The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-11-13
DpoppECY VERIFIED.

PROPHECY VERIFIED.
III. following extract from a speech de-
,',,d in tire U. S. Senate, March l. lSso'
Mr. Seward, is one Of the most remarka-
instances of prophecy falhled, to be
ouDd in our political annals. theory SO
,,pcily verified by The occurrence Of the re-
a, predicted must COMMEND itself TO think
no minds rs correct II requires but ano'h-
!, exercise of the deductve faculty to ieaeh
ms that whereas the catastrophe fofeto'o' -
;,svi,ably incident to the policy then Pur-
,usd. might have been avoided by the suoS''-
totion of different poliey--So the sufes'
relief COW lies in the adoption Of Tue re"e1y
indicated by the speaker-pol,uela"' ""O
b.v. been 40 taken by surprise by the imam
40, .,,.b that has prostrn.ed the business OF
,bs country, and are so at a loss Tor The means
of extrieation from the ruin VIII DO well 10
nonder without prejudice what is here said
AMIR President, we are told by the honora-
No Senator from N. Carolina AIR. Badger)
h,t we must adopt either the tariff project
4 be(ore US or his amendment, because the rail-
a road interest requires relief.
"Tbis brings me back 10 the precise ques-
t;on which discussed here few days ago.
4 think, Sir, that the restoration Of the bust
j ness of railroad building to healthy slate
,aouires as either 10 leave il TO work out its
own cure, or else to adopt remedy very dit.
I fsrrnt from what is here proposed--a remedy
which will stimulate production of the raw
material and of fabrics by manufacture
Anything short Of this will fall TO give any
tone 10 the general financial system Of the
country, now 81 much deranged. The trou'
bI,s with which we are contendlng arose
from excessive importations' he proJec'
h.,o,s us tends to reduce duties, and so to
encourage and stimulate imports SUI more
Iua ferer Of ,ohieh zoe are SICK. You pro-
pose to add fuel to dieJ fame thai rs consuming
Let u.s. look back ward for instruction. In
1894. by excessive importa,ions, by an unex.
ampIed enlargement of credits, We had
brought Oh great fiscal embauassments
Property Of every kind was deprecated
everybody wanted relief loans; credit was
paralyked. The Bank Of the United States
exerled itself and gave relief; the crisis
seemed to have been passed. Importation
were Immediately resumed, credit was agaiI
expanded. Wheat rose to two dollars pc
bushel prices Of all descriptions OF properl,
were inflated. The relief obtained was onll
temporary. The ADVERTISEMENTS 1884 re
turned in 1887, aggravated tenfold Ant
then came that fearful convulsion which car
ried distress and ruin throughout this broat
land-distfess and ruin from which we have
required twenty years to recover. Sir, we
in 1854. just passed through the premonitorl
symptoms of a crushing pressure, iohich as
come on in 1857, or some year nnf long there
after. lie. this not be thought strange.
is near twenty years since the last revulslon
Commercial revulsiOns come once in tweni
years. The circumstances of our conditlol
now correspond exactly with our condition
previous to the reyulsion. Government the
refused 10 stimulate production by tariff o
projection, and, on the contrary stimulated I'm
portation. 1t went on to the bitter end.
"Govefnment refuses to stimulate produc
ton now bp a tariff of protection, and give
fresh imPsSe to importation. The resu
must, unaroidably, be the same. Those VIII
think otherwise rely upon the fresh contrlbu
tons to our currency which are derived fror
the gold mines of California. ] grant tina
those contributions may delay commercia
revulsion for a time, and may modify an
break its force when il shall come. But the
can neither postpone il indefinitely nor can the
break its firce so that il wiH LEAVE ihe COUNT.
harmless. What will be the limits of the in
fluencc of those contributions upon CONNER
cial revulsions is mere speculation. Ate
the severe revnlsions of 1887. produced b,
excessive importations, Government returned
to a system OF protection in 1912. and so re
stored the prosperity of the country. W.
shall return 10 the same policy, for the sam
purpose, in the present case. The only ques
tionis, whether We shall adopt that policy n
preventive, or wait until the distemper ha'
become otherwise incurable. am for mp
p,ing protection now. Nevertheless, stan'
alone Congress rs not prepared to raise tn
duties upon imports. All that remains 70
me il, to do all that | can TO prevent The re
duction of those duties.
n