Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1869-11-23
sprague InterYiewed.
VIA, he THINKS of National Finances
BoutpeU Bleeding Sick Man.

BOuttcSL I1kccNtH1 - AOtSh 4HeNss'
A correspondent of the Cincinnati Conn
,,ere;al has been interviewing Senator Sprague
with the following result:
aYou still feel lively interest in our
financial affairs, of course"
aYes. sir he replied 81 could not help 1T
if would These troubles come home to me
,.;tb mncb more force for / am one, however
h,,rnbIe Entrusted with the care-if there Is
one AT A.
"You do not regard our affairs with the
same hopeful feeling that most of our pubic
men at least pretend tor
"No. do not. Mr.. Boutwell, is paying on
the debt by calling upon the capital OF the
country. There is no Legitimate business now,
that has profit and the taxes paid are drawn
from the capital. How long this may last
anyone, however stupid, may readily calculate.
But we could be content with that, IT that
we're all. I cannot shut my eyes to the TACT
that we are going on from bad to worse, ana
may end, God knows where.
iWhat do you regard, Senator, as the most
striking feature in all this ~
81 regard the accumulated capital, in the
hands IF few uupricipled men. as the great
evil, The late war, with its consequent
wrongs. muddled the water that covers these
iniouities. With an inflated currency and
great mass of class legislation, all values have
been rendered uncertain, and our business Is
gambling.
"The bulls and bears of Wall street have
spread out over the land. until all Prohts
depend upon fancied value, aud each man
hand is against his neighbor, and as one
succeeds another is ruined. Feeling the weak
ness of individual effort, there is a tendency
to combination. 1t is the combination OF
thieves, without even the honor that was said
proverbially to attach TO such.
"The railroads of the lard are gathered
into the hands of few men, who do not defy
the Government, but control it. The banking
capital is gathered up in the same way, and
coalesces with the railroads. There is scarcely
pursuit that is not combination, that lives
pros perously by tramping heartlessly upon the
masses outside.
We have but one article that we can sell
abroad, and that is cotton, and that is tram
melcd by mass of Legislation that does as
much to destroy as to encourage. e
"Do you allude TO our protective tariff =
"Certainly Instead Of trying to reduce
the volume of our currency, so as to bring
prices to standard recognized in the trade
of the world, VIC protect and cherish 1t by
monstrous laws. The consumer sells for gold,
and buys on paper; SO we cripple him, and
being unable to pay we build higher and
cripple him more Our mills must run at
full time. if we ruin the country. We break
the legs of the farmers horses, and the back
of the mechanic, and load down the laborer,
and call it protection to American industry.
I am manufacturer, but can see that this
thing, however profitable for the moment, is
ruin in the end"
"Do understand you to say that you favor
free trade ?"
"Certainly not. I don't want the Govern
ment, upon an abstract principle that it has
succeeded through unjust legislation, to rem
der impractical, to destroy the interest it has
labored to build up; but want this monstrous
system ended the currency brought to specie
standard, and the tariff made revenue tariff,
with Legitimate incidental protection"
"You are not very happy over Mr.. Bout
wells policy p
Happy! He is bleeding sick man-thnt
is all :"