Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-10-06
THE TARIFF AND THE MONEY MAR


THE TARIFF AND THE MONEY MAR
The money market presents some peculiar
features. In all the large cities there is gene
raj complaint Of the scarcity Of money, and the
Wing press is beginning to repeat its old tariff
dogmas. The National Lntelligcncer attributes
this scarcity to an unfavorable balance Of trade,
created by the heavy imports under the exist
ing revenue laws, and says that at Is an ineUi
table result Of our present commercial system,
than uhich nothing stands more IN need Of ne
form" sa Er
The reform which the National Iatelligencer
demands would Of course be effected by cutting
off portion Of our supplies from abroad by
( levying high duties on them, SO as to check and
diminish imports. In other words, the Ma
tional Latelligencer would have US return to q
Protective Tariff, because money is scarce in
the commercial marts. 1t does not stand alone;
for we see the same idea suggested, somewhat
cautiously, in other Wing journals of the old
school.
This is characteristic of the Wing party.
When overwhelmed by the people it pretends
to abandon its principles, and pronounces them
obsolete ideas. 1t will not, however, be con-
WINGED Of its errors, and adopt q new creed I;
but it waits for a favorable opportunity to re-
turn to the old faith, because it was deserted
from policy, and not from conviction. The.
popular demand for free trade, and the emil
nent success Of the revenue bill Of 1916,
silenced the Protectionists. They persisted for
a long time in attributing that success to acci-
dental circumstances but it outlived those
circumstances, and continued so long in despite
of varying exigencies, and disappointed SO
many predictions Of ruin and disaster, that the
Protectionists prudently shrunk from discus
sion Of their principles % Fa
Although the Protectionists have thus shrunk
from q discussion of their principles they have
endeavored to attribute every temporary incon-
yenfence to the operation of free trade, in order
to bring our present revenue system into dis
repute. A pressure in New York, occasioned
by the condition of the banks in our CONNER
cial metropolis, was attributed to our revenue
system, and the beginning Of the end was con-
6dently announced. But the pressure passed
away with the temporary cause which pro-
duced it, without waiting for change Of our
commercial policy. So when the change in
the relative value Of gold and silver caused a
large export of silver coin, the Inconvenience
arising from that circumstance was attributed
to ruinous balance Of trade. Bnt the undue
export of silver coin has been stopped by Civ
ing it legal value approximating its COM
mercial value, without changing our revenue
laws. H4 ~
Following up this practice, the protection
lists are seeking to convince the country that
she present stringency in the money market is
due to excessive importations caused BY the
freetrade policy, requiring an enormous specie
export to meet an unfavorable balance Of
trade; and the National Intelligencer with other
high tariff journals advocate reform of our
revenue system as the true remedy for the pre-
sent Inconvenience. The reform they propose
is, as we have said, return to high duties in
order to diminish imports.
The revenue laws had no agency whatever
in producing the present stringency in the
money market. That stringency was not oc-
casioned by excessive imports, creating an UNI
favorable balance Of trade. There is as much
specie ia New York now as there was a year
ago, whilst the foreign merchandise received at
New York during the past month is less than
that received during the corresponding period
of last year. But the foreign drain of specie,
IL it existed even to the extent alleged, would
mot account for the phenomena which are
now presented. Such supposition might be
sufficient TO account for a money pressure &C
conpanied by poverty and loV prices; but it
does not and cannot explain the present con-
dition of affsirs--a money pressure accompa-
MED by prosperity and high prices. If the
country was drained Of its specie by an unfa-
vorable balance Of trade prices would fall, and
commercial embarrassment would check i'm
portations until the specie was restored. But
prices are high, and we sec on all sides the evil
dences Of unexampIed prosperity.
There is enough money 10 the country, but
1t is not distributed as it has been distributed
heretofore and its circulation is controlled by
new causes Of a domestic nature. Within the
last two years, an immense impulse has been
given to agriculture. The farmers have be-
come enterprising under the new stimulants to
exertion, and they have made, and are making,
large investments in improving their lands
They no longer leave the chief proceeds of
their labor in the cities, and in the hands Of
merchants and, although there is a scarcity in
the money market, that scarcity is confined
chiefly 10 merchants and dealers /; for there is
more money among the agriculturists and
producers, than there ever was. The scarcity
among merchants and dealers does not arise
from any embarrassment in trade butt exists
because credit cannot command money under
the present circumstances. There is an abun-
dance Of money seeking inuesfpscnts, and there