The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-07-07


But during the same year we imported OF
the cheaper products of foreign handlcraft
at least S, 000, 900, out of s total importation
of over S6S4, 900. 600. That is a sad showing
country aiier twelve years of the most ex-
horhitant protective d1ties ever enacted by
any government in the interests of its ia
vored classes. On the other hand, in that
year, there was ex ported from our country,
of the unprotected staple products ofAmer
lean agriculture, over sl40,0OOOOO. These
vast products, more than any others OF the
country, are beyond the reach of benefit
from initiation or protection, by deprecated
currency or high tariffs. 1t is law ofcom-
merce that the prices of the great staples OF
a country, both at home and abroad. are de-
termined in the foreign markets where the
surpluaes are sold. The prices of American
cotton, tobacco, wheat and other staples are
all fixed in those markets under the opera
ton of this law, and not in our home mar
kets. The currency of these foreign mar
kets is gold and silver. Thus some of the
greatest interests of our country have their
values measured by the standard of gold and
silver, while others are measured by the
standard of irredeemable and deprecated
paper. Thereby the farmers are robbed.
They sell their great staples on the basis OF
gold and buyon the basis of deprecated pa
per. They generally sell at wholesale
prices, and buy at retail prices, so
4
enhanced to any amount, those of the pro-
tected manufacturer are advanced from two
to four times as much by the influence of
currency and tariff initiation. Above all
men in our country, therefore, the agricul-
turists are Supremacy interested TO have a
currency as good as the best, based on coin,
so that they may buy and sell by the same
standard, at home and abroad, and that all
the citizens shall be treated alike.
TEACHINGS OF THE FATHERS.
/ am driven, therefore, by the experience
OF the past, the teachings and examples of
the fathers, and the memorable laws Of
finance, trade and commerce to believe that
any imitation of an irredeemable currency
is an honest remedy for nothing, and can
only render a restoration of true currency
more difficult and more remote. Initiation
only makes cheap money cheaper, and prices
measured by it higher, and creates con-
stantly recurring demand for more money.
Mr.. Webster said many years ago, and what
he said is as true to-day as it was then, that
"Of all the deyices invented by the wit of
man to fertil1ze the rich mans fields with the
sweat of the poor mans brow, irredeemable
paper money is the most effectual." In 1881
Thomas ii. Benton, great statesman and
incorruptible democrat, said: eff were 60
ing to establish a working mans partv it
should be on the basis of hard mOney-a hard
money party against paper party. Paper
money tends to aggravate the inequalities of
fortunes, to make the rich richer, and the
poor poorer, to multiply nabobs and pau
pers." H
| 1t is the fixed and irreversible judgment
| of mankind that the currency of commerce
shall be gold and silver. 1t will accept no
inferior currency. No great nation can do
II .l-I.l l.
slant disadvantage, in its commercial COM
petition with other nations, and the sacri-
flee of the most valuable opportunities for
prosperous and profitable international
/ trade Our rank as commercial nation
will be inferior, our commerce be crippled,
our cost of production too higt and our do
mestic values inflated, until we can regain
tor ourselves the currency of commerce.
You may convert every bond the country
owes into greenbacks, make the govern
ment generous lender to all corners, flood
the country with promises as numerous as
the autumn leaves, and, after all, your pa
per currency, like all other values, must SUBJ
NIT to be tested by the standard of gold and
silver. There is no escape from the law. 1t
pervades the land and the sea wherever
commerce has pathway and civilization
has organized exchanges. It is not in the
power OF government by the imitation of the
currency to increase values, hut only prices
are thereby increased. Quarrel with those
laws if you will, but you cannot change or
suspend them. l--f
NO ROYAL ROAD TO CAPITAL. I. d
Capital cannot be made by running a
printing press. There is no royal road TO it's
creation-honest labor is the only talisman
that can lead to enduring capital and " ealth.
If the country could make the people rich
by the aid of printing press, then it ought
to be done speedily, for it would bsa cruel
government that would refuse on such terms
to enrich its people. The foolish experiment
has been many times tried in the history of
nations, but always with certain failure, dis
aster and ruin. Thomas Jefferson uttered
l the judgment of experience, reason, and
science when he said "the truth is that cap
ital may be produced by industry and &C
cumulated by economy; but iugglers only
will propose to create il by legerdemain
+! tricks with paper"
| If the currency were at once greatly in
flated, who wonld get it? Would they who
most need 1t? Certainly not, unless they
have something to sell that somebody wants
to buy who has received some Ofthe money.
To the mass of mankind this would seldom
happen. Yet all men to some extent must
continue to buy, and all such underinhatiOn
would be compelled to pay more for what
they want, without any equivalent compen-
sation. And, you may ask, is nobody bene-
fitted by imitation? And answer, from the
profoundest conviction, that nobody gains
any honest advantage by imitation. Yet
some do gain by it, many would be made
T rich, some no doubt milliOnaires, but gener-
ally at the expense of other people and OF
Justice. The class most enriched by great in
flation would be the dealers in all kinds oil
speculative bonds, dishonest OF
, worthless stocks, and trashy Sc
curitesi, the most unmeritorous class o.
men in our country, and the very men who
are most clamorous tor initiation, the reck-
less spectators and gamblers of Wall street
The class next most benefited would be the
f great manufacturers of the country, who
have large accommodations of their products
on hand and for sale, because they We uld al
once add TO their prices in proportion'to the
imitation of the currency, and thereby they
might be enriched. but at the expense of the
ncrnsr1rnarS of thair nrOducfs rrha fhirC