New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-11-20


permanently prosper while il remained depen1-
ent on the sale of bonds aud the property holders
Of our City that their rents could never % maiA-
tanned under the existing system-but the answer
has slwsys been that we were wonderfully pros
porous, thst no change was TO be spprehended'
that we were croakers, and that we desired 10
build up one interest at the expense Of all others.
The change predicted has, however, come. Real
estate cannot now be sold. Rents have greatly
fallen. Ships command scarcely half their cost
Stores are being closed. Carpenters, mssons,
macbinists. furnace men and laborers OF all kinds
are being discharged. and now the question is
arising, Why is it that tbis change has come over
"the spirit of our dream" of prosperity
TIE answer to this question is simple. We
are exporting the money which constitutes the
basis of the credit Of banks, merchants, msaufsc-
turers, shp-owners, carpenters brlcklayers' ma
sons. furnace-men machinists, and enables all
these people to effect the exchanges of society.
Exchanges are, therefore, gradually cessing.
The laborer gets no wages, aud he ceases to be a
customer at the store. The storekeeper cannot
sell CLOTH and he ceases to be customer to the
mar ufacturer. The manufacturer cannot sell,
and be ceases to want iron. The iron-maker
cannot sell, and he ceases to want coal. The
goldman cannot sell, and he ceases to want
miners The miners 90 out Of employ, and they
cease to be able to buy food. And thus, because
of a deficiency in the medium OF exchange, the
labor power of the country is rendered idle and
unproductive, the consequences Of which fall
then with greatest severity upon the owners OF
houses, lots and lands.
While bonds could be sOld-that is while we
could obtain iron and cloth upon our promises to
pay at some future time-we kept part OF the
gold of California, and this gave an appearance of
prosperity, but it was exactly the same that's
enjoyed by the man who lives in large house,
dresses we'll, and gives good dinners, but leaves
his butcher. bis baker, and his tailor unpsid For
a time his credit is good, but at length he pays
10, ~ or 20 per cent, for money, and again after
a time, he figures before the world as bankrupt.
Just 40 have we been doing. In 1916, We had
commenced paying of the debts contracted from
1886 to 1872 and we did so because we then had
that real prosperity which results from making
cloth and iron for ourselves. In 1913, we COM
menced the work of closing mines and furnaces aud
mills and went abroad to buy cloth and iron with
bonds. and so long as the bonds sell, all went
we'll but that resource is now exhausted. Wehave
tried eight ten, and twelve per cent. and now
are selling stocks and bonds bearing large interest
at enormous discounts, and the larger the dis
count the nearer DO we approach to that abyss OF
ruin from which we were extricated by help Of
the tariff of 1o42.
II is time that our people Of all classes should
begin to open their eyes to the necessity tor
change of policy. IL we continue to export gold
at the rate of million a week, what will be the
value of houses, stores, ships, railroad stocks,
farms. mills. furnaces, and mines, syear hence 7
Will IL be even one-half of what it now ISL We
fear not. If we continue to export gold' when
will our numerous unfinished roads be completed'
Not, as we fear, in ten years to come. Ii we
continue In our present course, what Will be the
condition of Indiana, Illinois, and the West
generally, deprived, as it will be- of all means OF
exchanging labor and commodities AS bad, we
think, as 1t was in 1872.
If, ON the contrary, we change our policy, and
determine to make our own cloth and our own
iron, what will be the course of affairs For an
answer to this question. we beg to refer each
reader to himself. Let him suppose that to-mor-
rows TRIBUNE should contain an act, signed by
the presiding officers Of Congress aud by the
President, TO the effect that the Tariff Of 15i6
had ceased to exist, and that of 1912 had been
revived, and then reflect how be would feel and
think on seeing such an announcement Would
be not at once see that we were in future to make
cloth and iron at home instead of getting them
from abroad Would he not see that if we made
cloth and iron, and grew sugar for ourselves, we
should stop the e1hausting drain Of gol6l Would
he not see that, if the gold remained at home,
banks would cease to contract, manufacturers,
furnace. men and miners would cease TO discharge
laborers, and laborers would cease TO be obliged
to dispense with clothing and other necessaries Of
life Would he not see that with the increased
demand for goods, there would be increased de-
msnd for shops and increased ability to pay their
rentsl Would he not see in the distance HOPE
taking the place of DESPAIR, that now paralyzes
all the operations of the community
We beg each of our readers to answer these
questions for himself and shen TO determine if the
time has not arrived for the people of this great
metropolis to come together and address to Con-
gress al urgent remonstrance against the further
continuance Of policy that can have no other
result than that which was witnessed throughout
the whole length and breadth of the land at the
close Of the of the last British freetrade period
in lS42. We beg also our distant readers to look
around them and see how many roads that are