the more it is
carried out the greater must be the dependence
of our people upon the expansions or cOntracaons
of that market. An expansion, then, attended by
fall in the price of money to the extent of one
per cent. produces changes in Illinois or Wlscon'
Elm equal to twenty, fifty, even one hundred per
| and q rscfio If ona
as much fleet in the opposite direction. TIC at
| tempt, under such circumstances, to abolish the
usury laws is folly, and will always result in
failure.
Whence comes this power Of England over our
money market, From the fact that while in
theory she repudiates the idea that any advantage
results from favorable balance of trade, in prsc
tice she always recognizes it, and therefore gold
and silver perpetually flow in to her, as they al
WAYS fow out from US. A slight turn Of the
screw will always produce an inward flow Of
| gold; but our banks may even turn the screw to
its utmost ability, and they cannot cause gold to
come, nor can they make it stay when it has
come-for our system is based upon the English
theory, and repudiates the English practice.
When money comes in, interest tends always
downward. When il goes out, interest tends al
ways upward. This all our readers we'll kaow;
and if they would turn their attention toward
bringing about such change in the policy Of the
country as would cause the gold of California to
circulate among US, and keep the mill in motion,
they would no longer care about the usury laws,
for the rate of interest would then tend steadily
downward-after which they might repeal the
usury laws when they pleased. To do so now
would end in the reeBactment ofthOse laws, rem
dered as We believe, more stringent than those
which now exist.
Our free.trade friends in Wall-st. being anxious
TO know how they may free themselves from what
they are pleased to call sntiquated restrictions,
we would beg to suggest to them that there is
one very simple mode ofaccomplishingth their object,
ard thatisto advocate thoroughly protective tariff
I -one that will enable them to obtain and retain
quantity of the precious metals adequate to the
duties for the performance of which they are re-
CURED. If they desire evidence of this, let them
study the following facts:
Prior TO the enactment of the tariff of lS24 the
excess of export of the precious metals averaged
! for several years four millions a year, and all
was ruin among farmers, manufacturers, aud
merchants. Under that tariff there was slight
! improvement, sufficient TO warrant the adop.
ton OF the highly protective one of ls2S, under
which in five years we imported twenty. five
millions Of the precious metals more than we
exported and paid off foreign debt of fifteen or
twenty millions. Nobody then cared about the
usury iaws, because the stock of gold and silver
was steadily increasing; but when the revenue
system of 1882 came into fulloperaton, and all
the gold and silver were going out, then came up
sgain the usury question. Money was then again
scarce, and the people were taught that if they
would only allow the money.lender full play
! permitting him to charge fifteen or twenty per
cent. on mortgsges-thst money would become
cheap. 1t was good idea for the man that had
money to lend, but it did not take with the peo-
| Pile anywhere, we believe, but in Mississippi, and
there it did not long remain popular Well at
! length, when all the money had gone ont, and
nothing remained but shinplssters, we obtained
the tariff OF 1872, under which We imported
much more gold than we exported; and
then again the discussion of the usury laws
ceased, because under that system all who had
property, or whose conduct entitled them to
credit, could borrow at fair rates of interest, and
all who had money could obtain good security for
its return. Next came the tariff Of 1876, under
which the drain of gold has continued steadily
until it now exceeds the whole supply from Cali
fornia; and now again money has become so
scarce as TO De almost northumberland, as