The true Democrat., 1856-07-15
One of the Calumnies.

iine "hlSs.-1acnna0nd Enquirer.
 One of the Calumnies.
 Mir Buchanan is accused by the opposition press of having once declared that len cents q day IS sufficient wages for working man. The only basis of the charge is the followino extract from speech in the Senate in 5plv to Mr. Clay, on the Sub Treasury Bill:
 We are also charged by the senator from Kentucky with desire tc reduce the wages of the poor mars labor. We have often been termed a9rarlans on our own side of the house It Is something new under the sun to hear the senator and his friends attribute to us a desire to elevate the wealthy manufacturer at the ex. pense of the laboring man and the mechanic From my soul respect the laboring man. Labor is the foundation of the wealth of every country; and the free aborers of the North deserve respect both for their probity and in- telllgence. Heaven forbid that 1 should do them wrong Of all the countries on the earth, we ought to have the most considera. ton for the laboring man. From the very na- ture of our institutions, the wheel of fortune Is constantly revolving and producing such mutations m property that the wealthy man of to-day may become the poor laborer of to-mor- row. Truly wealth often takes wings and flies away. large fortune rarely lasts beyond the third generation, even if it endures so long, We must all know instances of individuals obliged to labor for their daily bread, whose grandlathers were men of fortune The regu- 1 lar process of society would almost seem to consist of the efforts of one class to dissipate the fortunes which they have inherited, whilst another class by their industry and economy. are regularly rising to wealth. We have all. therefore, common interest, as it is our com mon duty, to protect the rights of the aboring man and if 1 believed for moment that this bill would prove injurious to him, it should meet my unqualified opposition.
 l Although this bill will not have as great an influence as could desire, yet as far as it goes, it will benefit the laboring man as much. and probably moro, than any other class of so- ciety. What is 1t he ought most to desire ?- Constant employment, regular wages, and uni ] form, reasonable prices for the necessaries and ! comforts of life which he requires Now, sir, what has been his condition under our system of expansions and contractions He has suf. i fered more by them than any other class of so- ciety. The rate of his wages is fixed and known and they are the last to rise with the increasing expansion, and the first to fall when the corresponding revulsIon occurs. He still continues to receive his dollar per day, whilst the price of every article which he consumes is rapidly rising. He is at length made to feel i that, although he nomnaly earus as much, or even more than he did formerly, yet, from the increased price of all the necessares of life, he cannot support his family Hence, he strikes for higher wages, and the uneasy and excited feelings which have at different periods existed among the laborin9 classes. But the expansion at length reaches the exploding nd bat he, 1ab suffer He is for season throwu out of en- ployment altogether Our manufactures are suspended; our public works are stopped; our private enterprises ol different kinds abandoned and, whilst others are able to weather the storm, he can scarcely procure the means of bare subsistence"
 In subsequent speech, MT. Buchanan thus emphatically ,lenounces the attempt of senator Davis, of Massachusetts, to msrepresent his position
 Self-rcspect, as well as the respect which owe to the senate, restrans me from giving such contradiction to this allegation it de- serves. It would surely not be deemed i'm proper. however, i'll me, if 1 were to turn tC the senator ard apply the epithet which he himself has applied to the proposition he i'm putes to me, and were to declare that such ar imputation was 'hagtious misrepresentation of my remarks"
 Replying to the charge more at length, MT Buchanan again said ;
 q contended that it would not injure, but greatly benefit the laboring man to prevent the violent and runous expansions and contractions to which our currency was incident, and by jul dicious bank reform to place it on settled ba sis. If this were done, what would be the consequence That if the laboring man could not receive as great nominal amount for his labor as he did fin the days of extrava gant expansion,' which must always under oul present system be of short duration, he would be indemnifed, and far more than indemnifed by the constant employment, the regular wa ges, and the uniform and more moderate prl ces of the necessaries and comforts of life which more stable currency would produce Can this proposition be controverted? |? IthinB not It is too plain for argument. Mark me sir. I desire to produce this happy result, no by establishing pure metallic currency, bu 'by reducing the amount of your bank issue: within reasonable and safe limits, and estab fishing metallic basis for your paper clrcula tion' The idea plainly expressed is, that it i: better, much better, for the laboring man, a: well as for every other class of society excep the speculator, that the business of the coun try should be placed upon that fixed and per / manent foundation which would be laid by es
 tablishiDg such bank reform as would rende , it certain that bank notes should be alway: convertible into gold and silver.
 , "And yet this plain and simple exposition of my views has been seized upon by thos who desire to make political capital out of thei perversion; and it has been represented ia and wide that it was my desire to reduce wa ges down to the prices received by the msera ble serfs and laborers of European despotsm
 I shall most cheerfully leave the public to de
 eide between me and my traducers. The sen
 ator from Massachusetts, after having attribu ted to me the intention of reducing the wage of labor to the hard money standard, throug the agency of the independent treasury 6ill , has added, as an appendix to hls speech,
 statement, made by the senator from Mary land v MT. Merrick, of the prices of labor fn thes hard money despotisms; and 1t IS thus lett 2 be inferred that l am in favor of reducing tn
 honest and independent laborer of this glorl ous and free country to the same degrade' condition. The senator ought to know tha there is too much intelligence among the Ia , boring classes in this highly favored land to b
 led aslray by such representations"
 i Was ever any false accusation more thor onghly refuted and turned against its authors , Er uno 9,scs onanes. Such are the shafts in tn opposition quivsr