The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-09-26
PROTECTION.
letter from Peter ceepe. Of sew ror,,

Il
Peter Cooper is known and honored
throughout the whole country as the
founder of Cooper Institute at New York,
8 business man of great ssgscity and sue
cess, profound original thinker, patriot
and philanthropist. A letter from him
to our Tariff Association will be read with
interest and the soundness and force of its
arguments will be recognized by every
body: I--- .-a
NEW YORK, September 9th, 1865.
MY DEAR SIR have read your state
ment ABd the recommendations of your
Association for the promotion snd pr0tec-
ton of American Industry, and heartily
approve of every word and sentiment
therein expressed. Believing firmly that
the most reliable source of National wealth
will alwsys be found in well directed in
dustry of the people
All history and experience csnspire to
show how natural it is for mankind
throughout the world to covet those things
that are dearly bought and far fetched.
How resdy people generally are TO con-
tract debts in order 10 live sumptuously
for the present, even at the hazard of losing
the means of living comfortably on the
proceeds of honest labor.
From the government of q family we
may derive valuable lessons applicable to
| the government of Nation. One of the
first duties of good parent is to guard his
child from danger, when it would grasp
the flaming lamp, entirely unconscious OF
the pain that would ensue.
A wise government will act the part OF
8 good father, who will make provision to
restrain the weakness IS well as to provide
| for the wants of his children. And like
the good Fath' of sll, who makes the
right and wise use of everything source
of pleasure, and at the same time finds 1t
necessary to fix terrible penalty to idle
ness sAo the wrong or excessive use OF the
of man.
The fathers of our government showed
their wisdom by prevailing on every Stste
to yield up to q general government the
entire right to coin money and regulate
the value thereof, hoping thereby to save
their posterily from the blight OF falling
paper money,
They also induced all the States to sgree
that they would notissue any bills of credit
or make anything legal tender but gold
and silver. Instead of prOhting BY the
wise foresight OF cur fathers, nearly every
State has authorized Banks of issue, or
bills of credit which have produced the ef-
fecls foretold by Washington. In letter
to q member Of the Legislature Of Mary
land, be says "lhst in exact proportion as
we alloy the precious metals or pour paper
money into the volume of the circulating
medium, just in that proportion will every
thing in country rise. Such course,
he said, twill not benefit the farmer or the
mechanic. It will only benefit the debtor,
as it will enable him to pay his debt with
q shadow instead of substance"
An iDfstion OF paper money raising, IS
it has done, the price of labor with ali that
is dependant on it, tempts the world TO sell
US everything, and st the same time makes
the products of labor with US too dear to
sell in return with profit.
With our present dependence on the use
of paper money, believe it will be found
impo ssible to secure the true interest and
honor of our country without protective
tariff on every article that can be manu-
factured out of raw material found in ss
great perfection in our own Rs in Other
parts of the world.
We shall need q protective tariff as 6
proper stimulsnt 10 the labor of the cOun'
try, until we become wise enough in oul
legislation to cause silver or gold dollar
to lie still for every paper dollar that is al
lowed to circulate as money.
When every paper dollar in our country
shall have silver or gold dollar ready ano
waiting to redeem it, we may then with
comparative safety rely ou direct taxation
to maintain the government credit of oul
country. 1t will always be the privilege
and duty of the General Government tC
furnish for the convenience of the people
an amount of paper circulation without
interest equal to the amount of silver anC
gold that would be in circulation if no pa
per money was allowed. Believing thai
such national paper circulation will al
ways be a bond Of union between the
States.
subscribe myself,
Yours truly,