The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-03-06

midst, that we be not Obliged to transport oul
raw material out and the manufactured arti
/ Gle in.
We of the East, where manufacturers arc
many and strong, should, with equal assidu
lity, promote the cultivation of the raw ma
terial that the terrible strain on transporta
ton may be lessened.
1 have long ago said that the history of the
world or its present condition does not afford
a single example of a country which has re
manned permanently prosperous by the pro
duction and expectation of the raw material
but their tendency IS all the time toward 9
condition of dependence and poverty. This
position has not been disputed, and believe
cannot lie. How important, then, that we
cultivate the most amicable relations between
all the productive industries, as only by mu.
tual development can we be mutually pros
porous, and the whole body polite be main
tanned in vigorous health.
| A thousand years ago learned and thought.
| tul chemists devoted the energies of life
time to a vain search for the wonderful phi
losopher's stone whose magic touch should
convert the baser metals into purest gold, and
thus I'LL the whole world at once with wealth
and luxury. To-day we have numerous clti-
zens who are eagerly pursuing the same
phantom. They are torturing their poor
brains to devise some plan whose talismanic
power will transmute bits Of printed paper
into countless millions of actual money of
such subtle nature that, true as the needle
to the pole 1t shall go straight to the pockets
of the poor and, like subtle "Wll O the
wisp," forever evade the clutches OF the rich.
1t is an indisputable fact that our country
is now seriously suffering from derange-
&c. W. nnl kno 1,,,p tr
know the cause. 1t is a solemn reality that
our country has passed through most vast.
ing civil war. 1t cost us in money, time lost,
industry disturbed, material destroyed, pro-
duction stopped, more than ten billions of
dollars. That immense sum was in four
years subtracted from the wealth of the coun-
Try. 1t was consumed, and is forever gone
1t made as comparatively poor. To bridge
over the emergency of the hour the govern
ment issued great volumes of irredeemable
paper currency, which we used as money,
and thus for time disguised and hid our
poverty. By using this currency our judg
ment of values became more and more con-
fused as we drif'cd further from the worlds
standard We totally failed to realize our
changed circumstances and to inaugurate a
corresponding system of economy and indus
try, and consequently, with an Inheritance Of
debt, extravaganza habits and distorted judg-
ment of values we have been necessarily
drifting to leeward. Out of this trouble there
is no royal road
Only by a return to habits of industry and
economy, guided by intelligence, can we re-
gain our wealth and remove our load of debt
As an auxiliary to this, we want a stable and
sound currency that shall be reliable meas.
ure of values and recognized as such by all
the civilized world For we may gain this
truth from others and our own history, that
an irredeemable fluctuating currency always
favors spectators and sharpers at the expense
of those engaged IN productive industry.