The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1857-10-28

1 l. S#E-EH
membered this is as much a staple Of
Amerie3n productive industry as coal is
to England and SO, if we manage
rightly, it is no more loss for us to ex.
port our superauous gold than it is for
Sweden to export her superfuous iron
Brazil her hides, or China her teas and
silks. Take america as q qc1soze, ana
! The denaG'ad for labor IS greater thai,
tie supply. This is shown at the South
by the constant incrcace in the price OF
slaves, and at the North by the eontin-
ual increase of wages, and our anxiety
| to make such machines as, in short
time and cheaply, shall do the'wofk that
else would require the costly toll of hu-
man hands to schicve Amer'ca qcas
7aerer so rich as to day, in men, women
and children, cultivated land, good roads
of earth, wood, stone and iron in ships,
houses, factories, shops, tools, the useful
metals and minerals; and never Sd well
supplied with food, clothes, furniture,
carriages, schools, books, and all manner
of things for use and beauty. af
Yet, in spite of all this general abun-
dance, there is great crisis in the mo
ney market; there is distress in all
commercial cities, from Maine to Louis
lana. All the departments of commerce
and business are disturbed Money,
which is commonly worth from six to
eight per cent. a year, is now hard to
get at twenty four per cent. Men pay
famine price for gold and silvor.-
Houses Of ihe first responsibility fail, or
else suspend payment fer a time, leaving
others to pay. Men of handsome es-
tates, even of great fortune, find that
their property is all gone. In whole
cities, in whole States, banks suspend
specie paymcnts-violate their contracts,
solemnly mado, and pay in promises to
pay-not in certif, ates of property, but
certificates of debt. Mills shut down
their gates, and men are turned out of
employment by the hundred or thousand,
with the prospect of immediate idleness,
and remote hunger.
Money lenders, who are always dip
ping into the stream Of commerce, and
l2dting out what thence they mays now
refuse to lend On any terms, on what
was once considered the best secority
Our own city's promise to pay" fails
to command the needed coin. What is
the cause of this trouble ? He should
very i'll discharge his duty as pbilo
sophie thinker and teacher of religion,
if he did not try to point IT out True,
he was not business man, but for many
years BE had stadied tie history of
commerce, aud, living among trading
men, he had had his eyes open to what
they did, thought, suffered and felt
lie did not, however, pretend to speal,
with authority. Commonly, in his
teachings, lie could say, al h'1oao this
is true" To day he could only say, II
think this is true
To understand this present commer-
cial trouble, and be prepared to make
use of its consequences, it was necessary
to look deeper than the surface at some
things, which lie great way off aud far
down, AL mans conscious activity was
at first an experimcnt-an undertaking.
r lii A. ,o-,,lt ., ,,ot bpo+,p ,,nt;l
after The trial All experiment is liable
to mistake. There are many ways of
doing a thing, bu: only one way of doing
it best and it is not likely that every
individual of the human race will hit the
right way the first time trying. What
succeeds keep, and it becomes the
habit of mankind. All the experiments
ever made, however ruinous to the indi
yidual man, have to the human race
been worth all they cost; and it was not
possible for the human race to have
learned at cheaper school than that
dear one which experience has taught.
In the military period of mans bisto-
ry, war was the chief business. The
great families were founded by "sons Of
thunder" and kept up by war. The
great estates were got by robbery; aris-
tocracy was dyed blood red. Now all
this is passing away. The military Pc
riod is giving place to the Industrial
Germany, France, and England, are the
European leaders in this Industrial civ
ilizatiOn but they keep the old titles
baron, lord and duke. Here we have an
industrial democracy. The dollar, not
the sword, is the badge Of aristocracy
Great families are founded by trade -
great estates are got by buying and sell
ing; and social rank commonly depends
on money, the only bequeathable excel
lence Nobody asks" What ancestors
have you got in the grave ?" but what
money in your vault ? what houses,
lands, stock Hence property is sought,
not only for the comfort and luxury
which it brings, but also for the social
distinction it confers. It takes the place
Of all the virtues. 1t is in American
society what d" imputed righteousness "
IS in the church-thc social salvation of
nau. Titles are nothing. No Ameri- |
,an Mr. Macaulay would care to be
made o baron, lord, or duke, Every |