New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-10-13

I524 to DR.. Coleman. "and you secure to our
"Aericultursts larger and better market than al
"Earope now affords them" We deem that state
nent The key to q true aud bene6cent National
policy-one tbst whenever it has prevailed, has
always largely and rapidly impeled this Republic
on the path Of prosperity, and will do SO again,
whenever it .haN be reestsblished We hold that
American Labor always has been and always will
be more generally aud stesdiy employed under the
Protective than if has been or can be under the
opposite pOlicy-that We should at once do more
work and work more effectively and to better pur
pose under Protection than We do or can undsr
comparative Free Trade.
But whenever we have Get forth these convictions
We have been generally mst by the demur that,
even concedipg that the end We am at is desirable
the means We propose are unsuitable. In order to
Insure the removal Of our workshops from Europe
10 America, we are told, it is not necessary nor
pedient to increase the determinations in our tariff,
but to abolish Paper Money, and thus contract the
volume Of our Circulating Medium. Mr. Buchanan
in bis speech Of 1910 propounded this doctrine in
very nearly these words: "Reduce our nominal
" to the real standard Of value throughout the
"world, and yos cover the country with blessings
" and benefits" His general idea was that piece
Of cloth which is now manufactured in this country
of cost of 500, could be produced here for $50
if We had nc Paper Money, and that then We might
undersell Great Britain France and Germany, in
sell US in ours.
That this view is honestly entertained by thou.
sands, we have never doubted though We have
often been provoked by the pertinacity wberewith
they Assert and reiterate it, seeming not at all to
consider the facts we adduce to prove it unsound.
1t seems to us that We are entitled at least to the
courtesy of having our considerations glanced at.
We cheerfully concede the sincerity Of our antago'
nists but We have carefully and candidly considered
their propositions, and have adjudged them mis-
taken and fallsciOus. Let us here sdduce some
further facts bearing on the point in controversy;
California is prominently HardMoney State.
She has no Paper Currency whatever; she has
never had any. ALI money payments are there
made in Gold and Silver, and she has the where
wthal to make that sort Of payments. Gold is her
chief ataple-almost her only export; her mines
yield some Fifty Millions per snnum OF it, and have
already yielded an aggregate Of SONS -Four Hundred
Millions We DO not sdjudge the Hard Money sys
tenn 10 be wire or unwise on her part; but if any
State or section could adopt and maintain it with
advantage, she can. At all events, she does main.
tain it, and has done 50 uufalterngy from the start
But are the results assumed as necessary
b, our anti. Tariff friends there realized? Does
Hard Money there insure low prices1 Can
anything be manufactured in California because
of her Hard-Money system that could not be
under q mixed currency Certainly not Prob
ably some articles are cheaper, while Others
are desrer, than they would be if California
authorized Banks of Issue and q Paper Cur
rency; but, speaking generally, she is by far the
dearest State in the Union, and that in which it
would because Of the high prices OF Labor and
Materials be hardest to sustain the manufacture Of
Wares and Fabrics Shall these facts 90 for
nothingi
But again: We earnestly desire and labor for
the radical retrenchment or utter overthrow of our
prevailing system of Mercantile Credit. We hold
it unsound and pernicious-a system which inveigles
Millions into habits Of Incidence and inordinate
expense, preciptatiDg them at last into the abyss
of outright bankruptcy. We hold that there are
five times too many persons seeking to live BY trade
10 our country, and that the system of mercantile
credit is at the bottom Of this perverslOn and waste
of capacity and energy. We hold that our people
each year consume at least One Hundred Millions
worth more of Foreign Products than they ought
to, and that they would not do so if every
merchant had to pay for his goods when he
bought and every consumer before he could take
them away from the store. And we hope to see
the day when traders who persist in selling goods
on credit contrary to what TIVE deem the dictates OF
public policy and national wel-being shall be LEFT
10 collect the debts thus made as they best may,
without the help Of law.
"Well: the way to secure tie end you aim at,
say many, " lies through the abolition Of Paper
Money" Does it Then why is it that Cali
fornia without dollar of Paper Money, has the
most inflated and all pervading system Of Mercan-
tile Credit of any State in the Unionl Why are
traders nowhere mere numerous, trade nowhere
more oyerdoDe Why do the wholesale dealers OF
San Francisco buy their goods mainly on credit and
sell them SO to the retailers of the interior, who
in turn credit them out to the cOnsumersi Of
course there are exceptions in California as else
where; but the fact that most of the goods con-
sumed in that State are bought and sold again on
credit is there beyond dispute. And if there why
not elsewhere, under similar circumstances What
assurance have We Whist probability is there, that
prescribing Paper Money here would give death
A..