Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1858-08-26
Money Plenty--for the Rich and the Office
holders.

"With such facts before us, in addition
to the Bank reports, which show that the
| Banks of Boston, New York, Philadelphia
and other cities, have more specie on hand
now than ever they had before, how can any
man be silly enough to believe that the hard
times and scarcity of labor are owing to a
want of money in our country?"
Yes, there is plenty of money for the
rich-plenty for oficeholders and govern
ment drones who will get paid from the
proceeds of this loan-but how is it with
other classes? A contemporary furnishes
us with a suitable answer.
Throughout the country men are offer
! inc to work at far less than the recent wa
ges and yet are in great part unemployed.
Poor houses are filling to overfowing.-
Furnaces and factories are idle Ships are
rotting at the wharves Merchants, unable
to pay rents, discharge their clerks. La
Dor is, therefore, everywhere superabun-
! dant.
Unable to sell his labor, the laborer is
unable to purchase his usual supplies of
food. The market for food diminishing,
prices fail, and the farmer is unable to pur-
chase cloth Unable to sell cloth, the man.
ufacturer does not need to purchase en-
gines. Unable to sell machines, the ma
chinist need not purchase iron. Unable to
sell iron, the furnace master does not need
to purchase coal, and thus is the miner de-
priyed of the power TO purchase food or
clothing. Look where we may commerce
is nearly dead-the heavy sufferers by her
death being those ." dear people who, like
ourselves, must sell their labor, if they
would be unabled to purchase food.
Such being the case with the people, how
is it with their masters-the men whom
they have placed in the administration of
their affairs Do they suffer in like man
ner? Are their wages reduced? On the
contrary, they are largely increased Pres
ident, secretaries, senators, congressman,
comptrOllers, clerks, and al others char
ged with either Legislation or admins
tration, have fixed salaries payable in mon
ey, and the more that money will purchase
the better it must be for them At fifty
cents day they can purchase the labor of
twice as many men as they could do when
wages were dollar day. Reduce wages
to ten cents a day, and the Presidents sal
airy becomes equal to that Of eight hundred
men. All of these people desire, of course
that every thing may be eheap-fecling
that their power to CRAFTY their appetites
must increase with every step in that direc-
ton. Free trade having already done so
much for them; chcapening land, labor,
food, and clothing-nced we wonder that
they now look anxiously for those happy
days OF " free trade and direct taxation" /"
when a dime shall be considered fair
equivalent for a days work Certainly not?
That point reached, there will be glori- |
Gus times at Washington, if we may Judge
from what has already been accomplished, |
as exhibited in the following picture drawn
from the columns of one of our free trade
neighbors:
The present cabinet has been more re. |
markable than any Of its predecessors, for |
liberal and hospitable style Of living. IL is |
true that most Of them are wealthy men hpt
1t does not always follow that official men live |
IN manner commensurate with their wealth. |
For the year ending with this spring not one /
Of the cabinet expended less than fifteen thou. |
sand dollars, and two or three of them expen. |
ded each twenty-five thousand. 1t is true |
that their entertainments, oquipage, ect., were
unusually frequent and Of an expensive |
kind. Their example was followed b some !
wealthy citizens, foreign ministers and SON. !
ators-p particularly Douglas and Gwin-and
thus fashionable and public life, during the |
season prior to Lent, was, in this city, per-
petual carnival"