Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-10-27

ot every article. If when the circulating medium IS fifty millions article should cost one dollar, It would cost two, if, without any increase of the uses of a circulating medium, the quantity should be increased to one hun dred miiions." The same effect would be produced, whether the circulating medium were specie, or convertible bank paper mingled with specie. It is the increased quantity of the medium not its character, which produces this effect. Of course I leave out ot view ir
 redeemable bank paper
 Let me now recur to the proposition with which commenced; and repeat that I do not pretend to mathematical accuracy in the illus lratlon which l shall present. The United otateS carry on trade with Germany and rance; the former hard-money country, and ohe latter approaching Il so nearly as to have no bank notes in circulation under the denomi- nation of five hundred francs. or nearly one hundred dollars. On the contrary, the United States Is emphatically a paper-money country. having eight hunded banks of issue, all of them emitting notes of a denomination as low as hVe dollars, and most of them one, two and tEree dollar notes. For every dollar of gold and silver in the vaults of these banks, they is- sue three, tour, five, and some of them as high as ten, and even fifteen dollars of papeI This produces Vast but ever changing expansion of the currency, and a consequent increase of the prices of all articles, the value of which is not regulated by the foreign demand, above the prices of similar articles in Germany and France. At particular stages of our ex pansons we might With justice apply the principle which l have stated to our trade with hese countries, and as- sert that, from the great abundancy of our cur rency, articles are manufactured in France and Germany for one-haf of their actual cost in ths country. Let me present an example In Germany, where the currency Is purely y metallic
 and the cost of everything is reduced to a hard money standard, a piece of broadcloth can be manufactured for forty dollars, the manufacture of which In our country, from the expansion of our paper currency, would cost one hundred dollars What IS the consequence? The for egn French or German manufacturer imnorts thls cloth into our country, and sells it for hundred dollars. Does not every person per celve that the redundancy of our currency is equal to premium of one hundred per cent Ill favor of the foreign manufacturer? No tarlH ol protection, unless 1t amounted to pro- motion, could cOuntelact this ad vantage in favor of foreign manufacturers 1 would to Heaven that 1 could arouse the attention of every manufacturer of the nation to this impor- tant subject.
 The foreign manufacturer will not receive our bank notes in payment, He will take noth- Ing ln payment except gold and silver, or bills ol eXcuange, which are equivalent. He does not eXpend this money here, where he would be compelled to support his family and to pur. chase hls labor and materials at the same rate of prices which he receives for his mannfac- lures. On the contrary he goes home, purcha- ses his labor, his wool, and all other articles which enters into his manufacture at half their cost III this country, and again returns to inun- date Us with foreign wooens, and to ruin our domestic manufactures. l might cite many other examples, but this, l tIust, will be sulfi- clent to draw public attention to the subinct.- This depreciation of our currency Is, therefore. equivalent to a direct protection granted to the foreign over the domestic mahu tacturer 1t is impossible that odr mauu acturers should be abio to sustain such unequal competition
 Sir solemnly believe that if we could but reduce this inflated paper bubble to anything like reasonable dimensions, New England oud become the most prosperous manufacturing country that the sun ever shone upon. Why cannot we manufacture goods, aud especially cotton SOodS which will go into successful com. petition with British manufactures n foreign markets! Have We not the necessary capital? Have we not the industry? Have we not the machinery? And above all, are not our skill energy and enterprise proverDa throughout the world? Land Is also cheaper here than in any other country on the face of the earth = We possess every ad dvautage which Providence can bestow upon us for the manufacture of cot ton; but they are all counteracted by the folly ol man. The raw material costs us less than It does the English, because this is an article the price of which aepends upon foreign mar kets, and Is not regulated by our own inflated f.Ilrl the cotton across the Atlantic and that of the manufactured article on his return here. And what Is the reason that with all these ad van tages, and with the protective duties which our laws afford to the domestic manu facturer of cotton, we cannot obtain exclusive possession ot the home market, and successfully contend for the markets of the world? It is simply because we manufacture at the nominal prices ot our own inflated currency, and are compeil- ed to sell al the real prices of other nat.ous- Reduce our nominal to the real standard of prceS throughout the world, and you cover our country with blessings and benefits. wish to Heaven l could speak in voice loud enough to be heard throughout New England; because. If the attention oi manufacturers could once be directed to the subject their own intelligence and native sagacy would teach them how in- Jurlous they are affected by our bloated banking and credit system, and wor Id enable them to apply the proper corrective.
 Although this bl will not have as great an influence as could desire yet, as far as it goes 1t will benefit the laborlng man as much, and probably more, than any other class Of society W hat Is 1t he ought most to desire? Constant employment, regular wages and uniform reason- able prices for the hecessaries and comforts of life which he requires. Now sir, what has been ,l and contractons? He has suffered more by them than any other class of society. 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 re- vulsion occurs. He still continues to receive his dollar per day, whilst the price of every article he consumes IS rapidly rising. He is at length made to feel tha although he nominallv earns as much or even more than he did for merly, yet from the increased price of all the necessares ot life, he cannot support his family Hence, the strike for higher wages, and the uneasy and excited feelings which have at diff. ferent periods existed among the laboring class es. But tho expansion at length reaches the exploding point, and what does the aborng man suffer? He is for a season thrown out of employment altogether. Our manufac- lures are suSpended; our public works are stop- ped; our private enterprises of different kinds are abandoned; and, whilst others are able to weather the storm, he can scarcely procure the means of bare subsistence.
 Again, sir: who, do you suppose, held the greater part of the worthless paper of the one hundred and siXtv-five broken banks to which I have referred? /? Certainly it was not the keen and wary speculator, who snuiis danger from afar. If you were to make the search, you would find more broken bank notes in the cot
 ages of the labOring poor than anywhere else. And these miserable shiuplasters where are they? After the revusion of 1887 aborers were glad to obtain employment on any terms, and they often received it upon the express condition that they should accept this worth
 less trash in payment. Sir, all entire suppress sion of all bank notes of lower denomiuation than the value of one weeks wages of the laborng man Is absolutely necessary for his pro- Ia t.,i,, l. L;.